Hundreds of paddle-powered boats raced at the Bon Om Touk water festival this month on the Siem Reap River, an occasion in which Cambodians celebrate the Mekong River’s biannual water flow reversal and the beginning of the fishing season. While the river itself wasn’t the main object of attention during the festivities in the Southeastern Asia country, it did serve to highlight the dire need of the country to clean up it’s drinking water after decades of inner turmoil.
There are several reasons for the lack of clean drinking water in the country, according to Nthabeleng Emmel, Programs Manager for Water for Cambodia in Siem Reap, who said that lack of access is a major inhibitor. “Most people in Cambodia have no access to safe drinking water; they use contaminated water sources such as rivers, ponds, [and] wells.” This can lead to many different kinds of complications, such as gastrointestinal diseases like diarrhea, Emmel explained. Also, many of the population, especially in the countryside, use large open jars called cisterns to collect lake, stream and rain water. If not properly treated, this water can contain mosquito larvae, leading potentially to malaria and dengue fever.
While wells can be dug and used to get water, the quality may not be so good, said Mrs. Emmel. “Deep wells are usually said to be clean and some organizations dedicate their time drilling wells for rural communities but the utilization of [these] wells is questionable. Some areas have high content of iron in the water which usually comes with color, smell and [a bad] taste.”
Emmel’s organization builds and installs Biosand Filters for rural populations–the ones which experience the greatest difficulty in obtaining clean drinking water. The filter uses sand and gravel to remove up to 99 percent of the bacteria and protozoa in the water which is poured into it. “Water for Cambodia has adopted a Biosand filter which provides safe drinking water to the rural population,” said Emmel. “By the end of 2014 we will have installed over 14,000 filters reaching out to at least 84,000 individuals.”
Once the filters have been installed, the organization soon returns to test the filtered water in their lab. “We follow up with water testing which we do in our own lab, do quality control by checking all installed filters for any maintenance that may be needed and any other support the families may need,” said Emmel. A part of this support is educating the receivers of the filter on its use. “The challenge which we hope to overcome is getting people to understand the importance of pouring water into this filter on a daily basis and doing proper maintenance which only requires a few minutes.”
Mrs. Emmel is hopeful that the Biosand filter will continue to give rural Cambodians clean drinking water well into the future. “Biosand filters are the best solution for Cambodia as they are easy to use, maintain and they have a long life span [at least 15 years]. Their maintenance is inexpensive as the contents of the filter do not need to be changed but rather cleaned [on a regular basis]”.
A new real-women’s-body inspired doll has been launched in the US. Named after its creator Nickolay Lamm, the Lammily doll is a 11” tall brunette, with a fuller waste and smaller breasts than Barbie’s, thus reflecting the proportions of an average 19 year old woman. The doll can be accessorized with acne, scars, stretch marks and cellulite. Lammily is the latest of a number of dolls which have sought to challenge Barbie’s 50 year sovereignty on our mainstream’s ideal of beauty.
Playing with a normal looking doll may give young girls a truer sense of what normal is, improve their body image and self-esteem, their acceptance of regular occurrences such as acne and cellulite, and therefore help reduce the anxieties that the “perfection” of Barbie can engender.
Barbie, and now Lammily, don’t exist in a vacuum and those images beaming daily from our TV screens, celebrity magazines and selfies, posters, film and music videos, through which an idealized, unrealistic version of beauty continues to be promoted as normal, will also need to be challenged.
The ubiquity of Barbie and all it represents is of course the result of a decades-long aggressive marketing and cross marketing strategy, and a whole “Barbie infrastructure” has developed–dollhouses and accessories, games, cartoons, books, Dreamhouse Experience events, and so on.
Any rival will need to shout quite loud to be heard above all this. However it seems that newborn Lammily, the creation of which was possible thanks to crowdfunding, may already be winning the hearts of many, with some 19,000 dolls having been preordered. Are those signs of ageing on Barbie’s face?
World markets rose following China’s interest rate cuts and comments made by the European Central Bank. China’s Central Bank has cut the interest rate on annual deposits to 2.75 percent from 3.00 percent in an attempt to revive the economy. During the first half hour of opening trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose to 1.00 percent to new record high at 17,866 points.
In Britain, the mining sector rose three to five percent, driven by economic growth expectations–based on sales of raw materials to China. The six largest rises on the index were for companies in the oil and mining sectors. The Australian and New Zealand dollars also rose, reflecting their adoption on trade with China. China’s rate cut, made Saturday, is the first since 2012 and it has worked.
China also will cut interest on loans for a year to 5.6 from 6.00 percent. Chinese economic data last Thursday showed a drop in industrial output for the first time in six months. China’s growth has dropped to its lowest level in five years (7.3 percent) in the last quarter. The Chinese Central Bank has allowed flexibility for banks through which it can move interest rate on deposits to 1.2 percent of the standard rate instead of 1.1 percent. This is in part a measure to recompense savings owners in China for the cut on interest on deposits.
