'They Were Just Like Us, and They Lost Everything' —  Can empathy for refugees be taught? A few weeks ago, I scrambled to evacuate my area with the only five items I could grab—my phone, passport, water, money, and medicine—in the 30 seconds before I had to flee. Many of the roughly 65 million refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced people around the world today have had to make panicked choices like these; more than 4,000 have died at sea in overcrowded boats and rafts attempting to reach Europe from the Middle East. On Thursday last week, more than 200 additional people lost their lives in two separate shipwrecks off Libya. But my own “escape” was far away from that, on the safety of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) had organized the Forced From Home exhibit. The aim was, in part, to put the staggering numbers of the crisis into tangible terms for those of us who don’t have to contemplate actually being forced from home. So I took on the identity of an asylum-seeker from Honduras while my tour guide, Ahmed Abdalrazag, pled with the group to hurry up. If we were really fleeing, he explained, our time would be up and it might be too late. We got on a raft like the ones in which so many have risked, and lost, their lives in recent years—though this one stayed on dry land—and later, we were detained at a fenced border where our various legal classifications determined our future. At each stop, hardships from the journey forced us to give up one item, until we were left empty-handed in front of staged refugee tents—where in real life another series of ordeals await those who make it that far. MSF, or Doctors Without Borders, the international aid group and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is touring the exhibit through five U.S. cities this fall, with a series of West Coast stops planned for next year. So far, according to an MSF spokesman, more than 17,000 people have attended, including over 3,400 students. MSF provides medical and related humanitarian aid in over 60 countries, often in dangerous circumstances—the group describes its mission as assisting “victims of conflict, natural disasters, epidemics, or healthcare exclusion.” In Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan recently, MSF-supported hospitals and the people who work there have themselves been victims of conflict. With the Forced From Home exhibit, MSF is trying to communicate, in concrete terms, the reality of people fleeing from those places and elsewhere, including Burundi, South Sudan, and Central America. Official action to mitigate this reality has been frustratingly slow. It has been more than two years since the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) first reported that the number of displaced people worldwide had surpassed the figures following World War II.  But as my colleague Uri Friedman wrote in September, the UN General Assembly only recently held its inaugural Summit for Refugees and Migrants, and the declaration that emerged from the meeting delays specific measures by UN member states for two more years. The timeline of the UN plan is not comforting to the refugees or concerned observers. The crisis figures are familiar, but remain unfathomable—one in 113 people displaced “by conflict and persecution in 2015;” and 54 percent of 21 million refugees from just three volatile countries: Syria, Afghanistan, and Somalia. It’s easy to be numbed by the numbers. Or even actively repelled—across Europe and the United States, 2016 has seen a surge of anti-refugee protests and rhetoric conflatingrefugees and terrorists—sentiments that influence elections and produce significant legislative and societal results. In a sense, the refugee crisis has helped generate a corresponding crisis in empathy. But if national and international political solutions seem sluggish or even impossible, what hope is there for refugees in the meantime if not for the empathy of individuals? Where there is a confluence of human suffering and nationalistic backlash, can empathy be taught, sparked, or successfully deployed? The MSF exhibit can be seen as a test of these questions. It creates an empathetic response by tying the visitor’s experience to an individual’s—each participant is assigned a specific displaced person’s identity, and each tour is given by an aid-worker who has served in an MSF camp. Throughout the journey, the guides share their own personal stories about people they lived with, worked with, and ministered to, further illuminating the individual suffering behind the numbers. Abdalrazag, a physician with MSF originally from Iraq, first got involved with the organization when he was in a camp as a refugee. On his tours, he talks about a friend of his who, after living in a refugee camp tent for years, so desperately missed a wall to lean his back on that he hugged the first wall he saw in his new home. After the tour, Abdalrazag admitted that this was his own experience, one he sometimes obscures because his memories are painful to recount. Another guide, Sarah Khenati, a psychologist with MSF-France who has worked in the Central African Republic (CAR) and the West Bank, shares a story on her tours about a woman who was raped and impregnated while fleeing her home, then involves her groups in the ensuing MSF discussion about how best to treat the woman after her psychotic breakdown. Tatiana Chiarella, an MSF nurse from Brazil who has been touring with the exhibit, explained how she sees the value of these kinds of personal stories: “For people living in the U.S., or even my people in Brazil, we are so far from the situation that you may hear their stories but you don’t realize it could happen to any one of us.” The people she treated “were just like us, they were doctors, nurses, engineers, lawyers, and suddenly this happened—they have war in their countries and they have to flee for their life and for their families—and they lost everything.” Maybe it’s strange to shift the discussion of a massive problem down to the granular level, especially when the world needs a response to match the scale of the crisis. Yet individuals generate a human response that statistics can’t. Updated crisis figures from UNHCR don’t go viral. Images of a drowned Syrian toddler on a beach in Turkey, or a wounded boy in an Aleppo ambulance, do. And they focus observers, however briefly, on the human cost of conflict.   Still, the problem is bigger than the tragedies of Alan Kurdi and Omran Daqneesh, so the question remains whether concentrating on a single victim can generate an empathy that expands to include others suffering outside those particular frames. According to Jamil Zaki, assistant professor of psychology and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Laboratory, even though empathy is a fundamental human emotion, people are not exactly wired for a globalized response. “When we evolved, we were in small groups of interdependent individuals, so the people that you would run into and subsequently empathize with were probably family or extended family,” he explained. “And nowadays, we’re given the unprecedented opportunity to empathize, reach out to and help, not just the people who are right around us, but people all around the world. That’s a really enormous challenge as well as an opportunity, and I think that sometimes, our more evolutionarily old or primitive … emotional responses are not really perfectly designed for the modern world.” This is even true of people who are already inclined to be sympathetic to refugees—the people, in other words, likely to visit an exhibit like MSF’s in the first place. On the tour I took, I met Cameron, a student from Charleston, South Carolina, who said: “It pains me to see how unaccepting communities can be of refugees especially when a good amount of people in the U.S. can trace their ancestry to people who left their home because of economic or political issues.” He added, “I think it definitely made me more empathetic and understanding because you only get so much information from the news and other media sources.” U.S. President Barack Obama, in his 2006 Northwestern University commencement speech, called attention to what he saw as a national “empathy deficit.” He advised the graduates that, in a culture that does not encourage empathy, “as you go on in life, cultivating this quality of empathy will become harder, not easier.  There’s no community-service requirement in the real world; no one forcing you to care. You’ll be free to live in neighborhoods with people who are exactly like yourself, and send your kids to the same schools, and narrow your concerns to what’s going in your own little circle.” That warning came 10 years ago; five years before the Syrian Civil War began, and eight years before UNHCR first identified a new record in the number of refugees worldwide. As David Desteno wrote for The Atlantic last summer, a recent study from the University of Michigan found, based on empathy assessments of 13,000 college students between 1979 and 2009, that “levels of compassion and empathy are lower now than at any time in the past 30 years, and perhaps most alarming, they are declining at an increasing rate.” If we think of empathy as malleable, it’s an emotion that we can actively choose to engage with and develop. The barrier that the MSF exhibit and other calls to empathy might bump up against is our basic wiring: If our relationship to empathy is naturally individual and impulsive—Zaki describes it as “staccato”—how do we create the sustained empathy suited to an ongoing and outsized crisis? Will the impact of an exhibit like Forced from Home—or photos of children whose lives have been ended or upended by war—be momentary or lasting? And what difference does any one person’s feelings make to finding a genuine solution? Some of the answers may lie in the way we think about empathy. If we think of it as malleable, it’s an emotion that we can actively choose to engage with and develop. Zaki emphasizes that empathy can be strengthened with practice: “Empathy is under our control more than we think it is. ... It’s our responsibility to exercise empathy responsibly, and it’s an opportunity for us to connect with more and more people if we work hard at building it.” Most importantly, Zaki says, “convincing people that they can build their empathy actually helps them to build [it].” He points to training programs that can change people’s responses to others’ suffering. A sampling of these empathy interventions across the country range from increasing care for homeless people in the Bay Area, to teaching empathy in middle schools to prevent bullying, to training police officers in Washington state to have compassion for citizens with mental illness so that they can be helped or hospitalized rather than arrested, though it’s too early to judge their effects. The refugee and the empathy crises can—but don’t have to—leave us with an action crisis. Even if MSF succeeds in generating empathy, the feeling by itself is not a solution. Still, it’s hard to see how there can be a solution without it.

