After a decade of "following the water," planetary scientists want to see if water co-existed with other critical environmental conditions that could have allowed simple forms of life to emerge.
Mars Science Laboratory, a one-ton chemistry lab on wheels set for launch Saturday morning from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is geared for a unique mission.
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Think "extraterrestrial real-estate appraisal," says Pamela Conrad, an astrobiologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
We're not quite ready to hunt for life itself yet, and the MSL rover isn't designed to do so, say researchers taking part in the $2.5-billion mission to the red planet.
IN PICTURES:?Exploring Mars
But after a decade of "following the water" ? a necessary ingredient for life as researchers currently understand it ? planetary scientists are moving to take the next critical step: see if water co-existed with other critical environmental conditions that could have allowed simple forms of life to emerge.
Organisms on Earth take the forms they do because they are adapted to their environments, MSL researchers explain. If humans eventually hunt for evidence of life itself on the Red Planet, or anywhere else, for that matter, knowing something about the environment organisms inhabit will yield clues about what the organisms were or are like.
"If a Tim Allen, 'Galaxy Quest,' alien rock creature were to come up and bang us on the head, we don't want to ignore it. That would be the 'Ah ha!' moment we'd regret having missed," says Steve Brenner, director of the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Gainesville, Fla.
For Mars, the incremental Holy Grail is finding organic carbon, the stuff of complex molecules that form the building blocks for life, according to John Grotzinger, a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., and the mission's project scientist.
"It's a long shot, but we're going to try," he said during a prelaunch briefing this week..
Meteorites deposit organic compounds on the Martian surface all the time, but today's conditions are so harsh that the compounds are quickly destroyed, he explains.
Finding organic carbon captured in the layered rocks that the rover Curiosity will explore would indicate that at the time the layers were deposited, conditions on the surface at that location could well have been far more benign, allowing organic compounds to exist at the surface.
Set for launch at 10:02 a.m. Eastern Standard Time Saturday, Curiosity holds a TripTik that sets the rover into Mars' Gale Crater next August.
The oversized ding in Mars' crust is 96 miles across, about 3 miles deep, and sports a gently sloping mountain in its center that rises to a height comparable to California's Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48 states.
Some researchers crudely estimate the impact crater's age at between 3.5 billion and 3.8 billion years old.
In total, 32 people and one firm had charges brought before federal courts stemming from the energy giant's fallout. See what happened to some of the biggest players in the Enron scandal. (Dave Rossman / special to the chronicle)
Ken Lay was the chief executive officer for Enron, and like former Enron President Jeff Skilling, he became one of the focal points during the Enron trial. Lay was tried with Skilling, but Lay's conviction was thrown out after he died during sentencing. (Steve Ueckert / Houston Chronicle)
Jeff Skilling, center, was the president of Enron, and he became one of the key figures during the criminal trial. Skilling is serving a 24-year prison term for conspiracy, securities fraud, false statements and insider trading charges. The U.S. Supreme Court said prosecutors used a legal theory improperly and returned case to lower court, which upheld the convictions. His sentence may be reduced due to earlier ruling that a Houston judge erred in applying sentencing guidelines. (DAVID J. PHILLIP / AP)
Former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts and testified against CEO Ken Lay and President Jeff Skilling. He is finishing a 6-year sentence that ends Dec. 17 at his Houston home. He works as document review clerk for a Houston law firm. (Brett Coomer / Getty Images)
Lea Fastow was the assistant treasurer and CFO Andrew Fastow's wife. She pleaded guilty to lying on her tax return and served a 1-year sentence. She now runs an art consulting firm under her maiden name, Lea Weingarten. (MELISSA PHILLIP / HOUSTON CHRONICLE)
Richard Causey (left) was the former Enron chief accounting officer. He pleaded guilty to securities fraud, and he completed the final weeks of 5-year, 6-month sentence this year at his Houston home. He is listed on LinkedIn as an "independent accounting professional." (James Nielsen / Houston Chronicle)
Michael Kopper was the managing director of Enron Global Finance under former CFO Andrew Fastow. He was the first Enron executive to enter a plea bargain and served less than two-thirds of a 37-month sentence. He was released January 2009, and he is now chief strategy officer for Legacy Community Health Services. (AP)
Ben Glisan, on the right, was the treasurer for Enron before the company filed for bankruptcy and faced various criminal charges. Glisan pleaded guilty to conspiracy. He served two-thirds of his 5-year sentence. He now heads his own financial advisory firm, Pinyon Advisors. (PAT LOPEZ / AP)
Mark Koenig was the head of investor relations for Enron. He pleaded guilty to securities fraud and served an 18-month sentence and is now retired. (Steve Ueckert / Houston Chronicle)
Former Enron investor relations executive Paula Rieker (left) pleaded guilty to insider trading. She served 2 years on probation. (James Nielsen / Houston Chronicle)
Lawrence "Larry" Lawyer, on the right, was Enron's vice president of global markets. He pleaded guilty to failing to report income and served 2 years probation. Currently, he heads Houston-based Triton Investment Group, an energy investment and professional services company. (Steve Ueckert / Houston Chronicle)
David Delainey was the former CEO of both Enron's troubled retail division and its profit-generating North American trading unit. He pleaded guilty to insider trading and served a 9-month prison term. (Steve Ueckert / Houston Chronicle)
Timothy DeSpain, a former assistant treasurer at Enron Corp., was sentenced to 4 years probation and a $10,000 fine for lying to credit-rating agencies to make the financial picture at the one-time energy giant appear healthier than it was. He is now the president of GTL Logisitcs, a firm planning to build a hub in Port Arthur to transport oil from shale projects between refineries and chemical plants. (DAVID J. PHILLIP / AP)
David Duncan, on the left, was an Arthur Anderson auditor. He withdrew his guilty plea after the Supreme Court reversed firm's conviction. He settled the Securities and Exchange Commission's complaint of securities laws violations, and he is now vice president and chief financial officer of Houston-based U.S. Pipeline. (MICHAEL STRAVATO / AP)
John Forney was a former corporate executive with Enron. He pleaded guilty to illegally manipulating California's electricity prices from the company's Portland office. He served 2 years probation. (PAUL SAKUMA / AP)
Joe Hirko, the former head of Enron's Broadband business, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 16 months on charges that he overstating performance of the broadband division. He served a 16-month sentence and is listed on LinkedIn as running a party supply business. (Mayra Beltran / Houston Chronicle)
Kenneth Rice, former chief of Enron Corp.'s high-speed Internet unit, was sentenced to 27 months in prison for securities fraud. He served the sentence and he now works in investments. (PAT SULLIVAN / AP)
Rex Shelby, center in handcuffs, was the vice president of engineering operations at Enron Broadband. He was one of the last of the Enron employees to be sentenced and pleaded guilty to one count of insider trading and was sentenced to 2 years probation. He is now working in the high-tech industry with pre-Enron colleagues. (Carlos Antonio Rios / Houston Chronicle)
Appeals court dismissed broadband charges against Scott Yeager, a former Enron Broadband executive, after the case went to U.S. Supreme Court. Yeager says he's semi-retired. He runs a small ranch and works with small technology companies on sales and product development. (Julio Cortez / Houston Chronicle)
Kevin Hannon was the chief operating officer for Enron Broadband. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the Broadband case. He served a 2-year sentence. After serving his sentence, he founded and is now president of Clarity Risk Management Services. (Buster Dean / Houston Chronicle)
Kevin Howard, left, is the former chief financial officer of Enron's Broadband unit. He pleaded guilty to one count of falsifying records in the Broadband case. He served a 1-year probation. He is now vice president and general manager at Kinder Morgan Natural Gas Pipelines. (PAT SULLIVAN / AP)
Michael Krautz, a former accounting director for Enron Broadband Services, was found not guilty during the Enron Broadband case. (Steve Ueckert / Houston Chronicle)
Former Merrill Lynch banker William Fuhs, right, was found guilty of one conspiracy count and two counts of wire fraud. However, his conviction was thrown out on appeal. (TIM JOHNSON / FOR THE CHRONICLE)
Former Merrill Lynch executive James A. Brown was convicted of wire fraud and conspiracy in a sham sale of some Nigerian power-plant barges charges. Some of the charges against Brown were thrown out on appeal, and he served 47 months on remaining charges. (BRETT COOMER / HOUSTON CHRONICLE)
Robert Furst, left, was the former managing director of Merrill Lynch. He was tried in the Nigerian barge case, but his conviction thrown out on appeal. (DENNIS COOK / AP)
Former Merrill Lynch executive Daniel Bayly was sentenced to 30 months in prison for his participation in Enron's sale of power barges to the brokerage. His conviction was thrown out on appeal. (MICHAEL STRAVATO / AP)
Former Enron executive Dan Boyle, right, was convicted in the Nigerian barge case. He did not appeal and served a 3-year, 10-month sentence. (DAVID J. PHILLIP / AP)
Sheila Kahanek (left) was the former Enron accountant. She was tried in the Nigerian barge case, but she was acquitted. (James Nielsen / Special to the Chronicle)
British former bankers (from left to right) Gary Mulgrew, Giles Darby, and David Bermingham pleaded guilty to misleading their former employer in an Andrew Fastow finance scheme. They each were sentenced to 3 years, 1 month. They are now out of prison and are self-employed. (STEPHEN HIRD / REUTERS)
December will be a watershed month for Andrew Fastow.