Meanwhile, European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi said, “This moves will increase pressures to stimulate the European economy, which faces troubles.” Draghi noted that he is ready to take large-scale actions to stimulate the economy, including buying assets, to make sure the European economy does not face a new crisis. He added, “What we must do is lift inflation expectations as quick as possible.”
Inflation rates in the Euro zone reached 0.4 percent last month and are well below the inflation target which the ECB estimated–2.00 percent. Draghi said that the ECB, if current efforts fail, will expand channels through which it can intervene to remedy the situation. Many experts consider this as an implicit declaration that the ECB will buy government bonds.
Draghi’s comments came amid a state of fragility in the European economy, that recently escaped from falling into a recession. Reading growth in the third quarter ose 0.2 percent compared with the second quarter of this year. Reading growth in Germany–Europe’s strongest economy– rose only 0.1 percent from the third quarter, after a similar contraction in the second quarter.
China has sought to reassure the world that its economy will not see further slowdown. Earlier this month, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, spoke to Executive Heads of major companies. Within the framework of summit on economic cooperation for Asia and the Pacific, Xi stated that “the risks facing the Chinese economy are not scary. The Government is confident that it will exceed these risks.” He noted that even if Chinese growth reading fell to 7.00 percent, China will remain the most developed economy in the world.
The World Bank commented on the Chinese economy last June, saying that China had conducted important structural changes. Chinese economic growth engines continue to turn from manufacturing sector to service sector, and from investment to consumption in strong demand.
The first National Bicycling Day assembly of the Philippines took off in Pasig City in a venue named ‘Tiendesitas’. Bicycle riders of all ages and genders were there to celebrate the love and passion of the cycling outdoor sport. They were about 20,000 who filled the large parking road , and you could see the myriad of bicyclists waiting for the sunrise, all taking their time on a warm Sunday morning. With security surrounding the vast congregation, different cycling groups from all over the city and the provinces gathered for a long grand ride –a first ever to make the National Bicycling Day a momentous occasion.
All types of bikes were present–simple folding bikes, commute bikes, childrens’ bikes, the majority of both mountain bikes, road bikes and vintage bikes were widespread! It was massive to observe the use of all types of electronic gadgets every minute–smartphones, digital point and shoot and professional cameras, tablets, ‘Go Pro’ helmet cameras ( the rage of gratuitous quick focused riders everywhere), The riders of all mixes seemed to know it was a memorable event for all and souvenirs are social media viral topics–both videos and photos are what online “streaming” on the web is all about.
The traffic marshalls were all the required bodyguards of the peloton people. They were quite a horde,to make the entourage free from roadside hazards–accidents are to be avoided as much as possible. As you glide along the highways when the ride already rolled, you’ll see the marshalls yelling to wayward riders who speed on two-way routes, and the guiding of the travellers in detours and sharp turns.
Without them, the cyclists would lose sight of their paths and discipline would have not been enforced.
With all the concerns of the security, the whole trip was brilliantly covered. Participants saw the different virtues of bikes: from expensive bicycles with their ease of maneuvering and lightweight luxury to the cheapest commute bikes looking dirty, heavy and with pretty much old school gears. Some had the latest models–full suspension bikes that could handle the awful terrain on some parts of damaged asphalt while Italian imports displayed high-end components and cut through the throngs of riders like a blur. It wasn’t a race–it was a thrill ride for all, as all viewers would have seen. Joining here was not a Tour de France thing nor some Olympic BMX challenge–it was a pedal to the metal joyride.
The ride ended with a lesser number of riders that reached their destination safe and sound. Others seem to have bailed out due to the 75 kilometer radius of the ride. It didn’t faze the finishers at all–no trophies, no medals nor grand prizes. But the event was a statement to the crowds along the pavements and the vehicles who saw the sweat-drenched riders –that bikes on the road will always be symbols of zero emission machinery. Bicycles are pure human power–no gas stations, no rollbacks, no diesel headaches at all. Despite the trends like electric bikes, pocket bikes (little sportbikes in dwarf sizes) and Chinese so-called “underbone” motorcycles’ which have sold like hotcakes everywhere, the presence of bicycles have shown support from the people. You can ride more races, have more fun rides, more track competitions, and more participants with the pedal-powered citizens. It won’t be until next December when this event will happen again. We all can look forward to another trek with social impact.
While Costa Rica prepares for its annual high-season, store fronts reopen, restaurants become chaotic, and tourists flock to the elegant beachfront hotels of Guanacaste. Despite the surplus of business and affluent tourists, a devil lurks within the most peculiar of places: the Aedes mosquito.
With globalization on the rise, infectious, virulent diseases have become an increasing problem, causing previously extinct diseases to resurface and others to become virtually uncontrollable. Dengue has reemerged in the last decade and has been raving havoc upon the inhabitants of Costa Rica. With over 100 cases seen this week in the Tamarindo area alone, dengue is certainly turning heads and making a name for itself in the viral-borne world. Though dengue has become one of Costa Rica’s most prominent vector-borne diseases, few precautions have been taken to avoid infection.
Although the Ministry of Health (MOH) is the organization that handles, manages, and investigates health complications, they have failed to provide Costa Rican inhabitants with proper preventive measures.
