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South African Journal of Science
On-line version ISSN 1996-7489
Print version ISSN 0038-2353
S. Afr. j. sci. vol.104 n.3-4 Pretoria Mar./Apr. 2008
Interaction of Agulhas filaments with mesoscale turbulence: a case study
C. WhittleI; J.R.E. LutjeharmsI, *; C.M. Duncombe RaeII; F.A. ShillingtonI
IDepartment of Oceanography, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
IIMarine & Coastal Management, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Private Bag X2, Roggebaai 8012, South Africa
The inter-ocean leakage of heat and salt from the South Indian Ocean to the South Atlantic has important consequences for the global thermohaline circulation and in particular for the strength of overturning of the Atlantic Ocean as a whole. This leakage between these two subtropical gyres takes place south of Africa. The main mechanisms are the intermittent shedding of Agulhas rings from the retroflection of the Agulhas Current and the advection of Agulhas filaments from the border of the Agulhas Current, both of which move northwestward into the South Atlantic. The subsequent behaviour and mixing of Agulhas rings has been much studied over the past years, that of Agulhas filaments not at all. We report here on fortuitous hydrographic observations of the behaviour of an Agulhas filament that interacted with a number of mesoscale features shortly after formation. This suggests that Agulhas filaments may be involved in many other circulation elements and not only the Benguela upwelling front, as was surmised previously, and may mix out in a very site-specific region.
Heat and salt are distributed and circulated throughout the world's oceans via the global thermohaline circulation. The oceans adjacent to southern Africa form an important component of this circulation.
The Agulhas Current is the western boundary current of the South Indian Ocean and acts as a link between the Indian and Atlantic oceans1 in the following way. South of Africa the current retroflects abruptly and about 90% of its water mass transport is returned to the South Indian Ocean.2 Shedding of huge Agulhas rings at the retroflection and the advection of filamentsfrom the upper layers of the landward border of the currentaccount for the remaining 10% of Agulhas Current water mass transport. These Agulhas Current products leak into the South Atlantic Ocean; the annual contribution to inter-basin salt exchange of filaments being about 15% of that of Agulhas rings.3 The South Atlantic is unique as an ocean basin since it is the only one in which there is a net equatorward heat transport.4 This may be largely controlled by the process of inter-ocean exchange south of Africa. In fact, modelling studies indicate that the transfer of water between the Atlantic and Indian oceans controls the rate of thermohaline overturning of the whole Atlantic Ocean.5
The fate of Agulhas rings, as well as the mechanisms by which they distribute their heat and salt content into the Atlantic Ocean, have been subjected to intense scientific scrutiny, e.g. in the Mixing of Agulhas Rings Experiment (MARE)6 and in the Cape of Good Hope Experiments (KAPEX).7 Investigations by Schouten et al.8 have demonstrated, for instance, that rings may dissipate very rapidly in the Cape Basin, west of Cape Town. Persistent ringeddy interactions between Agulhas rings and smaller cyclonic eddies9 suggest one possible mechanism by which the physical properties of an Agulhas ring may rapidly be eroded. The Cape Basin therefore plays an integral role as a region of mixing and stirring in the IndianAtlantic inter-ocean exchange.
The flux of salt by the other leakage component, Agulhas filaments, has been estimated as making a much smaller contribution to inter-ocean leakage than that of Agulhas rings.3 The mixing processes undergone by these features have therefore been considered of lesser importance and have not been studied as yet. Early work10 has suggested that they follow the coastal upwelling front along the southwestern coast of South Africa, thereby intensifying this front. Fortuitous observations at sea have now made it possible to make a first contribution to an understanding of the mixing processes of Agulhas filaments.
Data and processing
In late December 1996, the F.R.S. Africana successfully surveyed an apparent dipole vortex in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean (Fig. 3). Hydrographic data were sampled with a Neil Brown Instrument Systems Mark III CTD (conductivitytemperaturedepth) unit and Sippican T7 XBTs (expendable bathythermographs) were launched between CTD stations. All calibration and validation of the hydrographic data set were completed at the Marine and Coastal Management (MCM) division of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. Prior to deployment, XBTs were calibrated against sea-surface temperature with a Crawford Bucket.11 The CTD probe was calibrated at MCM before and after the cruise. Pressure was calibrated against a Budenberg Dead Weight Tester, and temperature was calibrated against a Hewlett Packard 1804A quartz thermometer. Salinity samples were obtained at selected stations for calibration purposes and MATLAB conversion software was used to apply the salinity corrections and a median filter to the CTD data. Outliers were removed.
Two sources of sea-surface temperature data, obtained from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on board polar-orbiting satellites of the NOAA series, were used to monitor the circulation after the cruise. In the three weeks leading up to the cruise, circulation features were followed on Global Area Coverage Pathfinder AVHRR data obtained from the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. At the University of Cape Town, local area coverage AVHRR data, obtained from the Satellite Applications Centre at Hartebeesthoek, acquired by the NOAA-14 satellite, was processed using the PC-SEAPAK image processing software. This AVHRR instrument has a spatial resolution of approximately 1.1 km2 at nadir and provides sea-surface temperature estimates with an accuracy <0.5°C.12
Sea-surface temperatures
The oceanic environment prior to the cruise, on 5 December 1996, is shown in Fig. 1. The Agulhas Current can be identified very close to the east coast of South Africa (thick red arrow) by 2324°C surface temperatures. The current then followed the eastern side of the Agulhas Bank away from the coast and meandered, with shear edge features being formed on its shoreward edge before it retroflected at about 16ºE. Here the circulation indicates that a retroflection loop may have extended substantially northward while there was a cyclonic movement on the shelf side of the equatorward intrusion. The latter agrees with the formation of a lee eddy frequently observed here.13 Such mushroom-shaped intrusions of warm Agulhas water into the South Atlantic, evident here, have been observed before.14 According to Mied et al.,15 mushroom-like patterns of this kind are likely to result from the immature, or generational, stages of a vortex dipole. Could the subsequent development of these features give one an indication about the mixing processes prevalent here at the time? The series of images given in Fig. 2 shows this subsequent behaviour.
By 9 December (panel A, Fig. 2), the mushroom-shaped feature evident in Fig. 1 had become distorted. A filament of warm water was still moving southward along the western edge of the Agulhas Bank. On the western side of the main intrusion of warm water the circulation consisted of two cyclonic eddies. The next day, 10 December (panel B, Fig. 2), the warm water had protruded about 70 km farther equatorward. By 13 December the northward flow of warm water in what may be considered an Agulhas filament had strengthened, judging by the higher temperatures, the water now coming directly from the Agulhas Current. The southward flow on the eastern boundary of the Agulhas Bank had weakened and the most northern part of the protrusion has broken up into a largish anti-cyclone to the west and a small cyclone to the east. Wind-driven upwelling along the coast had weakened, but along its western side a filament of warm Agulhas water was being drawn into a cold upwelling eddy west of Cape Town that is a recurrent feature of the upwelling front here.17 This complex and rapidly changing scenario raises an important question. Was one dealing here with an Agulhas ring, or was this only an Agulhas filament interacting with a host of mesoscale features? Observations made during a research cruise to the region at the time may give the answer.
By 19 December 1996 (Fig. 3), the features were well-resolved, the warm water (>20°C) embedded in a cooler background (<18°C). Some of the individual features evident in Fig. 2 had been separated by intrusions of colder water. The dominant feature was a pool of warm water centred on 35°S, previously identified as an anti-cyclonic eddy, possibly an Agulhas ring. A shear edge filament on its south-western side suggests that this interpretation of its circulation direction is correct. Surface temperatures varied from 19°C at the outer edges to 21°C inside this warm eddy. The warm filament (Fig. 2) on the eastern side of the whole protrusion and the small cyclonic eddy it had surrounded had moved westward whereas another part of the filament was moving along the coastal upwelling front. Hydrographic stations intersected part of the anti-cyclonic eddy, the intact cold filament to the north and the small cyclone at about 16°E (Fig. 3). This cyclone had surface temperatures of 17°C in its centre and 22°C in the encircling filament. The structures to a depth of 1200 m of all these features are shown in Fig. 4.
Hydrographic section
Six CTD stations (numbers 2934) were occupied from 2223 December 1996. As mentioned above, XBTs were deployed between CTD stations to increase the spatial temperature coverage. An upper mixed layer of >20°C is evident down to 100 m on the temperature profile between CTD 29 and CTD 31 (Fig. 4). The expected vertical temperature characteristics of the eastern side of an anti-cyclonic eddy are shown by the downward slope of isotherms. The isotherms deepened towards CTD 29, with the 10°C isotherm indicating an overall depression of approximately 315 m with respect to the estimated edge of the ring (CTD 31). This is comparable to Agulhas rings observed here before.18,19 Assuming that CTD 29 represents the approximate centre of the ring, a radius of at least 110 km can be estimated from combined satellite and hydrographic information. These observations agree with that of other Agulhas rings6,20 surveyed near the retroflection region. The distinctive upward doming of isotherms at CTD 32 is in turn indicative of the cyclonic eddy identified in Fig. 3. A 100-m rise in the 10°C isotherm is noted at this position and the radius for this feature is estimated at approximately 38 km.
Geostrophic velocities between stations were calculated relative to the 900 db position because most CTD casts were to this depth or more. Between CTD 30 and CTD 31, a peak westerly flow of at least 0.65 m/s was calculated for the upper 50 m of the water column, marking the edge of the anti-cyclonic eddy (Fig. 4). It is interesting to note that the cold water filament at CTD 31 (Fig. 3) overlay the edge of the anti-cyclonic eddy (Fig. 4). This speed is fairly representative of Agulhas rings relative to 900 db. The core of the small cyclonic eddy lay at CTD 32 (Fig. 3), which is evident also from the current speeds (Fig. 4), which shows a change of direction at this point. The maximum speed at the edge of this cyclone, between CTD 32 and CTD 33 (Fig. 3), was 0.15 m/s southward (Fig. 3). More about the possible origin of the water masses in each of these mesoscale features may be learnt from their individual temperaturesalinity (TS) characteristics (Fig. 5).
