Could hockey become an endangered sport? | Science Matters ...

By David Suzuki with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Communications Manager Ian Hanington.

One benefit of the National Hockey League strike: it gave people time to play outside on real ice! But outdoor skating could face the same difficulties as the NHL - a drastically shorter season or outright cancellation. Research from Montreal's McGill and Concordia universities shows global warming is already having an effect on outdoor rinks in Canada.

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"Many locations across the country have seen significant decreases in the length of the OSS [outdoor skating season], as measured by the number of cold winter days conducive to the creation of rink ice," their study states. "This is particularly true across the Prairies, and in Southwest Canada, which showed the largest (and most statistically significant) decreases in the calculated OSS length between 1951 and 2005."

This echoes a 2009 David Suzuki Foundation report, On Thin Ice: Winter Sports and Climate Change. The McGill investigation looks at constructed outdoor rinks while DSF's focuses on frozen rivers, canals and lakes, but the conclusions are similar. Both predict that, unless we rein in greenhouse gas emissions, outdoor skating in parts of Canada could be history within the next 50 to 100 years (the McGill study's authors now say it could happen within 20 to 30 years), and the length of the outdoor skating season will continue to decline across the country.

Meanwhile, at Ontario's Wilfrid Laurier University, geographers have launched www.RinkWatch.org, a website where people can record information about backyard or neighbourhood rink conditions over the winter.

"Our hope is that Canadians from coast to coast will help us track changes in skating conditions, not just this year, but for many years to come," associate professor Robert McLeman said in a release. "This data will help us determine the impact of climate change on winter in terms of length of season and average temperatures."

According to the DSF report, one of Canada's best-loved outdoor skating venues, Ottawa's Rideau Canal, provides an example of what to expect. It concludes that, with current emissions trends, the canal's skating season could shrink from the previous average of nine weeks to 6.5 weeks by 2020, less than six weeks by 2050 and just one week by the end of the century. In fact, two winters ago, the season lasted 7.5 weeks, and last year it was down to four. The canal had yet to fully open for skating when this column was written.

"On Thin Ice" notes that many of Canada's hockey heroes got their start on outdoor rinks. "Without pond hockey, we probably wouldn't have what has become the modern game of hockey," the authors state. The DSF study says climate change could have a profound effect on many other winter sports, from skiing and snowboarding to winter mountaineering.

With food and water problems caused by more frequent droughts and floods, property losses and high infrastructure costs from rising sea levels, and increasing illness and death from extreme weather and pollution, hockey may be the least of our worries. But losing winter recreation opportunities, let alone our ability to produce food and keep our homes warm and people healthy, needn't happen. Solutions to our human-created problems exist. We just need our leaders to start taking this and other environmental issues seriously.

That's not likely as long as we keep electing people who show more concern for the future of the fossil fuel industry than the citizens they are supposed to represent. Politicians who only look ahead three or four years ? until the next election ? aren't seeing the big picture.

We need to consider every solution possible, now ? from putting a price on emissions through carbon taxes and/or cap-and-trade to stopping the rapid exploitation of fossil fuels and switching to cleaner energy sources.

A skate or hockey game outside is a good place to start!

If you're in Quebec City for Carnaval, January 31 to February 3, join the David Suzuki Foundation for Sommet de l'hiver ? four days of sports, culture and science, presented with Desjardins, to raise awareness about climate change and its effects on winter. When former hockey stars team up for an outdoor game against artists to help save winter sports, you may even see some NHL heroes.

Source: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/science-matters/2013/01/could-hockey-become-an-endangered-sport/

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Party in Park City! Stars Celebrate Sundance

From the premieres to the parties, check out how celebs are enjoying this year's indie film fest

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/celebrities-sundance-film-festival-2013/1-b-517158?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Acelebrities-sundance-film-festival-2013-517158

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Message from the Anthropology and Environment Society President

The Anthropology and Environment Society, now 700 strong, had a very productive year as evidenced at the recent meetings in San Francisco. We have a new public face, comprising a website, a Facebook page, and a Twitter feed at @AnthEnvironment. Aside from providing information on section activities, the website serves as a conduit for research findings in environmental anthropology and also provides some original content. Most notable has been the Engagement blog, edited by Rebecca Garvoille and Noah Theriault, with postings on real-world engagements and impacts by anthropologists. The Facebook page, coordinated by Amelia Moore, already has over 1,000 followers.

