Energy, Climate, Humans

Introduction: Climate change, geopolitical conflicts, and hybrid threats jeopardize global nutrition security. The objective of this study was to identify and characterize all documented terrorist attacks on water and food supply targets as reported to the Global Terrorism Database (GTD). Methods: All incidents from 1970 through 2020 with ‘food and water’ listed as target type were selected. Temporal factors, location, target type, attack and weapon type, perpetrator type, and number of casualties were collated. Results: 363 incidents across 65 countries were analyzed, resulting in 392 fatal injuries and 302 non-fatal injuries. In this series, 78.2% of incidents targeted water supplies, 21.5% against food supplies, and one targeted both. Most of the targets consisted of food aid programs in conflict areas. Bombings/explosions were the most frequently identified attack type (61.2%), followed by facility/infrastructure attacks (15.7%) and armed assaults (11.0%). There was one case of a radiological threat, and in twelve incidents, chemicals were used. Conclusion: Food and water supply chains are important targets for terrorism. The water supply chain is targeted far more frequently than the food supply chain. The possible devastating effect is immense on already vulnerable people living in conflict areas and relying on state-led or international food aid programs.

Triangle of Environment, Water and Energy: A Sociological Appraisal

The contamination of food or water supplies with radioactive materials centers the attack on the ingestion pathway, where the aims may be to: expose the public who consume the contaminated food or drink the contaminated water; stop the provision of food or water supplies to the public; and cause widespread panic and public alarm. The radiological consequences may include: contamination of water treatment plants, service reservoirs, header tanks and water supply systems; contamination of food products, wholesale food markets, supermarkets or food processing facilities; and the loss or disruption of the water and/or food supply chain. The occurrence of immediate fatalities or casualties suffering from the effects of radiation exposure via the ingestion pathway is very unlikely since extremely large amounts of radioactive material would be required to achieve sufficiently high concentrations and, even if this occurs, it is very unlikely that it would affect a large number of people. The radionuclides that can be used or released during a radiological emergency, where a significant radiation dose could be received as a result of consumption of contaminated food, could be: The radionuclides listed above are expected to be the predominant contributors to radiation dose through ingestion in the most of the scenarios. When more than one radionuclide is released, the relative contribution that a radionuclide makes to radiation dose from ingestion of subsequently contaminated food depends on the specifics of the accident and the mode of release. In unique circumstances other radionuclides (like Po-210) may contribute radiation doses through the food ingestion pathway. Although the deliberate act to contaminate food or water supplies with radioactive materials it is unlikely (though not impossible), there is a need to co-operate with radiological experts and media specialists to quickly assess the potential medical impact of such acts and provide public information to alleviate fears in the potentially affected public. There is also a need to develop a plan, at the national level, to monitor a representative sample of the potentially affected population to confirm the health risk assessment and reassure the public.

Culture is an important factor for sustainable development of the enterprise, paid wide attention by the academic and corporate, at the same time, there are also many for enterprise culture research, which is mainly aimed at a particular analysis of the enterprise culture construction. With the development of society and the development, the social reform and innovation are going on unceasingly, Enterprise culture as enterprise adapt to the society and the demand of people also need unceasingly innovation and development, and cultural innovation and the cultural development is complementary relationship. Namely, cultural innovation is the foundation of the development of culture and cultural innovation promotes the cultural development, and cultural development and cultural innovation, make the cycle is progress. This paper is mainly based on cultural development and cultural innovation mechanism analysis, from mechanical angles of the culture construction and cultural innovation development of the coupling model, and through empirical analysis more strongly proves its of the coupling relationship between each other, to lead the enterprise cultural innovation and development.

