### Report on the Repeated Intentional Damages to the Little Mermaid Statue in Copenhagen

#### Introduction
The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, a cultural icon and major tourist attraction, has faced numerous incidents of intentional damage since its creation.

This report details the individual cases of vandalism, including the timing, nature of damage, perpetrators, and the stories behind each incident.

#### Incident 1: Decapitation (1964)
- **Date**: April 24, 1964
- **Damage**: The statue was decapitated using a hacksaw.

- **Perpetrators**: Unknown individuals.

- **Story**: The head was later recovered and reattached.

This was one of the first major acts of vandalism against the statue, shocking both locals and tourists.

The motive behind the act remains unclear, though it was speculated to be a protest against the statue's perceived bourgeois symbolism.

#### Incident 2: Arm Severed (1965

### Report on the Repeated Intentional Damages to the Little Mermaid Statue in Copenhagen

#### Introduction
The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, a cultural icon and major tourist attraction, has faced numerous incidents of intentional damage since its creation.

Title:

Content: Stolen staff returned to Harriet Tubman statue in Annapolis

BALTIMORE -- A staff stolen from a Harriet Tubman statue on display at an Annapolis museum has been returned after it was taken nearly a month ago.

No one knows if the staff was the target of a mindless attack or a crime of racist aggression. They're just glad they got it back.

"It's just mind-boggling to me," visitor Rich Adams said.

The staff, also known as a veve, now sits in its rightful place.

"I was surprised that on this street in front of a museum that someone would be so brazen to vandalize a statue—just in general," Adams said.

The theft took place in December. That's when vandals snatched the staff from the hands of the statue in front of the Banneker-Douglas Museum in Annapolis.

"When we discovered that the statue was vandalized, we were collectively devastated," Canel Johnson, the executive director of the Banneker-Douglas Museum, said.

It's a disturbing sign more than a century later that the iconic abolitionist is still facing attacks—even in the form of a statue.

"The statue was only here at the Banneker-Douglass Museum for a few months before it was vandalized," Johnson said.

It was on loan to the museum by the Goya Contemporary Gallery in Baltimore.

"With the help of the Annapolis police, the community at large, we were able to recover the veve and return it to its original glory," Johnson said.

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This report details the individual cases of vandalism, including the timing, nature of damage, perpetrators, and the stories behind each incident.

Title:

Content: Manhattan man arrested in vandalism of George Floyd statue

An arrest has been made in the vandalism of a George Floyd statue in New York City. Video of the incident in the city's Union Square Park shows a suspect with a skateboard throwing gray paint onto the statue earlier this month, CBS New York reported.

The New York Police Department released several videos of the suspect, including one of him leaving the subway, skateboard in hand. NYPD Crime Stoppers offered a reward up to $3,500.

On Monday, officers arrested Micah Beals, a 37-year-old from Manhattan. He has been charged with criminal mischief, police told CBS News. The investigation is ongoing and no further details were provided.

The wood and bronze statue of Floyd was vandalized 48 hours after it was installed in Union Square, Lindsay Eshelman, co-founder of the group Confront Art, told CBS New York.

The art group is responsible for the statue, which is part of the "SeeInJustice" exhibition that also includes statues of John Lewis and Breonna Taylor. The three statues have been shown at various locations across New York City.

Floyd, who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020, inspired protests against police brutality and racial injustice across the U.S.

Volunteers helped peel off thick layers of gray-blue paint from the Floyd statue. But this was not the first time it was vandalized.

When the 6-foot bust was previewed in Flatbush, Brooklyn, on Juneteenth, police said four people tied to a local supremacist group vandalized it, CBS New York reported.

The second vandalism in October was disheartening. "The crazy thing is we knew that this could happen," Eshelman said. "It just kind of shows that what we're doing is sparking conversation, it's sparking controversy. That is the mission of art, to evoke emotion. I don't align with this emotion. It's super frustrating, but it shows the dis-unification of America that we live in."

"It's the memory, you know. The memory is being tainted and we want to shed light," Confront Art's Angie Onmars told CBS New York. "We did this out of good intention for the community and it's really sad this is happening." Onmars said it "hurts the Floyd family as well to see the son that they lost, the brother that they lost is being vandalized again."

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#### Incident 1: Decapitation (1964)
- **Date**: April 24, 1964
- **Damage**: The statue was decapitated using a hacksaw.

Title:

Content: National

MLB and clubs to fund replacement for destroyed Jackie Robinson statue as GoFundMe reaches $150K

A stolen and destroyed statue of Jackie Robinson in Wichita, Kansas will be replaced by MLB and its 30 clubs.

Bob Lutz, the founder of the League 42 baseball program that built the statue, announced on social media Wednesday that MLB has promised funding to replace the statue, which has since been found burned beyond repair.

Per MLB.com, the league will also provide funding for the broader goals of League 42, which was named after Robinson and aims to provide an affordable baseball league for children in the Wichita area.

MLB's funding is in addition to the money the program has pulled in via its GoFundMe, which had exceeded $150,000 in donations as of Wednesday evening. That was already well above the program's original goal, but the organizers said in update the extra money will be used to "ramp up the pavilion area, in which Jackie stood before and will stand again, with added security measures and more."

The Robinson statue was cut down at the ankles and hauled away the night of Jan. 24, with the city initially estimating damages at $75,000. Local police requested help in finding the statue, which was located on Tuesday when officers were called to the scene of a dumpster fire at Garvey Park in North Wichita.

The fire was extinguished, leaving the charred remains of the statue.

The statue was sculpted by hand by the late artist John Parsons, who required two years to create it. A mold remains of the work, which will obviously help replace it.

The investigation into the theft remains underway. Surveillance video was released last week showing what appears to be two people and a driver cutting down the statue and loading it into a pick-up truck, which was later found abandoned:

From Wichita's KMUW:

"There will be arrests, but we're going to make sure that when we do, we will have a solid case," Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan said.

"So for those of you who are in any way involved in this — that means whether you are involved with stealing the statue, whether or not you accepted the statue, you recorded the destruction of the statue — it is only a matter of time. It would be in your best interest that you simply turn yourself in."

- **Perpetrators**: Unknown individuals.

Title:

Content: A young Arab man smashes historical statues in front of people under the pretext that they are idols
Monday 18 October-October 2021 07: 00 AM / Marib Press _ Agencies
Number of views 334
Social media users shared videos and photos of a young man with a sledgehammer smashing statues of historic lions in Al-Manara Square, in the center of the Palestinian city of Ramallah.
The Palestinian police arrested the young man and interrogated him to find out his motives and whether there was an instigator.
Today there is a young man convinced that the lions on the roundabout of the lighthouse in Ramallah are idols.
For his part, the spokesman of the Palestinian police, Louay Arzeqat, said in a statement issued by him, "The police arrested a person, who smashed and broke two heads of lions on the roundabout of the lighthouse in Ramallah."
He added: "Immediately, a police force arrested him, prevented him from smashing and breaking the rest of the lions, and detained him, to complete the legal procedures and refer him to the Public Prosecution."
The motives of the person who carried out the attack on these statues were not known, while an official in the province of Ramallah and al-Bireh said that the province is following up on this event and will issue a statement later on this incident, after clarifying all the circumstances.
According to Erm News.

- **Story**: The head was later recovered and reattached.

Title:

Content: Saint Petersburg
-4 °
The police are looking for vandals, tore off the head of the sculpture of the eagle on the historic house in St. Petersburg
The house of Buxgevden on Kuibyshev Street was damaged
The police are looking for vandals, tore off the head of the sculpture of the eagle on the historic house in St. Petersburg
Photo: Artem KILKIN (archive)
In St. Petersburg, the police began checking on the fact of damage to the sculpture of the apartment house Buxgevden on Kuibyshev Street.
On November 24, 2022, it became known that one of the sculptures of the eagle of house 36 had its head torn off.
Information about this appeared on the web.
- Information was revealed about the damage to the sculptural group installed on the house 36 on Kuibyshev Street - one of the two figures of eagles has no head, - said in the main department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region.
It is known that the house, which was attacked by the vandals, is the object of cultural heritage of the Committee for State Control, Use and Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments as the apartment house of V.A. Buxgevden.
At the moment, the police are checking and looking for vandals.

This was one of the first major acts of vandalism against the statue, shocking both locals and tourists.

Title:

Content: “Stole two sabers and a gun ”: Vandals disfigured the monument in the center of Krasnodar
Police are looking for vandals who damaged the monument “Shooting Corner ” in Krasnodar.
Vandals damaged the monument "Shooting angle".
It is located on the Vsesvyatskoe cemetery in the center of Krasnodar.
Parts of the memorial were torn off, two bronze sabers and a rifle were stolen.
"An unidentified person, being on the territory of the Vsesvyatsky cemetery (intersection of Aerodromnaya Street and Babushkina Street), by cutting and damaging fastening tools, committed theft of elements of the pedestal" Weapons ", - reported in the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Krasnodar.
Now the police are doing everything possible to find out who caused the damage to the memorial and took away part of the structure.
Everything happened at the intersection of Aerodromnaya and Babushkina streets, cameras are everywhere.
Operators will have to identify and detain the vandal.
The police of Krasnodar opened a criminal case.
“On this fact, a criminal case has been initiated on the grounds of the elements of the crime provided for in part.
1, Art. 214 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (vandalism).
Investigative actions and operational-search measures aimed at establishing the identity and detention of the offender are being carried out, ” the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Krasnodar said.
The damaged monumental complex faces arrest for up to three months.
Police detained a couple of visitors who burned garbage on the Eternal Flame of the memorial complex in Sochi.

