Without a little prep work and routine maintenance, winter weather can wreak havoc on your home. Following a few simple steps can help you avoid frozen pipes, drafty rooms and slippery sidewalks.
Find more home maintenance advice at eLivingtoday.com.
The condition and appearance of your dog’s skin and coat can serve as outward indicators of his or her overall health. While grooming is one of the most important steps to maintaining a healthy coat, other factors can play a role in the look and feel of your four-legged friend’s fur.
For example, dull, dry or flaky coats can be external indicators of internal issues. Stress, illness and inadequate nutrition can all lead to lackluster fur. Breed can also play a role in the shininess of your pet’s coat.
To get a better understanding of how you can improve your pet’s skin and coat, consider these facts and misperceptions from the experts at Petcurean, makers of the Go! Solutions line of premium pet food.
Fiction: Frequent washing dries out dogs’ skin and coats.
Regularly bathing your dog removes dirt, dander, debris and odors, and can help clear irritation-causing allergens. However, bathing too frequently removes natural oils, which keep skin supple and the coat soft and pliable. For best results, use a high-quality pet shampoo that’s gentle on the skin and coat then follow up with a nourishing conditioner for smooth, shiny fur.
Fact: Dogs should be groomed regularly.
Regular brushing with proper tools – sometimes as often as daily – is important. Not only can it help prevent matting in long-haired or double-coated dogs, it also stimulates blood flow to the skin, which helps keep it healthy, and ensures you notice any changes in your pet’s skin and coat. Grooming should also include cleaning ears, brushing teeth and trimming nails.
Fiction: Poor hydration does not affect skin or coat.
Fresh, clean water is essential for all bodily functions, including the maintenance of healthy skin. To help keep dogs hydrated, be sure fresh water is available to them, particularly at mealtimes.
Fact: Flea and tick control is essential for healthy skin and shiny coats.
If not controlled, fleas and ticks can wreak havoc on skin, which in turn affects coat quality. The irritation they cause typically promotes excessive scratching and licking.
Fiction: Dogs don’t need to use pet shampoo.
Human skin and hair are different from the skin and fur of dogs and should be treated as such. Shampoo designed for humans can strip oils and lead to dryness when used on dogs, which can result in infections and skin irritations. Be sure to use a shampoo specifically formulated for pets to maintain skin and coat health.
Fact: A high-quality, balanced pet food recipe is key to healthy skin and a shiny coat.
Because every dog is different and has varied energy requirements, the right blend of ingredients – rather than any one specific ingredient – tailored for individual dogs can help achieve healthy skin and shiny coats. For example, recipes like Go! Solutions Skin + Coat Care Large Breed Puppy and Adult Salmon Recipes with Grains are tailor-made for large breed puppies and adults with single-source animal protein from salmon to help build strong muscles; Omega fatty acids to support healthy, hydrated skin and a shiny coat; and the proper balance of nutrients to meet the unique needs of large breed dogs throughout their life stages.
Entertaining friends and loved ones during the holidays offers an opportunity to slow down from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and make lasting memories. The key is getting ahead of hosting duties so you can be present with family and friends.
Make this season’s holiday hosting effortless and enjoyable with these tips:
Find more inspiration and other holiday-worthy recipes at athome.starbucks.com.
Prep time: 3 minutes
Yield: 16 ounces
Drink:
Toppings:
In 2019, a travel insurance company held a secret contest in which they included a line in the fine print of their policy promising $10,000 to the first person who spotted it.
Seventy-three policies were bought before the award was finally claimed. But those 73 who had obviously not read the policy, would not have been alone.
It seems most of us don’t read the terms and conditions of some relatively important, legally binding contracts before signing up.
In one study only 8% of people read a bank account contract, 19% a car rental contract and 25% a dry-cleaning contract before committing to a deal. Similarly, more than 80% of participants in a different study reported “not reading at all” or “not really” reading click through agreements.
Even more confrontingly, 98% of participants in another study effectively agreed to give up their first born child after supposedly having read the fictional terms and conditions of an agreement online.