I think what these people are going through is terrible. I think that empathy being taught in school and other places would be a good idea to some extent. I think that people really have to hvae that trait inside them in order for it to work. I think that teaching someone empathy is useless if they don't really believe in it.


The person is male. Racially, the person is hispanic / latino. The person is 32 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 35000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.0 in openness, 5.5 in conscientiousness, 2.0 in extraversion, 5.5 in agreeableness, and 4.5 in stability.

Its really sad when these types of things happen. I feel like we need to do more to help these sort of people. I also understand that they are human like us and they have feelings too. Doctors without Borders does what it can  but it can only do so much without external help. The fact  that they are displaced by conflict and persecution makes me feel like we need to help countries first.


The person is female. Racially, the person is black / african american. The person is 22 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 100000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 4.5 in openness, 5.5 in conscientiousness, 3.5 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

We all need to ask ourselves Can empathy for refugees be taught? A few weeks ago, I scrambled to evacuate my area with the only five items I could grab?my phone, passport, water, money, and medicine?in the 30 seconds before I had to flee. Many of the roughly 65 million refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced people around the world today have had to make panicked choices like these; more than 4,000 have died at sea in overcrowded boats and rafts attempting to reach Europe from the Middle East. I wish people around the world show more empathy to the needy.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 41 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 28000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 2.0 in openness, 2.5 in conscientiousness, 1.5 in extraversion, 2.0 in agreeableness, and 1.0 in stability.

I don't care about refugees.  We can't have empathy for every single person in the world.  There are just too many.  It's not practical.  You can't turn individual problems into global problems, and global problems into individual problems.  It's just too much.  I also loved how that one person said that this type of thing could happen to anyone.  No.  No it couldn't.  I don't live in a shithole country where I have to flee persecution and get raped and impregnated and go crazy along the way.  I live in a civilized country where people aren't animals and you can mostly go about your daily life without too much trouble.  These people need to fix their own countries, not use civilized people as a crutch.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 28 years old. The person has a postgraduate / professional degree. The person earns 165000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.75 in openness, 6.25 in conscientiousness, 3.25 in extraversion, 6.75 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

There should be empathy to refugees. They didnt chose their situation. They are just victim of circumstances. I wish I can really help them. More love and support should be given to them. I dont imagine myself losing all the things I have. I cant count the number of times people have lost their homes and all


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 29 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 85000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.75 in openness, 6.75 in conscientiousness, 6.75 in extraversion, 6.75 in agreeableness, and 7.0 in stability.

TRAGEDY: Tampa man lost wife, 2 children, in horrific crash that killed 5 —  TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The heartache of losing a loved one in a sudden, unexpected moment is devastating.   The shock is jarring and confusing. Families and friends are left with broken hearts and aching spirits. Losing one person is painful. But, for a Tampa husband, the grief is paralyzing and unbearable.   On Wednesday night, John Bernal lost his wife, his youngest daughter and his youngest son in a horrific car accident on MLK.   Mother Marianela Murillo and her two youngest children, John Bernal, Jr.  and Isabell Bernal, along with her teenager, Lina Bernal, were returning home from church when they were hit head-on in a fiery crash.   Their minivan burst into flames with the family trapped inside. The teenage daughter and her cousin visiting from Colombia, Luisa Louisa, were the only ones to survive in that van.   A relative began sobbing as she recalled the events while speaking to WFLA at Tampa General Hospital.   “My biggest thing is, I hope they didn’t suffer,” Gisela Martinez cried. “The car did catch on fire, and there were children in that car.”   While eyewitnesses claim it was street racing, the Florida Highway Patrol says there’s no evidence to prove it.   However, troopers say that the young man who caused the accident, 22-year-old Pablo Cortes III, was traveling at a high rate of speed when he lost control of his Volkswagen Golf. Both he and his passenger, Jolie Bartolome, were killed.   Family members are heartbroken and their hearts go out to the husband who lost his wife and two children.   “He’s suffering right now. He’s in pieces. I don’t wish this upon anybody at all. I mean, he is really in pieces,” said Mizrah Medina, a cousin.

It's quite sad what happened to the family. I can't even imagine what everyone is going through especially family members. Losing someone to an accident is something you never expect and something that will hurt for a long time. I felt really sad while reading the article because the children were so young and had so much ahead of them.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 25 years old. The person has a went to college but did not get a degree. The person earns 29000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.0 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 5.5 in extraversion, 6.5 in agreeableness, and 3.0 in stability.

I tihnk it is so sad that that man lost his wife and kid in a car wreck. If the person who hit them was indeed street racing; he caused a family unknowable greif. No one deserves to die liek that; on fir ein a car. And no one deserves to go through that kind of grief. I hope that man gets the support he needs, and I hope his family did not have to suffer before they passed.


this is just sad no one expects to die in a crash like this. I feel like overall it is very depressing and just quite sad. The fact that Lina was returning home from church when they were hit makes it even sadder. I feel like they need to find a way to prevent these crashes although it is quite hard for me to pinpoint exactly what to do.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 30 years old. The person has a went to college but did not get a degree. The person earns 27000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 4.0 in openness, 3.0 in conscientiousness, 6.0 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 6.5 in stability.

I really hope the guy who caused this accident wasn't street racing. That's so unbelievably dangerous and stupid. The dad and surviving family could maybe cope with it a little better if the person who slammed into their relatives van wasn't doing anything stupid and it was just an accident. It's sad a sad story. Out of nowhere, half their family is dead, instantly.


The person is male. Racially, the person is black / african american. The person is 37 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 40000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.5 in openness, 7.0 in conscientiousness, 1.0 in extraversion, 6.5 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

Billy Bob Thornton says he 'never felt good enough' for Angelina Jolie —  Billy Bob Thornton is opening up about his three-year marriage to Angelina Jolie as the 41-year-old actress is in the midst of a divorce from Brad Pitt.   The 61-year-old actor married Jolie, who is 20 years his junior, in 2000 after the two met on set of the 1999 movie, "Pushing Tin." They separated in June 2002 and divorced the following year.   "I never felt good enough for her," Thornton tells November issue of GQ magazine. The Oscar winner says Jolie's high-profile life wasn't his speed, and that he's "real uncomfortable around rich and important people."   That being said, Thornton adds that he's still friends with his ex-wife and speaks to her every few months.   In 2014, the actor told The Hollywood Reporter that he was "not fond" of that "crazy time" when he was married to Jolie, which included wearing vials of each other's blood around their necks. "Vial of blood is very simple," he explained. "You know those lockets you buy that are clear and you put a picture of your grannie in and wear it around your neck? She bought two of those. We were apart a lot because she's off making Tomb Raider and I'm making Monster's Ball. She thought it would be interesting and romantic if we took a little razor blade and sliced our fingers, smeared a little blood on these lockets and you wear it around your neck just like you wear your son or daughter's baby hair in one. Same thing."   After her split with Thornton, Jolie struck up a relationship with Pitt after meeting him on set of their 2005 film, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith." In September of this year, Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt after two years of marriage and 11 years together. Just this week, the 52-year-old actor was cleared of child abuse allegations by Department of Child and Family Services.   In a statement to ET, Jolie's rep said the mother of six was "relieved" that the investigation had concluded, and that her focus has always been the health of the family.

I guess I feel sad for any person who feel they do not fix into their marriage. I hope he found what he was looking for with another person. I hope they both find happiness. In the world today marriages do not seem like they are built to last. I think people give up too easily and do not work through the hard times.


I think it is kinda messed up the way Jolie acts in her relationships. Wearing a vial of eachother's blood? That is weird. I wonder if she was overly controlling as well. I dated someone who was extremely controlling and manipulative and it was one fo the worst periods of my life. I feel for all the guys she's been with.


