Mission Save Earth

Promoting the equal rights of women and girls

2007-09-10T07:21:00.000-07:00

Promoting the equal rights of women and girls :

”Promoting the equal rights of women and girls to freedom from violence -understanding and combating violence in the name of honour.”

Violence in the name of honour - Save the Children Sweden's experiences from preventing and responding to violence.[1]

These are the voices of some girls living in Sweden;

“My parents want to marry me off, against my will.”
“I have to come home immediately after school, and I am not allowed to go out.”
“My father beats me if I do not obey him.”
“I am afraid and I feel so threatened.”
“I cannot live like this, I am going to commit suicide.”
(Source: “Ungdomar och hedersrelaterat våld”, page 15, Save the Children Sweden, 2006)

“According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”

Honour-related violence is a fundamental breach of both human rights and children’s rights.
It should never be justified in the name of culture, tradition or religion.

Violence in the name of honour is a very specific manifestation of the universal problem of violence against girls and women. Honour-related violence exists all over the world.

Honour-related violence mainly affects girls and women, but - it is important to remember that also boys are affected, usually in their role as caring brother/relative who are forced to control or even kill their own sisters – or as the one who take a stand in favour of the girl accused of disgracing the family honour.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youths are also seen as a severe threat to family honour. Honour-related violence takes many forms: verbal threats, physical and psychological abuse, forced marriages and - or even - murder or forced suicide.

Save the Children Sweden is a non-governmental organisation fighting for the rights of the child (established in 1919). We have a domestic as well as an international program with Regional Offices in 8 different regions of the world. One of our priority areas is to promote children’s right to protection from all forms of violence.

Save the Children Sweden’s Domestic Program
In Sweden, due to immigration, many girls live under pressure to conform to multi-cultural expectations. Although they live in Sweden they are expected to live up to very traditional expectations. The girls are expected to take care of their family members and/or siblings. They are also often expected to get married to the man selected by their family and not mixing with the opposite sex after puberty. These expectations are contrasted by the situation of their native Swedish female friends who have more freedom to make individual choices. Still, it is very important to remember that this does not mean that the Swedish society is free from gender discrimination or gender stereotypes.

The severity of honour-killings came to the surface in the Swedish society in January 2002, when Fadime Sahindal, a young girl from an immigrant background, was murdered by her father because she had a Swedish boyfriend. As far as we know, she was the third girl being murdered as a result of honour-related violence. This became a wake-up call to the Swedish society, and a debate around honour-related violence was initiated. A number of actions were taken by the government and by members of the civil society.

Within two days after the murder, Save the Children Sweden opened a clinic for girls - and later also for boys - affected by honour-related violence. Three strategies were developed to support girls and boys affected by this kind of violence:
· Professional support and treatment is offered at the clinic, girls and boys are able to get psychotherapy to heal the traumas they have experienced from honour-related violence and other causes.
· A telephone help-line was set up, where girls and boys could call anonymously and receive advice and support.
· An opportunity to get treatment through e-mail communication was established. Over the past 4 years, 500 children and young people, a majority of them girls, have received treatment through regular contacts with psychologists via e-mail.

These strategies have also been important for prevention. Risk situations have been detected and addressed at an early stage.

Information about support is offered through various youth websites, our own site and through information in the schools.

For the psychotherapists who are to treat and support the child, it is important to understand each girl’s individual situation, her psychological condition and her family background, the risks attached, as well as the girl’s own views and opinion - and to react with to the girl’s best interest in mind.

“The psychotherapist’s role is to encourage the girl to reflect and to structure her own thoughts and wishes – and to open up new perspectives and alternatives. It is important to use words and expressions that have a meaning in their culture, family and context. The girls are often confused about their belonging and identity. They are living in two cultures, their own culture and the majority culture, e.g. the Swedish culture.”
Sevil Bremer – psychotherapist at Save the Children Sweden’s Centre for children and youth in crisis

Through the e-mail dialogue various solutions are discussed with the girl. The e-mail therapy may continue for several months or even years, depending on how long time the girl wants to continue. If the girl so chooses, her parents are invited to the clinic.

The girl is often encouraged to contact a school nurse, a teacher or a relative she trusts. The teacher may contact the parents to establish a dialogue. There are many examples of girls, whose freedom of movement has increased as a result of the dialogue. If the situation is severe, with violence or serious threats of violence, the social services will be contacted.

According to Swedish law, professionals working with children who suspect that a child is at risk, has a duty to report this to the social services. The social services may start an investigation. They will only contact the family (parents or care givers), if they believe that this will not place the girl or the boy in a further risk situation. In a risk situation, the social services may decide to remove the girl before contacting the parents or initiating a police investigation.

There are also some examples of how girls who have left their families are able to establish a positive relation with their relatives afterwards.

“Katarina was living in a family with a very violent father. She ran away with her mother and three younger siblings. Katarina had many feelings that she needed to process; guilt, fear and powerlessness. She undertook mail- therapy under a period of three years.”

“Today I can see both the advantages and disadvantages of being a girl with an immigrant background. It is an advantage to be in contact with two cultures. The disadvantages are that my parents see life differently from the way the Swedes do. Today I have learned to love myself, with my strengths and weaknesses. I have very good contact with everybody in my family, except my father and his relatives. I still suffer from what I experienced as a child, but life continues.” (Source: Save the Children Sweden 2006, Ungdomar och hedersrelaterat våld, page186)

However, a decision to leave or stay in the family, is never easy to make.

The knowledge that Save the Children Sweden has accumulated through our clinic and e-mail contacts with a number of girls and some boys, have helped us to better understand the situation and the perspective of girls and boys living under threat of honour-related violence. This knowledge has been used for advocating the decision-makers in Sweden to take actions to prevent and support these girls and their families. For example, to allocate sufficient resources, building the capacity of professionals on multi-culture competence, etc.

At an early stage, it became obvious that the police, the social services, the teachers and the medical personnel did not have sufficient knowledge on how to deal with these difficult situations. Save the Children Sweden’s theory and methodology, developed over the years has resulted in a book. There is now a process to integrate this knowledge into the university courses for psychologists, medical doctors and nurses, etc. Conferences are also held in Sweden and abroad in order to spread this knowledge and to learn from other countries’ experiences. It is essential that the various professionals does not work in isolation but cooperate and discuss each girl’s specific situation, so that appropriate actions can be taken.

Save the Children Sweden is also active in several networks, at local, national and international levels, in order to gain greater coverage and more impact. The members of the networks include staff of youth clinics, midwifes, social welfare officers, staff of immigrant associations, women’s organisations, etc. Through this international network, we are better prepared for the contact with the extended family and for preventing, for example, situations of forced marriages.

It is also essential that this kind of support services do not become isolated projects for one or two non-governmental organisations. The competence and the resources need to be integrated into existing support services and structures dealing with all forms of violence against children and women. State officials, such as the social services, the judiciary and the police need a holistic view when they address violence and discrimination. All girls and boys have the same right to be protected from violence.

Save the Children believes that in order to change patriarchal structures and gender discrimination, it is important to involve boys and men in our preventive work, since boys and men are both perpetrators and victims of a patriarchal society. There are many examples of boys taking action against honour-related violence. Sharaf Heroes, one of our networking partners in Sweden, is a group of young men fighting violence in the name of honour. They are all prepared to fight patriarchal attitudes and are given education in human rights and gender equality issues, through a program funded by the Swedish government. The young men serve as role models and mentors for others wanting to change the honour culture. The project is based on a dialogue where each individual starts thinking about what is right and what is wrong.

Save the Children Sweden’s International Program
Save the Children Sweden’s International Program does not have a specific program or component addressing honour-related violence; it is part of the overall work to address violence. An essential component of our anti-violence program is to involve boys and men to address discrimination and violence against girls and other boys. Methods used in various parts of the world include;

Discussion groups with boys and men – led by boys and men - with opportunities to discussion issues of gender discrimination, traditional values, male vulnerabilities, fatherhood, ending violence against children, etc.

Awareness raising and campaigning where boys and men – often in partnership with girls and women - create public awareness of the consequences of male violence, including violence in the home.

Capacity building of professionals working with children, including the police, on how to detect and respond to gender discrimination and violence.

Advocacy towards governments and other decision-makers, including the alternative report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, in order to make the governments fulfil their commitments to end all forms of violence, including honour-related violence. The media and the private sector are also approached. The media tends to victimise the girls and simplify the discussions related to honour violence.

Save the Children Sweden’s work has a child rights based approach, which implies that the principle of accountability, non-discrimination and child participation is central. In various consultations with girls and boys in different parts of the world, violence in the home is an area that they would like adults to act – and they also emphasise the importance of listening to girls and boys and involving them when designing programmes and interventions to address all forms of violence.

Recommendations to end honour-related violence;

States Parties are the key duty bearers for addressing honour-related violence based on international human rights standards. International cooperation is essential since the problem is global. State Parties need to work in cooperation with the media and civil society organisations - including youth, child rights, women’s rights and faith based organisations.

It is important that honour-related crimes are not treated isolated from other forms of violence against girls and women, - male dominance and gender discrimination being a common root course. At the same time, it is important to see the particularities of honour-related violence and to ensure that professionals have multi-cultural competence in order to understand and appropriately prevent and respond to this form of violence.

It is important to collect reliable statistic data on honour-related crimes, including suicide and accidental death.

It is important to identify and support boys and men who take action against gender discrimination and honour-related violence. These boys and men will become important role models for mobilising others. Education and empowerment of girls is also essential for breaking the cycle of oppression.

A segregated society nourishes traditional values. Cross-cultural and inter-generational meetings are essential for promoting cultural diversity and gender sensitivity.

Information on human rights and the promotion of parenting skills (fathering and mothering) are essential components in a rights based approach.

References
“Expert meeting on violence in the name of honour”. Regeringskansliet, Justitiedepartmentet, 2003
“Report from the international conference: Combating Patriarchal Violence Against Women – Focusing on Violence in the Name of Honour”. Swedish Ministry of Justice and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs
”Förtryck i hederns namn, Rapport från ett seminarium”. Save the Children Sweden, 2003
”Det handlar om olydnad. Rapport från seminarium med kvinnoorganisationerna KA-MER från Turkiet och Rädda Barnens Centrum för barn och ungdomar i kris”. Save the Children Sweden, 2004
”Ungdomar och hedersrelaterat våld”. Sevil Bremer, Monica Brendler-Lindqvist and Björn Wrangsjö, Save the Children Sweden, 2006
Interview with Sevil Bremer and Monica Brendler, psychotherapists at Save the Children Sweden’s Centre for children and youth in crises.

[1] Lena Karlsson, Senior Advisor-Violence against Children, Save the Children Sweden

SAVING WILDLIFE

2007-09-10T07:19:00.000-07:00

Saving wildlife

We were only 300 million Indians when the British left their most prized imperial possession. In just over half a century we have more than tripled our population and lost more than 50 lakh hectares of our natural forests. With the country needing to find food, water, shelter, energy, timber and medicine for a new mouth every alternate second, our forests and wild landscapes face fresh and bigger threats. With this burgeoning growth in human population certain species of our wildlife face risk of extinction than ever before.

The Indian Cheetah has been driven to extinction, the brow-antlered deer is facing the risk of extinction, the natural habitat of the tiger has shrunk to less than one percent of its former ranger, the home of Asiatic lion is pushed to one small corner in Gujrat, the habitat range of the Indian one-horned rhinoceros is now restricted to a few pockets in North East India, the rainforest habitat of the lion-tailed macaque is diminishing faster than we expected, the great pied hornbill which shares its habitat with the lion tailed macaque can fly away forever, well protected habitat of the Indian Elephant could be less than two percent of our country's land area.

As natural history writer Tim Radford truly commented in his recent article in the Guardian about wildlife extinction “the first five great extinction of life in the history of the planet were all natural: from volcanic catastrophe, climate change, asteroid impact, or even deadly radiation from an exploding star. But, this one is the unwitting work of humankind”.