The number of people who do actually read the terms and conditions may be even lower with another study finding only 0.1% of shoppers accessed the licence agreement and most only read a small portion.
Despite our best intentions, most of us simply sign terms and conditions, rarely read the fine print, and fail to appreciate the consequences.
However, once we are presented with a particular problem arising from or related to the contract, our attitude alters. Studies have shown the number of people who return to their contracts after a problem more than doubles for car rentals, triples for dry-cleaning issues and rises nearly seven times for a bank account.
Unsurprisingly though, most people don’t believe it’s their fault. Rather, they assume it’s to do with something they weren’t made aware of at the time of purchase or they believe it is easily fixed.
Like all things in human behavior, it’s complicated.
Some reasons given by consumers include terms and conditions are too long and time-consuming, they are full of legal jargon, they seem all the same, they are irrelevant and they have no choice but to accept them if they want the particular product.
They also believed if there was something wrong with the agreement somebody else would have pointed it out (and fixed it before them) and vendors are usually reputable so they wouldn’t be put at risk.
The last two reasons point to a rational tendency to equate low probability risks with zero probability risks, as well as to use mental shortcuts that simplify decision-making and align with a person’s beliefs. There are also social norms and signals for us not to read the contract, such as the expectation to “sign the form and keep moving”.
Problems arise in markets where it appears easy to switch from one contract to another, but where there are complex agreements, including telecommunications, banking, health insurance and gyms. These sectors might use strong marketing tactics, such as bundling offers, along with apparently easily accessible customer service, which can cause consumers to be overconfident in their dealings with businesses.
Sometimes it is simply the length and complexity of contracts that puts people off reading them. For example, assuming a reading rate of 240 words a minute, Spotify’s terms of service is estimated to take about 36 minutes, while TikTok’s would take 31. Microsoft would take over an hour. For comparison, reading all of Chinese war strategist Sun Tzu’s The Art of War would take only 50 minutes.
These extremely long policies, coupled with the fact individuals feel most information is unimportant, influence willingness to read the fine print. Realistically, failure to read the terms and conditions, particularly because contracts are rarely negotiable, seems like a perfectly rational response. This is made even more likely if we thinks the costs of reviewing a dense document outweighs its benefits.
Legally, though, terms and conditions are enforceable and allow businesses to reduce costs that might otherwise be associated with bargaining.
Getting us to agree to the terms and conditions upfront also provides an opportunity for businesses to pass on certain risks to the consumer. Clearly this should be a concern for lawmakers. The idea of a well-informed consumer who understands their obligations and the rights under an agreement is a foundation of consumer law.
The Australian Consumer Law does help reduce some risk by deeming terms of a standard consumer contract unfair if they have been presented unclearly or disadvantage one party, regardless of whether they have been accepted by the consumer.
However, it is unlikely most consumers read consumer law or use it given the complexity of challenging a vendor who is unwilling to abide by them.
If we are serious about the concept of the informed consumer, then we have to accept some realities.
We have to acknowledge consumer attention is limited and information overload and assymetry prevents people from comprehending what is and isn’t important.
We also have to accept the type of information and the way it’s presented does have an impact on whether people understand the consequences of signing an agreement.
Critically, most terms and conditions currently seem to be designed to protect the seller more than they are to help the consumer to make an informed choice.
Research does suggest consumers are more inclined to read terms and conditions before committing when the product or service cost is significant, the contract is perceived as short, and there is a belief they will be able to change or influence contract terms.
Indeed, if businesses seriously do want their customers to be informed, shorter, less abstract and more focused terms and conditions that highlight the critical information related to potential harm is one solution. Another might be to quiz participants with a short knowledge test as they sign the document to see if they have actually understood the agreement.
Or perhaps they could hide surprise $10,000 “Easter eggs” in their terms and conditions and create a culture of reward for effort, instead of the current deficit approach.
Paul Harrison, Director, Master of Business Administration Program (MBA); Co-Director, Better Consumption Lab, Deakin University, Deakin University and Jeff Rotman, Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Consumer Psychology & Co-Director of the Better Consumption Lab, Deakin University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.