Health care provision depends on reliable critical infrastructure (CI) to power equipment and to provide water for medication and sanitation. Attacks on CI limiting such functions can have a profound and prolonged influence on delivery of care. A retrospective analysis of the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) was performed of all attacks occurring from 1970-2020. Data were filtered using the internal database search function for all events where the primary target was "Utilities," "Food or Water Supply," and "Telecommunications." For the purposes of this study, the subtype "Food Supply" was excluded. Events were collated based on year, country, region, and numbers killed and wounded. The GTD listed 7,813 attacks on CI, with 6,280 of those attacks targeting utilities, leading to 1,917 persons directly killed and 1,377 persons wounded. In total, there were 1,265 attacks targeting telecommunications causing 205 direct deaths and 510 wounded. Lastly, 268 attacks targeted the water supply with 318 directly killed and 261 wounded. Regionally, South America had the most attacks with 2,236, followed by Central America and the Caribbean with 1,390. Based on infrastructure type, the most attacks on utilities occurred in El Salvador (1,061), and the most attacks on telecommunications were in India (140). Peru (46) had the most attacks on its water supply. The regions with the highest number of total attacks targeting CI have historically been in South America, with more attacks against power and utilities than other infrastructure. Although the numbers of persons directly killed and wounded in these attacks were lower than with other target types, the true impacts on lack of health care delivery are not accounted for in these numbers. By understanding the pattern and scope of these attacks, Counter-Terrorism Medicine (CTM) initiatives can be created to target-harden health care-related infrastructure.

Taking human history as a single career, there have been three large bursts or revolutions in the growth and development of societies and cultures. The first, its details lost to us in pre-history and the incompleteness of the archeological record, was the development of culture and tool-using. This series of innovations allowed a rather insignificant, biologically unimpressive species to spread over the globe and to dominate its ecological niche. The second revolution came in the invention of a steady source of food supply. This neolithic revolution of the domestication of plants and animals provided the basis for settled village life. In the appropriate areas of human and cultural interchange the neolithic revolution reached the level of civilization: there developed cities, social classes, writing, monumental architecture, and a literati class concerned with the special refinements of tradition.

The present world is the era of new media; an era in which media is an inseparable part of human life. Today's world finds meaning through the extensive presence of new communication technologies in all aspects of life. New artistic media hold an important place in art education and cultural development. New artistic media such as video art, installations, photography, conceptual art, digital art, performance art, etc., are particularly significant in terms of education, presentation, and introduction of artworks and culture in society. This research examines the role of new artistic media in cultural education and urban community enhancement to answer the question: How do new artistic media contribute to cultural education and urban community enhancement? The purpose of this paper is to gain a deeper understanding of new artistic media and their effectiveness in the fields of education and cultural development in society. The research methodology is descriptive-analytical, and the information gathering technique is based on library and documentary methods. The findings suggest that new media, with the help of technological capabilities, through the reproduction of artworks and the process of becoming participatory and collaborative, can have a significant impact on education and cultural development in society. This research can be used to increase public acceptance and awareness of new artistic media and to enhance the urban community. By recognizing the capabilities of new artistic media, steps can be taken in the process of production and cultural development, education, and the flourishing of society.

Pakistan has suffered prolonged periods of precipitation fluctuation that kept going on for decades. Shifting betweensuch periods in northern and southern parts of the country often appears as a pace change. The object of this study is to assess priorchanges in climatic patterns over various regions of Pakistan and the future magnitudinal changes of climate that would impact onwater resources, which subsequently affect the ecosystem, health, food supply and country’s water resource sustainability. Trendand variability analysis have been applied on countrywide meteorological data for the period 1961-2010. The study revealed anincreasing trend of 0.66oC in temperature and heavy and intense trend of 106 mm in precipitation during the past 110 years that hasexacerbated food and water supply demand in the southern part of the country. This increasing heat of 0.06oC per decade speeds upthe water cycle and evapo-transpiration processes. Atmospheric vapour pressure tendency has also demonstrated increasing trendof 0.96 mm per anum in water cycle. Extreme weather events resulting in droughts and floods reflect changes in climate. Pakistanhas to combat water shortage by improving water reservoirs, regulating river water flow and adoption of other water conservationtechniques to manage food and water supply - demand.

