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The story of animal domestication retold: Scientists now think wild animals interbred with domesticated ones until quite recently (Science Daily)

19/04/2014UncategorizedAnimais, Domesticação dos animais, Interação humanos-animaisrenzotaddei

Date: April 17, 2014

Source: Washington University in St. Louis

Summary: A review of recent research on the domestication of large herbivores suggests that neither intentional breeding nor genetic isolation were as significant as traditionally thought. “Our findings show little control of breeding, particularly of domestic females, and indicate long-term gene flow, or interbreeding, between managed and wild animal populations,” a co-author said.

Llamas. So confused is the genetic history of llamas that some are in fact chimeras; they have cells in their bodies from two distinct maternal lineages. Credit: © xolct / Fotolia

Many of our ideas about domestication derive from Charles Darwin, whose ideas in turn were strongly influenced by British animal-breeding practices during the 19th century, a period when landowners vigorously pursued systematic livestock improvement.

It is from Darwin that we inherit the ideas that domestication involved isolation of captive animals from wild species and total human control over breeding and animal care.

But animal management in this industrial setting has been applied too broadly in time and space, said Fiona Marshall, PhD, professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis. It is not representative of the practices of the Neolithic herders who first domesticated animals nor — for that matter — of contemporary herders in nonindustrial societies.

Together with Keith Dobney, PhD, of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland; Tim Denham, PhD, of the Australian National University; and José Capriles, PhD, of the Universidad de Tarapacá in Chile, Marshall wrote a review article that summarizes recent research on the domestication of large herbivores for “The Modern View of Domestication,” a special feature of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencespublished April 29.

Recent research on the domestication of donkeys, camelids (which includes dromedaries, Bactrian camels, llamas and alpacas) pigs, cattle, sheep and goats suggests that neither intentional breeding nor genetic isolation were as significant as traditionally thought, the scientists said.

“Our findings show little control of breeding, particularly of domestic females, and indicate long-term gene flow, or interbreeding, between managed and wild animal populations,” Marshall said.

Why is it important to get domestication right? “Our livestock is losing genetic diversity even faster than some wild animals, because of management practices like artificial insemination,” Marshall said. “We took only a bit of the diversity from the wild for domestication, and what we’re looking at now is lopping it off really fast so we’ll be left with little diversity to survive all the climate and disease issues we’re facing. It really is a crisis situation.

“If we don’t understand what it is we might be about to lose, then we don’t count the cost of loss accurately or know how to plan for the future,” she said.

A walk on the wild side

For most of history, artificial selection on large herbivores was probably weak, Marshall said. “Herders could not afford to kill many animals, particularly large-bodied animals with long gestation periods. To keep herd size stable, herders probably culled or castrated males surplus to the growth needs of the herd, allowing all females to breed,” she said. These management practices placed only light selection pressure on the herd’s gene pool.

Paradoxically, environmental selection may, in many instances, have been stronger than artificial selection. Early herds were vulnerable to disease, droughts and storms, disasters that would have forced pastoralists to replenish herds from wild populations better adapted to harsh local conditions.

Sometimes domesticated animals were intentionally bred with wild ones, Marshall said. “Wild animals are generally faster, stronger and better adapted to the local conditions than domesticated ones. So, for example, Beja herders in Northeastern Africa intentionally bred their donkeys with African wild asses in order to produce stronger transport animals.”

“And sometimes interbreeding was accidental,” she said. “Even today in the Gobi, researchers report that domestic camels sometimes join wild herds after becoming separated from their own. Wild and domestic camels meet at shared oases, and wild males also can become extremely aggressive and may collect domestic females to the dismay of pastoralists.”

In the Andes, Capriles said, wild and domestic camelids have interbred in such complex ways that alpacas are maternally related to both wild vicunas and guanacos, and the same is true for llamas.

Artificial selection was probably weakest and gene flow highest in the case of pack animals such as donkeys or camelids. But even in the case of pigs or cattle, interbreeding between domestic and wild animals has created long and complex evolutionary and domestication histories that challenge assumptions regarding genetic isolation and long-held definitions of domestication.

The curl in the pigs’ tails

The domestication of pigs is one of these stories. Dobney, Greger Larson, PhD, and their team have shown that pigs were domesticated at least twice, in eastern Anatolia and in central China. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA (DNA in a cell organelle that is inherited from the mother) shows that early herders took pigs with them from Anatolia to western Europe. And analysis of ancient DNA shows that, once in Europe, the domesticated pigs interbred with the wild boars. These hybridized populations then rapidly replaced the original domesticates, first in Europe and then, later, across Anatolia itself.

In China, the story is somewhat different. There is little evidence that the domestic herds in central China interbred with wild boars. But early agriculturists took their pigs to southeastern Asia and there, deliberately or accidentally, recruited local wild boar lineages into their domestic stock.

All of the New Guinea domestic pigs and those of the islands in the tropical Pacific Ocean carry DNA from those southeast Asian wild boar populations.

The interesting question is why the pigs in central China didn’t interbreed with wild boar populations in central China. Dobney suggests that management practices may have made a difference. It is possible that in China where settlements were dense, people started keeping pigs in pens, whereas in Europe, even in medieval times, people took their pigs to forage in the forests, where they might encounter wild boars.

The pig story illustrates how much our understanding of domestication events has changed. The anomaly is the isolated domestic population, not the prolonged interbreeding among domestic and wild animals, which in most domesticated species seems to have continued to recent times.

What would Darwin say?

“The research is really exciting because it is making us completely rethink what it means to be domesticated,” Marshall said. “The boundaries between wild and domesticated animals were much more blurred for much longer than we had realized.”

“To untangle the history of domestication,” Denham said, “scientists will need to bring to bear all of the evidence at their disposal, including archeological and ethnographic evidence, and the analysis of both modern and ancient DNA.”

“We must also investigate sources of selection more critically,” Marshall said, “bearing in mind the complex interplay of human and environmental selection and the likelihood of long-term gene flow from the wild.”

It’s probably fortunate the Darwin had clear examples of animal breeding to consider as he thought about evolution. The first chapter of “On the Origin of Species” discusses the domestication of animals such as as pigeons, cattle and dogs, and Darwin then uses artificial selection as a springboard to introduce the theory of natural selection.

It turns out that animal domestication is more complex, and the role of natural selection more important than Darwin thought. It is also the case that the people who first domesticated animals valued wild ones more than did Darwin’s Victorian neighbors.

“The Modern View of Domestication,” a special issue of PNAS edited by Greger Larson and Dolores R. Piperno, resulted from a meeting entitled “Domestication as an Evolutionary Phenomenon: Expanding the Synthesis,” held April 7-11, 2011, that was funded and hosted by the National Evolutionary Synthesis Centre (National Science Foundation EF-0905606) in 2011.

Genetic study tackles mystery of slow plant domestications (Science Daily)

19/04/2014UncategorizedAgricultura, Domesticação das plantas, Genéticarenzotaddei

Date: April 17, 2014

Source: Washington University in St. Louis

Summary: Did domesticating a plant typically take a few hundred or many thousands of years? Genetic studies often indicate that domestication traits have a fairly simple genetic basis, which should facilitate their rapid evolution under selection. On the other hand, recent archeological studies of crop domestication have suggested a relatively slow spread and fixation of domestication traits. A new article tries to resolve the discrepancy.

Closeup of a mature seedhead of foxtail millet. Like other domesticated cereals, foxtail millet has nonshattering spikes that retain their seeds during harvesting. Credit: © Ruud Morijn / Fotolia

“The Modern View of Domestication,” a special feature of TheProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published April 29, raises a number of startling questions about a transition in our deep history that most of us take for granted. At the end of the last Ice Age, people in many spots around the globe shifted from hunting animals and gathering fruits and tubers to cultivating livestock and plants.

It seems so straightforward and yet the more scientists learn, the more complex the story becomes. Recently, geneticists and archeologists working on domestication compared notes and up popped a question of timing. Did domesticating a plant typically take a few hundred or many thousands of years?

Genetic studies often indicate that domestication traits have a fairly simple genetic basis, which should facilitate their rapid evolution under selection. On the other hand, recent archeological studies of crop domestication have suggested a relatively slow spread and fixation of domestication traits.

In this special issue of PNAS, Washington University in St. Louis biologist Ken Olsen, PhD, and colleagues ask whether complex genetic interactions might have slowed the rate at which early farmers were able to shape plant characteristics, thus reconciling the genetic and archeological findings.

Olsen, associate professor in the Department of Biology in Arts & Sciences, together with colleagues from Oklahoma State University and the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, conclude that these interactions are not a key factor in domesticated plants. The process of domestication, Olsen said, favored gene variants (alleles) that are relatively insensitive to background effects and highly responsive to selection.

But finding these alleles in the first place must have difficult, Olsen said. Only a subset of the genes in the wild population would have reliably produced a favored trait regardless of the crop variety into which they were bred and regardless of where that crop was grown. So the early stages of domestication might have been beset by setbacks and incomprehensible failures that might help explain the lag in the archeological record.

“What we are learning suggests there’s a whole lot of diversity out there in wild relatives of crop plants or even in landraces, varieties of plants and animals that are highly adapted to local conditions,” Olsen said, “that wasn’t tapped during the domestication process.”

“These plant populations could provide the diversity for continued breeding that is going to be very important as the world faces climatic change,” he said. “This is why it is important we understand the early stages of domestication.”

Two possible speed bumps

Many crops are distinguished from their wild ancestors with a suite of traits called the domestication syndrome. This includes seeds that remain attached to the plant for harvesting (a trait called nonshattering), reduced branching and robust growth of the central stem and bigger fruits, seeds or tubers.

Over the past 20 years, researchers have begun to identify the genes that control some of the most important domestication traits, no easy task in the days before rapid sequencing, because they had to start with plant traits and work back to unknown genes.

This work showed that many domestication traits were under the control of single genes. For example the gene teosinte branched1 (tb1) converts highly branched teosinte plants into single stalks of corn.

But the seeming importance of single genes could have been an artifact of the method used to identify domestication genes, which required the researcher to pick “candidate” genes and, perhaps, prematurely narrow the search, overlooking indirect genetic effects.

“Little is known about the underlying genetics of domestication,” Olsen said. “We decided to look at genetic mechanisms for modifying plant phenotypes that hadn’t been explored before, in part because not much data is available.”

The new work examines the possibility that two indirect effects — the influence of the genetic background on the expression of a gene (called epistasis) and the effects of the environment on the expression of genes — might have slowed the selection of plants with the desired traits.

Epistasis and environmental effects in domestication genes

By selecting animals for coat color, animal breeders may have stabilized certain epistatic and environmental interactions in companion animals (see photos at right). But when the plant scientists looked at comparable genetic mechanisms in domesticated plants, they found the reverse to be true. Farmers seem to have selected for plant variants that were insensitive to epistatic and environmental interactions.

Shattering in domesticated foxtail millet provides an example of insensitivity to epistasis. Branching in maize illustrates insensitivity to environmental effects.

Shattering in foxtail millet and its wild ancestor, green millet, is controlled by two stretches of DNA containing or linked to genes that underlie this trait, a major one called QTL 1 and a minor one called QTL2. In this as in other epistatic interactions, the effect of an allele at one location depends on the state of the allele at the other location. But when wild and domesticated plants are crossed, these “genetic background effects” are not symmetric.

Shattering in plants with a wild green-millet allele at the QTLI location depends on the allele at the QTL2 location. In contrast, shattering in plants with the foxtail-millet allele at QTL1 is unaffected by the allele at the QTL2 location.

In the limited number of examples at their disposal, the scientists found it to be generally true that that domesticated alleles were less sensitive to genetic background than wild alleles. The domestication genes, in other words, tended to be ones that would produce the same result even if they were introduced into a different crop variety.

Teosinte provides a good example of the sensitivity of gene expression to the environment. Teosinte is strongly affected by crowding. When a teosinte plant with a wild tb1 gene is repeatedly backcrossed with maize, it produces highly branched plants in uncrowded growing conditions but plants with smaller lateral branches when it is crowded.

Again, however, the effect is not symmetric. The domesticated trait is less sensitive to the environment than the wild trait; plants with the domesticated tb1 gene allele are unbranched whether or not they are crowded.

Unlike companion-animal breeders, early farmers seem to have selected domestication-gene alleles that are insensitive to genetic background and to the environment. This process would have been slow, unrewarding and difficult to understand, because the effects of gene variants on the plant weren’t stable. But once sensitive alleles had been replaced with robust ones, breeders would have been able to exert strong selection pressure on plant traits, shaping them much more easily than before, and the pace of domestication would have picked up.

No wonder the archeological record indicates there were false starts, failed efforts and long delays.

People of color live in neighborhoods with more air pollution than whites, groundbreaking U.S. study shows (Science Daily)

19/04/2014UncategorizedDemografia, Justiça ambiental, Poluição, Racismorenzotaddei

Date: April 15, 2014

Source: University of Minnesota

Summary: A first-of-its-kind study has found that on average in the U.S., people of color are exposed to 38 percent higher levels of nitrogen dioxide outdoor air pollution compared to white people. The health impacts from the difference in levels between whites and nonwhites found in the study are substantial. For example, researchers estimate that if nonwhites breathed the lower NO2 levels experienced by whites, it would prevent 7,000 deaths from heart disease alone among nonwhites each year.

