Contradictions inherent in the management of natural and industrial disasters

These days people keep wondering whether the world is more dangerous now than it was before. Do natural disasters really happen more frequently or is it just that the damage they cause that has become greater? The situation is not quite clear. As a result of the globalizing world and advanced communication infrastructure, the number of known / reported catastrophes is relatively high, but that does not necessarily mean there has been an actual increase in frequency. The red mud spill in Hungary was a special combination of industrial and natural disasters. This is one of the reasons why it is very hard to pinpoint who is responsible for the event. Natural disasters tend to raise questions about responsibility that are different from those concerning industrial catastrophes. Interestingly enough, however, nature often plays an important role in industrial disasters. The present article is concerned with how the issues of responsibility are handled in the case of industrial disasters

The production of freshwater fish for food

It has been estimated that in England and Wales fresh water covers some 340 square miles of which about one quarter is inhabited mainly by salmon and trout; in Scotland the lakes cover an area of 340 square miles. The principal object of this publication is to make available in handy form some of the methods, especially those involving the use of manures, by which crops of fish from water can be increased. The cultivation of water which this implies may be compared directly to the cultivation of farm land: the conditions for growth are made as favourable as possible, the seed is sown in the form of young fish, and after one or perhaps two growing seasons the crop is harvested. There are however many waters about the country where marketable fish are already available and can be removed without prejudice to, and indeed to the advantage of, sporting fisheries. In such cases it is necessary only to remove the fish and to rely on the natural processes of reproduction of those which are left to repopulate the water. Farming waters in the true sense is the concern of the greater part of this publication; the removal of crops of otherwise unwanted fish is considered in the last two sections on perch trapping and eel fisheries

The Iraq Crisis and the Future of the Western Alliance: An American view

In the wake of the Iraq war, there has been a tendency by both the Americans and the Europeans to overlook the difficulties facing the transatlantic relationship that resulted from the Iraq crisis. This approach to dealing with some of the basic issues that emerged during this time is not a healthy one, and these issues must be discussed openly and seriously. This chapter addresses four important matters related to the Iraq crisis: the question of deterrence, whether or not weapons inspections should have been further pursued, pre-emption and its relation to international law, and the crisis that existed within the transatlantic alliance. While both sides have attempted to address these issues, they are in reality much more complex than initial assessments have indicated. The predicaments posed by the Iraq war for the transatlantic alliance are unlike those that the alliance faced during the Cold War, and Europeans must think carefully about what kind of alliance they foresee with the United States in the future.NATO; international relations

The Recent History of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

Seminar TranscriptPsychiatric diagnosis is controversial and is regarded by some principally as a means of reinforcing the vested interests of medical professionals and pharmaceutical companies. On the other hand, the phenomena that are described in clinical psychiatric practice are real and clearly extend across time and between cultures. ‘In every culture there is some notion of emotional or psychological difference. Not all cultures identify these differences in the same way, nor do they use identical terms. Equally, however no culture is indifferent to those who are sad, frightened or unintelligible in their conduct.’ 1 The description and diagnosis of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) or ‘winter depression’ is a comparatively recent development which provides an unrivalled opportunity to explore the construction of a psychopathological entity through the relevant peer-reviewed publications, as well as the professional and public reaction to these scientific discoveries. This Witness Seminar provides a riveting insight into the thinking of some key protagonists, both the scientists who developed the diagnosis of SAD as well as those for whom this new clinical entity resonated so clearly with their own experiences. What is the point of diagnosis? Ideally a diagnosis should point to a particular disease process, though even in general medicine this is often not the case. However, in a pragmatic sense the value of diagnosis is that it enables a group of people manifesting particular clinical phenomena to be identified as sharing a common prognosis and response to treatment – in the case of SAD a therapeutic response to artificial bright light. Indeed with SAD, it may be that increasing knowledge about the circadian effects of bright light stimulated a search for medical conditions in which it might be effective, that is, in some sense the availability of a treatment led to the identification of the condition. How truly recent is the identification of SAD as a diagnostic entity? In fact, seasonal variation in mood disorder has long been recognized and Rosenthal and colleagues (1984) quote the eminent nineteenth-century psychiatrist, Emil Kraepelin, as commenting in his standard textbook: ‘Repeatedly I saw in these cases moodiness set in in autumn and pass over in spring ... corresponding in a certain sense to the emotional changes which come over even healthy individuals at the changes of the seaso

Women’s circles and the rise of the new feminine : reclaiming sisterhood, spirituality, and wellbeing