The article examines the main civilisational features of the development of Russia and their role in the modern socio-political transformations of Russian society. These features, according to the author, include the leading role of the state in the implementation of development projects and resource mobilisation; uneven socio-political development in time and space (development of society by impulses and jerks); combination in social dynamics of numerous opposite tendencies; periodic change of cultural and geopolitical vectors of development, caused by social delimitation and divisions. Arguments are given in favour of the fact that many of these features of the development of Russian society are due to the special, intermediate geographical, geopolitical and cultural-civilisational position of Russia between the civilisations of the West and the East. The author proves that a simple, uncritical borrowing and copying of Western political institutions without reformatting and adapting them to the conditions of modern Russia will either lead to a decrease in the effectiveness of these institutions, or to their serious degeneration and change. It is concluded that in the development and implementation of any projects of socio-political and economic development, it is essential to take into account both the general civilisational features of Russia and the internal Russian regional, local specifics, local socio-cultural norms and traditions, since their ignoring can lead to breaking the main social, cultural and value structures of Russian society.In addition, in modern conditions of global socio-political transformations and the numerous challenges associated with them it is extremely important for successful socio-political development to organically combine traditions with the necessary social innovations. However, as shown in the article, at present in Russia there is no such organic combination, and this seriously hinders socio-economic and cultural development. This implies the need to combine centralised planning and the development of federal development projects with the initiatives and proposals of local and regional communities, to focus not only on regional and local bureaucratic structures, but also on initiatives coming "from below" from groups of active citizens, from public organisations, volunteers and others. The author comes to the conclusion that this is especially important in the situation of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the crisis socio-economic and political phenomena caused by it.

One of the most important and complicated issues in the fields of humanities and social sciences is cultural development. The main goal of cultural development is to benefit for the people, flourish their ability and to expand the scope of their possibilities and opportunities. In fact, cultural development is for the sake of benefiting people and improving their living conditions, and finally the overall improvement of society. In this research, the cultural development in the Afghan society investigated by using the inductive and qualitative meta-composite approach. This method includes seven steps that evaluate and systematically analyze the results and findings of previous studies. The statistical society of this research includes all scientific-research articles published in Afghanistan in the period of 1390 to 1402 with the subject of cultural development in the Afghan society. In total, we found 45 scientific-research articles; we selected 27 articles for final consideration. The findings of the research show that 12 social factors, 10 political factors, 11 cultural factors, 4 economic factors, 2 physical factors and 3 religious factors influence cultural development in Afghan society. Social factors include social cohesion, social justice, informed communication, dialogue, lack of security, division, discrimination, attitudes, values, beliefs, feelings and beliefs of citizens. Political factors include political stability, type of government, political parties, rejection of authoritarianism, democracy, civil liberties, management and planning, corruption, ethnic government and law. Cultural factors include cultural self-awareness, cultural refinement, science-oriented, cultural celebrities, advertising, cultural order, cultural freedom and creativity, art, tourism, symbolic understanding and literacy. Economic factors also include investment, budget distribution, poverty and job creation. Physical factors include rural and tribal contexts and geographical dimensions, and finally, religious factors include a one-sided reading of religion, religious divide, and religious capacities.

The destruction of the South Vietnamese rice (Oryza sativa L) crop using an arsenic-based herbicide known as Agent Blue during the American Vietnam War (1965-1972) was not a secret; however, it received little media attention in the United States. Republic of Vietnam and United States (U.S.) militaries began destroying food crops (rice) in November of 1962 primarily via aerial applications in the Mekong Delta and Central Highlands of South Vietnam. Spraying of Agent Blue on 100,000 ha of mangrove forests and about 300,000 ha of rice paddies just before rice harvest time resulted in the destruction of the standing crop and rendered the land contaminated with arsenic (As). Six Rainbow herbicides, commonly called Agent Orange, Agent Green, Agent Pink, Agent Purple, Agent White, and Agent Blue, were sprayed on wetlands, rice paddies, forests, mangroves, bamboo and military base perimeter fences to defoliate jungle vegetation, reveal guerilla hiding places and destroy the food supply of enemy troops. South Vietnamese farmers, U.S. and Republic of Vietnam military personnel, and communist insurgents were exposed to these herbicides with immediate and longer term impacts on personal health, civilian household food security and population-wide famine. Agent Blue (cacodylic acid, C2H2AsO2,) was the most effective of all the Rainbow herbicides in killing rice and grasses. Manufacturing of cacodylic acid began in the late 1950s in the U.S. at the Ansul Company chemical plant in Marinette, Wisconsin and Menominee, Michigan. During the Vietnam War, ocean going ships were loaded with 208-liter Agent Blue barrels and shipped via the St. Lawrence Seaway to the coast of South Vietnam. Arsenic (As) is a naturally occurring element that is found throughout SE Asia deltas including the Mekong Delta. Today arsenic contaminated rice and groundwater are growing concerns as neither naturally occurring arsenic nor anthropic arsenic have a half-life and cannot be destroyed. Anthropic arsenic has remained in the Mekong Delta environment for the last 60 years and added to persistent As contamination in water supplies, sediments and soils. Water soluble arsenic primarily leaches into the soil root zone and the groundwater or is carried by floodwater into adjacent waterways or volatilized under anaerobic rice paddy conditions as gaseous arsine. The health of 15 million Vietnamese people living in the Mekong Delta is at risk from the combination of manufactured and natural As in drinking water and food supply. The As in the contaminated rice paddy soil, sediment and water is up taken by fish, shrimp or by crop vegetation and trace amounts can end up in the food supply (rice grain) or be bioaccumulated by the fish, shrimp and birds which when eaten were bioaccumulated in the Vietnamese people. It is urgent that elevated As concentrations in water supplies and agricultural products be identified and mitigated through better run-off control and groundwater management; improved rice genetics and alternate crop selections; shifts in crop management associated with tillage, fertilization and phosphorus use; and systematic monitoring of food and drinking water.