Wildlife week and the year that was
Yet another year has quietly passed by. Many of us might not have given a serious thought to wildlife conservation. While we believe that this should be a hotly debated issue, the tangible and intangible benefits we receive from wildlife conservation directly concerns over 75 percent of our country's population who depend upon the traditional occupation - rainfed agriculture. This apart, it concerns most of us in several different ways both known and unknown. It is time again for all of us to think about the needs of wildlife conservation and pull up our socks to perform the onerous task of conservation on-the-ground. We need to analyze the various aspects that have affected the future survival of our wildlife species.

However the last year has seen some major gains for wildlife conservation. There have been several positive initiatives and victories for the conservation corps of our country. Various policies, decisions and initiatives by the government, judiciary and interested conservation organisations have directly or indirectly affected the management of our wild areas.

Strong laws-stronger enforcement
Amidst all the gloom and doom for wildlife, the year 2003 has actually seen major gains on the legal front. In a rare show of consensus the parliament of India passed the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2002. The amended (Wildlife Protection) Act, is stronger with several new clauses and important amendments making it the bulwark and guardian of wildlife and its habitat.

Penalties for hunting wild animals have been increased to a minimum of three years in order to ensure that killing of endangered animals including the tiger and elephant, now qualify as non-bailable offenses. A new clause now empowers enforcement authorities to effect forfeiture of property derived from illegal hunting or trade of wildlife. To ensure better protection of wildlife habitats, illegal encroaches within national parks or wildlife sanctuaries can now be evicted and structures removed; no construction of commercial tourist lodges, hotels and zoos can be allowed without the prior approval of the National Board for Wildlife. The commercial exploitation of forest produce has now been made illegal.

The judiciary too has joined hands towards conservation of forests and wildlife. To assist and effectively monitor the implementation and compliance of several landmark orders, the Supreme Court directed the Union Government to constitute the Central Empowered Committee (CEC). Since then the CEC has gone on to make several important recommendations on critical matters concerning wildlife that include winding up of mining in Kudremukh, complete ban on logging including removal of dead and wind fallen trees in protected areas and ban on regularisation of encroached forest land.

All these have been major gains for wildlife conservation that conservationists can actually cheer about.

Events in Karnataka
The past year has been a fruitful year for the conservation scenario in Karnataka. Several important events and initiatives were taken up during this period that would set a new trend in the protected areas of our state.

The apex court of our country passed a landmark judgment ordering the closure of the ecologically devastating mining operations carried out in Kudremukh National Park. This rainforest habitat is a biodiversity treasure trove and home to several endangered wildlife species including the lion-tailed macaque. The decision to stop mining would not only save such niche specialist species but also protect the livelihood of millions of marginal farmers dependent on the Bhadra, Tunga and Nethravathi rivers that originate in the forests of Kudremukh. The court clearly rejected the arguments of economic benefits in favour of the ecological benefits for the society from these fragile eco-system. This is viewed as a land mark judgment in the history of wildlife conservation in India. ‘Wildlife First’ a pro-active wildlife organisation had approached the Supreme court against the continuation of the mining activity and in association with several other wildlife, environment and farmers' organisations spearheaded a major campaign against renewal of the mining lease.

Positive Political Will
The Chief Minister of Karnataka in response to public opinion took an environmentally sound and socially responsible decision to save the Kudremukh National Park from the ravages of mining. In yet another positive move in August 2003 the Chief Minister, in response to an appeal by conservation organisations, took a visionary decision of stopping timber extraction from the forested catchments of Kodagu; directed senior officials of the Government to develop a plan for consolidation of the area as a wildlife reserve and approach the UNESCO which is considering a proposal to notify the area as a World Heritage Site. This decision assumes greater importance in the wake of poor monsoons in Kaveri delta and the severe drought faced by the state and will go a long way in protecting the watershed of Kaveri, the river of hope and prosperity of several million farmers in the states of Karnataka and Tamilnadu.

For such positive political will to actually translate to on the ground action a dynamic and responsive bureaucracy needs to be in place. The new Chief Wildlife Warden of Karnataka has exhibited such dynamism by proactively initiating several systemic changes after taking charge of the Wildlife Wing which urgently needed priming. He has already articulated a strategy that includes consolidation of habitats, strengthening of protection and minimal developmental works like roads, buildings and so on inside wildlife reserves.

Emerging Solutions
The voluntary resettlement of people residing inside Bhadra Tiger Reserve has emerged as a model project and is more or less complete with most of the families shifting out of the reserve. Signs of wildlife returning to the earlier inhabited areas are already clear. This project is also an archetype of excellent co-ordination between government officials and non-government organisations. The success story of Bhadra has infused hope in several thousand villagers severed from the world inside our wildlife reserves and bereft of even basic amenities. There have been instances of villagers and forest officials from other areas already visiting the Bhadra voluntary resettlement project to note down the crucial points of the project.

While the entire country is groping for an ecologically correct and socially practical solution to the vexed problem of forest encroachments, a small but effective initiative has been implemented in Kudremukh National Park. In an innovative effort, eight pastoralist families who had encroached forest land in Kudremukh National Park were voluntarily resettled outside the national park with support from individual private donors. The families were given suitable compensation and provided support to purchase agricultural land outside the national park by wildlife organisations. We believe that these kinds of initiatives that offer pragmatic solutions to consolidate prime wildlife habitats and permanently resolve human-wildlife conflict holds considerable promise since this unique effort can also be replicated in other important protected areas through constructive private public partnerships.

Though wildlife conservation is largely perceived as the protection of large charismatic mammals for the indulgence of urban elite, the overall benefits for the entire society accrue through saving an entire ecosystem that includes even micro-organisms is immense. We might not understand the prominence of our wildlife both large and small, until the consequences emerge, which by then would be irreparable. These complex ecological webs which contain yet unexplored wild genes of food plants, fibers, chemicals and designs are invaluable biodiversity assets that is critical for survival of human kind. So many intangible benefits our forests provide human beings across the world without any expectations in return. It is therefore imperative for this generation to save this biological treasure for the future.

This casts an important duty on wildlife organisations, forest officials, governments, communities and donors to focus and redouble efforts for the cause of long-term conservation of our country's wild heritage. We still have nearly four percent of our land area protected as wildlife reserves, if we have the political will and the commitment of our wildlife managers we can still save most of the large threatened wildlife and their habitats. The future can be bright and it is not a lost cause, let's be a bandwagon of optimists.

Prosperous mining is impossible without prosperous forests

2007-09-10T07:16:00.000-07:00

" Prosperous mining is impossible without prosperous forests," Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot told the mining industry in 1901 in his quest for support for forest conservation and Federal forest reserves. The linkage between the fortunes of mining and forests in the United States grew following discovery of the rich Comstock silver lode at Virginia City, Nevada. The large size of such works as the Comstock Mine led to a new technique of timber reinforcement in the mine tunnels. Other timber-intensive mining techniques existed then, but in 1860, mining engineer Philip Deidesheimer developed a new timbering technique for tunnels called the square-set. Interlocked sets of framed timbers were used to replace the walls of the mine as the ore was removed, leaving a tunnel of timber to house the mine.

This timber-intensive system was copied throughout the mining industry but used most widely in the West for the large ore deposits commonly found that the region. Forests of the Sierra Nevada were depleted to obtain the estimated 600 million board feet of timber used in the mine from 1860 to 1880. The dependency of mines such as the Comstock on local timber supplies led to the building of sawmills in many new areas of the country. Depletion of local timber in some areas led to a reliance on importing timber by rail and rising expenses as a result.

Efforts were made to reduce costs by using metal supports, but their higher cost (and tendency to buckle) favored the continued use of timbers. This was especially true after creosote-pressure-treatment techniques were invented to help prolong the life span of lumber used in the mines. Later, with the introduction of large earthmoving equipment, open-pit mining reduced use of tunnel mining and the consumption of timbers in the industry. However, deep-level mining still continues and with it the need for timber, and in turn, the existence of bountiful forests.

Pinchot was after more than just having miners conserve lumber when he told them of the relation between forestry and mining. Early opposition to the proposal to create Federal forest reserves came from miners and prospectors worried about restrictions on mining on reserves (Steen 1991). Later, in the debates in Congress over the purpose of the reserves that culminated in passage of the Forest Management Act of 1897, much of the passion settled on whether to allow commercial sale of reserve timber or not.

After the debate was resolved and the 1897 act passed, the first timber sale by the General Land Office (case 1) was to the Homestake Mining Company for timber off the Black Hills Forest Reserve in 1898. Fifteen million board feet were purchased at 1 dollar per thousand board feet. The contract stated that no trees smaller than 8 inches in diameter could be removed and that brush left after harvest had to be "piled."

Federal regulation of mining was not a critical issue in Congress until the Gold Rush of 1849 in California and later rushes in Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana. These "finds" resulted in claims being worked on public domain lands. To legalize this practice, the General Mining Law of 1872 (which consolidated earlier 1866 and 1870 laws based on models from England and Spain used by the miners in the absence of formal laws) stated that gold, silver, and other minerals in the public domain could belong to the person who found them merely by staking a claim. A claim was set at 20 acres, with no limit on the number of claims that could be filed. A person could hold a claim by performing $100 worth of work each year or by obtaining permanent legal ownership of the minerals and land surface by paying a fee to patent the claim. By having patent on a claim, the owner need not pay any royalties on production. What is most important, however, to being granted legal claim status is the discovery of a valuable mineral deposit.

Congress has since placed fossil fuels (along with other certain minerals such as gravel, sand, and pumice, etc.) under a lease or sales system, but the core of the1872 law still applies to the national forests and grasslands. The illegal occupancy of National Forest System "mining claims" for purposes such as summer homes, hunting camps, and marijuana farms creates an ongoing conflict with operations approved under the Forest Service Mineral Regulations of 1974.

Gifford Pinchot wrote in the first Forest Service book of regulations for the newly established national forests under the mining section (following the transfer of the forest reserves to the Department of Agriculture in 1905): "No land claims can be initiated in a forest reserve except mining claims, which may be sought for, located, developed, and patented in accordance to law and forest reserve regulations." This wording repeats the section on prospecting found in the 1897 Forest Management Act. The willingness of Pinchot to include mineral resources among the list of resources of the reserves to be used by the people was in part practical politics. It was also the result of his knowledge of the mining industry's needs acquired when he made his first trip West in 1891 to inspect Arizona lands held by Phelps, Dodge & Company to judge if they could be reforested. The 1907 Report of the [Chief] Forester mentioned that three geologists were detailed from the Geological Survey to assist forest supervisors in examining mining claims and that a total of 1,093 mining claims were received that year within national forests.

The transfer of the reserves to the Department of Agriculture from the Interior Department in 1905 removed much of the impediment to regulation of the reserves by USDA foresters but mining still remained under control of Interior. Richard Ballinger, appointed in 1907 to head the General Land Office and elevated to Secretary of the Interior in 1909, differed with Pinchot over coal claims. Ballinger wanted them patented, while Pinchot argued for Federal leasing. Pinchot feared that a coal famine for the Nation would result if the private sector was allowed complete freedom to exploit coal fields without concern for future needs. In response, Pinchot was depicted by the mining industry as out to curtail the right of the citizen to engage in free enterprise the "small man" was being crushed by Government. By 1910 the dispute between Pinchot and Ballinger reached the point that President William Howard Taft requested Pinchot to resign. Historians now note that the coal debate was only a small part of the conflict over natural resource management policies Between Pinchot and President Taft and his people. The struggle between conservation and exploitation continues today in public debates over regulation of natural resources.

PROBLEMS: POLLUTION

2007-09-10T07:10:00.000-07:00

PROBLEMS: POLLUTION
A pollutant is any substance that, when in an environment, poisons our air, land and water. Chemicals have poisoned all of the world, harming humans, wildlife, and plant life, on land, sea and air. Approximately 100,000 synthetic chemicals are now on the market, with one thousand new chemicals are added yearly.

