The Speaker News Journal

The language of sperm whales: Interview with Dr Shane Gero part 1

December 2, 2014November 24, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

Share this

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 interview with The Speaker — 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.”

In order to study the language of sperm whales, Gero and his team use animal-borne sound and movement tags–technology from Dr. Peter Madsen’s world-leading Marine Bioacoustics Lab.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution — 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 Northern Right Whale in the Bay of Fundy using a cantilever pole. — 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

Russia: “West will recognize Crimea after Obama,” US unanimously passes “Non-Recognition Act”

November 29, 2014November 22, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

Share this

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.

By James Haleavy

China $12bn deal for Nigerian coast railway–China’s biggest overseas contract

November 29, 2014November 22, 2014 by Sid Douglas

Share this

A railway stretching over 850 miles (1,400 km) along the Nigerian coast is being taken on by China. Chinese officials announced this week that the $12bn contract was China’s biggest ever overseas contract.

The project is being undertaken by China Civil Engineering Group Co., Ltd. (CCECC), a subsidiary of China Railway Construction Corporation Limited. The railway will cross 10 Nigerian states, including NIgeria’s oil-producing delta, and will include 22 railway stations. The train will be designed for speeds of 120 km/h.

Officials at CCECC have said that the line could eventually be included in the proposed ECOWAS Railway, that would link the entire economic community of western African states.

Africa has seen uninterrupted growth for almost two decades. China, with a cooling domestic economy, is taking on infrastructure in Africa’s developing regions. In order to help African nations pay for the projects, China is launching new financing plans.

Transportation projects are among the biggest sectors for Chinese investment, although well below energy projects.

Analysts have noted that these transportation projects often connect inland regions to the coast, drawing obvious comparisons to China’s own three-decade growth boom, which began with the development of coastal manufacturing hubs served by ports that transported goods between China and the rest of the world.

The massive reserves accumulated by China during its growth are now being used to bankroll similar development outside its borders.

While economic expansion in the developing world is increasing demand for infrastructure–the value of which has been estimated as high as $78 trillion by 2025–this growth is expected to be funded by public finance groups such as the World Bank and its upstart rival the Asian Development Bank, as well as by private investment.

China announced last month that it would join BRICS countries to form the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which will serve 20 other Asian countries. Chinese officials said that China would pay half of the funding for the bank’s $50 billion start.

China also announced this month $40 billion in funding for the Silk Road project that will connect major Asian cities and break the “connectivity bottleneck” in the region.

China currently holds more reserves than any other country–$3.8 trillion. China holds eight times as much reserves as the US, and three times as much as Japan, the next largest holder. China’s reserves have been sharply and steadily increasing since the early 2000s.

By Sid Douglas

Photo: China Civil Engineering Group Co., Ltd.

Obama Intends to Regularize Status of Millions of Illegal Immigrants in America

December 13, 2014November 21, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

Obama Intends to Regularize Status of Millions Illegal Immigrants in America

Share this

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.”

By Ahmed Kotb

Thebault to shoot for new sail speed record with Hydroptere Rocket

January 26, 2021November 21, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

Share this

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: Hydroptere

Hydroptere

The Uruguayan puddle that never dries up – Photo-reportage by César Dezfuli and María Sanz

November 25, 2014November 21, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

Share this

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.

César Dezfuli and María Sanz

A first-hand account of South Sudan’s IDP camps: “What is our fate? We are suffering all kinds of sickness, insecurity, and all kinds of violence”

November 21, 2014November 20, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

A South Sudanese writes What is our fate We are suffering all kinds of sickness, insecurity, and all kinds of violence (5)

Share this

In this captivating first hand account of the situation in South Sudan’s IDP camps, South Sudanese Assistant Director for Information and Media at the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, Afayoa Richard Metaloro, details the actuality of life in the camps, their problems, and some of the measures currently being taken and proposed as solutions for the gender based violence and other issues that plague the lives of residents there.

The camps were set up by the United Nations and other international aid groups to shelter and provide basic human requirements to South Sudanese and others who were displaced by the civil conflict that has raged in the country since Dec. 2013.