There are a number of distinct water masses present south-west of southern Africa, including tropical and subtropical surface waters, thermocline waters (comprising South Atlantic Central Water, South Indian Central Water and tropical Atlantic Central Water), Antarctic Intermediate Water, North Atlantic Deep Water and Antarctic Bottom Water.21 A number of water masses can be identified in Fig. 5: Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) with a temperature range of 45°C and a salinity range of 34.3234.45; Red Sea Intermediate Water (RSIW) with a temperature range of 45°C and salinity >34.5; Central Water (CW) with a temperature range of 616°C and salinity range of 34.4435.39, although at a temperature >12°C two discrete TS curves are evident with salinity values ranging from 35.0435.39 and 35.0435.53, respectively; surface waters which have temperature values >16°C and salinity values ranging from 35.3735.60.
In the core of the anti-cyclone, AAIW was found at a depth of approximately 1025 m, which is close to the depth of 1100 m at which AAIW is found in the Agulhas retroflection region.21 The AAIW identified in the cyclone and other water, sampled in close proximity to the two eddies, was found at a depth of only 800 m. AAIW is usually present at this depth in the South-East Atlantic Ocean.21 Indian Ocean AAIW (Agulhas Current origin) has a salinity value >34.45 and South-East Atlantic Ocean AAIW (Benguela Current) has salinity values ranging from 188.8.131.52 At CTD 14, located on the edge of the anti-cyclone, a salinity maximum >34.5 was observed in the intermediate water layer with a potential density in excess of 27.2, indicating the influence of RSIW.23 Such filaments of RSIW at the edge of Agulhas rings have been observed on a number of occasions.
It is difficult to distinguish between central waters of the South-East Atlantic Ocean itself and those advected here by Agulhas rings and filaments from the Indian Ocean.24 The more saline CW (>12°, Fig. 5) was observed in the anti-cyclone; fresher CW represents largely the cold filament, the cyclone and water outside the warm features. Warmer CW identified in the anti-cyclone has the characteristics of South Indian Central Water that has a temperature range of 815°C and salinity values ranging from 34.535.5.24 South Atlantic CW has a temperature range of 616°C and salinity values ranging from 34.535.5.22 These values agree well with the CW (>12°C) sampled outside the anticyclone core. This shows that the anti-cyclone was indeed of Indian Ocean origin and thus without much doubt an Agulhas ring.
The surface waters also illustrate the different characteristics of the anti-cyclone, the cyclone and the cold filament. Warmer and more saline waters are found in the anti-cyclonic eddy. By contrast, surface waters of the cyclonic eddy (>17°C, >35.4) suggest water of Benguela upwelling water origin.24 The coldest surface water was found in the cold filament. It suggests that this water may even have come from the Subtropical Convergence, a not unlikely occurrence in this region.25
Various factors conspired to create the ensemble of mesoscale circulation elements surveyed by the F.R.S. Africana in December 1996. First, a strong Agulhas filament was observed west of the Agulhas Bank. The combination of an anti-cyclonic off-shore Agulhas ring and a cyclonic eddy in the lee of the Agulhas Bank both circumscribed by the filament of warm water originating in the currentresulted in a mushroom-shaped circulation configuration.
All features were subsequently advected in a northward direction, but rapidly changed their shapes, dispositions and complexity. On reaching the latitude of Cape Town, a small cyclone on the landward side of the Agulhas ring was formed. The water that had flowed southward along the western edge of the Agulhas Bank became less prominent and a strong new inflow of warm surface water from the Agulhas Current occurred. By the time of the cruise (Fig. 3), the different elements of this circulation had become separated by distinct filaments of cold water.
In previous investigations3,10 on the eventual fate of Agulhas filaments it was concluded that they move equatorward along the shelf edge in a relatively undisturbed way, eventually joining the coastal upwelling front to the north. This case study now demonstrates that this is not always the case.
The satellite time series (Figs 1 and 2) shows that warm surface water from the Agulhas Current, on being advected poleward, was drawn around a large anti-cyclone. The hydrographic and current speed observations demonstrate unequivocally that this anti-cyclone was an Agulhas ring. It is clear that the Agulhas filament refurbished the surface layers of the ring with a fresh insertion of warm surface water from the Agulhas Current. Second, part of the Agulhas filament was subsequently advected southward by an eddy in the lee of the Agulhas Bank. Third, the formation of cyclonic shear edge eddies on the border of the Agulhas ring and the drawing in of cold shelf waters into such a feature presents another mechanism for enhanced mixing of water of an Agulhas filament. Fourth, it is clear that the whole collection of different eddies became intermingled with filaments of cold water that may, based on the TS characteristics of their waters, have come from the Subtropical Convergence. Last, but not least, a small part of the warm water of the Agulhas filament did eventually get absorbed into the frontal region of the coastal upwelling regime.
All the circulation features observed on this occasionAgulhas rings, lee eddies and upwelling front eddieshave been seen before and are known to a greater or lesser extent. What is decidedly novel, however, is the movement and behaviour of the warm water in an Agulhas filament.
It is clear that the amount of interaction, shearing and deformation observed in this collection of circulation features rapidly mixed the warm water contribution in the original filament from the Agulhas Current. If this case study represents the characteristic mixing processes of this region, it implies that the anomalous heat and salt contribution to inter-ocean exchange by Agulhas filaments will be rapidly dissipated in the southeastern corner of the Cape Basin, near Cape Town, and not along the coastal upwelling front only. In a certain sense this parallels the dissipation of Agulhas rings that lose most of their energy and consistency in the Cape Basin.8 In future investigations it will be important to establish how representative the mixing processes shown in this case study are.
We are grateful to the officers and crew of the F.R.S. Africana, and to all others who assisted in the collection and processing of the hydrographic data. We thank the Satellite Applications Centre of the CSIR for the NOAA satellite data and Scarla Weeks for assistance in processing AVHRR data. The study was partially funded by the National Research Foundation.
1. Gordon A.L., Weiss R.F., Smethie W.M. and Warner M.J. (1992). Thermocline and intermediate communication between the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans. J. Geophys. Res. 97, 72237240. [ Links ]
2. Stramma L. and Lutjeharms J.R.E. (1997). The flow field of the subtropical gyre in the South Indian Ocean. J. Geophys. Res. 102, 55135530. [ Links ]
3. Lutjeharms J.R.E. and Cooper J. (1996). Inter-basin leakage through Agulhas Current filaments. Deep-Sea Res. 43, 213238. [ Links ]
4. De Ruijter W.P.M., Biastoch A., Drijfhout S.S., Lutjeharms J.R.E., Matano R.P., Pichevin T., van Leeuwen P.J. and Weijer W. (1999). IndianAtlantic inter-ocean exchange: dynamics, estimation and impact. J. Geophys. Res. 104, 20,88520,911. [ Links ]
5. Weijer W., de Ruijter W.P.M., Dijkstra H.A. and van Leeuwen P.J. (1999). Impact of interbasin exchange on the Atlantic overturning circulation. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 29, 22662284. [ Links ]
6. Van Aken H.M., van Veldhoven A.K., Veth C., de Ruijter W.P.M., van Leeuwen P.J., Drijfhout S.S., Whittle C.P. and Rouault M. (2003). Observations of a young Agulhas, Astrid, du MARE in March 2000. Deep-Sea Res. II 50, 167195. [ Links ]
7. Lutjeharms J.R.E., Boebel O. and Rossby T. (1997). KAPEX: an international experiment to study deep water movement around southern Africa. S. Afr. J. Sci. 93, 377381. [ Links ]
8. Schouten M.W., de Ruijter W.P.M., van Leeuwen P.J. and Lutjeharms J.R.E. (2000). Translation, decay and splitting of Agulhas rings in the south-eastern Atlantic Ocean. J. Geophys. Res. 105, 21,91321,925. [ Links ]
9. Boebel O., Lutjeharms J.R.E., Schmid C., Zenk W., Rossby H.T. and Barron C. (2003). The Cape Cauldron: a regime of turbulent inter-ocean exchange. Deep-Sea Res. II 50, 5786. [ Links ]
10. Lutjeharms J.R.E. (1981). Satellite studies of the South Atlantic upwelling system. In Oceanography from Space, ed. J.F.R. Gower, pp. 195199. Marine Science Vol. 13, Plenum Press, New York. [ Links ]
11. Crawford A.B. (1972). Sea surface temperature measurements by direct sampling. Maritime Weather Office, Youngsfield, Cape Town, South Africa. [ Links ]
12. McClain E.P., Pichel W.G. and Walton C.C. (1985). Comparative performance of AVHRR-based multichannel sea surface temperatures. J. Geophys. Res. 90, 11,58711,601. [ Links ]
13. Penven P., Lutjeharms J.R.E., Marchesiello P., Weeks S.J. and Roy C. (2001). Generation of cyclonic eddies by the Agulhas Current in the lee of the Agulhas Bank. Geophys. Res. Lett. 28, 10551058. [ Links ]
14. Lutjeharms J.R.E. and Walters N.M. (1985). Ocean colour and thermal fronts south of Africa. In South African Ocean Colour and Upwelling Experiment, ed. L.V. Shannon, pp. 227237. Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Cape Town. [ Links ]
15. Mied R.P., McWilliams J.C. and Lindemann G.J. (1991). The generation and evolution of mushroom-like vortices. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 21, 15691582. [ Links ]
16. Lutjeharms J.R.E., Durgadoo J.V. and Ansorge I.J. (2007). Surface drift at the western edge of the Agulhas Bank. S. Afr. J. Sci. 103, 6367. [ Links ]
17. Lutjeharms J.R.E. and Matthysen C.P. (1995). A recurrent eddy in the upwelling front off Cape Town. S. Afr. J. Sci. 91, 355357. [ Links ]
18. Gordon A.L., Lutjeharms J.R.E. and M.L. Gründlingh (1987). Stratification and circulation at the Agulhas Retroflection. Deep-Sea Res. 34, 565599. [ Links ]
19. Duncombe Rae C.M., S.L. Garzoli and Gordon A.L. (1996). The eddy field of the southeast Atlantic Ocean: a statistical census from the Benguela Sources and Transports Project. J. Geophys. Res. 101, 11,94911,964. [ Links ]
20. Duncombe Rae C.M. (1991). Agulhas retroflection rings in the South Atlantic Ocean; an overview. S. Afr. J. Mar. Sci. 11, 327344. [ Links ]
21. Valentine H.R., Lutjeharms J.R.E. and Brundrit G.B. (1993). The water masses and volumetry of the southern Agulhas Current region. Deep-Sea Res. 40, 12851305. [ Links ]
22. Shannon L.V. and Hunter D. (1988). Notes on Antarctic Intermediate Water around Southern Africa. S. Afr. J. Mar. Sci. 6, 107117. [ Links ]
23. Roman R. and Lutjeharms J.R.E. (2007). Red Sea Intermediate Water at the Agulhas Current termination. Deep-Sea Res. I 54, 13291340. [ Links ]
24. Shannon L.V. and Nelson G. (1996). The Benguela: Large scale features and processes and system variability. In The South Atlantic: Present and Past Circulation, eds G. Wefer, W.H. Berger, G. Siedler and D.J. Webb, pp. 163210. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. [ Links ]
25. Lutjeharms J.R.E. and Fillis C.S. (2003). Intrusion of sub-Antarctic water across the Subtropical Convergence south of Africa. S. Afr. J. Sci. 99, 173176. [ Links ]
Received 21 August 2007. Accepted 18 April 2008.
* Author for correspondence. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com