In accordance with Municipality of Santa Cruz, mosquito-preventive sprays are only occurring after a case has been confirmed in an area, leaving thousands of people at risk. A tactic which professional fumigation expert, Leo Perron, find useless, “Personally, I believe it is totally inefficient. That smoke kills almost nothing, it chases the mosquitos away for awhile, but they come back after an hour or so.”
Currently there is no vaccination to protect oneself from exposure, but there are measures that can be used to prevent the disease from consuming a patient’s health. Removing oneself from mosquito vulnerable situations is the first and foremost action one can take to avoid exposure to dengue. Remaining inside a home two hours before sunrises and sunsets, avoiding standing water, and liberally applying mosquito repellent will decrease your chances of a bite.
The incubation period of dengue lasts roughly fifteen days, a period in which patients normally reveal signs of high fever, headaches, weakness, and skin rashes. “When I see these types of symptoms, I immediately administer a blood test. My dengue patients are suffering from a loss of blood platelets and faltering immune systems,” Dr. Amanda Robles said in a recent interview.
According to Dr. Amanda Robles, sustaining a healthy immune system and leading a healthy lifestyle are two of the easiest ways to prevent dengue, “We cannot compete with the fact that mosquitos are present and that they will bite us. If you keep a strong immune system and live a healthy life, your chances of infection are considerably lower.”
Dengue is a vector-born disease, meaning, it can strike at any moment. A disease which was once only detected during the wet season is now appearing year-round. The mass dispersion and mutational perseverance of the Aedes mosquito has allowed it to become permanently relentless.
Unfortunately, the Aedes species of mosquito prefers to dwell in close proximity to human environments. “They’ve adopted an inclination to prefer human blood, and commonly breed in water-bearing containers such as, flower pots, vases, and trash bins,” says Dr. Ivan Mendez.
Admittedly, the number of dengue cases is considerably lower than last year, a number that is a direct reflection of the extreme drought that hit the Guanacaste region earlier this year. There were nearly 50,00 confirmed cases of dengue by the end of 2013, while only 9,692 have been recorded as of November 19, 2014 (Ministerio de Salud, Santa Cruz).
This tremendous decline of dengue is a result of the minimal rainfall seen in Guanacaste this past season. With fewer spawning areas, the Aedes mosquito becomes less threatening to Ticos, ultimately allowing preventive measures to have a greater impact.
As Ticos become more aware of the consequences that accompany a mosquito bite, fewer cases of dengue will surface. “Dengue is a strong virus that humans need to evolve from. Twenty years ago, people didn’t know about it (dengue), but cases were still out there. As information builds and people become more knowledgable, we are seeing less cases. In a decade or so, when our immune systems have become resilient to the virus, there will be significantly fewer infections,’ says Robles.
Chinese authorities have expelled 26 nuns from a nunnery in Pekar Township, Driru County, Tibet Autonomous Region. The nuns were expelled for refusing to defame their highest spiritual leader. Chinese authorities used a new law regulating religious institutions to expel the nuns legally.
The nuns were expelled from Jhada Gon Palden Khachoe Nunnery by a large number of Chinese “work team” members tasked with removing the nuns from their the religious community.
The work team was following up on the results of a police raid on the monastery, during which many nuns refused to criticize their religious leader, the Dalai Lama, who is considered a splittest and terrorist orchestrator and is a wanted criminal in China. After the refusals, officials examined the registration records of the nunnery to check its population.
The nuns were expelled legally under new Chinese legislation that restricts the number of registered pupils that are permitted in religious institutes in Tibet. In this case the number was set at 140, and the 26 extra nuns were expelled.
This is the first instance of enforcement of a new measures detailing causes for expulsions of monks and nuns from religious institutions. The new Chinese “rectification” drive also warns of the destruction of “illegal” monasteries and mani walls.
Billions in banknotes, gold bars, land title deeds, rare images of the Buddha and other religious artifacts were seized from the home of a Thai police chief Sunday. Central Investigation Bureau commander Lt-General Pongpat Chayaphan has been charged with several crimes, including lese majeste–an offense against the dignity of a sovereign or against the state.
The case also involves six other police officers, who are being detained along with Pongpat at seven separate metropolitan police stations, as well as three civilians who are currently on the run.
The officers include Marine Police commander Maj-General Bunsueb Phrai-thuen, Samut Sakhon Immigration Chief Colonel Kowit Muangnual, Senior Sgt Major
Bangkok Post image
Surasak Jan-ngoa and Senior Sgt Major Chattrin Laothong. Malfeasance in office, taking bribes and violating protected species laws were among the charges laid against the officers.
All of the officers have confessed to the crimes, including Pongpat.
In a related incident, Thai police officer Colonel Akkharawut Limrat was killed Friday ago after falling from a height. Akkarawut had reportedly attempted suicide at least three times after he was transferred from a top position along with Pongpat.
The two officers had been transferred from top positions to inactive posts after an urgent transfer order Nov. 11.
According to police officials, Akkharawut had killed himself due to fear of prosecution for criminal activities.