Although companies test the toxicity of their products individually, they do not exist alone in the environment. Compounds are altered in combination with others, but the effect of these combinations are not tested or studied. Pesticides, designed to kill insects, weeds and fungus, are also toxic to human nervous systems, and are linked to cancer and reproductive, developmental, neurological and immune-system damage. Every chemical we use, every substance we produce, in manufacturing, farming, energy use, or consumption, remains here on Earth. These poisons may seem to disappear—but they are only hidden.
The World Health Organization reports that 3 million people now die each year from the effects of air pollution. This is three times the 1 million who die each year in automobile accidents. In the United States, traffic fatalities total just over 40,000 per year, while air pollution claims 70,000 lives annually. U.S. air pollution deaths are equal to deaths from breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. Air Pollution Fatalities Now Exceed Traffic Fatalities By 3 To 1.Bernie Fischlowitz-Roberts September 17, 2002-13. http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/Update17.htm

Point Source and Nonpoint Source Pollution (NPS)

Pollution sources are classified as point source or nonpoint source (NPS). Point source pollution comes from a particular place such as industrial and sewage treatment plants. In the last 25 years, the United States, has made considerable progress in cleaning-up this cause of pollution.
Non-Point source pollution occurs when rainfall or snow melt moving over and through the ground, picks up natural and human-made pollutants and finally deposits them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, and even our underground sources of drinking water. These non-point source pollutons include:
Fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides from agricultural lands and residential areas;
Oil, grease, toxic chemicals and heavy metals from urban runoff and energy production;
Sediment from improperly managed construction sites, crop and forest lands, and eroding stream banks;
Salt from irrigation practices and acid drainage from abandoned mines;
Bacteria and nutrients from livestock, pet wastes, and faulty septic systems; Agriculture, forestry, grazing, septic systems, recreational boating, urban runoff, construction, physical changes to stream channels, and habitat degradation, careless or uninformed household management. [X]

Today, NPS pollution is the main reason approximately 40 percent of the rivers, lakes, and estuaries surveyed are not clean enough to meet basic uses such as fishing or swimming. The latest National Water Quality Inventory indicates that agriculture is the leading contributor to water quality impairments, and responsible for degrading 60 percent of the impaired river miles and half of the impaired lake acreage surveyed by states, territories, and tribes. Runoff from urban areas is the largest source of water quality impairments to surveyed estuaries.
If US homeowners reduced their use of Toxic Chemicals including pesticides by 10%, 2 million kilograms of toxic chemicals would be removed from the environment each year. If US manufacturing firms reduced their toxic releases by 10%, 700 million kilograms would be removed from the environment. Worldwatch Magazine Jan-Feb 2003, p. 39. Their source: “Biodiversity 911: Saving the Earth” a traveling exhibit of the World Wildlife Fund and the Worldwatch Institute.

Endocrine Disruptors

The threat of toxic substances has been misunderstood. Scientists had assumed that, if they could rule out cancer, then people would be protected from everything else as well. But a new threat has been discovered. Until recently, research on and regulation of synthetic chemicals and pollution focused on the dangers of genetic mutation, gross birth defects, and especially, cancer. A decade ago, it was assumed that if very high-dose testing was used, the probability of causing cancer would not be missed. Wildlife studies and laboratory experiments provide solid evidence that synthetic chemicals have contributed to dwindling wildlife populations by disrupting hormones, altering sexual development, impairing reproduction, and undermining the immune system.

These man-made chemicals, are now called endocrine disruptors, because they interfere with the body’s hormones. Endocrine systems control body growth, organ development, metabolism and regular body processes such as kidney function, body temperature and calcium regulation. Endocrine disruptors include any chemical that interferes with hormones such as thyroid, cortisol, insulin or growth regulators. These chemicals are being tested for potential links to prostate, testicular and breast cancers, as well as lowered sperm counts and behavioral and learning abnormalities.

Our Stolen Future by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) senior scientist Dr. Theo Colborn and coauthors Dianne Dumanoski and Dr. John Peterson Myers, demonstrates that many man-made chemicals interfere with the body's hormones. Contaminants can also transfer to the fetus where chemicals interfere with the hormonal signals directing fetal development. The effects may not appear until puberty or later. Some of these chemicals alter sexual development, some undermine intelligence and behavior, others make our bodies less resistant to disease. Fetal development is extremely sensitive to any variations in hormone signals. For a fetus to grow up according to its genetic blueprint, the right hormone message has to arrive at the right place in the right amount at the right time. These chemicals interfere with the delivery of that message.
Hormonally active chemicals can do damage at extremely low exposure levels, because these compounds do not behave according to the classic linear dose-response model (that is, the higher the dose, the greater the harm) that traditional toxicology assumes.

Genetically Engineered Food is a Form of Pollution

Genetic engineering refers to a technology where scientists transfer genes from one species to another. This practice goes far beyond selective breeding or hybridization. For example, scientists have spliced genes from viruses, bacteria and animals into food crops. Presently, two thirds of processed foods are made with a genetically engineered organism. Our laws do not require long-term testing for safety, so long-term effects are still unknown. Although U.S. companies now promote and sell genetically engineered foods, many other nations worldwide believe the known or potential dangers of this technology, requires legal safe guards. Many countries have enacted laws or policies (or are in the process of doing so) to restrict use of genetically engineered products in their foods.

These nations have practical and ethical objections to putting genetically engineered organisms (GEOs) into the environment. Ecological concerns include the irreversible affects on the environment if these genes spread to other plants:

Cross pollination between GEOs and a wild relative could establish the engineered gene in nature, where it could cause irreparable damage to natural habitats, forever.
Genes that add resistance to weed killers or pests can spread to nearby weeds, creating a new invasive plant that could replace native plants.

The Bt toxin gene, a common gene spliced into plants, gives plants resistance to insect infestation. However, the toxin of the altered plant also kills beneficial insects like monarchs, lace wings and lady bugs. The plant exudes the toxin into the soil. This changes soil biology that that can affect nutrient cycle processes and soil fertility.

Bt is a natural insecticide organic farmers use. It is not known if extensive planting of crops with the added Bt gene cause the toxin itself to loose its effectiveness.The reasons companies give for gene splicing is that the added gene offers resistance to insect pests or weed killers. Some modifications increase the size or speed of plant growth. In practice gene modification allows a company to hold a patent on the altered seeds. A farmer cannot legally gather seeds from this year’s crop to share or to plant the next year.

Petrochemical Industry

The petrochemical industry is the biggest polluter—every Superfund site in the US is petrochemical- related. A Superfund site is any land in the United States that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified as contaminated by hazardous waste and therefore a candidate for cleanup because it poses a risk to human health and/or to the environment.

We need new laws that use what ecologists call the precautionary principle. As described by John Cavanagh and Jerry Mander, in Alternatives to Economic Globalization, “proponents of a practice or product should bear the burden of proving that it is safe,” because it can take years to find scientific proof of harm.

Germany and Sweden have this law, and other countries are considering doing so. Currently, we use the policy of “risk assessment,” which requires governments to provide absolute proof of harm of new technologies and techniques before they can stop their use. Any preventative measures used to stop a product or practice, the WTO names as illegal barriers to trade and orders them stopped. Without the adoption of a precautionary principle, citizens lose the right to decide what risks they or the natural environment should be exposed to.
Environmental Defense Fund Scorecard. EDF has set up a huge interactive site that enables anyone in the US to learn about what pollutants are being released into the air, water and soil of any community, and by whom--all by entering a ZIP code, or clicking on their maps. http://www.scorecard.org/

Reducing Your Risk On a day-to-day level, reduce contact and risk by following the ten tips outlined in The World Wildlife Fund's online pamphlet Reducing your risk: A guide to avoiding hormone-disrupting chemicals.

Eat lower on the food chain.

Do not microwave in plastic, use heat-resistant glass or ceramic containers instead of plastic containers or plastic wrap. Minimize plastic wrap’s direct contact with food. In particular, reduce consumption of fatty foods (cheese and meat) packaged in plastic and heat-sealed containers.
Drink distilled water.
Do not use pesticides (inside, outside, or on pets and kids).
Quit smoking.
Treat dead batteries as hazardous waste.
Wash hands, floors and windowsills frequently.
Avoid "super-strength" specialty cleaners.
Avoid mercury fillings.
If you golf, keep your hands, tees, and golf balls away from your mouth because most golf courses are sprayed intensively.
Read labels and call 1-800 numbers for information on product formulations.
Write or call local, provincial and federal politicians, asking them to take action to reduce hormone- disrupting chemicals in our environment. http://wwfcanada.net/satellite/reduce-risk/top10.html or at http://www.wwfcanada.org.

LINKS to Pollution SitesAmerican Lung Association: Air Quality http://www.lungusa.org/airBeyond Pesticides http://www.beyondpesticides.org/Basel Action Network http://www.ban.orgEnvironmental Defense Scorecard http://www.scorecard.org/Environmental Protection Agency: Air Pollution http://www.epa.gov/ebtpages/air.htmlEnvironmental working Group http://www.ewg.org/EPA Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances http://www.epa.gov/oppts/International Biodegradable Products http://www.bpiworld.orgIntroduction to Hormone Disrupting Chemicals http://website.lineone.net/~mwarhurst/National Pollution Prevention Roundtable http://www.p2.orgNational Resources Defense Council: Air Pollution http://www.nrdc.org/air/pollutionNonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) http://nemo.uconn.eduOur Stolen Future http://www.ourstolenfuture.orgRachel's Environment & Health Weekly Web site: http://www.rachel.org/Right-to Know Network http://www.rtk.net/Sierra Club Clean Air Program http://www.sierraclub.org/cleanairWorld News Network- http://www.pollution.com/WWF Global Toxics Initiative http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/toxics/problems/index.cfm
Children's Environmental HealthRaising Healthy Children in a Toxic World: 101 Smart Solutions for Every Family by Philip J. Landrigan, M.D., Herbert L. Needleman, M.D. and Mary Landrigan, M.P.A. (Rodale, 2001) Beyond Pesticide/National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides, www.beyondpesticides.orgCenter for Health and Environmental Justice http://www.chej.org. Children's Environmental Health Network http://www.cehn.org. Children's Health Environmental Coalition http://www.checnet.org. Healthy Schools Network, Inc., http://www.hsnet.org. National Environmental Trust , http://www.environet.org. Our Stolen Future http://www.ourstolenfuture.orgPesticides Action Network North Americahttp://www.panna.org/panna
Consumers Center for a New American Dream http://www.newdream.org/Environmental Home Center http://www.environmetnalhomecenter.comGood Stuff? A Behind-the-Scenes Guide to the Things We Buy . http://www.worldwatch.org/pubs/goodstuff/The Green Guide http://www.thegreenguide.comSeventh Generation http://www.seventhgeneration.com

Alcohol Use : Advantages and Disadvantages.

