Waking up to smell the coffee

As the eurozone’s flaws and weaknesses continue to manifest themselves in the midst of the Greek crisis, the appetite for the euro in Europe’s far north is dminishing. In Denmark, the government has been forced to kick a referendum on the country joining the euro into the long-grass, following objections from Danish unions and others over the state of the euro - and in particular the Commission’s instant new powers to meddle in negotiations on pay between national social partners (a clear no-go zone for Scandi unions).

And in Sweden, citizens have done a bit of a U-turn: a poll for Swedish Television shows that 50% of Swedes are now against the country joining the eurozone, with 39% in favour and 11% undecided. When the same question was asked in April 2009, 47% were in favour of joining the euro, while 45% were against. Changing sentiments in other words. And who can blame them? The Swedish krona is on the move and more and more commentators are acknowledging that the country has benefited from staying outside the eurozone (benefits which include an annual windfall profit of SEK 30bn from higher exports).

Not everyone is getting with the programme though. The Swedish Liberal People’s Party - which forms part of the governing coalition - still says on its website: “Sweden joining the monetary union would eliminate uncertainties and currency risks - and would contribute to more investments, higher income from exports and economic growth.”

Right…

Joint UN-African Union mission verifying reports of clashes in West Darfur

The joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur (UNAMID) is trying to verify reports of fighting in the western part of the strife-torn Sudanese region, with the head of the mission calling on all parties to refrain from any action that could thwart ongoing peace efforts.

Death toll from massive Chilean earthquake tops 720, reports UN health agency

The death toll from the strongest earthquake to strike Chile in more than 50 years officially stands at 723 people, the public health arm of the United Nations in the region said today, as it assesses the healthcare needs of survivors.

Obama Backs Privatization of Schools; Mass Firing of Teachers

March 1, 2010

Obama Backs Rewarding Districts That Police Failing Schools

By JEFF ZELENY
New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Obama said Monday that he favored federal rewards for local school districts that fire underperforming teachers and close failing schools, saying educators needed to be held accountable when they failed to fix chronically troubled classrooms and curb the student dropout rate.

The president outlined his proposal to offer $900 million in federal grants, which would be made available to states and school districts willing to take aggressive steps to turn around struggling institutions or close them.

The president’s proposal, which was included in his 2011 budget request to Congress, is his latest criticism of America’s failing public schools. In a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Obama said federal aid would be available for the districts that are home to the 2,000 schools that produce more than half of the nation’s dropouts.

He spoke alongside former Secretary of State Colin Powell and his wife, Alma, who lead America’s Promise Alliance, an advocacy group dedicated to combating the school dropout rate.

“We know that the success of every American will be tied more closely than ever before to the level of education that they achieve,” Mr. Obama said. “The jobs will go to the people with the knowledge and the skills to do them. It’s that simple.”

He singled out Central Falls High School in Rhode Island, where last week the school board voted to dismiss the entire faculty as part of a turnaround plan for the school, which has a 48 percent graduation rate.

At Central Falls High, he said, just 7 percent of 11th graders passed state math tests. Mr. Obama said he supported the school board’s decision to dismiss the faculty and staff members. “Our kids get only one chance at an education and we need to get it right,” he said.

The president’s comments incensed the leadership of the American Federation of Teachers, which criticized Mr. Obama for “condoning the mass firing” of teachers at the Rhode Island school.

“We know it is tempting for people in Washington to score political points by scapegoating teachers, but it does nothing to give our students and teachers the tools they need to succeed,” the president of the union, Randi Weingarten, said in a statement.

In their efforts to overhaul failing public schools, Mr. Obama and his education secretary, Arne Duncan, have frequently drawn the ire of teachers’ unions.

In his speech on Monday, Mr. Obama said states would be asked to identify schools that perform at persistently low levels, with graduation rates of 60 percent or less.

To qualify for the federal money, known as School Turnaround Grants, he said, the school districts must agree to take at least one of the steps: firing the principal and at least half the staff of a troubled school; reopening it as a charter school; or closing the school altogether and transferring students to better schools in the district.

“If a school continues to fail its students year after year after year,” Mr. Obama said, “if it doesn’t show signs of improvement, then there’s got to be a sense of accountability.”

The $900 million grant program, which would be subject to Congressional approval, follows $3.5 billion included in last year’s economic stimulus plan that also was aimed at improving school performance and lowering the dropout rate. The program would support interventions at 5,000 of the nation’s lowest-performing schools over the next five years.