This tends to happen a lot in relationships. It seems like a lot of people don't feel good enough for the other person and this tends to lead to these feelings. I feel like everyone goes through this and it is up to us to change that by thinking positively more so than not. I feel like pressure from others leads to these negative feelings.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 25 years old. The person has a went to college but did not get a degree. The person earns 55000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.5 in openness, 5.5 in conscientiousness, 3.5 in extraversion, 4.5 in agreeableness, and 4.0 in stability.

It's funny to read snippets of celebrity lives. I don't follow much celebrity news at all and find most of it pretty terrible usually. I don't have much sympathy for them either. Unfortunately most of their actions are money or popularity driven. I also think they really don't take marriage seriously because the divorce rate with celebrities is outrageous. They want to live fast and free and they tend to not make the greatest decisions. Not saying all are like that, but it seems like most.


DAKOTA FANNING PARENTS SPLIT ... Hot Dad Back on the Market —  Dakota Fanning's mom and dad are done after almost 27 years ... TMZ has learned.  Dakota's dad, Steven Fanning, just filed for divorce from his wife, Heather, citing irreconcilable differences. Their kids are both of age, so child support isn't an issue -- Dakota's 22, Elle is 18.  As for spousal support, it's as a bit of a mystery ... Steve didn't check any boxes asking for support from Heather.  That said, he says he still needs to figure out how he and Heather are going to split their property. But we're guessing this stud will be just fine when it's all said and done.

It's pretty sad what Dakota Fanning and her sister had to go through. Going through a divorce with your parents is always hard and never a fun thing. I can't even begin to imagine how Dakota and her sister felt knowing that one of her parents will not always be with them. Things will never be the same as their childhood.


I think divorce is always sad, even when children are grown.  However, this is also just one divorce in a great big world and I can't say I really care.  I thought it was sort of peculiar how tritely the article dealt with the situation, though, seemingly paying more attention to how hot the dad was instead of the dissolution of a family.  And you wonder why marriages dissolve after 27 years and the kids grown.  What changes to push people to divorce at that point.  Maybe for married people that's not a complicated question, but I'm not married so I don't know.  Either way I think it's too bad for the girls that their parents are divorced.  But I'm not really moved by it.


Dakota Fanning's mom and dad are done after almost 27 years ... TMZ has learned. Dakota's dad, Steven Fanning, just filed for divorce from his wife, Heather, citing irreconcilable differences. Their kids are both of age, so child support isn't an issue -- Dakota's 22, Elle is 18. As for spousal support, it's as a bit of a mystery. I seriously do not know how i feel about them.


This story did not move me. The story is a little bit sad because of the marriage being broken up and that it not a good thing. It is a good thing that the two children are over 18 and do not have to grow up without both parents being together. The thing about being a hot dad has nothing to do with the story. It is more about the marriage breaking up.


Civilians shot, bodies hung from poles in Mosul, Iraqi sources say —  As fighting continued in and around Mosul on Friday, civilians caught in crossfire have a stark choice: whether to flee or stay huddled inside their homes.   Many residents tell CNN the intensity of the fighting and the airstrikes in eastern parts of the city limited their options. Still, tens of thousands have chosen the escape route. More than 47,730 people have been displaced because of the ongoing military operations to retake Mosul from ISIS, according to the International Organization for Migration. Roughly 12,800 people have fled since Tuesday, the organization said. Other residents of Mosul have simply chosen to heed the Iraqi Security Forces instructions to stay in their homes if they feel safe enough inside. Still others are too scared to leave their homes, because of ISIS' campaign of terror against the civilians. Witnesses told CNN among the dozens executed this week, more than 30 people were shot in the head for having cell phones. Their bodies were left at various intersections across Mosul as a warning. The bodies are not being removed as residents fear reprisals from ISIS militants, witnesses said. Here are some of the latest developments in the battle for Mosul: The UN human rights office released a report Friday, confirming that at least 60 civilians have been killed in Mosul this week, and reported new details of alleged atrocities by ISIS fighters. On Wednesday evening, ISIS reportedly killed 20 civilians at the Ghabat military base in northern Mosul on charges of leaking information, the UN body said. "Their bodies were also hung at various intersections in Mosul, with notes stating: 'decision of execution' and 'used cell phones to leak information to the ISF.' " On Tuesday, ISIS shot and killed 40 civilians in Mosul after accusing them of "treason and collaboration" with Iraqi security forces, according to a report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR. "The victims were dressed in orange clothes marked in red with the words: 'traitors and agents of the ISF.' Their bodies were then hung on electrical poles in several areas in Mosul city," the report said.   Local ISIS commanders have started fleeing in some neighborhoods, residents said, leaving behind trained teenage ISIS combatants to fight Iraqi forces. Mosul residents said they fear these young fighters as much, if not more, than other ISIS militants because they have been brainwashed, have no fear and have a great amount of zealotry after being indoctrinated and trained for two years. The UNHCR report said ISIS had "deployed what it calls the 'sons of the caliphate' in the alleys of the old town of Mosul, wearing explosive belts. We are concerned that these may be teenagers and young boys." ISIS posted video footage Wednesday, "showing four children, believed to be between 10 and 14 years old, shooting to death four people for spying for the ISF and the Peshmerga," the report said, referring to Iraqi and Kurdish forces. UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein cited "heartbreaking images" of ISIS forcing children to carry out executions and reports of women being "redistributed" among ISIS fighters, as evidence of the "numbing and intolerable" suffering of civilians in Mosul and other ISIS-held areas. He called on Iraqi authorities to ensure the perpetrators of such abuses are dealt with according to the rule of law so as to limit revenge attacks and help communities rebuild. Senior ISIS leader killed In another development, Mahmoud Shukri al Nuaimi, a senior ISIS commander, has been killed in the battle for Mosul, the terror group's last major stronghold in Iraq, Iraqi military intelligence sources tell CNN. Al Nuaimi, also is known as Sheikh Faris, was killed Tuesday in an Iraqi-led coalition airstrike in western Mosul, the sources said. ISIS confirmed his death in a video montage, referring to him as "the martyr of the battle." The Iraqi sources told CNN that Nuaimi was formerly a high-ranking intelligence officer in Saddam Hussein's intelligence services. In Mosul's east, residents said ISIS militants were forcing them from their homes, either to booby trap the houses or to take them over as fighting positions. Militants have reportedly left barrels of crude oil at major intersections, ready to be set afire to hamper Iraqi advances. ISIS has also used white flags to disguise suicide car bombs in Mosul, according to Saban Al Numan, an Iraqi counterterrorism official. The battle for Mosul is difficult, slow and complicated, Numan said. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi vowed victory last month at the start of the long-awaited offensive on Mosul, but he warned the effort could take time. ISIS, an agile enemy, has been preparing its defenses for two years. It takes advantage of the terrain, a network of tunnels and booby-trapped buildings, to great effect. US military officials estimate some 3,000 to 5,000 ISIS fighters are in Mosul. An additional 1,500 to 2,000 fighters may be waiting outside the city limits.

The ISIS need to be stopped. They cant keep killing people indiscriminately and feel they can do anyhow they want. With the level at which they operate, I wish more global powers will be raised against them to stop the nuisance they creating in the world. More attempt should be made to clip their wings.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 40 years old. The person has a two year associate degree. The person earns 25000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 7.0 in openness, 7.0 in conscientiousness, 7.0 in extraversion, 7.0 in agreeableness, and 7.0 in stability.

This is really a shame with whats going on. I feel like the war on terror has been a massive failure. We have lost soldiers. I think of how many families no longer have their children any longer. Then the situation in the Middle East is heartbreaking as well. Young kids, some teenagers have been used as pawns in this sick game. Women are being treated like pieces of meat.I wish I could say that there was something that we as a nation can do, but the situation looks pretty bleak. I think maybe the best thing to do is to stop invading these countries for their oil. It's our own fault in many ways.


I felt like what i read in the article was very disturbing. The things that are going on around the world is very troublesome. It is terrible to know that people are being hung from poles and innocent people are just being killed left and right. It is so inhumane and something i can never even imagine.