A home’s exterior is often the first thing guests or potential buyers see, meaning its curb appeal can have a significant impact on making a good first impression. Whether refreshing or renovating your home, staying current with exterior trends can help make a statement, increase your home’s value and enhance the comfort of your living space.
If you’re looking to refresh or improve your home’s function and style in the new year, consider these 2024 home exterior trends from the experts at Westlake Royal Building Products, a leader in innovation, design and production of exterior and interior building products including siding, trim, mouldings, roofing, stone, windows, outdoor living and more.
A Connection with Nature
Connecting people more closely with nature and natural elements, biophilic design can lead to increased well-being and productivity. Growing wellness and environmental concerns are driving demand for outdoor living space improvements and integration of nature in design, including elements like green roofs, living walls and large windows.
You can create dramatic outdoor spaces by contrasting light and dark colors. For example, matte black can be paired with materials like brick, stone, shingles and wood for an eye-catching twist. Bold, earthy tones such as navy blue, forest green, dark brown and red can also be combined with nature-inspired materials for organic texture and warmth. Other trending colors for 2024 include vivid teal and aqua blue, which can induce a sense of serenity.
High-Performance Siding
As climate change continues to intensify and lead to severe weather, there is a growing need for high-performance, weather-resistant building products. Homeowners continue to favor resilient materials that require less maintenance or replacement such as recycled vinyl, engineered wood and fiber cement, which maintain beauty and function.
Designed with innovation and performance in mind, Celect Cellular Composite Siding, a premium PVC siding from Westlake Royal Building Products, replicates the beauty and aesthetics of wood while remaining low maintenance and durable for a lifetime. Featuring a patented interlocking seam design, it keeps moisture out and almost completely eliminates seams. Plus, its Kynar Aquatec coating provides superior protection against ultraviolet rays, reduces energy demands and resists dirt, seasonal staining and insects.
Functional Outdoor Living Spaces
Focused on creating seamless connections between interior and exterior spaces, this evolution in outdoor design includes integration of outdoor kitchens and living areas. Elements such as fire pits, pizza ovens, outdoor entertainment and games can be incorporated to personalize the space and provide a unique entertaining hub. Using cohesive materials and textures that can withstand the elements and flow from indoors to outdoors, such as stone veneer, can help elevate the space and further tie it to the home’s interior.
Mixed Materials and Textures
Blending various textures, finishes and materials on a home’s facade can create a unique, visually dynamic look. Using a combination of materials like brick and vinyl siding or stone and wood can add depth and visual interest. An option like Versetta Stone delivers the authentic look and feel of stone in a panelized format that is easy to install with screws or nails and requires no metal lath or scratch coat. The stone siding features a tongue-and-groove system for perfect spacing, has a built-in rainscreen and can be installed almost anywhere without additional footings for support.
Transitional Takes on Tradition
A versatile design approach allows a home to transcend trends, ensuring its relevance and appeal over an extended period of time. In 2024, look for a rise in classic design trends featuring elements such as vertical siding, crisp white trim and other modernized traditional styles as well as a shift away from minimalism that incorporates more nostalgic, personal touches to home exteriors, ushering in more of a transitional style.
Find more ideas to update your home’s exterior at WestlakeRoyalBuildingProducts.com.
U.S. Rep. George Santos, a Republican from New York, was expelled on Dec. 1, 2023, from Congress for doing what most people think all politicians do all the time: lying.
Santos lied about his religion, marital status, business background, grandparents, college, high school, sports-playing, income and campaign donation expenditures.
Santos’ fellow members of Congress – a professional class stereotypically considered by the public to be littered with serial liars – apparently consider Santos peerless and are kicking him out of their midst on a 311-114 vote, with two members voting present.
How could a politician engage in such large-scale deception and get elected? What could stop it from happening again, as politicians seem to be growing more unapologetically deceptive while evading voters’ scrutiny?