Some 30,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are being protected by the United Nations in the nations capital, Juba, and 100,000 live in Protection of Civilians (PoC) camps nationwide.

The humanitarian situation across the entire nation of South Sudan remains “dire,” according to the UN. To date, almost 2 million people have been displaced in a nation of 11.3 million. Of those, 1.35 have been displaced internally, while approximately 500,000 have relocated to neighboring countries.

We want to go home whether there is peace or not in South Sudan. The government and rebels must know that they are also citizens of South Sudan, thus deserve equal rights. South Sudanese IDPs are in despair!

In my visit to the IDP camps in Juba–Protection of Civilians (PoC) camps–the IDPs there expressed the bitterness of their situations living in the PoCs, saying that whether there is peace or not, they are eager to move out of the Pocs! To where? Is it safe out there? And who to depend on remained a big and challenging question to all the humanitarian actors working in South Sudan. The living conditions of the IDP’s living in the camps has remained a very big challenge, as the situation has pushed them deep into the misery from where recovery is difficult if not impossible. They are cut off from carrying out livelihood activities, despite the efforts of the humanitarian community in the emergency response to attempt to save lives.

This however, came after several clashes that occurred between the IDP communities within the PoCs, shortages of funding from the donors to the NGOs that led to the cut off of some services, denial by agencies to register new arrivals, incidents of sexual harassment of women and girls by members of various groups such as the UN and and other NGOs, armed groups and the IDP communities within the camps, lack of effective representation for the voice of the voiceless, etc.

The government, since the fighting broke out in South Sudan on Dec.15, 2013, payed little attention to the needs of the IDPs living in camps, yet it is a constitutional mandate that a sovereign state ensures the protection and service provision of the affected population in times of civil conflict. Surprisingly, little was done by the government, which pretends to implementing the international humanitarian law despite the huge challenges encountered by humanitarian agencies in delivering humanitarian assistance to needy people. These barriers to assistance include impediments to access the target people, road blocks that charge huge amounts of cash, rape cases, ill treatment and detentions, and kidnapping and looting of humanitarian items. It is not as if these problems make up the only observations in the humanitarian intervention; the worst case scenarios have been practiced by the rebel side, where there has been a very large number of children abducted for child-soldier recruitment, as well as massacres of innocent lives, arbitrary arrests, detentions, etc.

The needed response

Many of the threats to women and girls highlighted by assessment participants can and should be mitigated by the humanitarian response. It is the obligation of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and other humanitarian actors to ensure that relief services are not only not harmful, but are also proactive in their interventions to alleviate risks and make the camps a safer environment for women, girls, boys and men.

As the cooks, cleaners, and caretakers of the family, women and girls ensure lifesaving relief services are used at the household level. The humanitarian community is doing a disservice to families, if relief interventions do not fully incorporate in their lifesaving activities the safety issues that women and girls face as they carry out their essential contribution to their family’s well-being and health.

To overcome barriers in the community that prevent survivors from seeking services and to ensure that survivors feel welcome to seek assistance from the available services, outreach and awareness is important.

Awareness, however, is not enough to encourage survivors to report. GBV and health service providers need to build trust, and therefore must demonstrate that they support the interests of survivors. It is essential that they make concerted efforts to respect survivors by talking with them and listening to their needs and wishes. Confidentiality must be respected. All efforts should be made to ascertain the safest options for survivors before and during interventions to meet their needs for protection and efforts to access justice. Simultaneously, it is necessary to work with the community to change attitudes and practices that stigmatize survivors and create barriers for them to seek help and justice through extended social mobilization and awareness campaigns.

Read more: South Sudanese Propose “Reconciling Many Truths” to End Crisis, Form One Acceptable Narrative

Change has started but vigilance needs to be sustained

According to the camp managers, an assessment was conducted, and the humanitarian response began to mitigate some risks in ways that will have a positive impact on the safety of women and girls. A new extension has been opened and two-thirds of the population has moved to new residential areas that have been designed to be less congested and to ensure that access to essential infrastructures is more evenly balanced. Congestion and overcrowding has been the underlying factor in many of the risks of gender based violence (GBV) in the original PoC (tight alleys, hidden dark spaces, difficult access to latrines and water, crowded markets, etc).

