Children who eat sweets and chocolate every day are more likely to be violent as adults, according to UK researchers.The Cardiff University study involving 17,500 people is the first into effects of childhood diet on adult violence. It found 10-year-olds who ate sweets daily were significantly more likely to have a violence conviction by age 34. Researchers suggested they had not learnt to delay gratification, but other experts said already "difficult" children might be given more sweets. The researchers looked at data on around 17,500 people and found that 69% of the participants who were violent at the age of 34 had eaten sweets and chocolate nearly every day during childhood, compared to 42% who were non-violent.
Children who eat sweets and chocolate every day are more likely to be violent as adults, according to UK researchers.
The Cardiff University study involving 17,500 people is the first into effects of childhood diet on adult violence.
It found 10-year-olds who ate sweets daily were significantly more likely to have a violence conviction by age 34.
Researchers suggested they had not learnt to delay gratification, but other experts said already "difficult" children might be given more sweets.
The researchers looked at data on around 17,500 people and found that 69% of the participants who were violent at the age of 34 had eaten sweets and chocolate nearly every day during childhood, compared to 42% who were non-violent.
In an effort to raise nuclear power production, energy companies are building a new reactor and power line in Normandy in northern France. The plans have attracted strong opposition from local residents. A region better known for camembert cheese, lush rolling hills and apples, Normandy has become an unlikely battleground for France's efforts to boost nuclear energy production. State-controlled energy company EDF is building France's first ever third generation nuclear reactor (termed a European Pressurized Reactor) in the town of Flamanville. And RTE, the electricity transmission network operator, is constructing a new overhead power line in the region. Work on the Flamanville reactor is set to be complete by 2012. The plans have angered local residents who fear the high-voltage cables could lead to dangerous health and environmental effects. Jean-Claude Bossard, mayor of the Normandy town of Le Chefresne, represents one of the 64 communities protesting the Contentin-Maine line -- a163-kilometer-long stretch of overhead power lines that will transport electricity from the Flamanville nuclear reactor.
A region better known for camembert cheese, lush rolling hills and apples, Normandy has become an unlikely battleground for France's efforts to boost nuclear energy production.
State-controlled energy company EDF is building France's first ever third generation nuclear reactor (termed a European Pressurized Reactor) in the town of Flamanville. And RTE, the electricity transmission network operator, is constructing a new overhead power line in the region. Work on the Flamanville reactor is set to be complete by 2012.
The plans have angered local residents who fear the high-voltage cables could lead to dangerous health and environmental effects.
Jean-Claude Bossard, mayor of the Normandy town of Le Chefresne, represents one of the 64 communities protesting the Contentin-Maine line -- a163-kilometer-long stretch of overhead power lines that will transport electricity from the Flamanville nuclear reactor.
yet another irrefutable argument for distributed power generation... ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
A 2005-2007 dry spell in the southeastern United States destroyed billions of dollars of crops, drained municipal reservoirs and sparked legal wars among a half-dozen states--but the havoc came not from exceptional dryness but booming population and bad planning, says a new study. Researchers from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory defied conventional wisdom about the drought by showing that it was mild compared to many others, and in fact no worse than one just a decade ago. According to the study, climate change has so far played no detectable role in the frequency or severity of droughts in the region, and its future effects there are uncertain; but droughts there are essentially unpredictable, and could strike again at any time. The study appears in the October edition of the Journal of Climate. "The drought that caused so much trouble was pathetically normal and short, far less than what the climate system is capable of generating," said lead author Richard Seager, a climate modeler at Lamont. "People were saying that this was a 100-year drought, but it was pretty run-of-the-mill. The problem is, in the last 10 years population has grown phenomenally, and hardly anyone, including the politicians, has been paying any attention." Region wide, the drought ran from late 2005 to winter 2007-2008, though many areas in the south were still dry until last week, when the weather turned conclusively, and flooding killed at least eight people. During the height of the dry period, Atlanta's main reservoir sank more than 14 feet, usage restrictions were declared in many areas, and states became embroiled in lawsuits among themselves and with the federal government over use of water in rivers and reservoirs.
A 2005-2007 dry spell in the southeastern United States destroyed billions of dollars of crops, drained municipal reservoirs and sparked legal wars among a half-dozen states--but the havoc came not from exceptional dryness but booming population and bad planning, says a new study. Researchers from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory defied conventional wisdom about the drought by showing that it was mild compared to many others, and in fact no worse than one just a decade ago. According to the study, climate change has so far played no detectable role in the frequency or severity of droughts in the region, and its future effects there are uncertain; but droughts there are essentially unpredictable, and could strike again at any time. The study appears in the October edition of the Journal of Climate.
"The drought that caused so much trouble was pathetically normal and short, far less than what the climate system is capable of generating," said lead author Richard Seager, a climate modeler at Lamont. "People were saying that this was a 100-year drought, but it was pretty run-of-the-mill. The problem is, in the last 10 years population has grown phenomenally, and hardly anyone, including the politicians, has been paying any attention."
Region wide, the drought ran from late 2005 to winter 2007-2008, though many areas in the south were still dry until last week, when the weather turned conclusively, and flooding killed at least eight people. During the height of the dry period, Atlanta's main reservoir sank more than 14 feet, usage restrictions were declared in many areas, and states became embroiled in lawsuits among themselves and with the federal government over use of water in rivers and reservoirs.
Things would really get interesting when climate change no longer can be scapegoated for the bigger elephant in the room...