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NYT Tech Columnist Spanked For 'Flagrant' Violation of Ethics Policy
Star tech writer David Pogue has been publicly admonished by his editors at New York Times on ethics again, for charging flacks $159 each to learn how to get into his column. How many times must this happen, David?
Pogue's "Pitch Me, Baby" presentation explained, by example, just how to get on the good side of David Pogue. "I'm one of the guys public-relations people work with," Pogue wrote on his website. "This talk, geared for PR professionals, also offers a few of the most hilariously bad, and impressively good, pitches I've seen in my days at the Times."
The paper decided this was a violation of its prohibition against taking "part in public relations workshops that charge admission or imply privileged access to Times people," according to the public editor, and Pogue agreed to stop doing the events. He had already done the presentation at a media conference; it's not clear if a scheduled July 11 online event will go forward.
The Times implied it caught this infraction on its own, but it's not clear if anything would have happened but for coverage in Forbes and on Poynter.org. This incident follows the recent revelation that Pogue was dating a flack whose clients he covered and past scandals involving Pogue's paid speaking gigs and acceptance of free computer repair service. We'd like to think this is the end of Pogue's ethics controversies, but the guy has quite a track record — and now he's probably going to have some hefty alimony payments to make.


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Associated Press//April 19, 2012
//April 19, 2012
ANNAPOLIS — Failure to pass legislation that would have forced energy companies to fund gas drilling studies could mean more delays for those wanting to tap in the natural gas lurking in western Maryland.
Members of a commission created to determine whether and how natural gas should be extracted from the Marcellus Shale, a swath of sedimentary rock stretching through the Appalachian basin, said it is unclear how long studies to assess the potential environmental impacts of drilling will be tied up without the money.
The state government doesn't have enough money to complete the studies that Gov. Martin O'Malley tasked the commission with conducting, said the group's chairman David Vanko, a geologist and Dean of the Jess and Mildred Fisher College of Science and Mathematics at Towson University.
The group will discuss how to proceed at their post-General Assembly session meeting Friday morning in Hagerstown. The legislature concluded its 90-day session last week.
"We're going to ask the question, what can be done with resources that are already in place and to what extent are these regional baseline studies that we feel are so important going to be delayed?" Vanko said. "And there may be significant delay."
One piece of legislation would have imposed a severance tax on gas extracted from Maryland wells to monitor the impact of drilling. Another, which supporters said was necessary to move gas drilling forward would have charged a $15 per-leased acre fee to gas companies to fund an environmental impact study.
The research would in part analyze existing water quality to determine if future gas wells pollute water supplies once drilling begins.
Delegate Heather Mizeur has led the charge in the legislature to limit and regulate drilling into the shale through hydraulic fracturing or fracking, a process of blasting away bedrock with a combination of water and chemicals in order to reach the gas.
Fracking has already begun in states like Pennsylvania where some say it has contaminated water sources.
Mizeur, D-Montgomery, said her attempt to charge companies for the study will likely return in the 2013 session. She blames gas company lobbyists for holding up a state Senate vote on her legislation.
"The industry threw every block they could to prevent that bill from moving forward," Mizeur said. "If we were to proceed with drilling and there's some sort of clean up and damage that takes place, can we expect the industry to pay for any of the cleanup and the remediation costs if they're not willing to pay for the studies in the first place?"
She said she is content to sit on the sidelines until gas companies are made to make the payments.
"(The industry) might consider this legislative session a victory, but it will be short lived," Mizeur said. "We are going to come back and get the industry funding for the study or their going to have to be satisfied knowing the Maryland is not open for business in the fracking world."
Maryland Department of the Environment officials said they are looking at ways to conduct the studies with existing staff and resources, said deputy director for communications Jay Apperson.
"It will likely result in reduction of scope … we're considering sort of how to proceed," Apperson said
Industry representatives say asking them to pay for the studies is an unprecedented move that serves to delay an already held-up process and turn business away from Maryland.
The state put a hold on issuing drilling permits in 2010 and in 2011, after Mizeur's legislation to effectively ban the practice failed, Gov. Martin O'Malley issued an executive order creating the commission.
The group issued a preliminary report in December and is expected to complete their work in 2014.
Meanwhile, drilling remains at a standstill in Garrett and parts of Alleghany County where some landowners have already struck deals to tap their property for gas.
Whether that timeline is extended to accommodate a prolonged study is "a matter of whether the honchos want that or not," said Sen. George Edwards, R-Garrett, who serves on the commission alongside Vanko and Mizeur
The commission should be expected to finish its work with existing state resources said Drew Cobbs, executive director for the Maryland Petroleum Council.
"I think it's just a tactic by the opponents to do anything they can to make it more expensive, more burdensome, more inconvenient," Cobbs said.
Edwards points out that it is unusual to ask businesses to fund their own impact studies and the state's maneuvers could mean gas companies never come to Maryland.
There are no guarantees that investment would be rewarded with opportunities to drill, he said.
"If you make them too overly burdensome, no one is going to come and that's what some of these people want," Edwards said.
While gas companies had already begun leasing land to drill on in western Maryland, there isn't much interest in Maryland natural gas drilling right now because the payout for crude oil and liquid natural gas is higher, Cobbs said.g