Title:

Content: THE sponsors of an elephant artwork damaged in Lichfield say they are hopeful it can be repaired.

The Vince sculpture was damaged less than 24 hours after being put up as part of the March of the Elephants public art trail.

It was one of a number placed across Lichfield, Burntwood and Sutton Coldfield as part of the St Giles Hospice event.

The sculptures are due to be auctioned off in aid of the Whittington-based charity.

Davisons Law, who had sponsored Vince and had seen him installed outside their offices on Bore Street, said they were disappointed to see the damage.

Witney Tully, director of the company’s Lichfield office, said:

“It’s such a shame that this has happened.

“We work closely with St Giles and in particular over the last few months on the March of the Elephants.

“The fact that some individuals have decided to ruin it after just one day is heartbreaking.

“Hopefully, he can be repaired and be placed back on the trail soon. However, whilst the repairs are being done, if anyone taking part in this wonderful trail would still like to come into our Lichfield office for a goody bag, enter our colouring competition to win some prizes, they are more than welcome.’’

Witney Tully

Staffordshire Police confirmed it was investigating the vandalism to the sculpture in Lichfield.

A spokesperson for the force said:

“The elephant sculpture was knocked off its base on Bore Street and damaged sometime overnight between 30th June and 1st July.

“Anyone with information is asked to get in touch, particularly those with CCTV or doorbell footage from the area at the time.”

Staffordshire Police spokesperson

Anyone with information can contact police on 101, quoting incident 686 of 1st July.

Founder of Lichfield Live and editor of the site.

The motive behind the act remains unclear, though it was speculated to be a protest against the statue's perceived bourgeois symbolism.

Title:

Content: A man tries to destroy a statue by a pedophile artist.
World News
Copy Link https: / / www.rt.com / s5uz
A man climbed onto the front of the BBC headquarters in central London on Wednesday with a hammer to use to smash a statue of controversial sculptor Eric Gill.
BBC staff said they heard the man screaming over the sculptor's record of child sexual abuse.
Gill was one of the most prominent British artists and sculptors of the early 20th century until his death in 1940.
But his memoirs, published decades after his death, revealed that he sexually assaulted his daughters and his family dog.
The Prospero and Ariel statue (the protagonists of William Shakespeare ’ s The Storm), sculpted by Gill, has been installed on the facade of the BBC headquarters since 1933, and in recent years there have been several campaigns to remove the statue because of its owner ’ s personality.
Police were called to the scene, where officers managed to drop the man off and arrest him about four hours after the scene began.
Source: British media
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#### Incident 2: Arm Severed (1965

Title:

Content: Missing Mary statue found

0

RUSSELLS POINT – She has been found! The 20-foot-tall fiberglass statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary was found on Saturday, March 30, 2024, by a local volunteer dive team at the bottom of a murky lake. The statue was blown into Indian Lake by a powerful EF-3 tornado that devastated the area on March 14, 2024, and it had evaded discovery for over two weeks.

Built in 1964, the statue was nearly 60-years old, but plans for her birthday celebration have been postponed for obvious reasons.

“We are so excited to have her finally located! And just one day before Easter Sunday!” said Bill Quatman, president of The American Society of Ephesus, Inc. (“ASE”), a Lima-based non-profit which owns the statue. “We have had an overwhelming amount of interest from all over the world and many generous offers to help with the search or the cost to rebuild. We even received a kind letter from the mayor of Fatima, Portugal, who visited the shrine at Indian Lake in August 2018.”

“Special thanks go out to the dive team of Jimmy Dawson (of Russells Point), Richard Martin (of Marysville), and Josh George (of Delaware). We also want to thank drone pilots Jeff Lang and Aaron Shirk who searched for the statue from the air,” Quatman added. “Visibility was near zero, and drones could not locate her, so divers had to feel for the statue in the dark. She was found about 150 feet off the shore,” said Bill Quatman, “after being blown off the concrete pedestal. She never touched the ground and must have flown 50-100 yards in the air. That would have been quite a site to see.”

The fiberglass statue was broken into many pieces by the tornado, but ASE plans to rebuild a new statue at St. Mary’s Point, the site of the previous Our Lady of Fatima Shrine (known by many as “Our Lady of the Lake”). Details will be provided later this year by ASE on its plans for the design and reconstruction.

“We had started demolition of the old concrete pedestal the same day she was found, so the timing is perfect,” Quatman said, “and once the debris is removed and the site is graded, we will begin the design process for the new shrine. Watch for an announcement later this year.”

The missing statue had become somewhat of a local mystery, with lots of speculation about what happened to it and where it could have landed.

“Most thought she was broken into many pieces – which is right, while others thought she had merely sunk into the lake intact. Still others thought that she might have landed in a farmer’s field somewhere in Northwest Ohio! We could not rule out any possibility,” Quatman said. For now, ASE is not soliciting donations nor design ideas for the new project, and it asks that anyone wishing to help donate instead to the Logan County United Way’s Tornado Relief Fund. ASE made a $25,000 donation to the Relief Fund to help other tornado victims.

“We will rebuild, no doubt about it. But it is going to take some time. We want to do it right, so that it lasts at least another 60 years,” said \ Quatman.

For more information on ASE and the statue, visit: www.ase-gbqfoundation.org or www.saintmaryofthewoods.com/fatima

The American Society of Ephesus, Inc. (George B. Quatman Foundation) is a non-profit private foundation formed in 1955 and based in Lima, Ohio whose mission is to promote a greater realization and appreciation of the teachings and wonders of God; to preserve and erect religious shrines; and to restore and preserve the burial grounds of outstanding religious leaders.

The Our Lady of Fatima Shrine at Russells Point, Ohio was one of the tallest statues of the Virgin Mary in the United States. Dedicated in August 1964, the 43’ tall monument included a 19-foot, 6-inch fiberglass statue of Our Lady of Fatima on a concrete pedestal. It was located at St. Mary’s Point, 261 Chase Ave., Russells Point, Ohio. The property is now closed to the public during construction.

For more information on United Way of Logan County’s Indian Lake Tornado Relief Fund, visit: https://www.uwlogan.org/indian-lake-tornado-community-response

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# Ocean Acidification Impact Report

## Introduction
As president of your high school's climate justice club, this report provides comprehensive information about how ocean acidification affects marine life beyond the well-known coral bleaching phenomenon.

This information will help create effective educational materials for your Spirit Week activities.

## What is Ocean Acidification?

Ocean acidification occurs when the ocean absorbs excess atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), changing the chemical composition of seawater.

The ocean absorbs up to 23% of yearly anthropogenic CO2 emissions, which helps reduce climate change impacts but causes the water to become more acidic.

Since pre-industrial times, ocean acidity has increased by 26%, with projections showing a 100-150% increase by the end of this century.

## Impacts on Marine Life Beyond Coral Reefs

### Cephalopods (Including Cuttlefish and Octopuses)
Your school mascot, the cuttlefish, is directly affected by ocean acidification.

# Ocean Acidification Impact Report

## Introduction
As president of your high school's climate justice club, this report provides comprehensive information about how ocean acidification affects marine life beyond the well-known coral bleaching phenomenon.

Title:

Content: There were 1,357 press releases posted in the last 24 hours and 396,480 in the last 365 days.

Integrated actions across multiple sustainable development goals (SDGs) can help address coastal ocean acidification

Integrated actions across multiple sustainable development goals (SDGs) can help address coastal ocean acidification

Published 17 June 2024 Science Leave a Comment
Tags: policy, review

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015 constitute a set of 17 global goals established as a blueprint for achieving a more sustainable and equitable world for humanity. As part of the SDGs, target 14.3 is focuses on minimizing and addressing the impacts of Ocean Acidification (OA). We argue that moving forward in meeting the targets related to pH levels in the coastal ocean can be facilitated through accounting for various drivers of pH change, which are associated with advancing a suite of SDG goals. Addressing ‘coastal acidification’ via a suite of linked SDGs may help avoid inaction through connecting global phenomena with local impacts and drivers. This in turn can provide opportunities for designing novel place-based actions or partnerships that can aid and provide synergies for the joint implementation of programs and policies that tackle a suite of SDGs and the specific targets related to coastal ocean pH.

Vargas C. A. & Gelcich S., 2024. Integrated actions across multiple sustainable development goals (SDGs) can help address coastal ocean acidification. Communications Earth & Environment 5: 319. doi:10.1038/s43247-024-01485-6. Article.

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Content: There were 1,623 press releases posted in the last 24 hours and 399,351 in the last 365 days.

Taphonomy and aleoecology of lycoptera: a case study from the lower jehol group in Western Liaoning, Northeastern China

Taphonomy and aleoecology of lycoptera: a case study from the lower jehol group in Western Liaoning, Northeastern China

Published 27 June 2024 Science Leave a Comment
Tags: biogeochemistry, biological response, fish, laboratory, morphology, North Pacific, paleo

Taphonomy and paleoecology (biological behavior) of the Early Cretaceous fish fossils are poorly described. This study reports for the first time a detailed taphonomical and paleoecological study on Lycoptera in the Mesozoic strata of western Liaoning Province, NE China. The XRD analysis shows that gismondine is the dominant clay minerals that could have contributed to the preservation of Lycoptera fossils and microbial mat fragments in the fossil-bearing horizon. Gismondine may have formed under volcanism-related hydrothermal regime that was transformed from crystal and lithic fragments. The μ-XRF imaging analysis shows a dominant chemical composition of Al, Si, P, S, Rh, K, Ca, Ti, C, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, among which P, Ca, C and S are enriched in the fish skeleton in comparison to the matrix. This suggests a dominant apatite composition for the fish skeleton. Hydrothermal influence did not smear off these organic signals probably because of protection of gismondine. The coexistance of C and S with Ni is assumed to represent recovered primary productivity following volcanic explosions and toxic gas emissions. The head of juvenile fish stays close to the body of adult fish. Pending further discoveries, such phenomenon is interpreted to suggest that adult fish actively protected juvenile fish in the presence of environmental pressures such as anoxia and deterioration of water quality induced by volcanism. Ocean acidification and hypoxia in association with volcanism created a harmful environment causing mass extinction of fish. The adult Lycoptera protected their juveniles by its body at the moment before death. Such biological behavior will be increasingly reported given the wide occurrence of Lycoptera in Mesozoic strata.

