Impact of Unsettled Summer Weather on UK Marine Life

ScienceDaily (Jan. 5, 2010) — A recent scientific conference has provided new evidence for the effects of unseasonal summer storms on a variety of spectacular marine life, including deadly jellyfish, basking sharks and oceanic seabirds.

The third annual ‘South West Marine Ecosystems’ meeting, held in Plymouth in December 2009, brought together 40 representatives from the scientific, conservation, fishing and eco-tourism sectors. The aim was to discuss impacts of environmental change and conservation measures on marine life off southwest England.

A common theme was the influence of a third successive summer dominated by wet and windy weather, with southwest England particularly affected by a series of Atlantic storms. This led to an unprecedented mid-summer influx of the deadly Portuguese man-o-war jellyfish onto Cornish beaches, leading to temporary closure of some popular tourist hotspots such as Sennen Cove.

The stormy conditions also blew in record numbers of the Wilson’s storm petrel, a tiny oceanic seabird that breeds in the southern Atlantic Ocean and is traditionally a very rare visitor to UK coasts. Several sightings of the spectacular black-browed albatross were also made during the summer and autumn, including the first in Cornwall for over 20 years.

Meeting organiser, Dr Russell Wynn of National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) said: “The effect of these mid-summer storms on our marine life has been dramatic. If recent summers are an indication of future trends, then we might expect to see more exotic visitors around our coasts in the years to come.”

However, the unsettled weather was bad news for basking sharks, which were only seen in very low numbers off southwest UK through the summer and autumn. During stormy conditions, their plankton prey is widely scattered, and it is believed that the sharks move further north and west in search of more productive waters at these times. In addition, the RSPB reported that the wet, cold conditions could be contributing to low productivity of breeding seabirds such as kittiwakes.

Helen Booker of RSPB said “Mid-summer storms are a particular problem for our breeding kittiwakes, which nest on exposed cliffs and headlands. The adult birds have difficulty finding food in very rough seas, while the chicks are vulnerable to chilling in persistently cold, damp conditions.”

Conservation topics discussed at the meeting included a study on threatened seahorses in Studland Bay, Dorset, the establishment of a network of Marine Conservation Zones around our coasts, and ongoing efforts to reduce dolphin strandings and bycatch in southwest England.

South West Marine Ecosystems is an annual meeting that has run since 2007, and is organised by NOCS and the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS).

NORTHBROOK, Ill., Jan. 4 /PRNewswire/ — UL Environment, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Underwriters Laboratories, announced today that LG Electronics is the first company to earn UL Environment’s new Sustainable Product Certification (SPC) for high tech equipment. LG’s new 23-inch class* E2350VLED LCD computer monitor - to be introduced later this week at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas - is the first product to complete UL Environment’s independent, third-party certification for meeting the IEEE 1680 environmental performance benchmark for consumer electronics, which includes ENERGY STAR® requirements for energy efficiency.

The LG monitor will be the first to carry the UL Environment Sustainable Product Certification mark, a green leaf encircling the familiar “UL” initials. UL Environment-certified environmental criteria include the elimination or reduction of certain hazardous substances that pose threats to human health and the environment. Ninety percent of the materials and parts used to make the E2350V monitor can be reused or recycled at the end of the product’s useful life, reducing the amount of materials sent to landfills. The monitor is sold in packaging that is 90 percent recyclable as well.

UL Environment’s testing confirmed that the LG monitor earned an IEEE 1680 Gold rating, the most stringent and prestigious of three levels of compliance. The E2350V is believed to be the only Gold-rated monitor on the market to achieve third-party certification of its sustainable attributes.

“LG is committed to environmental sustainability. We strive to design products that address the environmental impact of consumer electronics and offer consumers something better,” said James Shad, President of LG Electronics USA. “Independent third-party certification by an organization with UL Environment’s credibility and expertise underscores LG’s sustainability achievements in the minds of consumers and retailers alike.”

In order to determine compliance with the IEEE 1680 sustainability standard, UL Environment assessed product documentation and records, physically examined product samples, independently tested the product for compliance to ENERGY STAR® requirements and conducted onsite audits of manufacturing facilities.

“In an era when ‘greenwashing’ is growing more prevalent, UL Environment is proud to be able to certify to the public and reassure consumers that this product meets our holistic sustainability criteria for design, manufacture and end-of-life disposal,” said Steve Wenc, President of UL Environment. “We expect that consumers who are already very familiar with the UL Mark for product safety will begin looking for the UL Environment Sustainable Product Certification mark as a credible, third-party endorsement of the product’s environmental performance backed by rigorous scientific testing and auditing.”

Supporting LG Electronics’ worldwide “green” initiatives, the UL Environment Sustainable Product Certification adds to LG’s distinction as the first consumer electronics manufacturer to have products assessed via the UL Environmental Claims Validation (ECV) program. The ECV program tests individual product environmental claims and provides companies with a source for independent, third-party green claims validation. UL Environment is also leading sustainability standards development efforts in multiple industries to create comprehensive guidelines for sustainable product development where they do not currently exist.