2007-06-14T12:43:00.000-07:00

Alcohol Use : Advantages and Disadvantages:]

People's alcohol use and abuse tend to increase, peak, and then decrease as they go through the transition to adulthood, a period that spans the late teenage years through the mid- to late twenties. However, more specific pathways, or trajectories, of alcohol use are embedded within the normative alcohol use pathway. Studying these trajectories of alcohol use can elucidate the origins and consequences of alcohol problems as well as guide prevention and treatment programs. Models of the average trend (i.e., normative trajectory approaches) are simpler than models that posit multiple trajectories and may replicate more consistently across samples and age spans. However, multiple-trajectory approaches allow for a more specific understanding of the origins, developmental course, and outcomes of alcohol use and abuse among adolescents and young adults.
This article considers the average, or normative, developmental course of alcohol use and abuse, as well as some common developmental pathways, or trajectories, embedded within the normative course. The article also reviews key research on the events and circumstances during adolescence that predict different paths of alcohol use, as well as outcomes during young adulthood that are associated with different trajectories.
In the years after people graduate from high school, they undergo major transitions in every domain of their lives. Young people may embark on diverse life paths and the age and order in which they reach developmental milestones tend to vary widely. Flexibility and self-direction in day-to-day life increase for many, and their geographic mobility may be greater than at any other time of life. In the past few decades, this transition period has lengthened considerably, and people tend to begin to settle into adult roles, such as work and marriage, later than their counterparts in past generations. These changes have led Arnett to argue that this period should be viewed as unique and important in its own right rather than as simply a staging ground for adulthood.
On average, people start drinking during their adolescence, increase the amounts they drink into their early twenties, and decrease the amounts when they take on adult roles. Some personal and role changes (such as becoming a college student) coincide with these increases, and others (such as becoming a spouse, parent, or worker) coincide with the decreases.
Many young people establish lifelong patterns of alcohol use (and nonuse) during this period of emerging adulthood. Others take a different trajectory, engaging in a particular pattern of use only in their late teen or young adult years and not thereafter. Variations in the timing and intensity of changes in alcohol consumption can be predicted partly on the basis of demographic, psychological, social, and behavioral factors. Hidden within the normative pattern are subgroups of people whose drinking patterns take different developmental trajectories over time. By identifying common trajectories of alcohol use and abuse across adolescence and young adulthood, researchers can better understand the origins of alcohol use disorders, predict different outcomes, and plan prevention and intervention programs. At a clinical level, knowledge of the drinking patterns that define the different subgroups can expedite the early identification of alcohol problems, facilitate diagnosis, and inform treatment.
Alcohol Use Patterns From Late Adolescence to Young Adulthood
Studies that aim to identify the causes and likely outcomes of young adults' alcohol use typically consider the age at which young people begin drinking and the frequency and intensity of alcohol use. One common approach to examining associations between drinking and age is to compare different age groups at once (cross-sectional studies). However, this method provides limited information about how a person's alcohol use may change over time. Although cross-sectional studies can identify average developmental trends in alcohol use, they are less effective at predicting one person's future drinking patterns based on his or her past and present alcohol use.
In contrast to cross-sectional studies, studies that track the same people over time (long-term longitudinal studies) allow investigators to examine why some people do not follow trajectories that seemed likely based on their earlier behavior. Trajectory approaches using longitudinal data focus on a person's course of alcohol use over several years.1 (1 A major distinction between trajectory models and other longitudinal analyses is that nontrajectory longitudinal analyses compare only two time points. Even if data are collected on multiple occasions, the analyses predict Time 2 from Time 1, and Time 3 from Time 2, and so on. In contrast, trajectory approaches map the cumulative progression of behavior over time.) Some emphasize the trajectory that is most commonly observed within a population (normative trajectory approaches). A second kind of trajectory approach, known as a multiple-trajectory (or taxonomy) approach, focuses on distinct subgroups of people who follow similar trajectories. For example, a study using a multiple-trajectory approach might compare a group of people who are chronic heavy drinkers and a group of people who are decreasing their alcohol use. These approaches are discussed in the following sections.
Normative Trajectory Approaches: Describing the Average Course
Many pivotal research questions pertain to the normative course of alcohol use and abuse as well as to how important factors associated with alcohol use, such as having friends who drink, are correlated and predict changes in drinking. Although not all people follow the same pathway, understanding the average or normative developmental trend is of significant value for science and for prevention.
One benefit of normative trajectory approaches is their parsimony: Statistical analyses that describe the average trend (and note individual differences around it) are simpler to understand than multiple-trajectory analyses because they focus on the total sample and tend to be less mathematically complex. Furthermore, because they focus on the total sample (rather than sample-specific subgroups, which might show greater variability across different studies), these models seem to replicate more consistently across samples and age spans. Finally, because they are less complex, normative trajectory approaches can more readily incorporate measures of stable factors (e.g., gender) and time-varying factors (e.g., having substance-using peers) that are associated with alcohol use patterns.
Two analytic methods used in normative trajectory approaches are latent growth curve (LGC) models and multilevel models (MLM). These statistical techniques mathematically summarize the behavior of a group of people across multiple occasions, yielding a trajectory, or curve. LGCs are well suited to examining whether trajectories of multiple variables are correlated. For example, Duncan and colleagues demonstrated that some adolescents' substance use (first variable) trajectories were predicted by their older siblings' substance use (second variable) trajectories across a 3-year period.
In addition to modeling cumulative developmental trajectories, MLMs also can be used to examine whether, over time, levels of a variable (e.g., alcohol use) rise and fall in tandem with other fluctuating variables (e.g., mood, time spent hanging out in unsupervised settings). For example, Maggs and Schulenberg showed that adolescents reported greater alcohol use on occasions when they gave more reasons in favor of drinking and fewer reasons against it, independent of the developmental trend toward more alcohol use.

Taxonomy Approaches: Identifying Multiple Trajectories
An alternative research approach is to identify distinct, homogeneous subgroups of people whose alcohol use trajectories during the transition to adulthood differ from one another. These different trajectories may have different antecedents and consequences and may therefore require different theoretical explanations and approaches to prevention and health promotion.
In the related domain of antisocial behavior, Moffitt proposed a dual taxonomy distinguishing between adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior. Both types of antisocial behavior involve more delinquent and criminal behavior in adolescence, but the former group only engages in antisocial behavior during adolescence, whereas the latter, much smaller life-course-persistent group becomes involved in antisocial behavior earlier and continues it longer. It is hypothesized that the causes, meaning, and consequences of the behaviors differ markedly between the groups.
Taxonomies also have been proposed for types of adult alcoholism. For example, early alcohol research distinguished early-onset, antisocial alcoholism from later-onset, primary alcoholism. Zucker proposed a more developmental approach, taking into account the antecedents, course, and outcomes of alcohol problems. He identified four subgroups: Antisocial Alcoholism, Developmentally Cumulative Alcoholism, Developmentally Limited Alcoholism (time-limited, peer-focused heavy drinking and spontaneous reduction with the successful assumption of family and career roles), and Negative Affect Alcoholism (the use of alcohol to modulate negative mood, characterized by later onset).
Longitudinal studies that track people's alcohol use across multiple occasions from adolescence to adulthood also have identified taxonomies of young people with different trajectories of heavy alcohol use2 (see the figure). (2 Various analytic techniques are used to identify trajectory groups, ranging from cluster analysis to growth mixture modeling. Discussion of these techniques is beyond the scope of this article.) Some studies have spanned a broad age range, from early adolescence into the twenties. Others have focused on subsets of this time period, either examining the subjects' adolescent years up to age 18 or beginning in the subjects' late adolescence (e.g., prior to or just after high school) and following them into or through their twenties. Studies also differ in the indicators of alcohol use considered (e.g., frequency of drinking, quantity consumed, frequency of heavy drinking,3 or alcohol-related consequences) and the types of samples included (e.g., nationally representative school-based and household samples, longitudinal followups of samples used in prevention studies, or high-risk samples). (3 This article defines heavy drinking in general as consuming several drinks per occasion; often in the literature, this pattern of alcohol use is viewed more specifically as binge drinking, in which a person drinks five or more drinks on a single occasion.) Despite these important methodological differences, and some differences in findings, consistent patterns have been identified.
In research involving adolescents and young adults, the most common trajectory subgroup observed across studies contains abstainers, light drinkers, or very rare heavy drinkers across all time periods measured. Depending on definitions for these levels of alcohol consumption used in different studies, estimates of the proportion of young people in this low-risk group range from about one-fifth to over two-thirds. Members of another common trajectory subgroup, stable-moderate drinkers, engage in some heavy drinking across adolescence and young adulthood but do not escalate or decelerate their use dramatically. Across studies, estimates are that about one-third of adolescents and emerging adults into the mid-twenties fall into this group. Together, these two broad categories - which comprise relatively low-risk drinkers - include a large proportion of all young people.
Many studies involving adolescents and young adults also have identified groups of chronic heavy drinkers and late-onset heavy drinkers. These groups are distinguished by the age when the subjects started heavy drinking, but as this age varies from study to study, chronic heavy drinkers and late-onset heavy drinkers are more difficult to identify or compare across studies. Those who are designated as chronic heavy drinkers typically start heavy drinking at younger ages, by middle adolescence (early onset), and tend not to decrease their drinking in their twenties. Members of the late-onset heavy-drinking subgroup start to drink later (i.e., middle to late high school) than stable-moderate and chronic heavy drinkers, but their use escalates steeply.
"Fling" drinkers, who make up 10 percent to 12 percent of the adolescent and young adult population, take yet a different trajectory. They experience a period of developmentally limited heavy drinking that peaks and then declines following late adolescence or the early adult years.
A final subgroup, decreasers, appears to be more common in older adolescent and young adulthood samples than in younger samples. Decreasers begin heavy drinking at an early age, such as in middle school, but reduce their consumption significantly during high school. About 10 percent of adolescents and young adults fall into this subgroup.
Although researchers are beginning to understand what causes different people to follow these different trajectories, the applied and clinical significance of these pathways, while intriguing, has received little attention. For example, universal school-based prevention programs that target the majority of early adolescents not engaging in any heavy drinking may be less successful with adolescents who are on early-onset trajectories.

Normative trajectory and multiple-trajectory approaches, both of which emphasize assessing the subjects' alcohol and other drug use at multiple times, have many advantages (as well as some disadvantages, primarily increased methodological and logistical complexity) compared with approaches that measure the subjects' drinking behavior only on one or two occasions. Both types of trajectory approaches, compared with one- and even two-time-point approaches, offer the potential for far greater understanding of the causes, developmental course, and consequences of the subjects' substance use. Identifying the course of the subjects' alcohol and other drug use across multiple measurement periods makes it possible to consider how people's substance use changes over time, together with other factors, and to better understand the risk factors for and consequences of different alcohol use patterns. This is especially important during adolescence and young adulthood, because people tend to experiment with alcohol and other drugs during this time, and substance use at a given time may have little relation to a young person's later patterns of use or abuse.
One important disadvantage of trajectory approaches is shared with all longitudinal studies: Participants with different characteristics and group memberships may drop out of the study at different rates.
A noteworthy limitation of both normative and multiple-trajectory approaches, compared with other longitudinal approaches, is that trajectory approaches traditionally tend to downplay day-to-day situational factors that may affect people's likelihood of drinking, such as negative mood or the peers a person is hanging out with on a specific day. In addition, such approaches tend not to focus on short-term consequences of alcohol use. To better identify and understand short-term fluctuations in alcohol use, some studies repeatedly measure subjects' behavior over short periods of time, for example using beepers or Web-based or paper diaries.
Importantly, methodological variations in different studies may contribute to different conclusions about alcohol use trajectories during the transition to adulthood. These include the operational definition of heavy drinking that is used, the characteristics of the sample such as age range or level of alcohol use, and the number of and interval between measurement occasions.
Normative and multiple-trajectory approaches each have distinct advantages and disadvantages, such that the advantage of one is the other's disadvantage. Researchers should determine which type of trajectory approach to use by the research questions they are addressing and the data characteristics they are using. Because normative approaches tend to be more straightforward and parsimonious than multiple-trajectory approaches, it is better to use a normative trajectory approach when the only difference among multiple-trajectory groups is the amount of substance use. As researchers have learned, however, the shapes of people's alcohol use trajectories often differ. This fact encourages the use of a multiple-trajectory approach that recognizes variability both across people and over time, rather than assuming homogeneity of the directions and rates of change within the entire population. This increased focus on identifying different developmental trajectories of alcohol use across adolescence and adulthood represents a major and welcome shift in researchers' ability to understand the meaning and course of alcohol use and problems across a person's life course. Advantages of the multiple-trajectory approach over the normative trajectory approach include being able to determine the specific risk and protective factors that apply to particular subgroups and being able to focus more on understanding the meaning of a person's behaviors in the context of his or her developmental history.
The multiple-trajectory approach also has important limitations. First, there is a danger that subgroups, identified as sets of tendencies and probable characteristics, may come to be seen as immutable, almost as diagnostic categories. This may be premature, because application of these analytic strategies to alcohol use trajectories is relatively new, and further research is needed to determine which subgroups will be found consistently across different samples and measures of alcohol use. Furthermore, the number of trajectory subgroups identified is logically dependent on the sample characteristics; the number, range, and spacing of observations; and the way variables are operationalized and measured.
Before findings derived from multiple-trajectory approaches can be translated into diagnostic tools, researchers need to have greater understanding about whether different risk factors can reliably distinguish different subgroups, either before members of these subgroups diverge from the normative pattern or during their divergence. Likewise, it is important to remember that a person's membership in a class or subgroup is probabilistic rather than absolute. Moreover, applied work using multiple-trajectory approaches to examine alcohol use patterns has tended not to emphasize variability among people within subgroups.
Finally, a noteworthy methodological limitation of multiple-trajectory approaches is that the range of ages included in a given study determines the study's ability to distinguish some subgroups from others. For example, studies that end when the subjects reach age 20 may inaccurately categorize some people as late-onset heavy drinkers, when instead they subsequently may reduce their drinking and therefore would be better described as fling drinkers. Similarly, because studies that begin in late adolescence lack data regarding alcohol use during early adolescence, they cannot distinguish decreasers from potential "early flings".
Predictors and Correlates of Trajectory Membership
Numerous longitudinal studies have examined predictors (typically measured early in the study) and outcomes of belonging to particular trajectory subgroups, such as role status or problem behaviors at or after the final assessment period used to identify the subgroups. Some of these, and their significance, are described in the following sections.