Other improvements that can potentially lower risks of GBV have also started, according to the camps’ managers. The structures of the latrines in the new site are more private and safe. A water pipeline is being constructed to provide clean water directly to the site, which will mean that women do not have to take risks when getting water, because there will better quantity and reliable schedules. Handheld torches have been distributed to all households and streetlights are being purchased for installation. Activities targeting adolescent boys and girls are starting. A women’s committee has been formed. United Nations Police (UNPOL) conducts daily patrols and investigates offences agsinst the general public. A holding center is now operational to separate offenders of major public offences, such as rape, according to camp managers in the PoCs. Despite all these improvements claimed by the camp managers, it still has not restored the hope of the IDP community to believe that they can live in safety and move out of the PoCs to their desired locations.

By Afayoa Richard Metaloro

Photos: European Commission DG ECHO, United Nations Photo, Oxfam East Africa, Arsenie Coseac

Afayoa Richard Metaloro is the assistant director for Information and Media in the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission. He was born in South Sudan in 1986 and lived with his family in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia as refugees of the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005). Metaloro completed his education in Mass Communication in Kampala and worked as editor and administrator at South Sudan’s electronic news portal, Sudan Tribune.

Debate heats up on EU plastic bags ban law

March 8, 2015November 20, 2014 by Annalisa Dorigo

Share this

In April this year the EU passed a new piece of legislation aiming to halve use of thin plastic bags in the EU by 2017, compared to 2010 levels, with a further reduction target of 80% by 2019. In implementing the directive, member states are given the flexibility to decide whether to ban, tax or charge for thin plastic bags in order to achieve the targets.

The law only applies to thin, mostly single-use bags, with the ticker, sturdier plastic bags, which shops normally charge for, not currently being affected. However, a bone of contention at the moment is the use of Oxo-biodegradable bags. The issue revolves around their real versus claimed biodegradability, and therefore environmental impact, and whether they should be part of the accepted mix or just banned outright.

Oxo-biodegradable is used to describe bags made of a type of plastic containing specific oxidizing additives which cause it to fragment into tiny particles. The term however suggests that such plastic bio-degrades, when in reality it just breaks down into smaller fragments which still remain in the environment, albeit invisibly.

Some member states, notably Italy, want to see their outright ban, while others, notably Britain, are not so keen. Here such bags are marketed by UK Symphony Environmental, which says they are safe. The Oxo-biodegradable Plastics Association (OPA), speaking on behalf of Symphony Environmental, claims that a proposed ban on Oxo-biodegradable plastic is the result of lobbying by an Italian company with links to the Italian government, and that such a company has a completely bio-degradable alternative on the market, which they are keen to promote.

Clearly many interests are at stake here. It remains to be seen whether science will prevail in the negotiations.

In the meantime, some member states have already been proactive on this plastic bag matter for some time. In Ireland a 15 cent tax on plastic bags was introduced in 2002, and saw plastic bag usage decrease from an estimated 328 to 21 per head almost overnight. The current levy stands at 22 cent per bag, and was introduced in 2007 to bring usage down again after it had raised to 31 bags per head.

Denmark introduced a tax in 2003 on retailers giving out plastic bags, to encourage their charging customers for it, and promote reusable bags. At four bags per head per year as of 2014 (versus 466 in Portugal, Slovakia and Poland) Denmark has the lowest per head plastic bag use compared to any other country in Europe.

France also recently followed suit, with a proposed ban of all thin, single use non-biodegradable plastic bags from supermarkets from 2016, and a proposed use of thicker reusable or paper bags being debated in Parliament this year. The measure is an evolution from a previous voluntary scheme that saw the number of plastic bags distributed by supermarkets drop from 10.5bn to 700m between 2002 and 2011. If approved, the legislation could go even further with a ban on disposable plastic cutlery and crockery also, by 2020.

