Cycles business

The Philippines hit the global stage again last week when Super Typhoon “Rolly” struck the country. It prompted the Incredible Hulk himself, Mark Ruffalo, to tweet: “Pray for our brothers and sisters in the Philippines then get ready to send donations.” On one hand, it was great hearing from one of Hollywood’s finest actors air his concern for this side of the world. But on the other, I thought it sounded like it was yet another part of a vicious cycle of sending donations to places where typhoons just come and go. One would think that, with the Philippines experiencing an average of 26 typhoons in one year, we have become experts in disaster management. However, a closer look at how we do things does not necessarily reflect an improved approach. In fact, it shows it’s more important than ever to have a better disaster management plan in place. While it is worth applauding the efforts of the national government in implementing the necessary precautionary measures, such as the early … [Read more...] about Sustaining disaster management practices in the Philippines

By Rachel Nuwer , The New York Times Company Melodine Jeptoo will never forget the first time she saw a locust swarm. Moving like a dark cloud, the insects blotted out the sky and pelted her like hail. “When they’re flying, they really hit you hard,” said Jeptoo, who lives in Kenya and works with PlantVillage, a nonprofit group that uses technology to help farmers adapt to climate change. In 2020, billions of the insects descended on East African countries that had not seen locusts in decades, fueled by unusual weather connected to climate change. Kenya had last dealt with a plague of this scale more than 70 years ago; Ethiopia and Somalia, more than 30 years ago. Nineteen million farmers and herders across these three countries, which bore the brunt of the damage, saw their livelihoods severely affected. “People were operating in the dark, running around with their heads cut off in a panic,” said Keith Cressman, a senior locust forecasting officer at the United Nations … [Read more...] about As locusts swarmed East Africa, this tech helped squash them

Long before Andrew Lohse became a pariah at Dartmouth College , he was just another scarily accomplished teenager with lofty ambitions. Five feet 10 with large blue eyes and the kind of sweet-faced demeanor that always earned him a pass, he grew up in the not-quite-rural, not-quite-suburban, decidedly middle-class town of Branchburg, New Jersey, and attended a public school where he made mostly A’s, scored 2190 on his SATs and compiled an exhaustive list of extracurricular activities that included varsity lacrosse, model U.N. (he was president), National Honor Society, band, orchestra, Spanish club, debate and – on weekends – a special pre-college program at the Manhattan School of Music, where he received a degree in jazz bass. He also wrote songs; gigged semiprofessionally at restaurants throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut; played drums for a rock band; chased, and conquered, numerous girls; and by his high school graduation, in 2008, had reached the pinnacle of … [Read more...] about Confessions of an Ivy League Frat Boy: Inside Dartmouth’s Hazing Abuses

Source: AndrewLozovyi/Depositphotos We often relate grieving to the loss of a person. Did you know you can go through the cycle of grieving when you sell or give away something that was a big part of your life, such as a home, car, or your child’s clothing? Maybe the unusual sadness or irritation you feel is from having to give up a dream. If you ignore the signs of grieving and don't allow yourself to process the loss, your emotions can hijack your brain any time. Atypical pessimism , hopelessness, and irritation will show up in your conversations and infect your motivation . Grieving is painful, but the experience is a natural part of living a full life. When you acknowledge the ache or emptiness in your heart, you can fully process the loss, and then go forward with courage and strength. Grief Can Be Difficult to Identify Ten years ago, there was a week where I didn’t want to get out of bed. I dragged my body around all day. I’m usually very productive in the … [Read more...] about What Your Unusual Sadness and Irritation Might Mean

As the Biden-Harris administration advances an all-of-government approach to the worsening climate crisis, we need to acknowledge that not all proposed climate solutions should be advanced. Solar geoengineering, a controversial proposed set of technologies that could potentially cool the planet by reflecting incoming sunlight back to space, used to be on the fringes of climate policy. But with the recent release of a report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) that recommends hundreds of millions of dollars be invested to establish a U.S. solar geoengineering research program, this dangerous approach is now being more seriously considered by some decision-makers. The U.S. government should not support solar geoengineering research, because advancing this climate intervention increases, rather than decreases, risks to humanity by distracting from and avoiding necessary systemic changes and enabling control of the climate system to rest in the hands … [Read more...] about Climate manipulation? Not all ‘solutions’ should be advanced