Lam Z., Cao R., Zhang S., 2024. Taphonomy and aleoecology of lycoptera: a case study from the lower jehol group in Western Liaoning, Northeastern China. Journal of Earth Science 35(3): 737 -746. Article (subscription required).

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Content: Scientists warn of what could lead to a “mass extinction ” of marine life that“ rivals ” the severity of the Great Death!
The Libyan Observatory Newspaper
A new study has revealed that greenhouse gas emissions could lead to mass extinctions of marine life to levels not seen since before the dinosaurs.
Researchers in New Jersey modeled the future extinction risk of marine life in all of the world's oceans under different projected climate scenarios.
If emissions are not curbed, the loss of marine species due to global warming and oxygen depletion could reverse the “Great Death, ” the most serious extinction event on Earth, by about 2100, they say.
The Great Death, known as the deadliest extinction on Earth, saw the loss of 95% of all marine species when it occurred about 250 million years ago.
It can also match other major extinction events in Earth's history, including the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.
According to the researchers, tropical waters will face the greatest loss of biodiversity, while polar species are more at risk of extinction.
On a more positive note, experts say reversing greenhouse gas emissions could reduce the risk of extinction by more than 70 percent.
Lead author Justin Penn, at Princeton University ’ s Department of Earth Sciences, said: “The bright side is that the future is not written in stone.
The scale of the extinction we have discovered depends heavily on the amount of carbon dioxide [CO2] we release going forward.
“There is still enough time to reverse the trajectory of CO2 emissions and prevent the magnitude of warming that could cause this mass extinction. ”
The Great Death marks a period when life on Earth has never been so close to extinction without recovery, either before or after.
When carbon dioxide dissolves in the oceans, it becomes extremely acidic and the level of oxygen in the water drops, killing marine life.
Scientists have long debated theories of the cause of extinction ranging from meteorite impact to volcanoes, which could have caused climatic and environmental changes that make the Earth uninhabitable.
But in the event of the next mass extinction, history will directly blame anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.
For the study, Ben and co-author Curtis Deutsch, also based at Princeton, combined existing data on marine species with climate change models to predict how changes in habitat conditions will affect their survival.
The experts compared their model to the size of the “Big Five, ” five historical mass extinctions recorded in the fossil record, among them the“ Great Death. ”
The researchers say that with global temperatures rising “as usual, ” marine life is likely to be subjected to a mass extinction that could potentially rival the size and severity of the Great Death.
Since the Great Death is the deadliest extinction event on Earth, the next marine extinction is likely to surpass the other four species.
Among the events, they found a common pattern – as the ocean warms and oxygen availability decreases, there is a clear decline in the abundance of marine life.
Water temperature and oxygen availability are key factors that will change as the climate warms due to human activity.
Warm water is not only a risk factor for species adapted to cold climates; it also contains less oxygen than cold water, slowing ocean circulation further and reducing the supply of oxygen at depth.
Paradoxically, the metabolic rates of the species increase as the water warms, and therefore the demand for oxygen rises as the supply decreases.
“Once the oxygen supply is less than what a species needs, we expect to see significant species losses, ” he said.
Experts say marine animals have physiological mechanisms that allow them to adapt to environmental changes, but only to a certain extent.
The researchers found that polar species are more likely to become extinct globally if climate warming occurs because they will not have suitable habitats to move to.
Tropical marine species are likely to be better off because they have traits that allow them to cope with warm, low-oxygen waters in the tropics.
To determine the relative importance of climate in the occurrence of extinctions, the team also compared future extinction risks from climate warming with data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on current threats to various marine animals.
They found that climate change currently affects 45% of marine species at risk of extinction, but is only the fifth most important stressor after overfishing, transport, urban development and pollution.
However, Ben said climate change could soon overcome all these stressors in importance.
"Extreme warming will lead to climate-induced extinctions, which, towards the end of the century, will compete with all current human pressures combined," he said.
The study, “Avoiding mass extinction of oceans due to climate warming, ” was published in the journal Science.
Source: Daily Mail

Title:

Content: Sun. Nov 20th, 2022

This is a small proportion in view of conservatively projected $step one

Because the within , more than twenty four mil km2, or 17 %, off seas around national legislation (to two hundred nautical kilometers of shore) have been included in safe areas, over doubling in the the quantity since 2010

On average, one.dos percent regarding federal search finances are spent on water research between 2013 and you can 2017, having amounts anywhere between 0.02 per cent so you’re able to nine.5 %. 5 trillion contribution of the ocean towards the all over the world economy inside 2010.

Of a lot Says enjoys ratified or acceded into United nations Meeting on feeld review Rules of your Ocean (168 events) as well as using plans (150 people toward Agreement regarding the utilization of Area XI of your Us Seminar on the Rules of one’s Water and 91 functions towards United nations Fish Stocks Arrangement). Numerous Claims features followed these products thanks to court, policy and you may institutional buildings, but further advances becomes necessary in a number of developing places, particularly the least set up regions.

Waters and you can fisheries went on to help with the global population’s monetary, public and you can environment means whenever you are distress unsustainable exhaustion, environment destruction and you may carbon dioxide saturation and you may acidification. Current jobs to guard trick marine surroundings and you can quick-measure fishers and you may buy sea technology commonly yet , fulfilling the new immediate need to include that it huge, sensitive capital.

The ocean assimilates up to 23 % of your own yearly pollutants from anthropogenic carbon dioxide toward surroundings, helping to alleviate the impacts regarding weather change on the planet, although not, ultimately causing a bringing down pH and you can acidification of one’s water. A separate water acidification analysis portal suggests an increase in variability into the pH plus the acidity of one’s waters of the 10 to 31 per cent in the period 2015–2019.

The brand new sustainability off globally fishery info continues to decline, regardless if at the a diminished rates, with the ratio regarding fish stocks within biologically alternative account from the 65.8 % when you look at the 2017, down out of 90 per cent when you look at the 1974 and you may 0.8 fee area less than 2015 profile.

The new expansion away from protected elements having marine biodiversity and you can established rules and you may treaties that prompt in control entry to ocean resources are still insufficient to fight new undesireable effects regarding overfishing, increasing ocean acidification due to weather changes and you may worsening seaside eutrophication

Because the within , how many parties to the Arrangement towards Port State Procedures to get rid of, Deter and you can Eliminate Unlawful, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing – the original joining in the world agreement you to particularly needs illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing – risen to 66 (like the Eu) away from 58 in the earlier year, and you will nearly 70 % out of nations stated rating at the top of the fresh implementation thereof.

The share of alternative marine grab fisheries remained steady at around the globe height, with regional adaptation, representing the biggest contribution with the GDP within the Pacific brief isle development States and you will the very least build countries, averaging 1.55 and 1.15 percent, correspondingly, in 2011 to help you 2017.

Once the vast amounts of somebody count on oceans due to their livelihood and you may dinner source as well as on the fresh new transboundary characteristics regarding waters, improved jobs and you can interventions are needed to cut and you can sustainably have fun with water information at all profile.

  • Water acidification is caused by new consumption off atmospheric Carbon-dioxide of the the sea, and this change this new chemical substances constitution of one’s seawater. Long-label observations from ocean acidification for the past thirty years has found the typical increase from acidity regarding 26 per cent given that pre-commercial times, and also at which rates, a rise off a hundred to help you 150 % try predicted from the the termination of the newest century, having really serious effects to possess marine life.
https://atlanticfinancialmanagement.co.uk/

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Title:

Content: Our Burning Planet

UNCOMFORTABLY NUMB: ANALYSIS

Our antidepressants in the water are making the fish come undone

(Photos: Unsplash / Sebastian Pena Lambarri | Myriam Zilles | Danilo Alvesd)

An item appeared in the international news media last Friday that was next-level apocalyptic. More than a hundred fish species off the Florida coast had been found with heavy traces of human pharmaceuticals in their blood, most of which were antidepressants. The fish, of course, were exhibiting some strange and dangerous behaviours. Question is, will there be a wake-up call in here for us?

  • ‘It is not half so important to know as to feel.’ — Rachel Carson.

It’s a cliché these days to observe that the news can be a hazard to our collective mental health. The prospects for the ignition of World War 3 in Eastern Europe, new variants and outbreaks of a pandemic that we thought was over, increasingly shrill warnings of the collapse of our biomes and the attendant unravelling of modern civilisation — none of these stories, which are now standard fare across most of our major media platforms, encourage what is colloquially referred to as “balance”. Still, through our enforced numbness, some stories shout louder at us than others.

One such story was buried deep below the headlines in The Guardian last Friday, 29 April.

“Fish on drugs,” the item stated, before explaining that “a cocktail of medications” appears to be “contaminating [the] ocean food chain”.

Really?

Yup, really.