Royal Thai Police spokesman Lt-General Prawut Thawornsiri said that Akkharawut had been cooperative with police in their investigation following a previous suicide attempt. Prawut said, “After giving his statements, he jumped off a building to kill himself out of distress and fear for prosecution.”
The Speaker recently interviewed Dr Shane Gero, a marine biologist who has been studying sperm whales in the Caribbean for the past 10 years. We talked to Gero
Dr Shane Gero
about his research in Dominica as well as his current project, which represents many firsts in the science of sperm whale communication. Gero’s findings offer a greater understanding of what happens when sperm whales talk to each other.
The whales, Gero has found, are using language for many communicative purposes–including, it seems, greeting other whales using first and last names. Also, sperm whales from different parts of the world and from different social groups speak the differently. Not only do they speak their language differently, they also exhibit varying cultures depending on where they live and which social group they belong to.
“The focus of my study has been at the level of the individual whale.” Gero told us. “We’ve been able to follow these animals year after year–the same about two dozen families–some of them we’ve spent hundreds of hours wit.”
“We’ve collected a huge data set on who has spent time with who–but also, from a communications standpoint, who says what to whom. And that’s really a first: being able to look at individuals chatting with each other at a conversational level.
“This new study that’s happening in the next couple of years is, for the first time, going to be able to place those conversations into a context in the open ocean.”
The new project takes Gero’s previous decade of experience with sperm whales one step further, and will serve as a lead-up to a fuller understanding of what sperm whale language is.
“Previously we would record animals, and be able to figure out who was saying what, but we didn’t know where they were relative to each other, or the ‘when’ context… in terms of when they were actually talking to each other…
“We’ve done well in the last 10 years to answer the ‘who’ and the ‘what’ of these conversations. The ‘where’ and the ‘when’ are the subject of the current research. Hopefully this will lead us to one day answer the really interesting ‘why’ questions. ‘What are they saying to each other? What does it all mean?'”
Gero gave us some details about sperm whale society. These whales live in a hierarchical society, and spend their day to day life in what the researchers call “social units.” In Dominica, there are some 400 sperm whales, and all of them belong to one matriline–grandmothers, mothers and daughters–which spend their full lives together. The Dominica group spends most of their lives within 20 miles of the shore.
“These animals in the Caribbean are really island-associated animals,” said Gero of the group. “It’s really easy to call them families, because that’s what they are.”
“On the average day, there’s only one family off the coast of the island. But every now and again, two families will join up and spend anywhere from a few hours to a few days together socializing.
When talking about language, Gero told us that we must keep in mind that sperm whale language is very different from human language–and is also different from the language of other whales–including the language of the more familiar humpback whale.
“Language is a big question. Language comes with syntax and it comes with meaning and orders, and we haven’t figured all that out yet. But what we do know is that sperm whales use a system of clicks to communicate with each other.
“It’s kind of like Morse code. So, some calls sound like this: ‘tap-tap-taptaptap,’ where others sound like this: ‘taptaptaptaptaptaptap.’ And different rhythms are used at different times. Animals exchange these back and forth, kind of like you would using Morse code.”
Sperm whales throughout the world exhibit common features of communication, but also exhibit variation, Gero explained. The variation seemingly depends on the geographic origin of a particular whale, among other factors, and serves the whales as a social marker.
“So, what’s interesting about variation in the world is that animals in the Caribbean sound different from animals in the Mediterranean, and they sound different from animals in the Gulf of Mexico and so on.
“At least in the Atlantic, it seems like it’s geographic. So all the animals in the Caribbean sound very similar, but they sound different from the animals in the Med–that sound very similar.
“But in the Pacific it’s different. In the Pacific you actually have different sperm whale dialects living in the same area. So some of the animals off the Galapagos sound one way, and some of the animals sound differently. But what’s really neat about that is that they seem to use these dialects to segregate their society.
“So as a whale that means making a certain type of coda,” said Gero. Codas are patterns of clicks used by whales to communicate.
Gero offered an example of the individuals that live in these segregated sperm whale groups. “I only spend time with animals that make that same sound. It would be similar to living in a multi-cultural country like Canada or the United States, but then only socializing with anyone who speaks the same language as you.”
“In the Caribbean we hear a lot of a one-plus-one-plus-three coda. So it sound like this: ‘tap-tap-taptaptap.’ And that’s the only place that it’s been recorded–in the Caribbean. And all the animals make it very similarly. So, we think that it acts as a marker of ‘I’m from the Caribbean.’ Whereas in the eastern tropical Pacific, the Galapagos, the coast of Chile and Ecuador–there are several different coda repertoires.”
Gero contrasted this five-part coda with the five-part codas used by other whales around the world.
“One of the groups makes very regularly timed codas. So, they’ll make a five-regular, which is five clicks that are very evenly spaced, so it sounds something like this: ‘tap-tap-tap-tap-tap.’ And they also make a six-regular and a seven-regular, and so on.