By Annalisa Dorigo

Hailstones Are Formed by Biological Material – Conclusive Evidence by MSU Environmental Scientists

January 26, 2021November 18, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

Share this

Montana State University environmental scientists have found conclusive evidence that hailstones originate in biological material. MSU researcher Alex Michaud turned travesty into understanding by peeling back the onionlike layers of the crystalline compositions he collected from the Bozeman and two other Rocky Mountain hailstorms, and the results promise to increase our understanding of the role of aerosol particles in atmospheric condensation and, as a part of the bigger picture, improve our model inputs to the Earth’s energy balance.

“A hailstone is a very complex weather phenomenon, Alex Michaud, MSU doctoral student and first author of the paper, told The Speaker. “It can tell us a lot about the properties of the clouds in which it was formed.”

Michaud, who normally studies Antarctic microorganisms, took up the subject of hailstones after storms pummeled Bozeman and other parts of southwest Montana in 2010.

“While they cause lots of damage there are many things to be learned from hailstones. They’re more than just a clump of ice falling from the sky,” Michaud told us.

“This is the first paper to really show that biological material makes hailstones,” commented John Priscu, a polar scientist and professor at MSU’s Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, with whom Michaud regularly works and who coauthored the report. “Despite the millions in dollars of damage the storm caused in Bozeman, the damaging hailstones provided us with a better understanding of hailstone formation, which will help us understand the role of aerosol particles in the formation of precipitation.”

After the Montana storm, Michaud collected and stored hailstones–averaging 1.5 inches in diameter. He also collected hailstones from two other local storms that year and the next.

Michaud peeled back the crystalline layers of the hailstones and found that they had formed around a biological embryo.

“We can assume–quite safely, except maybe in the dead of winter–that biological material is constantly being taken up into the air,” said Michaud. “Many surfaces give off biological material such as leaf surfaces, lakes, oceans, animals, my dandruff, etc. They are emitting bacteria, fungal spores, detritus, and so forth.”

Michaud elaborated to explain that biological material in the air was not the only thing required to create hailstones.

“Certainly the atmospheric and meteorological conditions need to fit a certain set of conditions in order for a hailstorm to occur and produce hailstones. These particular conditions are best answered by a meteorologist, but suffice it to say that you need a very strong thunderstorm conditions to generate a hailstorm. So not all biological material turns into hail because meteorological conditions need to be appropriate to support hailstone formation.”

In his research, Michaud was also able to gauge the temperatures at which the hailstone embryos formed by analyzing stable isotopes in water. The temperatures at which hail froze were warm, Michaud found.

“Warm freezing temperatures–warm, sub-zero temperatures–is indicative of ice nuclei that are efficient at catalyzing ice nucleation. Water needs a template or a nucleus in order to form an ice crystal, only once water reaches ~-40C does it spontaneously freeze. So for something to freeze at warm subzero temperatures means that it provides a good template of an ice crystal, which is found in biological material much more often than abiotic–dust, minerals, etc–material.”

The study builds on previous findings that warm temperature ice nucleation indicated that biological material was likely the nuclei of hailstones.

Among past researchers in hailstones was Tina Santl Temkiv, a postdoctoral researcher at Aarhus University in Denmark, with whom Michaud consulted.

“It was very coincidental that she published two hailstone microbiology papers two years before me and we ended up at the same university for a few month,” said Michaud. “Plus, we are the only ones to work on hailstone microbiology since a 1973 paper in Nature.”

Michaud also said that hailstones were a nice model for studying atmospheric ice nucleation and cloud processes because of the way hailstones grow.

“Hail is a good model system for understanding precipitation formation and nucleation,” said Michaud. “We can trace the life history of a hailstone all the back to the part of the hailstone that was present when it was first started, the embryo. This ability to trace a hailstones life back to its beginnings, and those life history stages are layers of ice that can be peeled away–sort of like an onion–we can be more definitive in saying what was present when the embryo of the hailstone formed.”

Michaud explained to us how the new evidence could contribute to our understanding of the role of aerosol particles in the formation of precipitation.

“Aerosols are a broad term for any particle that is aloft in the atmosphere. These aerosol particles play a large role in reflecting solar energy and in cloud formation–which also reflects solar energy. So understanding how aerosols form precipitation and/or clouds will help with meteorological models and the earth’s energy balance.