He celebrates his 50th birthday on Dec. 22.
The 10th anniversary of the bankruptcy of his former employer, Enron, is Dec. 2.
And his prison sentence ends on Dec. 17.
That last date will be more of a formality ? he?s been living at home for several months under in-home detention, an option the Bureau of Prisons offers for nonviolent offenders. But the date still represents a partial lifting of the legal cloud that has hung over the former Enron chief financial officer since late 2001.
Hard to get at
That was when the company began to fall apart after revelations that Fastow profited personally from a series of deals designed to help Enron keep debt off its balance sheet and manage volatile assets and liabilities. The company had to revise hundreds of millions of dollars in past profit reports because of in-house investigations of the deals.
Fastow was one of the earliest targets for investigators, but getting at him wasn?t easy. First came charges against a trio of British bankers who did a deal with Fastow and his former right-hand man, Michael Kopper. Next came a plea deal with Kopper.
It wasn?t until prosecutors charged his wife, Lea, with tax fraud and a trial was imminent that he agreed to cooperate. Lea Fastow spent a year in prison, and Fastow pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy and forfeited nearly $24 million in assets.
Fastow also agreed to testify against his former Enron bosses, Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay, during their 2006 criminal trial ? testimony seen as key in their convictions.
Part of their defense was that Fastow committed crimes without their knowledge.
A court later overturned Lay?s conviction because he died before he was sentenced.
Cooperation cited
Fastow could have received up to 10 years in prison under his plea agreement, but U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Hoyt sentenced him to six years. Hoyt cited Fastow?s cooperation with prosecutors, his work helping shareholders recover millions from banks that did deals with Enron, and the suffering his family endured.
?The family had taken a particularly acrimonious hit,? Hoyt said during a September 2006 hearing.
Fastow served time in federal prisons in Texas and Louisiana, and was moved to a halfway house in downtown Houston on May 16. He was spotted at Temple Beth Yeshurun for services the following Saturday.
At some point in the last few months, Fastow was allowed to move into the same house he, his wife and their two sons lived in before Enron?s collapse.
The two-story brick house is in the Southampton neighborhood, north of Rice University and blocks from a neighborhood park where flagstones are engraved with the names of families and companies that contributed to the park?s upkeep. They include one for Weingarten Realty, the firm owned by Lea Fastow?s family, and one for the Fastows? oldest son.
The house is valued at $944,000 on county tax rolls.
Probation conditions
Fastow is allowed to leave home for work, medical and religious reasons, but he must keep in contact with prison officials and will have to have regular contact with a probation officer over the next two years.
His total sentence will end up just short of five years and three months, with time off for his completion of a prison drug treatment program he took to cope with what he told the court was an addiction to anti-anxiety medication.
Fastow is now working full-time for the law firm that represented him in civil matters over the last decade, Smyser Kaplan & Veselka, using his business background under the job title ?document review clerk.?
?We?ve found him to be very intelligent, creative and meticulous,? partner Lee Kaplan said. ?We just gave him a raise, but he?s making far less than his talents are worth.?
LONDON (Reuters) ? One man has been found dead and five are missing after a Russian-crewed cargo ship sank in gale force weather overnight in the Irish Sea, Britain's coastguard agency said on Sunday.
Two men clinging to life rafts were airlifted by a rescue helicopter co-piloted by Prince William, son of heir-to-the throne Prince Charles, a defense ministry spokesman said.
They were taken to hospital and a search was extended across a 300 square mile (780 sq km) area of sea some 20 miles off the coast of north Wales.
The 81-meter vessel Swanland, carrying 3,000 tons of limestone, issued a mayday call at 02:00 GMT reporting that its hull was cracking in the bad weather and taking on water.
William, who married Catherine Middleton at London's Westminster Abbey in April, is serving as a Royal Air Force search and rescue helicopter pilot at a base in Anglesey on the Welsh coast.
He has taken part in a number of previous rescues, the defense ministry spokesman said.
(Reporting by Tim Castle; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Post a minimum of three paragraphs, I understand about writer?s block and can tolerate posts that aren?t as long, but even when our characters are interacting there are more things to say than just what their response is, like thought and things the character notices. I don?t want three sentences spaced out as paragraphs either, I don?t count those as paragraphs. The more I get the more I feel like I need to give back, and if I can?t give you back the same amount of paragraphs, I will as close as I can.
I am fine with blood and gore but I don?t go into detail about sex, and I won?t do that.
I don?t want any love at first sight kind of things going on, there are times where characters already know each other and have hidden crushes, but I would like to bring out the hidden crush thing, instead of within the first few posts they?ve already decided to date.
If you have any ideas for the role-play or you want to say ?Hey, how about we do this?? I?m not going to tell you it?s a bad idea, I might even add on to that idea, or we can work something out.
I am excited to start any of these role-plays so if you are interested please either PM me or post in the thread and I?ll get back to you as soon as I see that you?ve replied.
I am still a student, so there are times where I won?t be able to respond, and there are times I won?t be able to get to my computer, and I know you?re going to have times like that too, so we?ll both have to be patient, even if it is an exciting part in our role-play.
In your reply to this thread, please say something about what role-plays you are interested in, if you have any questions and where you would like to role-play this (PMs, threads or email. I?m fine with any of them.)
If there is anything else you want to know please feel free to ask me, I don?t bite.
Plotline Key Plotline still open someone is interested in this plotline Taken plotline
Plotlines
Immortal Danger There is a little town, that is often forgotten, yet it?s very peaceful and quiet and probably very boring. The small town though is pleasant for parents that want to see their children safe, this town doesn?t have much things going on, meaning less danger for children and themselves. This town is good enough, with its own school, library and supermarket, but that is about it. If you want to go do something else that is big you have to go into the city, which gladly is pretty close to this small town.
Of course unlike any other small town there are three people living here. No, they aren?t any three people, these three have been living in this small town for a rather long time, yet they all look as if they were teenagers, they consisted of a prince and two people of protection. All three of them are known as immortals, they are only killed if their head is chopped off and they do age, but it is too slow for people to notice. Immortals do stop aging at a certain point though, but that age varies among them all, these three have been teenagers for a long time, but they had grown up to that age, and still hope to keep aging well into their twenties at least.
