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Beach showers as sources of contamination for sunscreen pollution in marine protected areas and areas of intensive beach tourism in Hawaii, USA

In 2019, sands in nearby runoff streams from public beach showers were sampled on three islands in the State of Hawaii and tested for over 18 different petrochemical UV filters. Beach sands that are directly in the plume discharge of beach showers on three of the islands of Hawaii (Maui, Oahu, Hawai’i) were found to be contaminated with a wide array of petrochemical-based UV-filters that are found in sunscreens. Sands from beach showers across all three islands had a mean concentration of 5619 ng/g of oxybenzone with the highest concentration of 34,518 ng/g of oxybenzone at a beach shower in the Waikiki area of Honolulu. Octocrylene was detected at a majority of the beach shower locations, with a mean concentration of 296.3 ng/g across 13 sampling sites with the highest concentration of 1075 ng/g at the beach shower in Waikiki. Avobenzone, octinoxate, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor and benzophenone-2 were detected, as well as breakdown products of oxybenzone, including benzophenone-1, 2,2'-dihydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone, and 4-hydroxybenzophenone. Dioxybenzone (DHMB) presented the highest concentration in water (75.4 ng/mL), whereas octocrylene was detected in all water samples. Some of these same target analytes were detected in water samples on coral reefs that are adjacent to the beach showers. Risk assessments for both sand and water samples at a majority of the sampling sites had a Risk Quotient > 1, indicating that these chemicals could pose a serious threat to beach zones and coral reef habitats. There are almost a dozen mitigation options that could be employed to quickly reduce contaminant loads associated with discharges from these beach showers, like those currently being employed (post-study sampling and analysis) in the State of Hawaii, including banning the use of sunscreens using petrochemical-based UV filters or educating tourists before they arrive on the beach.

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Mapping pollution exposure and chemistry during an extreme air quality event (the 2018 Kīlauea eruption) using a low-cost sensor network

Extreme air quality episodes represent a major threat to human health worldwide but are highly dynamic and exceedingly challenging to monitor. The 2018 Kīlauea Lower East Rift Zone eruption (May to August 2018) blanketed much of Hawai'i Island in "vog" (volcanic smog), a mixture of primary volcanic sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas and secondary particulate matter (PM). This episode was captured by several monitoring platforms, including a low-cost sensor (LCS) network consisting of 30 nodes designed and deployed specifically to monitor PM and SO2 during the event. Downwind of the eruption, network stations measured peak hourly PM2.5 and SO2 concentrations that exceeded 75 μg m-3 and 1,200 parts per billion (ppb), respectively. The LCS network's high spatial density enabled highly granular estimates of human exposure to both pollutants during the eruption, which was not possible using preexisting air quality measurements. Because of overlaps in population distribution and plume dynamics, a much larger proportion of the island's population was exposed to elevated levels of fine PM than to SO2 Additionally, the spatially distributed network was able to resolve the volcanic plume's chemical evolution downwind of the eruption. Measurements find a mean SO2 conversion time of ∼36 h, demonstrating the ability of distributed LCS networks to observe reaction kinetics and quantify chemical transformations of air pollutants in a real-world setting. This work also highlights the utility of LCS networks for emergency response during extreme episodes to complement existing air quality monitoring approaches.

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Becoming a New Farmer: Agrarianism and the Contradictions of Diverse Economies*

AbstractA resurgence of agrarianism has motivated new farmers to enter farming, not for profit, but for lifestyle and socio‐ecological values which are frequently associated with diverse economies. Proponents of diverse economies argue for an ontological reframing that accounts for non‐capitalist forms of economic exchange. However, these perspectives have not fully addressed the conditions—often structured by race and class—that facilitate participation in diverse economies. This paper is based on mixed‐methods research on the life cycle of new farmers in Hawai‘i that include participants of farmer training programs. We investigate what drives new farmers into farming, by what mechanisms they are able (or not) to establish a farm, and what limits the duration of their participation. Our analysis reveals three contradictions of diverse economies in agriculture: (1) the inadvertent undervaluation of farmwork that undermines broader efforts to improve the welfare of farm labor; (2) the tension between the value of scaling up and the vulnerability of cooptation; and (3) the ways in which the duration of new farmers' engagement is structured by their ability to mobilize unpaid labor and external resources. These contradictions challenge long‐term and inclusive participation in diverse economies in ways that constrain their emancipatory potential.

