Climate change adaptation through coastal and use management: The context of environmental justice

Despite an increasing literary focus on climate change adaptation, the facilitation of this adaptation is occurring on a limited basis (Adger et al. 2007) .This limited basis is not necessarily due to inability; rather, a lack of comprehensive cost estimates of all options specifically hinders adaptation in vulnerable communities (Adger et al. 2007). Specifically the estimated cost of the climate change impact of sea-level rise is continually increasing due to both increasing rates and the resulting multiplicative impact of coastal erosion (Karl et al., 2009, Zhang et al., 2004) Based on the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, minority groups and small island nations have been identified within these vulnerable communities. Therefore the development of adaptation policies requires the engagement of these communities. State examples of sea-level rise adaptation through land use planning mechanisms such as land acquisition programs (New Jersey) and the establishment of rolling easements (Texas) are evidence that although obscured, adaptation opportunities are being acted upon (Easterling et al., 2004, Adger et al.2007). (PDF contains 4 pages

Deliberative democracy and inequality: Two cheers for enclave deliberation among the disempowered

Deliberative democracy grounds its legitimacy largely in the ability of speakers to participate on equal terms. Yet theorists and practitioners have struggled with how to establish deliberative equality in the face of stark differences of power in liberal democracies. Designers of innovative civic forums for deliberation often aim to neutralize inequities among participants through proportional inclusion of disempowered speakers and discourses. In contrast, others argue that democratic equality is best achieved when disempowered groups deliberate in their own enclaves (interest groups, parties, and movements) before entering the broader public sphere. Borrowing from each perspective, the authors argue that there are strong reasons to incorporate enclave deliberation among the disempowered within civic forums. They support this claim by presenting case study evidence showing that participants in such forums can gain some of the same benefits of deliberation found in more heterogeneous groups (e.g., political knowledge, efficacy and trust), can consider a diversity of viewpoints rather than falling into groupthink and polarization, and can persuade external stakeholders of the legitimacy of the group’s deliberations

Measuring the Nexus: The Relationship Between Minority Ownership and Broadcast Diversity After Metro Broadcasting

In Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. FCC, the Court found a nexus between minority ownership and diversity of viewpoint. The recent Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod v. FCC decision dismissed the government’s arguments that a nexus exists between minority employment in broadcast stations and greater diversity in broadcast programming, and that the government has an interest in fostering such diversity. Given the challenge of the Lutheran Church opinion and potentially significant changes in the regulation and operation of the broadcast market, sole reliance on Metro Broadcasting’s holdings may be ill advised and a new study documenting the continued existence of the nexus may be warranted. Forum: New Approaches to Minority Media Ownership, Columbia Institute for Tele-Information, Columbia University

A Nice, Beautiful, Active, & Faithful Friend : Horses & Emotion in the Civil War Letters of Two Union Officers

Horses are the unsung heroes of the American Civil War. Both armies relied heavily on equines for a variety of tasks. They carried cavalry soldiers on the battlefield and pulled wagons for artillery and military supply chains. Horses could also serve as companion animals. Soldiers formed friendships with their horses as a way to heal from the trauma of combat and stave off the monotony of camp life. Writing about animals in letters to their families enabled soldiers to explain their experiences in more palatable terms to their families. As over 1.2 million horses and mules died in the conflict, they are worthy of commemoration and historical study. Many authors have written about the practical uses for equines in the Civil War, but relatively few have researched horses and soldiers’ emotions. This thesis examines the topics of Civil War horses and emotions through the wartime letters of two Union officers, Oliver Otis Howard and Charles Francis Adams, Jr. Both men came from affluent Northern society in the antebellum era, a time when many people were reevaluating the relationship between humans and animals. The anticruelty movement, which emerged from similar roots as antislavery, prompted changes to how people viewed and treated animals. Animal cruelty became socially unacceptable and eventually criminalized, while a new generation of equestrian trainers sought to train horses with kindness and bonding instead of brute force. These new ideas also existed uneasily alongside older traditions that equated enslaved African Americans and animals. Though Howard and Adams entered the war from similar backgrounds, they had divergent responses to animals and the war. Howard formed close attachments with the animals he met on the frontlines. One such friendship with a horse named Charlie helped him heal physically and psychologically after losing his right arm in combat. Writing about animals in letters to his family helped him explain his wartime experiences in a language that his children could understand and allowed him to remain involved in domestic life from afar. Adams, however, was constantly cynical and pessimistic about his Civil War service. His letters were full of complaints about army life and the perceived incompetence of the Union’s leadership. He also wrote extensively about his cavalry regiment’s horses, documenting the daily equine death and suffering that he witnessed in the conflict. When Adams was given command of a Black cavalry regiment late in the war, he often denigrated his soldiers and invoked the racist comparison between Black people and animals. Howard and Adams both survived the war and left their own legacies on postbellum America. Civil War horses continue to be relevant today through our conversations on memory and commemoration of the Civil War