Santos’ success demonstrates a mastery of something more than just pathological lying. He managed to campaign in a district close to the media microscope of New York City, in one of the richest districts in the state, and get elected and stay in office for a year, despite making a mockery of any semblance of honesty.
I am a scholar of political deception. Experiments I conducted have revealed how the trustworthiness of politicians is judged almost entirely from perceptions of their demeanor, not the words they utter.
I have found that voters are drawn in by politicians’ demeanor cues, which are forms of body language and nonverbal communication that signal honesty or dishonesty and yet have no relationship to actual honesty. For example, looking nervous and fidgety or appearing confident and composed are demeanor cues, which give impressions of a politician’s sincerity and believability. Someone’s demeanor cues might signal that they are trustworthy when they’re actually lying, or could signal lying in someone who is actually telling the truth.
The most authoritative index of demeanor cues that affect people’s perceptions of honesty and deception was developed by Tim Levine, a professor of communication at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. Demeanor cues that convey sincerity and honesty include appearing confident and composed; having a pleasant, friendly, engaged and involved interaction style; and giving plausible explanations.
The insincere/dishonest demeanor cues include avoiding eye contact, appearing hesitant and slow in providing answers, vocal uncertainty in tone of voice, excessive fidgeting with hands or foot movements, and appearing tense, nervous or anxious.
Empirical research has long revealed that voters are overwhelmingly influenced by politicians’ nonverbal communication. In one experiment, participants were shown 10-second clips of unfamiliar gubernatorial debates. The participants were asked to predict who won the election.
Participants who saw muted 10-second clips – making their judgments solely on nonverbal cues – were able to predict which candidate would go on to win. But those who watched the video with the sound were no better at picking the winner than if they picked randomly without ever watching or listening to anything. Voters make their judgments of a politician’s competence, it turns out, based on a 1-second glance at the politician’s face.
Another study also found that politicians’ facial expressions have the power to move us, literally: People watching clips of Ronald Reagan looking friendly adjusted their facial muscles accordingly and mimicked his smile, and people watching clips of Reagan looking angry tended to furrow their brow, too.
Santos speaks with certitude. He has a charming, friendly and interactive manner – all sincere demeanor cues. He makes intense eye contact without fidgeting. He dresses well and is pleasant looking.
He was able to make up lies out of whole cloth and have them believed – a feat rarely accomplished by liars. He exudes confidence.
Santos dresses with sartorial elegance. He wears chic eyeglasses and sunglasses, accessorized with bright but not tacky jewelry. All this is complemented by one of his signature fleeces or sweaters, typically worn over a collared dress shirt and under a smart jacket. Santos even bought his campaign staff Brooks Brothers shirts to wear.
In my experiments, which have shown that voters base their judgment of politicians’ trustworthiness almost entirely from perceptions of demeanor, I found that Republicans are especially susceptible to demeanor cues. Republican voters will disbelieve their own honest politician if they perceive that the politician’s demeanor is insincere. But they will believe their own politician if they perceive sincerity.
Santos’ believable demeanor follows in the lineage of other con artists who could deceive absurdly yet adroitly. Disgraced financier Bernie Madoff dressed well, looked dignified, acted friendly and cordial, and his resting face was a smiling expression. The Fyre Festival fraudster Billy McFarland also had a resting face that was a smiling, aw-shucks expression, and acted harmless and friendly.
And Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos – who became the youngest female billionaire in history – faked a deep voice, walked upright with perfect posture, smiled and conveyed unrelenting confident poise, and maintained an unblinking gaze. All this enabled her to tell lies to some of the richest, most accomplished, intelligent titans of industry.
Madoff, McFarland and Holmes could look people in the eye and steal their money – swindling largely through the same sorts of demeanor cues that Santos exhibits.
McFarland, Holmes and Santos have the ability to smile with their upper teeth showing while they are answering tough questions in interviews, which research shows exudes trustworthiness.
Just because someone speaks confidently, dresses well and acts friendly does not mean the person is honest. Pay attention to what people say – the content of their verbal messaging.