As fighting continued in and around Mosul on Friday, civilians caught in crossfire have a stark choice: whether to flee or stay huddled inside their homes. Many residents tell CNN the intensity of the fighting and the airstrikes in eastern parts of the city limited their options. Still, tens of thousands have chosen the escape route. More than 47,730 people have been displaced because of the ongoing military operations to retake Mosul from ISIS, according to the International Organization for Migration. Recording so many death as such really makes me sad. wish there is something that could be done.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 27 years old. The person has a went to technical / vocational school. The person earns 25000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.0 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 6.0 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

Reading about this insane war zone and killings was so graphic and made me so sad. I think so much more needs to be done to defeat ISIS they are like the black plague spreading in the middle east. They hate america and destroy innocent lives I just dont know how you could kill so many people and not feel bad. They are killing people and show casing them in the streets it is hard to understand how in this day and age groups can do that it reminds me of the nazis during the holocaust I fear if this is not taen care of soon it will spread to other areas liek the us with more terroristic events happening.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 38 years old. The person has a postgraduate / professional degree. The person earns 42000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 3.5 in openness, 7.0 in conscientiousness, 6.5 in extraversion, 5.5 in agreeableness, and 6.5 in stability.

Haze from Indonesian fires may have killed more than 100,000 people – study —  Harvard and Columbia universities estimate tens of thousands of premature deaths in areas closest to blazes clearing forest and peatland A smog outbreak in Southeast Asia last year may have caused over 100,000 premature deaths, according to a new study released Monday that triggered calls for action to tackle the “killer haze”. Researchers from Harvard and Columbia universities in the US estimated there were more than 90,000 early deaths in Indonesia in areas closest to haze-belching fires, and several thousand more in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia. The new estimate, reached using a complex analytical model, is far higher than the previous official death toll given by authorities of just 19 deaths in Indonesia. “If nothing changes, this killer haze will carry on taking a terrible toll, year after year,” said Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaign Yuyun Indradi. “Failure to act immediately to stem the loss of life would be a crime.” A spokesman for Indonesia’s environment ministry did not immediately have any comment. Indonesian authorities have previously insisted they are stepping up haze-fighting efforts, through such actions as banning the granting of new land for palm oil plantations and establishing an agency to restore devastated peatlands. The haze is an annual problem caused by fires set in forest and on carbon-rich peatland in Indonesia to quickly and cheaply clear land for palm oil and pulpwood plantations. The blazes occur mainly on Indonesia’s western Sumatra island and the Indonesian part of Borneo, with monsoon winds typically blowing the haze over Singapore and Malaysia. But last year’s fires were among the worst in memory and cloaked large parts of the region in choking smog for weeks, causing huge numbers to fall ill and sending diplomatic tensions soaring. The new study to be published in journal Environmental Research Letters, which combined satellite data with models of health impacts from smoke exposure and readings from pollution monitoring stations, estimated that 100,300 had died prematurely due to last year’s fires across the three countries. They estimated there were 91,600 deaths in Indonesia, 6,500 in Malaysia and 2,200 in Singapore. Greenpeace hailed a “groundbreaking” study they said for the first time gave a detailed breakdown of deaths from last year’s fires, but cautioned that the figure was a “conservative estimate”. It only looked at health impacts on adults and the effect of dangerous fine-particulate matter, known as PM 2.5. It did not examine the effect on youngsters or of the other toxins produced by the blazes. In reality, infants are some of the most at risk from the haze, said Nursyam Ibrahim, from the West Kalimantan province branch of the Indonesian Medical Association on Borneo. “We are the doctors who care for the vulnerable groups exposed to toxic smoke in every medical centre, and we know how awful it is to see the disease symptoms experienced by babies and children in our care,” said Ibrahim. The study found an increase in the number of fires in peatland and in timber concessions in 2015, compared to the last haze outbreak considered major, in 2006, and that the number of fires in palm oil plantations fell. Shannon Koplitz, a Harvard scientist who worked on the study, said she also hoped the model they had developed could help those involved with tackling the annual blazes make quick decisions “as extreme haze events are unfolding”. Last year’s haze outbreak was the worst since 1997 due to a strong El Nino weather system, which created tinder-dry conditions in Indonesia and made peatland and forests more vulnerable to going up in flames.       Article Title:Samoa hit by hail storm so rare residents thought it was a hoax   Article URL:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/19/samoa-hit-by-hail-storm-so-rare-residents-thought-it-was-a-hoax   Article author(s)Eleanor Ainge Roy   Article date:Monday 19 September 2016 00.11 EDT   News source: theguardian    Meteorologist forced to release satellite images of the storm to convince some locals that the hail wasn’t part of a practical joke Samoa has been hit by a hail storm so rare that it was believed to be a hoax by many of the island’s inhabitants. The tropical nation of Samoa lies in the Pacific Ocean, where the average temperature at this time of year is 29C. But on Friday evening an unexpected hail storm struck the eastern side of the island of Savai’i, accompanied by heavy rain and strong wind gusts. It was only the second time since records began that hail has fallen on Samoa, the first was in 2011. The storm lasted 10 to 15 minutes and produced hail stones roughly 2cm wide. “The ice was very small and there were no reports of damage,” said Luteru Tauvale, principal meteorologist for the Samoan Meteorology Service. “Because it was so unexpected a lot of people thought it had been invented. We had to release satellite images of the conditions that led to to the hail for people to believe it was real.” Samoans took to social media to share their photos of the hail, many voicing disbelief at the incident, and then saying it was the “first time” they had been convinced of the the phenomenon of climate change. “Climate change is here!” wrote one Samoan on Facebook. “More like we have just woken up to the fact it had been with us for a while but we refuse to accept/believe it.” Hailstorms form within a unusually unstable air mass in which the temperature falloff with height is much greater than normal.       Article Title:Dozens dead and missing after typhoon lashes eastern China     Article URL:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/18/dozens-dead-and-missing-after-typhoon-lashes-eastern-china   Article author(s)   Article date:Saturday 17 September 2016 22.40 EDT   News source: theguardian    Typhoon Meranti has damaged more than 18,300 houses and caused direct economic losses of more than 16.9bn yuan ($2.5bn)   The strongest typhoon to hit China this year has left 28 people dead and 15 others missing in the east of the country. Typhoon Meranti made landfall early Thursday in Fujian province after winds and rains associated with it pounded Taiwan, leaving one person dead and more than 50 injured. Authorities in Fujian said Saturday that the typhoon had left 18 people dead and 11 missing, damaged more than 18,300 houses and caused direct economic losses of more than 16.9 billion yuan ($2.5bn).   Authorities in neighboring Zhejiang province say that 10 people died and four remained unaccounted for following landslides and flash floods in rural areas. Taiwan saw wind and rain from a second typhoon, Malakas, that caused no apparent deaths.

Wow, 100,000 deaths is a massive amount!  I found this very  it makes me very sad for the people involved especially the fact so many infants and children's were affected.  This just seems like something that could have been very avoidable if the right steps were taken. I mean a haze killing 100,000 people?  That's crazy! I think it's sad that it's happening in what is probably an underfunded area where the people don't really have much freedom.  Overall this is just a bad situation, it makes me very sad for the people involved.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 29 years old. The person has a went to college but did not get a degree. The person earns 39000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.5 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 1.0 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 5.5 in stability.

Reading about the atrocities committed by ISIS is one of the most disheartening things a person can do. Children being put on the front lines and brainwashed into thinking that their actions are going to earn them a place in the eternal bliss of paradise while the widows and orphans they create are passed around higher ranking members as slaves. The whole thing makes me want to wretch.


A smog outbreak in Southeast Asia last year may have caused over 100,000 premature deaths, according to a new study released Monday that triggered calls for action to tackle the ?killer haze?. Researchers from Harvard and Columbia universities in the US estimated there were more than 90,000 early deaths in Indonesia in areas closest to haze-belching fires, and several thousand more in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia. I feel so sad at the thought of this haze killing thousands of people.


The fires that killed more than 100,000 people just disappoint me honestly. I feel like overall there has to be a better way to go about things this is just depressing and we need to find better ways to help them out. I feel like there needs to be people held accountable for this just leaving it like this is not going to cut it.