Mr. Obama is seeking to use federal money as an incentive for local schools to improve their standards. The initiatives his administration is pursuing are similar to those of the Bush administration. At the event on Monday, Mr. Obama recognized Margaret Spellings, a secretary of education under President George W. Bush, who was seated in the front row.

Mr. Obama said he was particularly troubled by the dropout rate. He said 1.2 million students left school each year before graduating from high school, at a cost to the nation of $319 billion annually in potential earning losses.

“Now it’s true that not long ago you could drop out of high school and reasonably expect to find a blue-collar job that would pay the bills and help support your family,” Mr. Obama said. “That’s just not the case anymore.”

The Powells, who founded America’s Promise Alliance in 1997, announced on Monday a 10-year campaign called

“Grad Nation” directed at the lowest performing high schools in the country and focusing on improving graduation rates and preparations for college.

“We’ve got to catch our kids long before they drop out,” Mr. Powell said.

UN rights chief deplores Egypt’s use of ‘lethal force’ against migrants in Sinai

With dozens of unarmed migrants attempting to enter Israel via the Sinai Desert having been killed since mid-2007 by Egyptian security forces, the top United Nations human rights official today called on the nation’s Government to call an end to the “deplorable” use of “lethal force.”

How the Chilean quake shortened the day

The Chilean earthquake on Saturday probably shifted the Earth’s axis and shortened the day, says Rebecca Thomson

Number of bugs in Britain’s soil rises by nearly 50% in 10 years

• Number of invertebrates in soil has increased by 47%• Study shows decrease in diversity underground
Juliette Jowit
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 28 February 2010 23.24 GMT

Unnoticed by the people of Britain, a transformation has been happening beneath our feet. In the first study of its kind, scientists have analysed the soil the country depends on.
In just the top 8cm (3in) of dirt, soil scientists estimate there are 12.8 quadrillion (12,800 million million) living organisms, weighing 10m tonnes, and, incredibly, that the number of these invertebrates – some just a hair’s breadth across – which in effect make the soil has increased by nearly 50% in a decade. At the same time, however, the diversity of life in the earth appears to have reduced.
The most likely reason for both the increase in numbers and the decrease in types is the rise of annual temperatures and rainfall over the decade of the study, leading to warmer, wetter summers, said Professor Bridget Emmett, of the UK’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), who led the study. The scientists’ theory is that the warmer, wetter soil encourages most of the bugs to breed faster or for longer, but that more marginal species have been unable to adapt to the new conditions.
They are less certain, however, about whether the changes are a threat or a boon: soil has a relatively high “species redundancy”, so there are many species that can do the same job, but all creatures are facing an onslaught of changes such as global warming, pollution and habitat destruction.
“If you look at the soil, most of it comes out of the back end of the animals,” said Emmett. She added: “The question is whether we have lost resilience in the soil. Is diversity important for the soil to bounce back after multiple pressures?”
CEH’s biggest ever study of Britain’s soil is part of the much wider Countryside Survey, funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs approximately every decade.
The survey in 2007, whose results have only just been released after two years of analysis, took more than 2,600 samples from different geological and climatic areas across England, Scotland and Wales, and measured them for invertebrates, nutrients, pollutants, acidity and carbon.
In what is thought to be the first national analysis of change in soil bug numbers and types, Emmett’s team extrapolated that there were 1.28 x 10 to the power of 16 individual invertebrates, mainly made up of Oligochaetes (small worms), Collembola (springtails) and Acari (mites).
They then made the same calculation as for the previous survey in 1998 and estimated that the number and mass of bugs had increased by 47%, and that the biggest increases by far were in the numbers of mites. The concentration of living things was particularly high in woodland, but the phenomenon appeared in every type of landscape sampled except arable land, probably because of the regular tilling and disruption of their habitat.
Although the study looked at only the top 8cm of soil, the results were likely to cover most active life underground, said Emmett: “In fairness, it’s where most of them are: they know where all the carbon and nutrients are concentrated.”
The decrease in the variety of species found was much smaller – 11% – and the scientists warn that further research is needed to be sure of the trends, because too little is known about whether climate, pollution and land management affect soil bugs and, if so, how.
Biodiversity helps the soil to cope with future threats from pollution and climate change, and is a “pool from which future novel applications and products can be derived”, notes the report.
The beasts below
Oligochaetes: Earthworms and sludge worms There are about 3,500 oligochaetes species, the most familiar member of which is the earthworm. Smaller species – from 1mm to a few centimeteres long – tend to live in the sea or in fresh water, while larger ones – up to 3m in some cases – prefer moist soil. All the species are hermaphrodites and most come to the surface during rainfall to mate. Their importance in mixing and aerating soil led Charles Darwin to write in 1881: “It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organised creatures.”
Acari: Mites and ticksLike their fellow arachnids, the mites and ticks of the acari have eight legs. Predatory mites have sharp senses, but many are sightless. They breathe through their skin and their mouth parts of mites can be shaped for stinging, sawing or sucking. They can be parasites to plants, animals and even humans, to who they may transmit Lyme disease and Q fever.Collembola: SpringtailsThese small, wingless insects, the size of a full stop, can propel themselves by jumping, although they usually crawl. They are one of the most abundant and widespread animals on Earth, living in soil, under the bark of trees, or on water. They feed on decaying vegetable matter but can be a major pest on crops. In one square metre of soil there may be over 10,000 of them, but they are hard to spot with the naked eye. They are among the few insects living in Antarctica.
• This article was amended on Monday 1 March. The headline incorrectly said the number of bugs had doubled. This has been corrected.

