Can Air Pollution in the US and Europe Affect Drought in Africa?

Featured, Science

Humanity’s and nature’s interconnectedness and interdependence is exemplified in the article “Coal-Burning in the U.S. and Europe Caused a Massive African Drought” by Olga Khazan, which suggests that a major drought that caused great famine from the 1960s to the 1980s in North Africa was not caused by bad farming practices, as was originally thought, but by air pollution emanating from the United States and Europe… A famine ravaged North Africa’s Sahel region from the mid-1960s through the early 1980s, killing 100,000 people and leaving 750,000 more dependent on food aid. Between 1972 and 1974, the U.S. shipped 600,000 tons of grain to the region, which accounted for about half of the total relief at the time. But even as they worked to save Africans from starvation, what Westerners at the time didn’t know is that the United States and Europe played a big role in the drought itself.   New research from the University of Washington shows that air pollution from the Northern Hemisphere indirectly caused reduced rainfall over Africa’s largely arid Sahel region, causing Lake Chad, a major local water source, to dry up, and leading to widespread crop failures.   Originally, the drought was blamed on overgrazing and poor land management, but a forthcoming study in Geophysical Research Letters shows that the environmental catastrophe was partly the result of factory emissions in the Western world. As the University of Washington puts it:   Aerosols emanating from coal-burning factories in the United States and Europe during the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s cooled the entire Northern Hemisphere, shifting tropical rain bands south. Rains no longer reached the Sahel region, a band that...
Study Shows How Social Relationships Need to be Taken as a Point of Assessment in Evaluating Health Promotion and Health Risks

Study Shows How Social Relationships Need to be Taken as a Point of Assessment in Evaluating Health Promotion and Health Risks

Featured, Science

“Growing evidence suggests that the quality and patterns of one’s social relationships may be linked with a variety of health outcomes, including heart disease,” says Thomas Kamarck, professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. “The contribution of this study is in showing that these sorts of links may be observed even during the earliest stages of plaque development (in the carotid artery) and that these observations may be rooted not just in the way that we evaluate our relationships in general, but in the quality of specific social interactions with our partners as they unfold during our daily lives.” Given the size of the effect in the study and the relationship between carotid artery plaque and disease, the findings indicate that those with marital interactions light on the positive may have an 8.5 percent greater risk of suffering heart attack or stroke than those with a surfeit of good feelings. Taken from the article “Lack of Wedded Bliss Linked to Heart Attack Risk” by Joe Miksch-Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh. Image: "Marriage Train" by Angie...
Study Shows How Diversity and Inclusion Are Crucial to Gain the Perspectives and Ideas that Foster Innovation in the Workforce

Study Shows How Diversity and Inclusion Are Crucial to Gain the Perspectives and Ideas that Foster Innovation in the Workforce

Featured, Science

“Fostering Innovation Through a Diverse Workforce” is based on an exclusive survey of 321 executives at large global enterprises ($500 million-plus in annual revenues). All respondents had direct responsibility or oversight for their companies’ diversity and inclusion programs. The study was sponsored by AT&T, L’Oréal USA, and Mattel.   According to the survey, a diverse and inclusive workforce is necessary to drive innovation and promote creativity—85% of respondents agreed (48% strongly so) that diversity is crucial to gaining the perspectives and ideas that foster innovation. As importantly, more than three quarters indicated that their companies will put more focus over the next three years to leverage diversity for their business goals, including innovation.   “Companies have realized that diversity and inclusion are no longer separate from other parts of the business,” said Stuart Feil, editorial director of Forbes Insights. “Organizations in the survey understand that different experiences and different perspectives build the foundation necessary to compete on a global scale.” –Taken from the article “Forbes Insights Study Identifies Strong Link between Diverse Talent and Innovation” by Debbie Weathers. Image: "2011 Diversity Conference" by Oregon Department of...
How Money, Trust, Generosity, a Sense of Belonging, Perceived Freedom and Getting Outside Your Comfort Zone Affects Your Happiness

How Money, Trust, Generosity, a Sense of Belonging, Perceived Freedom and Getting Outside Your Comfort Zone Affects Your Happiness

Economy, Featured

Time and time again, we find that people systematically overestimate the impact of material things and underestimate the positive impacts of social connections. –John Helliwell, a University of British Columbia economist who was asked to help the United Nations measure and improve global happiness levels. The following are summaries of 6 main points Helliwell listed as important discoveries in happiness research: 1. More Money Doesn’t Make You Happier Studies found that income does support life satisfaction, but mostly at low income levels, and not as much as people expect. Positive social interactions have a much greater impact on well-being. 2. The Importance of Trust When trust is high, people have the confidence to reach out, whether in the workplace or in the community. 3. A Sense of Belonging Studies show that feelings of belonging at the local community level have twice the impact of those at the national or provincial. As for social media, a Canadian survey found that it is the size of your network of real-time friends, and not the online version, that supports life satisfaction. 4. The Importance of Generosity Donors and volunteers to charities have been found to receive greater personal satisfaction from their philanthropy than recipients. In a recent study, cancer patients who counseled their peers received even larger benefits than those they were counseling. 5. Perceived Freedom to Make One’s Own Life Choices While good health is important, the perceived freedom to make important life choices is also crucial. For example, Denmark, which has the world’s highest self-assessed levels of freedom, also has the highest life satisfaction levels. 6. The Importance of Reaching Outside Your Comfort Zone & Establishing Good...
How in Order to Value Our Relationships, We Need to Invest in Them

How in Order to Value Our Relationships, We Need to Invest in Them

Featured, Science

The more time, effort or work you put toward someone, the more you’re personally invested in them, and the more you like them and want it to work out. Do you think this principle of liking people more via investing more in them can be applied in all social relationships, not just relationships among couples? If so, how? We look forward to your comments below… Image: "Mark Zuckerberg has changed our lives" by Ulisse...