Several studies show that whether adolescents or young adults should be designated as belonging in heavier-drinking subgroups can be predicted by whether or not they have several preexisting personal and social - environmental characteristics: being male, not living with two biological parents, and having parents with heavier alcohol use and greater symptoms of alcoholism or antisocial personality. During late adolescence and early adulthood, male heavy drinkers are especially likely to have already exhibited externalizing symptoms such as aggressive behaviors and early delinquent behavior.
Alcohol-related factors that predict whether young people will embark on subsequent heavier-drinking trajectories include the degree to which they have more positive expectancies about alcohol's effects, whether they think it is all right to drink to get drunk or drink to cope with stressful situations, and whether they have prior alcohol and drug use.
Other risk factors include certain personal characteristics, involvement with social institutions, and peer influence. People who have such personal attributes as higher sensation-seeking and lower conventionality, self-esteem, and self-efficacy also are at risk for following heavier-drinking trajectories. Low involvement with social institutions also is associated with greater risk; for example, students with poorer performance in school, lack of commitment to attending classes, and less church involvement are more likely to be in heavy-drinking subgroups. Finally, peer factors are important predictors of riskier trajectories, with peer alcohol use, perceived peer approval of substance use, and less resistance to peer pressure each predicting heavier alcohol use. These risk factors are similar to those observed in more traditional cross-sectional and longitudinal research.
Trajectory Outcomes for Young Adults
A series of recent studies has examined whether young adults' health or the rate at which they attain various social roles is affected by their trajectories of alcohol use.
Research indicates that high school students who do not drink heavily are more likely to complete high school and attend college than their peers who do drink heavily. However, many young people only begin binge drinking or drinking heavily during college.
Criminal behavior, including stealing, selling drugs, and committing violent acts, is more prevalent among heavier drinkers in general. Binge drinkers also are more likely to exhibit symptoms of antisocial personality disorder than people who do not binge drink. However, compared with young people who rarely use alcohol, fling drinkers - whose heavy drinking spikes during late adolescence and young adulthood and then declines - tend to have equivalent psychosocial adjustment during adulthood.
Health in young adulthood also differs by alcohol use trajectories. One study found that at age 24, people who had been classified as chronic heavy drinkers based on their trajectories of drinking in adolescence had increased risk for obesity, hypertension, and illness, compared with peers who had not been heavy drinkers during adolescence. These findings were maintained even when gender, ethnicity, poverty, and current level of alcohol and other substance use were statistically controlled. Chronic binge drinkers and late-onset drinkers also reported more sex partners by age 21 than nonbinge drinkers. People who were not binge drinkers had the most positive health behaviors and status, and increasers and late-onset binge drinkers generally fell between the chronic binge and nonbinge drinking groups in terms of this variable. Risk for alcohol and other drug abuse and dependence in young adulthood is lowest among people who do not engage in heavy episodic, or binge, drinking. Many studies show few or no health differences between light drinkers and abstainers, although some research suggests that health and personal relationships may be more positive among light drinkers than among abstainers.
Conclusions
Several conclusions from these longitudinal studies on alcohol use trajectories deserve to be highlighted. First, many adolescents and young adults never engage in heavy drinking. Although the majority of people report some alcohol use, significant numbers never report drinking heavily at any assessment period. Although the proportion of young people who never drink heavily remains uncertain, studies indicate that it is somewhere between one-third and more than two-thirds, depending on sample characteristics and the definition of heavy drinking used.
Second, the age when drinking begins is important. Meaningful differences in the predictors, course, and consequences of alcohol use can be found between the subgroup of people who begin drinking in early adolescence and those who begin drinking during middle or later adolescence. Later onset of developmentally limited heavy drinking is more common than early onset, is associated with fewer early risk factors, and is determined more by situational and developmentally normative risk factors such as living with peers in college residences. However, later onset of heavy drinking also carries health and other risks, as described previously.
Third, members of most subgroups reduce their alcohol use by their mid-twenties. Declines in use are associated with acquiring adult roles, such as spouse, parent, and worker.
Fourth, young people who consistently drink heavily, although few in number, have the most early and ongoing risk factors for behavioral and adjustment difficulties generally and the fewest positive adult outcomes.
Fifth, early but infrequent binge drinkers may be at risk for late-onset alcohol problems associated with negative affect regulation.
Implications for Prevention and Intervention
What do the concepts of normative and multiple trajectories of alcohol use mean for prevention? The study of trajectory approaches has reinforced the ideas that people develop in multiple dimensions across the adolescent and young adult years, alcohol use behaviors change differently for different people, and factors that predict alcohol use patterns also emerge and disappear at different ages. For these reasons, multiple dynamic approaches to prevention and intervention are needed. Clearly, one approach will not fit all needs. For example, early onset of infrequent use associated with negative affect may be rare, but the pattern deserves attention because young people who fit this trajectory are at risk for longer-term problems, including depression. Early onset of substance use predicts ongoing heavier use and associated difficulties for many, so middle-school drug use prevention programs are appropriate for this subgroup. Likewise, late onset of alcohol and other drug use with escalation also is harmful, so prevention and intervention efforts in high school and beyond also are needed. Recognizing the varied and dynamic trajectories that alcohol use can take, rather than viewing drinking as a static behavior, offers a stronger developmental foundation for effective interventions.

Ozone Hole

2007-06-06T06:25:00.000-07:00

Ozone Hole:

Part I: The History behind the Ozone Hole
The Beginning ...
Dramatic loss of ozone in the lower stratosphere over Antarctica was first noticed in the 1970s by a research group from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) who were monitoring the atmosphere above Antarctica from a research station much like the picture to the right.
The Halley Research Station - Information
BAS research stations in the Antarctic
Folklore has it that when the first measurements were taken in 1985, the drop in ozone levels in the stratosphere was so dramatic that at first the scientists thought their instruments were faulty. Replacement instruments were built and flown out, and it wasn't until they confirmed the earlier measurements, several months later, that the ozone depletion observed was accepted as genuine.
Another story goes that the TOMS satellite data didn't show the dramatic loss of ozone because the software processing the raw ozone data from the satellite was programmed to treat very low values of ozone as bad readings! Later analysis of the raw data when the results from the British Antarctic Survey team were published, confirmed their results and showed that the loss was rapid and large-scale; over most of the Antarctica continent.
What Is Ozone And How Is It Formed?
Ozone (O3 : 3 oxygen atoms) occurs naturally in the atmosphere.
The earth's atmosphere is composed of several layers. We live in the "Troposphere" where most of the weather occurs; such as rain, snow and clouds. Above the troposphere is the "Stratosphere"; an important region in which effects such as the Ozone Hole and Global Warming originate. Supersonic jet airliners such as Concorde fly in the lower stratosphere whereas subsonic commercial airliners are usually in the troposphere. The narrow region between these two parts of the atmosphere is called the "Tropopause".
Ozone forms a layer in the stratosphere, thinnest in the tropics (around the equator) and denser towards the poles. The amount of ozone above a point on the earth's surface is measured in Dobson units (DU) - typically ~260 DU near the tropics and higher elsewhere, though there are large seasonal fluctuations. It is created when ultraviolet radiation (sunlight) strikes the stratosphere, dissociating (or "splitting") oxygen molecules (O2) to atomic oxygen (O). The atomic oxygen quickly combines with further oxygen molecules to form ozone:
O2 + hv
->
O + O
(1)
O + O2
->
O3
(2)(1/v = wavelength < ~ 240 nm)
It's ironic that at ground level, ozone is a health hazard - it is a major constituent of photochemical smog. However, in the stratosphere we could not survive without it. Up in the stratosphere it absorbs some of the potentially harmful ultra-violet (UV) radiation from the sun (at wavelengths between 240 and 320 nm) which can cause skin cancer and damage vegetation, among other things.
Although the UV radiation splits the ozone molecule, ozone can reform through the following reactions resulting in no net loss of ozone:
O3 + hv
->
O2 + O
(3)
O + O2
->
O3
(2) as above
Ozone is also destroyed by the following reaction:
O + O3
->
O2 + O2
(4)
The Chapman Reactions
The reactions above, labelled (1)-(4) are known as the "Chapman reactions". Reaction (2) becomes slower with increasing altitude while reaction (3) becomes faster. The concentration of ozone is a balance between these competing reactions. In the upper atmosphere, atomic oxygen dominates where UV levels are high. Moving down through the stratosphere, the air gets denser, UV absorption increases and ozone levels peak at roughly 20km. As we move closer to the ground, UV levels decrease and ozone levels decrease. The layer of ozone formed in the stratosphere by these reactions is sometimes called the 'Chapman layer'.
The Missing Reactions..
But there was a problem with the Chapman theory. In the 1960s it was realised that the loss of ozone given by reaction (4) was too slow. It could not remove enough ozone to give the values seen in the real atmosphere. There had to be other reactions, faster reactions that were controlling the ozone concentations in the stratosphere. We'll learn about these in Part III of this tour of the ozone hole.
What Is The Ozone Hole?

The Ozone Hole often gets confused in the popular press and by the general public with the problem of global warming. Whilst there is a connection because ozone contributes to the greenhouse effect, the Ozone Hole is a separate issue. However it is another stark reminder of the effect of man's activities on the environment. Over Antarctica (and recently over the Arctic), stratospheric ozone has been depleted over the last 15 years at certain times of the year. This is mainly due to the release of manmade chemicals containing chlorine such as CFC's (ChloroFluoroCarbons), but also compounds containing bromine, other related halogen compounds and also nitrogen oxides (NOx). CFC's are a common industrial product, used in refrigeration systems, air conditioners, aerosols, solvents and in the production of some types of packaging. Nitrogen oxides are a by-product of combustion processes, eg aircraft emissions.
A more detailed description of the chemistry will follow in Part III.
The current levels of depletion have served to highlight a surprising degree of instability of the atmosphere, and the amount of ozone loss is still increasing. GreenPeace have documented many of the concerns that this raises.
What Is Being Done?
The first global agreement to restrict CFCs came with the signing of the Montreal Protocol in 1987 ultimately aiming to reduce them by half by the year 2000. Two revisions of this agreement have been made in the light of advances in scientific understanding, the latest being in 1992. Agreement has been reached on the control of industrial production of many halocarbons until the year 2030. The main CFCs will not be produced by any of the signatories after the end of 1995, except for a limited amount for essential uses, such as for medical sprays.
The countries of the European Community have adopted even stricter measures than are required under the Montreal Protocol agreements. Recognising their responsibility to the global environment they have agreed to halt production of the main CFCs from the beginning of 1995. Tighter deadlines for use of the other ozone-depleting compounds are also being adopted.