Don’t fall prey to body language or seemingly sincere behavioral impressions, which actually have no correlation to actual truthfulness. As my research has shown, the appearance of sincerity is misleading. It is a myth that eye contact means someone is telling you the truth and that a roving gaze or elevated blinking means they are lying.
Some people just look honest but they are pulling the proverbial wool over your eyes. Some people look sketchy and appear unbelievable, but what they say is truthful.
Santos’ disgrace is a teachable moment for citizens. As the proverb goes: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
David E. Clementson, Assistant Professor, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.
Stanley Stoutamire, Jr., a resident of Calera and senior at John Carroll Catholic High School, spent March 4 – 11 in Washington D.C. as one of two delegates from Alabama to the U.S. Senate Youth Program. This prestigious program selects two outstanding young leaders from each state, plus the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense Schools. Selection for the program is based on leadership abilities, commitment to volunteer work, and academic achievement, along with recommendations from school officials.
Young Mr. Stoutamire was the guest speaker at a recent meeting of the Shelby County Democratic Party. With poise and eloquence unusual in someone still too young to vote, Stanley entertained an enthralled audience, in person and on Zoom, with his description of the arduous application and selection process, his whirlwind week of meetings with government officials, tours of government buildings and national monuments, plus becoming friends with other high school seniors from all over the country.
The most memorable public figures with whom he met were Senator John Hickenlooper and Justice Sonia Sotomayor, both of whom spoke in depth of their own paths toward a life of public service, and who encouraged the young leaders to embrace unexpected opportunities. Stanley and Ella Duus, the other Alabama delegate who is from Huntsville, were also scheduled to meet with Alabama’s senators; Senator Tuberville was in a meeting at the appointed time, but they enjoyed a lively conversation with the personable Senator Katie Britt.
Stanley Stoutamire, Jr. is now back at home in Calera, where he lives with proud parents Stanley, Sr. and Clarissa, with loads of photos and memories, and a renewed appreciation of the effort that goes into making government work for all Americans. Although his sights are set on medical school at this time, who knows what opportunities might arise for this talented, promising young man.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For all the attention on flashy new artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, the challenges of regulating AI, and doomsday scenarios of superintelligent machines, AI is a useful tool in many fields. In fact, it has enormous potential to benefit humanity.
In agriculture, farmers are increasingly using AI-powered tools to tackle challenges that threaten human health, the environment and food security. Researchers forecast the market for these tools to reach US$12 billion by 2032.
As a researcher studying agricultural and rural policy, I see three promising developments in agricultural AI: federated learning, pest and disease detection and forecasting prices.
Robotics, sensors and information technology are increasingly used in agriculture. These tools aim to help farmers improve efficiency and reduce chemical use. In addition, data collected by these tools can be used in software that uses machine learning to improve management systems and decision-making. However, these applications typically require data sharing among stakeholders.
A survey of U.S. farmers found that more than half of respondents said they do not trust federal agencies or private companies with their data. This lack of trust is linked to concerns about sensitive information becoming compromised or being used to manipulate markets and regulations. Machine learning could reduce these concerns.
Federated learning is a technique that trains a machine learning algorithm on data from multiple parties without the parties having to reveal their data to each other. With federated learning, a farmer puts data on a local computer that the algorithm can access rather than sharing the data on a central server. This method increases privacy and reduces the risk of compromise.
If farmers can be persuaded to share their data this way, they can contribute to a collaborative system that helps them make better decisions and meet their sustainability goals. For example, farmers could pool data about conditions for their chickpea crops, and a model trained on all of their data could give each of them better forecasts for their chickpea yields than models trained only on their own data.
Farmer livelihoods and global food security are increasingly at risk from plant disease and pests. The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that worldwide annual losses from disease and pests total $290 billion, with 40% of global crop production affected.
Farmers typically spray crops with chemicals to preempt outbreaks. However, the overuse of these chemicals is linked to harmful effects on human health, soil and water quality and biodiversity. Worryingly, many pathogens are becoming resistant to existing treatments, and developing new ones is proving to be difficult.
