Black Stork Down: Military Discourses in Bird Conservation in Malta

Tensions between Maltese hunters and bird conservation NGOs have intensified over the past decade. Conservation NGOs have become frustrated with the Maltese State for conceding to the hunter lobby and negotiating derogations from the European Union’s Bird Directive. Some NGOs have recently started to organize complex field-operations where volunteers are trained to patrol the landscape, operate drones and other surveillance technologies, detect illegalities, and lead police teams to arrest poachers. We describe the sophisticated military metaphors which conservation NGOs have developed to describe, guide and legitimize their efforts to the Maltese public and their fee-paying members. We also discuss why such groups might be inclined to adopt these metaphors. Finally, we suggest that anthropological studies of discourse could help understand delicate contexts such as this where conservation NGOs, hunting associations and the State have ended in political deadlock

Service user and family member perspectives on services for mental health, substance use/addiction, and violence: A qualitative study of their goals, experiences and recommendations

© 2016 Haskell et al. Background: Mental health and substance use disorders (MSD) are significant public health concerns that often co-occur with violence. To improve services that address MSD and violence [MSD(V)], it is critical to understand the perspectives of those most affected, people who have sought help for MSD(V) (i.e., "service users"), especially those with co-occurring issues, as well as their family members. Methods: We conducted structured interviews with 73 service users and 41 family members of service users in two Ontario communities (one urban, one rural) regarding their goals related to help-seeking, positive and negative experiences, and recommendations for improving systems of care. Results: Overall, participants expressed a need for services that: (1) are respectful, nonjudgmental, and supportive, help service users to feel more 'normal' and include education to reduce stigma; (2) are accessible, varied and publicly funded, thereby meeting individual needs and addressing equity concerns at a systems level; and (3) are coordinated, holistic and inclusive of family members who often support service users. Conclusions: The findings provide a rich understanding of how service users and their families perceive services for MSD(V) issues and identify key ways to better meet their needs

The Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum: Plants as Paleothermometers, Rain Gauges, and Monitors

We travel back in time through this chapter and take a field trip to western North America during the Paleocene– Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), some 56 million years ago. Here, plant-and-animal fossils were discovered in the warmest interval of the last 500 million years, a condition that lasted only 200,000 years. We provide a brief review of what may have caused a massive influx of atmospheric carbon detected during the PETM. We contrast the PETM to similar ongoing thermal events that began during the Industrial Revolution and persist today. We discuss the tools that paleobotanists have devised to interpret climate from fossil leaf, pollen, and wood records and present a brief overview of floral changes that occurred in western North America before, during, and right after this thermal maximum. Lastly, we explore how fossil data can be incorporated with ecological and systematic information into biogeographical models to predict how Cenozoic plants respond to climate change