I think what hapepend in Indonesia is terrible. The haze and fire really damaged lots of people's homes as well as took lives. I can't even imagine to think what it would be like if everything i had was just engulfed in flames and burned. I feel really bad for the families as well as people that have lost a loved one in this.


Family loses home and two pets in D.C. fire —  A fire displaced a family of five and killed two cats inside their Northwest Washington rowhouse, D.C. fire and emergency services officials said. Firefighters were called to the two-story home in the 5000 block of Illinois Avenue NW about 1 p.m., said Vito Maggiolo, a fire department spokesman. All the residents escaped without injury, but two family pets did not. The Red Cross was notified to help two adults and three children who cannot reenter the home due to fire damage, officials said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

House fires are nojoke. And theyc an happen to anyone at any time. I feel so bad that that poor family are now without a home and there beloved pets. I hope their animals didn't have to suffer before they passed and I hope that the family is able to move on from this tragedy and will be able to continue their lives from this point on.


The tragedy that happened in DC was definitely very terrible. Anytime you lose your loved ones or anything to a fire, it can be  very traumatizing. It is also very hard to recover from something like that in my opinion. I think the article said that cats were taken away by the fire. This is tough because i have pets and i love them to death.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 30 years old. The person has a high school degree or diploma. The person earns 30000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.5 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 4.0 in extraversion, 4.0 in agreeableness, and 5.5 in stability.

Fires always manage to touch my heart. I have personal experience with this and the fear is still with me to this day. A fire can ravage everything that you have any really leave a person traumatized. A lot of times a person or family will get woken up to loud alarms and smoke out of nowhere and have to pick their most important possessions to save. This is a scary situation!


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 31 years old. The person has a two year associate degree. The person earns 82000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 2.5 in openness, 3.5 in conscientiousness, 2.0 in extraversion, 4.5 in agreeableness, and 5.0 in stability.

I guess I just feel bad for these people.  Losing your home to a fire has got to suck.  Not only did you lose everything you love and own in the blink of an eye, but let's be honest, it was probably your fault.  Usually fires start because you were doing something you weren't supposed to, or there was shoddy work completed.


After reading the article, i felt really bad for the family that was involved in the fire. It is unfortunate because it was something accidental and something that could have happened to anyone. I am also glad that they are okay though and nobody died. I did feel unfortunate and sad for their cats because it stated that they were killed in the fire.


The person is male. Racially, the person is hispanic / latino. The person is 33 years old. The person has a high school degree or diploma. The person earns 78000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 7.0 in openness, 7.0 in conscientiousness, 3.0 in extraversion, 7.0 in agreeableness, and 7.0 in stability.

Study: lung cancer patients exposed to air pollution may have shorter survival times —  We all know that air pollution is bad, so bad that it kills thousands of people each year. In India alone according to a Washington Post article published last month, about half a million people die every year due to outdoor air pollution.   With that introductory paragraph, here’s a finding of a new study that may not surprise a lot of you readers: people with lung cancer may have shorter survival times when exposed to smog and other air pollutants.   As reported at The Guardian, researchers in the state of California have found that exposure to bad air quality after lung cancer diagnosis can negatively affect survival. The paper was published in the journal Thorax with lead author Sandrah P. Eckel, PhD of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.   The main takeaway of the research is that the length of time that people with lung cancer live after diagnosis varies depending on their exposure to air pollution. Researchers claim that the median survival for people diagnosed with early stage of lung cancers who were in areas with high levels of regional pollution was about three years shorter than people who lived in places with lower pollution levels.   In an interview with the University of Southern California website, Dr. Eckel explains that their research focused on California, and the reason is that the state has a wide range of air pollution levels. It also has one of the largest and longest running air quality monitoring networks and cancer registry system in the country.   Looking at the lung cancer data with over three-hundred and fifty thousand patients registered between the years 1988 to 2009, the team has found that patients in areas with higher levels of fine particulate matter–or, at about 2.5 micrometers in diameter–was only about two point four years, compared to five point seven years in patients in areas with lower levels of fine particulate matter.   It is also worth noting that lung cancer patients whose cancer had spread to other parts of their bodies had shorter survival times overall. They also showed little difference in survival time whether they lived in places with high or low air pollution levels.   And like other research, the team clarifies that additional research is needed to determine the link between air pollution and survival rates of lung cancer patients. However, the findings are intriguing, the team says, and they suggest that newly diagnosed lung cancer patients must consider moving out of places with high levels of air pollution.   Lung Cancer in America   A recently updated page of the CDC–or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention–says that lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in America, and the second most common among both women and men.   The American health institute suggests avoiding smoking and secondhand smoke, and avoid places with radon, a naturally occurring gas from rocks and dirt.

dude, you smoke, i smoke. i just switched to vaping, but you still smoke. you know you can get lung cancer? lung cancer is no joke, thousands die from it every year. you can get it from cigarettes. you can also get it from air pollution.what kinds of air pollution? first hand smoke, second hand smoke, i just found about something called radon that is a naturally occurring gas that comes from rocks and dirt, dude rocks are killing us. thats trippy.  no what do air pollution and lung cancer have to do in common? you are more suceptable to die form air pollution if you got lung cancer from those cigarettes you been smoking. either way though, the pollution can kill you though, just more easily if you got cancer.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 34 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 68000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.0 in openness, 5.5 in conscientiousness, 5.5 in extraversion, 5.0 in agreeableness, and 6.5 in stability.

Hey man, this is crazy. I had no idea air pollution causes this much damage to us. Did you know in India it kills almost half a million people per year? That is absolutely insane. Something has to be done about this pollution. I wonder what it is in America? It's probably even worse here than it is there. Some places have real bad air quality.


Air pollution is bad, so bad that it kills thousands of people each year. In India alone according to a Washington Post article published last month, about half a million people die every year due to outdoor air pollution. With that introductory paragraph, here?s a finding of a new study that may not surprise a lot of you readers: people with lung cancer may have shorter survival times when exposed to smog and other air pollutants. With the above information it is vital to pay attention to people with lung cancer.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 21 years old. The person has a high school degree or diploma. The person earns 20000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 3.0 in openness, 5.0 in conscientiousness, 5.0 in extraversion, 4.0 in agreeableness, and 3.5 in stability.

It's sad that humans have the destroyed/damaged the world to the point that it is starting to give us cancer! How crazy sad is that... Why can't we find more enviormentally friendly ways to do things? I'm sure the ways are out there, but theres no money in it so they haven't been discovered yet...  how gross is that


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 28 years old. The person has a two year associate degree. The person earns 50000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.0 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 5.0 in extraversion, 4.5 in agreeableness, and 3.5 in stability.

California researchers studied lung cancer patients for 10 years between 1999 and 2009. This research showed the those patients who lived in higher pollution rates were more negatively effected than those who did not live in higher pollution. they recommend for patients to move to places where there is less pollution.


Visitors bring trouble to Norway's polar bears —  Officials in Norway say an increasing number of visitors to their Arctic region have triggered an increase in the number of endangered polar bears killed. Diane Hodges reports on efforts to protect the bears. Video provided by Reuters

What i read in the article about the tourists hurting the polar bears really angers me and makes me sad at the same time. It is terrible that a human being is able to harm an animal and be able to sleep at night. I think that people should be nowhere near polar bears to be honest. They should be left alone where they want to be.


It really irritates me when people kill any animal for pure sport but even moreso when the animals are endangered. If steps are not taken to protect the endangered species then this situation is likely to compound in the future. This situation is reaching levels to where some type of punishment or actions need to be taken.


Hey, so polar bears are being killed in mass. even though they are protected, they are still being killed off. why is it that humans do this so much? We have caused so many species to go extinct, will polar bears be next? I feel like this is just what we humans do. We cause the death and destruction of other species of animals and our own planet.


The person is male. Racially, the person is hispanic / latino. The person is 32 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 35000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.0 in openness, 5.5 in conscientiousness, 2.0 in extraversion, 5.5 in agreeableness, and 4.5 in stability.