Reducing the amount of chemicals used is therefore paramount, and AI may be part of a solution.
The Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers has created a mobile phone app that identifies pests and disease. The app, “Tumaini,” allows users to upload a photo of a suspected pest or disease, which the AI compares with a database of 50,000 images. The app also provides analysis and can recommend treatment programs.
If used with farm management tools, apps like this can improve farmers’ ability to target their spraying and improve accuracy in deciding how much chemical to use. Ultimately, these efficiencies may reduce pesticide use, lessen the risk of resistance and prevent spillovers that cause harm to both humans and the environment.
Market volatility and fluctuating prices affect how farmers invest and decide what to grow. This uncertainty can also prevent farmers from taking risks on new developments.
AI can help reduce this uncertainty by forecasting prices. For example, services from companies such as Agtools, Agremo and GeoPard provide AI-powered farm decision tools. These tools allow for real-time analysis of price points and market data and present farmers with data on long-term trends that can help optimize production.
This data allows farmers to react to price changes and allows them to plan more strategically. If farmers’ economic resilience improves, it increases the likelihood that they can invest in new opportunities and technologies that benefit both farms and the larger food system.
Human innovation has always produced winners and losers. The dangers of AI are apparent, including biased algorithms, data privacy violations and the manipulation of human behavior. However, it is also a technology that has the potential to solve many problems.
These uses for AI in agriculture are a cause for optimism among farmers. If the agriculture industry can promote the utility of these inventions while developing strong and sensible frameworks to minimize harms, AI can help reduce modern agriculture’s impact on human health and the environment while helping improve global food security in the 21st century.
Joe Hollis, PhD student in Rural Sociology and Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa State University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.
Imagine you’re a farmer searching for eggs in the chicken coop – but instead of a chicken egg, you find an ostrich egg, much larger than anything a chicken could lay.
That’s a little how our team of astronomers felt when we discovered a massive planet, more than 13 times heavier than Earth, around a cool, dim red star, nine times less massive than Earth’s Sun, earlier this year.
The smaller star, called an M star, is not only smaller than the Sun in Earth’s solar system, but it’s 100 times less luminous. Such a star should not have the necessary amount of material in its planet-forming disk to birth such a massive planet.
Over the past decade, our team designed and built a new instrument at Penn State capable of detecting the light from these dim, cool stars at wavelengths beyond the sensitivity of the human eye – in the near-infrared – where such cool stars emit most of their light.
Attached to the 10-meter Hobby-Eberly Telescope in West Texas, our instrument, dubbed the Habitable Zone Planet Finder, can measure the subtle change in a star’s velocity as a planet gravitationally tugs on it. This technique, called the Doppler radial velocity technique, is great for detecting exoplanets.
“Exoplanet” is a combination of the words extrasolar and planet, so the term applies to any planet-sized body in orbit around a star that isn’t Earth’s Sun.
Thirty years ago, Doppler radial velocity observations enabled the discovery of 51 Pegasi b, the first known exoplanet orbiting a Sunlike star. In the ensuing decades, astronomers like us have improved this technique. These increasingly more precise measurements have an important goal: to enable the discovery of rocky planets in habitable zones, the regions around stars where liquid water can be sustained on the planetary surface.
The Doppler technique doesn’t yet have the capabilities to discover habitable zone planets the mass of the Earth around stars the size of the Sun. But the cool and dim M stars show a larger Doppler signature for the same Earth-size planet. The lower mass of the star leads to it getting tugged more by the orbiting planet. And the lower luminosity leads to a closer-in habitable zone and a shorter orbit, which also makes the planet easier to detect.
Planets around these smaller stars were the planets our team designed the Habitable Zone Planet Finder to discover. Our new discovery, published in the journal Science, of a massive planet orbiting closely around the cool dim M star LHS 3154 – the ostrich egg in the chicken coop – came as a real surprise.
Planets form in disks composed of gas and dust. These disks pull together dust grains that grow into pebbles and eventually combine to form a solid planetary core. Once the core is formed, the planet can gravitationally pull in the solid dust, as well as surrounding gas such as hydrogen and helium. But it needs a lot of mass and materials to do this successfully. This way to form planets is called core accretion.