This shows the difference in population-weighted mean NO2 concentrations (ppb) between lower-income nonwhites and higher-income whites for U.S. cities (448 urban areas). Credit: University of Minnesota

A first-of-its-kind study by researchers at the University of Minnesota found that on average in the U.S., people of color are exposed to 38 percent higher levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) outdoor air pollution compared to white people.

Nitrogen dioxide comes from sources like vehicle exhaust and power plants. Breathing NO₂ is linked to asthma symptoms and heart disease. The Environmental Protection Agency has listed it as one of the seven key air pollutants it monitors. The researchers studied NO2 levels in urban areas across the country and compared specific areas within the cities based on populations defined in the U.S. Census as “nonwhite” or “white.”

The health impacts from the difference in levels between whites and nonwhites found in the study are substantial. For example, researchers estimate that if nonwhites breathed the lower NO₂ levels experienced by whites, it would prevent 7,000 deaths from heart disease alone among nonwhites each year.

The study entitled “National patterns in environmental injustice and inequality: Outdoor NO₂ air pollution in the United States” was published in the April 15 issue of PLOS ONE, a leading peer-reviewed scientific journal.

“We were quite shocked to find such a large disparity between whites and nonwhites related to air pollution,” said Julian Marshall, a civil engineering associate professor in the University of Minnesota’s College of Science and Engineering and co-author of the study. “Our study provides a great baseline to track over time on important issues of environmental injustice and inequality in our country.”

Other U.S. studies have documented disparities in exposures to environmental risks, including air pollution, but this research goes beyond previous studies of specific cities, communities or regions within the nation. This new study is the first to use satellite observations, measurements by the Environmental Protection Agency, and maps of land uses to explore disparities in exposure to air pollution for the U.S. nationwide, including both rural and urban areas, with comparisons by city, county, state and region.

The new research builds on a recently published University of Minnesota study that used satellite data and land use information to look at nitrogen dioxide pollution throughout the continental United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii), including all 448 urban areas defined by the U.S. Census. In the present study, the researchers overlaid the pollution information with U.S. Census data about where people live. The results provide groundbreaking evidence of environmental disparities nationwide.

The researchers found that in most areas, lower-income nonwhites are more exposed than higher-income whites, and on average, race matters more than income in explaining differences in NO₂ exposure. They also found that New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois had the largest exposure gaps between whites and nonwhites, irrespective of income. The urban areas with the largest exposure gaps between whites and nonwhites were New York/Newark, Philadelphia and Bridgeport/Stamford, Conn.

The 15 states with the largest exposure gaps between whites and nonwhites were (from highest disparity to lower):

New York
Pennsylvania
Illinois
Michigan
New Jersey
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
California
Wisconsin
Connecticut
Missouri
Ohio
Kentucky
Indiana
Minnesota

Note: The list above reflects disparities by race alone, irrespective of income. The map below reflects disparities by race-income.

The 15 urban areas* with the largest exposure gaps between whites and nonwhites were (from highest disparity to lower):

New York–Newark; NY–NJ–CT
Philadelphia; PA–NJ–DE–MD
Bridgeport–Stamford; CT–NY
Boston; MA–NH–RI
Providence; RI–MA
Detroit; MI
Los Angeles–Long Beach–Santa Ana; CA
New Haven; CT
Worcester; MA–CT
Springfield; MA–CT
Rochester; NY
Chicago; IL–IN
Birmingham; AL
Hartford; CT
Milwaukee; WI

* As defined by the U.S. Census

Note: The list above reflects disparities by race alone, irrespective of income. The map below reflects disparities by race-income group.

Visit the University of Minnesota Marshall Research Group website for the full listing of states and urban areas studied.

“Our findings are of broad interest to researchers, policy makers and city planners,” said Lara Clark, co-author of the study and civil engineering Ph.D. student in the University of Minnesota’s College of Science and Engineering. “The next step in the research would be to look at why this disparity occurs and what we can do to solve it.”

Journal Reference:

Lara P. Clark, Dylan B. Millet, Julian D. Marshall. National Patterns in Environmental Injustice and Inequality: Outdoor NO₂ Air Pollution in the United States. PLoS ONE, 2014; 9 (4): e94431 DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0094431

Biologists help solve fungal mysteries, inform studies on climate change (Science Daily)

19/04/2014UncategorizedClima, Ecologia, Fungos, Mudanças climáticasrenzotaddei

Date: April 17, 2014

Source: Stanford University

Summary: A new genetic analysis revealing the previously unknown biodiversity and distribution of thousands of fungi in North America might also reveal a previously underappreciated contributor to climate change. Huge populations of fungi are churning away in the soil in pine forests, decomposing organic matter and releasing carbon into the atmosphere.

Kabir Peay, assistant professor of biology at Stanford, measures the diameter of a tree at Point Reyes National Seashore. Credit: Thomas Bruns

Pine forests are chock full of wild animals and plant life, but there’s an invisible machine underground. Huge populations of fungi are churning away in the soil, decomposing organic matter and releasing carbon into the atmosphere.

Despite the vital role these fungi play in ecological systems, their identities have only now been revealed. A Stanford-led team of scientists has generated a genetic map of more than 10,000 species of fungi across North America. The work was published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Fungi are much more important than most people realize, said Kabir Peay, an assistant professor of biology at Stanford and senior author on the new paper. “They are the primary decomposers in most of the planet’s ecosystems,” he said, “and if not for them, dead material would accumulate to the point where most other biological processes on Earth would grind to a halt.”

Soil fungi can be divided into two primary groups. The saprotrophs live in the top layer of soil, digesting dead matter, breaking up molecules into individual components — converting proteins into amino acids and starches to simple sugars, and freeing up elements such as nitrogen — that plants rely on for growth.

The other group, mycorrhizal fungi, have an even closer bond with plants, living among their roots and converting older forms of organic matter into nitrogen and phosphorus for the plants. In return, the plants feed these fungi a steady stream of sugars they obtain from photosynthesis.

The soil stores three to four times as much carbon as the atmosphere, and all this microorganism activity also releases some of that carbon into the air, to a tune of 10 times the amount of carbon into the atmosphere as humans release through emissions.

“It’s a huge flux of carbon into the atmosphere, and fungi are the engines,” said Jennifer Talbot, a postdoctoral research fellow in Peay’s lab and first author on the study. “But we do not know how much diversity matters in maintaining the carbon cycle. Are all fungi doing the same thing? Can you kill half the species on Earth and still have the same amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, carbon stored on land and nutrients recycled?”

DNA in the dirt

These questions are impossible to answer without first knowing which fungi are out in the world. So the researchers traveled to 26 pine forests across North America and collected 10-centimeter-deep soil cores, more than 600 in all. Within hours of collection, and with the assistance of local scientists and universities, they preserved the samples to extract and isolate the fungal DNA. The researchers then used modern genomic tools to sequence unique stretches of the environmental DNA that can be used as barcodes to identify all of the fungal species present in each sample.

The sequencing revealed more than 10,000 species of fungi, which the researchers then analyzed to determine biodiversity, distribution, and function by geographical location and soil depth. Interestingly, Peay said, there was very little overlap in the fungal species from region to region; East Coast fungi didn’t show up on the West Coast or Midwest, and vice versa.

“People oftentimes assume that similar habitats in, say, North Carolina and California would have similar fungi, but this is the opposite of what we find,” Peay said. “What’s more interesting, despite the fact that soil fungal communities in Florida and Alaska might have no fungi in common, you find that many of the processes and the functional rates are convergent. The same jobs exist, just different species are doing them.”

The team found this to be particularly true when comparing the functionality of fungi at different strata of the core samples. Even though the samples were collected thousands of miles apart, fungi near the top all performed the same task; similarly, bottom fungi performed very similar functions across the continent.

Peay said that more work is needed to understand fungal dispersal mechanisms and whether that plays a role in restricting species to particular regions, but the current finding that each bioregion has its own unique fungal fingerprint indicates that fungi could prove to be powerful forensic markers.

Impact on the climate

One surprising discovery was related to fungi producing oxidoreductases, enzymes used to break down particularly old forms of carbon-based molecules. In the study, the activity of oxidoreductases was associated with the abundance of mycorhizzal fungi. The new results suggest that these fungi may be far busier in degrading old organic material than previously thought.

“If mycorrhizal fungi are responsible for breaking down these types of carbon, even to a small degree, it totally changes our concept of how carbon is cycled through ecosystems and released into the atmosphere,” Talbot said. “This shows that we really need to think about the biology of the system. We hope to provide some simple parameters so folks building climate change models will be able to fold in this type of biology.”

Journal Reference:

J. M. Talbot, T. D. Bruns, J. W. Taylor, D. P. Smith, S. Branco, S. I. Glassman, S. Erlandson, R. Vilgalys, H.-L. Liao, M. E. Smith, K. G. Peay. Endemism and functional convergence across the North American soil mycobiome.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2014; DOI:10.1073/pnas.1402584111

Study shows lasting effects of drought in rainy Eastern U.S. (Science Daily)

19/04/2014UncategorizedClima, Ecologia, Mudanças climáticas, Secarenzotaddei

Date: April 17, 2014

Source: Harvard University

Summary: This spring, more than 40 percent of the western U.S. is in a drought that the USDA deems “severe” or “exceptional.” The same was true in 2013. In 2012, drought even spread to the humid east. But new research shows how short-lived but severe climatic events can trigger cascades of ecosystem change that last for centuries.

Comparing tree ring records like the ones shown here, collected by early anthropologist Florence Hawley, gives insight into the history of a landscape. Credit: Photo by Neil Pederson

This spring, more than 40 percent of the western U.S. is in a drought that the USDA deems “severe” or “exceptional.” The same was true in 2013. In 2012, drought even spread to the humid east.

It’s easy to assume that a 3-year drought is an inconsequential blip on the radar for ecosystems that develop over centuries to millennia. But new research just released in Ecological Monographs shows how short-lived but severe climatic events can trigger cascades of ecosystem change that last for centuries.

Some of the most compelling evidence of how ecosystems respond to drought and other challenges can be found in the trunks of our oldest trees. Results from an analysis of tree rings spanning more than 300,000 square miles and 400 years of history in the eastern U.S. — led by scientists at Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the Harvard Forest, and elsewhere — point to ways in which seemingly stable forests could abruptly change over the next century.

“Trees are great recorders of information,” says Dave Orwig, an ecologist at the Harvard Forest and co-author of the new study. “They can give us a glimpse back in time.”

The tree records in this study show that just before the American Revolution, across the broadleaf forests of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Arkansas, the simultaneous death of many trees opened huge gaps in the forest — prompting a new generation of saplings to surge skyward.

There’s no historical evidence that the dead trees succumbed to logging, ice storms, or hurricanes. Instead, they were likely weakened by repeated drought leading up to the 1770s, followed by an intense drought from 1772 to 1775. The final straw was an unseasonable and devastating frost in 1774 that, until this study, was only known to historical diaries like Thomas Jefferson’s Garden Book, where he recounts “a frost which destroyed almost every thing” at Monticello that was “equally destructive thro the whole country and the neighboring colonies.”

The oversized generation of new trees that followed-something like a baby boom — shaped the old-growth forests that still stand in the Southeast today.

“Many of us think these grand old trees in our old-growth forests have always been there and stood the test of time,” says Neil Pederson of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, lead author of the new study. “What we now see is that big events, including climatic extremes, created large portions of these forests in short order through the weakening and killing of existing trees.”

Pederson, who will become a senior ecologist at the Harvard Forest in fall 2014, notes that as climate warms, increasing drought conditions and earlier springs like that of 1774 could easily expose eastern forests to the kinds of conditions that changed them so abruptly in the 17th and 18th centuries. “We are seeing more and more evidence of climate events weakening trees, making them more likely to succumb to insects, pathogens, or the next severe drought,” says Orwig.

Pederson adds, “With this perspective, the changes predicted by models under future climate change seem more real.”

Journal Reference:

Neil Pederson, James M. Dyer, Ryan W. McEwan, Amy E. Hessl, Cary J. Mock, David A. Orwig, Harald E. Rieder, Benjamin I. Cook. The legacy of episodic climatic events in shaping temperate, broadleaf forests. Ecological Monographs, 2014; 140414095101002 DOI: 10.1890/13-1025.1

Drought hormones measured in plants to prepare for food security (Science Daily)

19/04/2014UncategorizedClima, Engenharia genética, Mudanças climáticas, Secarenzotaddei

Date: April 15, 2014

Source: Carnegie Institution

Summary: Floods and droughts are increasingly in the news, and climate experts say their frequency will only go up in the future. As such, it is crucial for scientists to learn more about how these extreme events affect plants in order to prepare for and combat the risks to food security that could result. New work could help bring about breakthrough findings on that front.