Clarifying the complex relationships among ecosystem services (ESs) and the driving mechanisms of ecosystem service (ES) is essential for supporting regional ES and ecological sustainability. Although studies on ES relationships provide guidance for regional ecological management, the driving mechanisms of ES have not been adequately studied, especially in areas with complex natural environments and progressive urbanization. Combined with the data on land use, climate, NDVI, and soil data, this paper aims to explore this issue by analyzing the relationships among ESs and the driving mechanisms of ESs in the western Sichuan Plateau region of China. Firstly, the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of five ecosystem services (food supply, water supply, habitat quality, soil conservation, and carbon storage) from 2000 to 2020 were analyzed by the InVEST model. Second, the trade-offs/synergistic relationships among ESs were analyzed using SPSS as well as the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient method in MATLAB. Finally, the Geodetector model was further used to reveal the influencing factors of ecosystem services in the western Sichuan Plateau. The results showed that: (1) Water supply decreased in the western Sichuan Plateau from 2000 to 2020, but increased in the eastern part; habitat quality was generally good in the whole Sichuan Plateau, but decreased in some areas; carbon storage showed an overall improving trend; soil conservation showed an overall increasing and then decreasing trend, and food supply services showed an increasing trend. (2) From 2000 to 2020, food supply and other services in the western Sichuan Plateau were in a trade-off relationship; all other service pairs showed a synergistic relationship. (3) In terms of space, the relationships between ecosystem services showed spatial heterogeneity. There was a synergistic relationship between food supply and habitat quality in some areas, such as Litang County and Xinlong County, and there was a trade-off relationship between water supply and carbon storage services in some areas, such as Ruoergai County and Daocheng County, etc. (4) The Geodetector results showed that food supply and soil conservation were mainly influenced by the slope (0.682, 0.672), annual precipitation was the strongest explanation for water supply (0.967), and habitat quality and carbon storage were the most influenced by NDVI (0.876, 0.828); meanwhile, each ecosystem service was interactively influenced by multiple factors. Based on the results, we proposed ecological management recommendations for the western Sichuan Plateau, the most important one being that the western Sichuan Plateau should protect and rationally use the existing natural resources, especially the existing forest and grassland resources, and at the same time reform the agricultural structure and scientifically plan urban development, to promote the coexistence of cities and nature. We took the western Sichuan Plateau of China, where urbanization and a complex natural environment are in opposition, as an example, to explore its ecosystem services, relationships, and driving mechanisms, and then put forward suggestions on ecological management and control, providing a reference for future regional coordination between urbanization and the natural environment.

Our Foods Are Safe!