We as a whole community of human beings must come together to save this beautiful majestic animals. WE have obviously not learned our lesson of past animal extinctions and still put endangered animals in even more danger. Norway should put out strict laws for visitors and harsh sentences should they break these laws as well!


Why would people go to Norway to mess with the polar bears? I do not understand what people are thinking sometimes. I wish people would just leave the polar bears and other animals alone for they can live their life just as people live their life. I hope one day the population of polar bears comes back up to normal.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 46 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 22000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.5 in openness, 6.5 in conscientiousness, 2.5 in extraversion, 5.0 in agreeableness, and 5.0 in stability.

Myanmar 'child slavery' outrage sparks investigation —  The Burmese president has ordered an investigation into the case of two girls who say they were kept prisoner and tortured for five years in a tailor shop. The teenagers were freed last week after a journalist helped them, but their families say that the police had on numerous occasions refused their pleas to get involved. This Wednesday, with the case now generating headlines, the police finally arrested the tailor and two family members. The two girls were aged just 11 and 12 when they were sent by their parents to the commercial capital Yangon. For poor Burmese families it's a painful but depressingly common decision. The United Nations estimates that at least a million Burmese children are forced to give up on education and go to work. These girls became maids in a tailor shop in the centre of Yangon. But what started as paid work allegedly turned into modern-day slavery. The girls say they were denied contact with their parents, were unable to leave and were no longer being paid. Then there was the abuse. Visited by the French news agency AFP in their village after their release, the girls had injuries and scars on their arms which they say were inflicted by their captors. "I have a scar from where an iron was stamped on my leg and a scar on my head as well," one of the girls, now 16, told AFP. "This was a wound from a knife, because my cooking was not OK," she said, showing a mark on her nose. The other girl, now 17, has burnt, twisted fingers - the consequence, she says, of them being broken deliberately by her captors as punishment. The allegations of mistreatment are shocking, but it's the authorities handling of the case that has really enraged the Burmese public. Many see it as further proof of a judicial system stacked against the poorest and most vulnerable. On several occasions over the last five years, the girls' families say they asked the Burmese police for help and were turned away. It was only when a journalist called Swe Win became involved that things started to move. He approached the police, who again refused to help, before taking the matter to the national human rights commission. To its credit, the commission did act, negotiating with the tailor for the girls' release and for a payment equivalent to about 4,000 dollars (£3060) to be made, effectively as back-pay. But there was public outcry when it emerged that no further measures were taken against the girls' alleged abusers. "We figured at the time that we could solve the case satisfactorily to all parties involved with a compensation settlement," U Zaw Win, a member of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission told an angry news conference in Yangon. With the girls' story now front page news and reverberating around social media, the Burmese police were finally spurred into action. On Wednesday evening the tailor was arrested, along with her two adult children. They all now face charges related to human trafficking. Questions are now being asked as to why it took so long for the authorities to get involved. In a rare public intervention, President Htin Kyaw released a statement. He said he had instructed the relevant ministries to assist and protect the girls, their families and the journalist Swe Win from possible reprisals. The president has also asked for a report on how the police handled the case and said he would be taking a close look at the work of the human rights commission. Swe Win is receiving a presidential award for his work on the case.

I can't believe that anyone let's this type of behavior continue. Who let's their children be basically sold into slavery and then what government and officials allows it to happen. It's sad, disgusting and disturbing that this is something that is allowed to go on. It says something about the state of the world that this is what we've come to and that we just let it continue on. People should do more to ensure this behavior doesn't continue.


These type of people are some of the worst that there are. It sucks that parents feel they are forced to send their kids away to get employment. This is a short sighted answer and to be honest is taking advantage of their own children. These kids can grow up to be so many things if properly educated and yet it is squandered away.


The person is female. Racially, the person is black / african american. The person is 22 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 100000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 4.5 in openness, 5.5 in conscientiousness, 3.5 in extraversion, 6.0 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

The Burmese president has ordered an investigation into the case of two girls who say they were kept prisoner and tortured for five years in a tailor shop. The teenagers were freed last week after a journalist helped them, but their families say that the police had on numerous occasions refused their pleas to get involved. This really made me sad what the two girls went through.


I can't believe having to go through that.  It's shocking that in a fairly developed world this is still going on.  What's even more shocking is that it sounds like this is probably fairly common in the area.  For the police and authorities to clearly not care about it suggests that it is considered to be a non issue.


The person is male. Racially, the person is black / african american. The person is 33 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 64000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 7.0 in openness, 6.5 in conscientiousness, 3.5 in extraversion, 4.5 in agreeableness, and 7.0 in stability.

It is incredibly alarming that slavery is still being perpetuated in certain parts of the world. I am particularly disturbed by the fact that the parents willingly sent their children to this tailor. How disturbing. These young girls were robbed of their innocence and their parents did not sufficiently protect them.


With Much Sadness We Report Baby Isibindi Has Passed —  Rhino Update From Thula Thula Rhino Orphanage: It is with many tears, a heavy heart and very mixed emotions that I write that little Isibindi passed away shortly before midnight after a very, very rough 56 hours. She went through such deep sadness in her short life. I was so hoping and fighting to give her a second chance at life. A part of me feels a deep relief – the last two days were very difficult and she had so much to cope with. Little Bindi left this earth lying in my arms (the orphanage had no power so I wrapped us both in a duvet to keep her warm) It never gets easier. RIP little Bindi – may your spirit fly free! To the team on the ground here – humbled and proud. I have been with Isibindi constantly since she arrived a few days ago with no water, no power, wet cold conditions and security issues, this young and amazing group have made sure that the other rhinos have been cared for. Thank you to: Axel Tarifa, Shannon Westphal- very special people and Steven and Nicole. May God Bless all of the orphaned babies who are fighting for their life! -WAN

I find it sad that the little baby rhino has passed away.  Surely it lived a short life and it did not deserve a day.  Most animals seem to be very innocent creatures and it is always sad to hear of the loss of a little innocent animal life.  It also seems sad that it was at a rhino orphanage.  What happened to its parents, were they killed or did they abandon it?  Anyway, this is sad news although life does go on and it is the way of the world I guess.


So, I just read an article about a baby rhino that passed away in captivity; apparently, due to lack of power? The article was very vague, but the woman describing the situation spoke of the rhino like a member of her family. The whole thing was very touching. It's hard not to have an emotional response to the suffering of any creature.


The article lacks clarity on whether Isbindi was a child or a rhino. I am more than a little confused. I have neutral feelings toward the story as it was presented. Any loss of life is tragic, but more so when it is an innocent and defenseless child. I was also quite curious as what exactly was the cause of death.


This is just depressing because the little rhino was a famous one. I feel like I lost a pet of mine to be honest. It seems this rhino was quite important and when someone like that goes it is quite depressing and hard to put in to words.The fact the orphanage had no power is depressing. We need to do better


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 25 years old. The person has a went to college but did not get a degree. The person earns 29000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.0 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 5.5 in extraversion, 6.5 in agreeableness, and 3.0 in stability.

I think it is so sad for that baby rhino to die so young.. Any creature deserves a chance at life, and for this baby's to be taken away so soon is just heartbreaking. Also the fact that it was an orphan makes it even sadder. I used to work at an animal rescue place and sometimes we would ahve animals that wouldn't make it.. it is really hard to see an animal pass.