“Certainly the last one is a bit of a stretch for my work, but knowing that biological ice nuclei are active in forming clouds and precipitation–rain, snow, and, now, hail–will improve the model inputs to earth’s energy balance. It’s a piece to a much bigger puzzle.”

Michaud was uncertain if the results would have any immediate practical implications.

“On improving our use of aerosol particles, I’m not too sure. In California they are trying to perform cloud seeding to increase snowpack in the Sierras to decrease drought conditions, which is through the use of particular aerosols. I don’t think I am qualified to speak to how we–the royal we, humans–can improve our use of aerosol particles.”

The report, “Biological ice nucleation initiates hailstone formation,” was authored by Alexander B. Michaud, John E. Dore, Deborah Leslie, W. Berry Lyons, David C. Sands andJohn C. Priscu, and was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Photo: Alex Michaud, Andrew Slaughter and Kelly Gorham, MSU

Indonesia Continues “Virginity Tests” for Female Police

November 19, 2014November 18, 2014 by Sid Douglas

Share this

The Indonesian government continues to conduct mandatory “virginity tests” on all female applicants to the country’s national police force, according to a recent report by Human Rights Watch. The longstanding practice continues in accordance with police regulations and despite claims by officials that the inspections–including the “two-finger test”–are no longer applied. Human Rights Watch in their report stated that this practice was in violation of international law, in addition to other criticisms.

“The Indonesian National Police’s use of ‘virginity tests’ is a discriminatory practice that harms and humiliates women,” said Nisha Varia, associate women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “Police authorities in Jakarta need to immediately and unequivocally abolish the test, and then make certain that all police recruiting stations nationwide stop administering it.”

The “virginity tests” take place as a matter of law, Human Rights Watch reported. Article 36 of the Chief Police Regulation No. 5/2009 on Health Inspection Guidelines for Police Candidates requires all female police academy applicants to undergo an examination for “obstetrics and gynecology.” This examination continues to include, according to senior police women interviewed by Human Rights Watch, a “virginity test,” and, according to interviews conducted in six major Indonesian cities in 2014, the test had been applied to all women who were in the academy.

The tests take place in violation of international law, Human Rights Watch alleged.

“’Virginity tests’ have been recognized internationally as a violation of human rights, particularly the prohibition against ‘cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment’ under article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and article 16 of the Convention against Torture, both of which Indonesia has ratified,” stated Human Rights Watch in their report.

The tests also contravene National Police principles, which state that recruitment must be “nondiscriminatory” and “humane.”

Indonesian officials have claimed that the tests are no longer applied. Other claims have been made that steps are being taken to remove the tests, but, according to Human Rights Watch, the rights group has seen little evidence that could support any such claim.

The National Police website continues to state, “In addition to the medical and physical tests, women who want to be policewomen must also undergo virginity tests. So all women who want to become policewomen should keep their virginity.”

Married women are ineligible for the police force.

Indonesia is not the only country with well-documented policies of “virginity tests.” Other nations known for the practice include Egypt, India and Afghanistan. Neither are “virginity tests” only conducted on police applicants in Indonesia; school girls are also subject to the tests, which Human Rights Watch have criticized as being not only discriminatory and degrading, but also subjective and unscientific.

“So-called virginity tests are discriminatory and a form of gender-based violence – not a measure of women’s eligibility for a career in the police,” Varia said. “This pernicious practice not only keeps able women out of the police, but deprives all Indonesians of a police force with the most genuinely qualified officers.”

By Sid Douglas

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaBFLwD934U#t=39″]VIDEO[/su_youtube]

Those Who Cook at Home Eat Better, Study Finds

November 21, 2014November 18, 2014 by Heidi Woolf

Those Who Cook at Home Found Eat Better - Report

Share this

After investigating the eating habits of thousands of Americans, one factor was found to account for a significant difference in the healthiness of Americans: cooking meals at home. In a recent study from Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, people who cooked meals at home were found to eat consume fewer calories, fat, sugar and carbohydrates.