We present an analysis of the evolution of social and cultural activities as part of the history of Russia in the context of youth participation in the activities of public associations. We analyze the ideas, positions and components of periodization in scientific works describing the evolution of social and cultural activities. The results of the analysis of the concept of socialization and its main components are presented. We reveal the potential of public associations as a means of youth socialization. The functions of a public association as a social and cultural institution are singled out. The analyzed theory of social and cultural activities made it possible to reveal the periodization of the development of social and cultural activities. The change in social and economic conditions is defined as the main factor in the periodization of the history of social and cultural activities. We give the characteristics of each period on the basis of the social demand for the development of society and culture, innovative forms of social and cultural activity are revealed, scientific publications of scientists are analyzed. Emphasis is placed on the ideas, goals and forms of youth participation in socially useful activities based on the context of time. An analysis of the current stage of development of social and cultural activities is given, taking into account modern trends in the development of culture and society, based on pedagogical ideas in the scientific literature corresponding to each period, and legal acts. Emphasis is placed on the socialization of young people within the framework of modern public associations.

Marion Nestle, author of a recently acclaimed book on food politics, has written a new book devoted to food safety. It is addressed to general readers as well as scientists who wish to know more about the issues underlying disputes about the safety of our food supply but who lack prior knowledge about the food industry, its lobbying and marketing strategies, or the political regulation of food supply and public health. Nestle’s decision to write this book appears to have been partly inspired by the extensive media coverage in recent years given to food scandals, food-borne human diseases, fears with regard to genetically modified foods, and, recently, consideration of the vulnerability of food and water supplies to terrorist activity. This new book presents the thesis that food safety is a political issue. Sections on pathogens in the food supply and food biotechnology are followed by a concluding section that summarizes the main arguments, reviews the reasons why the food supply might serve as a medium of terrorist activity, and makes a number of grounded recommendations regarding the future of food safety. A safe food, according to Nestle, is “one that does not exceed an acceptable level of risk” (p. 16). Decisions about acceptability, it is argued, involve opinions and values, as well as science. For this reason, a “science-based” approach to food safety, which balances risk against benefits and costs and contributes to the estimation of risk, is distinguished from a “value-based” approach focused on the acceptability of risk, which tends to balance risk against dreaded outcomes or feelings of outrage. This point is not presented here in the familiar form of a distinction between expert and lay perceptions of risk. The author recognizes the fact that scientific questions do not arise in value-free contexts and that value-based approaches often consider scientific arguments. The argument is rather that when commercial interests are at stake in decisions about the acceptability of risks, these decisions unavoidably become political issues. Nestle points out that it is often difficult to distinguish science-based from value-based aspects of conflicting policies. Most of the book is accordingly devoted to examining actual disputes about food safety in a manner that distinguishes these aspects. Nestle has sought to write a balanced book rather than a political manifesto. Her perspective is that of a trained scientist and professional nutritionist with considerable experience in consultancy and other dealings with both the food industry and public authorities engaged in the tasks of regulating the safety of food supplies. Nestle is critical of players in both of these fields. She claims and seeks to demonstrate that food companies tend to accord priority to commercial interests rather than consumer protection, even to the point of strongly resisting public policies designed to control pathogens in the food supply, while government agencies often tend to support business interests at the expense of public health. These views are controversial and are unlikely to convince all stakeholders in food safety issues. Nevertheless, they are presented in a series of carefully documented cases, likely to prove useful to readers who approach the text with a view to making up their minds and irritating to those who feel themselves criticized. It is balanced in the sense that one cannot claim that Nestle disregards science-based arguments regarding the safety of food biotechnology, merely that she respects the legitimacy of value-based concerns about genetically modified foods. These include concerns with regard to the environment, health, and the rights of consumers to choose, which in turn impose demands regarding such issues as contamination, traceability, and labeling. Given the interests at stake in these issues, some readers may wish to interpret this stance as support for the anti-biotechnology lobby. This book should be read and discussed in university departments that prepare students for work in food-related fields. It introduces a range of safety concerns that should become salient issues of discussion in the classroom. Its weaker points include a somewhat narrow focus upon national issues. There is a tendency to equate government agencies with existing U.S. institutions, while suggesting in passing that control systems in some European countries are more effective; equally, there is a tendency to equate science with the natural as opposed to the social sciences, neglecting much relevant social research with regard to globalization, distribution networks, and consumption, as well as such issues as trust and accountability. No book, however, can reasonably be expected to cover the entire field. This one raises many important issues and does it well.