The NiTrac sensor developed by Cheng Hsun Ho and Wolf Frommer of the Carnegie Institution will enable non-invasive real-time monitoring of nitrogen acquisition in action in plant roots, providing a new tool set that can be used to improve nitrogen efficiency. The novel sensor technology is widely applicable and useful also for cancer and neurobiology. Credit: Cheng Hsun Ho and Wolf Frommer.

Floods and droughts are increasingly in the news, and climate experts say their frequency will only go up in the future. As such, it is crucial for scientists to learn more about how these extreme events affect plants in order to prepare for and combat the risks to food security that could result.

Like animals, plants have hormones that send chemical signals between its cells relaying information about the plant’s development or interactions with the outside world. One particular way in which plants use hormone signals is in reaction to drought or soil saltiness. The hormone responsible for this type of response is called abscisic acid. It not only controls efficient water use, but plays a role in signaling when seeds should remain dormant and when they should germinate, depending on soil conditions.

New work from a team including Carnegie’s Wolf Frommer will allow researchers, for the first time, to measure the levels of abscisic acid in individual plant cells in real time. It is published in eLife.

“This will vastly improve our understanding of how abscisic acid works in a plant that is stressed by salt or lack of water,” Frommer explained. “This new tool can help engineers and farmers work to increase crop yields, which is especially important as climate change puts plants under increased stress.”

The team’s tool uses multiple fluorescently tagged proteins to measure the concentration of abscisic acid found in a plant cell. Their findings indicate that there are likely more proteins responsible for transporting abscisic acid into a cell than are currently known and also that abscisic acid is eliminated by root cells very quickly after uptake.

“More work should reveal the fine-tuning by which plant cells respond and react to hormone signals. These tools should also have applications for human and animal hormones, as well,” Frommer said.

Journal Reference:

A. M. Jones, J. A. Danielson, S. N. ManojKumar, V. Lanquar, G. Grossmann, W. B. Frommer. Abscisic acid dynamics in roots detected with genetically encoded FRET sensors. eLife, 2014; 3 (0): e01741 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.01741

Índios passam a noite no Museu Anchieta para cobrar demarcação de terras (Agência Brasil)

19/04/2014UncategorizedÍndios, Justiça, Manifestações, Políticas públicas, Violênciarenzotaddei

JC e-mail 4936, de 17 de abril de 2014

Um manifesto, distribuído no local, informa que a aldeia Tekoa Pyau, na terra do Jaraguá, sofre processo de reintegração de posse que coloca em risco a permanência dos índios

Os índios guaranis que ocuparam hoje (16) o Museu Anchieta, no Pátio do Colégio, centro de São Paulo, reivindicam que o ministro da Justiça, José Eduardo Cardozo, assine uma portaria para regularizar as terras que eles ocupam há anos na capital paulista. Os 50 índios da manifestação, ocupantes de terras indígenas no Jaraguá, zona oeste, e Tenondé Porã, no extremo sul da cidade, passarão a noite no local e amanhã (17) farão uma série de atividades no Pátio do Colégio, marco de fundação da cidade de São Paulo, para pressionar o ministro a assinar a demarcação de suas terras.

A ocupação, que teve início por volta das 15h30, foi feita de forma pacífica. O diretor do local, padre Carlos Contieri, de início tentou negociar com os índios a saída do local, alegando, principalmente, que se tratava de um local particular. Mas depois acabou autorizando a permanência. “Fui pego de surpresa. Não esperava que viessem aqui. Mas vou permitir que fiquem, embora não tenha como oferecer um local de conforto para vocês”, disse o padre aos índios. No final, o padre pediu que o protesto seja pacífico e sem depredações.

Um manifesto, distribuído no local, informa que a aldeia Tekoa Pyau, na terra do Jaraguá, sofre processo de reintegração de posse que coloca em risco a permanência dos índios. “A aldeia do Jaraguá é muito antiga, do início da década de 1960”, disse Karai Popyguá. Segundo ele, a terra tem cerca de 1,7 alqueire e é ocupada por cerca de 800 índios. “É uma situação crítica a que estamos enfrentando dentro da terra do Jaraguá”, disse ele. “Não estamos sendo reconhecidos no território, e estamos sendo expulsos”, reclamou.

Já a aldeia Tenondé Porã, segundo Jera – também chamada de Giselda, uma das lideranças da aldeia – tem 26 hectares, com 200 famílias. “As pessoas desta aldeia, que plantam, precisam de área para viver e para ter alimentação”, disse ela.

“Nosso objetivo é ocupar o pátio, simbólica e pacificamente, para amanhã de manhã, do lado de fora, fazermos um debate e falar para as pessoas nas ruas para conseguir repercussão que nos ajude a gritar para o mundo que queremos a demarcação de nossas terras, que está na mesa do ministro”, disse Jera, ou Giselda. Segundo ela, a ideia de ocupar o Pátio do Colégio surgiu porque o local, historicamente, foi uma aldeia indígena.

Ela disse que a mobilização será mantida até que a portaria seja assinada. “Desde o contato com o ‘mundo de lá’, a gente sempre esteve em luta. Então, não é agora que a gente vai parar”, argumentou.

(Elaine Patricia Cruz /Agência Brasil)

* * *

JC e-mail 4936, de 17 de abril de 2014

Cresce disputa pelas terras dos índios no país (Valor Econômico)

A extensão das terras indígenas no Brasil chega a 13% do território nacional

“Os índios estão sob fogo cerrado”. A frase, da antropóloga Manuela Carneiro da Cunha, professora emérita da Universidade de Chicago e professora titular aposentada da Universidade de São Paulo (USP), explicita o sentimento de especialistas em relação à questão indígena no Brasil, às vésperas do Dia do Índio, comemorado dia 19. “As terras indígenas e as unidades de conservação, terras mantidas fora do mercado, estão sendo mais do que nunca cobiçadas.”

O cerne do conflito é a disputa pela terra. A extensão das terras indígenas no Brasil chega a 13% do território nacional, distribuídas desigualmente. A Constituição diz que a terra indígena demarcada é da União, mas os índios têm direito a usufruto exclusivo.

A maior extensão de terras indígenas está na Amazônia, onde tudo tem grandes proporções – municípios, latifúndios, unidades de conservação. Foi ali, e também no Centro-Oeste, que a maior parte das terras indígenas extensas e contínuas foi reconhecida depois que a Constituição garantiu os direitos indígenas, em 1988. A demarcação que sobrou fazer é a de terras mais disputadas, mais caras e de histórico de ocupação mais complexo.

No Nordeste, Leste e Sul, os índios vivem em territórios bem pequenos. Os milhares de guaranis-kaiowás confinados em áreas diminutas no Mato Grosso do Sul, ou vivendo à beira das estradas enquanto aguardam solução para o seu caso, constituem o lado mais dramático desse quadro. Os guaranis são o povo indígena mais numeroso do Brasil e se espalham pelo Mato Grosso do Sul, pelas fronteiras com Paraguai e Argentina e também pelo Estado de São Paulo.

Segundo dados de 2010, do IBGE, existem 240 povos indígenas no Brasil. Falam 154 línguas. Embora alguns povos estejam ameaçados de extinção, a população indígena vem crescendo. Eram 896.917 no último Censo.

“Trata-se de um mosaico de microssociedades”, diz o catálogo da exposição “Povos Indígenas no Brasil”, que está no Parque Ibirapuera, em São Paulo, organizada pelo Instituto Socioambiental, o ISA. “Metade das etnias tem uma população de até mil pessoas, 49 etnias têm parte da população habitando países vizinhos e há 60 evidências de povos ‘isolados'”.

Na outra ponta estão dezenas de projetos de lei tramitando no Congresso e que ameaçam terras indígenas e novos processos de demarcação. Há projetos de mineração que se sobrepõem a esses territórios e projetos hidrelétricos que o governo quer impulsionar e que afetam povos indígenas. No Centro-Oeste, terras que índios reivindicam são muitas vezes ocupadas por produtores rurais que têm título expedido pelo Estado.

“Essa é uma semana do índio de pouca comemoração e muita apreensão”, diz Adriana Ramos, secretária-executiva-adjunta do ISA, ONG reconhecida pelo trabalho com os índios. “Estamos vivendo momento de grande ameaça aos direitos constituídos e de multiplicação de conflitos, inclusive fomentados por discurso de políticos e representantes empresariais.”

Uma das maiores ameaças vem da Proposta de Emenda Constitucional 215/2000. O projeto tira do Executivo a competência de aprovar as demarcações e transfere o processo ao Congresso. Na visão de indigenistas, se aprovado, não haverá novas demarcações de terras indígenas no país. O governo disse ser contrário à iniciativa e a considera inconstitucional. No fim de 2013, foi instalada uma comissão especial para analisar a PEC. No colegiado, a maioria é de deputados ruralistas.

Há ainda projetos de abrir terras indígenas para arrendamento com fins agropecuários ou de mineração”, diz Adriana. “Essas propostas são ‘vendidas’ como alternativas econômicas a populações que vivem em situações de fragilidade. Mas elas se contrapõem ao modo de vida tradicional desses povos”, critica. Essas iniciativas operariam em um vácuo deixado pelo poder público. “O Estado dá pouco apoio a alternativas econômicas condizentes com o modo de vida indígena. Poderia desenvolver o manejo sustentável de produtos da biodiversidade. Extração de óleos da floresta, fibras, frutas, turismo. Tudo isso poderia ser implementado.”

“Hoje, a situação é difícil”, reconhece o antropólogo Marcio Meira, que esteve à frente da Fundação Nacional do Índio (Funai) de 2007 a 2012, o mais longevo presidente do órgão. “Os setores da sociedade que são historicamente anti-indígenas, têm agido de forma muito agressiva, principalmente no Congresso Nacional”, avalia. “O centro é a base ruralista. Qual o agravante? Que essa base hoje tem muita força. Boa parte das exportações do Brasil vem daí”, diz Meira.

Segundo o antropólogo, “esse poder tem tentáculos” no Judiciário e no Executivo. “Há muitos processos de judicialização das terras indígenas e muitos juízes nos últimos anos têm se manifestado contrários aos índios, com decisões polêmicas.” Ele lembra que, dentro do governo, existem ministérios mais favoráveis aos povos indígenas, mas há outros com posições mais conservadoras.

Meira enxerga, também, alguns avanços nos últimos anos. Um dos principais teria sido na área da educação, com o ingresso de índios nas universidades. As estimativas são de que existem 1.700 indígenas em universidades federais, recebendo bolsas de R$ 900. “É um investimento de R$ 20 milhões anuais, algo que não existia há um ano.”

Os índios têm direito a Bolsa Família e aposentadoria rural. “Mas a saúde indígena ainda tem muito gargalo”, afirma o antropólogo. E embora hoje não haja quase nenhuma terra indígena sendo homologada, há alguns casos de desintrusão, o que demanda investimento e esforço enorme do governo. O caso mais famoso é o da terra indígena Awa-Guajá, no Maranhão, iniciado este ano, e depois suspenso para que o Incra encontrasse uma solução para os produtores rurais. Eles tinham que sair da terra e não sabiam para onde ir.

A última homologação de terra indígena no Estado de São Paulo ocorreu há 16 anos, informa Otávio Penteado, assessor de programas da Comissão Pró-Índio SP, no boletim da entidade. No Estado, há 17 terras indígenas em processo de demarcação e estima-se que há outras 16 sem processo iniciado. Mais da metade das 29 terras indígenas de São Paulo não está demarcada, o que deixa a população sem acesso às políticas públicas. São Paulo, segundo a ONG, é a cidade brasileira com mais índios no espaço urbano – seriam quase 12 mil, segundo o Censo de 2010.

“É nas áreas indígenas que se concentram algumas das maiores riquezas do Brasil em termos minerais e de biodiversidade”, diz o professor Antonio Carlos de Souza Lima, professor do Departamento de Antropologia do Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro, da UFRJ, referindo-se a terras na região Norte. “São notadamente as mais bem conservadas.”

Ele defende uma proposta de educar a sociedade brasileira para valorizar e respeitar a diversidade que há no país. “A primeira coisa é ter a plena consciência de que isso tem que fazer parte da educação brasileira, que vivemos em um país multicultural e pluriétnico. Com populações que têm direito a viver de acordo com modos diferentes dos cultivados pela sociedade contemporânea”, diz. “A conscientização tem que sair das boas intenções e avançar do papel para as práticas.”

O Brasil tem há seis anos legislação que regulamenta a obrigatoriedade de ensino, nas escolas, de história e cultura afro-brasileira e indígena. “Essa lei até hoje não é aplicada. Ninguém cumpre”, diz Souza Lima. “Todo mundo centra a questão no tema da terra, porque é a defesa mais imediata aos ataques”, afirma. “Mas isso não substitui um projeto de longo prazo para esse tema.”