“A difference of 150 calories per day over time can make a significant difference in dietary intake and health,” Julia Wolfson, MPP, PhD Candidate Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future-Lerner Fellow, and one of the authors of the study, told The Speaker.

And a difference of 150 calories per day was the finding. After analyzing data from over 9,000 participants aged 20 and older, the researchers found that when adults who cooked dinner once or less a week were compared with adults who cooked six to seven times a week, the people who cooked at home were eating a lot healthier. Those who cooked at home consumed 2,164 calories, 81 grams of fat and 119 grams of suger on average daily, while those who more often ate out consumed an average of 2,301 calories, 84 grams of fat and 135 grams of sugar.

“This difference indicates that a person who starts cooking more does not need to make drastic changes to their diet in order to see a beneficial impact, Wolfson told us. “These results show that just the act of cooking more frequently is associated with reduced intake of calories, fat, sugar and carbohydrates.”

The researchers also made other significant findings. Blacks were found to be more likely than whites to live in households where there was less home cooking, and individuals who worked over 35 hours per week outside the home were also found to cook less often at home.

“There are very real barriers to frequent cooking,” explained Wolfson. “Time constraints, cost of ingredients, resources and equipment to cook, and lack of access to fresh, healthy, and affordable ingredients. These barriers are more likely to impact lower-income populations, who… are more likely to be black.”

Americans are familiar with the 40 hour work week associated with full-time employment, but recent polls have found that full-time workers in the US actually work an average of 47 hours per week–and 40 percent of full-time workers work over 50 hours per week.

“Long work hours, inflexible schedules definitely make cooking very frequently more difficult for many people,” Wolfson told us. “Because encouraging more cooking at home has the potential to have a positive impact on obesity rates and diet quality, we need to find ways to support more frequent cooking at home. However, for those individuals for whom cooking at home is not feasible, we also need to invest in ways to make eating healthfully outside the home easier and more affordable.

“The most important takeaway is that more frequent cooking at home is associated with a healthier diet, regardless of whether one is trying to lose weight. If a person starts cooking more meals at home, they will be eating healthier by default.”

The report, “Is cooking at home associated with better diet quality or weight-loss intention?” was authored by Julia A. Wolfson and Dr Sara N. Bleich, an associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Bloomberg School, was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and was published in the journal Public Health Nutrition.

By Heidi Woolf

Photo: Ryan McVay

War Years Remembered, An Example of Selflessness

December 13, 2014November 18, 2014 by The Speaker Editors

Share this

Every once in a while you hear about acts of selflessness. They are one time acts of compassion and putting others before yourself. One such story of selflessness that has spanned over 40 years started when David McCallion’s Grandfather gave him his Princess Mary tin and belt. That became a lifelong passion, and now David McCallion is the founder and owner of a military museum located in Ballyclare, UK, called War Years Remembered.

The sole purpose of War Years Remembered, according to the website, is “to preserve our history through two of the greatest impacts on this Isle during the 21st Century, i.e. World War I and II.

“We represent all our war dead and the survivors from all nations involved. Through education and understanding of the mistakes made in the past, and hopefully it will prevent it from happening again in the future and leave a lasting legacy for all our future generations.” The stated mission of WYR is, according to McCallion, to “bring history alive for all generations, giving both young and old a greater understanding of life during all the conflicts both on the battle field and on the home front.”

The collection is now a mobile museum and McCallion tours it throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. He visits schools and participates in public events to give everyone a hands-on experience with history by touching and viewing the artifacts he has collected over the last 20 or so years.

In McCallion words, “Our past is their future and preservation is our goal, so that future generations will be able to benefit from the work that War Years Remembered has done through its restoration and preservation scheme. We are presently trying to secure a base museum which, with the right funding will be a very unique War Museum.”

War Years Remembered is not in competition with any other organization, WYR has stated. The predominate role of WYR is to fill in the blanks that are an important part of everyone’s heritage; it has supported other museums on this Isle and has been a very valuable teaching aide for schools and community groups in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

McCallion said that he is available for events, and is willing to talk to those interested in learning more about War Years Remembered. He can be contacted through the WYR website.

By Leslie Patterson