Saudi women file petition to end male guardianship system —  A petition signed by more than 14,000 Saudi women calling for an end to the country's male guardianship system is being handed to the government. Women must have the consent of a male guardian to travel abroad, and often need permission to work or study. Support for the first large-scale campaign on the issue grew online in response to a trending Twitter hashtag. Activist Aziza Al-Yousef told the BBC she felt "very proud" of the campaign, but now needed a response. In the deeply conservative Islamic kingdom, a woman must have permission from her father, brother or other male relative - in the case of a widow, sometimes her son - to obtain a passport, marry or leave the country. Many workplaces and universities also demand a guardian's consent for female employees and students, although it is not legally required.   Renting a flat, undergoing hospital treatment or filing a legal claim often also require a male guardian's permission, and there is very little recourse for women whose guardians abuse them or severely limit their freedom. How much do you know about life as a woman in Saudi Arabia? WATCH: Are Saudi women really that oppressed? The 'Rosa Parks' of Saudi Arabia 'Flabbergasted' In July, an Arabic Twitter hashtag which translates as "Saudi women want to abolish the guardianship system" went viral after a Human Rights Watch reportwas published on the issue. Saudi women tweeted comments, videos and artwork calling for change. Bracelets saying "I Am My Own Guardian" appeared. The women counted on the petition all gave their full names, though more signed anonymously. Hundreds of women - one estimate suggests as many as 2,500 - bombarded the Saudi King's office over the weekend with telegrams containing personal messages backing the campaign. Human Rights Watch researcher Kristine Beckerle, who worked on the report, described the response as "incredible and unprecedented". "I was flabbergasted - not only by the scale, but the creativity with which they've been doing it," she said. "They've made undeniably clear they won't stand to be treated as second-class citizens any longer, and it's high time their government listened."    However, there has been opposition from some Saudi women, with an alternative Arabic hashtag, which translates as #TheGuardianshipIsForHerNotAgainstHer, gaining some traction, and opinion articles, like this one on the Gulf News website, arguing that the system should be reformed and applied better. Ms Yousef, who was stopped by police in 2013 for breaking the country's ban on women driving, said she did not expect any negative consequences from the petition: "I'm not worried, I'm not doing anything wrong," she said. She and another activist took the petition to the Royal Court in person on Monday, but were advised to send it by mail. She said a key demand is that an age between 18 and 21 be designated, above which a woman be "treated like an adult". "In every aspect, the important issue is to treat a woman as a full citizen," she said. She and other activists first raised the issue five years ago. "We never had a problem with campaigning, but the problem is there is no answer. But we always hope - without hope, you cannot work," she said. There has been no official response to the petition yet.

I think its about time Saudi Arabia get with the rest of the worlds in the push for women to be treated equally. It is a shame that women need consent of a male guardian to go abroad. They are adults and should be free to travel where they wish. I think the need for consent is something from the 1400's and should be abolished now.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 41 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 28000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 2.0 in openness, 2.5 in conscientiousness, 1.5 in extraversion, 2.0 in agreeableness, and 1.0 in stability.

I don't care about Saudi women at all and don't care about their campaign to end the guardianship requirements in their country.  I truly could not care less.  My brother lives in Saudi Arabia and it's a vile place full of vile people.  The more they suffer, the better.  What's interesting is that the women, in their bondage, actually hold a strangely revered place in society.  I'm not sure what an analogy would be, perhaps the elderly.  On one hand, it's true they have many limitations on their lives.  On the other, because of that they're treated as almost untouchable.  So my brother could theoretically get into an argument with a Saudi man, but never with a women.  It's a strange, paradoxical thing, and I wonder if the Saudi women understand it before they end it.


I found it interesting that there were Saudi women for and against the guardianship program. I think in a broader sense this will only inflame tensions between Saudi's and the west as the more traditional Saudi's will undoubtedly blame western culture for these ideas. The fear of encroachment of western values into their culture has been a fear of Saudi Arabia since the kingdom's inception.


The person is male. Racially, the person is white. The person is 29 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 85000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.75 in openness, 6.75 in conscientiousness, 6.75 in extraversion, 6.75 in agreeableness, and 7.0 in stability.

After reading this article, my immediate reaction is that it makes me a bit angry. I am angry at the fact that women still have to go by rules like this in today's day and age. It makes me angry that women need the permission of a man in order to be able to do what she wants. In today's world, anyone should be able to do anything and their freedom should not be restricted.


This kind of thing makes me so sad to hear... I can't believe things like this are still happening in todays day and age, after all the advancements that humanity has made as far as technology, racism, sexism, classism, and this kind of thing still is going on... It's awful and it's sad that we don't hear more about it in the media.


Suicide: Russian girl's death prompts national debate —  It's a day like any other day in a provincial city in central Russia. A 12-year-old girl is getting ready to go to school. Suddenly her phone rings. The next minute she is out of the door, saying she's meeting a friend and they will go to school together. Later the same day, when her mother turns up at the school, there is no sign of her daughter. No-one has seen her. Then the mother's phone rings, and she can tell by the ring tone that it's her daughter's phone. "Where are you, darling?" she asks with relief. "It's not your daughter," a strange voice replies. "I'm a doctor from A&E. Your daughter is dead." She had taken her own life. Social network subculture In the weeks and months that followed, the mother discovered how her daughter had been immersed in an online subculture of suicide involving images of self-harming, alternative reality games and a cult surrounding a 16-year-old girl who had killed herself in a violent fashion. This is the tragic story at the heart of a long, front-page article called Groups of Death in independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta on 16 May. Written by correspondent Galina Mursalieva, it alleges that Russia's most popular social network VKontakte (VK) has numerous groups used by Svengali-type figures to encourage vulnerable young people to kill themselves. These groups are regularly closed down, but others quickly spring up in their place. Emotional intensity The piece claims that a spate of at least 80 recent suicides can be linked to these online groups. Four of the deaths, including the one described above, occurred on the same day last December and in roughly the same manner. A note from Novaya Gazeta's editors at the top of the article urges every parent to read it to "save their children from a fateful step". Groups of Death has had an extraordinary impact. In little over a week, it has been viewed more than two million times and has sparked a stormy debate on social networks and beyond. One of the reasons it has gone viral is undoubtedly the emotional intensity of Galina Mursalieva's writing. But that has been singled out as one of its main shortcomings, too. Critics have accused her of treating a complex subject with tabloid sensationalism and allowing her personal involvement in the story to cloud her judgement. In particular, they question the emphasis that the writer and the bereaved parents have placed on the internet as a cause of juvenile suicide. A follow-up investigation by the Lenta.ru website presented a more nuanced, although no less disturbing, picture of internet subculture. It suggested that the people running the VK groups were not much older than their teenage members, and in many cases were exploiting suicide cults to boost their own egos or even earn money from online advertising. But Lenta.ru also admitted that at least some of the deaths mentioned by Novaya Gazeta could be linked to online grooming. ________________   Russia's high level of youth suicide Russia has world's third-highest number of suicides among adolescents Depression, anxiety and aggression are found in 20% of Russian teenagers; the Western average is no higher than 5% Suicidal thoughts come into the minds of 45% of Russian girls and 27% of young men Most suicides are linked to parents' alcoholism, family conflicts and abuse Statistics agency Rosstat says Russia's overall rate of suicide fell in 2015 to the lowest level for 50 years Source: Unicef 2011/Rosstat 2016 iWonder: How do we talk about teenage suicide? ________________   As well as appealing to parents, Novaya Gazeta also argued that it had wanted to goad the authorities into action. It said it had passed material to law enforcement agencies and informed media watchdog Roskomnadzor of its findings. Since publication, investigators in St Petersburg have launched a criminal case over groups on VK that allegedly promote suicide. But Novaya Gazeta has also been accused of colluding with the authorities, or at least giving them a useful pretext to further extend their control over the internet. It is an allegation emphatically denied by chief editor Dmitry Muratov. One of the ostensible aims of a controversial internet blacklist law that came into force in 2012 was to protect minors from material promoting suicide. Internet expert Anton Nosik believes that the Kremlin is now intent on getting to grips with online communities, having passed laws that have the potential to curb the activity of top bloggers and with key elections just around the corner. One thing that everyone appears to agree on is that adolescent suicide is a very serious problem in Russia. A 2011 Unicef report found that the country had the third-highest suicide rate in this age group in the world, more than three times the global average. As such, even some of Galina Mursalieva's critics concede that by getting people to talk about a subject that is too often ignored, she may have performed a useful public service. ________________   Are you affected by this? Samaritans The Samaritans helpline is available 24 hours a day for anyone in the UK struggling to cope. It provides a safe place to talk where calls are completely confidential. Phone for free: 116 123 Email: jo@samaritans.org Visit the Samaritans website Papyrus Papyrus offers support, practical advice and information to young people in the UK considering suicide and can also offer help and advice if you're concerned about someone you know. Phone: 0800 068 41 41 Telephone Doveriye (Telephone of Trust) In Russia, a confidential hotline for children is available on 8-800-2000-122

Wow, a twelve year old russian girl commited suicide because of her association with some website that promoted teens committing suicide.  It's really sad that sick people would go online and prey on little children like this.  I find it shocking and hard to believe anyone would want to do such a thing.  They really need to find a way to crack down on these people and put them away for life.  This is just ridiculous.