“O brasileiro não conhece o Brasil”, diz Souza Lima. “Tem que entender que índio que vive nu na aldeia, distanciado de tudo, não é a regra hoje em dia. Até filhos de ianomâmis frequentam escolas e universidades. Ao incorporar certos elementos da sociedade não indígena, eles o fazem de acordo com a sua própria lógica. E por isso não deixarão de ser índios.” Segundo o professor, “é fundamental ouvir o que os próprios indígenas têm a dizer sobre os seus projetos e o que têm passado. Isso tem que ser ouvido pelos escalões mais altos da administração”.

O governo, no âmbito do Ministério da Justiça, prepara um projeto que altera os procedimentos de demarcação das terras indígenas. A minuta, divulgada há alguns meses, desagradou indigenistas e ruralistas.

Em outra frente, na Secretaria-Geral da Presidência, procura-se estabelecer parâmetros que regulamentem a consulta prévia. Trata-se de pôr em prática o artigo 6 da Convenção 169 da Organização Internacional do Trabalho (OIT). O tratado versa sobre os direitos fundamentais dos povos indígenas e tribais, foi aprovado em 1989 e começou a vigorar em 1991. O Brasil foi um dos 20 países que ratificaram a convenção, com posterior aprovação no Congresso e promulgação pelo Executivo. A convenção internacional ganhou status de lei.

A Convenção 169 diz que a consulta aos povos afetados por algum projeto tem que ser feita de boa-fé. O governo tem vários projetos de hidrelétricas na Amazônia que afetarão grupos indígenas. A ideia da consulta, segundo algumas interpretações, é que ela teria que ser prévia, livre e consentida. A ideia do veto é debate superado: a meta é ter o consentimento dos afetados ou chegar a um acordo. O problema é que a convenção é genérica, é preciso criar um padrão sobre a consulta. Bolívia, Peru e Chile percorreram essa trilha. No Brasil criou-se um grupo interministerial em 2012, que procura avançar nesse campo.

Enquanto o governo tenta avançar nessa frente, os índios sofrem com a invasão de suas terras por garimpeiros e madeireiros, pela contaminação de recursos hídricos por mercúrio ou agrotóxicos e pela pressão do entorno, segundo indigenistas.

Na visão de Manuela Carneiro da Cunha, a isso se soma “o cerco legislativo, uma investida sem precedentes do Congresso”, diz ela. “Desde a Colônia até os anos 90, a legislação sempre declarou os direitos dos índios. Mas era um movimento inócuo, porque ninguém respeitava. Hoje, quando os índios tentam fazer valer seus direitos, tenta-se esvaziá-los.”

(Daniela Chiaretti/Valor Econômico)
http://www.valor.com.br/brasil/3520062/cresce-disputa-pelas-terras-dos-indios-no-pais#ixzz2z9NLBqkP

Plenário vota hoje MP que libera recursos às regiões atingidas por desastres (Agência Câmara de Notícias)

19/04/2014UncategorizedCongresso Nacional, Desastre, Racismorenzotaddei

JC e-mail 4936, de 17 de abril de 2014

Crédito será de R$ 1,97 bilhão para despesas imprevistas e urgentes em nove ministérios

O Plenário da Câmara dos Deputados está reunido em sessão extraordinária, neste momento, para votar a Medida Provisória 637/13, que abre crédito de R$ 1,97 bilhão para despesas imprevistas e urgentes em nove ministérios.

A maior parte dos recursos, R$ 1,31 bilhão, destina-se ao Ministério da Integração Nacional, para atender as populações vítimas de desastres naturais, principalmente nas regiões com situação de emergência ou calamidade pública. O dinheiro será aplicado no pagamento da ampliação do auxílio emergencial financeiro, que se destina ao socorro e à assistência das famílias com renda mensal média de até dois salários mínimos, atingidas por desastres.

Agricultura
No âmbito do Ministério do Desenvolvimento Agrário, a medida destina R$ 440 milhões ao pagamento de parcelas do benefício garantia-safra a famílias de agricultores participantes do programa, para amenizar os efeitos da estiagem em municípios da área de atuação da Superintendência do Desenvolvimento do Nordeste (Sudene).

Estima-se que 98% dos agricultores familiares que aderiram ao seguro-safra tiveram perdas superiores a 50% da produção estimada em razão da estiagem, considerada a pior dos últimos 50 anos e que teve início ainda na safra 2011/2012.

O crédito em favor do Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento, no valor de R$ 37,37 milhões, viabilizará a melhoria da infraestrutura de apoio à produção e manutenção de vias de escoamento do setor agropecuário, danificadas por recentes intempéries.

Desenvolvimento Urbano
A medida também destina R$ 53,91 milhões ao Ministério das Cidades, em apoio à Política Nacional de Desenvolvimento Urbano, que prevê obras e ações de infraestrutura urbana para a melhoria das condições de vida das famílias residentes nos locais atingidos por desastres naturais.

Os recursos destinados ao Ministério da Saúde, no valor de R$ 45,65 milhões, permitirão estruturar unidades de atenção básica e especializada em saúde, contribuindo para a melhoria do acesso e da qualidade dos serviços prestados aos usuários do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS).

No que se refere ao Ministério da Justiça, o crédito de R$ 10,6 milhões será aplicado na realização de reformas, reparos e manutenção das estruturas físicas da 5ª Superintendência Regional da Polícia Rodoviária Federal, no Rio de Janeiro.

Turismo e esporte
No âmbito do Ministério do Turismo, os R$ 40,42 milhões previstos na medida destinam-se à execução de investimentos em infraestrutura turística. Outros R$ 28,79 milhões vão para o Ministério do Esporte, para investimento em infraestrutura de esporte educacional, recreativo e de lazer.

Quanto ao Ministério da Educação, o crédito de R$ 10,98 milhões possibilitará apoio técnico, material e financeiro à rede escolar pública de educação básica e integral.

Racismo
Além da MP, está na pauta do Plenário o requerimento do deputado Damião Feliciano (PDT-PB) que pede a criação de uma comissão externa para propor ações legislativas e políticas contra casos recentes de racismo, inclusive no futebol. “A democracia não convive com racismo. Precisamos dar resposta rápida, sermos ágeis e intolerantes com aquele que o pratica”, diz o parlamentar.

Mosquito transgênico para controle da dengue aprovado pela CTNBio (Portal do Meio Ambiente)

19/04/2014UncategorizedBiotecnologia, Dengue, Engenharia genética, Incerteza, Mosquitos transgênicos, Organismos geneticamente manipulados, Previsão, Riscorenzotaddei

17 ABRIL 2014

Brasília – A CTNbio aprovou o pedido de liberação comercial de uma variedade transgênica de Aedes aegypti (o mosquito transmissor do vírus da dengue e de um novo virus, Chikungunya), desenvolvido pela empresa britânica Oxitec. O A. aegypti OX513a carrega um gene de letalidade condicional, que é ativado na ausência de tetraciclina. Os machos, separados das fêmeas ainda em estado de pupa, podem ser produzidos em biofábrica em enormes quantidades, sendo em seguida liberados no ambiente. Para detalhes verhttp://br.oxitec.com .

A votação nominal na Plenária teve como resultado 16 votos favoráveis (sendo um condicional) e um contra.

Antes da votação o parecer de vistas do processo foi lido. O membro relator argumentou pela diligência do processo por várias falhas que, ao seu ver, impediam uma conclusão segura do parecer. O argumento principal foi de que a eliminação do A. aegypti, de forma rápida e extensa, abriria espaço para a recolonização do espaço por outro mosquito, como o Aedes albopictus. Seu parecer foi amplamente rechaçado pela Comissão.

Também antes da votação alguns membros sugeriram uma audiência pública de instrução, que foi rechaçada por 11 votos contra 4.

A discussão imediatamente antes da votação versou menos sobre os riscos diretos do mosquito à saúde humana e animal e ao meio ambiente e derivou para aspectos de benefícios à tecnologia. Esta divergência refletiu o consenso da CTNBio quanto à segurança do produto e à premência de novas técnicas para o controle do vetor da dengue. A discussão também refletiu a segurança da CTNBio sobre o potencial da tecnologia na redução de populações de A. aegypti, sem riscos de recrudescimento de outras doenças, parecimento de novas endemias ou substituição do mosquito vetor, em completa oposição ao ponto de vista isolado do membro relator do pedido de vistas. Uma discussão detalhada do ponto de vista do relator está disponível em http://goo.gl/7aJZuI.

Com estes resultados,a CTNBio abre ao país a possibilidade de empregar um mosquito transgênico para o controle da dengue. A liberação comercial deste mosquito é, também, a primeira liberação comercial de um inseto transgênico no Mundo. O Brasil, usando uma legislação eficiência e séria na avaliação de risco de organismos geneticamente modificados, dá um exemplo de seriedade e maturidade tanto aos países que já fazem avaliação de risco de OGMs, como àqueles que ainda vacilam em ingressar no uso desta tecnologia.

Fonte: GenPeace.

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17/4/2014 – 12h13

Mosquitos transgênicos são aprovados, mas pesquisadores temem riscos (Adital)

por Mateus Ramos, do Adital

Um importante, e perigoso, passo foi dado na última semana pela Comissão Técnica Nacional de Biossegurança (CTNBio), que aprovou o projeto de liberação de mosquitos geneticamente modificados no Brasil. Os mosquitos transgênicos serão usados para pesquisa e combate a dengue no país. O projeto, que permite a comercialização dos mosquitos pela empresa britânica Oxitec, foi considerado tecnicamente seguro pela CTNBio e, agora, só necessita de um registro da Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária (Anvisa) para ser, de fato, liberado.

Para o professor da Universidade Federal de São Carlos (SP) e ex- membro da CTNBio, José Maria Ferraz, em entrevista à Adital, a resposta positiva dada ao projeto, pela Comissão, é um forte indicativo de que o mesmo será feito pela Anvisa. “Com certeza será aprovado, o próprio representante do Ministério da Saúde estava lá e disse que, frente às epidemias de dengue, era favorável à aprovação do projeto.”

Ferraz faz duras críticas à aprovação concedida pela CTNBio e ao projeto. “Não existe uma só política de enfrentamento à dengue, mas sim um conjunto de ações, além disso, não há garantias de que os mosquitos liberados também não carreguem a doença, ou seja, vão liberar milhões de mosquitos em todo o país, sem antes haver um estudo sério sobre o projeto. É uma coisa extremamente absurda o que foi feito. É uma insanidade, eu nunca vi tanta coisa errada em um só projeto.”

Outro grande problema apontado por Ferraz é o risco de se alterar, drasticamente, o número de mosquitos Aedes Aegypti. Uma possível redução pode aumentar a proliferação de outro mosquito, ainda mais nocivo, o Aedes Albopictus, que transmite não só a Dengue como outras doenças, a Malária por exemplo. Além disso, ele denuncia que falhas no projeto podem desencadear ainda a liberação de machos não estéreis e fêmeas, dificultando o controle das espécies. “O país está sendo cobaia de um experimento nunca feito antes no mundo. Aprovamos esse projeto muito rápido, de forma irresponsável.”

Os resultados prometidos pelo projeto podem ser afetados, por exemplo, caso haja o contato do mosquito com o antibiótico tetraciclina, que é encontrado em muitas rações para gatos e cachorros. “Basta que os mosquitos entrem em contato com as fezes dos animais alimentados com a ração que contenham esse antibiótico para que todo o experimento falhe.”, revela Ferraz.

Entenda o projeto

De acordo com a Oxitec, a técnica do projeto consiste em introduzir dois novos genes em mosquitos machos, que, ao copularem com as fêmeas do ambiente natural, gerariam larvas incapazes de chegar à fase adulta, ou seja, estas não chegariam à fase em que podem transmitir a doença aos seres humanos. Além disso, as crias também herdariam um marcador que as torna visíveis sob uma luz específica, facilitando o seu controle.

* Publicado originalmente no site Adital.

Batalha contra nova pandemia de câncer no Sul (IPS)

19/04/2014UncategorizedCâncer, Demografia, Pandemia, Saúde públicarenzotaddei

17/4/2014 – 10h49

por Kanya D’Almeida, da IPS

Nações Unidas, 17/4/2014 – Poucos no mundo podem alardear que o câncer não os tocou. Neste momento, milhões enfrentam uma batalha pessoal contra a doença e muitos mais estão sentados juntos a seres queridos que lutam por sua vida, visitando amigos que se recuperam de uma quimioterapia ou averiguando sobre os últimos tratamentos para seus familiares. O prognóstico da organização líder em pesquisa sobre câncer não indica melhorias. O Informe Mundial do Câncer 2014 diz que nos próximos 20 anos se espera que os novos casos aumentem 70%, chegando a 25 milhões em 2025.

Produzido a cada cinco anos pela Agência Internacional para a Pesquisa sobre o Câncer (Iarc), da Organização Mundial da Saúde, o informe de 632 páginas aponta que os novos casos passaram de 12,7 milhões em 2008 para 14,1 milhões em 2012. Neste último ano, o mundo experimentou o recorde de 8,2 milhões de mortes por câncer. Os países em desenvolvimento estão entre a cruz e a espada. Por um lado, seguem sofrendo uma grande presença de tipos de câncer associados a infecções, como o de colo uterino, estômago e fígado, que são relacionados à pobreza e à falta de água potável, vacinas, centros de detecção precoce e opções adequadas de tratamento.