“But then there’s another dialect that’s all plus-one. So, rather than making a five-regular, they would make a four-plus-one, which sounds like this: ‘taptaptaptap-tap.’ And they also make a five-plus-one and a six-plus-one and so on.
Gero and his fellow researchers assume that the whales are using their calls to identify themselves on a first and last name basis. The assumption is based on the common usage of a one-plus-one-plus-three coda in a similar way, while each individual whale uses a five-R in a slightly different way. “It seems as though they sort of have this nested, hierarchical recognition, so there seems to be the five-R coda, which you hear everywhere in the world.”
Gero then explained the first names.
“It has the variability to function as an individual identifier,” said Gero. “It’s potentially used to mark differences between individuals. So if you’re looking within an family, you can actually tell the individuals apart by how they make that coda. So its kind of like a first name. And, at least in the Caribbean, it seems that they use different codas that are all four clicks in length, but each family unit has a different four click coda. So that’s sort of like a last name. And then we know for sure that the animals in the animals in the Caribbean use the one-plus-one-plus-three, and that’s the only place that has been recorded. So we think that it probably functions in a way of marking their geographic origin or their cultural group–the vocal dialect that they have. So they have this nested kind of first name-last name cultural group.
“In the same way, I would say that my first name is Shane, my last name is Gero, and I come from Canada.”
Gero told The Speaker that testing the function of these calls is a matter of his current research. They are looking at how the animals use the calls and when they use them. The whales may use the calls like the bottlenose dolphins being studied by the Sea Mammal Research unit at the University of St Andrews, which have been observed exchanging their calls when meeting at sea. “They actually say, ‘Hey it’s me’–‘Oh, hey, it’s you. Great,'” commented Gero.
Sperm whales not only vary in the languages they speak, they vary culturally based on what group they live among.“And the neatest part about them is that these vocal clans–these whale cultural groups that use these different dialects–don’t only segregate their society socially, but they also behave differently. They have different movement patterns and different foraging habits and reproductive success, as it turns out. And so they really are really equatable to human ethnic groups.”
When we asked Gero about whether different codas were used by the animals to represent various parts of their lives, he gave us an idea of where his research was headed.
“That’s really what I’m studying in Dominica, because it’s the first time we’ve been able to follow families over such a long period of time, and hear them communicate with each other in different contexts.”
Although the “why” of sperm whale calls is a matter of Gero’s future research, he was willing to offer some educated guesses.
“The ocean is mostly a dark space on a big-area scale of thousands of square kilometers in which there is not a lot of stuff. And the most important thing that you have with you is your family members. And so, keeping track of where your family members are as individuals–whether it’s your mom or your baby-sitter or your aunt or your grandmother–is important.
“But then even more importantly, its critical to figure out what family you’re coming up on. So if one family is swimming north and the other family is swimming south, they need to figure before it’s too late whether or not they want to spend time with each other or avoid each other, and whether or not they recognize that family group.
“So having that layer of recognition to recognize individuals and families and the society that they come from is really important when you live in a vast, dark ocean,” said Gero.
This has a lot to do with feeding habits, explained Gero.
“Sperm whales feed on squid, and squid is very patchily distributed in the ocean. And so, you don’t want to spend time in a bigger group with animals that you don’t know, in order to deplete that resource. So, we know that sperm whales–at least on the day to a week scale–travel around basically following the squid that they’re trying to eat. And so, in order to maximize the amount of food you get, you want to minimize the amount of animals that are eating that patch of squid.
“So, it’s important to find out who is there in order to maximize your foraging success in some respects.”
Tag developers Mark Johnson (right) and Peter Tyack (left) with the DTAG. (WHOI)
“D-tags were pioneered out of Woods Hole Oceanographic in the US. They are being heavily used at [Gero’s] lab at Aarhus University,” Gero told us.
“Basically, they’re about the size of your cell phone. And it works like your cell phone in some respects. It can measure the 3-d movement. So, it’s kind of like if you’re looking at a picture on your phone, and you turn your phone sideways: the picture orients itself and gets bigger. That’s because the phone knows that it’s being turned sideways. And these tags know that as well. So, we get 3-dimensional fine-scale movement by putting them out on the animal.
“But they also have two little microphones at the front, so we also get really high-resolution stereo sound.
Tagging of a Whale using a cantilever pole.
“The tags get deployed with a really long pole, and they stick to the whales with four small suction cups. So they don’t implant into the whale. You basically poke the animal with a long stick, and the suction cups stick onto the back of the animal, and then they can last for about two days. And then they computer inside tells the suction cups it’s time to release, and it lets a little bit of water into the suction cup and the suction cup falls off, and the tag floats back to the surface.
“And then it has a little VHS transmitter in it, and that allows us to track it down. Just as other biologists in Africa tracking lions or elephants would.
“And what this gives us, if we put out three of them at the same time, or five of them at the same time on a family of whales… If the family of whales is only seven animals, we get all the relative positions of all the adult females in the family. And so we get all of the exchanges of the calls between them as well. So we know that Pinchy–a female–just dove and has left her calf, Tweak, at the surface, and is now calling to Fingers, whose coming back up from the deep, and so it gives us not only the context but also what they’re saying to each other.