How come the rest of the town is filled with humans? Well, long ago, there used to be a bunch of immortals under different kingdoms, and the land this town was on, used to be one of them. This kingdom had been in a great civil war, rebellion had broken out and the two protectors of the prince had been assigned to him. One a girl, of great fighting skill and a boy of great magic skill, this boy happened to be part of the rebellion, but at the same time was in love with the girl. He had been careful with anything he released, even to the girl that he had a crush on. The girl though, was in love with the prince and the prince loved her. These two kept their love hidden but when they were alone they acted like a couple.
One day, the magic boy found this out, and was crushed, though the girl seemed relieved that somebody knew their secret, she trusted the magic boy. The rebellion was starting to get stronger and one day the magic boy decided to take advantage of this, he had threatened the girl to marry him and not the prince or the prince would die. Knowing she had to protect the prince?s life and couldn?t let him die, as his lover and as his protector, she agreed to marry him, but only if he agreed to do one thing for her. The magic boy agreed to these terms.
What was the one thing the girl asked of him? She asked him to erase the memory of the prince, not fully though, just the memories of them being a couple. That afternoon the rebellion had stormed the castle, and the girl was forced to fight against the prince, and knock him out as the magic boy erased his memory. The girl?s heart was broken but now her love was safe, now there wasn?t a thing to worry about, until the modern times came about. The prince hadn?t forgotten his feelings for the girl, he still loved her very much, and he still does. He gets jealous every time he sees the magic boy with the girl, yet he can?t do a thing about it. Until memories start coming back, every time something familiar is said or he sees something familiar. The prince doesn?t even remember the end of the rebellion when the magic boy, his other trusted protector, had taken his memories.
Now though, the immortals have died out and are scattered across the land, these three had managed to get through the whole thing and now live in the same house, they already own and are trying to get through another year of high school, for their classmates it is their third year, to these three it has been way too many years of high school. Gladly, the principle happens to be an immortal too, and is able get this all arranged for them. What happens though, when this prince?s memories come back? Will he try and find the truth of these two betraying him? Will he try to get his lover back?
I am looking for someone or two other people to play the two guys, I?m playing the girl. I would be happy with other ideas for this and I want someone that could help make this plot come alive with a lot of twists. I wouldn't also mind doing this with three people.
Fallen Angel Fallen angels are just angels that have done something wrong, something to get them forced out of heaven. Most go straight to the underworld, others that are lucky enough to get a second chance go to earth. To get back into heaven they must help a human with a corrupt soul become clean again. Well, a fallen angel was forced to earth for a certain thing he had done. Though he happens to be very unlucky, he ends up in a place like Las Vegas, where there are people doing drugs everyday, prostitution is legal and there isn't anything morally right with this city.
He happens to meet a girl that is a part of everything in this city, a girl with a hard and sad past that just got into a worse way of living. This Fallen angel, doesn't think this girl is the one he is supposed to save, he just naturally helps this girl out with her drug issues, and whatever else she does on a daily basis that makes this fallen angel cring. This girl at first doesn't really relize that he is actually helping her in anyway, he just gives her a gentile push every now and then but it seems to be a strong influence.
This is the first time this girl had ever gotten help out of this life, a way out of this place. They begin to fall in love, but of course he is a fallen angel, he has to go back to heaven at some point right? This girl agrees to help him find some person with a soul so corrupt that he can go back, but what happens when their relationship goes too far? What happens when other angels get the word that this fallen angel has fallen for a human girl, or even that this girl knows about what he is? What happens when this girl's soul becomes clean, and the fallen angel leaves? You'll have to find out.
I will be taking the Fallen angel and I need someone to play the human
Make a Wish A prophecy for told of a child that could do anything. A child that would come in contact with the fantasy world. The girl would be the only one with this and world would be untouchable for anyone else. The girl would have the power to wish for what she wants but it comes with rules, she could wish for things that would include changing the balance of things, she couldn?t wish for someone to love her just because, she couldn?t wish for someone to just drop dead, she couldn?t wish to manipulate time. The girl wouldn?t even know about these powers, until the age of sixteen. Of course it wouldn?t just stop there, two guys were trained for this event. They were supposed to stop at nothing so that the girl wouldn?t use her powers the wrong way, they would be her caretakers. They would the only connection the girl had that would know anything. The guys were there when the prophecy was made and were given an elixir that made them not age until the whole thing was over.
Well it had been a while, one of the guys hadn?t been heard from in a while, and the other guy was stuck at seventeen going through school and running from town to town. The girl that was born wasn?t the only one, the prophecy was wrong at the point that the girl was a twin, the powers were split. Only one guy figured out what was going on and now they have to find the other to see what to do, and his job can?t be that easy, there is someone after the two girls and there is more about the prophecy that hasn?t been told just yet.
((Okay I can be either the two guys or girls, although it would be better if I were the guys for storyline purposes, still it doesn?t matter and I was thinking of maybe adding that both girls have a crush on the same guy and they have a bit of a fight too.)
Realistic Romance Roleplay Twins of a top company pretty much own the school, one female one male. The male happens to be the school president and the female is the vice president. Two of their friends that are also a part of the student council happen to be the only two that are able to get close to either of the twins. Two students (also, male and female) that were never on good terms, but knew each other since birth, decide to work together even though they don?t like each other what so ever so they can get close to the president and the vice president both having a crush on one of them. They try to get through with the friends and join the student council, to convince the twins to go out with them. One other problem that gets in their way is that the school has always been run by the company the parents owned and how much money the kid had. Will the twins go out with them? Will they ever get through to the council?
Okay I need someone to play the two students, and one of the friends that is on the student council. I will play the other student council kid and the twins, heads of the student council.
Boarding School for the Gifted There was this legend of an academy that took special children, children with different powers. These children were identified for two things one, they have a twin and two they have an unusual marking on them. This marking was the same thing it was a star that seemed to almost be burned into their skin, but it was always in a different location for each set of twins. These children go through day to day life in this academy with nothing out of the normal, they have never known their parents and most them don?t care. They are all in this academy to learn and they have always been told about how different and how better they are than normal humans anyways.
Now, why are these children special? They have powers that humans do not have, it is different for each child, but they each have three powers. These children have lived in this school for a long time they all know each other very well, and they stay in the school until they turn about eighteen and are there from birth. The children that leave the school normally come back every now and then to talk to their former teachers and students that still stay at the school, but they bring back news of the human world. The children learn from birth how to hide their powers from others and are told that it is for the better not to show how different they are from regular humans.
Well, this school is real, and this school is probably better than any human school out there. The students that go there are pampered very well. These students have the best of the best in everything from technology to the basic needs of everyday life. All the students are given special prizes for doing well in their classes. Now there is a group of four students that are given the best of the best of the best, they are given everything because they are the top students in their classes. They are spoiled a lot and are given anything they want and given even better privliages than the rest of the students.
These four students have their own dorms that are in a different area from the other dorm rooms, their common room is better than the normal student?s common rooms. They even have their own class room because they are better students. These students are the best of friends and know each other really well, they are also known for using their powers whenever they want instead of just when it is necessary. These friends though have their own drama going on, with everyone being so spoiled and great friends things are bound to go wrong somewhere.
Okay, we would each be playing a set of twins, one boy and one girl. I would love to add more to the plotline so whatever you have in mind for this as well, I am open to it.
[COLOR="Lime"]I am also interested in an Ouran Highschool Host Club roleplay, but with our own hosts.[/COLOR]
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates?? A state security court in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday sentenced five activists who have campaigned for political freedoms in the oil-rich Gulf federation to prison terms of up to three years.
The UAE has faced an outcry from rights groups over the trials, which were held in the country's highest court that normally tries terrorism suspects and has no recourse for appeal.