Por outro lado, os tumores relacionados com estilos de vida opulentos, como o de pulmão, mama e intestino grosso – pelo elevado consumo de tabaco, álcool e alimentos pesados – também estão dizimando as fileiras crescentes das classes médias desses países.

A África, por exemplo, experimenta uma “alta alarmante” do tabagismo, e a previsão é que a quantidade de adultos fumantes passe de “77 milhões para 572 milhões até 2100, se não forem aplicadas novas políticas”, afirma a Sociedade Norte-Americana do Câncer. O sul-africano Evan Blecher, diretor do programa internacional de pesquisa sobre controle do tabaco dessa entidade, atribui esse aumento a múltiplos fatores. Um dos principais é o crescimento econômico.

“As economias africanas estão crescendo mais rapidamente e de forma mais sustentada do que nos últimos 50 anos”, afirmou Blecher à IPS, da Cidade do Cabo, sua cidade natal. “O crescimento econômico impulsiona o consumo de tabaco porque há mais dinheiro. Alguns dos países onde vemos maior aumento do tabagismo são Angola, República Democrática do Congo, Etiópia, Madagascar, Moçambique, Senegal e Nigéria, que são os de maior crescimento econômico da África e do mundo”, acrescentou.

Esta dupla carga, de tumores da pobreza e da opulência, paira sobre sistemas de saúde que já estão sob pressão. A Agência Internacional de Energia Atômica (AIEA) informa que os países de renda média e baixa, onde residem 85% da população mundial, possuem apenas 4.400 máquinas de megavoltagem, o que representa menos de 35% das instalações mundiais de radioterapia. A AIEA também afirma que 23 países com mais de um milhão de habitantes cada um, a maioria na África, não têm um só aparelho de radioterapia.

R. Sankaranarayanan, consultor especial da Iarc, pontuou à IPS que a brecha oncológica não separa apenas as nações em diferentes graus de desenvolvimento, mas as populações dentro delas. “A enorme disparidade de sobrevivência de câncer de mama entre as zonas rurais e urbanas de China, Índia e Tailândia, ou entre as populações negras e brancas dos Estados Unidos, é um bom exemplo”, ressaltou. Pesquisadores e médicos dos Estados Unidos dizem que há uma diferença de 8,8% nas taxas de mortalidade por câncer de mama das mulheres negras para as brancas.

Como a obesidade é um grave problema para as comunidades afro-norte-americanas (afeta 50% dos adultos negros e 35% dos brancos), não surpreende que elas tenham maior incidência de câncer colo-retal, associado ao consumo excessivo de alimentos processados e pouco saudáveis.

Na Índia, onde foram registrados mais de um milhão de novos casos em 2012 e quase um milhão de mortes por alguma forma de câncer, a grande diversidade de estilos de vida se mostra como o fator decisivo da brecha oncológica. Por exemplo, a maior incidência de câncer se registrou no Estado de Mizorán, uma das regiões de maior crescimento econômico, enquanto a menor ocorreu em Barshi, distrito rural do Estado de Maharashtra, onde boa parte da população se dedica à atividade agrícola.

Silvana Luciani, assessora em prevenção e controle do câncer da Organização Pan-Americana da Saúde, observou que as disparidades dos serviços de saúde dentro da região também resultam em taxas de mortalidade desequilibradas. “Na América Central a mortalidade por câncer de colo uterino é de 15 ou 18 mortes por cem mil pessoas, enquanto na América do Norte é de duas por cem mil”, detalhou à IPS. “Isso se deve a programas de detecção como o exame papanicolau que são realizados há muito tempo na América do Norte e têm uma qualidade muito maior do que na América Central, onde os serviços de saúde estão fragmentados”, acrescentou.

Sankaranarayanan destacou que países como Coreia do Sul, Turquia, Malásia, Índia, Gana, Marrocos, Brasil, Chile, Colômbia, Costa Rica e México “estão adotando sistemas de saúde de atenção universal ou seguros nacionais de saúde dirigidos às populações mais pobres”. Mas “as populações cada vez mais envelhecidas e o surgimento de tecnologias oncológicas muito caras aumentam as pressões sobre esses serviços”, enfatizou.

Uma barreira ao desenvolvimento

O câncer de pulmão encabeça a lista de diagnósticos, com 1,8 milhão, ou quase 13% do total mundial. Em seguida vem o câncer de mama, com 1,7 milhão, enquanto o que afeta o intestino grosso representa 9,7%.

O mais mortal continua sendo o de pulmão, que mata 1,6 milhão de pessoas por ano, enquanto outras 800 mil falecem por câncer de fígado e 700 mil por câncer de estômago. Esta mortandade é acompanhada de custos astronômicos dos serviços de saúde, que em 2010 chegaram a US$ 1,6 trilhão.

A incidência cresce em países de renda média e baixa que não têm nem a experiência nem os recursos financeiros para enfrentar a situação. De todos os casos diagnosticados, 60% correspondem a Ásia, África e América do Sul, mesmas regiões onde ocorrem 70% das mortes. Envolverde/IPS

Brasil tem metade das mortes de ativistas ambientais no mundo (O Globo)

19/04/2014UncategorizedAgronegócio, ambientalismo, Capitalismo, Justiça, Política, Violênciarenzotaddei

JC e-mail 4936, de 17 de abril de 2014

Segundo levantamento divulgado pela organização Global Witness, de 908 assassinatos, 448 ocorreram no Brasil. Apenas 1% dos casos resultou em condenação; relatório denuncia a ‘cultura endêmica da impunidade’

O extrativista José Cláudio Ribeiro, a religiosa americana Dorothy Stang e o biólogo espanhol Gonzalo Alonso Hernández têm algo em comum. Os três ativistas foram assassinados no Brasil, palco de suas campanhas a favor da conservação do meio ambiente. Eles figuram numa relação divulgada ontem pela ONG Global Witness, que lista 908 ambientalistas executados, entre 2002 e 2013, em 35 países. Quase metade dos casos, 448 mortes, ocorreu em território brasileiro.

No relatório “Deadly Environment” (ou “Ambiente mortal”), a ONG acusa o país de não monitorar redes criminosas atuantes na Amazônia e em outros ecossistemas, subestimar os conflitos de terra e negligenciar assistência a famílias ameaçadas por proprietários de terra e madeireiros. O Brasil é o Estado mais perigoso para a defesa do direito à terra e ao meio ambiente, seguido por Honduras, com 109 assassinatos, e Filipinas (67).

O ano mais crítico foi 2012, quando ocorreram 147 mortes de ativistas em todo o mundo, três vezes mais do que dez anos antes. No dia 22 de junho, o mesmo em que a conferência climática da ONU Rio+20 foi encerrada, dois defensores dos direitos dos pescadores artesanais no Rio foram sequestrados. Almir Nogueira de Amorim e João Luiz Telles denunciavam grandes pescadores que usavam “currais” para lotear a Baía de Guanabara. Seus corpos foram encontrados nos dias seguintes, boiando na baía, em Niterói.

Condenação em apenas 1% dos casos
Em todo o mundo, apenas 10% dos casos chegam aos tribunais, sendo que somente 1% resulta em condenação. Para a Global Witness, o percentual é um símbolo da “cultura endêmica de impunidade” conduzida pelos governos. A falta de condenações contribui para o silêncio dos ativistas e da população prejudicada por atividades econômicas ilegais.

– Esses crimes não recebem a atenção necessária das autoridades. Se houvesse um monitoramento constante nos biomas mais ameaçados, seria possível levar muitos outros criminosos à Justiça – denuncia Oliver Courtney, coautor do relatório.

Courtney considera a situação brasileira “particularmente grave” devido ao crescimento dos episódios de violência na Amazônia. O documento lembra que, em 2013, o desmatamento na maior floresta tropical do planeta aumentou 23%. A maior incidência de desflorestamento (61%) ocorreu no Pará e no Mato Grosso do Sul, dois dos estados onde há mais atentados contra ativistas.

No interior do Mato Grosso do Sul, produtores de carne bovina, soja e cana de açúcar têm entrado em conflito com índios das comunidades guarani e kuranji. Segundo a Global Witness, metade dos assassinatos de ativistas ambientais em 2012 ocorreu na região. E, no país todo, foram mortos 250 defensores de origem indígena entre 2003 e 2010.

– O conflito por terra na Amazônia cresceu dramaticamente no ano passado – destaca. – O Brasil tem uma grande mobilização da sociedade civil, mas a população indígena continua exposta a atividades econômicas insustentáveis.

No Pará, o jornalista Pedro César Batista acumula uma lista de 18 amigos assassinados. Entre eles está seu irmão, o deputado João Batista, morto em 6 de dezembro de 1988 em frente ao prédio em que morava, em Belém. Três anos antes, seu pai, Nestor Batista, havia sobrevivido a um tiro de espingarda na cabeça. Por pressão da família, Pedro deixou o estado.

– O João era visto como um advogado dos sem-terra. Não acreditávamos que ele seria assassinado – recorda Pedro. – Mas descobrimos que havia uma lista com mais de 180 pessoas marcadas para morrer.

“Limpeza entre os bandidos”
Dois pistoleiros foram responsáveis pelo atentado contra João Batista. Libertado após cumprir apenas um sexto de sua pena, de 28 anos, Péricles Moreira foi executado com 14 tiros em uma emboscada. Roberto Cirino, o outro assassino, foi degolado antes de seu julgamento. Segundo Pedro, a “limpeza entre os bandidos” é uma forma comum de assegurar a impunidade dos mandantes dos crimes, como latifundiários, policiais e autoridades públicas.

Batista acredita que o número de assassinatos divulgado pela Global Witness está “totalmente subestimado”. De acordo com ele, as lideranças camponesas são mortas devido à sua resistência ao avanço da agropecuária:

– Para o plantio de uma cultura, desmata-se um quilombo inteiro.

Os madeireiros são os responsáveis pela derrubada da mata na Amazônia. Depois deles vêm a pecuária e a indústria da soja. O avanço dessas atividades econômicas sobre áreas protegidas esbarra no direito de populações indígenas e nos trabalhos defendidos por ativistas ambientais.

– A floresta é repleta de áreas de fronteira agrícola, e o governo não consegue acompanhar o ataque a essas regiões – lamenta André Guimarães, vice-presidente da Conservação Internacional. – Mas, embora a maioria das invasões ocorra na Amazônia, também precisamos prestar atenção no Cerrado. Metade desse bioma ainda está intacto, e ele pode atrair atividades econômicas no futuro.

A Global Witness reconhece que seu levantamento é parcial, dada a dificuldade para analisar os conflitos de terra em diversas regiões do mundo, especialmente em países africanos.

“Esses dados são muito provavelmente apenas a ponta do iceberg (…). O aumento de mortes é a face mais premente e mensurável de um conjunto de ameaças, entre as quais a intimidação, violência, estigmatização e criminalização.”

(Renato Grandelle /O Globo)
http://oglobo.globo.com/sociedade/ciencia/brasil-tem-metade-das-mortes-de-ativistas-ambientais-no-mundo-12219245#ixzz2z9ATB8dX

Krugman: Salvation Gets Cheap (New York Times)

19/04/2014UncategorizedCapitalismo, ciência, Clima, Economia, Incerteza, Mudanças climáticas, Políticas públicas, Previsãorenzotaddei

APRIL 17, 2014

Paul Krugman

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which pools the efforts of scientists around the globe, has begun releasing draft chapters from its latest assessment, and, for the most part, the reading is as grim as you might expect. We are still on the road to catastrophe without major policy changes.

But there is one piece of the assessment that is surprisingly, if conditionally, upbeat: Its take on the economics of mitigation. Even as the report calls for drastic action to limit emissions of greenhouse gases, it asserts that the economic impact of such drastic action would be surprisingly small. In fact, even under the most ambitious goals the assessment considers, the estimated reduction in economic growth would basically amount to a rounding error, around 0.06 percent per year.

What’s behind this economic optimism? To a large extent, it reflects a technological revolution many people don’t know about, the incredible recent decline in the cost of renewable energy, solar power in particular.

Before I get to that revolution, however, let’s talk for a minute about the overall relationship between economic growth and the environment.

Other things equal, more G.D.P. tends to mean more pollution. What transformed China into the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases? Explosive economic growth. But other things don’t have to be equal. There’s no necessary one-to-one relationship between growth and pollution.

People on both the left and the right often fail to understand this point. (I hate it when pundits try to make every issue into a case of “both sides are wrong,” but, in this case, it happens to be true.) On the left, you sometimes find environmentalists asserting that to save the planet we must give up on the idea of an ever-growing economy; on the right, you often find assertions that any attempt to limit pollution will have devastating impacts on growth. But there’s no reason we can’t become richer while reducing our impact on the environment.