Regulating Broadband Communication Networks

Professor Allen Hammond argues that the impending development of broadband communication networks has the potential to expand and equalize speech rights by endowing the public with more numerous and more powerful opportunities for speech. To realize these benefits, however, Congress must design a novel regulatory scheme that will maximize the speech rights of both the owners and the users of broadband communication networks. Current regulatory schemes governing print, broadcast and cable provide media owners and editors with extensive speech rights, but fail to provide sufficient public access. In contrast, the regulatory scheme governing telephone service providers assures public speech rights only by depriving media owners of all opportunities for speech

FCC Comment: In the Matter of Connect America Fund

The Broadband Institute of California (BBIC) and the Broadband Regulatory Clinic of Santa Clara Law (BRC) petition the Commission to expressly consider the needs of rural tribal lands in promulgating regulations regarding spectrum allocated for the development of 5G technologies, and encourages the Commission to work with prospective auction participants, broadband service providers and tribal communities to develop 5G use cases targeting rural and tribal needs. Presently, barriers to broadband deployment across tribal lands include geographical isolation, low population densities, difficult terrain, and political fragmentation arising from tribal governance issues. The first portion of this Comment explains these particularly crippling barriers. Enabling tribes with access to broadband connectivity can assist in combating social problems that arise as a result of these barriers. With regards to geographic isolation, access to healthcare and employment opportunities would improve, without the need for commuting long distances, as consumer markets expand

Long term time variability of cosmic rays and possible relevance to the development of life on Earth

An analysis is made of the manner in which the cosmic ray intensity at Earth has varied over its existence and its possible relevance to both the origin and the evolution of life. Much of the analysis relates to the 'high energy' cosmic rays ($E>10^{14}eV;=0.1PeV$) and their variability due to the changing proximity of the solar system to supernova remnants which are generally believed to be responsible for most cosmic rays up to PeV energies. It is pointed out that, on a statistical basis, there will have been considerable variations in the likely 100 My between the Earth's biosphere reaching reasonable stability and the onset of very elementary life. Interestingly, there is the increasingly strong possibility that PeV cosmic rays are responsible for the initiation of terrestrial lightning strokes and the possibility arises of considerable increases in the frequency of lightnings and thereby the formation of some of the complex molecules which are the 'building blocks of life'. Attention is also given to the well known generation of the oxides of nitrogen by lightning strokes which are poisonous to animal life but helpful to plant growth; here, too, the violent swings of cosmic ray intensities may have had relevance to evolutionary changes. A particular variant of the cosmic ray acceleration model, put forward by us, predicts an increase in lightning rate in the past and this has been sought in Korean historical records. Finally, the time dependence of the overall cosmic ray intensity, which manifests itself mainly at sub-10 GeV energies, has been examined. The relevance of cosmic rays to the 'global electrical circuit' points to the importance of this concept.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, accepted by 'Surveys in Geophysics