Recent Ozone Loss over Antarctica:

Why the Antarctic?
There are now many measurements and observations of the changes in ozone that occur over Antarctica. Such measurements come from ground based instruments at the Antarctica research stations, from aircraft during scientific missions and from satellites.
Ozone loss was first detected in the stratosphere over the Antarctic (see Part I). Although mid-latitude and Arctic depletion has also been observed, the loss is most dramatic in the lower stratosphere over the Antarctica continent, where nearly all the ozone is destroyed over an area the size of Antarctica within a layer in the lower stratosphere that's many km thick.
Halley Bay, Antarctica
The graph to the right shows the measured total ozone above the Halley Bay station in Antarctica. Each point represents the average total ozone for the month of October. Note the sudden change in the curve after about 1975. By 1994, the total ozone in October was less than half its value during the 1970s, 20 years previous. This dramatic fall in ozone was caused by the use of man-made chemicals known as 'halocarbons' which include the well-known CFCs commonly used in fridges and so on. These CFCs had made their way into the upper atmosphere where the much stronger UV radiation from the Sun had broken them down into their component molecules, releasing the potentially damaging chlorine (and bromine) atoms, which, given the right conditions, could destroy ozone. We'll learn more about the chemistry behind the loss of ozone in Part III of this tour.
Regular ozone measurement have been made from the Halley Bay Research Station for many years. Ozone depletion is most marked in the Antarctic Spring, around October.

TOMS Satellite Measurements The TOMS (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer) is a satellite-borne instrument used to gain a global picture of ozone levels. The following movie shows how the ozone levels over the Antarctic have been changing over the last 15 years. Measurements are taken daily, and the frames in the movie are constructed from monthly averages of the data. The data is freely available from several sites, including the British Atmospheric Data Centre.

Inline movie of TOMS ozone measurements from Nov 1978 to Jan 1992(3.7 Mb)
MPEG movie of TOMS ozone measurements from Nov 1978 to Jan 1992(1 Mb)
The TOMS instrument measures ozone levels from the back-scattered sunlight, specifically in the ultra-violet range. It measures wavelength bands centred at 312.5, 317.5, 331.3, 339.9, 360.0 and 380.0 nanometres. The first four wavelengths are absorbed to greater or lesser extents by ozone; the final two are used to assess the reflectivity. The ozone levels computed are 'column ozone' (i.e. Dobson Units or DU for short).
During the Antarctic winter (May - July), data is unavailable near the pole, which is in total darkness.
For more information, do visit the TOMS Home Page.

Monthly Averages for October
It is important to appreciate that the atmosphere behaves differently from year to year. Even though the same processes that lead to ozone depletion occur every year, the effect they have on the ozone is altered by the meteorology of the atmosphere above Antarctica. This is known as the 'variability' of the atmosphere. This variability leads to changes in the amount of ozone depleted and the dates when the depletion starts and finishes. To illustrate this, the monthly averages for October, from 1980 to 1991

Questions and Answers About Smoking Cessation

2007-05-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

Questions and Answers About Smoking Cessation:

1. How important is it to stop smoking? It is very important. Tobacco use remains the single most preventable cause of death in the United States. Cigarette smoking accounts for nearly one-third of all cancer deaths in this country each year. Smoking is the most common risk factor for the development of lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer death. It is also associated with many other types of cancer, including cancers of the esophagus, larynx, kidney, pancreas, and cervix. Smoking also increases the risk of other health problems, such as chronic lung disease and heart disease. Smoking during pregnancy can have adverse effects on the unborn child, such as premature delivery and low birth weight.
2. What are the immediate benefits of stopping smoking?
The health benefits of smoking cessation (quitting) are immediate and substantial. Almost immediately, a person's circulation begins to improve and the level of carbon monoxide in the blood begins to decline. (Carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless gas found in cigarette smoke, reduces the blood's ability to carry oxygen.) A person's pulse rate and blood pressure, which may be abnormally high while smoking, begin to return to normal. Within a few days of quitting, a person's sense of taste and smell return, and breathing becomes increasingly easier.
3. What are the long-term benefits of stopping smoking?
People who quit smoking live longer than those who continue to smoke. After 10 to 15 years, a previous tobacco user's risk of premature death approaches that of a person who has never smoked. About 10 years after quitting, an ex-smoker's risk of dying from lung cancer is 30 percent to 50 percent less than the risk for those who continue to smoke. Women who stop smoking before becoming pregnant or who quit in the first 3 months of pregnancy can reverse the risk of low birth weight for the baby and reduce other pregnancy-associated risks. Quitting also reduces the risk of other smoking-related diseases, including heart disease and chronic lung disease. There are also many benefits to smoking cessation for people who are sick or who have already developed cancer. Smoking cessation reduces the risk for developing infections, such as pneumonia, which often causes death in patients with other existing diseases.
4. Does cancer risk change after quitting smoking?
Quitting smoking reduces the risk for developing cancer, and this benefit increases the longer a person remains "smoke free." People who quit smoking reduce their risk of developing and dying from lung cancer. They also reduce their risk of other types of cancer (see question 1). The risk of premature death and the chance of developing cancer due to cigarettes depends on the number of years of smoking, the number of cigarettes smoked per day, the age at which smoking began, and the presence or absence of illness at the time of quitting. For people who have already developed cancer, quitting smoking reduces the risk of developing another primary cancer.
5. At what age is smoking cessation the most beneficial?
Smoking cessation benefits men and women at any age. Some older adults may not perceive the benefits of quitting smoking; however, smokers who quit before age 50 have half the risk of dying in the next 16 years compared with people who continue to smoke. By age 64, their overall chance of dying is similar to that of people the same age who have never smoked. Older adults who quit smoking also have a reduced risk of dying from coronary heart disease and lung cancer. Additional, immediate benefits (such as improved circulation, and increased energy and breathing capacity) are other good reasons for older adults to become smoke free.
6. What are some of the difficulties associated with quitting smoking?
Quitting smoking may cause short-term after-effects, especially for those who have smoked a large number of cigarettes for a long period of time. People who quit smoking are likely to feel anxious, irritable, hungry, more tired, and have difficulty sleeping. They may also have difficulty concentrating. Many tobacco users gain weight when they quit, but usually less than 10 pounds. These changes do subside. People who kick the habit have the opportunity for a healthier future.
7. How can health care providers help their patients to stop smoking?
Doctors and dentists can be good sources of information about the health risks of smoking and about quitting. They can tell their patients about the proper use and potential side effects of nicotine replacement therapy (see question 8), and help them find local smoking cessation programs. Doctors and dentists can also play an important role by asking patients about smoking at every office visit; advising patients to stop; assisting patients by setting a quit date, providing self-help materials, and suggesting nicotine replacement therapies (when appropriate); and arranging for followup visits.
8. What is nicotine replacement therapy?
Nicotine is the drug in cigarettes and other forms of tobacco that causes addiction. Nicotine replacement products deliver small, steady doses of nicotine into the body, which helps to relieve the withdrawal symptoms often felt by people trying to quit smoking. These products, which are available in four forms (patches, gum, nasal spray, and inhaler), appear to be equally effective. There is evidence that combining the nicotine patch with nicotine gum or nicotine nasal spray increases long-term quit rates compared with using a single type of nicotine replacement therapy. Nicotine gum, in combination with nicotine patch therapy, may also reduce withdrawal symptoms better than either medication alone. Researchers recommend combining nicotine replacement therapy with advice or counseling from a doctor, dentist, pharmacist, or other health provider. • The nicotine patch, which is available over the counter (without a prescription), supplies a steady amount of nicotine to the body through the skin. The nicotine patch is sold in varying strengths as an 8-week smoking cessation treatment. Nicotine doses are gradually lowered as the treatment progresses. The nicotine patch may not be a good choice for people with skin problems or allergies to adhesive tape. • Nicotine gum is available over the counter in 2- and 4-mg strengths. Chewing nicotine gum releases nicotine into the bloodstream through the lining of the mouth. Nicotine gum might not be appropriate for people with temporomandibular joint disease (TMJ) or for those with dentures or other dental work such as bridges. • Nicotine nasal spray was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1996 for use by prescription only. The spray comes in a pump bottle containing nicotine that tobacco users can inhale when they have an urge to smoke. This product is not recommended for people with nasal or sinus conditions, allergies, or asthma, nor is it recommended for young tobacco users. • A nicotine inhaler, also available only by prescription, was approved by the FDA in 1997. This device delivers a vaporized form of nicotine to the mouth through a mouthpiece attached to a plastic cartridge. Even though it is called an inhaler, the device does not deliver nicotine to the lungs the way a cigarette does. Most of the nicotine only travels to the mouth and throat, where it is absorbed through the mucous membranes. Common side effects include throat and mouth irritation and coughing. Anyone with a bronchial problem such as asthma should use it with caution.
9. Are there smoking cessation aids that do not contain nicotine?
Bupropion, a prescription antidepressant marketed as Zyban®, was approved by the FDA in 1997 to treat nicotine addiction. This drug can help to reduce nicotine withdrawal symptoms and the urge to smoke. Some common side effects of bupropion are dry mouth, difficulty sleeping, dizziness, and skin rash. People should not use this drug if they have a seizure condition such as epilepsy or an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia, or if they are taking other medicines that contain bupropion hydrochloride.
10. What if efforts to quit result in relapse?
Many smokers find it difficult to quit smoking, and it may take two or three attempts before they are finally able to quit. Although relapse rates are most common in the first few weeks or months after quitting, people who stop smoking for 3 months are often able to remain cigarette-free for the rest of their lives.
11. What agencies and organizations are available to help people stop smoking?
A number of organizations provide information and materials about where to find help to stop smoking. State and local health agencies often have information about community smoking cessation programs. The local or county government section in the phone book (blue pages) has current phone numbers for health agencies. Information to help people quit smoking is also available through community hospitals, the yellow pages (under "drug abuse and addiction"), public libraries, health maintenance organizations, health fairs, bookstores, and community helplines. Several national organizations provide information about how to quit smoking.

Quit Tips

Are you one of most smokers who want to quit? Then try following this advice.

1. Don’t smoke any number or any kind of cigarette. Smoking even a few cigarettes a day can hurt your health. If you try to smoke fewer cigarettes, but do not stop completely, soon you’ll be smoking the same amount again.
Smoking "low-tar, low-nicotine" cigarettes usually does little good, either. Because nicotine is so addictive, if you switch to lower-nicotine brands you’ll likely just puff harder, longer, and more often on each cigarette. The only safe choice is to quit completely.
2. Write down why you want to quit. Do you want to—
Feel in control of you life? Have better health? Set a good example for your children? Protect your family from breathing other people’s smoke? Really wanting to quit smoking is very important to how much success you will have in quitting. Smokers who live after a heart attack are the most likely to quit for good—they're very motivated. Find a reason for quitting before you have no choice.
3. Know that it will take effort to quit smoking. Nicotine is habit forming. Half of the battle in quitting is knowing you need to quit. This knowledge will help you be more able to deal with the symptoms of withdrawal that can occur, such as bad moods and really wanting to smoke. There are many ways smokers quit, including using nicotine replacement products (gum and patches), but there is no easy way. Nearly all smokers have some feelings of nicotine withdrawal when they try to quit. Give yourself a month to get over these feelings. Take quitting one day at a time, even one minute at a time—whatever you need to succeed.
4. Half of all adult smokers have quit, so you can— too. That’s the good news. There are millions of people alive today who have learned to face life without a cigarette. For staying healthy, quitting smoking is the best step you can take.
5. Get help if you need it. Many groups offer written materials, programs, and advice to help smokers quit for good. Your doctor or dentist is also a good source of help and support. See a list of National Groups with information and resources on how to quit.