A click-through to the story proper (and who, in their daily doom-scrolling, could refuse the dystopian promise of such a lead?) revealed that a three-year study had confirmed “widespread traces of a total of 58 medications including heart drugs, opioids, antidepressants and antifungals in increasingly rare bonefish and their prey”.

As it turns out, with nearly five billion medications prescribed annually in the United States alone — and the average American on a regimen of 12 prescriptions per year — human wastewater has been playing havoc with fish species off the coast of Florida.

The full report, commissioned by the state’s Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, concluded that more than half of the bonefish sampled had drugs in them at levels “above which we expect negative effects”.

Apparently, one of the bonefish tested positive for 17 pharmaceuticals, “eight of them antidepressants that were up to 300 times above the human therapeutic level”.

And while the study had found an average of 11 pharmaceuticals in all of the 125 fish species upon which the bonefish feed, the truly alarming part came when The Guardian zoned out into the broader context.

“In 2013,” noted the reporter, “scientists from Umea University in Sweden… found that wild perch were less fearful and more antisocial when exposed to anti-anxiety medications, which could affect feeding and breeding.

“A 2016 study by the same university found salmon exposed to this medication swam faster and had riskier behaviour.

“Crayfishes’ exposure to antidepressants has been linked to altered behaviour, increasing their boldness and the time they spent foraging, potentially making them more vulnerable to predators.”

So this, it seems likely, is another way in which we are killing our precious marine world. Aside from the anthropogenic climate change that is directly implicated in the mass coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef, the vast international fishing fleets that are eradicating the Pacific’s bluefin tuna and the deep-sea mining that threatens to wipe out entire oceanic ecosystems, we appear to be inducing chemical imbalances in the world’s underwater inhabitants.

How, then, should we continue to attend to our own imbalances, whether we choose to engage with the daily news or not?

At the risk of venturing into the esoteric, what the “fish on drugs” story demonstrates, before anything, is that nothing is separate. Our external environments, as human beings in the first apocalyptic stirrings of the Anthropocene, are a sublimely accurate reflection of our collective internal environments.

The truth, if we care to look beyond ourselves, if our personal anxieties and griefs and despairs are to be placed within the framework of the most profound planetary laws — for instance, what is in one is in the whole — is that our medications aren’t working for us.

Because, as scary as this truth may be, it’s not just the fish off the Florida coast (and God-alone-knows where else) that are being short-changed of their evolutionary safeguards — it’s apparently our own species too.

For a number of years, scientists across a range of disciplines have been trying to figure out why the graphs on certain mental disorders have continued to trend flat, when the available pharmaceutical treatments have never been so plentiful.

We all seem to know that the pandemic triggered a sharp spike in the data, with the World Health Organization confirming that the global prevalence of anxiety and depression had risen a staggering 25% in the first year, but what’s less well-known is that even before Covid hit, we were scratching our heads in wonder at the stats.

In November 2019, in a peer-reviewed paper published in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology that had been funded by a grant from the US’ National Science Foundation, researchers Kristen Syme and Edward Hagen submitted their findings under the following header: “Mental health is biological health: Why tackling ‘diseases of the mind’ is an imperative for biological anthropology in the 21st century.”

In the first paragraph of the introduction, with all the necessary citations, they stated the case bluntly: “During the 20th century, the biomedical sciences rapidly reduced the global burden of infectious disease, leading to dramatic increases in life expectancy (Murray et al., 2015). In the 21st century, chronic, non-infectious diseases have emerged as major contributors to the global disease burden (Benziger, Roth, & Moran, 2016), with mental disorders playing a substantial role (Whiteford et al., 2013).

“The causes of most mental disorders, however, remain a mystery, and there has been little progress in reducing the prevalence of any of them.”

From within an evolutionary framework — which is to say, the framework of ancestral human biology as opposed to contemporary biomedical psychiatry — what Syme and Hagen were arguing for was an entirely new lens on mental disorders.

It wasn’t their intention, as it certainly isn’t the intention of the author of this piece, to suggest that all psychiatric drugs should be outlawed, or even that many of the drugs haven’t together saved millions of lives (which they clearly and obviously have), but it was their stated mission to shift our gaze to the bigger picture.

For Syme and Hagen, who set out first and foremost to convince their peers in the field of biological anthropology that a) there was “a genuine and widely recognised theoretical crisis in mental health research” and b) that these peers were perfectly placed to fill in the gaps, the vast perspective of evolutionary time offered the most sensible way through.

In the second part of their paper, after laying out the problem in painstaking detail, they suggested a “provisional evolutionary schema for conceptualising mental disorders” that sliced the subject matter into four groups.

This schema, as noted, “identifies one group as relatively rare disorders of development that are probably caused by genetic variants, one widespread group that comprises aversive but probably adaptive responses to adversity and therefore are likely not disorders at all, one group that is probably due to senescence, and one group that might be caused by mismatches between ancestral and modern environments”.

Without getting further into the terminological weeds, it was the second group that, for a brief moment, elevated their research into the media’s mainstream.

Under the title, “Researchers Doubt that Certain Mental Disorders are Disorders At All,” Forbes magazine reported that Syme and Hagen had provided compelling evidence “to think of depression or PTSD as responses to adversity rather than chemical imbalances”.

Given that medical science has never been able to prove that anxiety, post-traumatic stress or depression are inherited conditions, the report noted, there appeared to be a distinct collective upside to this new evolutionary lens — “adversity is something we can overcome, whereas a mental disorder is something to be managed”.

And in terms of the placebo effect, it turned out, this conclusion wasn’t nearly as radical as the casual observer may have thought.

In November 2018, the New York Times Magazine ran a front page feature entitled, “What if The Placebo Effect Isn’t a Trick?” For around 5,000 carefully crafted and referenced words, the author made the case, based on a quarter-century of hard evidence, that you could give patients a sugar pill, and those patients — “especially if they have one of the chronic, stress-related conditions that register the strongest placebo effects and if the treatment is delivered by someone in whom they have confidence” — would get better.

What were some examples of these so-called conditions? According to the New York Times, the labels included depression and PTSD.

But before we get to suggesting what this all might mean for our over-prescribed fish, it’s important to note that there has lately been a great deal of hand-wringing within the halls of psychiatry itself.

In late March 2022, The Nation magazine weighed in with the investigative feature, “Breaking Off My Chemical Romance”, arguing that “we deserve a fuller picture of both the benefits and dangers of antidepressants.” The feature zoned in on one of the most “hardcore” forms of antidepressants, known in the trade as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs.

What if we realised that numbing ourselves wasn’t working; not for us and not for the fish?

Expanding from the individual case of an Australian psychiatry student who had been diagnosed with narcolepsy a few months after signing up for an SSRI — and who had later been prescribed both Ritalin and Ambien to help him stay focused during the day and fall asleep at night — the article went on to detail how the attempt to quit such drug cocktails had “basically ruined” countless thousands of lives.

“The theory that antidepressants correct a chemical imbalance of neurotransmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine is not a proven fact,” The Nation noted.

“Their basic functioning has not been definitively established. The story we all know is more marketing than science. And the incentive to find out whether they are indeed the best way to treat depression does not exist.

“In a world where so much scientific research is conducted by pharmaceutical companies and the entities they back, if drugs are making a profit, there’s little reason to question them.”

Still, as implied, the article quoted a solid cross-section of working psychiatrists who had recently come up with a lot of reasons to question them, not least of which was the fact that “several of the antidepressants still fell below the threshold of clinically significant improvement over a placebo”.

Importantly, and to reaffirm what was stated above, the point of this op-ed is not to argue that all psychiatric drugs are “bad”.

As The Nation made clear: “The strongest evidence for the beneficial effects of antidepressants applies to people with the most severe depression.”

The point, rather, from a writer who has fought his own battles with these drugs, is that psychiatrists — by their own overworked and overburdened admission — find it too easy to prescribe the drugs in even the mildest of cases, simply because the pressure from the pharmaceutical industry is too strong and entrenched.

So now we have oceans where fish breeding and feeding patterns, established over tens of millions of years, are hopelessly out of whack.

To ingest the “hope” back in, it seems, at least in this one emerging corner of our horrifying planetary predicament, would require recasting the dominant narrative into a form more in tune with the latest scientific research. And that, in turn, would require removing the label of “mental disorder” and replacing it with “adaptive response to trauma”.

In the context of the daily news headlines, how much of a stretch would that be? What if we chose, individually and collectively, to first notice the effect we were having on our fragile natural world — then to own it, then to imbibe it?

What if we realised that numbing ourselves wasn’t working; not for us and not for the fish?

What if we finally got that nothing had ever been separate?

What if we decided tomorrow morning to turn around and face the trauma — because that was the only way that it could, and perhaps would, be overcome? DM/OBP

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

How do scientists expect ocean acidification to impact specific fish species?

What factors lead to damage of coral reefs?

How do scientists expect ocean acidification to impact specific fish species?

What factors lead to damage of coral reefs?

How do scientists expect ocean acidification to impact specific fish species?

What factors lead to damage of coral reefs?

How do scientists expect ocean acidification to impact specific fish species?

What factors lead to damage of coral reefs?

How do scientists expect ocean acidification to impact specific fish species?

What factors lead to damage of coral reefs?

This information will help create effective educational materials for your Spirit Week activities.