At the San Francisco meetings, A&E sponsored (or co-sponsored) three sessions: Ecological Anthropology 2012 (Yancey Orr and Sean Downey), Knowledge Boundaries: Conceptual and Methodological Challenges In Studying Indigenous Knowledge (Mark Moritz and Matthew Lauer), and Prognosis Politics: Visions of Resource Futures (Jessica Barnes). We also put on the annual Rappaport Student Award Panel (David Hoffman, Katja Neves, Crystal Fortwangler and Robert Fletcher), ran a dissertation workshop (Sarah Besky and Andrew Mathews), and a poster session. Courtney Carothers served as our program chair and we are deeply grateful for her outstanding work. She will serve as program chair for one more year, so questions and comments about panels and sponsorship should be directed to her at clcarothers@alaska.edu.

At the meetings we also recognized outstanding work by two junior scholars for exemplary articles in environmental anthropology. The Junior Scholar Prize, given annually to an untenured faculty (or recent PhD), went to Shaylih Muehlman for her 2012 article ?Rhizomes and Other Uncountables: The Malaise of Enumeration in Mexico?s Colorado River Delta,? inAmerican Ethnologist 39(2): 339-353. Muehlman is assistant professor of anthropology at the University of British Columbia. The Rappaport Student Prize is awarded to a graduate student for a paper selected for presentation in the Rappaport Student Panel. It went to Sarah Osterhoudt of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies for her ?Clean Souls | Clear Fields: Environmental Imaginations and Christian Conversions In Northeastern Madagascar.?

The AES provides small grants for applied environmental projects. This year we funded Joshua Griffin?s project ?Towards an Environmental History of Kivalina, Alaska: A Collaborative Ethnography of Place, in Support of Climate-Induced Relocation.?

The three review committees were chaired by (respectively) Jim Igoe, Katja Neves-Graca and Justin Nolan.

We also sponsored an off-site reception at a nearby restaurant. It was a success and will be sponsored again at the Chicago meetings, in a location to be announced at the section business meeting.

A&E has been responsible for two task forces. The Global Climate Change Task Force was proposed by A&E, appointed by the AAA president and is chaired by Shirley Fiske. The task force had an active year, especially in the area of public outreach. Their work was featured on the section website, and an update on their activities is available at www.aaanet.org/cmtes/commissions/CCTF/gcctf.cfm. The section also formed a task force to contribute to the greening of the annual meetings by incorporating sustainable food into catered events. This task force was chaired by Crystal Fortwangler and it produced a white paper authored by Andrew Flachs. The section will continue to work with the AAA administration during the coming year.

In the spring elections, we added two new board members: Derick Fay and Michael Dove. Details on the current board are available on the section website.

Please send A&E news and reports to Amelia Moore at a.moore4@miami.edu.

Source: http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2013/01/24/message-from-the-anthropology-and-environment-society-president/

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Europe urges citizens to leave Libya's Benghazi

TRIPOLI/LONDON (Reuters) - European countries urged their nationals to leave the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Thursday, with Britain citing a "specific and imminent" threat to Westerners days after a deadly attack by Islamist militants in neighboring Algeria.

Officials declined to give details, but Britain has warned of a growing militant threat in North Africa, which Prime Minister David Cameron has called a "magnet for jihadists".

The call to leave Libya's second largest city irked Libyans keen to win foreign investment to rebuild a fractured infrastructure and boost the oil industry after the revolution which toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

"We are now aware of a specific and imminent threat to Westerners in Benghazi, and urge any British nationals who remain there against our advice to leave immediately," the Foreign Office said in a statement.

Similar warnings came from Germany and the Netherlands.

They followed the deaths of at least 38 hostages in an attack on Algeria's In Amenas gas complex near the Libyan border, and the start of French military operations in Mali.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle described the situation in Benghazi, cradle of the uprising against Gaddafi, as "serious and delicate".

"The warning was made because of a series of bits of information. We have our reasons, but I would not like to speak of details. Security is the most important thing," he told reporters during a visit to Lisbon.