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3D Revolutionizes Gait Analysis
Since Aristotle's text, "On the Gait of Animals," human beings have been preoccupied with locomotion. While the philosopher writes of watching people's shadows against a wall to observe gait patterns, today's experts rely on more technical methods.
With the advent of 3D technology, gait analysis took a leap forward. What's more, the honing of these systems over the years may have finally made them available to Joe and Jane Runner. The accuracy of the 3D systems are supported by both scientific and anecdotal evidence, making them perhaps the next big thing when it comes to treating and preventing running injuries.
3D Technology for the Masses
The use of 3D technology for gait analysis dates back to 1990. At the University of Calgary, Assistant Professor Dr. Reed Ferber, also the founder of the Running Injury Clinic in Calgary, uses a 3D system with eight cameras to gather data and images while research participants run on the treadmill. "I'll tell you the exact degree your foot is overpronating. We can see if your lower leg is rotating appropriately with your foot and how much torsional force is being created at your knee," explains Ferber.
Dr. Irene Davis, professor of physical therapy at the University of Delaware, utilizes a similar six-camera system in her Motion Analysis Laboratory. "In the lab, we measure mechanics in 3D and provide the runner with real time feedback on those mechanics," says Dr. Davis. She argues, however, that offering this technology in the clinical setting may not be realistic. "At the end of the day, clinics aren't going to have the manpower or financial resources for these expensive systems," she says.
Dr. Ferber contends that the cost of such equipment has dropped dramatically over the past few years and that his system is real-world ready. "With respect to training, our software is turn-key in its use. We're trying to make it relatively easy for the clinician to use this sophisticated technology to understand the root cause of an injury," he explains.
He began putting the system to the test this April at a clinic in downtown Calgary, offering it to the general public for the first time. With the use of the 3D gait analysis system, he can observe runners' overall biomechanics and gather data on the their flexibility, strength and alignment. With those four points of reference, he runs the numbers against two-and-a-half years worth of biomechanical profiles in his lab's database and prints off a report to show patients the potential root cause of their injuries and what they might do to remedy them.
Dr. Ferber also offers healthy patients information on how to prevent injuries. "Based on those four pieces of the puzzle, we can say: You have a 63 percent chance of getting injured." Dr. Ferber's job is to help the runner understand how to lower their injury risk score. "We want to change the way runners think about their bodies and how they can reduce their risk," he says. "We are making scientific decisions about what a runner needs to work on; we're not taking a shot in the dark, we're not guessing."
Both Dr. Davis and Dr. Ferber agree that for a highly trained biomechanist, 2D high-speed cameras can also be accurate. "There's nothing that takes the place of experience," says Dr. Davis. "As you see more patients, you gradually develop your evaluation skills. With time, you begin to see specific mechanics associated with particular injuries." While Dr. Ferber concurs, he believes that many of the people doing gait analyses simply don't have the knowledge to be able to be able to provide precise feedback. He says that the 3D gait analysis system can offer this regardless of the operator's background.
Plan of Action
While the cutting-edge gait analysis system will be of interest to techies, runners simply want to know what they can do to get healthy and resume running. Upon completing a gait analysis, Dr. Ferber and Dr. Davis offer differing methods of rehabilitation and injury prevention. While Dr. Ferber tends to use strength and flexibility prescriptions for his patients, Dr. Davis is partial to gait retrainment.
Burning at each end of the candle, both have found success in their approaches. "I'm going to change a runner's mechanics by getting them stronger and more flexible. Within six weeks, 90 percent of my runners are injury free," says Dr. Ferber (results will be published soon in the Journal of Athletic Training).
Dr. Davis explains her research: "Our data suggests that you can alter the gaits of runners who are at risk for injury." To do this she uses a treadmill and a mirror, giving the runner visual feedback on form and cadence.
Regardless of the rehabilitation protocol, gait analysis is becoming an increasingly important part of preventing and treating running injuries. Having seen success in his Calgary Clinic, Dr. Ferber already has plans to bring 3D gait analysis to Alberta, British Columbia and beyond. There is much anticipation for how this technology will affect the way we diagnose and treat running injuries. Aristotle would surely have been impressed.


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Microsoft said on Thursday that starting next year it will include Outlook in its version of the Office for the Mac platform, replacing Entourage, the e-mail and groupware application for Mac users the suite has now.
The move will give business users of the Mac version of the suite more of the same features Microsoft already offers for people using Office on Windows, said Eric Wilfrid, general manager for Microsoft's Mac Business Unit, in a teleconference Thursday.
[ Last month, Microsoft upgraded Office 2008 for the Mac. | Discover what's new in business applications with InfoWorld's Technology: Applications newsletter and Killer Apps blog. ]
Microsoft also will reduce the number of editions of Office 2008 for Mac from three to two when it releases a new Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition on Sept. 15, he said.
The new edition will replace the current Office 2008 for Mac and Office 2008 for Mac Special Edition that Microsoft sells and will cost $399.95, the same as the current Office 2008 for Mac. Microsoft will continue to offer Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition for $149.95.
These changes to Office 2008 for Mac lineup will not necessarily remain in effect until Microsoft releases the new Office for Mac around the holidays in November and December of 2010, however. Microsoft will reveal any further changes at a later date, Wilfrid said.
The new business edition of Office for Mac is designed to give business customers using the software better connections to Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft's messaging server for delivering business e-mail, Wilfrid said. Once Outlook becomes part of the suite, this integration will improve, he said.
Microsoft also engineered Outlook for the Mac to be compatible with Outlook on the Windows platform, Wilfrid said. Outlook has been the e-mail and groupware client software for Office for Windows for many years and is widely used with Exchange Server for corporate e-mail.
Michael Gartenberg, vice president of strategy and analysis at Interpret LLC, said that with Apple's Mac computers becoming a more viable option for the enterprise, it is an important move for Microsoft to make its Mac version of Office more on par with its Windows version for those users.
However, Apple's next version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard, will include native support for Exchange Server when it's released next month, which means business users can get Exchange-based business e-mail through Apple's built-in applications. With this move imminent, Microsoft's inclusion of Outlook in Office for Mac at the end of next year might be too little, too late, he said.
"Apple is going after business users with these types of features," Gartenberg said of native Exchange support. "There are still some things Outlook could offer that Apple's integration with Exchange might not offer -- we'll have to see. But it will be more than a year [after Snow Leopard]. That's going to give Apple a pile of time to evangelize to folks."
Microsoft has definitely been feeling the pressure on its Office business not only from Apple's gains in PC market share, but also from free or low-cost competitive applications from Google and others. In fact, Thursday's announcement was the second the company made this week to expand its Office business, which next to Windows remains the main profit driver at Microsoft.
On Wednesday, Microsoft and Nokia unveiled a deal to put Office applications on Nokia's Symbian-based mobile devices, a move that will help Microsoft reach more mobile business users with its Office Mobile suite. The software currently only runs on Windows Mobile devices, which have less market share than Nokia's Symbian handsets.
This story was updated on August 13, 2009