“And the context is really important. So now we know that it’s a mother diving, leaving her baby at the surface, and communicating with the primary baby-sitter.
“And so its a lot easier to interpret what the meaning of that conversation was, because we know all of this background information about the animals, and now we know the physical relative position of them when they’re talking with each other.”
To be continued…
Look forward to part two of this interview, in which Dr Gero explains the dangers and concerns facing sperm whales and other marine life in our increasingly trafficked oceans.
Dr Shane Gero completed his doctoral studies at Dalhousie University, Canada, and is currently an FNU Research Fellow at Aarhus University in Denmark. Gero splits his time between Dr. Peter Madsen’s Marine Bioacoustics Lab in Denmark, his human family in Canada, and the sperm whale community off the island of Dominica in the Caribbean.
Photos: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Three Fish Sleeping, Jessie Hodge, Flying Kiwi Tours, Bing, Chelsea Leven
Although the head of the Russian occupation administration in Crimea has stated that the international community would recognize Crimea when US President Barack Obama left office, the US Committee on Foreign Affairs passed the “Crimea Annexation Non-Recognition Act” Friday with a unanimous vote.
The act is modeled on a similar non-recognition policy that was enacted to deal with the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states, and is based on the Stimson Doctrine, which holds that the US will never recognize any territorial changes that have been achieved solely by force.
Bill HR 5121, the “Crimea Annexation Non-recognition Act,” was drafted by Representatives Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA) and Steve Chabot (R-OH), and prohibits any recognition by the US government in law or practice of any sovereignty over Crimea by Russia, including airspace and territorial waters.
It also requires that “no Federal department or agency may take any action or extend any assistance that recognizes or implies recognition of the de jure or de facto sovereignty of the Russian Federation over Crimea, its airspace, or its territorial waters.”
The bill provides for presidential oversight, although in special circumstances. The waiver included in the bill reads, “The President may waive [the above legislation] if the President determines that it is vital to the national security interests of the United States to do so.”
The head of the Russian occupation, Sergey Aksyonov, while claiming that the international community would come to recognize Crimea as legally Russia’s, also stated that “all of the anti-Russian policy of the last two or three years” would disappear with the end of Obama’s term.
Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind), who brought the bill to the Senate in April, wrote that the bill would “ensure that the United States does not recognize Russian sovereignty over Crimea nor take any action that would imply such recognition. A policy of non-recognition will communicate the seriousness of this situation and help reassure our allies and friends precariously placed on Russia’s borders that Putin must stop his aggression.
“My proposal would also prohibit the United States from financing or guaranteeing investments in Crimea with Russia as an intermediary and restrict foreign aid to countries that recognize Russian sovereignty over Crimea,” wrote Coats.
Nearly five million people living illegally in the United States will be able to avoid deportation under reforms on immigration policy declared by US President Barack Obama this week. According to the president’s announcement, unregistered parents of American citizens will be granted legal residency as well as the ability to work in the US for three years. This move will affect parents who have lived in the United States for at least five years–an estimated 4.4 million people–although it will not permit them US citizenship.
In a televised speech, Obama invited illegal immigrants to come out of the shadows and receive legal rights. The move was immediately challenged by Republicans, who alleged that taking such step without congressional endorsement exceeded the presidential authority.
Speaker John Boehner warned that Obama would exceed his powers if he went ahead with his plans on immigration, and Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) said the measures would aggravate the problem of illegal immigration in the US.
US president also vowed to take resolute action to combat illegal immigration at the border. He emphasized the necessity to check undocumented migrants for criminality, and to make sure migrants payed taxes. He stated that deportations would focus on criminals, not families or kids, gang members and not mothers who were trying to help their children.
Obama Said, “If you are a criminal, you will be deported. If you are planning to enter the United States illegally, opportunities to catch you and deportations back to your country have increased.”
A top official in US Administration pointed that the plan reflects the recommendations of the Internal Security Minister and Justice Minister on what the president could do under current US laws. Obama had vowed for months to take action on immigration after Congress hampered his comprehensive immigration in 2013. The bill passed the Senate but died in the House.
There are currently about 11 million undocumented illegal immigrants residing in the United States. Obama commented on this group, saying that trying to deport all 11 million was not realistic. The president commented on the struggle of the illegals to avoid deportation.
“I’ve seen the heartbreak and anxiety of children whose mothers might be taken away from them just because they didn’t have the right papers,” said Obama.
The president said that he would sign the bill, however, to ensure a compromise on the contentious issue of immigration. Obama addressed his detractors by stating, “And to those members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better, or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer: Pass a bill.”
Engineer Alain Thebault is aiming at a new record. The sailboat designer, who began his career as a teenager wanting to build a boat that would fly, has previously set the sailing speed record with his Hydrofoil, which achieved 50 knots average speed (95km/h) in 2009. Thebault is aiming for a much higher sail speed, and he aims to do it by sailing at four times the speed of wind–something that has never been done before.