Title:

Content: Can we save coral reefs? | Problem Solved

Coral reefs are a unique and biodiverse natural ecosystem and economic keystones for many communities and nations. They only cover about 0.2% of the ocean floor but support 25% of marine life. Roughly a billion people worldwide depend on them for food and income. Coral reefs are also the bedrock of many important drug research developments and breakthroughs. However, climate change, overfishing, and land-based pollution are causing these reefs to perish at a swift pace. How can we save them? Watch the video below for the full story. “Problem Solved” is a video series by Mongabay examining big, systemic, environmental issues and potential pathways to addressing them. The second video in this series uncovers our impacts on coral reef ecosystems and interventions needed now to save them. With the help of Arizona State University’s Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science and the head of the Allen Coral Atlas, Greg Asner, Mongabay dives into the largest impacts to reefs, and the solutions currently on the table to address them. While climate change doesn’t affect all reefs uniformly, experts warn that it’s an existential threat. Climate change must be addressed for any interventions to work in the long term. Other interventions include addressing human and land waste, and the overfishing of waters globally. Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, which studies climate change, said coral reefs are in an urgent predicament. Image courtesy of The Perfect Ocean. Land-based pollution, mostly in the form of human effluent and agrochemicals,…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Read the full article on Mongabay

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## What is Ocean Acidification?

Ocean acidification occurs when the ocean absorbs excess atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), changing the chemical composition of seawater.

What is the main cause of ocean acidification?

water absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

What is the main cause of ocean acidification?

water absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

The ocean absorbs up to 23% of yearly anthropogenic CO2 emissions, which helps reduce climate change impacts but causes the water to become more acidic.

What factors lead to damage of coral reefs?

What is the main cause of ocean acidification?

water absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

Since pre-industrial times, ocean acidity has increased by 26%, with projections showing a 100-150% increase by the end of this century.

## Impacts on Marine Life Beyond Coral Reefs

### Cephalopods (Including Cuttlefish and Octopuses)
Your school mascot, the cuttlefish, is directly affected by ocean acidification.

How do scientists expect ocean acidification to impact specific fish species?

it will affect their physiology and growth

Which marine organism is vulnerable to increased levels of ocean acidification?


# Ocean Acidification Impact Report for Climate Justice Club Spirit Week

## Introduction
As the president of our school's climate justice club, I'm excited to share important information about ocean acidification and its impacts on marine life beyond the well-known coral bleaching effects.

Since our school mascot is the cuttlefish, understanding how ocean acidification affects cephalopods like cuttlefish and octopuses is particularly relevant for our awareness campaign.

## What is Ocean Acidification?

Ocean acidification occurs when the ocean absorbs excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, changing the chemical composition of seawater.

Since pre-industrial times, ocean acidity has increased by 26%, with projections showing a 100-150% increase by the end of this century.

The ocean absorbs up to 23% of annual anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, which helps mitigate climate change impacts but causes the water to become more acidic.

## Impacts on Marine Life Beyond Coral Reefs

### C

# Ocean Acidification Impact Report for Climate Justice Club Spirit Week

## Introduction
As the president of our school's climate justice club, I'm excited to share important information about ocean acidification and its impacts on marine life beyond the well-known coral bleaching effects.

Title:

Content: Sun. Nov 20th, 2022

This is a small proportion in view of conservatively projected $step one

Because the within , more than twenty four mil km2, or 17 %, off seas around national legislation (to two hundred nautical kilometers of shore) have been included in safe areas, over doubling in the the quantity since 2010

On average, one.dos percent regarding federal search finances are spent on water research between 2013 and you can 2017, having amounts anywhere between 0.02 per cent so you’re able to nine.5 %. 5 trillion contribution of the ocean towards the all over the world economy inside 2010.

Of a lot Says enjoys ratified or acceded into United nations Meeting on feeld review Rules of your Ocean (168 events) as well as using plans (150 people toward Agreement regarding the utilization of Area XI of your Us Seminar on the Rules of one’s Water and 91 functions towards United nations Fish Stocks Arrangement). Numerous Claims features followed these products thanks to court, policy and you may institutional buildings, but further advances becomes necessary in a number of developing places, particularly the least set up regions.

Waters and you can fisheries went on to help with the global population’s monetary, public and you can environment means whenever you are distress unsustainable exhaustion, environment destruction and you may carbon dioxide saturation and you may acidification. Current jobs to guard trick marine surroundings and you can quick-measure fishers and you may buy sea technology commonly yet , fulfilling the new immediate need to include that it huge, sensitive capital.

The ocean assimilates up to 23 % of your own yearly pollutants from anthropogenic carbon dioxide toward surroundings, helping to alleviate the impacts regarding weather change on the planet, although not, ultimately causing a bringing down pH and you can acidification of one’s water. A separate water acidification analysis portal suggests an increase in variability into the pH plus the acidity of one’s waters of the 10 to 31 per cent in the period 2015–2019.

The brand new sustainability off globally fishery info continues to decline, regardless if at the a diminished rates, with the ratio regarding fish stocks within biologically alternative account from the 65.8 % when you look at the 2017, down out of 90 per cent when you look at the 1974 and you may 0.8 fee area less than 2015 profile.

The new expansion away from protected elements having marine biodiversity and you can established rules and you may treaties that prompt in control entry to ocean resources are still insufficient to fight new undesireable effects regarding overfishing, increasing ocean acidification due to weather changes and you may worsening seaside eutrophication

Because the within , how many parties to the Arrangement towards Port State Procedures to get rid of, Deter and you can Eliminate Unlawful, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing – the original joining in the world agreement you to particularly needs illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing – risen to 66 (like the Eu) away from 58 in the earlier year, and you will nearly 70 % out of nations stated rating at the top of the fresh implementation thereof.

The share of alternative marine grab fisheries remained steady at around the globe height, with regional adaptation, representing the biggest contribution with the GDP within the Pacific brief isle development States and you will the very least build countries, averaging 1.55 and 1.15 percent, correspondingly, in 2011 to help you 2017.

Once the vast amounts of somebody count on oceans due to their livelihood and you may dinner source as well as on the fresh new transboundary characteristics regarding waters, improved jobs and you can interventions are needed to cut and you can sustainably have fun with water information at all profile.

  • Water acidification is caused by new consumption off atmospheric Carbon-dioxide of the the sea, and this change this new chemical substances constitution of one’s seawater. Long-label observations from ocean acidification for the past thirty years has found the typical increase from acidity regarding 26 per cent given that pre-commercial times, and also at which rates, a rise off a hundred to help you 150 % try predicted from the the termination of the newest century, having really serious effects to possess marine life.
https://atlanticfinancialmanagement.co.uk/

By tushar

Title:

Content: Our Burning Planet

UNCOMFORTABLY NUMB: ANALYSIS

Our antidepressants in the water are making the fish come undone

(Photos: Unsplash / Sebastian Pena Lambarri | Myriam Zilles | Danilo Alvesd)

An item appeared in the international news media last Friday that was next-level apocalyptic. More than a hundred fish species off the Florida coast had been found with heavy traces of human pharmaceuticals in their blood, most of which were antidepressants. The fish, of course, were exhibiting some strange and dangerous behaviours. Question is, will there be a wake-up call in here for us?

  • ‘It is not half so important to know as to feel.’ — Rachel Carson.

It’s a cliché these days to observe that the news can be a hazard to our collective mental health. The prospects for the ignition of World War 3 in Eastern Europe, new variants and outbreaks of a pandemic that we thought was over, increasingly shrill warnings of the collapse of our biomes and the attendant unravelling of modern civilisation — none of these stories, which are now standard fare across most of our major media platforms, encourage what is colloquially referred to as “balance”. Still, through our enforced numbness, some stories shout louder at us than others.

One such story was buried deep below the headlines in The Guardian last Friday, 29 April.

“Fish on drugs,” the item stated, before explaining that “a cocktail of medications” appears to be “contaminating [the] ocean food chain”.

Really?

Yup, really.

A click-through to the story proper (and who, in their daily doom-scrolling, could refuse the dystopian promise of such a lead?) revealed that a three-year study had confirmed “widespread traces of a total of 58 medications including heart drugs, opioids, antidepressants and antifungals in increasingly rare bonefish and their prey”.

As it turns out, with nearly five billion medications prescribed annually in the United States alone — and the average American on a regimen of 12 prescriptions per year — human wastewater has been playing havoc with fish species off the coast of Florida.

The full report, commissioned by the state’s Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, concluded that more than half of the bonefish sampled had drugs in them at levels “above which we expect negative effects”.

Apparently, one of the bonefish tested positive for 17 pharmaceuticals, “eight of them antidepressants that were up to 300 times above the human therapeutic level”.

And while the study had found an average of 11 pharmaceuticals in all of the 125 fish species upon which the bonefish feed, the truly alarming part came when The Guardian zoned out into the broader context.

“In 2013,” noted the reporter, “scientists from Umea University in Sweden… found that wild perch were less fearful and more antisocial when exposed to anti-anxiety medications, which could affect feeding and breeding.

“A 2016 study by the same university found salmon exposed to this medication swam faster and had riskier behaviour.

“Crayfishes’ exposure to antidepressants has been linked to altered behaviour, increasing their boldness and the time they spent foraging, potentially making them more vulnerable to predators.”

So this, it seems likely, is another way in which we are killing our precious marine world. Aside from the anthropogenic climate change that is directly implicated in the mass coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef, the vast international fishing fleets that are eradicating the Pacific’s bluefin tuna and the deep-sea mining that threatens to wipe out entire oceanic ecosystems, we appear to be inducing chemical imbalances in the world’s underwater inhabitants.

How, then, should we continue to attend to our own imbalances, whether we choose to engage with the daily news or not?

At the risk of venturing into the esoteric, what the “fish on drugs” story demonstrates, before anything, is that nothing is separate. Our external environments, as human beings in the first apocalyptic stirrings of the Anthropocene, are a sublimely accurate reflection of our collective internal environments.