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The Secret Beyond Matter
Commonly Disregarded Quranic Rulings
Calling others to Allah's path with wise and good methods and without applying coercion
Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and fair admonition, and argue with them in the kindest way. Your Lord knows best who is misguided from His way. And He knows best who are guided. (Surat an-Nahl; 125)
Islam is acceptable to Allah only when a person lives by it sincerely, willingly and happily, and only when the person himself consents to it. Allah has revealed this quality of religion in many verses of the Qur'an. For example, a person who prays five times a day must do it willingly and lovingly for Allah. Or if someone gives gifts from his possessions, he must do it willingly and lovingly, if his act of worship is to be approved in Allah's Sight.
Someone becomes a Muslim when he is able to acknowledge Allah through his intellect and in his heart. Moreover, he must be conscious of the purpose of his religious duties. And he must be aware of why he performs these acts of service. This comes from his attachment to the Muslim religion and his absolute belief in Allah's existence. For this reason, he performs the requirements of religious moral values willingly and lovingly. Therefore, Islam is a religion whose true practice depends on the voluntary choice of the individual.
Hence, there is no compulsion to accept Islam. Allah does not expect Muslims to pressurize those who do not incline towards Islam, since religion adopted under oppression is not acceptable in His Sight. Adopting religion without sincerity and only because of pressure from others will have no validity before Allah. Therefore it will make no difference for anyone to practice religion with this kind of morality.
Communicating the religion of Islam to others should be an invitation made with gracious words, as a summons to a relationship with Allah. In the Qur'an Allah reveals that there is no coercion in religion:
There is no compulsion where the religion is concerned. Right guidance has become clearly distinct from error. Anyone who rejects false gods and believes in Allah has grasped the Firmest Handhold, which will never give way. Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. (Surat al-Baqara; 256)
In compliance with the morals of the Qur'an, when explaining the religion of Allah, Muslims employ the best style that will kindle love in the hearts of people towards Islam. They must be kind and patient. When people can love and respect Muslims, they will be receptive to the system of beliefs that give them moral excellence. Therefore, the right word will be important to soften their hearts to Islam.
Remembering Allah when one forgets something
Man is a being of imperfection, while Allah alone is self-sufficient. This is because Allah created man with weaknesses. One of man's weaknesses is forgetfulness; no one is free of it, no matter how intelligent he may be.
Admitting this weakness makes one acknowledge his dependence upon Allah. In a way, that is because a person can claim to exist only through his memory. All the information related to his identity, beliefs, deeds, pleasures, habits and way of life are held in memory. However, Allah may allow one to forget the end of the sentence he is speaking, and, if He wills, can make him forget his entire life in an instant. In order to be aware of himself, man is in need of Allah, Who permits him to keep information in his memory at every moment. If Allah should take a piece of information from a person's mind, he will have no power whatsoever to retrieve it. In such a state of helplessness, everyone should take refuge in Allah and seek His help:
Remembering something that one has forgotten and succeeding in any particular objective is possible only by Allah's will. Therefore, the only recourse is to pray for guidance.
Not losing hope in Allah's mercy
Say [from Me]: 'My servants, you who have transgressed against yourselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Truly Allah forgives all wrong actions. He is the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.'" (Surat az-Zumar; 53)
In many verses of the Qur'an, Allah mentions that Muslims -even those with the most fear of Allah- may make mistakes. In this verse surely Allah brings relief to their hearts, for a Muslim who errs may feel great regret, sorrow and guilt. Allah knows that Muslims are very careful about improving their shortcomings. In the Qur'an, He gives the examples of prophets who have won His approval to show that every person may make mistakes.So these encouraging and refreshing consolations prevent Muslims from falling into despair after they have made a mistake. Allah has promised to forgive a person's errors without exception, if that person is sorry and repents of what he has done.
But despite the many consolations in the Qur'an that refresh the spirit and give hope, many human beings still do not admit that they make mistakes, in an ignorant manner. In spite of the glad tidings announced in the Qur'an, after making a mistake they become wrapped in despair and become anxious and downhearted which is totally wrong behavior. An individual who refuses to acknowledge errors he has committed out of pride and arrogance is greatly unhappy by what he has done. He has trouble accepting that he is a creature prone to making mistakes and faulty decisions, and whose actions and words may be wrong. He does not consider that perfection and freedom from error belong only to Allah. He wants to be perfect himself. But he cannot, and the fact that some of his attitudes are wrong, draws him into despair. A Muslim experiences deep peace by accepting his imperfections and helplessness in relation to Allah and never claims to be free from error.
It should be remembered that the tendency to err and sin -even though one may be a firm believer- makes him more aware of Allah's perfection. One can conceive of perfection only when he has experienced imperfection. Consciousness of his own failures and weaknesses lets him better appreciate the absolute perfection of Allah. He will have a clear conception that He is exalted above all else while measuring Allah with His true measure and glorifying Him with praise.
Lying is frequently employed by some of those who foolishly eschew the morals of the Qur'an to mislead others. Various reasons prompt a man to lie: to avoid others' criticisms, to lay the grounds for a dishonest argument or to attain superiority. However, no matter what the reason, this is an act forbidden by Allah. In the Qur'an, He praises those who are truthful and curses liars:
If anyone argues with you about him after the knowledge that has come to you, say, 'Come then! Let us summon our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves. Then let us make earnest supplication and call down the curse of Allah upon the liars.' (Surah Al 'Imran; 61)
Every inaccurate word uttered with the intent to mislead someone is a lie. But a person may say something incorrect unintentionally or simply out of forgetfulness. A person who does not seek to mislead another loses no time in correcting his words. However, a deliberate lie is based on evil intention: the liar has a purpose. Therefore, Allah holds him liable for his intentions. As commanded in the verse below, Muslims must always speak the truth:
You who believe! Have taqwa of Allah and speak the right word. (Surat al-Ahzab; 70)
Even if an unintentional word escapes from his mouth in an unguarded moment, a Muslim will immediately make up for it. He will never deliberately try to mislead someone, knowing that he will have give an account of his actions in the Hereafter; for this is a thing to be condemned both in the Hereafter and in this world.
Our holy Prophet (saas) tells us this in the hadiths about avoiding telling lies:
"The least lovable creatures in the Sight of Allah on the Day of Reckoning are the liars, the proud and those who harbor ruthless hatred for their brothers in their breasts..." (Imam Gazali, İhya'u Ulum'id-din, Vol. 3, p. 355)
The Prophet said, "Truthfulness leads to righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise. And a man keeps on telling the truth until he becomes a truthful person. Falsehood leads to Al-Fajur (i.e. wickedness, evil-doing), and Al-Fajur (wickedness) leads to the (Hell) Fire, and a man may keep on telling lies till he is written before Allah, a liar." (Sahih Bukhari, Volume 8, Book 73, Number 116; Sahih Muslim)
Not to trust persons whose words are not to be trusted
In searching for the truth, the Qur'an advises us to consult others in situations where one's own experience or knowledge is insufficient. Often, when Muslims fear they may have made a mistake, they seek advice about how to find the right thing to do and avoid wrong actions. That is, the aim of seeking advice is to find out what is right and proper.
However, not everyone has the wisdom and honesty to make the right decisions or to lay his own interests aside. There are people, too, whose words cannot be trusted. Anyone who gives advice must possess particular qualities, the foremost of which is faith in Allah. Only by acting according to his conscience can a person make a right evaluation of a situation and explain it to someone else, even if such an explanation is not in his own best interests. His love and fear of Allah make him conscientious and trustworthy.
Any person who fails to employ his conscience and displays moral failings has neither the ability to see the right choice nor the ability to lead another to the truth. Consequently, a Muslim must be meticulous in choosing his advisors. In the Qur'an, Allah forbids obedience to wicked people and makes clear the type of person whose words and admonitions are not to be trusted - someone who easily transgresses Allah's limits:
But do not obey any vile swearer of oaths, Any backbiter, slandermonger, Impeder of good, evil aggressor, Gross, coarse and furthermore, despicable, Simply because he possesses wealth and sons. When Our Signs are recited to him, he says, 'Just myths of previous peoples!' (Surat al-Qalam; 10-15)
And in another verse, Allah reveals that there are two types of individuals who should not be listened to:
"Therefore wait patiently for the judgment of your Lord. Do not obey any evildoer or thankless man among them." (Surat al-Insan; 24)
In the Qur'an, Allah reveals clearly whose word is to be trusted; that is, whose guidance and advice should be relied upon. According to this distinction, when it is a matter of his material and emotional welfare, a Muslim should never act on the advice of liars, gossipmongers, or aggressive, argumentative individuals, who easily disregard the limits set by Allah or people who are deceitful or sarcastic.


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According to ESRB, this game contains: Blood, Strong Lyrics, Violence
Parents, while Pride FC is NOT sexually and morally exploitive like the WWE, there are some concerns that you should be aware of. MMA is a violent sport and within seconds of the introduction video, you'll see why. If you don't believe in violence of any sort, the blood that splatters onto the screen during fights won't change your mind. That being said, all the fighters of varied nationalities are practitioners of real martial arts and can be inspirations and ideal role models for encouraging your children to take up a discipline.
For fans of UFC and Pride FC events, Pride FC the videogame is a dream come true. In addition to including an all-star roster of fighters, the gameplay has also evolved in all the right ways. Just make sure you get your friends into this because there's scant one-player modes.
For fans of traditional Street Fighter or Virtua Fighter-style fighting games, the experience of playing Pride FC may or may not be an uphill battle depending on how open-minded you are. While the controls of the game mirror the classic Tekken, the execution and fighting principles are drastically different. Enjoyment will largely come down to how engaged you are by the skill and techniques of MMA fighting because there's little 'beatable' and 'unlockable' content otherwise.
Deaf and hard of hearing gamers should have nothing to worry about. The tutorial comes with captioning and all screen elements and gameplay are visual.
- Fraud Alert: Pete Smith, Content Producer - September 9, 2014
- Observations from PAX East 2012: What's old is new again - April 12, 2012
- Observations from PAX East 2012: Are video game gimmicks finally maturing? - April 11, 2012


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Kobe Bryant, Vanessa Call Off Divorce Proceedings: 'We Have Reconciled'
Kobe Bryant and his wife Vanessa confirmed their reconciliation Friday, over one year after she filed for divorce.
In a statement recently posted on Vanessa's Instagram page, the couple confirmed that they managed to salvage their 10-year marriage and have subsequently ended their divorce proceedings, according to TMZ.com
"We are pleased to announce that we have reconciled. Our divorce action will be dismissed. We are looking forward to our future together," the couple said in their statement.
Vanessa, who cited "irreconcilable differences" in her divorce filing, reportedly moved toward ending the marriage after growing tired of 33-year-old Los Angeles Lakers star's numerous infidelities.
Carla Dibello, who works as a producer on E! reality shows "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" and "Kourtney and Kim Take New York," was identified as being the other woman in Kobe's alleged affair by several media outlets, although these reports were never confirmed.
The motive behind their reconciliation has not yet been revealed, although critics suspect that their two daughters Natalia Diamante Bryant, 9, and Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant, 5, likely played a ole. Their reconciliation has finally dispelled rumors that the former dancer, 29, strategically waited for her troubled marriage to reach its 10 year mark for financial gain.
Since the pair did not have a prenuptial agreement, Vanessa would have automatically been entitled to 50 percent of Bryant's assets, and as a result her former step father previously suggested that she was a gold digger.
"Her mother taught her well to wait for the ten-year mark (before divorcing])," Vanessa's former step-father Stephen Laine previously told TMZ. "In California ... it's considered a long-term marriage and then she gets paid for life or until she remarries ... just like her mother is doing to me!"