A star as low mass as LHS 3154, nine times less massive than the Sun, should have a correspondingly low-mass planet forming disk.
A typical disk around such a low-mass star should simply not have enough solid materials or mass to be able to make a core heavy enough to create such a planet. From computer simulations our team conducted, we concluded that such a planet needs a disk at least 10 times more massive than typically assumed from direct observations of planet-forming disks.
A different planet formation theory, gravitational instability – where gas and dust in the disk undergo a direct collapse to form a planet – also struggles to explain the formation of such a planet without a very massive disk.
Cool, dim M stars are the most common stars in our galaxy. In DC comics lore, Superman’s home world, planet Krypton, orbited an M dwarf star.
Astronomers know, from discoveries made with Habitable Zone Planet Finder and other instruments, that giant planets in close-in orbits around the most massive M stars are at least 10 times rarer than those around Sunlike stars. And we know of no such massive planets in close orbits around the least massive M stars – until the discovery of LHS 3154b.
Understanding how planets form around our coolest neighbors will help us understand both how planets form in general and how rocky worlds around the most numerous types of stars form and evolve. This line of research could also help astronomers understand whether M stars are capable of supporting life.
Suvrath Mahadevan, Verne M. Willaman Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Penn State; Guðmundur Kári Stefánsson, NASA Hubble Fellow, Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, and Megan Delamer, Graduate Student, Department of Astronomy, Penn State
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.
When does lawful protest become criminal activity? That question is at issue in Atlanta, where 57 people have been indicted and arraigned on racketeering charges for actions related to their protest against a planned police and firefighter training center that critics call “Cop City.”
Racketeering charges typically are reserved for people accused of conspiring toward a criminal goal, such as members of organized crime networks or financiers engaged in insider trading. Georgia Attorney General Christopher Carr is attempting to build an argument that seeking to stop construction of the police training facility – through actions that include organizing protests, occupying the construction site and vandalizing police cars and construction equipment – constitutes a “corrupt agreement” or shared criminal goal.
The indictment’s justification is rooted in long-standing anti-anarchist sentiments within the U.S. government. However, some civil rights organizations call this combination of charges unprecedented.
As scholars who study environmental change and social justice, we believe the charges seek to suppress typical acts of civil disobedience. They also target grassroots community organizing models and ideas rooted in the practice of mutual aid – people organizing collective networks in order to meet each other’s basic needs.
“Cop City,” officially known as the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, was first proposed in 2017. The facility is expected to cost US$90 million and is located on 85 acres of public land in the Weelaunee Forest, once home to the Indigenous Muscogee Creek peoples. The site is owned by the city of Atlanta but sits on unincorporated land in DeKalb County, just outside the city.
The opposition campaign has garnered support from activists and environmentalists who are concerned about militarization of police forces and potential threats to the Black community, as well as to climate resilience in Atlanta.
Members of Defend the Atlanta Forest, a decentralized movement of grassroots groups and individuals, argue that the threatened forest provides essential ecological services – filtering rainwater, preventing flooding, providing habitat for wildlife and cooling the city in a time of climate change.
Activists have led protest marches, written letters to elected officials and organized a referendum for the public to decide the future of the property. Some have camped out in the Welaunee Forest – a method that radical environmental defense groups like Earth First! have used to delay or prevent logging. In one instance, activists reportedly set construction equipment on fire.
Authorities have responded with force.
In January 2023, police fatally shot activist Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán, who had been camping on the Cop City site for months. Authorities assert that Terán had shot and wounded a state trooper, while Terán’s family contends that they were protesting peacefully.
An independent autopsy concluded that Teran was shot 57 times while sitting with hands raised. A prosecutor opted not to file charges against state troopers involved in the shootout, calling their use of deadly force “objectively reasonable.”
Attorney General Carr indicted 61 activists on Sept. 5, 2023, under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which is a broader version of the 1970 federal RICO law. Three defendants have been charged with money laundering for transferring money to protesters occupying the forest around the construction site, and five are charged with domestic terrorism and arson. Some of the accused face up to 20 years in prison.