US Senate’s top climate sceptic accused of waging ‘McCarthyite witch-hunt’

James Inhofe calls for criminal investigation of climate scientists as senators prepare proposal that would ditch cap and trade

Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Monday 1 March 2010 17.14 GMT

The US Congress’s most ardent global warming sceptic is being accused of turning the row over climate science into a McCarthyite witch-hunt by calling for a criminal investigation of scientists.
Climate scientists say Senator James Inhofe’s call for a criminal investigation into American as well as British scientists who worked on the UN climate body’s report or had communications with East Anglia’s climate research unit represents an attempt to silence debate on the eve of new proposals for a climate change law.
Inhofe’s document ends by naming 17 “key players” in the controversy about CRU’s stolen emails, including the Britons Phil Jones and Keith Briffa.
“I think this is like a drag net, just to try and catch everyone whose name happens to be on this list. It’s guilt by association and I thought those days were over 50 years ago,” said Michael Oppenheimer, of Princeton University, who is on the list of 17 scientists. “It looks like a McCarthyite tactic: pull in anyone who had anything to do with anyone because they happened to converse with some by email, and threaten them with criminal activity.”
Inhofe is also accused of further fuelling a spike in hate mail and politically motivated freedom of information requests in the three months since the emails of climate scientists were stolen from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit.
Rick Piltz, a former official in the US government climate science programme who now runs the Climate Science Watch website, said Inhofe and others were getting in the way of scientific work. “Scientists who are working in federal labs are being subjected to inquisitions coming from Congress,” he said. “There is no question that this is an orchestrated campaign to intimidate scientists.”
Michael Mann, a scientist at Penn State University who is on Inhofe’s list of 17, said that he had seen a sharp rise in hostile email since November.
“Some of the emails make thinly veiled threats of violence against me and even my family, and law enforcement authorities have been made aware of the matter,” he told the Guardian.
He said the attacks appeared to be a co-ordinated effort. “Some of them look cut-and-paste.”
A university investigation largely cleared Mann of misconduct for his connection to the East Anglia controversy. However, a rightwing group in Pennsylvania are demanding further action.
Gavin Schmidt, a climate scientist at Nasa’s Goddard Institute who is also on the list of 17, said he had seen an increase in freedom of information act requests. “In my previous six years I dealt with one FoIA request. In the last three months, we have had to deal with I think eight,” he said. “These FoIAs are fishing expeditions for potentially embarrassing content but they are not FoIA requests for scientific information.”
He said Inhofe’s call for a criminal investigation created an atmosphere of intimidation. “The idea very clearly is to let it be known that should you be a scientist who speaks out in public then you will be intimidated, you will be harassed, and you will be threatened,” he said. “The idea very clearly is to put a chilling effect on scientists speaking out in public and to tell others to keep their heads down. That kind of intimidation is very reminiscent of other periods in US history where people abused their position.”
Other scientists on Inhofe’s list of 17 admitted they were disturbed by the threat of criminal prosecution.
“I am worried about it, I have to say,” said Raymond Bradley, director of the climate science research centre at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who is also on the list of 17. “You can understand that this powerful person is using the power of his office to intimidate people and to harass people and you wonder whether you should have legal counsel. It is a very intimidating thing and that is the point.”
Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican on the Senate’s environment and public works committee, released a document last week suggesting scientists be investigated for breaking three laws and four government regulations.
The document, produced by members of Inhofe’s staff, recycles now familiar sceptic arguments about the stolen emails from East Anglia and the mistakes in the IPCC report.
But climate scientists say the report takes the campaign to a new level by threatening criminal prosecution. The report calls for the inspector generals of all US government agencies touching on the environment to investigate the scientists as a first step to possible prosecution.
“The minority staff of the Senate committee on environment and public works believe the scientists involved violated fundamental ethical principles governing taxpayer-funded research and, in some cases, may have violated federal laws,” the report says.
A spokesman for Inhofe rejected the charges of a witch-hunt. But he said a criminal investigation was warranted and that it should not necessarily be limited to the 17 “key players”.
“We are not saying that there are 17 scientists we should be calling criminals,” said Matt Dempsey, a spokesman for Inhofe. “I’m not putting a number on 17.”
He added: “The bottom line though is that there was manipulation of data and it appears that they violated a law.” “In terms of what these email demonstrate, there are possible criminal violations here with FoIA and other laws.”
Senate leaders are expected to release new proposals for action on climate change as early as this week. Environmentalists fear the proposal, crafted by a troika of Democratic, Republican, and Independent senators, would weaken a climate change bill passed by the house last June.
The Washington Post reported at the weekend that the senators could scrap a cap-and-trade bill that was the core of the house bill and bring in more limited measures.