Thebault’s new project is the Hydroptere Rocket. Thebault teamed with an Aeronautics engineer-led group under Philippe Perrier of Dassault Aviation and Maurice Prat of Airbus to launch the iDroptere, a glider boat which aims to push the absolute sailing speed record to 80 knots (150 km/h).
Assembly of the iDroptere Rocket has begun in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez.
“This is great news!” said Thebault. “We look forward to attending the launch of Hydroptere Rocket in the Mediterranean. Our first objective will be sailing between Lausanne and Geneva for Syz and Co Sailing Speed Records, and between Hyères and La Ciotat to climb the wall of 80 knots under sail!”
“My interest in this is to do some things that nobody has done before,” said Perrier. “Basically, hydrodynamics and aerodynamics are quite the same. The main difference is density of water, which is 800 time the one of air. But, when you go to high speed, some differences may appear.”
“In the air, you have the speed of sound, which is the sound barrier, and this creates different phenomena as the plane is pushing its noise and its perturbation in front of it. This changes completely the way it behaves.”
“The speed of sound in water is very high, so nobody will ever get it.”
“But there is another phenomenon, which is called ‘cavitation.’ At the upper side of the foil in the water you get such low pressure that the water starts to uprise, and when this starts to occur–it starts around 40-45 knots, it takes place more around 50 knots, and when you up to 55 knots, you can consider that all the upper side of the foil doesn’t work anymore in the water, but it works in the vapor of water.”
“And this changes completely the behavior in a way that is comparable to sonic and supersonic differences in aerodynamics.”
“We consider that in order to go at more than 65 knots, we must try to do it with a lower speed of wind. That means that our goal is to get 80 knots with only 20 knots of wind.”
“That means that the speed of the boat is four times the speed of the wind. This has never been done before.”
A foil that is capable of working efficiently at over 80 knots is one of the challenges the team faces, Perrault said, and referred to technical engineering partnerships the group has made, which has given them confidence that the goal is achievable.
Photo-reportage by Spanish photojournalist César Dezfuli and journalist colleague María Sanz takes us into the lives of Uruguayans dispossessed by the floods that occurred in the south of the country this month–and specifically into the city of Colonia del Sacramento, where 150 families had to be evacuated. The area suffers flooding regularly, and the impoverished residents, who also suffer social exclusion, are the most affected. This community of Uruguayans waits to be relocated by the local government into houses which are owned by a Finnish paper company, but since they were first promised three years ago that they would be moved to new houses nothing has happened, although the government knows they are living in a flood area.
This story, beyond being a natural disaster, illustrates a particular case of exclusion of the right to housing.
“Tonight I can finally get back to my palace,” said Claudia Machado with an ironic smile, standing on the back of a Uruguayan Army truck. She is a victim of a flood that forced more than 150 people to evacuate Oct. 29 in Colonia del Sacramento, a city by the Río de la Plata in southern Uruguay.
Claudia was among last of the evacuees returning to her home in Villa Ferrando, a squatter settlement in the suburbs of Colonia. This area was one of the most damaged by the rains due to the swelling of La Caballada, a stream close by the place where the houses were built.
Most of the residents in Villa Ferrando found shelter in the Campus Municipal, the sports center in Colonia. Two days later, in the early morning, they returned to their houses under a darkened sky reflecting the threat of another storm.
The houses were not in proper condition, so no one should have spend another night there. However, the residents had been asked to leave their temporary refuge in the sports center. Some of them were happy to be back home, and others guessed that they had been forced to go because there was a football match that day and the visitor’s team needed the Campus Municipal to sleep.
Many of the people in Villa Fernando had to face the heavy damage caused by the storm when they arrived home: destroyed ceilings, houses flooded with mud, moldy walls, unusable furniture and appliances… Dripping clothes and drenched mattresses were hanging on ropes to dry in the sun.
By the door of her empty place, one of the closest houses to the river, Marta explained how the stream reached the two-room house where she lived with her whole family. “It was all under water–you couldn’t see that curve on the river there, it was all covered with water. The house started to get flooded and we all had to get away,” she said.
Neighbors made an inventory of losses and recalculated how long it will take them to recover what had been damaged. “At home we had a fridge, a washing-machine… My husband and I are working, and it takes us more than one year to pay the fees on everything,” explained Ana Acosta, spokeswoman of the slum. “Our appliances are ruined and no one is accepting that responsibility. We have to start again, and again, and again… because this is not the first flood we are suffering.”
Acosta works in a retirement home in the city, but most of her neighbors confess that they live off “changas”–irregular, sporadic jobs–just to survive. “It’s really hard to get regular employment, because when you say you live in Villa Ferrando, you are automatically discriminated and employers don’t call you anymore,” she revealed.
Her parents, who are already retired, have been living in this very same place for decades. They remember at least one similar flood in 2007, although they state it did not damage as many houses as this last one did. “The stream was huge. It was just impressive,” said Acosta.
According to Omar Espinosa, another resident, recent swells had been caused by the work on the upper side of the river course, destined to create a new quarry for the company Arenera Colonia. Curiously enough, the neighborhood was named after the founder of this enterprise, Santiago Ferrando, who had been dedicated to sand extraction in the area.