Just as Republicans are convinced the oil will always be there, they are equally convinced the water will always be there. When it's not, the problem is with liberals and environmentalists, not with the underlying unsustainability of the water and development patterns.
We're witnessing the same thing in California, but with the right-wing outrage turned up to 11. And that's as a result of a 2-year drought that is, as with the Southeastern drought, fairly mild by CA standards. And the world will live as one
The French government Thursday said it plans to spend €1.5 billion (about $2.2 billion) on creating a battery-charging network for electric vehicles as part of a broader state plan to encourage the development of clean vehicle technology and battery manufacturing.... The government will make the installation of charging sockets obligatory in office parking lots by 2015, and new apartment blocks with parking lots will have to include charging stations starting in 2012.
The government will make the installation of charging sockets obligatory in office parking lots by 2015, and new apartment blocks with parking lots will have to include charging stations starting in 2012.
Would be nice if the U.S. Congress could legislate a requirement like that. Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.
Chamber backtracks on climate change as resignations mountAthletic footwear maker Nike has resigned from its position on the board of the US Chamber of Commerce, the latest sign that a major rift has formed within the US's preeminent business group over climate change legislation expected this fall.... Nike is the latest and most high-profile company to publicly distance itself from the Chamber of Commerce, which has taken an active stance against proposed climate-change legislation. Last week, two major utilities, the Public Service Company of New Mexico and California's Pacific Gas and Electric, left the chamber. PG&E said it was leaving because of the chamber's "extreme" position on climate change, the Associated Press reported.
Athletic footwear maker Nike has resigned from its position on the board of the US Chamber of Commerce, the latest sign that a major rift has formed within the US's preeminent business group over climate change legislation expected this fall.... Nike is the latest and most high-profile company to publicly distance itself from the Chamber of Commerce, which has taken an active stance against proposed climate-change legislation.
Last week, two major utilities, the Public Service Company of New Mexico and California's Pacific Gas and Electric, left the chamber. PG&E said it was leaving because of the chamber's "extreme" position on climate change, the Associated Press reported.
Nowhere has the greening message had a bigger impact than in the building industry. Green or sustainable architecture is all the rage--as well it should be, because buildings use a lot of energy. The construction and operation of residential and commercial buildings consume as much as 40 percent of the energy used in the United States today. The calculation of a building's total environmental impact must factor in everything from annual energy consumption to how and where building materials are manufactured and the handling of storm water. This requires some sort of rating system, and there are currently more than 40 of them in use around the world. Most, like LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), which has become the standard in the United States, award points based on a checklist--daylighting, water recycling, solar panels, bicycle racks, and so on.
Nowhere has the greening message had a bigger impact than in the building industry. Green or sustainable architecture is all the rage--as well it should be, because buildings use a lot of energy. The construction and operation of residential and commercial buildings consume as much as 40 percent of the energy used in the United States today.
The calculation of a building's total environmental impact must factor in everything from annual energy consumption to how and where building materials are manufactured and the handling of storm water. This requires some sort of rating system, and there are currently more than 40 of them in use around the world. Most, like LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), which has become the standard in the United States, award points based on a checklist--daylighting, water recycling, solar panels, bicycle racks, and so on.
Over the past 60 years farmers have seen competition in the market place steadily disappear as corporate mergers concentrated all aspects of agriculture into the hands of a few multinational corporations. Their profit comes at the expense of the farmer, the farm worker, consumer safety and the environment. While farmers defend themselves against what they see as an attack by Pollan, they are really defending agribusiness. When they say they love their Roundup Ready corn, the hormones and the chemicals they are promoting the corporations that always make a profit whether the farmers win or lose. When farmers disparage small-scale ecological agriculture because it "will never feed the world" they conveniently forget that conventional agriculture has not fed the world either, despite 60 years of promises to do so. They also ignore the findings of IAASTD that indicate the old paradigm of industrial agriculture is a thing of the past. The industrial model sources food from the world, pits farmer against farmer in a race to the bottom. Globalized commodities converted into processed nutritionally empty foods, make corporations rich, Americans obese, and developing countries destitute . Pollan just wants farmers and consumers to think. Agribusiness is rich and persuasive, they own both ends of the market place and they want to keep it that way. When people think about what they eat and what they grow, chances are, eventually, they will make the right choice.
Over the past 60 years farmers have seen competition in the market place steadily disappear as corporate mergers concentrated all aspects of agriculture into the hands of a few multinational corporations.
Their profit comes at the expense of the farmer, the farm worker, consumer safety and the environment.
While farmers defend themselves against what they see as an attack by Pollan, they are really defending agribusiness. When they say they love their Roundup Ready corn, the hormones and the chemicals they are promoting the corporations that always make a profit whether the farmers win or lose.
When farmers disparage small-scale ecological agriculture because it "will never feed the world" they conveniently forget that conventional agriculture has not fed the world either, despite 60 years of promises to do so. They also ignore the findings of IAASTD that indicate the old paradigm of industrial agriculture is a thing of the past.
The industrial model sources food from the world, pits farmer against farmer in a race to the bottom. Globalized commodities converted into processed nutritionally empty foods, make corporations rich, Americans obese, and developing countries destitute .
Pollan just wants farmers and consumers to think. Agribusiness is rich and persuasive, they own both ends of the market place and they want to keep it that way. When people think about what they eat and what they grow, chances are, eventually, they will make the right choice.