Let me add that free-market advocates seem to experience a peculiar loss of faith whenever the subject of the environment comes up. They normally trumpet their belief that the magic of the market can surmount all obstacles — that the private sector’s flexibility and talent for innovation can easily cope with limiting factors like scarcity of land or minerals. But suggest the possibility of market-friendly environmental measures, like a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions, and they suddenly assert that the private sector would be unable to cope, that the costs would be immense. Funny how that works.

The sensible position on the economics of climate change has always been that it’s like the economics of everything else — that if we give corporations and individuals an incentive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they will respond. What form would that response take? Until a few years ago, the best guess was that it would proceed on many fronts, involving everything from better insulation and more fuel-efficient cars to increased use of nuclear power.

One front many people didn’t take too seriously, however, was renewable energy. Sure, cap-and-trade might make more room for wind and the sun, but how important could such sources really end up being? And I have to admit that I shared that skepticism. If truth be told, I thought of the idea that wind and sun could be major players as hippie-dippy wishful thinking.

The climate change panel, in its usual deadpan prose, notes that “many RE [renewable energy] technologies have demonstrated substantial performance improvements and cost reductions” since it released its last assessment, back in 2007. The Department of Energy is willing to display a bit more open enthusiasm; it titled a report on clean energy released last year “Revolution Now.” That sounds like hyperbole, but you realize that it isn’t when you learn that the price of solar panels has fallen more than 75 percent just since 2008.

Thanks to this technological leap forward, the climate panel can talk about “decarbonizing” electricity generation as a realistic goal — and since coal-fired power plants are a very large part of the climate problem, that’s a big part of the solution right there.

It’s even possible that decarbonizing will take place without special encouragement, but we can’t and shouldn’t count on that. The point, instead, is that drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions are now within fairly easy reach.

So is the climate threat solved? Well, it should be. The science is solid; the technology is there; the economics look far more favorable than anyone expected. All that stands in the way of saving the planet is a combination of ignorance, prejudice and vested interests. What could go wrong? Oh, wait.

Ficção climática, um gênero literário que vai além da ficção científica (IPS)

19/04/2014Uncategorizedciência, Clima, Educação, Literatura, Mudanças climáticas, Opinião pública, Sensacionalismo, Visualidaderenzotaddei

16/4/2014 – 11h40

por Dan Bloom*

Taipé, Taiwan, abril/2014 – Quando lemos romances ou ficções curtas em qualquer idioma o fazemos para entender a história, para aprender algo novo ou, com sorte, para conseguir algum tipo de elevação emocional graças às palavras impressas nas páginas e às habilidades do narrador.

Então, como contar a “história” da mudança climática e do aquecimento global?

Um novo gênero literário chamado “ficção climática”, abreviado em inglês como cli-fi, vem evoluindo nos últimos anos e, embora ainda empreste seu nome da ficção científica, se centra em relatos sobre a mudança climática e seus impactos atuais e futuros sobre a vida humana.

Alguns insistem em que é apenas um subgênero da ficção científica, e isso tem sentido em certo aspecto. Mas, em outros, trata-se de um gênero em si mesmo que está ganhando impulso em todo o mundo, não como mero escapismo ou entretenimento – embora frequentemente inclua esses elementos –, mas como um modo sério de abordar os assuntos complexos e universais existentes em torno da mudança climática.

Sei algo sobre ficção climática porque nos últimos anos trabalhei para popularizá-la, não só no mundo de idioma inglês, mas também entre milhões de pessoas que leem em espanhol, chinês, alemão ou francês, para citar alguns. Em minha opinião, é um gênero internacional, com leitores internacionais, que deveria ser abordado por escritores de qualquer nação e em qualquer idioma.

Cada vez mais novelas de ficção climática se dirigem a uma audiência jovem – “adultos jovens”, no jargão editorial –, como Not a Drop to Drink (Nem Uma Gota Para Beber), de Mindy McGinnis, The Carbon Diaries 2015 (Os Diários do Carbono 2015), de Saci Lloyd, e Floodland (Terra Inundável), de Marcus Sedgwick. Na verdade, são as crianças e os adolescentes que sofrerão as consequências dos estilos de vida escolhidos pelas gerações anteriores.

Em um mundo que enfrenta os impactos potencialmente catastróficos da mudança climática, esse novo gênero literário se incorpora à nossa cultura em narrativa comum, divulgando ideias e pontos de vista sobre o futuro que a humanidade pode enfrentar em dez, cem ou 500 anos.

É aí que entra em cena a ficção climática, que pode desempenhar um papel importante para plasmar as emoções e os sentimentos das personagens, em um relato ou romance bem escrito para conscientizar leitores em todo o mundo.

Imaginem um romance de ficção climática, que não só chegue a milhares de leitores, mas que também os emocione e, talvez, os motive a se converterem em uma voz mais forte no debate político internacional sobre as emissões de carbono.

Esse é o potencial da ficção climática.

Uma universidade dos Estados Unidos oferece um curso sobre romances e filmes de ficção climática para estudantes de ciências ambientais e literatura.

Para Stephanie LeMenager, que este ano dá aulas na Universidade de Oregon, o curso constitui uma oportunidade, para ela e seus alunos, de explorar o poder da literatura e do cinema, em um momento em que escritores e cineastas tentam abordar alguns dos assuntos mais difíceis que a humanidade enfrenta no século 21.

O curso de LeMenager se chama As Culturas da Mudança Climática. É o primeiro na América do Norte, e inclusive no mundo, que se dedica dessa maneira às artes e à mudança climática. Estou seguro de que outras universidades seguirão esse esforço pioneiro, agregando novos cursos sobre ficção climática para seus estudantes.

Nathaniel Rich é um escritor de 34 anos, autor do aclamado romance Odds Against Tomorrow (Prognósticos Contra o Amanhã), uma história ambientada em um futuro próximo em Manhattan, que mergulha na “matemática da catástrofe”. Residente em Nova Orleans, Rich acredita que serão publicados mais livros como o seu, não só em inglês e não só do ponto de vista das nações ricas do Ocidente.

Escritores de todo o mundo devem se animar a incursionar no gênero da ficção climática e a usar a literatura de suas próprias culturas para tentar despertar a população sobre o futuro que pode esperar a todos em um planeta que esquenta sem um fim à vista.

As tramas podem ser aterradoras, mas as novelas de ficção climática dão a oportunidade de explorar esses assuntos com emoção e prosa. Os livros têm importância. A literatura tem um papel a desempenhar em nossos debates sobre os impactos do aquecimento global em todo o mundo.

Se poderá dizer que o cânon do gênero remonta ao romance O Mundo Submerso, escrito em 1962 pelo britânico J. G. Ballard. Outro dos primeiros livros sobre esse fenômeno foi escrito em 1987 pelo australiano George Turner: As Torres do Esquecimento.

A norte-americana Barbara Kingsolver publicou há alguns anos um romance muito poderoso de ficção climática intitulada Flight Behavior (Comportamento de Voo). Me impressionou muito quando o li no verão passado, e o recomendo.

A canadense Mary Woodbury criou o site Cli-Fi Books, que lista romances atuais e passados de ficção climática.

Como vejo o futuro? Prevejo um mundo onde os seres humanos se aferrem à esperança e ao otimismo. E sou otimista. E creio que quanto mais nos apegarmos à ciência da mudança climática no plano cultural mais efetivamente poderemos nos unir para evitar o pior. Envolverde/IPS

* Dan Bloom é jornalista independente de Boston que vive em Taiwan. Em 1971, se formou na Tufts University, onde se especializou em literatura francesa. É ativista climático e literário desde 2006. Para segui-lo no Twitter o endereço é @polarcityman.

Life-style determines gut microbes (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft)

19/04/2014UncategorizedBactérias, Ecologia, Flora intestinal, Visceralidaderenzotaddei

An international team of researchers has for the first time deciphered the intestinal bacteria of present-day hunter-gatherers

April 15, 2014

The gut microbiota is responsible for many aspects of human health and nutrition, but most studies have focused on “western” populations. An international collaboration of researchers, including researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, has for the first time analysed the gut microbiota of a modern hunter-gatherer community, the Hadza of Tanzania. The results of this work show that Hadza harbour a unique microbial profile with features yet unseen in any other human group, supporting the notion that Hadza gut bacteria play an essential role in adaptation to a foraging subsistence pattern. The study further shows how gut microbiota may have helped our ancestors adapt and survive during the Paleolithic.

Hadza women roasting tubers. © Alyssa Crittenden

Bacterial populations have co-evolved with humans over millions of years, and have the potential to help us adapt to new environments and foods. Studies of the Hadza offer an especially rare opportunity for scientists to learn how humans survive by hunting and gathering, in the same environment and using similar foods as our ancestors did.

The research team, composed of anthropologists, microbial ecologists, molecular biologists, and analytical chemists, and led in part by Stephanie Schnorr and Amanda Henry of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, compared the Hadza gut microbiota to that of urban living Italians, representative of a “westernized” population. Their results, published recently in Nature Communications, show that the Hadza have a more diverse gut microbe ecosystem, i.e. more bacterial species compared to the Italians. “This is extremely relevant for human health”, says Stephanie Schnorr. “Several diseases emerging in industrialized countries, like IBS, colorectal cancer, obesity, type II diabetes, Crohn’s disease and others, are significantly associated with a reduction in gut microbial diversity.”

The Hadza gut microbiota is well suited for processing indigestible fibres from a plant-rich diet and likely helps the Hadza get more energy from the fibrous foods that they consume. Surprisingly, Hadza men and women differed significantly in the type and amount of their gut microbiota, something never before seen in any other human population. Hadza men hunt game and collect honey, while Hadza women collect tubers and other plant foods. Though they share these foods, each sex eats slightly more of the foods they target. “The differences in gut microbiota between the sexes reflects this sexual division of labour”, says Stephanie Schnorr. “It appears that women have more bacteria to help process fibrous plant foods, which has direct implications for their fertility and reproductive success.” These findings support the key role of the gut microbiota as adaptive partners during the course of human evolution by aligning with differing diets.

Hadza digging for plant foods. © MPI f. Evolutionary Anthropology

Finally, the Hadza gut microbe community is a unique configuration with high levels of bacteria, like Treponema, that in western populations are often considered signs of disease, and low levels of other bacteria, likeBifidobacterium, that in western populations are considered “healthy”. However, the Hadza experience little to no autoimmune diseases that would result from gut bacteria imbalances. Therefore, we must redefine our notions of “healthy” and “unhealthy” bacteria, since these distinctions are clearly dependent on the environment we live in. Genetic diversity of bacteria is likely the most important criterion for the health and stability of the gut microbiome.

“Co-resident microbes are our ‘old friends’ that help us adapt to different lifestyles and environments”, says Amanda Henry, leader of the Max Planck Research Group on Plant Foods in Hominin Dietary Ecology. “Through this analysis of the Hadza gut microbiota, we have increased our knowledge of human-microbiome adaptations to life in a savanna environment and improved our understanding of how gut microbiota may have helped our ancestors adapt and survive during the Paleolithic.”

Argentina hooligans can go to Brazil World Cup (Global Post)

19/04/2014UncategorizedArgentina, Copa do Mundo, Criminalização da juventude, Discriminação, Justiça, Torcidas organizadas, Violência de torcidasrenzotaddei

Agence France-Presse

April 16, 2014 6:10pm

Notorious Argentine “barras bravas” football hooligans can travel to the World Cup without intelligence being passed on beforehand to hosts Brazil, a court has ruled.

The court in Buenos Aires said that the Argentine government is not allowed to tell another country personal information about its citizens, a lawyer for the United Argentine Fans (HUA) supporters’ group said Wednesday.

Debora Hambo welcomed the judgment “to avoid persecution of supporters, like in South Africa in 2010.”

During the World Cup in South Africa, 30 Argentine supporters considered dangerous were turned back at airports or deported shortly after arrival, after Argentine authorities passed on intelligence about potential trouble-makers.

An Argentina fan was killed in Cape Town during a clash between rival barras bravas groups on the eve of the quarter-final between Germany and Argentina.

Brazilian and Argentine authorities have held preliminary discussions about cooperation on security.

Argentina has a long and troubled history of football hooliganism with at least 24 people killed in trouble between fans in the last two years.

Argentina face Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran and Nigeria in the group phase of the June-July world Cup.

Study: The Trials of the Cherokee Were Reflected In Their Skulls (NC State)

19/04/2014UncategorizedAntropologia física, Cherokee, Franz Boasrenzotaddei

Dr. Ann Ross

04.16.14

Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of Tennessee have found that environmental stressors – from the Trail of Tears to the Civil War – led to significant changes in the shape of skulls in the eastern and western bands of the Cherokee people. The findings highlight the role of environmental factors in shaping our physical characteristics.

“We wanted to look at these historically important events and further our understanding of the tangible human impacts they had on the Cherokee people,” says Dr. Ann Ross, a professor of anthropology at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the work. “This work also adds to the body of literature on environmental effects on skull growth.”

The researchers drew on historical data collected by Franz Boas in the late 19th century. Boas collected measurements of the length (front-to-back) and breadth of skulls for many Native American tribes, including hundreds of members of the eastern and western bands of Cherokee.