This paper draws on the results of ethnographic research on ‘women’s circles’; women-only spaces that celebrate sisterhood and the ‘feminine’, including the increasingly globally popular ‘Red Tent’. Women’s circles are non-institutionalized, often monthly gatherings, for women to come together and relax, meditate, share stories, partake in rituals, heal, nourish, and empower themselves. Based on fieldwork and in-depth interviews with founders and organizer-practitioners of women’s circles in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, the study shows how they offer a growing number of women from diverse backgrounds a space that they find lacking in secular-liberal society, out of a desire to ‘re/connect’ with each other, their bodies, their inner selves, and sometimes with the sacred. Women’s circles are indicative of women’s heightened participation in the realm of subjective wellbeing culture, including both elements of spirituality and more secular ‘personal growth’. Against the presumption that circles would be merely expressive of neo-liberal individualist consumer culture or retrograde gender essentialism, the paper argues they can be viewed as sites of sisterhood, solidarity, and dissent, cultivating a new type of femininity grounded in both affirmative and more oppositional forms of emerging feminist consciousness. In response to the so-called ‘post-secular turn in feminism’ and the growing interest for religion and, more recently, spirituality in (secular) feminist theory, the paper pleads for a re-consideration of the rise of women’s spirituality/wellbeing culture in the West as a form of post-secular agency

Canadian Child Welfare: System Design Dimensions and Possibilities for Innovation

Ontario child welfare is entering territory where other countries have gone before. A decade earlier, jurisdictions in England, the United States and Australia implemented similar reforms and, not coincidentally, encountered comparable difficulties, creating high levels of dissatisfaction among service users and service providers. Our contention is that such frustrations are inherent consequences of the underpinnings of the “Anglo-American child protection paradigm”. To do better, it is helpful to look for ideas outside of what is familiar and to consider how useful approaches from other jurisdictions might be adapted to a Canadian context. There are two primary focuses for this paper: (1) to extrapolate lessons for reform from the experiences of families and service providers in Ontario’s Children’s Aid Societies; and, (2) to identify opportunities for positive innovations in Canadian child welfare systems drawing upon selected international jurisdictions

The Organic Research Centre; Elm Farm Bulletin 84 July 2006

Regular bulletin with technical updates of the Organic Advisory Service Issue contains: Battling on for Avian Flu preventive vaccination; Organic Colombian Blacktail eggs; UK Co-existence - GMOand non-GMO crops; Aspects of Poultry Behaviour; CAP in the service of biodiversity; Seeing the Wood, the Trees and the Catch 22; Beware of organic market "statistics"; A central role in energy review

Environmental Toxicology: The legacy of Silent Spring

The transcript of a Witness Seminar held by the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL, London, London, on 12 March 2002. First published by the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL, 2004.©The Trustee of the Wellcome Trust, London, 2004.All volumes are freely available online at: www.history.qmul.ac.uk/research/modbiomed/wellcome_witnesses/Annotated and edited transcript of a Witness Seminar held on 12 March 2002. Introduction by Dr John Clark, St Andrews.Annotated and edited transcript of a Witness Seminar held on 12 March 2002. Introduction by Dr John Clark, St Andrews.Annotated and edited transcript of a Witness Seminar held on 12 March 2002. Introduction by Dr John Clark, St Andrews.Annotated and edited transcript of a Witness Seminar held on 12 March 2002. Introduction by Dr John Clark, St Andrews.Annotated and edited transcript of a Witness Seminar held on 12 March 2002. Introduction by Dr John Clark, St Andrews.Annotated and edited transcript of a Witness Seminar held on 12 March 2002. Introduction by Dr John Clark, St Andrews.The period immediately following the Second World War brought great hopes of continuing benefits from widespread use of organo-chlorine and organophosphorus insecticides and other pesticides whilst the health risks of pre-war and other later practices were largely ignored. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) coincided with the adoption of a more cautious approach to the use of pesticides, and the ensuing decades have been characterized by continued identification of both natural and man-made hazards and consequent efforts to minimize risk. ‘Environmental toxicology’ has no firm boundaries, encompassing as it does such diverse areas as the health risks of passive smoking, asbestos, lead, radon, air-borne particles, and accidental release of toxic chemicals (‘chemical incidents’), some of which still await resolution. Chaired by Professor Tony Dayan, this Witness Seminar brought together many of those who helped shape understanding in this area – 40 years after the publication of Silent Spring. Christie D A, Tansey E M. (eds) (2004) Environmental toxicology: The legacy of Silent Spring, Wellcome Witnesses to Twentieth Century Medicine, vol. 19. London: The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL. ISBN 978 085484 0915The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL is funded by the Wellcome Trust, which is a registered charity, no. 210183