The UAE has not been hit by the Arab Spring unrest that has spread across much of the rest of the Middle East, including neighboring Bahrain. But the activists' trial appears to reflect Abu Dhabi's strategy of snuffing out any sign of dissent that could pose a challenge to the tight political controls in country.
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The three-judge panel sentenced one prominent blogger, Ahmed Mansour, to three years in prison. The others received two-year jail terms, including Nasser bin Gaith, an economist who has lectured at the Abu Dhabi branch of Paris' Sorbonne university. Bin Gaith also served as a legal adviser to the UAE's armed forces until April, when he was taken into custody from his Dubai home by federal security agents.
"I am disappointed," said defense lawyer Mohammed al-Roken. "The fact there is no appeal is very worrying since it does not meet all standards of fair trial."
The five were arrested in April after signing an online petition demanding political reforms, including a parliament selected by open elections. The charges included insulting the country's top leadership, endangering national security, inciting people to protest and urging them to boycott elections.
Political activity is severely restricted in the UAE, an alliance of seven semiautonomous states, each ruled by a hereditary sheik. There are no official opposition groups in the country and political parties are banned.
In an unprecedented move for the politically quiescent country, 130 people in March signed a petition demanding constitutional and parliamentary changes, free elections and a more equitable distribution of the country's oil wealth.
The five defendants have reportedly been on hunger strike for two weeks. They did not attend the sentencing Sunday. Since the trial began in June, the defendants only attended the first, closed-door hearing where they all pleaded not guilty. They've boycotted the proceedings since because the presiding judge had refused to consider their request to be released on bail.
After Sunday's verdict, dozens of men gathered in front of the court in a state-organized rally.
"Justice has been served," said Thabet al-Qaissieh, 29-year old businessman from Abu Dhabi. "I respect any decision of our nation's court. Were they pronounced innocent, I'd be the first to welcome them outside. But they have been convicted and the punishment is fair."
Only one relative of a defendant attended Sunday's hearing. Khalifa al-Nuaimi, bin Gaith's nephew, told reporters his family had hoped the court would "recognize his innocence" and order his release.
"This is a great shock to our family," al-Nuaimi told reporters outside the court. "This is unexpected and a very harsh judgment." Minutes later, al-Nuaimi was attacked by a government supporter, who punched him in the face amid a heavy police presence around the court.
The UAE marks its 40th anniversary of independence next week and some demonstrators suggested the activists could receive a presidential pardon. But the defendants have previously rejected the idea of a pardon unless it was accompanied by the entire case being thrown out.
Samer Muscati, a researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch, called the proceedings "fundamentally unfair."
"It is highly disturbing that after almost eight months in jail, these men get to spend more time locked up on these ridiculous charges," he said.
The current federal parliament serves as an advisory body. Its 40 members are either directly appointed by the ruling sheiks or chosen by group citizens hand-picked according to tribal and regional ties by the rulers to vote.
The last such election ? only the second since the country's foundation ? was held in September. The electoral pool was significantly expanded and while the 129,000 voters still represent a fraction of the nearly 2 million Emiratis, the decision was seen as a concession by the rulers, under pressure from demands for reforms around the region.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
ATHENS, Greece ? Greece's coast guard rescued 92 people, believed to be illegal immigrants, on Friday from a disabled trawler in rough seas off southern Greece, authorities said.
The coast guard said the trawler was believed to be heading from the Egyptian port of Alexandria to Italy and suffered engine failure in near-gale conditions.
It was located 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the island of Kythera, after patrol boats, passing merchant ships, a rescue helicopter and a military transport aircraft were involved in the rescue operation.
The suspected illegal immigrants were safely transported to a nearby U.S.-flagged research vessel, the Atlantis, the coast guard said. The Atlantis was instructed to sail to the southern Greek port of Kalamata.
Debt-crippled Greece is a main gateway for illegal immigration into the European Union. Tens of thousands of people, mostly from Asia and Africa, are arrested on the country's borders every year.
Over the past two months, 10 men drowned or froze to death trying to cross the northeastern border with Turkey.
FILE - In this Nov. 21, 2011 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks at a town meeting at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. Gingrich has never been a conventional Republican and he certainly doesn't see it as the way to catch Mitt Romney. He's not backing away from his unorthodox stand on immigration, which critics call amnesty. But party insiders wonder if a thrice-married, 68-year-old with a multimillion-dollar Freddie Mac contract is the best choice to face President Barack Obama. Gingrich has never been a conventional Republican and he certainly doesn't see it as the way to catch Mitt Romney. He's not backing away from his unorthodox stand on immigration, which critics call amnesty. But party insiders wonder if a thrice-married, 68-year-old with a multimillion-dollar Freddie Mac contract is the best choice to face President Barack Obama. (AP Photo/Cheryl Senter)
FILE - In this Nov. 21, 2011 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks at a town meeting at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. Gingrich has never been a conventional Republican and he certainly doesn't see it as the way to catch Mitt Romney. He's not backing away from his unorthodox stand on immigration, which critics call amnesty. But party insiders wonder if a thrice-married, 68-year-old with a multimillion-dollar Freddie Mac contract is the best choice to face President Barack Obama. Gingrich has never been a conventional Republican and he certainly doesn't see it as the way to catch Mitt Romney. He's not backing away from his unorthodox stand on immigration, which critics call amnesty. But party insiders wonder if a thrice-married, 68-year-old with a multimillion-dollar Freddie Mac contract is the best choice to face President Barack Obama. (AP Photo/Cheryl Senter)
FILE - In this Aug. 12, 2011 file photo, Republican presidential hopeful former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his wife Callista buy a pork chop lunch as they campaign at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa. Gingrich has never been a conventional Republican and he certainly doesn't see it as the way to catch Mitt Romney. He's not backing away from his unorthodox stand on immigration, which critics call amnesty. But party insiders wonder if a thrice-married, 68-year-old with a multimillion-dollar Freddie Mac contract is the best choice to face President Barack Obama. Gingrich has never been a conventional Republican and he certainly doesn't see it as the way to catch Mitt Romney. He's not backing away from his unorthodox stand on immigration, which critics call amnesty. But party insiders wonder if a thrice-married, 68-year-old with a multimillion-dollar Freddie Mac contract is the best choice to face President Barack Obama. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 21, 2011 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gestures during a news conference at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. Gingrich has never been a conventional Republican and he certainly doesn't see it as the way to catch Mitt Romney. He's not backing away from his unorthodox stand on immigration, which critics call amnesty. But party insiders wonder if a thrice-married, 68-year-old with a multimillion-dollar Freddie Mac contract is the best choice to face President Barack Obama. Gingrich has never been a conventional Republican and he certainly doesn't see it as the way to catch Mitt Romney. He's not backing away from his unorthodox stand on immigration, which critics call amnesty. But party insiders wonder if a thrice-married, 68-year-old with a multimillion-dollar Freddie Mac contract is the best choice to face President Barack Obama. (AP Photo/Cheryl Senter, File)
ATLANTA (AP) ? Newt Gingrich has charged into the fray over illegal immigration, risking conservative ire just as his Republican presidential campaign ? once declared all but dead ? has vaulted into front-runner status.
The firebrand former House speaker broke with what has become a reflexive Republican hard line on immigration, calling for "humane" treatment for otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants who have been in the United States for decades, establishing deep family and community ties.
Gingrich suggested they should be provided a pathway to legal residency but not citizenship. Republicans, he said, should see illegal immigrants through the prism of another issue near and dear to the GOP faithful: family values.
"I don't see how the party that says it's the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter-century," Gingrich said at a televised debate Tuesday night.
The response was swift.
Some conservatives asserted he had wounded his candidacy, perhaps fatally.
"Newt did himself significant harm tonight on immigration among caucus and primary voters," tweeted Tim Albrecht, deputy chief of staff to Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, whose state holds the lead-off caucuses in January.