Few Westerners are believed to be in Benghazi, which has experienced a wave of violence against diplomats as well as military and police officers, including an attack in September that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

A British embassy spokeswoman in Tripoli said the number of Britons in Benghazi was small, without specifying further.

Libyan deputy Interior Minister Omar al-Khadrawi said there were no more than 20 British nationals in Benghazi and most worked at international schools.

The principal of the British School Benghazi said he was told to close the school after a personal call from the British ambassador in Tripoli.

"He called each of the British nationals and said to get out now," Randy Robinson, 53, told Reuters.

"He sounded urgent. He just said there are threats of attacks on foreign institutions run by foreigners and that schools and hospitals are on the list."

Robinson, a Canadian, said the ambassador did not say who the threats were from because "that would jeopardize their source". The school has six British nationals, four of whom, he said, were trying to leave Libya.

"I am going to stay for a while. We will try to get the school going with the staff we have left, but it is a day-by-day situation," he said.

Last week Italy suspended activity at its Benghazi consulate and withdrew staff after a gun attack on its consul.

"The situation in Cyrenaica (eastern Libya) is not just worrying, it is incredibly worrying," a Western diplomat said. "But in light of the events recently, this could be a precautionary measure."

With the country awash with weapons and its shaky nascent institutions struggling to rein in armed groups, Libyans are keen to ensure Western fears do not drag down its economy.

The bulk of Libya's oil wealth, around 80 percent, is located in the east of the country, but the oil installations are far from Benghazi and oil is not piped through there.

"The British ambassador told me about this decision yesterday and I told him to give me reasons for this fear, and he said we have threats and fears for our people there. I asked him for something written, and he still hasn't provided it," deputy Interior Minister Khadrawi told Reuters.

"They have the right to be fearful for their people and it is our duty to protect them and our citizens. The threats they are speaking of, we are taking seriously. The British decision should have been taken together with the Libyan government."

Cameron's spokesman batted away accusations that Britain's warnings undermined confidence in Libya after Gaddafi and said that "progress can, is being made in Libya".

A LOT OF THREATS

Benghazi has been the scene of power struggles between various armed Islamist factions. U.S. intelligence officials say Islamist militants with ties to al Qaeda affiliates were most likely involved in the deadly September 11 assault on the U.S. mission in the city, Libya's second biggest.

Libya, whose vast desert borders are hard to police, fears that France's military operation in Mali could fan Islamist flames at home, and Libya's foreign minister called for United Nations peacekeepers to be deployed in Mali to prevent uprooted fighters destabilizing countries nearby.

Security experts said the European warnings were probably in response to threats from groups angered by the French operation in Mali and inspired by the attack at In Amenas.

One European national security official said "a lot of folks" were doing "a lot of threatening".

George Joffe, Middle East expert at Cambridge University, said a direct link between Islamist groups in Libya and those behind the Algeria attack was unlikely.

"I'm quite certain these are groups working in sympathy with other groups elsewhere (but), I don't think for one minute that there are organizational or institutional links between groups in Mali or in Algeria and those in Libya," Joffe said.

"The threats almost certainly come from an extremist group ... basically based in Benghazi, but we have no idea of the seriousness of the threat, the ability of the group to carry out the threat or the intention of the group in making it."

Saad al-Saitim, deputy head of the Benghazi Local Council, said the warnings were a setback, inciting "more fear at a time when people need to stand with us".

"Following the Mali events, foreigners are worried and are taking precautionary steps. Benghazi hardly has any foreigners at the moment and few foreign consulates," he said.

British Airways said it would continue operating its thrice-weekly flights from London to the Libyan capital Tripoli. The next one is scheduled for Sunday.

Air Malta said it had canceled Thursday's flights to Benghazi following Britain's warning.

(Additional reporting by Rhys Jones, Mark Hosenball, Ali Shuaib in Tripoli and Ghaith Shennib in Benghazi and Daniel Alvarenga in Lisbon; Editing by Myra MacDonald and Jon Hemming)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/britain-urges-nationals-leave-libyas-benghazi-citing-threat-124722482.html

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Workers' compensation claim challenges ? IIR Conferences Australia

With recent Workplace Health and Safety reform coming in to play at different times in different states, Australian businesses and individuals should be forgiven for being confused about how to best deal with workers? compensation claims.