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Nitrogen turnover in a repeatedly manured arid subtropical soil: Incubation studies with <sup>15</sup>N isotopes

AbstractUnder the hot and moist conditions of irrigated agriculture in the arid subtropics, turnover of organic matter is high, which can lead to considerable carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) losses. Therefore, sustainable use of these soils requires regular manure application at high rates. To investigate the contribution of consecutive manure applications to an arid sandy soil to various soil N pools, goat manure was isotopically labeled by feeding 15N‐enriched Rhodes grass hay and applied to the soil during a two‐year field experiment. In the first year, soils received 15N‐labeled manure to distinguish between soil‐derived and manure‐derived N. In the second year, these plots were split for the application of either 15N‐labeled or unlabeled manure to discriminate N derived from previous (first year) and recent (second year) manure application. Soil samples (of control and 15N‐manured soil) were collected at the end of the first and the second year, and incubated in two laboratory experiments with labeled or unlabeled manure. At the beginning of Experiment 1, 7% of total N, 11% of K2SO4 extractable N, and 16% of microbial biomass N were derived from previously field‐applied manure. While the application of manure during incubation increased microbial biomass N by 225% and 410% in the control soil and the previously field‐manured soil, respectively, N2O emissions were more affected on the control soil, releasing considerable amounts of the soil N‐pool (80% of total emissions). In Experiment 2, 4% of total N, 7% of K2SO4 extractable N, and 7% of microbial biomass N derived from previously applied manure, and 4%, 8%, and 3% from recently applied manure, respectively. Microbial biomass N and N2O‐N derived from manure declined with time after manure application, whereas in Experiment 1 this tendency was only observed for microbial biomass N.

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Behavioral Pragmatism: Making A Place for Reality and Truth.

In "Behavioral Pragmatism: No Place for Reality and Truth," Barnes-Holmes (2000) proposed a behavior-analytic version of philosophical pragmatism he called behavioral pragmatism (BP), a perspective which challenges two bedrock tenets of Western culture: (1) metaphysical realism, the view that an external, physical reality exists which is mind-independent and (2) the correspondence theory of truth (CTT), a theory which maintains that true statements are those which correspond to mind-independent reality. Many (perhaps most) behavior analysts accept both of these tenets (though they typically name and describe these tenets using different terms). By contrast, in lieu of the first, BP offers, as a replacement tenet, nonrealism, in place of the second, the pragmatic truth criterion. The account of reality and truth of BP has gained increasing prominence within behavior analysis because of its inclusion within relational frame theory, a perspective with a growing number of adherents. In this paper, I first argue that the realism/pragmatism dispute needs to be resolved because it threatens the coherence of radical behaviorism as a philosophy of science. Next, I present a detailed account of the differing conceptions of reality and truth as articulated within: (1) metaphysical realism, (2) behavioral pragmatism, and (3) Richard Rorty's version of pragmatism (Rortian pragmatism). Finally, using the insights of Rortian pragmatism (RP), I offer three proposals for modifying the core tenets of behavioral pragmatism. If adopted, these proposals would help narrow the realism/pragmatism divide, thereby reducing the threat to radical behaviorism's coherence.

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Return to Freedom: Anti-GMO Aloha ‘Āina Activism on Molokai as an Expression of Place-based Food Sovereignty

This paper explores the concept of food sovereignty on the island of Molokai, where the Hawaiian value of aloha ‘āina, or love for the land, guides local efforts to preserve and promote local food production. This organizing concept also has political undertones—food sovereignty requires access to land and resources, both of which Native Hawaiians have historically been dispossessed of since colonial contact. In the paper, I examine current anti-genetically modified organism (GMO) activism as one example of the uniquely Hawaiian food sovereignty efforts taking place on Molokai. I present two key arguments. First, I show how the anti-GMO platform, which has garnered support from both native Hawaiians and more recent settlers, reflects a strategic alliance that gives greater momentum to Hawai‘i's food sovereignty movement, which in turn is viewed by a growing number of Native Hawaiians as a pathway toward Indigenous sustainable self-determination. I also draw from the Molokai case to illustrate a perceived tension between community-based work and political engagement that exists within both the food sovereignty paradigm and the contemporary Indigenous sovereignty framework. I argue that aloha ‘āina as a cultural and political praxis suggests ‘ways out’ of this apparent paradox, by showing how Hawaiians have historically engaged simultaneously in both community-based practices and political activism as a means to care for their land and people. While food sovereignty on Molokai calls for the privileging of place-based knowledge, there are lessons to be learnt for social movements elsewhere that are also struggling internally to deconstruct and define what is meant by food sovereignty, and how best to achieve it.

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