Immigration has proven to be politically treacherous for Republicans trying to appeal to the party's conservative base. Just ask Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who said critics of in-state tuition for illegal immigrants "did not have a heart." Perry had to apologize for the remark.
William Gheen, president of the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, said Gingrich's campaign "will now take the 'Perry plunge.'"
But others praised Gingrich for emerging as a "voice of reason" on an emotionally charged topic.
"With me, personally, I fall right in line with him," said Columbia, S.C., Gingrich supporter Allen Olson, a former tea party official. "It's utterly impossible to round up 12 million people and ship them off."
The stance is not a new one for Gingrich. Aides say he was saying the same thing at town halls and forums long before he was running for president. It's laid out clearly on a campaign Web page.
What is new is the scrutiny he's receiving. Recent polls have shown Gingrich at or near the top of the Republican field, along with Mitt Romney. With a little less than six weeks to go until the Iowa caucuses, people are listening to the former Georgia congressman.
And far from a stumble, Tuesday night's remarks seemed a calculated tactic to draw a contrast with Romney, whom he now sees as his chief rival to the party nomination and who has had his own trouble with conservatives, largely because of the health care overhaul law he pushed through as governor of Massachusetts.
But Romney has been tough on illegal immigration while running for president. He said Tuesday night that what Gingrich was proposing would act as a magnet for foreigners to enter the country illegally.
The Gingrich team countered by pointing to comments Romney made on NBC's "Meet the Press" in 2007, during which he called proposals similar to the one Gingrich was backing "reasonable."
In Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday, Romney didn't address those past comments directly.
"My view is that those people who have waited in line patiently to come to this country legally should be ahead in line," he told reporters. "And those people who have come here illegally should not be given a special deal."
Opponents of illegal immigration say Gingrich has a checkered history on the topic.
While in Congress, Gingrich voted for amnesty for illegal immigrants in 1986 and for smaller, more specific amnesties throughout the 1990s, said Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, which advocates tighter immigration controls. The organization gave Gingrich a "D'' for his time in Congress.
Beck said he believed Gingrich was playing to the Republican establishment, which has been softer on illegal immigration than the grass-roots wing of the party.
But the Gingrich team worked furiously Wednesday to fend off a potential backlash, rushing out several news releases praising his stance, including one with remarks from the son of former President Ronald Reagan.
"My father never would have broken up a family to try and make, in fact, a point on immigration," Michael Reagan said on Fox News. "And so he would have applauded Newt Gingrich on that."
Gingrich himself said he is "prepared to take the heat for saying let's be humane in enforcing the law without giving them citizenship."
Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., chuckled when asked about Gingrich's remarks. Chambliss was booed in 2007 at an annual meeting of the Georgia Republican Party for championing an amnesty program similar to what Gingrich is pushing now. One of his critics at the time, Chambliss said, was Gingrich.
"But I wouldn't underestimate Newt," Chambliss continued. "He's one of the smartest politicians out there, and don't think he hasn't thought this through."
___
Associated Press writers Kate Brumback in Atlanta and Tom Beaumont in Iowa contributed to this report.
ScienceDaily (Nov. 23, 2011) ? The composition of Earth's core remains a mystery. Scientists know that the liquid outer core consists mainly of iron, but it is believed that small amounts of some other elements are present as well. Oxygen is the most abundant element in the planet, so it is not unreasonable to expect oxygen might be one of the dominant "light elements" in the core. However, new research from a team including Carnegie's Yingwei Fei shows that oxygen does not have a major presence in the outer core. This has major implications for our understanding of the period when Earth formed through the accretion of dust and clumps of matter.
Their work is published Nov. 24 in Nature.
According to current models, in addition to large amounts of iron, Earth's liquid outer core contains small amounts of so-called light elements, possibly sulfur, oxygen, silicon, carbon, or hydrogen. In this research, Fei, from Carnegie's Geophysical Laboratory, worked with Chinese colleagues, including lead author Haijun Huang from China's Wuhan University of Technology, now a visiting scientist at Carnegie. The team provides new experimental data that narrow down the identity of the light elements present in Earth's outer core.
With increasing depth inside Earth, the pressure and heat also increase. As a result, materials act differently than they do on the surface. At Earth's center are a liquid outer core and a solid inner core. The light elements are thought to play an important role in driving the convection of the liquid outer core, which generates Earth's magnetic field.
Scientists know the variations in density and speed of sound as a function of depth in the core from seismic observations, but to date it has been difficult to measure these properties in proposed iron alloys at core pressures and temperatures in the laboratory.
"We can't sample the core directly, so we have to learn about it through improved laboratory experiments combined with modeling and seismic data," Fei said.
High-speed impacts can generate shock waves that raise the temperature and pressure of materials simultaneously, leading to melting of materials at pressures corresponding to those in the outer core. The team carried out shock-wave experiments on core materials, mixtures of iron, sulfur, and oxygen. They shocked these materials to the liquid state and measured their density and speed of sound traveling through them under conditions directly comparable to those of the liquid outer core.
By comparing their data with observations, they conclude that oxygen cannot be a major light element component of Earth's outer core, because experiments on oxygen-rich materials do not align with geophysical observations. This supports recent models of core differentiation in early Earth under more 'reduced' (less oxidized) environments, leading to a core that is poor in oxygen.
"The research revealed a powerful way to decipher the identity of the light elements in the core. Further research should focus on the potential presence of elements such as silicon in the outer core," Fei said.
Portions of this work were supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the National Basic Research of China, as well as the National Science Foundation and the Carnegie Institution for Science.
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Journal Reference:
Haijun Huang, Yingwei Fei, Lingcang Cai, Fuqian Jing, Xiaojun Hu, Hongsen Xie, Lianmeng Zhang, Zizheng Gong. Evidence for an oxygen-depleted liquid outer core of the Earth. Nature, 2011; 479 (7374): 513 DOI: 10.1038/nature10621
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
IMDB Rating: A Separation (2011) - IMDb Genre: Drama Director: Asghar Farhadi Writer: Asghar Farhadi Stars: Peyman Moaadi, Leila Hatami and Sareh Bayat Trailer: A Separation trailer - in cinemas 1 July 2011 - YouTube Spoken language: English Texted language (subtitles): English/Spanish
Plot:
A married couple are faced with a difficult decision, to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimers.
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and her husband, retired Capt. Mark Kelly, meet both active and retired airmen after serving a Thanksgiving meal to troops at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz., on Nov. 24.
Matt York / AP
The AP reports:
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords helped serve a Thanksgiving meal to service members and retirees at a military base in her hometown of Tucson, Ariz.
Giffords arrived in the dining hall at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base at midday Thursday wearing a ball cap and an apron with her nickname of "Gabby" sewn on the front. She was accompanied by her retired astronaut husband, Mark Kelly, who also donned an apron.
Giffords used only her left hand as she served, a sign that physical damage remains from the injuries she suffered when she was shot in January.
Kelly supported her from her left side as she worked the turkey station on the serving line. He served ham.
Afterward, she mingled with service members, exchanging pleasantries and mostly one word greetings and responses.
She did tell Airman 1st Class Millie Gray, of Kansas City, Mo., "Happy Thanksgiving, thank you for your service." Read the full story.
UN overhaul required to govern planet's life support system: ExpertsPublic release date: 23-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Terry Collins tc@tca.tc 416-538-8712 Earth System Science Partnership
Needed to avert environmental disaster, reform of international organizations at scale rivalling post-WW II era
Reducing the risk of potential global environmental disaster requires a "constitutional moment" comparable in scale and importance to the reform of international governance that followed World War II, say experts preparing the largest scientific conference leading up to next June's Rio+20 Earth Summit.
Stark increases in natural disasters, food and water security problems and biodiversity loss are just part of the evidence that humanity may be crossing planetary boundaries and approaching dangerous tipping points. An effective environmental governance system needs to be instituted soon, according to independent experts commissioned by organizers of the huge Planet Under Pressure conference in London March 26-29, 2012.