In an effort to make sense of this continually developing area and to help fellow businesses and individuals within the industry, we asked a few OHS and workers? compensation specialists what workers? compensation claim challenges they have faced, to help you develop ways to avoid issues in the future.

What is the biggest challenge that you think businesses and individuals face when dealing with a workers? compensation claim and why?

Workers? compensation claims aren?t easy for anyone involved. Processes can seem confusing, overwhelming and take up a lot of time. Aside from the obvious impact on peoples lives, one of the biggest challenges we see with businesses is realising how much each claim goes beyond the premium payable and affects business operations, culture and the bottom line. We frequently work with employers who aren?t aware of how much can be done to prevent injuries or how to effectively manage claims when things don?t go right. Understanding these things and putting in place practical & sustainable solutions to minimise the impact of claims is critical to the overall success of a business.
Bernie Dean, General Manager, Prevention Strategy Division, Health and Safety, Worksafe Victoria

There are about 2 million businesses in Australia and more than 95% of these businesses employ less than 20 workers. Our workers compensation authorities report that annually about 120,000 Australian workers apply for and receive workers compensation. The facts are that for the vast majority of businesses, workers compensation claims are rare events. The reasons for this are another story and involve claims suppression, claim avoidance and a narrowing by governments of what is compensable. I think the biggest challenge facing workers is a lack of understanding of what are complex workers compensation systems. These are not easy systems to navigate. My advice to workers is always the same ? as soon as you are able to after a workplace injury ? get in contact with your union who can advise you of the best course of action for you to take.
Michael Borowick, Assistant Secretary, Australian Council Trade Union

The biggest challenge to a business is the variation in regulation around workers compensation and the impact it has on your financial position. The biggest challenge to the individual is the sense that the plan to recovery is out of your hands as the number of stakeholders can cloud the relationship.
Micheal Martin, National Safety and Risk Manager, Serco Sodexo Defence Services

Workers compensation is there to provide a safety net. By necessity it assumes that it is possible to separate work-related conditions from non-work-related conditions. The reality of the modern workplace is that the most common conditions: mental health problems and musculo-skeletal disorders can be caused by factors at work, environmental factors outside work and personal characteristics in combination. The biggest challenge for businesses and individuals when dealing with a workers? compensation claim is that workers compensation is unlikely to provide much of a solution, and may cause unintended harm.
Professor Niki Ellis CEO, ISCRR (Institute for Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research

The National Workers? Compensation Summit will be held on the 26th and 27th February 2013 in Surfers Paradise Queensland. Visit the official website for more information.

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IIR is a member of the Informa group of companies. Based in over 70 countries employing over 7,000 staff worldwide, Informa is the largest publicly-owned organiser of conferences and courses in the world with the output of over 10,000 events annually. For more information, please contact (02)9080 4000, or visit http://www.iir.com.au.

Source: http://iirconferences.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/workers-compensation-claim-challenges/

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Hailstones reveal life in a storm cloud

Jan. 23, 2013 ? It isn't life on Mars, but researchers have found a rich diversity of microbial life and chemicals in the ephemeral habitat of a storm cloud, according to a study published January 23 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Tina ?antl Temkiv and colleagues from Aarhus University, Denmark.

The researchers analyzed hailstones recovered after a storm in May 2009 and found that they carried several species of bacteria typically found on plants and almost 3000 different compounds usually found in soil. However, the hailstones had very few soil-associated bacteria or chemicals that would usually occur in plants. Three of the bacterial species discovered were found in most of the hailstones studied, and may represent 'typical' cloud inhabitants, the study reports.

According to the authors, this selective enrichment of certain plant bacteria and soil chemicals in the hailstones reveals how specific processes during the lifetime of a cloud may impact certain bacteria more than others. They suggest that these processes could affect the long-distance transport and geographical distribution of microbes on Earth.

"When we started these analyses, we were hoping to arrive at a merely descriptive characterization of the bacterial community in an unexplored habitat. But what we found was indirect evidence for life processes in the atmosphere, such as bacterial selection and growth," says Ulrich Gosewinkel Karlson, leader of the aeromicrobiology research group at Aarhus University.