The truth, if we care to look beyond ourselves, if our personal anxieties and griefs and despairs are to be placed within the framework of the most profound planetary laws — for instance, what is in one is in the whole — is that our medications aren’t working for us.

Because, as scary as this truth may be, it’s not just the fish off the Florida coast (and God-alone-knows where else) that are being short-changed of their evolutionary safeguards — it’s apparently our own species too.

For a number of years, scientists across a range of disciplines have been trying to figure out why the graphs on certain mental disorders have continued to trend flat, when the available pharmaceutical treatments have never been so plentiful.

We all seem to know that the pandemic triggered a sharp spike in the data, with the World Health Organization confirming that the global prevalence of anxiety and depression had risen a staggering 25% in the first year, but what’s less well-known is that even before Covid hit, we were scratching our heads in wonder at the stats.

In November 2019, in a peer-reviewed paper published in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology that had been funded by a grant from the US’ National Science Foundation, researchers Kristen Syme and Edward Hagen submitted their findings under the following header: “Mental health is biological health: Why tackling ‘diseases of the mind’ is an imperative for biological anthropology in the 21st century.”

In the first paragraph of the introduction, with all the necessary citations, they stated the case bluntly: “During the 20th century, the biomedical sciences rapidly reduced the global burden of infectious disease, leading to dramatic increases in life expectancy (Murray et al., 2015). In the 21st century, chronic, non-infectious diseases have emerged as major contributors to the global disease burden (Benziger, Roth, & Moran, 2016), with mental disorders playing a substantial role (Whiteford et al., 2013).

“The causes of most mental disorders, however, remain a mystery, and there has been little progress in reducing the prevalence of any of them.”

From within an evolutionary framework — which is to say, the framework of ancestral human biology as opposed to contemporary biomedical psychiatry — what Syme and Hagen were arguing for was an entirely new lens on mental disorders.

It wasn’t their intention, as it certainly isn’t the intention of the author of this piece, to suggest that all psychiatric drugs should be outlawed, or even that many of the drugs haven’t together saved millions of lives (which they clearly and obviously have), but it was their stated mission to shift our gaze to the bigger picture.

For Syme and Hagen, who set out first and foremost to convince their peers in the field of biological anthropology that a) there was “a genuine and widely recognised theoretical crisis in mental health research” and b) that these peers were perfectly placed to fill in the gaps, the vast perspective of evolutionary time offered the most sensible way through.

In the second part of their paper, after laying out the problem in painstaking detail, they suggested a “provisional evolutionary schema for conceptualising mental disorders” that sliced the subject matter into four groups.

This schema, as noted, “identifies one group as relatively rare disorders of development that are probably caused by genetic variants, one widespread group that comprises aversive but probably adaptive responses to adversity and therefore are likely not disorders at all, one group that is probably due to senescence, and one group that might be caused by mismatches between ancestral and modern environments”.

Without getting further into the terminological weeds, it was the second group that, for a brief moment, elevated their research into the media’s mainstream.

Under the title, “Researchers Doubt that Certain Mental Disorders are Disorders At All,” Forbes magazine reported that Syme and Hagen had provided compelling evidence “to think of depression or PTSD as responses to adversity rather than chemical imbalances”.

Given that medical science has never been able to prove that anxiety, post-traumatic stress or depression are inherited conditions, the report noted, there appeared to be a distinct collective upside to this new evolutionary lens — “adversity is something we can overcome, whereas a mental disorder is something to be managed”.

And in terms of the placebo effect, it turned out, this conclusion wasn’t nearly as radical as the casual observer may have thought.

In November 2018, the New York Times Magazine ran a front page feature entitled, “What if The Placebo Effect Isn’t a Trick?” For around 5,000 carefully crafted and referenced words, the author made the case, based on a quarter-century of hard evidence, that you could give patients a sugar pill, and those patients — “especially if they have one of the chronic, stress-related conditions that register the strongest placebo effects and if the treatment is delivered by someone in whom they have confidence” — would get better.

What were some examples of these so-called conditions? According to the New York Times, the labels included depression and PTSD.

But before we get to suggesting what this all might mean for our over-prescribed fish, it’s important to note that there has lately been a great deal of hand-wringing within the halls of psychiatry itself.

In late March 2022, The Nation magazine weighed in with the investigative feature, “Breaking Off My Chemical Romance”, arguing that “we deserve a fuller picture of both the benefits and dangers of antidepressants.” The feature zoned in on one of the most “hardcore” forms of antidepressants, known in the trade as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs.

What if we realised that numbing ourselves wasn’t working; not for us and not for the fish?

Expanding from the individual case of an Australian psychiatry student who had been diagnosed with narcolepsy a few months after signing up for an SSRI — and who had later been prescribed both Ritalin and Ambien to help him stay focused during the day and fall asleep at night — the article went on to detail how the attempt to quit such drug cocktails had “basically ruined” countless thousands of lives.

“The theory that antidepressants correct a chemical imbalance of neurotransmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine is not a proven fact,” The Nation noted.

“Their basic functioning has not been definitively established. The story we all know is more marketing than science. And the incentive to find out whether they are indeed the best way to treat depression does not exist.

“In a world where so much scientific research is conducted by pharmaceutical companies and the entities they back, if drugs are making a profit, there’s little reason to question them.”

Still, as implied, the article quoted a solid cross-section of working psychiatrists who had recently come up with a lot of reasons to question them, not least of which was the fact that “several of the antidepressants still fell below the threshold of clinically significant improvement over a placebo”.

Importantly, and to reaffirm what was stated above, the point of this op-ed is not to argue that all psychiatric drugs are “bad”.

As The Nation made clear: “The strongest evidence for the beneficial effects of antidepressants applies to people with the most severe depression.”

The point, rather, from a writer who has fought his own battles with these drugs, is that psychiatrists — by their own overworked and overburdened admission — find it too easy to prescribe the drugs in even the mildest of cases, simply because the pressure from the pharmaceutical industry is too strong and entrenched.

So now we have oceans where fish breeding and feeding patterns, established over tens of millions of years, are hopelessly out of whack.

To ingest the “hope” back in, it seems, at least in this one emerging corner of our horrifying planetary predicament, would require recasting the dominant narrative into a form more in tune with the latest scientific research. And that, in turn, would require removing the label of “mental disorder” and replacing it with “adaptive response to trauma”.

In the context of the daily news headlines, how much of a stretch would that be? What if we chose, individually and collectively, to first notice the effect we were having on our fragile natural world — then to own it, then to imbibe it?

What if we realised that numbing ourselves wasn’t working; not for us and not for the fish?

What if we finally got that nothing had ever been separate?

What if we decided tomorrow morning to turn around and face the trauma — because that was the only way that it could, and perhaps would, be overcome? DM/OBP

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

What factors lead to damage of coral reefs?

What factors lead to damage of coral reefs?

Since our school mascot is the cuttlefish, understanding how ocean acidification affects cephalopods like cuttlefish and octopuses is particularly relevant for our awareness campaign.

Title:

Content: There were 1,357 press releases posted in the last 24 hours and 396,480 in the last 365 days.

Integrated actions across multiple sustainable development goals (SDGs) can help address coastal ocean acidification

Integrated actions across multiple sustainable development goals (SDGs) can help address coastal ocean acidification

Published 17 June 2024 Science Leave a Comment
Tags: policy, review

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015 constitute a set of 17 global goals established as a blueprint for achieving a more sustainable and equitable world for humanity. As part of the SDGs, target 14.3 is focuses on minimizing and addressing the impacts of Ocean Acidification (OA). We argue that moving forward in meeting the targets related to pH levels in the coastal ocean can be facilitated through accounting for various drivers of pH change, which are associated with advancing a suite of SDG goals. Addressing ‘coastal acidification’ via a suite of linked SDGs may help avoid inaction through connecting global phenomena with local impacts and drivers. This in turn can provide opportunities for designing novel place-based actions or partnerships that can aid and provide synergies for the joint implementation of programs and policies that tackle a suite of SDGs and the specific targets related to coastal ocean pH.

Vargas C. A. & Gelcich S., 2024. Integrated actions across multiple sustainable development goals (SDGs) can help address coastal ocean acidification. Communications Earth & Environment 5: 319. doi:10.1038/s43247-024-01485-6. Article.

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Which marine organism is vulnerable to increased levels of ocean acidification?

## What is Ocean Acidification?

Title:

Content: There were 1,623 press releases posted in the last 24 hours and 399,351 in the last 365 days.

Taphonomy and aleoecology of lycoptera: a case study from the lower jehol group in Western Liaoning, Northeastern China

Taphonomy and aleoecology of lycoptera: a case study from the lower jehol group in Western Liaoning, Northeastern China

Published 27 June 2024 Science Leave a Comment
Tags: biogeochemistry, biological response, fish, laboratory, morphology, North Pacific, paleo

Taphonomy and paleoecology (biological behavior) of the Early Cretaceous fish fossils are poorly described. This study reports for the first time a detailed taphonomical and paleoecological study on Lycoptera in the Mesozoic strata of western Liaoning Province, NE China. The XRD analysis shows that gismondine is the dominant clay minerals that could have contributed to the preservation of Lycoptera fossils and microbial mat fragments in the fossil-bearing horizon. Gismondine may have formed under volcanism-related hydrothermal regime that was transformed from crystal and lithic fragments. The μ-XRF imaging analysis shows a dominant chemical composition of Al, Si, P, S, Rh, K, Ca, Ti, C, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, among which P, Ca, C and S are enriched in the fish skeleton in comparison to the matrix. This suggests a dominant apatite composition for the fish skeleton. Hydrothermal influence did not smear off these organic signals probably because of protection of gismondine. The coexistance of C and S with Ni is assumed to represent recovered primary productivity following volcanic explosions and toxic gas emissions. The head of juvenile fish stays close to the body of adult fish. Pending further discoveries, such phenomenon is interpreted to suggest that adult fish actively protected juvenile fish in the presence of environmental pressures such as anoxia and deterioration of water quality induced by volcanism. Ocean acidification and hypoxia in association with volcanism created a harmful environment causing mass extinction of fish. The adult Lycoptera protected their juveniles by its body at the moment before death. Such biological behavior will be increasingly reported given the wide occurrence of Lycoptera in Mesozoic strata.