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Early in his first term, Gov. Jay Inslee faces a big test: Can he help convince the Boeing Co. to build the updated 777X jetliner in Washington?
All eyes will be on Olympia in coming weeks, even as leaders in Snohomish County say they, too, are responding to Boeing's needs.
"I feel like we are in a good position here," Inslee said in an interview last week. But "we have to bring our A game."
Boeing's board on Wednesday gave the OK for the company's sales team to begin offering the latest version of the Everett-built 777 to customers. The next step will be for the board to approve the 777X's formal program launch, which is expected later this year. That's when Boeing could announce a competition of sorts for where the 777X will be built.
After the company board's move Wednesday, Inslee said he'll soon unveil a comprehensive aerospace strategy for Washington. The governor said he has been working on the plan with the Washington Aerospace Partnership, a coalition of labor, business and government representatives.
"The paramount goal of this effort is to win the 777X for Washington," Inslee said.
In February, Inslee outlined state transportation and education initiatives aimed at appeasing Boeing. Many of Inslee's efforts, though, are hostage to the budget, which has lawmakers returning to Olympia for a special session.
"We need the Legislature to act this year on both transportation and education," said Inslee, who vowed to do what he can to push those measures through. "Next year is not good enough."
Company lobbyists are among those pushing for an $8.4 billion proposal that would be largely paid for by a 10-cent increase in the gas tax and higher vehicle registration fees.
"I think it helps (Boeing) make a decision, definitely," said Rep. Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, chairwoman of the House Transportation Committee and chief architect of the package.
Doing nothing is a bad idea, said Rep. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, a vice chairman of the House roads panel.
"I think it puts us at risk" of losing the 777 competition, "but I don't think it is a deal-breaker at this point," he said.
Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson supports Inslee's transportation initiatives but shares Liias' sentiment. In particular, Stephanson is pushing for improvements to the U.S. 2 trestle, enhancements to three intersections between the Port of Everett and Boeing, as well as the addition of an interchange at the Boeing Freeway and Hardeson Road.
However, Boeing's potential 777X expansion plans at Paine Field in Everett could go through without any of the new transportation initiatives, Stephanson said. The city has already conducted specific traffic studies with respect to the 777X.
"Even though those (proposed) projects are important, we've got the immediate need covered," he said.
Stephanson and Inslee both favor education efforts like a plan to add an electrical engineering program at Washington State University's Everett location. Other initiatives include expanding science, technology, engineering and math education grants and funding recently added engineering slots at the state universities.
Lawmakers also will consider how to fund a more direct tie to industry: the governor's office of aerospace. The Senate budget eliminated those funds. The House, however, not only planned for the salary of the office's director, Alex Pietsch, but also included an extra $200,000 for the office.
That money would be matched 2 to 1 by the Washington Aerospace Partnership, a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization Pietsch helps direct. Neither Pietsch nor Inslee offered details about how the $200,000, which increases to $600,000 with the match, would be spent. The request for $200,000 is more of a placeholder to make sure the state can address needs that arise for the 777X effort, Pietsch said.
"It's a very small investment on what would be a very big return," Inslee said in an interview Wednesday.
Herald reporter Jerry Cornfield contributed to this report.
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Mitt Romney embraces the Neocons
Mitt Romney's newfound relations with the neocons could spell disaster for the United States, as the war drums begin.
|Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has embraced the same neocons that Bush did [GALLO/GETTY]
The top three vote-winners in the Iowa caucuses – Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) – responded to success in very different ways.
Santorum, best known for his antediluvian views on gay rights and choice, emphasised the economy and job creation. Paul, keeping with the themes he has focused on his entire career, talked about personal freedoms, the need to restrict "big government", and preventing a new war in the Middle East.
And Romney, who is – at this point – the frontrunner for the nomination, started his speech by discussing the purported failure of Barack Obama to confront Iran.
|US presidential contenders
highlight foreign policy
With the economy still in the doldrums, Romney sees Iran as the most serious problem facing Americans:
ROMNEY: We face an extraordinary challenge in America, and you know that. And that is internationally, Iran is about to have nuclear weaponry, just down the road here. And this president, what's he done in that regard? He said we would have a policy of engagement. How's that worked out? Not terribly well. We have no sanctions of a severe nature, the crippling sanctions put in place. The president was silent when dissident voices took to the streets in Iran and, of course, he hasn't prepared the military options that would present credibly our ability to take out the threat that would be presented by Iran. He's failed on that.
Next, Romney turned to what he sees as the second biggest threat to the US: "And then how about with regards to the economy…"
Misleading claims
His disturbing emphasis on Iran, which in no way presents a military threat to the United States – over the economy, no less – is very telling.
Romney insists that the administration's engagement efforts have failed. Not quite.
Obama has hardly engaged in any diplomacy with Iran. After an initial foray in that direction, he quickly pulled back, deterred first by the Iranian government's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in 2009 and then by a Congress that, guided by AIPAC, vehemently opposes any negotiations with Iran.
According to Iran expert and journalist Barbara Slavin, the Obama administration has spent a grand total of 45 minutes in direct engagement with Iran.
Romney's claim that "we have no sanctions of a severe nature" is just as false. The sanctions regime imposed by Obama is unprecedented in its severity. (Take a look at the full range of sanctions.)
According to a law signed by Obama in December, as of next summer, anyone who buys Iranian oil will be banned from doing business with the US. We have the largest economy in the world, so this act could do much to damage not only Iran's economy, but also the economies of some of our most trusted allies, such as South Korea. If Iran retaliates by keeping its oil off the world market and causing prices to skyrocket, the dire effects will be felt globally. Including here at home.
Sanctions will probably not succeed in preventing an Iranian bomb (since the days of the Shah, Iranians of all political stripes, including the Green Movement, have supported Iran's right to nuclear development), but it is just absurd to argue that Obama has resisted imposing them.
"Romney must know that the US' embrace of the [Iranian] demonstrators would have been the kiss of death."
– MJ Rosenberg
As for the claim that Obama was "silent" when Iranian demonstrators took to the streets, Romney must know that the US' embrace of the demonstrators would have been the kiss of death to their movement. Or maybe Romney actually believes that their cause would have been advanced if they could have been convincingly portrayed as US puppets.
The remaining Romney charge is the only one that matters because, unlike the other two, it is not just an example of misinformation or prevarication. It is a clear indication that Romney believes that the only way to deal with Iran is through war.
What else can it mean when Romney says that Obama has not "prepared the military options"?
Of course, Obama has. The president and the US military fully prepare war contingency plans for use in every volatile international situation. To assert that they have none for Iran (a major US adversary since 1979) is really an accusation that Obama is not ready for war now. Romney, on the other hand, clearly is.
And why wouldn't he be?
Romney told us where he stands on Iran (and the Middle East in general) on October 7, 2011, when he announced the 22 members of his foreign policy team.
Fifteen of the 22 worked on foreign policy for the George W Bush administration and six were members of the original neoconservative group, Project for the New American Century, that famously called on President Clinton in 1998 to begin "implementing a strategy for removing Saddam's regime from power". Its rationale: Saddam was producing weapons of mass destruction:
We urge you to act decisively. If you act now to end the threat of weapons of mass destruction against the US or its allies, you will be acting in the most fundamental national security interests of the country. If we accept a course of weakness and drift, we put our interests and our future at risk.
That was three years before 9/11 (after which members of the group decided, without any evidence, that Saddam Hussein was behind the monstrous attacks).
Clinton ignored the letter.
But, four years later in 2002, the next president, George W Bush, with an administration packed with neoconservatives, heeded PNAC's new call, not only for the removal of Saddam, but also for an end to serious US support for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
In that second letter, the neoconservatives were more explicitabout where they stood and why:
"You have declared war on international terrorism, Mr President. Israel is fighting the same war."
– Project for the New American Century
No one should doubt that the United States and Israel share a common enemy. We are both targets of what you have correctly called an "Axis of Evil." Israel is targeted in part because it is our friend, and in part because it is an island of liberal, democratic principles – American principles – in a sea of tyranny, intolerance, and hatred. As Secretary of Defence Rumsfeld has pointed out, Iran, Iraq and Syria are all engaged in "inspiring and financing a culture of political murder and suicide bombing" against Israel, just as they have aided campaigns of terrorism against the United States over the past two decades. You have declared war on international terrorism, Mr President. Israel is fighting the same war.
Bottom line: The United States and Israel had the same enemies – specifically Iran, Iraq and Syria – and therefore had to engage in "the same war".
A year later, the US invaded Iraq.
Pushing for a new war
Today, with US troops finally out of Iraq, the selfsame neocons are pushing for war with Iran (the first target proposed in the 2002 letter to Bush).
Last time they wanted to fight because they claimed, without tangible evidence, that Iraq had WMDs.
This time they want to fight because they claim, without tangible evidence, that Iran is developing them.
With even less evidence, they insist that Iran would gladly use a nuclear weapon to destroy Israel even if it meant the destruction of Iran. And they have successfully sold their line to the likely Republican nominee for president.
Can the same gang fool us twice?
As MSNBC host Rachel Maddow put it: "With the greatest American failure in American policy hung around their necks, with the Project for a New American Century neocon fantasy a punch line now, Mitt Romney as a presidential candidate has decided to embrace them."
It is like a terrible joke.
The people who helped inflict one of the worst disasters in US history on the American people are back to do it again. And the leading GOP contender for the presidency is following their lead.
To make it even worse, there is little indication that the incumbent Democratic president has decided to resist the war lobby's push for conflict.
Bush as a precedent
There is some good news, however.
In 2008, as he was preparing to leave office, President George W Bush was urged by the same advisers (led by Vice-President Dick Cheney) who had advocated invading Iraq to give Israel permission to bomb Iran.
But Bush, to his credit, was sceptical. Additionally, the Cheney neocon team was weakened by the departure of three of the most influential war enthusiasts: Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, Undersecretary of Defence Douglas Feith, and Vice-Presidential Chief of Staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby. All three had left the administration unmourned by Bush and with their reputations in tatters.
Bush turned to Rumsfeld's replacement, the anti-neocon Robert Gates, who told him that attacking Iran or allowing Israel to do so could turn the entire Middle East into a cauldron. Bush wisely said "no".
It is hard to believe that his Democratic successor would say, "Okay, let's bomb. It will be fine". No Democrat is going to be more neocon than a Republican.
But Romney wouldn't hesitate. That is why the neocons will be voting Republican this year. They are determined to get their old influence back and their next war started.
God help us if they succeed.
MJ Rosenberg is a Senior Foreign Policy Fellow at Media Matters Action Network. The above article first appeared in Foreign Policy Matters, a part of the Media Matters Action Network.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.