New Research Sheds Light On Antarctic Ice Melting

There may be no polar bears at the South Pole, but there sure is a lot of ice. In fact, more than 90 percent of the Earth’s glacial ice is in Antarctica. Now, new research shows the continent’s ice is melting in more places than previously known. Host Guy Raz speaks to scientist Jane Ferrigno of the U.S. Geological Survey about the Antarctic Peninsula’s ice retreat.

To read the transcript go to All Things Considered at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124178690.

Source:
NPR, “New Research Sheds Light On Antarctic Ice Melting“, accessed March 1, 2010

Land management in UK must change to cope with climate change

Britain faces rising water bills, housing shortages and destruction of wildlife unless the way land is managed is completely reformed, scientists have warned.

By Louise Gray, Environment CorrespondentPublished: 6:30AM GMT 26 Feb 2010
Professor John Beddington, the Government’s chief scientific adviser, said sticking with “business as usual” was not an option in the face of pressures such as climate change and population increases over the next 50 years.
The Foresight report on the future of land use said addressing these major challenges would need a strategic and integrated approach, rather than the fragmented policies of the past.

Land is also likely to come under pressure from an increasingly wealthy population to provide more living space and recreation, and the need to produce food and green energy - from wind farms to fuels made from crops - to meet targets on renewables.
Pressure on land and the resources it provides is expected to be particularly acute in the South East, where population is expected to grow most but where water is most scarce and most of the best farmland is found.
In the coming years, changes to the climate including warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers will affect water supplies, increase the need to manage land for flood risk and could damage wildlife and habitats such as ancient woodland.
At the same time, the need to meet EU targets to boost renewable energy and fuel and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through managing soils and forests will also require innovative ways of looking after the land.
Currently, contrary to popular belief, just 10% of land in England is developed - with half of that made up of gardens - while 12% of the UK is forest and woodland and three quarters is farmed.
The report found that, until now, measures to look after the land had managed to contain urban sprawl, ensure there was enough for food production, provided green spaces and preserved beautiful landscapes.
But in the future, a failure to manage land in a joined-up way could result in shortages of resources and “public goods” such as water, wildlife and urban green space, it warned.
Prof Beddington said: “Over the next 50 years we cannot manage land in the way we’ve done.
“We’ve got too many competing issues, so much change going on and we need to get much smarter about how we manage land as we go on. Business as usual is not an option.”
Options for managing the land in a more joined-up way in the future include incentive schemes for landowners to provide services such as flood storage, water supplies wildlife protection and access for people to enjoy the great outdoors.
Prof Beddington warned: “Without being smart about how land is used, we risk missing targets, such as halting biodiversity loss.
“The effects of climate change and new pressures on land could escalate, seriously eroding quality of life.”
Prof Mark Tewdwr-Jones, who was involved in the report, said a new approach was needed, including establishing clear objectives for what the land should be for and how to manage changes to its use.
There should also be a transparent way of making decisions at a national, regional and local level, with a balance between local views and wider concerns.
And better ways should be found to value land for all the benefits it provides - including those, such as clean water supplies and wildlife conservation, on which it is hard to put a price tag.
But the researchers said it was up to the Government to decide how to develop a joined up approach to managing land, across different departments, which would meet the challenges the UK faces.