“When they started the excavations to extract more sand in the upper part of the stream, a wider water flow began to go down the river, so this area is now more likely to get flooded,” warned Espinosa. “If the lower part of the stream would get drained, the river would get deeper and be less likely to overflow,” he thought.
Omar, a 60-year-old evangelical priest, works in the building sector. He has lived in the shanty town of Villa Ferrando for more than twenty years with his wife, Suly Roldán, and their offspring, which includes 27 grandchildren. As a missionary, he had traveled to faraway places: Peru, Southern Korea, Angola… until he settled down in Colonia to go on with his preachment. To him, successive floods are “God’s challenges,” and he faces them with faith and a fighting spirit. He himself built up the walls of his precarious home, which has electricity and is open to everyone else in the neighborhood.
Outside, in the huge puddle that grows with every new rainfall, one of Omar’s grandchildren played in the silt wearing big rubber boots. Behind the house, survivors of the disaster were looking for shelter: some hens, some dogs, but no pigs. In addition to the objects and the scarce goods in the houses, the rains had taken a big part of the food and the livelihood of the slum inhabitants.
“If your house gets flooded, you have to run away. You resist until the last moment, trying to save some of your things, but when you are up to your neck in water, material things are not so important,” explained Alba Machado while cleaning her muddy home in the dark, suddenly brightened by lightning. She was so convinced of her indifference toward material goods that some years ago she moved from her house to the slum, following her partner. He died some time ago, a victim of a lung disease. Obviously life conditions at the slum would not have contributed to his recovery.
Waiting for a place to call home
Villa Ferrando’s inhabitants have been waiting for some years for their relocation, given that they occupy a zone close to a stream, and that the authorities are trying to finish with shanty towns in the area. Uruguay’s Housing Ministry (MVOTMA) and Social Development Ministry (Mides), in collaboration with Colonia’s local government, are working together to provide the 270 slum families with safe houses equipped with all supplies.
The aim is to relocate the families in different areas in the city in order to make the community become more “integrated into society,” according to public servants in the MVOTMA headquarters in Colonia.
One of these areas would be the neighborhood built three years ago by the Chilean-Finnish paper company Montes del Plata to host the employees working on the construction of the plant destined to become a paper mill. Now that the job is finished, furniture and other comfort supplies are being removed in order to “make houses match with the families’ profiles,” explained staff at MVOTMA.
The local government wants to give the houses to all their occupants at the same time, but Villa Ferrando’s inhabitants are not satisfied with this measure. “Here we have some families with children, with elderly people…Families who live at the river bank and have to deal with the risk of a new flooding… And we want these families to be relocated first, because their situation is much more urgent. The houses are already built, but they remain empty,” Ana Acosta stated.
It never rains but it pours inside the houses, and people in the slum calculate how many spring and summer weeks are left. They do not talk about seasons anymore, but about chance of rain. Resignation sticks out. “We have no more hope to have a home,” says Amelio, another neighbor. “All politicians came here before election day to ask for our votes. That is when they care about us). They all make promises, but then they never keep their word,” he complains.
According to Uruguay’s National Statistical Institute (INE), in 2011 there were 165.271 people living in slums in the country, the global population of which is just over three million inhabitants. The number of people living in slums lowered 8 percent between 2006 and 2011, and the total of irregular housing settlements reported around the country fell 11 percent, according to the data provided by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
It is considered that 5 percent of Uruguayans currently live in shanty towns, while more than 30 percent of the houses in the country do not have access to water and sewerage. The Frente Amplio, a left-wing political party which has governed the country since 2005 and represents the option with more chances to win the upcoming November 30th elections, stated that more than 400 million Uruguayan pesos (approximately 13.28 million euros) would be invested in 2014 in a special program for informal housing settlements.
At the same time, the opposition party, the Partido Nacional, second in number of votes in the first-round elections day held on October 26th, has proposed a strategy to achieve the goal of a country without slums. They promise to “relocate people living in slums, especially those groups located in highly polluted areas or in zones that are more likely to be flooded.”
What Villa Ferrando is asking the candidates of any party for is support before they become abandoned and forgotten. “We want them to be a little bit more concerned about us. We are not here in the slum by choice, but because we are needy people,” said a neighbor while she walked by. But her voice was lost in the sounds of the thunderstorm that was getting ever closer.
in the Southeastern Asia country, it did serve to highlight the dire need of the country to clean up it’s drinking water after decades of inner turmoil.
filter uses sand and gravel to remove up to 99 percent of the bacteria and protozoa in the water which is poured into it. “Water for Cambodia has adopted a Biosand filter which provides safe drinking water to the rural population,” said Emmel. “By the end of 2014 we will have installed over 14,000 filters reaching out to at least 84,000 individuals.”
“And the neatest part about them is that these vocal clans–these whale cultural groups that use these different dialects–don’t only segregate their society socially, but they also behave differently. They have different movement patterns and different foraging habits and reproductive success, as it turns out. And so they really are really equatable to human ethnic groups.”