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On October 31, 2011, a particularly special person will be born—the seven billionth human alive, according to United Nations demographers. He or she could be delivered by a starving mother in the growing wastelands of Somalia, a failed-state gripped by famine and war. The best odds are that the child will be born in India, which has the highest rate of births per minute in the world. She may even be an American girl, heiress to a complex legacy that is in no small part responsible for the fact that, for better or worse, people are shaping the destiny of the planet that engendered humanity.
Regardless, the seven billionth person raises the question: How much is too much? "Can Earth support seven billion or nine billion or 10 billion people in a good life for a long time?" asked demographer Joel Cohen of Columbia University's Earth Institute at its human population event on October 17. "The addition of four billion people in five decades has no precedent. That is an exceptional event and will probably never be repeated within human history."
There were only one billion people on the planet as recently as the turn of the 19th century and only a few hundred thousand just 10,000 years ago. In fact, there may have been as few as 15,000 of us, roughly 70,000 years ago.
With both more people and longer lifetimes, humanity's absolute numbers continue to rise, even though the number of children per women has halved since 1950. In fact, the absolute growth rate in human population peaked at 2.1 percent between 1965 and 1970, according to Cohen. "We're now down to 1.1 percent per year," he said, although that still means roughly 150 babies born every minute.
The world's richest 500 million people produce half the world's carbon dioxide emissions—the primary greenhouse gas responsible for climate change—whereas the poorest three billion emit just seven percent. The average American—one of 312.5 million—uses up some 88 kilograms of stuff daily: food, water, plastics, metals and other material goods. Americans consume a full 25 percent of the world's energy despite representing just 5 percent of global population, and the band of industrialized nations combine to waste 222 million metric tons of food per year, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
"Population doubled while the economy grew by 15 times, cars by 16 times and fertilizer-use by sixfold," said geographer Ruth DeFries of Columbia at the same event. "There is no end in sight for that increase in consumption," particularly as it is emulated by people around the globe.
All this consumption requires a host of natural resources, from vast copper mines scarring the landscape to ever more land for food. More acreage was converted to growing crops between 1950 and 1980, than from 1700 to 1850, and arable land is one of nine "planetary boundaries" that scientists have identified—limits past which humanity should fear to tread. The others include: climate change, biodiversity loss, nutrient cycles, ocean acidification and freshwater use, among others. "Slowing population growth does not solve all the problems but it makes it easier by slowing demands," Cohen said.
Ultimately, the limiting factor may come down to what the late economist Julian Simon called the "master resource": energy. Simply put, is there enough energy that can be harnessed to provide a rewarding lifestyle to however many billion of us inhabit the planet? Those limits are already being pushed, as can be seen in the large increases in the price of everything from oil to food over the last decade. "The state of New Jersey's per capita energy consumption exceeds the photosynthetic productivity of the area even if it were pristine," noted physicist Klaus Lackner, director of the Earth Institute's Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy at the Columbia event. Simply put, without fossil fuels, the New Jerseyans alive today could not survive on the bounty of the Garden State alone. That problem may spread as the 21st century moves forward, thanks to human population growth.
Energy is the key to modern economies, but it may be participation in modern economies that proves key to limiting human population. "If girls and women have the opportunity to generate income and jobs, you see a rapid decline in fertility," DeFries noted. Already, increased opportunity has driven fertility declines in many countries of the world or, as journalist Fred Pearce puts it in his book The Coming Population Crash (2010, Beacon Press): "The population bomb is being diffused. By women. Because they want to."
But it is not just economic opportunity; education also is key to restraining future birth rates. "Almost universally, women with higher levels of education have fewer children," wrote demographers in a paper in Science on July 29. According to Cohen, it would cost at most $70 billion to provide universal education to everyone young person on Earth right now.
Fertility rates are not declining everywhere: Indonesia's birth rate has stopped declining and started climbing. A subset of countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Niger with the current top fertility rate of more than seven children per woman, still have rates above four children per woman. Even the U.S. has seen its fertility rate increase above two children per woman in recent years.
The biggest impact a U.S. citizen can have on global environment problems, such as climate change, is having fewer children. Every American child born will add almost 10,000 metric tons of CO2 to the atmosphere over his or her lifetime under current conditions. For comparison, that's five times more than a Chinese child and 160 times more than a Bangladeshi baby. According to researchers at Oregon State University, having one fewer child reduces a U.S. family's greenhouse gas impact 20 times more than driving a Toyota Prius, using Energy Star appliances and other lifestyle choices combined.
Demographic dividend
For the next few decades at least, the world as a whole will have more working age people than dependents (children and the old)—a global "demographic dividend" of the kind that has allowed rapid economic growth in the past. The ultimate question of the 21st century may be, as Cohen put it: "Is economic development the best contraceptive or is voluntary contraception the best [economic] development?"
As for how many people the planet can sustain, the first such estimate came from microbiologist Anton van Leeuwenhoek who calculated roughly 13.4 billion people back in 1679, based on the population density of his native Holland and its size relative to the rest of the globe. More modern guesses are hardly more scientific, ranging from one billion to one trillion. "These estimates are political numbers, intended to persuade people, one way or another: either that too many humans are already on Earth or that there is no problem with continuing rapid population growth," Cohen wrote in his book How Many People Can the Earth Support? (W. W. Norton, 1996)
As it is, the world produces enough food to feed everyone alive today—and more. Globally, farms produce enough calories to support a population of roughly 11 billion people fed 2,000 calories per day. That's because human ingenuity—such as the modern breeding of staple crops, such as wheat, for higher yields, known as the Green Revolution—has outpaced, so far, environmental limits.
Yet, there are still more than a billion hungry people on the planet today. "The number of people living on $2 per day doubled in the 20th century," Cohen noted at the Columbia event. "Hunger is a choice."
7 billion and counting…
On October 12, 1999, Adnan Mevic was born in Sarajevo—the anointed six billionth person on the planet and one of 80 million children born that year. Twelve years later one of the 78 million children born this year is the seven billionth person. It may take 14 years to reach eight billion and it may take even longer to reach nine billion.
But we're still not past "peak people," which could top out at 10.1 billion, according to U.N. demographers. After all, in the 1990s, U.N. demographers forecast a peak at 7.8 billion, a milestone we'll blow past before 2030 most likely. "A difference of one child per woman per lifetime between now and 2050 means a difference of 2.5 billion people," Cohen noted.
As it stands, the people of the planet seem to be leaning toward a peak in population followed by a gradual decline—a 21st-century world of the aged, which can be seen today in Japan or parts of Europe—but there is still a good chance of continued growth in our numbers. The U.N. had more recently predicted a leveling off at nine billion but now says we will reach the 10.1 billion figure in 2100—and potentially keep climbing as birth rates have not fallen as far or as fast as previously anticipated. If the choices we make are a little different, there could be as many as 16 billion of us by the end of this century—and that number may prove more than the planet can bear if our lifestyles don't keep pace with our numbers.
"It's both the most intimate of problems—what people do in their beds—and the most public problem," Cohen said. "What people do in their beds has externalities that affect people who aren't in bed with them."


text:
You will work in a Danish hospital with stable surroundings, attractive working conditions, possibilities for professional development, a better work-life balance and a future life and career in one of Europe's top welfare states, in Scandinavia.
The department of emergency medicine is a highly specialised department. A wide range of urgent cases are treated, which offers a great chance to develop professionally.
Cooperation and development is highly valued at the department. In order to strengthen development, doctors, nurses, secretaries and other employees are offered a great amount of further education.
You are:
• Specialised in Gastroenterology OR Endocrinology OR Pulmonology OR Family Medicine OR Geriatrics OR Anesthesiology AND Emergency Medicine/ you have experience in the field of Emergency Medicine
• Fluent in English
• Motivated for living and working abroad
What can you expect?
• Permanent contract regulated by the Danish collective agreement
• Minimum yearly salary: 94.000 Euro (including pension benefits)
• 37 hour working week
• 6 weeks paid holiday
• A free, intensive language course and Danish Medical Language Programme with 800 Euros settlement assistance and free accommodation in Budapest prior to work start
• 70 Euros extra support per child and free childcare for nursery and kindergarten aged children in a professional kindergarten near our facilities during your stay in Budapest
• A short trip to Denmark prior to the language course, where you will have the opportunity to visit your future work place and living area
• Cultural teaching prior to departure
• Language course for your spouse and elderly children
• Partner Integration Program with a personal consultant
• Accommodation assistance in Denmark
• Assistance in administrative processes when moving to Denmark
• Assistance for your spouse in search of employment and integration in Denmark
• Guidance regarding schooling and child care both in Budapest and in Denmark
• Access to our candidate network in Denmark
• Information on Danish tax matters
• Hotline service for urgent questions
• Extra Danish classes after arrival to Denmark
• Coaching, regular evaluation and assistance in integration process
To apply?
Please send your CV along with Cover Letter to email@example.com mentioning reference code ML-33
Contact person: Vitaly Pryadka Tel.: +44 20 8144 2822