The researchers analyzed the data, looking only at adults and organizing the adults by year of birth, which ranged from 1783 to 1874. The year of birth, a critical piece of information, provided clues to stressors in an individual’s life. For example, the western band of the Cherokee was subject to the Trail of Tears in 1838, intertribal warfare in the West, disease epidemics, and the U.S. Civil War from 1861 to 1865.

The researchers found that head length decreased over time in both bands, for males and females.

In the eastern band, there was a steady decline for males, but a sharp decline for females beginning in the late 1830s – coinciding with the Trail of Tears, when the eastern band fled into the Great Smoky Mountains to avoid forced evacuation to the West.

In the western band, males and females shared a similar pattern of decline: a sharp decline from the late 1820s to the 1850s, followed by a short increase, and then another sharp decline in the early 1860s with the onset of the Civil War.

“When times are tough, people have less access to adequate nutrition and are at greater risk of disease,” Ross says. “This study demonstrates the impact that those difficult times had on the physical growth of the Cherokee people.

“The study also contributes to our understanding of how environmental stressors can influence skull measurements, which has value for helping us understand prehistoric cultures, historic populations, and the impact of environmental factors on the health of current populations in the developing world.”

The paper, “Secular trends in Cherokee cranial morphology: Eastern vs Western bands,” is published online in the Annals of Human Biology. Lead author of the paper is Rebecca Sutphin, a former graduate student at NC State. The paper was co-authored by Dr. Richard Jantz of the University of Tennessee.

“Secular trends in Cherokee cranial morphology: Eastern vs Western bands”

Authors: Rebecca Sutphin and Ann H. Ross, North Carolina State University; Richard L. Jantz, University of Tennessee

Published: online April 15 in Annals of Human Biology

DOI: 10.3109/03014460.2014.902991

Abstract: Background: The research objective was to examine if secular trends can be identified for cranial data commissioned by Boas in 1892, specifically for cranial breadth and cranial length of the Eastern and Western band Cherokee who experienced environmental hardships. Materials and methods: Multiple regression analysis was used to test the degree of relationship between each of the cranial measures: cranial length, cranial breadth and cephalic index, along with predictor variables (year-of-birth, location, sex, admixture); the model revealed a significant difference for all craniometric variables. Additional regression analysis was performed with smoothing Loess plots to observe cranial length and cranial breadth change over time (year-of-birth) separately for Eastern and Western Cherokee band females and males born between 1783–1874. Results: This revealed the Western and Eastern bands show a decrease in cranial length over time. Eastern band individuals maintain a relatively constant head breadth, while Western Band individuals show a sharp decline beginning around 1860. Conclusions: These findings support negative secular trend occurring for both Cherokee bands where the environment made a detrimental impact; this is especially marked with the Eastern Cherokee band.

Losing Ground in the Amazon (New York Times)

19/04/2014UncategorizedAgronegócio, Amazônia, Código Florestal, Desmatamento, Política, Sojarenzotaddei

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

APRIL 15, 2014

A global forest mapping system developed by a team of scientists from the University of Maryland, Google and the United States government is now able to pinpoint exactly where and at what rate deforestation is occurring around the world. The results are alarming. The world is losing the equivalent of 50 soccer fields of forest every minute. In Brazil — home to 60 percent of the Amazon rain forest and a major component of the planet’s climate system — the rate of deforestation jumped 28 percent during 2012-13. Environmentalists say a 2012 change in Brazil’s regulations governing forest conservation is partly responsible.

Brazil had been making good progress. From a high of 10,588 square miles in 2004, deforestation dropped to 1,797 square miles in 2011; the number of metric tons of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere dropped as well, from 1.1 billion metric tons in 2004 to 298 million metric tons in 2011. These successes resulted from aggressive enforcement of the country’s 1965 Forest Code, and a 2006 soy moratorium, a voluntary pledge brokered by the Brazilian government, agribusiness and environmental groups to prevent trade in soybeans cultivated on deforested land.

Soybeans aren’t the only cause of deforestation in Brazil, but they are a major factor. Brazil is now the world’s second-largest producer of soybeans after the United States. Soybeans have been a boon to Brazil’s economy, and global demand is growing. Under intense pressure from agricultural interests, Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies approved legislation in July 2012 that rolled back many provisions of the 1965 Forest Code, reduced the amount of reserve areas in the Amazon and gave amnesty to past violators. To her credit, Brazil’s president, Dilma Rousseff, thwarted some of the most damaging provisions of the new legislation, but the rate of deforestation still rose.

The soy moratorium has been extended until the end of 2014, by which time Brazil plans to have in place new mechanisms to monitor soybean cultivation on deforested land. These mechanisms must be backed by credible enforcement. And developed countries need to do more to help Brazil, Indonesia and other nations whose forests are at risk protect a resource in which everyone has a stake.

Brazil Is the World’s Most Dangerous Country to Be an Environmentalist (Bloomberg)

19/04/2014Uncategorizedambientalismo, Capitalismo, Desmatamento, Violênciarenzotaddei

Businessweek

By Christina Larson April 17, 2014

The Tijuca forest near Complexo do Alemao, a group of favelas on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on April 24, 2013

Photograph by Dado Galdieri/Bloomberg. The Tijuca forest near Complexo do Alemao, a group of favelas on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on April 24, 2013

Taking a stand to protect the environment in a developing country can be a matter of life and death. According to a new report by Global Witness, a London-based watchdog organization, at least 908 environmentalists were killed in action from 2002 to 2013.

The risks seem to be increasing. “Three times as many people were killed in 2012 than 10 years before,” the report notes. Those 147 deaths in 2012—the deadliest year for environmental activists to date—were “mostly assassinations of specific individuals or extrajudicial killings in the context of demonstration and protest actions.” The most significant sources of conflict were “opposition to land-grabbing and unfair land ownership, large-scale mining operations, deforestation, illegal logging, and hydroelectric projects.” Violence also arose during protests over water pollution, toxic waste disposal, and drainage of wetlands.

The most deadly country in which to be an environmentalist, in absolute numbers, was Brazil, according to a report. Over the course of a decade, at least 448 activists have been killed in Brazil. Many of them were involved in campaigns to defend local people’s land rights and to oppose illegal logging and mining activities.

Meanwhile, 109 environmental campaigners were killed in Honduras over the past 10 years, making it by far the deadliest country per capita. Sixty-seven were killed in the Philippines; 58 in Peru; and 52 in Columbia. “Competition for access to natural resources is intensifying,” the report notes. “At the same time, more and more ordinary people are finding themselves on the frontline of the battle to defend their environment.”

The number of journalists killed worldwide on assignment is also increasing. In 2013, 70 journalists were killed in the field, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The most deadly country in which to be a journalist was Syria, followed by Iraq and Egypt.

Deputado critica em audiência descaso do governo com seca no Nordeste (Câmara dos Deputados)

16/04/2014UncategorizedClima, Congresso Nacional, Mídia, Nordeste, Política, Políticas públicas, Seca, Visualidaderenzotaddei

JC e-mail 4935, de 16 de abril de 2014

A região sofre com uma seca que se prolonga pelo terceiro ano consecutivo, o que gera problemas sociais e dificulta o desenvolvimento da agricultura e a criação de animais

A Comissão de Integração Nacional debateu nesta terça-feira a atuação de órgãos federais na ajuda à população do Nordeste, que enfrenta estiagem pelo terceiro ano consecutivo.

Durante audiência pública da Comissão de Integração Nacional, Desenvolvimento Regional e da Amazônia, nesta terça-feira (15), o deputado Wilson Filho (PTB-PB) criticou o descaso do governo federal com o que ele chamou de “caos total” no Nordeste.

A região sofre com uma seca que se prolonga pelo terceiro ano consecutivo, o que gera problemas sociais e dificulta o desenvolvimento da agricultura e a criação de animais. Além disso, provoca a falta de recursos econômicos, gerando fome e miséria no sertão.

“É muito visível, por exemplo, quando São Paulo entrou em uma realidade bem próxima. De forma rapidíssima o governo federal e os órgãos competentes deram essa resposta”, afirmou.

Contenção de gastos
A operação carro-pipa distribui água potável para a população das regiões afetadas pela estiagem. Ela é uma parceria do Ministério da Integração Nacional, por meio da Secretaria Nacional de Defesa Civil, com o Exército Brasileiro. A ação foi interrompida por parte do ministério no começo deste ano para a contenção de gastos.

(Gabriela Korossy/Câmara dos Deputados)

Anthropocene aesthetics (Immanence)

14/04/2014UncategorizedAntropoceno, Arte, Oceano, Visualidaderenzotaddei

By Emil Tsao

April 10, 2014

Cross-posting this piece by Emil from A(s)cene. Taylor’s coral reef art is beautiful. See also the discussion of Donna Haraway’s “String Figures” lecture and Bruno Latour’s 11 theses on capitalism.

Last week, Lee led us through an exercise that helped to contextualize the minuteness of the period in which humans (and modern life on Earth) have existed. Dovetailing off of Haraway’s talk on the Anthropocene (or perhaps Capitaloscene) and her use of visual media and aesthetics to conceptualize and re-conceptualize the term’s significance, this week we will be exploring various aesthetic and artistic interpretations of the Anthropocene (although many of the images may not be constructed by self-proclaimed ‘artists’). There are some interesting works here, as well as in Making the Geologic Now, which we briefly focused on at the beginning of the semester.

I’d like to draw attention to the living sculptures of Jason deCaires Taylor, an artist and coral reef advocate based out of Cancun, Mexico. Opposing the capitalist “land as commodity” paradigm, Taylor subverts the resource-as-value mentality by installing art pieces, whose inherent value to humans is not economic, but artistic, that actively proliferate life on their structures. Taylor’s sculptures, which are composed of ph-neutral, environmentally friendly materials, are not just an interpretation of the world, that is a medium for-us, but rather an artwork acknowledging our large-scale presence that also seeks to heal the world’s depleting reefs – a medium for-them.

With scientists estimating that 80% or more of all reefs on Earth will be lost by 2050, Taylor aims to decouple us from the notion that it is our vulnerability at stake in the Anthropocene. Yes, as Nigel Clark argues, we can succumb to this inhuman nature that is entirely indifferent to preserving our lives, but as Taylor wishes to show, so are the coral reefs. In Taylor’s piece intitled Anthropocene, an old VW bug is submerged on the ocean floor supporting a fossilized child who appears to be asleep. The sculpture is hollow with various openings close to the floor, allowing lobsters to make their homes in the structure. I wonder if these crustaceans symbolize the ancient beginnings of life.

: Taylor’s Anthropocene



: A structure fit for lobster

In another piece entitled The Silent Evolution for which he received critical acclaim, Taylor took casts of over 400 humans and installed them in an area over 420 square meters in size. While this underwater society appears human at first, it is imperceptibly transformed into a marine assemblage until it is no longer familiar to us. Taylor’s installations remind us of our simultaneous vulnerability (ala Clark) and our unique human qualities, like our capacity to both destroy life and to engender it. As an aesthetic medium, we are invited to explore the ocean floor and discover these strange objects that evolve over time. Almost a kind of wild Banksy, Taylor plays off of our land-evolved eyesight, drawing our attention to the new ways that light refracts, and colors/perspectives appear underwater.

Years of Living Dangerously Premiere Full Episode

14/04/2014UncategorizedClima, Incerteza, Mídia, Mudanças climáticas, Opinião pública, Previsão, Visualidaderenzotaddei

Loss Adjustment (Mobiot.com)

14/04/2014UncategorizedClima, Conservadorismo, Desastre, discurso ambiental, Enquadramento, Incerteza, jornalismo, Mídia, Mudanças climáticas, Opinião públicarenzotaddei

March 31, 2014

When people say we should adapt to climate change, do they have any idea what that means?

By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 1st April 2014

To understand what is happening to the living planet, the great conservationist Aldo Leopold remarked, is to live “in a world of wounds … An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.”(1)

The metaphor suggests that he might have seen Henrik Ibsen’s play An Enemy of the People(2). Thomas Stockmann is a doctor in a small Norwegian town, and medical officer at the public baths whose construction has been overseen by his brother, the mayor. The baths, the mayor boasts, “will become the focus of our municipal life! … Houses and landed property are rising in value every day.”

But Dr Stockmann discovers that the pipes were built in the wrong place, and the water feeding the baths is contaminated. “The source is poisoned …We are making our living by retailing filth and corruption! The whole of our flourishing municipal life derives its sustenance from a lie!” People bathing in the water to improve their health are instead falling ill.

Dr Stockmann expects to be treated as a hero for exposing this deadly threat. After the mayor discovers that re-laying the pipes would cost a fortune and probably sink the whole project, he decides that his brother’s report “has not convinced me that the condition of the water at the baths is as bad as you represent it to be.” He proposes to ignore the problem, make some cosmetic adjustments and carry on as before. After all, “the matter in hand is not simply a scientific one. It is a complicated matter, and has its economic as well as its technical side.” The local paper, the baths committee and the business people side with the mayor against the doctor’s “unreliable and exaggerated accounts”.