As policy-makers gather in Durban, South Africa, for the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Planet Under Pressure consortium today released the first five of nine policy briefs on key issues. The briefs deal with biodiversity and ecosystem services, food and water security, interconnected risks and solutions, and a topic common to all: reforming environmental governance from the local to the global level.
Prof. Frank Biermann of VU University Amsterdam in The Netherlands, director of the Earth System Governance Project of the International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP) wrote the policy brief on institutional reform with 29 fellow social scientists and governance experts around the world.
Says Dr. Biermann: "Societies must change course to steer away from critical tipping points that lead to rapid and irreversible change. This requires a fundamental transformation of existing practices. The international governance system must change."
"In the 1940s, large parts of the world lay in ruins amid fears of further political conflict. International systems were inadequate to deal with the global challenges then. Decision-makers created in very short time new organizations and global standards, including the U.N., the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (later the World Trade Organization), and others."
"The current destruction of the Earth's natural systems warrants today a similar 'constitutional moment' to revise and transform the architecture of global governance."
Says IHDP executive director Anantha Duraiappah: "The governance systems created post-war have helped resolve conflict, promote globalization and spur unprecedented economic growth. Many societies have progressed in the past decades with an increase in well-being. The magic question is can this continue? As the world continues to become ever more interdependent we need new forms of governance."
Improving international co-ordination is essential to deal not only with global-scale environmental and consequent security problems but to regulate proposed technological fixes, including nanotechnology, biotechnology and climate engineering.
Global-scale geo-engineering proposals to address climate change are too far-reaching and potentially dangerous to be left to the discretion of national governments or corporations, Dr. Biermann says. Multilateral frameworks are instead urgently needed.
"Tinkering with the existing international governance system is unlikely to improve matters sufficiently," he says. "Fundamental reform is required for effective Earth-system governance."
Among several recommendations:
Strengthen the system of international organizations for sustainable development by, for example:
Upgrading the UN Commission on Sustainable Development to a Council of the UN General Assembly, to handle emerging issues such as water, climate, energy and food security, natural disasters and the linkages among these issues;
Elevating the Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme to the status of the World Health Organization and International Labour Organization a step that would give it greater authority, more secure funding and facilitate the creation and enforcement of international regulations and standards;
Create special majority voting in decision-making systems when earth-system concerns are at stake.
Also recommended:
Strengthening national accountability and legitimacy with, for example, mandatory disclosure of accessible, comprehensible and comparable data about government and corporate sustainability performance; and
Allowing discrimination in world trade law between products on the basis of production processes to encourage investments in cleaner products and services. Such discrimination should be based on multilateral agreement to prevent protectionism.
Tools available
"We have tools to address our challenges effectively, but we're quickly running out of time to put them in place," says Planet Under Pressure conference co-chair Dr Mark Stafford Smith, science director of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization's Climate Adaptation Flagship, in Canberra, Australia.
The international Planet Under Pressure conference will be the largest gathering of global change and sustainability scientists prior to the Rio+20 Earth Summit next June in Rio de Janeiro. The 3,000 global experts expected at the London conference will provide a "State of the Planet" assessment, discuss concepts for planetary stewardship and societal and economic transformation, and prescribe a recommended route to global sustainability.
Sponsored by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the conference is being organized by a consortium of four leading global research programmes: International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, DIVERSITAS-the international programme on biodiversity science, International Human Dimensions Programme on global environmental change, the World Climate Research Programme -- collectively known as the Earth System Science Partnership.
Despite more than 900 environmental treaties coming into force in the past 40 years, human-induced environmental degradation continues, reaching levels that prompted ICSU's blunt warning in 2010 that "humanity has reached a point in history at which a prerequisite for development the continued functioning of the Earth system as we know it is at risk."
Authors of the policy briefs note recently published contentions that humanity has already pushed Earth past limits on climate change, biodiversity loss and nitrogen use -- three of nine proposed "planetary boundaries" that must be respected for societies to grow and prosper.
Biodiversity
The brief on biodiversity and ecosystem services notes that despite recent efforts to reduce the rate of loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, the number of plant and animal species threatened with extinction continues to rise, forests and mangrove swamps are in sharp decline, and vast areas are increasingly dominated by a few successful species.
The brief offers new information detailing the fast-growing number of pollution-related oxygen depletion zones killing fish in coastal marine ecosystems -- now more than 500 worldwide.
Consequences include the diminished ability of ecosystems to act as a buffer against extreme events such as floods, fires, disease outbreaks and storm surges. "If the global community continues on its current path, the declines in biodiversity and ecosystem services will impede future efforts towards sustainable development pathways," the authors warn.
They call for a stronger inclusion of the multiple values of biodiversity and ecosystems into policy and management decisions, e.g. by measuring progress beyond traditional indicators such as the GDP. The concept of 'inclusive wealth' includes all forms of capital natural (land, water, soil, biodiversity and ecosystem services), social (institutions, social networks) and human (education, health, skills) -- as well as financial and manufactured.
"While current trends in biodiversity and ecosystem services are sharply and dangerously negative, the right actions -- developed and implemented promptly -- can restore a biologically rich and ecologically viable planet." stresses Dr. Anne Larigauderie, executive director of DIVERSITAS and co-author of the brief.
Food security
Led by Oxford University Prof. John Ingram, authors of the food security brief say that despite a marked increase in global food production over the past half century, nearly one billion people still have too little to eat, and a further billion lack adequate nutrition. It showcases a new indicator of food security -- children under the age of five suffer stunted growth due to inadequate food -- and offers a map showing that in much of the world, the problem affects 40 per cent or more of children.
While the brief calls for the urgent development of policies and technologies for increasing food production in a more sustainable manner, it highlights the need for a food system that recognizes that improving access to food is the key issue to reduce food insecurity, rather than concentrating solely on increasing production.
"The challenge of feeding the world efficiently and equitably is considerable, but not insurmountable," the authors say. "Institutions operating effectively at multiple levels will be at the centre of sustainable food systems; these will need to be flexible, promote appropriate use of innovative technologies and policies, and recognize the increasingly important role of non-state actors in enhancing food systems. Above all, there is need for a strong focus on resilience, equity and sustainability."
Water security
As global population has tripled in the past century, water use has increased six-fold, and the quality of water resources has been degraded through human activities such as excessive use of agriculture-related chemicals and the release of untreated sewage and industrial wastewater.
Combined with growing economies and poor water management, unprecedented pressure is being placed on freshwater resources.
The policy document recommends that water be given high priority in international decision-making, and that compromises between use and preservation be made on the basis of science rather than political or economic lobbying. It also calls for laws and financial mechanisms to ensure sustainable water supplies.
"We simply cannot continue to use water as wastefully as we have in the past," says lead author Janos Bogardi, Executive Officer of the Joint ESSP Global Water Systems Project. "Water must be given the prominence it deserves on the global agenda; decisions should be considered through a 'water lens'."
Interconnected risks and solutions
The financial crisis highlights our vulnerability as a direct result of our growing interconnectivity. The brief on interconnected risks and solutions underlines underlines the requirement for an integrated approach to a suite of urgent global challenges: poverty alleviation; the financial crisis; economic development; political stability; pollution; food, water and energy security; health; wellbeing; climate change; ocean acidification; and loss of biodiversity to name just some.
Systemic risk management should be a priority for international organizations.
The experts call for an end to the fragmented approach to interconnected global challenges and suggest establishing an international high-level consultative body on global sustainability. Beneath this, they suggest an Intergovernmental Panel on Sustainable Development to ensure scientific coherence and build on existing assessments for example the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and to ensure scientific coherence. This would produce a regular 'State of the Planet' assessment that includes socio-economic indicators.