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Journal Reference:

1. Tina ?antl-Temkiv, Kai Finster, Thorsten Dittmar, Bjarne Munk Hansen, Runar Thyrhaug, Niels Woetmann Nielsen, Ulrich Gosewinkel Karlson. Hailstones: A Window into the Microbial and Chemical Inventory of a Storm Cloud. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (1): e53550 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0053550

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/SHBi9kVBYY0/130123195252.htm

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Differentiating Sex and Love Addictions | Rehab Center

While love and sex are certainly not inseparable, romantic love only rarely exists without sexual involvement. For many people, sexual attraction is a critical component of loving their romantic partner. Sex and love are certainly both intense physical and emotional experiences, and like many such experiences they can give rise to obsession and even addiction.

However interconnected love and sex may be, love addiction and sex addiction are quite different phenomena. Like all forms of addiction, they do share some common ground. The pursuit of an addiction becomes the most important focus of an addict?s life, to the detriment of their relationships, work, and health. However, love and sex addictions generally manifest in very different ways, and stem from the need to satisfy disparate kinds of emotional needs.

The Effect on Relationships

While love and sex addictions can both destroy positive relationships or prevent the formation of positive relationships, the reasons for these struggles are in many ways as different as they could be.

For love addicts, an intense and binding relationship is the ultimate goal. They believe that finding love will give their lives purpose and stability, and a desperate need to find love leads them to develop rapid and obsessive attachments. The object of their attachment may change over time, but while relationships last they remain devoted almost to the point of worship.

In contrast, relationships lose priority for the sex addict along with their other interests and activities. Sex addicts in relationships are often unfaithful with multiple partners, as they are unable to satisfy their sex drive with a single partner. Many sex addicts also have frequent one night stands or even anonymous sexual partners. They may be in loving relationships, but the pursuit of sex becomes an irresistible compulsion even if that relationship begins to crumble.

The result for both love and sex addicts is often short and intense relationships in quick succession. The emotional instability and compulsive behavior that is universal in addicts certainly contributes to relationship failure in both disorders. Yet the failure of a love addict?s relationship often stems from unrealistic adoration and codependency, while a sex addict?s relationship more often fails due to neglect and unfaithfulness. Both addicts may make unrealistic demands of their partners, but the love addict?s demands are physical while the love addict?s demands are more likely to be emotional.

The Origin of the Addiction

Both love and sex addictions can arise from childhood or early young adult trauma that leaves the individual seeking desperately to fill the void inflicted by that trauma. Small events and genetic inclination can also more subtly influence the development of emotional needs and behavior that leads to these addictions.

However, love addicts and sex addicts are ultimately seeking different forms of satisfaction from different places. Sexual addiction is the pursuit of specific sex acts and encounters, regardless of who is able to provide those experiences. Sex addicts can gain equal satisfaction from one night stands and anonymous sex as from sex with a committed partner. When no partner is available, sex addicts can seek stimulus from masturbation, phone sex, pornography, voyeurism, or exhibitionism.

Love addicts are seeking the presence and love of a specific individual whom they believe will provide them with the passion and fulfillment that their lives have been missing. In some ways, these partners are just as anonymous as an anonymous sexual partner, because the object of a love addict?s affection is often a construct of their own minds and may bear little resemblance to the character and appearance of the actual person. Nevertheless, love addicts firmly believe that the individual(s) they become obsessed with are of paramount importance.

Worst Case Scenarios

The most extreme and destructive manifestations of sex addictions and love addictions help to highlight the different motivations behind these two obsessions.

When love addiction develops to extremes, individuals may refuse to sever relationships or injure themselves when relationships end. Without the stability and affirmation that a relationship provides, some love addicts will engage in self-mutilation or attempt suicide-they seek to punish their former partner, or feel that all meaning has gone from their lives. Love addicts may also become so obsessed with former or prospective partners that they become stalkers.

Sexual predation is an extreme manifestation of sexual addiction. Not all sexual predators are sex addicts, and relatively few sex addicts will commit molestation or rape. Nevertheless, some sex addicts do resort to forcing sexual encounters if they are not able to feed their sex drive in other ways.

Tags: love addiction

Source: http://www.recoveryranch.com/articles/sex-addiction/differentiating-sex-and-love-addictions/

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