About LG Electronics USA

LG Electronics USA, Inc., based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is the North American subsidiary of LG Electronics, Inc., a $45 billion global force and technology leader in consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile communications. In the United States, LG Electronics sells a range of stylish and innovative home entertainment products, mobile phones, home appliances and business solutions, all under LG’s “Life’s Good” marketing theme. For more information, please visit www.LGusa.com.

About UL Environment, Inc.

UL Environment (ULE) is helping support the growth and development of sustainable products and services in the global marketplace through standards development and independent third-party assessment and certification. ULE is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Underwriters Laboratories Inc., a global leader in conformity assessment that has been testing products and writing standards for more than a century. ULE currently offers Environmental Claims Validation (ECV), a service testing and validating manufacturers’ self-declared environmental claims and Sustainable Product Certification (SPC), a service testing and certifying products to accepted industry standards for environmental sustainability. ULE is developing additional environmental standards, training and advisory services to support organizations in the sustainable products and services industry. For more information please visit www.ulenvironment.com.

*E2350V 23-inch class/23.0-inch diagonal

SOURCE LG Electronics USA, Inc.

RELATED LINKS http://www.lgusa.com http://www.ulenvironment.com

VATICAN CITY, Jan. 2 (UPI) — Pope Benedict XVI used his New Year’s Day address to appeal for peace and the protection of the natural environment.

Speaking Friday while celebrating Mass at the Vatican, Benedict asserted for there to be peace among people, mankind must “protect creation. The quest for peace by people of good will surely would become easier if all acknowledge the indivisible relationship between God, human beings and the whole of creation.”

The Roman Catholic spiritual leader’s message was titled “If You Want Peace, Respect Creation.” In it, he urged Catholics to consider the consequences of environmental pollution.

“It is becoming more and more evident,” he said, “that the issue of environmental degradation challenges us to examine our lifestyle and the prevailing models of consumption and production, which are often unsustainable from a social, environmental and even economic point of view.”

In the New Year’s homily, which serves a companion the the pope’s Christmas “Urbi et Orbi” address, Benedict asked rhetorically, “Can we remain impassive in the face of actual and potential conflicts involving access to natural resources?”

He then answered by saying, “All these are issues with a profound impact on the exercise of human rights, such as the right to life, food, health and development.”

To twist an old quip: Theories come and theories go, the environment remains. The first half of the 20th century was a big bang for the idea that every child was born a blank slate to be shaped by family and social environments. During the second half of the 20th century, the obtuse pendulum of fashion swung in the other direction, until everyone, down to every newspaper editor and science writer, shouted at the public that no, it’s not environment but genes and heredity that shaped people. Now the pendulum is swinging the other way (yes, I wrote a book about it), but it may take certain media science pundits another decade before they realize the goose is running away from them at high speed.

Meanwhile, science marches on. Most biological scientists don’t give a hoot about the contents of newspapers or sophomoric books hawking genes as destiny: they’re too busy going blind reading journals and looking through microscopes. It’s a fact that the evidence has been piling up for decades that from conception through about the age of twelve or fifteen much of the brain is indeed a blank slate, and this time we know more about the molecular and neuroanatomical basis of what is or is not on the slate than we did fifty or sixty years ago. We have indeed moved forward, and it’s regrettable that as usual it takes too long for progress in science to dribble through media filters into the public imagination.

Ian Weaver, a developmental biologist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, gives us a new review of what’s been happening to revive the importance of the environment in shaping human development.(1) He makes the following points:

1) The human endocrine system is closely regulated by the brain, a neuroendocrine regulation that governs physiological regulatory mechanisms essential for life: metabolism, immune responses, and organ function. One of the key questions in current developmental biology and medicine is how stress and environmental adaptation impact this regulation to produce harm to body and mind.

2) The current new view is that a switch from protection to damage occurs when certain people (fetuses, children, or adults) have particular vulnerabilities to adverse environmental conditions.

3) The general idea is that various environmental stresses during life—such as childhood abuse, neglect, poverty, and poor nutrition—are associated with the emergence of mental and physical illness—such as anxiety, mood disorders, poor impulse control, psychosis, and drug abuse—and increased risk of common metabolic and cardiovascular diseases in later life.

Weaver summarizes our current molecular understanding of how early environment influences brain development—an influence that persists through life. He highlights recent evidence from animal studies suggesting that early maternal postnatal care establishes varied and stable individual types (phenotypes) in offspring. The mechanism is apparently epigenetic modifications of genes expressed in the brain, modifications that shape the response to stress of the neuroendocrine system and behavior throughout life.

What this is all about in plain language is a revision of the simplistic idea that there is no blank slate at all and that human individual destiny is determined by inherited genes. Too many people love the idea of genetic destiny for political reasons: it justifies nepotism and socioeconomic inequalities. In fact, in our frontal lobes, the most important parts of the human brain, the parts most recently formed by Darwinian evolution, it takes twelve or even fifteen years after birth to get the wiring done—and how you get wired up depends greatly on where you are and what’s around you and the daily stresses of your existence. Truly, no matter the gene-hawking in newspapers and magazines, the idea of genetic destiny needs to be put in a trashcan with a secure cover.

Note (1): Weaver, I. C. (2009). Shaping adult phenotypes through early life environments. Birth Defects Res C Embryo Today. Dec;87(4):314-26.