text:
Movies have deleted scenes, everyone knows that. But it's rare we see deleted game scenes, because they're normally just 1s and 0s, and if they're not in the final game, we don't see them. Unless we're talking Monkey Island!
While working on the recent Special Edition of the game, Lucasarts' Adam Bormann says he had to go back into the code for the original Monkey Island. And while in there, poking around for puzzle AI, he found a ton of content left in the game by its developers, including Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer.
Seems every time the original developers made a change to a puzzle or a piece of dialogue, they simply left the old stuff in the code. So Lucasarts have yanked it all out and posted it. Some of it's all-new content, others added lines to existing chit-chats, but for fans of the series it's all good reading.
Secret of Monkey Island – The Deleted & Extended Scenes [Lucasarts]


text:
Cart Ordinances
Gotha, FL
Sec. 9-563. - Shopping cart retention.
Big box developments (defined in section 38-1 of this Code) utilizing shopping carts or similar devices shall install and maintain a system to retain all shopping carts within the real property boundaries of the business location, subject to the following:
(a) A "shopping cart" is defined to be a basket mounted on wheels, or a similar device, which is generally used in a retail or wholesale establishment by a customer, or by an employee of such establishment, for the purpose of transporting goods of any kind;
(b) The establishment shall provide signage in a conspicuous location notifying shopping cart users of the retention system in place and of how such system operates;
(c) Location, type of device, and other pertinent information shall be shown on the approved site plan for the big box development;
(d) Permitted methods of retention shall include any one (1) of the following methods:
(1) A toll-free shopping cart recovery service system;
(2) Shopping carts equipped with a protruding arm or similar device preventing the carts from being removed from the interior of the business;
(3) A system, which may be mechanical in nature, requiring a refundable deposit to use a shopping cart; such deposit should be of a reasonable amount that would not deter the use of the cart, but would encourage the return of the cart;
(4) Shopping carts equipped with a wheel locking mechanism and anti-tilting bar that is used in conjunction with an electronic barrier along the perimeter of the area where shopping carts are allowed. The wheel locking mechanism shall activate when the shopping cart crosses the electronic barrier;
(5) Any other mechanism or system submitted to, and approved by, Orange County.
(e) Any big box development failing to install or to properly maintain an approved on-site shopping cart retention system is in violation of this section of the Code. Any person, firm, or corporation violating the provisions of this subsection shall, upon conviction, be subject to the penalties provided in section 1-9 of this Code, to the extent not inconsistent with Florida law. Each separate day of violation constitutes a separate offense.
(f) Home improvement centers (defined in section 38-1, Orange County Code) shall be exempt from this section.
Would you like to learn more about Gatekeeper Systems?Click Here to learn more›


text:
I'm like a beggar with no luck
I'm holding signs up
On your streetcorner stops
Like most you try not to see me
You stare straight ahead
Ignore the responsibility
Excuse me.. excuse me Mr.
I've been waiting in line
And I'd like to buy some of your time
I'm very anxious, eager, willing,
What's your billing?.
So please excuse me Mr.
You've got things all wrong
You make it feel like a crime
So don't confuse me Mr.
I've known you too long
All I need is a little of your time.
For most love comes for free
They don't pay the high cost
Of mental custody
I'll pay bail for a guarantee
Please make space for me
In the time yet to be
Excuse me.. excuse me Mr.
I've been waiting in line
And I'd like to buy time
Some of your time
I've been saving up my life,
What's your price?.
What should I do
I'm about to crack
And there's a force
That comes over me
It's almost as if I'm tied to the tracks
And I'm waiting for him
To rescue me
The funny thing is
He's not going to come
He's not going to find me
This is a matter of fact
The desire you lack
This is the way I guess it has to be..
A little of your time
I need a little of your time
Please, a little of your time.
I'm in line to buy time
I'm in line to buy time


text:
I am a simple man. Well, if you define simple as someone who acts as a servant to two young men, occasionally his wife and has the ability to belch well watching football, then I am pretty simple. Anyway, I am a simple man with simple tastes. Not being imbued with complex potentials and the need to analyse every trivial detail before moving my chess pieces, I tend to know immediately what I like and act quickly.
What do I like? Well, for example, a few years ago I wrote a paper for a conference and used Freemind to map some figures out. Since then I use this above-excellent free software tool for every conceivable organizational chore possible. Every time I have an idea for a new magazine article or need to organize my todo lists, zap, click and expand. Another tool that I use daily is
grep. Finding information in large log files is a pain. Sure, I can use some log-analyzing tool, but for flexibility, there is nothing like a good old grep party. Another handy utility is
tail; by running
tail -f I can see naughty events happen real time as they are dumped into some text file or another. Such relative power for so little effort gives me the feeling of control and personalization over my system. As we move into the central timeslot of the 3D desktop era, I wonder if we are going to lose that feeling.
As the famous mythical beast: half man, half writer, half developer (and obviously not a mathematician), I try to surround myself with tools that make my life easier. One of those tools is a grammar checker. I notice that when I send emails out or when I'm busy with three things at once that my written prose can at times help make my flowers grow. Placing a grammar checker in the way forces me to spend the prerequisite seconds to change monkey talk into understandable flow. I noticed this week while putting content onto a WIKI like system that the quality of my writing was poor. Next week I will go back and try better. Well, my point is that I noticed for the first time that Abiword has a grammar checker. I don't have this functionality working on my desktop yet, but when this happens, you can expect me to filter any of my WIKI entries through this word processor. My hat is off to the developers. Thank you for giving me one less reason to use Windows.


text:
Ethiopian Airlines is pleased to announce that its 1st Dreamliner, "Africa First", touched down in Lomé, Togo, on 05 September 2012.
Ethiopian 1st Dreamliner flight to Lomé is part of its tour of stations in the Ethiopian network. Lomé is the political and economic capital of Togo and hub of ASKY, a partner airline of Ethiopian. Through the successful partnership with ASKY, Lomé has become a West African hub for Ethiopian, which serves the city with daily flights to Addis Ababa and connecting services to stations in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North America.
With 787 service, passengers to Lomé have enjoyed the ultimate travel experience on-board Ethiopian 1st Dreamliner ahead of other major destinations in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia. The aircraft offers passengers unparalleled comfort with less noise, the biggest windows in the sky, a higher ceiling, higher humidity and unique lighting. Starting 20 September 2012, Ethiopian will deploy the Dreamliner on its daily flight to Washington D.C.
About Ethiopian
Airlines Ethiopian Airlines, the fastest growing airline in Africa, made its maiden international flight to Cairo in 1946 and now the Airline provides dependable services to 69 international destinations spanning four continents.
Ethiopian is proud to be a Star Alliance Member. The Star Alliance network is the leading global airline network offering customers convenient worldwide reach and a smoother travel experience. The Star Alliance network offers more than 21,555 daily flights to 1,356 airports in 193 countries.
Ethiopian is a multi-award winner for its commitment and contributions towards the development and growth of the African aviation industry and in recognition of its distinguished long-haul operations enhanced by the introduction of new routes and products. Recently, Ethiopian won gold in the African Airline of the Year 2011/2012 Awards organized by the African Aviation News Portal. Ethiopian also received the 2011 AFRAA award for being consistently profitable over the years and has won the "AFRICAN CARGO AIRLINE OF THE YEAR 2011 Award" for its excellence in air cargo. Ethiopian also won the NEPAD Transport Infrastructure Excellence Awards 2009 and "the Airline of the Year 2009 Award" from the African Airlines Association (AFRAA).
With its acquisition of and firm orders for several new modern aircraft and its fast expanding network, the airline is well positioned to become the leading aviation group in Africa, per its Vision 2025 strategic roadmap.


text:
What Happens When Sisters Go Green?
Between both civil rights and feminist movements, women of color have always been catalyst of change in our nation. Climate change have disproportionate impacts on communities of color and these issues are hitting women the hardest globally. Ignoring the problems of environmental and climate justice is not an option in these communities. Women of color are the agents of change in grass root organizing and also on the family level as the providers and consumers of our nation and beyond. The mothers, daughters, and sisters of our families are strong enough to be the backbones of our family, bring about positive change in our community, and are the same ones who also keep hope alive.
During these economic times, it's challenging for women to find a stable job with benefits that can actually support their family. The fight for clean air is a fight for energy efficiency and clean fuel alternatives that will protect the health of our families and produce jobs right here in our Nation. Women groups and organizations all over the world are speaking up for the health and safety of their families by protesting in mitigating industrial pollution. The sooner we address the issue of air pollution caused by incinerators and coal-fired plants the closer we'll get to making real progress on global warming.
With green industries on the rise, it will also become the perfect time for greater economic opportunity for women. Green jobs will also help narrow the wage gap, allow work-place flexibility, and are innovatively sustainable. These jobs have both high wages and good benefits that will help all women succeed in today's economy. When sisters go green by educating others about the impact of climate change, empowering others to make a difference, and effectively producing change for a better quality of life they bring about a world of change.
Dorthea E. Thomas
NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Ambassador for MI
Hope for GREEN, Creator