They also call on societies to "build resilience and prepare for unavoidable changes."
Professor Sybil Seitzinger, Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme say, "The great acceleration in human activity, seen largely since the 1950s, has committed the Earth system to substantial change, not only this century but also for hundreds and even thousands of years to come."
Future policy briefs will offer insights and recommendations on the green economy, energy security, health, and human well-being.
###
Planet Under Pressure (www.planetunderpressure2012.net)
The Planet Under Pressure conference's chief scientific advisor, Elinor Ostrom, has commissioned a series of policy briefs relevant to Rio+20. These policy briefs have been independently produced by the academic community and will be supported by white papers to be published for the Planet Under Pressure conference. The conference provides a platform for independent, impartial research. The views and the recommendations expressed in the policy briefs should not be taken to reflect the views of all programme sponsors.
Conference structure:
Monday March 26: State of the Planet: latest knowledge about the pressures on the planet
Tuesday March 27: Options and opportunities: exchanging knowledge about ways of reducing the pressures on the planet, promoting transformative changes for a sustainable future and adapting to changes in the global system
Wednesday March 29: Challenges to progress: clarifying what is preventing or slowing humanity from implementing potential solutions
Thursday March 30: Ways ahead: a vision for 2050 and beyond, and exploring new partnerships and pathways towards global sustainability
Themes: Meeting global needs: food, energy, water and other ecosystem services
Transforming our way of living: development pathways under global environmental change
Governing across scales: innovative stewardship of the Earth system
For more details: www.planetunderpressure2012.net/themes.asp
Conference sessions: www.planetunderpressure2012.net/sessions.asp
Mailing list: http://www.planetunderpressure2012.net/mailinglist.asp
Registration for journalists: 1 December 2011 www.planetunderpressure2012.net
Sponsor
International Council for Science
Founded in 1931, Paris-based ICSU is a non-governmental organization with a global membership of national scientific bodies (121 Members, representing 141 countries) and International Scientific Unions (30 Members). The Council is frequently called upon to speak on behalf of the global scientific community and to act as an advisor in matters ranging from the environment to conduct in science. ICSU's activities focus on three areas: planning and coordinating research; science for policy; and strengthening the Universality of Science.
Organizers
The Earth System Science Partnership
Based in Paris, France, the ESSP has been created for the integrated study of change in the Earth System and the implications for global and regional sustainability. There are four institutional partners:
International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme
Based in Stockholm, Sweden, IGBP was launched in 1987 to coordinate international research on global-scale and regional-scale interactions between Earth's biological, chemical and physical processes and their interactions with human systems. IGBP views the Earth system as the Earth's natural physical, chemical and biological cycles and processes AND the social and economic dimensions.
DIVERSITAS
Paris-based DIVERSITAS is an international programme of biodiversity science with a dual mission: To promote an integrative biodiversity science, linking biological, ecological and social disciplines in an effort to produce socially relevant new knowledge; and to provide the scientific basis for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change
Based in Bonn, Germany, IHDP fosters original research into human behaviours and actions relevant to global environmental changes. IHDP builds international, multi-disciplinary teams of scientists to conduct integrated, long-term collaborative research and adds value by strengthening the voice and impact of a huge network of individual scientists and research initiatives. The Earth System Governance Project is one of IHDP's core projects and has compiled the Policy Brief on the Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development.
World Climate Research Programme
Based in Geneva, Switzerland, WCRP's two overarching objectives are to determine the predictability of climate and to determine the effect of human activities on climate. WCRP facilitates analysis and prediction of Earth system variability and change for use in an increasing range of practical applications of direct relevance, benefit and value to society.
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UN overhaul required to govern planet's life support system: ExpertsPublic release date: 23-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Terry Collins tc@tca.tc 416-538-8712 Earth System Science Partnership
Needed to avert environmental disaster, reform of international organizations at scale rivalling post-WW II era
Reducing the risk of potential global environmental disaster requires a "constitutional moment" comparable in scale and importance to the reform of international governance that followed World War II, say experts preparing the largest scientific conference leading up to next June's Rio+20 Earth Summit.
Stark increases in natural disasters, food and water security problems and biodiversity loss are just part of the evidence that humanity may be crossing planetary boundaries and approaching dangerous tipping points. An effective environmental governance system needs to be instituted soon, according to independent experts commissioned by organizers of the huge Planet Under Pressure conference in London March 26-29, 2012.
As policy-makers gather in Durban, South Africa, for the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Planet Under Pressure consortium today released the first five of nine policy briefs on key issues. The briefs deal with biodiversity and ecosystem services, food and water security, interconnected risks and solutions, and a topic common to all: reforming environmental governance from the local to the global level.
Prof. Frank Biermann of VU University Amsterdam in The Netherlands, director of the Earth System Governance Project of the International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP) wrote the policy brief on institutional reform with 29 fellow social scientists and governance experts around the world.
Says Dr. Biermann: "Societies must change course to steer away from critical tipping points that lead to rapid and irreversible change. This requires a fundamental transformation of existing practices. The international governance system must change."
"In the 1940s, large parts of the world lay in ruins amid fears of further political conflict. International systems were inadequate to deal with the global challenges then. Decision-makers created in very short time new organizations and global standards, including the U.N., the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (later the World Trade Organization), and others."
"The current destruction of the Earth's natural systems warrants today a similar 'constitutional moment' to revise and transform the architecture of global governance."
Says IHDP executive director Anantha Duraiappah: "The governance systems created post-war have helped resolve conflict, promote globalization and spur unprecedented economic growth. Many societies have progressed in the past decades with an increase in well-being. The magic question is can this continue? As the world continues to become ever more interdependent we need new forms of governance."
Improving international co-ordination is essential to deal not only with global-scale environmental and consequent security problems but to regulate proposed technological fixes, including nanotechnology, biotechnology and climate engineering.
Global-scale geo-engineering proposals to address climate change are too far-reaching and potentially dangerous to be left to the discretion of national governments or corporations, Dr. Biermann says. Multilateral frameworks are instead urgently needed.
"Tinkering with the existing international governance system is unlikely to improve matters sufficiently," he says. "Fundamental reform is required for effective Earth-system governance."
Among several recommendations:
Strengthen the system of international organizations for sustainable development by, for example:
Upgrading the UN Commission on Sustainable Development to a Council of the UN General Assembly, to handle emerging issues such as water, climate, energy and food security, natural disasters and the linkages among these issues;
Elevating the Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme to the status of the World Health Organization and International Labour Organization a step that would give it greater authority, more secure funding and facilitate the creation and enforcement of international regulations and standards;
Create special majority voting in decision-making systems when earth-system concerns are at stake.
Also recommended:
Strengthening national accountability and legitimacy with, for example, mandatory disclosure of accessible, comprehensible and comparable data about government and corporate sustainability performance; and
Allowing discrimination in world trade law between products on the basis of production processes to encourage investments in cleaner products and services. Such discrimination should be based on multilateral agreement to prevent protectionism.
Tools available
"We have tools to address our challenges effectively, but we're quickly running out of time to put them in place," says Planet Under Pressure conference co-chair Dr Mark Stafford Smith, science director of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization's Climate Adaptation Flagship, in Canberra, Australia.
The international Planet Under Pressure conference will be the largest gathering of global change and sustainability scientists prior to the Rio+20 Earth Summit next June in Rio de Janeiro. The 3,000 global experts expected at the London conference will provide a "State of the Planet" assessment, discuss concepts for planetary stewardship and societal and economic transformation, and prescribe a recommended route to global sustainability.
Sponsored by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the conference is being organized by a consortium of four leading global research programmes: International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, DIVERSITAS-the international programme on biodiversity science, International Human Dimensions Programme on global environmental change, the World Climate Research Programme -- collectively known as the Earth System Science Partnership.
