All-Terrain Vehicle Safety Knowledge and Behaviors Among 4-H’ers

Youth in rural areas are exposed to all-terrain vehicles, but little is known about their knowledge of all-terrain vehicle safety and their likelihood to apply such knowledge. The purpose of this needs assessment was to determine what rural 4-H youth in Georgia knew about all-terrain vehicle safety and operating procedures. A total of 287 rural 4-H youth in fourth through sixth grade completed a previously validated all-terrain vehicle safety knowledge and behavior test administered during a regularly scheduled afterschool club meeting. Only 13.6% ( n = 39) of respondents passed the safety test, while 13.9% ( n = 15)of those who had taken an all-terrain vehicle safety course ( n = 108) passed. Of youth who passed the test, 36% had at least three years of riding experience. Participation in an all-terrain vehicle safety course could save a child’s life. Still, this study revealed that retention of safety information from these courses is limited, and riding experience does not necessarily imply adequate safety knowledge. Youth development professionals should consider partnering with local all-terrain vehicle dealerships to provide hands-on safety training experiences on properly equipped machines where youth can demonstrate their safety knowledge and behaviors and be evaluated by trained adult

From moral hazard to risk-response feedback

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessments (IPCC) Special Report on 1.5 °C of global warming is clear. Nearly all pathways that hold global warming well below 2 °C involve carbon removal (IPCC, 2015). In addition, solar geoengineering is being considered as a potential tool to offset warming, especially to limit temperature until negative emissions technologies are sufficiently matured (MacMartin et al., 2018). Despite this, there has been a reluctance to embrace carbon removal and solar geoengineering, partly due to the perception that these technologies represent what is widely termed a “moral hazard”: that geoengineering will prevent people from developing the will to change their personal consumption and push for changes in infrastructure (Robock et al., 2010), erode political will for emissions cuts (Keith, 2007), or otherwise stimulate increased carbon emissions at the social-system level of analysis (Bunzl, 2008). These debates over carbon removal and geoengineering echo earlier ones over climate adaptation. We argue that debates over “moral hazard” in many areas of climate policy are unhelpful and misleading. We also propose an alternative framework for dealing with the tradeoffs that motivate the appeal to “moral hazard,” which we call “risk-response feedback.

Phytoremediation of a radiocesium-contaminated soil: Field evaluation of {sup 137}Cs bioaccumulation in the shoots of three plant species. Quarterly technical progress report, October 1, 1996--December 31, 1996

A field study was conducted to investigate the potential of three plant species for phytoremediation of a {sup 137}Cs-contaminated site. From the contaminated soil, approximately 40-fold more radiocesium was removed in shoots of red root pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus L.) compared with those of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea (L.) Czern) and tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius A. Gray). The greater potential for {sup 137}Cs removal from the soil by Amaranthus was associated with both high concentration of radiocesium in shoots and high shoot biomass production. Approximately 3% of the total {sup 137}Cs was removed from the top 15 cm of the soil in shoots of three-month-old Amaranthus plants. Soil leaching tests conducted with 0.1 and 0.5 M NH{sub 4}NO{sub 3} solutions eluted as much as 15 and 19%, respectively, of the soil {sup 137}Cs. Addition of NH{sub 4}NO{sub 3} to the soil, however, had no positive effect on {sup 137}Cs accumulation in shoots in any of the species investigated. It is proposed that either NH{sub 4}NO{sub 3} solution quickly percolated through the soil before interacting at specific {sup 137}Cs binding sites or radiocesium mobilized by NH{sub 4}NO{sub 3} application moved below the rhizosphere becoming unavailable for root uptake. Further research is required to enhance the phytotransfer of the NH{sub 4}NO{sub 3}-mobilized {sup 137}Cs. With two croppings of Amaranthus per year and a sustained rate of extraction, phytoremediation of this {sup 137}Cs-contaminated soil appears feasible in less than 15 years

A Worksite Nutrition Intervention is Effective at Improving Employee Well-Being: A Pilot Study

Background. Worksite dietary interventions show substantial potential for improving employee health and well-being. The aim of this pilot study was to determine the effect of a worksite nutrition intervention on improving well-being. Methods. Thirty-five university employees participated in a 6-week nutrition intervention. The dietary protocol emphasized the daily consumption of greens, beans/legumes, a variety of other vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and whole grains, referred to as a micronutrient-dense, plant-rich diet. Participants were encouraged to minimize the consumption of refined foods and animal products. Results. Significant improvements in sleep quality, quality of life, and depressive symptoms were found. Conclusions. Findings reveal that a worksite nutrition intervention is effective at improving sleep quality, quality of life, and depressive symptoms with a projected improvement in work productivity and attendance

The role of direct air capture and negative emissions technologies in the shared socioeconomic pathways towards +1.5 °C and +2 °C futures

The development of the shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) and associated integrated assessment modeling exercises did not include direct air capture with carbon storage (DACCS) in their scenarios. Recent progress in DACCS commercialization suggests it could be a viable means of removing CO _2 from the atmosphere with far lower land intensity than bioenergy with carbon capture or afforestation but with higher energy demands. Several forms of DACCS are in development, with different costs and energy inputs, as well as potential for future cost and performance improvements. Here, we use the Global Change Analysis Model to understand the role of DACCS across all 5 SSPs for the below 2 °C and below 1.5 °C end-of-century warming goals. We assess DACCS deployment relative to other carbon capture methods, and its side effects for global energy, water, land systems. We find that DACCS could play up to a tens of GtCO _2 yr ^−1 role in many of these scenarios, particularly those with delayed climate policy and/or higher challenges to emissions mitigation. Our ‘sustainable development’ scenarios, consistent with SSP1, have smaller deployments of DACCS and other negative emissions owing to immediate climate policy onset, greater ease of emissions abatement, and tighter constraints on future negative emissions

A multitrophic model to quantify the effects of marine viruses on microbial food webs and ecosystem processes

Viral lysis of microbial hosts releases organic matter that can then be assimilated by nontargeted microorganisms. Quantitative estimates of virus-mediated recycling of carbon in marine waters, first established in the late 1990s, were originally extrapolated from marine host and virus densities, host carbon content and inferred viral lysis rates. Yet, these estimates did not explicitly incorporate the cascade of complex feedbacks associated with virus-mediated lysis. To evaluate the role of viruses in shaping community structure and ecosystem functioning, we extend dynamic multitrophic ecosystem models to include a virus component, specifically parameterized for processes taking place in the ocean euphotic zone. Crucially, we are able to solve this model analytically, facilitating evaluation of model behavior under many alternative parameterizations. Analyses reveal that the addition of a virus component promotes the emergence of complex communities. In addition, biomass partitioning of the emergent multitrophic community is consistent with well-established empirical norms in the surface oceans. At steady state, ecosystem fluxes can be probed to characterize the effects that viruses have when compared with putative marine surface ecosystems without viruses. The model suggests that ecosystems with viruses will have (1) increased organic matter recycling, (2) reduced transfer to higher trophic levels and (3) increased net primary productivity. These model findings support hypotheses that viruses can have significant stimulatory effects across whole-ecosystem scales. We suggest that existing efforts to predict carbon and nutrient cycling without considering virus effects are likely to miss essential features of marine food webs that regulate global biogeochemical cycles