Astonished and enraged, Dr Stockmann lashes out madly at everyone. He attacks the town as a nest of imbeciles, and finds himself, in turn, denounced as an enemy of the people. His windows are broken, his clothes are torn, he’s evicted and ruined.

Yesterday’s editorial in the Daily Telegraph, which was by no means the worst of the recent commentary on this issue, follows the first three acts of the play(3). Marking the new assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the paper sides with the mayor. First it suggests that the panel cannot be trusted, partly because its accounts are unreliable and exaggerated and partly because it uses “model-driven assumptions” to forecast future trends. (What would the Telegraph prefer? Tea leaves? Entrails?). Then it suggests that trying to stop manmade climate change would be too expensive. Then it proposes making some cosmetic adjustments and carrying on as before. (“Perhaps instead of continued doom-mongering, however, greater thought needs to be given to how mankind might adapt to the climatic realities.”)

But at least the Telegraph accepted that the issue deserved some prominence. On the Daily Mail’s website, climate breakdown was scarcely a footnote to the real issues of the day: “Kim Kardashian looks more confident than ever as she shows off her toned curves” and “Little George is the spitting image of Kate”.

Beneath these indispensable reports was a story celebrating the discovery of “vast deposits of coal lying under the North Sea, which could provide enough energy to power Britain for centuries.”(4) No connection with the release of the new climate report was made. Like royal babies, Kim’s curves and Ibsen’s municipal baths, coal is good for business. Global warming, like Dr Stockmann’s contaminants, is the spectre at the feast.

Everywhere we’re told that it’s easier to adapt to global warming than to stop causing it. This suggests that it’s not only the Stern review on the economics of climate change (showing that it’s much cheaper to avert climate breakdown than to try to live with it(5)) that has been forgotten, but also the floods which have so recently abated. If a small, rich, well-organised nation cannot protect its people from a winter of exceptional rainfall – which might have been caused by less than one degree of global warming – what hope do other nations have, when faced with four degrees or more?

When our environment secretary, Owen Paterson, assures us that climate change “is something we can adapt to over time”(6) or Simon Jenkins, in the Guardian yesterday, says that we should move towards “thinking intelligently about how the world should adapt to what is already happening”(7), what do they envisage? Cities relocated to higher ground? Roads and railways shifted inland? Rivers diverted? Arable land abandoned? Regions depopulated? Have they any clue about what this would cost? Of what the impacts would be for the people breezily being told to live with it?

My guess is that they don’t envisage anything: they have no idea what they mean when they say adaptation. If they’ve thought about it at all, they probably picture a steady rise in temperatures, followed by a steady rise in impacts, to which we steadily adjust. But that, as we should know from our own recent experience, is not how it happens. Climate breakdown proceeds in fits and starts, sudden changes of state against which, as we discovered on a small scale in January, preparations cannot easily be made.

Insurers working out their liability when a disaster has occurred use a process they call loss adjustment. It could describe what all of us who love this world are going through, as we begin to recognise that governments, the media and most businesses have no intention of seeking to avert the coming tragedies. We are being told to accept the world of wounds; to live with the disappearance, envisaged in the new climate report, of coral reefs and summer sea ice, of most glaciers and perhaps some rainforests, of rivers and wetlands and the species which, like many people, will be unable to adapt(8).

As the scale of the loss to which we must adjust becomes clearer, grief and anger are sometimes overwhelming. You find yourself, as I have done in this column, lashing out at the entire town.

http://www.monbiot.com

References:

1. Aldo Leopold, 1949. A Sand County Almanac. Oxford University Press.

2. Read at http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2446/2446-h/2446-h.htm

3. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/10733381/The-climate-debate-needs-more-than-alarmism.html

4. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2593032/Coal-fuel-UK-centuries-Vast-deposits-totalling-23trillion-tonnes-North-Sea.html

5. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/sternreview_index.htm

6. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/30/owen-paterson-minister-climate-change-advantages

7. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/31/ipcc-report-adaptation-climate-change

8. http://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/images/uploads/IPCC_WG2AR5_SPM_Approved.pdf

Human ‘missing link’ fossils may be jumble of species (New Scientist)

11/04/2014UncategorizedAntropologia física, Australopithecus, Evolucionismo, Tel Aviv Universityrenzotaddei

09 April 2014 by Colin Barras

Magazine issue 2964

Identity crisis <i>(Image: Benedicte Kurzen/The New York Times/Eyevine)</i>

Identity crisis (Image: Benedicte Kurzen/The New York Times/Eyevine)

ONE of our closest long-lost relatives may never have existed. The fossils ofAustralopithecus sediba, which promised to rewrite the story of human evolution, may actually be the remains of two species jumbled together.

The first fossils of A. sediba were found at Malapa, South Africa, in 2008. At 2 million years old, they show a mix of features, some similar to the ape-like australopithecines, others more like our genus, Homo. To its discoverers, this hotchpotch means A. sediba was becoming human, and that the Homogenus first evolved in South Africa, not east Africa as is generally thought.

But a new analysis suggests A. sediba didn’t exist. “I think there are two different hominin genera represented at Malapa,” says Ella Been at Tel Aviv University in Israel. One is an Australopithecus and one an early Homo. We can’t yet tell if the australopithecine remains are distinct enough to call them a new species, Been says.

Been studies the spinal columns of ancient hominins, so she was curious when a paper was published last year focusing on the spine of A. sediba(Science, doi.org/r7k). There are fragments from two skeletons at Malapa, a juvenile male and an adult female. Looking at photographs of the vertebrae, she noticed familiar features on the young male.

“I realised they looked a lot like the vertebrae of the Nariokotome Boy,” she says. Also known as Turkana Boy, this is a 1.5-million-year-old skeleton ofHomo erectus, a widespread species that may be our direct ancestor. Its vertebrae, like ours, are much wider than they are tall.

In contrast, the adult female’s vertebrae are taller, says Been, a classicAustralopithecus feature. She concludes that the spines belong to two different species.

When Been shared her findings with Yoel Rak, also at Tel Aviv University, she found an ally. “He sees the same in the [lower jawbone]: an australopithecine and an early Homo,” says Been. But here the species are switched: a notch in the young male jaw looks like Australopithecus, while the same notch in the adult female jaw looks human.

The pair conclude that there are not two but four individuals in the remains from Malapa: an adult and a juvenile of both Homo and Australopithecus. They presented their findings at a meeting of the Paleoanthropology Society in Calgary, Canada, this week.

Unsurprisingly, A. sediba‘s discoverer, Lee Berger of the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, doesn’t agree. For one thing, he says the positioning of the adult skeleton’s bones in the ground makes it likely they came from a single individual.

Berger admits that the vertebrae of the young A. sediba look like those of H. erectus, but he says vertebrae grow taller throughout childhood. If the youngA. sediba had grown up, his vertebrae may have become moreAustralopithecus-like.

Been isn’t convinced. Fossils of other australopithecine children had tall vertebrae, she says.

Regardless, Berger says that Been and Rak’s observations make sense if A. sediba really was a transitional species between Australopithecus and Homo. “A central tenet of evolutionary theory is that variation within taxa becomes variation between taxa as species diverge,” he says. With anatomy in flux, it is possible that one A. sediba had an Australopithecus-like spine and Homo-like jaw, while another had a Homo-like spine and Australopithecus-like jaw.

There are other features of the A. sediba vertebrae that might explain the differences Been found. Berger’s latest work hints that the young male’s vertebrae may show signs of disease. If so, they are not representative of the species.

This article appeared in print under the headline “Missing link fossils may be a jumble of species”

Global Warming Scare Tactics (New York Times)

11/04/2014Uncategorizedambientalismo, Clima, Enquadramento, Incerteza, jornalismo, Mídia, Mudanças climáticas, Opinião pública, Previsão, Sensacionalismorenzotaddei

By TED NORDHAUS and MICHAEL SHELLENBERGER

APRIL 8, 2014

Showtime’s producers undoubtedly have the best of intentions. There are serious long-term risks associated with rising greenhouse gas emissions, ranging from ocean acidification to sea-level rise to decreasing agricultural output.

But there is every reason to believe that efforts to raise public concern about climate change by linking it to natural disasters will backfire. More than a decade’s worth of research suggests that fear-based appeals about climate change inspire denial, fatalism and polarization.

For instance, Al Gore’s 2006 documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” popularized the idea that today’s natural disasters are increasing in severity and frequency because of human-caused global warming. It also contributed to public backlash and division. Since 2006, the number of Americans telling Gallup that the media was exaggerating global warming grew to 42 percent today from about 34 percent. Meanwhile, the gap between Democrats and Republicans on whether global warming is caused by humans rose to 42 percent last year from 26 percent in 2006, according to the Pew Research Center.

Other factors contributed. Some conservatives and fossil-fuel interests questioned the link between carbon emissions and global warming. And beginning in 2007, as the country was falling into recession, public support for environmental protection declined.

Still, environmental groups have known since 2000 that efforts to link climate change to natural disasters could backfire, after researchers at the Frameworks Institute studied public attitudes for its report “How to Talk About Global Warming.” Messages focused on extreme weather events, they found, made many Americans more likely to view climate change as an act of God — something to be weathered, not prevented.

Some people, the report noted, “are likely to buy an SUV to help them through the erratic weather to come” for example, rather than support fuel-efficiency standards.

Since then, evidence that a fear-based approach backfires has grown stronger. A frequently cited 2009 study in the journal Science Communication summed up the scholarly consensus. “Although shocking, catastrophic, and large-scale representations of the impacts of climate change may well act as an initial hook for people’s attention and concern,” the researchers wrote, “they clearly do not motivate a sense of personal engagement with the issue and indeed may act to trigger barriers to engagement such as denial.” In a controlled laboratory experiment published in Psychological Science in 2010, researchers were able to use “dire messages” about global warming to increase skepticism about the problem.

Many climate advocates ignore these findings, arguing that they have an obligation to convey the alarming facts.

But claims linking the latest blizzard, drought or hurricane to global warming simply can’t be supported by the science. Our warming world is, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, increasing heat waves and intense precipitation in some places, and is likely to bring more extreme weather in the future. But the panel also said there is little evidence that this warming is increasing the loss of life or the economic costs of natural disasters. “Economic growth, including greater concentrations of people and wealth in periled areas and rising insurance penetration,” the climate panel noted, “is the most important driver of increasing losses.”

What works, say environmental pollsters and researchers, is focusing on popular solutions. Climate advocates often do this, arguing that solar and wind can reduce emissions while strengthening the economy. But when renewable energy technologies are offered as solutions to the exclusion of other low-carbon alternatives, they polarize rather than unite.

One recent study, published by Yale Law School’s Cultural Cognition Project, found that conservatives become less skeptical about global warming if they first read articles suggesting nuclear energy or geoengineering as solutions. Another study, in the journal Nature Climate Change in 2012, concluded that “communication should focus on how mitigation efforts can promote a better society” rather than “on the reality of climate change and averting its risks.”

Nonetheless, virtually every major national environmental organization continues to reject nuclear energy, even after four leading climate scientists wrote them an open letter last fall, imploring them to embrace the technology as a key climate solution. Together with catastrophic rhetoric, the rejection of technologies like nuclear and natural gas by environmental groups is most likely feeding the perception among many that climate change is being exaggerated. After all, if climate change is a planetary emergency, why take nuclear and natural gas off the table?

While the urgency that motivates exaggerated claims is understandable, turning down the rhetoric and embracing solutions like nuclear energy will better serve efforts to slow global warming.

Uma (in)certa antropologia

An (un)certain anthropology

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The story of animal domestication retold: Scientists now think wild animals interbred with domesticated ones until quite recently (Science Daily)

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People of color live in neighborhoods with more air pollution than whites, groundbreaking U.S. study shows (Science Daily)

Biologists help solve fungal mysteries, inform studies on climate change (Science Daily)

Study shows lasting effects of drought in rainy Eastern U.S. (Science Daily)

Drought hormones measured in plants to prepare for food security (Science Daily)

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Mosquito transgênico para controle da dengue aprovado pela CTNBio (Portal do Meio Ambiente)

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Batalha contra nova pandemia de câncer no Sul (IPS)

Brasil tem metade das mortes de ativistas ambientais no mundo (O Globo)

Krugman: Salvation Gets Cheap (New York Times)

Ficção climática, um gênero literário que vai além da ficção científica (IPS)

Life-style determines gut microbes (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft)

Argentina hooligans can go to Brazil World Cup (Global Post)

Study: The Trials of the Cherokee Were Reflected In Their Skulls (NC State)

Losing Ground in the Amazon (New York Times)

Brazil Is the World’s Most Dangerous Country to Be an Environmentalist (Bloomberg)

Deputado critica em audiência descaso do governo com seca no Nordeste (Câmara dos Deputados)

Anthropocene aesthetics (Immanence)

Years of Living Dangerously Premiere Full Episode

Loss Adjustment (Mobiot.com)

Human ‘missing link’ fossils may be jumble of species (New Scientist)

Global Warming Scare Tactics (New York Times)