Despite more than 900 environmental treaties coming into force in the past 40 years, human-induced environmental degradation continues, reaching levels that prompted ICSU's blunt warning in 2010 that "humanity has reached a point in history at which a prerequisite for development the continued functioning of the Earth system as we know it is at risk."
Authors of the policy briefs note recently published contentions that humanity has already pushed Earth past limits on climate change, biodiversity loss and nitrogen use -- three of nine proposed "planetary boundaries" that must be respected for societies to grow and prosper.
Biodiversity
The brief on biodiversity and ecosystem services notes that despite recent efforts to reduce the rate of loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, the number of plant and animal species threatened with extinction continues to rise, forests and mangrove swamps are in sharp decline, and vast areas are increasingly dominated by a few successful species.
The brief offers new information detailing the fast-growing number of pollution-related oxygen depletion zones killing fish in coastal marine ecosystems -- now more than 500 worldwide.
Consequences include the diminished ability of ecosystems to act as a buffer against extreme events such as floods, fires, disease outbreaks and storm surges. "If the global community continues on its current path, the declines in biodiversity and ecosystem services will impede future efforts towards sustainable development pathways," the authors warn.
They call for a stronger inclusion of the multiple values of biodiversity and ecosystems into policy and management decisions, e.g. by measuring progress beyond traditional indicators such as the GDP. The concept of 'inclusive wealth' includes all forms of capital natural (land, water, soil, biodiversity and ecosystem services), social (institutions, social networks) and human (education, health, skills) -- as well as financial and manufactured.
"While current trends in biodiversity and ecosystem services are sharply and dangerously negative, the right actions -- developed and implemented promptly -- can restore a biologically rich and ecologically viable planet." stresses Dr. Anne Larigauderie, executive director of DIVERSITAS and co-author of the brief.
Food security
Led by Oxford University Prof. John Ingram, authors of the food security brief say that despite a marked increase in global food production over the past half century, nearly one billion people still have too little to eat, and a further billion lack adequate nutrition. It showcases a new indicator of food security -- children under the age of five suffer stunted growth due to inadequate food -- and offers a map showing that in much of the world, the problem affects 40 per cent or more of children.
While the brief calls for the urgent development of policies and technologies for increasing food production in a more sustainable manner, it highlights the need for a food system that recognizes that improving access to food is the key issue to reduce food insecurity, rather than concentrating solely on increasing production.
"The challenge of feeding the world efficiently and equitably is considerable, but not insurmountable," the authors say. "Institutions operating effectively at multiple levels will be at the centre of sustainable food systems; these will need to be flexible, promote appropriate use of innovative technologies and policies, and recognize the increasingly important role of non-state actors in enhancing food systems. Above all, there is need for a strong focus on resilience, equity and sustainability."
Water security
As global population has tripled in the past century, water use has increased six-fold, and the quality of water resources has been degraded through human activities such as excessive use of agriculture-related chemicals and the release of untreated sewage and industrial wastewater.
Combined with growing economies and poor water management, unprecedented pressure is being placed on freshwater resources.
The policy document recommends that water be given high priority in international decision-making, and that compromises between use and preservation be made on the basis of science rather than political or economic lobbying. It also calls for laws and financial mechanisms to ensure sustainable water supplies.
"We simply cannot continue to use water as wastefully as we have in the past," says lead author Janos Bogardi, Executive Officer of the Joint ESSP Global Water Systems Project. "Water must be given the prominence it deserves on the global agenda; decisions should be considered through a 'water lens'."
Interconnected risks and solutions
The financial crisis highlights our vulnerability as a direct result of our growing interconnectivity. The brief on interconnected risks and solutions underlines underlines the requirement for an integrated approach to a suite of urgent global challenges: poverty alleviation; the financial crisis; economic development; political stability; pollution; food, water and energy security; health; wellbeing; climate change; ocean acidification; and loss of biodiversity to name just some.
Systemic risk management should be a priority for international organizations.
The experts call for an end to the fragmented approach to interconnected global challenges and suggest establishing an international high-level consultative body on global sustainability. Beneath this, they suggest an Intergovernmental Panel on Sustainable Development to ensure scientific coherence and build on existing assessments for example the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and to ensure scientific coherence. This would produce a regular 'State of the Planet' assessment that includes socio-economic indicators.
They also call on societies to "build resilience and prepare for unavoidable changes."
Professor Sybil Seitzinger, Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme say, "The great acceleration in human activity, seen largely since the 1950s, has committed the Earth system to substantial change, not only this century but also for hundreds and even thousands of years to come."
Future policy briefs will offer insights and recommendations on the green economy, energy security, health, and human well-being.
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Planet Under Pressure (www.planetunderpressure2012.net)
The Planet Under Pressure conference's chief scientific advisor, Elinor Ostrom, has commissioned a series of policy briefs relevant to Rio+20. These policy briefs have been independently produced by the academic community and will be supported by white papers to be published for the Planet Under Pressure conference. The conference provides a platform for independent, impartial research. The views and the recommendations expressed in the policy briefs should not be taken to reflect the views of all programme sponsors.
Conference structure:
Monday March 26: State of the Planet: latest knowledge about the pressures on the planet
Tuesday March 27: Options and opportunities: exchanging knowledge about ways of reducing the pressures on the planet, promoting transformative changes for a sustainable future and adapting to changes in the global system
Wednesday March 29: Challenges to progress: clarifying what is preventing or slowing humanity from implementing potential solutions
Thursday March 30: Ways ahead: a vision for 2050 and beyond, and exploring new partnerships and pathways towards global sustainability
Themes: Meeting global needs: food, energy, water and other ecosystem services
Transforming our way of living: development pathways under global environmental change
Governing across scales: innovative stewardship of the Earth system
For more details: www.planetunderpressure2012.net/themes.asp
Conference sessions: www.planetunderpressure2012.net/sessions.asp
Mailing list: http://www.planetunderpressure2012.net/mailinglist.asp
Registration for journalists: 1 December 2011 www.planetunderpressure2012.net
Sponsor
International Council for Science
Founded in 1931, Paris-based ICSU is a non-governmental organization with a global membership of national scientific bodies (121 Members, representing 141 countries) and International Scientific Unions (30 Members). The Council is frequently called upon to speak on behalf of the global scientific community and to act as an advisor in matters ranging from the environment to conduct in science. ICSU's activities focus on three areas: planning and coordinating research; science for policy; and strengthening the Universality of Science.
Organizers
The Earth System Science Partnership
Based in Paris, France, the ESSP has been created for the integrated study of change in the Earth System and the implications for global and regional sustainability. There are four institutional partners:
International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme
Based in Stockholm, Sweden, IGBP was launched in 1987 to coordinate international research on global-scale and regional-scale interactions between Earth's biological, chemical and physical processes and their interactions with human systems. IGBP views the Earth system as the Earth's natural physical, chemical and biological cycles and processes AND the social and economic dimensions.
DIVERSITAS
Paris-based DIVERSITAS is an international programme of biodiversity science with a dual mission: To promote an integrative biodiversity science, linking biological, ecological and social disciplines in an effort to produce socially relevant new knowledge; and to provide the scientific basis for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change
Based in Bonn, Germany, IHDP fosters original research into human behaviours and actions relevant to global environmental changes. IHDP builds international, multi-disciplinary teams of scientists to conduct integrated, long-term collaborative research and adds value by strengthening the voice and impact of a huge network of individual scientists and research initiatives. The Earth System Governance Project is one of IHDP's core projects and has compiled the Policy Brief on the Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development.
World Climate Research Programme
Based in Geneva, Switzerland, WCRP's two overarching objectives are to determine the predictability of climate and to determine the effect of human activities on climate. WCRP facilitates analysis and prediction of Earth system variability and change for use in an increasing range of practical applications of direct relevance, benefit and value to society.
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Public release date: 23-Nov-2011
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