Lam Z., Cao R., Zhang S., 2024. Taphonomy and aleoecology of lycoptera: a case study from the lower jehol group in Western Liaoning, Northeastern China. Journal of Earth Science 35(3): 737 -746. Article (subscription required).

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Ocean acidification occurs when the ocean absorbs excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, changing the chemical composition of seawater.

Title:

Content: Scientists warn of what could lead to a “mass extinction ” of marine life that“ rivals ” the severity of the Great Death!
The Libyan Observatory Newspaper
A new study has revealed that greenhouse gas emissions could lead to mass extinctions of marine life to levels not seen since before the dinosaurs.
Researchers in New Jersey modeled the future extinction risk of marine life in all of the world's oceans under different projected climate scenarios.
If emissions are not curbed, the loss of marine species due to global warming and oxygen depletion could reverse the “Great Death, ” the most serious extinction event on Earth, by about 2100, they say.
The Great Death, known as the deadliest extinction on Earth, saw the loss of 95% of all marine species when it occurred about 250 million years ago.
It can also match other major extinction events in Earth's history, including the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.
According to the researchers, tropical waters will face the greatest loss of biodiversity, while polar species are more at risk of extinction.
On a more positive note, experts say reversing greenhouse gas emissions could reduce the risk of extinction by more than 70 percent.
Lead author Justin Penn, at Princeton University ’ s Department of Earth Sciences, said: “The bright side is that the future is not written in stone.
The scale of the extinction we have discovered depends heavily on the amount of carbon dioxide [CO2] we release going forward.
“There is still enough time to reverse the trajectory of CO2 emissions and prevent the magnitude of warming that could cause this mass extinction. ”
The Great Death marks a period when life on Earth has never been so close to extinction without recovery, either before or after.
When carbon dioxide dissolves in the oceans, it becomes extremely acidic and the level of oxygen in the water drops, killing marine life.
Scientists have long debated theories of the cause of extinction ranging from meteorite impact to volcanoes, which could have caused climatic and environmental changes that make the Earth uninhabitable.
But in the event of the next mass extinction, history will directly blame anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.
For the study, Ben and co-author Curtis Deutsch, also based at Princeton, combined existing data on marine species with climate change models to predict how changes in habitat conditions will affect their survival.
The experts compared their model to the size of the “Big Five, ” five historical mass extinctions recorded in the fossil record, among them the“ Great Death. ”
The researchers say that with global temperatures rising “as usual, ” marine life is likely to be subjected to a mass extinction that could potentially rival the size and severity of the Great Death.
Since the Great Death is the deadliest extinction event on Earth, the next marine extinction is likely to surpass the other four species.
Among the events, they found a common pattern – as the ocean warms and oxygen availability decreases, there is a clear decline in the abundance of marine life.
Water temperature and oxygen availability are key factors that will change as the climate warms due to human activity.
Warm water is not only a risk factor for species adapted to cold climates; it also contains less oxygen than cold water, slowing ocean circulation further and reducing the supply of oxygen at depth.
Paradoxically, the metabolic rates of the species increase as the water warms, and therefore the demand for oxygen rises as the supply decreases.
“Once the oxygen supply is less than what a species needs, we expect to see significant species losses, ” he said.
Experts say marine animals have physiological mechanisms that allow them to adapt to environmental changes, but only to a certain extent.
The researchers found that polar species are more likely to become extinct globally if climate warming occurs because they will not have suitable habitats to move to.
Tropical marine species are likely to be better off because they have traits that allow them to cope with warm, low-oxygen waters in the tropics.
To determine the relative importance of climate in the occurrence of extinctions, the team also compared future extinction risks from climate warming with data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on current threats to various marine animals.
They found that climate change currently affects 45% of marine species at risk of extinction, but is only the fifth most important stressor after overfishing, transport, urban development and pollution.
However, Ben said climate change could soon overcome all these stressors in importance.
"Extreme warming will lead to climate-induced extinctions, which, towards the end of the century, will compete with all current human pressures combined," he said.
The study, “Avoiding mass extinction of oceans due to climate warming, ” was published in the journal Science.
Source: Daily Mail

What is the main cause of ocean acidification?

water absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

What is the main cause of ocean acidification?

water absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

Since pre-industrial times, ocean acidity has increased by 26%, with projections showing a 100-150% increase by the end of this century.

The ocean absorbs up to 23% of annual anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, which helps mitigate climate change impacts but causes the water to become more acidic.

What factors lead to damage of coral reefs?

What is the main cause of ocean acidification?

water absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

## Impacts on Marine Life Beyond Coral Reefs

### C


# Syria's Traditional Glassblowing: A Report for the Artist Co-op Workshop Series

## Introduction

Traditional glassblowing in Syria, particularly in Damascus, represents one of the world's oldest and most sophisticated artisanal crafts, with roots extending back thousands of years.

This ancient art form has been passed down through generations of skilled craftsmen, creating exquisite pieces that reflect Syria's rich cultural heritage and artistic excellence.

## History of Glassblowing in Syria

Syria's glassblowing tradition is among the oldest in the world, dating back to ancient times when the region was a center of glass production in the Roman and Byzantine periods.

Damascus, in particular, has been renowned for its glasswork for centuries, with the craft becoming deeply embedded in the city's cultural identity.

The technique involves skilled artisans using traditional methods to create intricate decorative and functional glass pieces, often featuring distinctive Syrian designs and patterns.

The craft has been maintained through family traditions, with knowledge and techniques passed from master to apprentice

# Syria's Traditional Glassblowing: A Report for the Artist Co-op Workshop Series

## Introduction

Traditional glassblowing in Syria, particularly in Damascus, represents one of the world's oldest and most sophisticated artisanal crafts, with roots extending back thousands of years.

Title:

Content: damask silkghetty
Will the kings and the rich of the world return to wear the Damascene brocade again?
Syria is witnessing an accelerated return of silkworm breeding, after the industry has been severely affected by war, migration and difficult economic conditions.
Damascus has historically been famous for its Damascus brocade, made of silk, gold and silver threads.
The kings and the rich of the world were keen to wear brocade on occasions, as a sign of luxury and high status.
The silk industry in Syria dates back to the first century AD, and was famous for the days of Queen Zenobia in Palmyra.
Over time, Syria has led the world in the production and manufacture of silk.
The British Queen Elizabeth II is one of the most famous lovers of the Damascus brocade, and at her request, the Royal Palace sent a request to the Syrian Embassy in London, for the Damascene cloth to be designed for the queen's wedding dress.
When she wore it to the party in 1947, it caught the eye with its embroidered beauty.
The Return of the Silk Industry
The silk industry in Syria has been subjected to several setbacks that have made it decline, including local and global wars, economic crises, and the government ’ s monopoly on its industry since 1963, in addition to the emergence of artificial silk.
Despite the disappearance of the Syrian silkworm and its near extinction, the government is now working to import eggs from India and encouraging breeders through financial loans, with the aim of bringing local silk back to the global market.
The head of the Damascus Chamber of Agriculture, Mohammed Jannan, told "Eram News": "We imported 100 boxes of eggs from silk worm, and were presented at a symbolic and encouraging price for breeders, and each box contains 30 thousand eggs."
He added that the coming seasons will see an increase in the import of improved strains of silkworm, with the aim of producing white and yellow silk.
Although there are many difficulties in bringing Syrian silk back to the forefront of global markets, the industry ’ s roots in the countryside, and the experiences of the hereditary families, can lead to a revival of the silk in a short period of time.
Silkworm breeding centers are distributed in the cities of Homs, Hama, Latakia and Tartus.
The Ministry of Agriculture is working to provide consultations and expertise to new breeders, and everyone hopes to restore the glory of Syrian silk, as a favorite cloth for kings and rich people.
Damascene Silk
A Historical Look
The writer Maya al-Shami says in her book "Syrian Silk..
A picture of a living cultural heritage ":" I was struck when I met a family in the mountains of western Syria, who have been creating beautiful silk shawls for more than four generations today.
It ’ s a heritage industry that needs to be preserved. ”
Al-Shami adds: "The silk industry is divided into several crafts, the cocoons need to make silk thread, and the thread needs to weave cloth.
Weavers sell fabrics directly, or send them for dyeing.
And sometimes the strings are dyed first.
These operations are separate, and each of them has its own craftsmen and craftsmen. ”
According to al-Shami, there were 16 Syrian villages breeding silkworms before the crisis in the country.
The production volume was two tonnes of cocoons, compared to 360 tonnes in 1970.
The whole family is engaged in intensive seasonal work, the worms are very sensitive and are adversely affected by pesticides.
“In parallel with the silkworm farming activities concentrated in the villages, artisans in cities such as Damascus produce unique brocade fabrics using metal and silk threads, using centuries-old designs, ” she says.
Each Syrian city is unique in its silk industry, and Maya adds: “Aleppo ’ s pigeons create silk squares embellished with abstract, symmetrical shapes in white, red, and black.
In Homs and Hama, weavers create traditional striped fabrics.
Craftswomen produce dresses that take days to make, dyeing them in a method of attachment and binding called the "waistcoat".
It is not surprising to pass by the neighborhood of Bab Sharqi in Damascus, to read on the entrance of one of the buildings the words: "The textile factory of Anton Elias Mezner, founded in 1890", as the old Damascus embraces a long history of silk weaving.
The silk industry.
Resist!
The city of Drakish is one of the Syrian cities famous for its silk industry.
But its famous factory has been out of operation since 2009, despite the government ’ s announcement in 2017 of a three-phase plan aimed at bringing it back into production.
The last decline in the silk industry began in the early 1990s due to low economic viability and higher costs of raising silkworms than cocoons.
In addition to the import of industrial silk.
Agricultural engineer Ali Ismail told "Eram News": "The difficulties of breeding silkworms boils down to the provision of berries leaves in time.
And the suffering is in the speed of marketing, where the sale must take place within 10 days before the production is ruined. ”
The Ministry of Agriculture says it has distributed more than 150,000 mulberry trees at a nominal price to breeders.
In addition to the support with expertise and equipment almost free of charge.
These grants are expected to bear fruit in bringing Syrian silk back to the global front soon.
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Erm News
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Title:

Content: Or Elias...
Embraced the traditional crafts in its small museum Baharat Hanania Damascene
Damascus-Sana
You cannot pass through the Damascene neighborhood of Hanania in Bab Sharqi without being stopped by the time at the gallery of Mrs. Sophia Al-Ashqar “Um Elias ”. The smell of the place leads you voluntarily to stand at the heritage of nearly a hundred years old, looking at the cloth, moving your eyes to the copper and mosaic, and drowning in the place to come the laugh of Umm Elias and take you back to its small museum.
As her sons and residents of Haret Hananiya describe it as a “fortress ”, it is a fortress that stands as the steadfastness of Syrian women through time. Umm Elias does not only tell visitors to her heritage museum about the concept and value of the work, but she sees it embodied in her spirit and in every piece she weaved with her management of the gallery for nearly 70 years, including during the war on Syria. The development of the Syrian kaftan.
The love of the homeland and the authenticity of Umm Elias overshadowed her work many times, and she acted as a guide to the foreign tourist about the history of Syria and the age of each piece she acquired, reminding them that Damascus is the oldest inhabited city in history, and stressing that she did not tire and did not tire of that task, especially when visiting tourist delegations to Haret Hanania and their acquisition of the heritage craft in the gallery.
Mrs. Al-Ashqar talked about how she developed the Damascene kaftan from a traditional folk costume to a modern one that has been mixed for centuries until the present day. Umm Elias, 83, manipulated velvet, silk, agbani and brocade fabrics with her fingers as if she were manipulating her grandchildren, to come up with a piece of kaftan that mimics the fashion of our times and the new taste.
The icon of Haret Hanania moves around the gallery, continuing to talk, and with her warm voice narrates her beginning with the needle and thread since she was ten years old, and like any girl, the first dress she knitted was for her little doll, and developed her passion for cloth and sewing, considering that her father and grandfather have been professionals for a long time. Qar received the third prize in the mosaic industry at the Damascus Exhibition in 1936.
Umm Elias did not spare us time, and despite her fatigue, which seemed clear on the features of her face, love and determination had a stronger presence appeared in the explanation and give the most accurate information. She talked about the visit of senior guests to the gallery of artists, intellectuals and prominent personalities. However, she did not think to move to another area outside Bab Sharqi. Glass, as well as icons, begins to live from 45 years to almost 100 years.
Umm Elias goes back to an ancient time whose effects were evident on a copper table occupied by Damascene hands, through the technique of downloading silver on copper, and is more than eighty years old, in addition to the types of wood such as mosaic, which is famous for her father 's craftsman Haneen Ashqar. With her hands she opens a wooden piece of art created by her father, a mosaic table that includes several levels of toys. Sometimes chess, sometimes Elias's mother turns it into a dice game.
It then moves on to Damascene ornaments, icons and small brides made of cloth to stained glass, which gives the place the spirit of life and confirms that each piece and masterpiece has a cultural significance rooted in the culture of Syria.
So that Umm Elias remains one of the many Syrian women who went through the war, and their heads are nostalgic like the ears of wheat, but they did not break them, and they remain tender and shameless, raising their muses to them whenever their names are mentioned.
Najwa Aida Mariam Hajir
Follow SANA news on Telegram https: / / t.me / SyrianArabNewsAgen
Look, too.
Umm Elias Museum of Traditional Crafts in the Damascus neighborhood of Hanania

This ancient art form has been passed down through generations of skilled craftsmen, creating exquisite pieces that reflect Syria's rich cultural heritage and artistic excellence.

## History of Glassblowing in Syria

Syria's glassblowing tradition is among the oldest in the world, dating back to ancient times when the region was a center of glass production in the Roman and Byzantine periods.

Damascus, in particular, has been renowned for its glasswork for centuries, with the craft becoming deeply embedded in the city's cultural identity.

The technique involves skilled artisans using traditional methods to create intricate decorative and functional glass pieces, often featuring distinctive Syrian designs and patterns.

The craft has been maintained through family traditions, with knowledge and techniques passed from master to apprentice

Title:

Content: Metal engraving is a world heritage struggling to survive in the Maghreb
Craftsmen preserve the art of hand-carved metal with ancestral skills recently listed by UNESCO as an “intangible heritage ” but not“ highly regarded ” in the region, where some are struggling to keep it.
This artisan art relies on carving ornaments in various forms, including geometric, botanical and astronomical, on copper, silver or gold metals to make household items, decorations or ornaments.
In early December, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) classified it as a humanitarian heritage, in a file that received the support of 10 Arab countries, including Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.
Exceptional Skills in Tunisia
Tunisian Imad Souleh, one of the three experts who submitted the file, praised the listing, saying it “obliges us to maintain this exceptional skill. ”
The Tunisian expert in this craft, Mohamed Amin Htouish, 37, learned the origins of engraving on copper at the age of 15, before moving on to silver and then gold, in a family workshop in the old city of Tunis.
To adapt to the new requirements, Hattouish learned to engrave using machines, and says, “I fear (this craft) will become extinct.
I am afraid that we will reach a day when we will no longer find any discussion. ”
Shahabuddeen bin Jaballah, 68, often devotes time to teaching his art to women who want to make ornaments or cribs decorated with brass ornaments in his workshop in Dandan, west of the capital.
However, the duration of training received by craftsmen today is insufficient, sometimes reduced to just three months.
He has trained hundreds of craftsmen over 50 years and now heads the National Chamber of Traditional Crafts.
“It takes at least two years to acquire all the engraving techniques, ” he explains, lamenting that his“ very rich ” profession is not appreciated.
The history of metal engraving in Tunisia dates back to the Carthaginians, before being enriched by the influences of Islamic civilization, Amazigh heritage and traditions of Mediterranean civilizations, as well as oriental influences.
There are still 439 artisans in the country who specialize in metal engraving, according to the National Crafts Office.
Engraving in Morocco
In Morocco, where traditional industry is generally of interest to the authorities and is part of the country ’ s tourism offering, most artisans now work in modern workshops such as those opened 10 years ago in Fez (north-central).
Before moving to one of those workshops, Idriss al-Sahay, 64, had learned to carve copper since he was a boy behind the walls of the ancient city.
Today, young people can learn them in vocational training centres that offer theoretical and practical courses supervised by craftsmen.
The man who spent 50 years in this craft said, “Today ’ s young people are lucky.
There is no fear on the back, but I insist on one thing, they must love the craft if they want to succeed. ”
The inscriptions used in Morocco often reclaim forms “inherited centuries ago and shared with the inscription on Zellig, wood and plaster, ” explains Ahmed El Kaddari, 57, whose passion for the craft began in his youth years.
But seasoned craftsmen with the status of “teacher ” can create new inscriptions“ at the moment ” or at the request of the customer, he adds.
Some of them bear the signature of the “guru ” who produced them as a sign of their high style.
Despite the training available to young people who want to learn the craft, El Sanea Mohamed Moumni believes that “the problem is the scarcity of people who know how to work, ” even though there is“ a huge demand for copper artifacts, ” according to the man living in the historic city of Salé, near Rabat.
Limited development in Libya
In Libya, artisans complain of lack of encouragement.
Youssef Shoshin told Agence France-Presse that "the development of this craft is very limited, it is only the demand that encourages the craftsmen" and not the authorities.
The Sixty Man asserts that "the majority of craftsmen have left the profession" which is no longer profitable.
He expresses his sadness over the development of this tradition, saying, "Why do I teach my children the craft?
They couldn ’ t work, ” although he tried to teach two or three young trainees.
High Demand in Algeria
In Algeria, demand for engraved metal tools remains high, despite the absence of official initiatives.
Carved gold or silver ornaments form part of the bridal decoration.
Each region has its own specialty, which it is famous for, the palms are known for their golden ornaments, while the tribes and the auras are known for making rings and silver bracelets sometimes decorated with coral.
Modern jeweler Walid Salami, 37, fell in love with the traditional inscriptions and “learned alone for two years online ” after finding no one to train him.
“It ’ s a great career, we don ’ t need to attract customers to buy, just to see the trinkets, ” he says.
But he believes that UNESCO ’ s recognition of the art “won ’ t change much ” in the situation, saying he would be more“ proud ” when these skills are “recognized ” in his region.
Source: French