The health benefits of giving up
Time stopped
Benefits
20 minutes
Blood pressure & pulse return to normal.Circulation improves, especially to hands & feet.
8 hours
24 hours
48 hours
72 hours
Blood oxygen levels increase to normal & your chance of having a heart attack start to fall.
Carbon monoxide leaves the body.The lungs start to clear out mucus & debris.
Your body is now nicotine free.Your sense of taste & smell begin to improve.
Breathing is easier & your energy levels increase.
2-12 weeks
Circulation improves throughout the body.Walking & exercise get easier.
3-9 months
Breathing problems, coughing, shortness of breath & wheezing improve. Lung efficiency increased by 5-10%
5 years
10 years
Risk of having a heart attack falls to about half that of a smoker.
Risk of lung cancer falls to around half that of a smoker.Risk of a heart attack falls to about the same as someone who has never smoked.

25 Difficult Interview Questions

2007-05-15T09:17:00.000-07:00

The 25 most difficult questions you'll be asked on a job interview

1. Tell me about yourself.

In most of the interviews, this is arguably the first question which you will face. Be extra careful that you don't run off at the mouth. Keep your answer short. Cover four topics: early years, education, work history, and recent career experience. Emphasize this last subject. Remember that this is likely to be a warm-up question. Don't waste your best points on it. Your response to this question will set the tone for the rest of the interview. For some, this is the most challenging question to answer, as they wonder what the interviewer really wants to know and what information they should include. You need to have a short statement prepared in your mind that includes the information you want to express. Try to Limit it to work-related items unless instructed otherwise.List four or five strengths you have that are relevant to this job (experiences, personality, skills, etc.). Practice the statement that you have prepared until you feel confident about what you want to highlight in your statement. Your response should help you stay on track, but don't let it sound like as if you have prepared from home. It should sound natural and conversational.

2. What do you know about our organization?

You should be able to discuss products or services, revenues, reputation, image, goals, problems, management style, people, history and philosophy. But don't act as if you know everything about the place. Let your answer show that you have taken the time to do some research, but don't overwhelm the interviewer, and make it clear that you wish to learn more. You might start your answer in this manner: "In my job search, I've investigated a number of companies. Yours is one of the few that interests me, for these reasons..." Give your answer a positive tone. Don't say, "Well, everyone tells me that you're in all sorts of trouble, and that's why I'm here", even if that is why you're there.

3. Why do you want to work for us?

The deadliest answer you can give is "Because I like people." What else would you like-animals? Here, and throughout the interview, a good answer comes from having done your homework so that you can speak in terms of the company's needs. You might say that your research has shown that the company is doing things you would like to be involved with, and that it's doing them in ways that greatly interest you. For example, if the organization is known for strong management, your answer should mention that fact and show that you would like to be a part of that team. If the company places a great deal of emphasis on research and development, emphasize the fact that you want to create new things and that you know this is a place in which such activity is encouraged. If the organization stresses financial controls, your answer should mention a reverence for numbers. If you feel that you have to concoct an answer to this question - if, for example, the company stresses research, and you feel that you should mention it even though it really doesn't interest you- then you probably should not be taking that interview, because you probably shouldn't be considering a job with that organization. Your homework should include learning enough about the company to avoid approaching places where you wouldn't be able -or wouldn't want- to function. Since most of us are poor liars, it's difficult to con anyone in an interview. But even if you should succeed at it, your prize is a job you don't really want.

4. What can you do for us that someone else can't?

Here you have every right, and perhaps an obligation, to toot your own horn and be a bit egotistical. Talk about your record of getting things done, and mention specifics from your resume or list of career accomplishments. Say that your skills and interests, combined with this history of getting results, make you valuable. Mention your ability to set priorities, identify problems, and use your experience and energy to solve them.

5. What do you find most attractive about this position?

What seems least attractive about it?List three or four attractive factors of the job, and mention a single, minor, unattractive item.

6. Why should we hire you?

Create your answer by thinking in terms of your ability, your experience, and your energy. (See question 4.)

7. What do you look for in a job?

Keep your answer oriented to opportunities at this organization. Talk about your desire to perform and be recognized for your contributions. Make your answer oriented toward opportunity rather than personal security.

8. Please give me your definition of [the position for which you are being interviewed].

Keep your answer brief and task oriented. Think in in terms of responsibilities and accountability. Make sure that you really do understand what the position involves before you attempt an answer. If you are not certain. ask the interviewer; he or she may answer the question for you.

9. How long would it take you to make a meaningful contribution to our firm?

Be realistic. Say that, while you would expect to meet pressing demands and pull your own weight from the first day, it might take six months to a year before you could expect to know the organization and its needs well enough to make a major contribution.

10. How long would you stay with us?

Say that you are interested in a career with the organization, but admit that you would have to continue to feel challenged to remain with any organization. Think in terms of, "As long as we both feel achievement-oriented."

11. Your resume suggests that you may be over-qualified or too experienced for this position.

What's Your opinion?

Emphasize your interest in establishing a long-term association with the organization, and say that you assume that if you perform well in his job, new opportunities will open up for you. Mention that a strong company needs a strong staff. Observe that experienced executives are always at a premium. Suggest that since you are so well qualified, the employer will get a fast return on his investment. Say that a growing, energetic company can never have too much talent.

12. What is your management style?

You should know enough about the company's style to know that your management style will complement it. Possible styles include: task oriented (I'll enjoy problem-solving identifying what's wrong, choosing a solution and implementing it"), results-oriented ("Every management decision I make is determined by how it will affect the bottom line"), or even paternalistic ("I'm committed to taking care of my subordinates and pointing them in the right direction"). A participative style is currently quite popular: an open-door method of managing in which you get things done by motivating people and delegating responsibility. As you consider this question, think about whether your style will let you work happily and effectively within the organization.

13. Are you a good manager?

Can you give me some examples? Do you feel that you have top managerial potential?Keep your answer achievement and ask-oriented. Rely on examples from your career to buttress your argument. Stress your experience and your energy.

14. What do you look for when You hire people?

Think in terms of skills. initiative, and the adaptability to be able to work comfortably and effectively with others. Mention that you like to hire people who appear capable of moving up in the organization.

15. Have you ever had to fire people? What were the reasons, and how did you handle the situation?

Admit that the situation was not easy, but say that it worked out well, both for the company and, you think, for the individual. Show that, like anyone else, you don't enjoy unpleasant tasks but that you can resolve them efficiently and -in the case of firing someone- humanely.

16. What do you think is the most difficult thing about being a manager or executive?

Mention planning, execution, and cost-control. The most difficult task is to motivate and manage employess to get something planned and completed on time and within the budget.

17. What important trends do you see in our industry?

Be prepared with two or three trends that illustrate how well you understand your industry. You might consider technological challenges or opportunities, economic conditions, or even regulatory demands as you collect your thoughts about the direction in which your business is heading.

18. Why are you leaving (did you leave) your present (last) job?

Be brief, to the point, and as honest as you can without hurting yourself. Refer back to the planning phase of your job search. where you considered this topic as you set your reference statements. If you were laid off in an across-the-board cutback, say so; otherwise, indicate that the move was your decision, the result of your action. Do not mention personality conflicts. The interviewer may spend some time probing you on this issue, particularly if it is clear that you were terminated. The "We agreed to disagree" approach may be useful. Remember hat your references are likely to be checked, so don't concoct a story for an interview.

19. How do you feel about leaving all your benefits to find a new job?

Mention that you are concerned, naturally, but not panicked. You are willing to accept some risk to find the right job for yourself. Don't suggest that security might interest you more than getting the job done successfully.

20. In your current (last) position, what features do (did) you like the most?

The least?Be careful and be positive. Describe more features that you liked than disliked. Don't cite personality problems. If you make your last job sound terrible, an interviewer may wonder why you remained there until now.

21. What do you think of your boss?

Be as positive as you can. A potential boss is likely to wonder if you might talk about him in similar terms at some point in the future.

22. Why aren't you earning more at your age?

Say that this is one reason that you are conducting this job search. Don't be defensive. The 25 most difficult questions you'll be asked on a job interview

23. What do you feel this position should pay?

Salary is a delicate topic. We suggest that you defer tying yourself to a precise figure for as long as you can do so politely. You might say, "I understand that the range for this job is between Rs______ and Rs______. That seems appropriate for the job as I understand it." You might answer the question with a question: "Perhaps you can help me on this one. Can you tell me if there is a range for similar jobs in the organization?" If you are asked the question during an initial screening interview, you might say that you feel you need to know more about the position's responsibilities before you could give a meaningful answer to that question. Here, too, either by asking the interviewer or search executive (if one is involved), or in research done as part of your homework, you can try to find out whether there is a salary grade attached to the job. If there is, and if you can live with it, say that the range seems right to you. If the interviewer continues to probe, you might say, "You know that I'm making Rs______ now. Like everyone else, I'd like to improve on that figure, but my major interest is with the job itself." Remember that the act of taking a new job does not, in and of itself, make you worth more money. If a search firm is involved, your contact there may be able to help with the salary question. He or she may even be able to run interference for you. If, for instance, he tells you what the position pays, and you tell him that you are earning that amount now and would Like to do a bit better, he might go back to the employer and propose that you be offered an additional 10%. If no price range is attached to the job, and the interviewer continues to press the subject, then you will have to restpond with a number. You cannot leave the impression that it does not really matter, that you'll accept whatever is offered. Don't sell yourself short, but continue to stress the fact that the job itself is the most important thing in your mind. The interviewer may be trying to determine just how much you want the job. Don't leave the impression that money is the only thing that is important to you. Link questions of salary to the work itself. But whenever possible, say as little as you can about salary until you reach the "final" stage of the interview process. At that point, you know that the company is genuinely interested in you and that it is likely to be flexible in salary negotiations.

24. What are your long-range goals?

Refer back to the planning phase of your job search. Don't answer, "I want the job you've advertised." Relate your goals to the company you are interviewing: 'in a firm like yours, I would like to..."

25. How successful do you you've been so far?

Say that, all-in-all, you're happy with the way your career has progressed so far. Given the normal ups and downs of life, you feel that you've done quite well and have no complaints. Present a positive and confident picture of yourself, but don't overstate your case. An answer like, "Everything's wonderful! I can't think of a time when things were going better! I'm overjoyed!" is likely to make an interviewer wonder whether you're trying to fool him . . . or yourself. The most convincing confidence is usually quiet confidence.

Cracking Interview made EASY

2007-05-15T09:13:00.000-07:00

Fifty Standard Interview Questions
It is not enough to have solid answers only for the above questions. You need to be prepared for the full spectrum of questions that may be presented.
1. Tell me about yourself.
2. What do you want to do with your life?
3. Do you have any actual work experience?
4. How would you describe your ideal job?
5. Why did you choose this career?
6. When did you decide on this career?
7. What goals do you have in your career?
8. How do you plan to achieve these goals?
9. How do you evaluate success?
10. Describe a situation in which you were successful.
11. What do you think it takes to be successful in this career?
12. What accomplishments have given you the most satisfaction in your life?
13. Are you a team player?
14. What motivates you?
15. Why should I hire you?
16. Are you a goal-oriented person?
17. Tell me about some of your recent goals and what you did to achieve them.
18. What are your short-term goals?
19. What is your long-range objective?
20. What do you see yourself doing five years from now?
21. Where do you want to be ten years from now?
22. Do you handle conflict well?
23. Have you ever had a conflict with a boss or professor? How did you resolve it?
24. What major problem have you had to deal with recently?
25. Do you handle pressure well?
26. What is your greatest strength?
27. What is your greatest weakness?
28. If I were to ask one of your professors to describe you, what would he or she say?
29. Why did you choose to attend your college?
30. What changes would you make at your college?
31. If you had to live your life over again, what would you change?
32. Would your rather work with information or with people?
33. How has your education prepared you for your career?
34. What were your favorite classes? Why?
35. Do you enjoy doing independent research?
36. Who were your favorite professors? Why?
37. Why is your GPA not higher?
38. Do you have any plans for further education?
39. How much training do you think you'll need to become a productive employee?
40. What qualities do you feel a successful manager should have?
41. Why do you want to work in the _____ industry?
42. What do you know about our company?
43. Why are you interested in our company?
44. Do you have any location preferences?
45. How familiar are you with the community that we're located in?
46. Will you relocate? In the future?
47. Are you willing to travel? How much?
48. Is money important to you?
49. How much money do you need to make to be happy? 50. What kind of salary are you looking for?