Clashes between protesters and police have continued. Protesters organized a march for Nov. 13 and were met by heavily armed police officers in riot gear. When activists attempted to push past the officers, the police used tear gas and flash-bang grenades.
Georgia’s 109-page indictment of “Cop City” protesters paints a broad – and, in our view, troubling – picture of the actions and beliefs that allegedly contributed to what it describes as a corrupt agreement.
The indictment cites the 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police as the event that sparked the “conspiracy.” It refers to the Atlanta-based movement as the Defend the Atlanta Forest “Enterprise” and describes participants as engaging with “anarchist” ideas and practices such as “collectivism, mutualism/mutual aid, and social solidarity.”
Protesters use these practices, the indictment asserts, to advance their goal of stopping construction of the training center. As evidence, it cites examples, including posting calls to action on online blogs, reimbursement for printed documents and transferring money to activists for materials such as camping gear, food, communications equipment and, in two instances, ammunition.
As we see it, these activists are being criminalized for their political beliefs and for engaging in activities protected by the First Amendment, such as exercising free speech. Throughout the indictment, the Georgia attorney general uses the term “anarchist,” we believe, as a synonym for “criminal.”
Such language echoes the Immigration Act of 1903, also known as the Anarchist Exclusion Act. This law targeted anarchists for exclusion from the U.S. solely based on their political beliefs. Section 2 of the law states that “anarchists, or persons who believe in or advocate the overthrow by force or violence of the government of the United States or of all governments or all forms of law, shall be excluded from admission into the United States.”
This wording reflects a widespread view of anarchy as a state of violent disorder. In fact, however, many anarchist thinkers actually proposed to organize society on the basis of voluntary cooperation, without political institutions or hierarchical government.
Another, broader view of anarchy is that it is an ideology and practice of organizing communities and society in ways that confront any and all forms of oppression, including oppression by government.
Why would such a philosophy be deemed threatening? Consider recent U.S. history.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the federal government sought to repress and criminalize the Black Panther Party for Self Defense as part of a covert and illegal counterintelligence program, known as COINTELPRO.
The Black Panther Party created extensive community survival and mutual aid programs for Black communities at a time of ongoing government neglect. Offerings included free access to medical and dental clinics, ambulance service and buses to visit friends and relatives in prison.
The Black Panthers’ free breakfast for children program fed thousands of children across the country. In Chicago, local police destroyed food the night before the program was set to begin operations. A memo by an FBI special agent called the program an attempt to “create an image of civility” and “assume community control,” thus threatening the centralized authority of the U.S. government.
Federal agencies relied mainly on covert tactics to surveil, infiltrate and discredit the Black Panther Party. Like the Cop City protesters, the Black Panthers also engaged in direct confrontations with police.
However, we see the current use of RICO charges to address political activism and protest activities as a new tactic.
In our research, we have explored how mutual aid groups establish networks of care and survival in the face of climate change. We expect mutual aid to become even more important for Black and Indigenous people of color as environmental disasters become more frequent.
From our perspective, efforts to stop Cop City demonstrate the interconnection between two critical issues: overpolicing of communities of color and climate change. We see Georgia’s RICO indictment as an attempt to repress social movement activity, using the state’s tools of legal interpretation and enforcement.
Criminalizing collectivism, mutual aid and social solidarity is particularly concerning for historically marginalized populations, who often rely on these tactics for survival.
Seeking to use the state’s political processes, organizers recently collected over 116,000 signatures supporting a ballot referendum that, if approved, would cancel the lease of the city-owned site for the training center.
However, Atlanta officials have refused to verify those signatures as they await a federal court ruling on whether the organizers missed a key deadline. Meanwhile, Atlanta is already clearing land for construction at the training site.
Rachel McKane, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Brandeis University and David Pellow, Department Chair and Professor of Environmental Studies and Director, Global Environmental Justice Project, University of California, Santa Barbara
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.