You can put your answer here..

POVERTY

2007-05-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

Poverty monitoring involves tracking progress over time in achieving results in terms of reduction in poverty and is an essential component of any poverty reduction strategy. It includes the following activities:

Selecting Indicators to measure progress toward poverty reduction goals.

Once the goals of poverty reduction have been set, indicators should be used to monitor progress towards the goals at various stages. Selecting indicators is a political process, which needs to be undertaken in light of existing constraints. In general, it is preferable to select few indicators covering the right questions, of good quality, at the right level of disaggregation.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provide an excellent example of the types of goals, indicators and targets that can be used to monitor progress. The eight MDGs comprise 48 indicators and 18 targets.
Intermediate indicators and final indicators
When an indicator measures a factor that determines an outcome or contributes to the process of achieving a chosen goal, we call it an "intermediate" indicator. These are divided into "input" or "output" indicators, depending on the stage of the process.
Input indicators measure the financial and physical resources dedicated to a goal.
Output indicators measure the goods and services that are produced by the inputs. They are typically under the control of the agency that produces them.
When an indicator measures the effect of an intervention on an individual's well-being, we call it a "final" indicator. Sometimes final indicators are divided into "outcome" and "impact" indicators:
Outcome indicators capture access to, use of, and satisfaction with public services; access to credit; representation in political institutions and so on. These are not dimensions of well-being themselves, but are key elements that contribute towards well-being.
Impact indicators measure key dimensions of well-being such as freedom from hunger, literacy, good health, empowerment, and security.
Qualities of good indicators:
direct, unambiguous measures of progress
vary across groups, areas and over time
have a direct link with interventions
relevant to policy making
consistent with the decision-making cycle
not easily manipulated or blown off course by unrelated developments
easy and not too costly to measure
easy to understand
reliable
consistent with data available and the data collection capacity
Disaggregating indicators
Indicators should be chosen at the appropriate level of disaggregation, depending on the goals that a strategy aims to achieve, on the types of public policies and programs planned to achieve these goals, and on data availability. Indicators can be disaggregated along various dimensions, including geographic areas, demographic groups, income/consumption groups and social groups.
Selected indicators
Please refer to the following links for examples of indicators used in poverty monitoring. (Please note the World Bank is not responsible for the content of external websites.):
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) indicators
Operation Policies Country Services Logical Framework (OPCS LogFrame) - inlcudes a discussion of performance indicators used in designing monitoring and evaluation of investment operations.
European Commission's common indicators of poverty and social exclusion - only for countries in the European Union.
EUROSTAT's Social Cohesion indicators - only for countries in the European Union.
EdStats database - a collection of education statistics and indicators.
GenderStats database - a collection of gender statistics and indicators.
HNPStats database (Health, Nutrition, and Population statistics) - offers country data sheets showing summary indicators of health status, health determinants, and health finance.
Empowerment indicators

Setting Targets to provide benchmarks against which performance can be judged

Setting up Poverty Monitoring Systems to track progress towards achieving specific targets and inform policy-making for improved intervention.
Running Statistical Systems to collect, analyze and deliver the data required to monitor poverty reduction. Coming shortly!
This website also presents resources relating to poverty monitoring in the following categories:
Country documents: provides a collection of studies on country experiences with poverty monitoring.
Data and data sources: presents a range of poverty indicators and trends, datasets and a guide to data instruments and surveys.
Training materials and events: includes useful resources presented at training activities for use by World Bank staff, local clients, partners and the general public.
Key readings: presents a list of articles, guides and handbooks on poverty monitoring and statistical systems.
Related links: provides a collection of links to sites of institutions, organizations and agencies that analyze and monitor poverty.

Global warming

2007-05-14T12:26:00.000-07:00

Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans in recent decades and its projected continuation.
Global average air temperature near the Earth's surface rose 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.3 ± 0.32 °F) during the past century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes, "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations," which leads to warming of the surface and lower atmosphere by increasing the greenhouse effect. Natural phenomena such as solar variation combined with volcanoes have probably had a small warming effect from pre-industrial times to 1950, but a cooling effect since 1950.These basic conclusions have been endorsed by at least 30 scientific societies and academies of science, including all of the national academies of science of the major industrialized countries. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists is the only scientific society that rejects these conclusions,[2][3] and a few individual scientists also disagree with parts of them.
Climate models referenced by the IPCC project that global surface temperatures are likely to increase by 1.1 to 6.4 °C (2.0 to 11.5 °F) between 1990 and 2100. The range of values reflects the use of differing scenarios of future greenhouse gas emissions and results of models with differences in climate sensitivity. Although most studies focus on the period up to 2100, warming and sea level rise are expected to continue for more than a millennium even if greenhouse gas levels are stabilized. This reflects the large heat capacity of the oceans.
An increase in global temperatures can in turn cause other changes, including sea level rise, and changes in the amount and pattern of precipitation. There may also be changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, though it is difficult to connect specific events to global warming. Other effects may include changes in agricultural yields, glacier retreat, reduced summer streamflows, species extinctions and increases in the ranges of disease vectors.
Remaining scientific uncertainties include the exact degree of climate change expected in the future, and how changes will vary from region to region around the globe. There is ongoing political and public debate regarding what, if any, action should be taken to reduce or reverse future warming or to adapt to its expected consequences. Most national governments have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol aimed at combating greenhouse gas emissions.

Causes

The climate system varies through natural, internal processes and in response to variations in external forcing factors including solar activity, volcanic emissions, variations in the earth's orbit (orbital forcing) and greenhouse gases. The detailed causes of the recent warming remain an active field of research, but the scientific consensus identifies increased levels of greenhouse gases due to human activity as the main influence. This attribution is clearest for the most recent 50 years, for which the most detailed data are available. Contrasting with the scientific consensus, other hypotheses have been proposed to explain some of the observed increase in global temperatures, including: the warming is within the range of natural variation; the warming is a consequence of coming out of a prior cool period, namely the Little Ice Age; or the warming is primarily a result of variances in solar radiation.
None of the effects of forcing are instantaneous. Due to the thermal inertia of the Earth's oceans and slow responses of other indirect effects, the Earth's current climate is not in equilibrium with the forcing imposed. Climate commitment studies indicate that even if greenhouse gases were stabilized at present day levels, a further warming of about 0.5 °C (0.9 °F) would still occur.

Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere

Recent increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). The monthly CO2 measurements display small seasonal oscillations in an overall yearly uptrend; each year's maximum is reached during the northern hemisphere's late spring, and declines during the northern hemisphere growing season as plants remove some CO2 from the atmosphere.
The greenhouse effect was discovered by Joseph Fourier in 1824 and was first investigated quantitatively by Svante Arrhenius in 1896. It is the process by which absorption and emission of infrared radiation by atmospheric gases warms a planet's atmosphere and surface.
Greenhouse gases create a natural greenhouse effect, without which, mean temperatures on Earth would be an estimated 30 °C (54 °F) lower, so that Earth would be uninhabitable.Thus scientists do not "believe in" or "oppose" the greenhouse effect as such; rather, the debate concerns the net effect of the addition of greenhouse gases, while allowing for associated positive and negative feedback mechanisms.
On Earth, the major natural greenhouse gases are water vapor, which causes about 36–70% of the greenhouse effect (not including clouds); carbon dioxide (CO2), which causes 9–26%; methane (CH4), which causes 4–9%; and ozone, which causes 3–7%. The atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and CH4 have increased by 31% and 149% respectively above pre-industrial levels since 1750. These levels are considerably higher than at any time during the last 650,000 years, the period for which reliable data has been extracted from ice cores. From less direct geological evidence it is believed that CO2 values this high were last attained 20 million years ago. "About three-quarters of the anthropogenic [man-made] emissions of CO2 to the atmosphere during the past 20 years are due to fossil fuel burning. The rest of the anthropogenic emissions are predominantly due to land-use change, especially deforestation."
The present atmospheric concentration of CO2 is about 383 parts per million (ppm) by volume. Future CO2 levels are expected to rise due to ongoing burning of fossil fuels and land-use change. The rate of rise will depend on uncertain economic, sociological, technological, natural developments, but may be ultimately limited by the availability of fossil fuels. The IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios gives a wide range of future CO2 scenarios, ranging from 541 to 970 ppm by the year 2100.Fossil fuel reserves are sufficient to reach this level and continue emissions past 2100, if coal, tar sands or methane clathrates are extensively used.
Positive feedback effects such as the expected release of CH4 from the melting of permafrost peat bogs in Siberia (possibly up to 70,000 million tonnes) may lead to significant additional sources of greenhouse gas emissions not included in climate models cited by the IPCC.

Feedbacks
The effects of forcing agents on the climate are complicated by various feedback processes.
One of the most pronounced feedback effects relates to the evaporation of water. CO2 injected into the atmosphere causes a warming of the atmosphere and the earth's surface. The warming causes more water to be evaporated into the atmosphere. Since water vapor itself acts as a greenhouse gas, this causes still more warming; the warming causes more water vapor to be evaporated, and so forth until a new dynamic equilibrium concentration of water vapor is reached at a slight increase in humidity and with a much larger greenhouse effect than that due to CO2 alone. This feedback effect can only be reversed slowly as CO2 has a long average atmospheric lifetime.
Feedback effects due to clouds are an area of ongoing research and debate. Seen from below, clouds absorb infrared radiation and so exert a warming effect. Seen from above, the same clouds reflect sunlight and so exert a cooling effect. Increased global water vapor concentration may or may not cause an increase in global average cloud cover. The net effect of clouds thus has not been well modeled, however, cloud feedback is second only to water vapor feedback and is positive in all the models that contributed to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.
Another important feedback process is ice-albedo feedback.[18] The increased CO2 in the atmosphere warms the Earth's surface and leads to melting of ice near the poles. As the ice melts, land or open water takes its place. Both land and open water are on average less reflective than ice, and thus absorb more solar radiation. This causes more warming, which in turn causes more melting, and this cycle continues.
Positive feedback due to release of CO2 and CH4 from thawing permafrost is an additional mechanism contributing to warming. Possible positive feedback due to CH4 release from melting seabed ices is a further mechanism to be considered.

Solar variation

Solar variation over the last 30 years.

Variations in solar output, possibly amplified by cloud feedbacks, may have contributed to recent warming. A difference between this mechanism and greenhouse warming is that an increase in solar activity should produce a warming of the stratosphere while greenhouse warming should produce a cooling of the stratosphere. Reduction of stratospheric ozone also has a cooling influence but substantial ozone depletion did not occur until the late 1970's. Cooling in the lower stratosphere has been observed since at least 1960.
Other phenomena such as solar variation combined with volcanoes have probably had a warming effect from pre-industrial times to 1950, but a cooling effect since 1950. However, some research has suggested that the Sun's contribution may have been underestimated. Two researchers at Duke University have estimated that the Sun may have contributed about 40–50% of the global surface temperature warming over the period 1900–2000, and about 25–35% between 1980 and 2000. Stott and coauthors suggest that climate models overestimate the relative effect of greenhouse gases compared to solar forcing; they also suggest that the cooling effects of volcanic dust and sulfate aerosols have been underestimated. They conclude that even with an enhanced climate sensitivity to solar forcing, most of the warming during the latest decades is attributable to the increases in greenhouse gases.