I just read an article about suicides in Russia. Apparently, there are online communities devoted to encouraging teenagers to take their own lives. Often times these websites are maintained and propagated just to receive money through advertising. Can you imagine living with the deaths of people just to make a few bucks from ads? We truly live in a twisted reality.


It's a day like any other day in a provincial city in central Russia. A 12-year-old girl is getting ready to go to school. Suddenly her phone rings. The next minute she is out of the door, saying she's meeting a friend and they will go to school together. Later the same day, when her mother turns up at the school, there is no sign of her daughter. No-one has seen her. This is really sad and terrifying.


It is quite disturbing that the number of teen suicides in Russia is so high. It is far less surprising that there is a direct link between the increase in suicides and the Russian social media site VKontakte. I think there is a causal link between teen suicides in the US and the growing popularity of similar sites.


I just read an article about a teenage girl in Russia who was apparently taken in by an online suicide group that conditions teens to kill themselves. It's odd to think that there are people out there that get off on convincing impressionable youth to commit suicide. I think the internet is becoming something that guardians need to at least passively monitor to see what's going on in their children's heads.


Study reveals why seabirds eat plastic in the ocean —  The human sense of smell is important. It alerts us to different dangers including spoiled food, poison, fire, and so on. But other species on this planet have no sense of smell like humans have. In fact, a new research revealed that the sense of smell of seabirds, which they use to hunt for food, have put them in danger. Not surprisingly, humans ARE to blame.   Published last week in the PNAS, or the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers said that ninety percent of seabirds eat plastic flowing in oceans. By 2050, the team revealed that virtually all seabirds will be eating it.   So the question now is why do seabirds eat plastic?   The paper said plastic in the ocean emit the scent of a sulfurous compound which seabirds have relied upon for thousands of years. It tells them where to hunt for food.   In other words, the compound trick them into confusing marine plastic with food.   Lead researcher Matthew Savoca said–via the UC Davis website–that in order to understand the problem, we have to think about how animals look for food.   Researchers learned what plastic in the ocean smell like by putting beads–made of the three most common types of plastic beads–into the ocean at Monterey Bay and Bodega Bay in California. They placed it in mesh bags to protect the species there, and tied them to an ocean buoy before collecting them about three weeks later.   Then, the team brought the beads to UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology where scientists are often found analyzing wine chemistry. Using the chemical analyzer provided by food-and-wine chemist Susan Ebeler, the research team confirmed that the beads emit the sulfur compound dimethyl sulfide, or DMS, a chemical cue released by algae, which coats floating plastic.   Co-author and UC Davis professor Gabrielle Nevitt had previously established that the said compound triggers seabirds to search for food. DMS is released when algae is eaten by animals (like crustaceans). So while the algae doesn’t smell like food itself, it does emit the scent of food being eaten which works like a dinner bell of the birds.   The paper also revealed that birds that track the scent of the compound to look for food are about six times more likely to consume plastic than those that don’t.   Professor Nevitt said their research gives spotlight to species that don’t receive a lot of attention, like petrels and species of shearwaters, which are impacted by plastic ingestion. These species, she added, are hard to study as they nest in underground burrows. So they’re often overlooked.   Apart from that, the study could open the door to new steps to address the growing plastic pollution in oceans which not only plague the seabirds, but also sea turtles, fish and other marine animals.   Apparently, the problem starts on land. According to NOAA, one of the biggest sources of ocean pollution is called nonpoint source pollution which occurs as a result of runoff. It includes many small sources like boats, septic tanks, cars, etc, and larger sources like farms, forest areas, etc.   A study published last year said that the top five countries that dump plastics into oceans are China, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. It projected that by 2025, plastic consumption in the region will increase by eighty percent.

I think it's sad that so much plastic in the ocean is affecting wildlife the way it is.  It's really unfair the way we have destroyed their ecosystem with our own selfish use of plastic.  It is terrible when you see pictures of all the plastic in the ocean.  Apparently these birds are even being tricked into thinking plastic is food since it smells like food to them.  That is so unnatural and just wrong really.  and all this has happened in just a short period of time!


I honestly find this article more amusing than anything.  I absolutely loathe birds.  Can't stand them.  Want them all dead.  I don't even care how that affects the food chain or nature.  I just can't stand birds.  So the idea that they're so stupid they'll keep eating plastic and threaten their species' very existence, is amusing to me.  I think the article also misses some important information that I'd be curious to know, but I also don't care that much.  I also think it's amusing that Asian countries are all the worst at dumping plastics in the ocean.  That's why the straw thing in the U.S. is missing the point.  We're not the problem.  The Asians are.


It bothers me so much that we are polluting our oceans to begin with and then to see that we are harming even more animals because of it. It seems crazy that plastic floating in the ocean can be harming sea birds but it also does make some sense. Just more humans doing harm to things that we had no business messing with to begin with. I am so angered over this and upset to think of the damage our garbage is causing.


The person is male. Racially, the person is asian / pacific islander. The person is 41 years old. The person has a postgraduate / professional degree. The person earns 64000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 6.5 in openness, 6.0 in conscientiousness, 4.0 in extraversion, 4.0 in agreeableness, and 5.0 in stability.

Hey, I just read this article that I want to tell you about. Apparently, seabirds are eating plastic because plastic emits a scent that it similar to food. Plastic in the ocean gets coated with algae which emits a sulfur smell that some seabirds love. Pretty crazy, right? Anyway, it's sad what we're doing to our environment. It's sadder that we are pretty powerless to do anything about it. It's only a matter of time before everything justs collapses on itself. But at least we'll have iphones so we can video record the Apocalypse.


After reading the article, i can't help but feel bad for the birds that are eating the plastics. I feel bad for them and i also feel guilty as well because i know that i somehow contributed to that as well because it's not just one person's fault. I feel like it's a collective fault that we should try to fix to try and help out these animals before they go extinct.


Syrians and Iraqis granted asylum in Germany far more often than Pakistanis, Nigerians —  BERLIN — One year after the height of Europe’s migrant crisis, Germany — a nation that took in more asylum seekers than the rest of the continent combined — is confronting the Solomonesque task of deciding who gets to stay. Yet as authorities adjudicate cases, a contentious truism is emerging: Not all nationalities are created equal. If you’re from Syria or Iraq, sanctuary is almost guaranteed. But if you’re from Nigeria or Pakistan, chances are you journeyed halfway across the world in vain. Nearly 37 percent of all claims processed by the German authorities are being rejected, including an increasing number of people from countries afflicted with violent insurgencies, such as Afghanistan. Even Syrians are increasingly falling short of winning full refugee status. Authorities say they’re simply applying national and international asylum law, weeding out those who do not qualify. But critics say that overburdened asylum officials are turning a deaf ear to at least some genuine petitions simply because they come from asylum seekers arriving from nations outside the much-publicized war zones of the Middle East. [Germany used to be the promised land for migrants. Now, it’s turning back more of them.] Pakistani Mohammad Nabeel is among the unlucky ones. This month, German migration authorities informed him that his case had been closed before he even had an official hearing. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) said he had missed his appointment, although Nabeel said he was never notified. Even if he had been, experts say, his case falls into the gray area that often leads to rejection. The 23-year-old claims he was in love with a rich girl in his hometown. But her family was against the relationship with Nabeel, who was poor and didn’t have the right family name, important factors in some areas of Pakistan for arranging a marriage. The girl’s brother and father set out to kill Nabeel, he says, to protect the girl’s honor. His only proof, he says, are fading scars on his body from being severely beaten by members of her family. Nabeel arrived in Germany after traveling six months and crossing seven different countries. Now, he may be sent back. “I won’t go back; I’d rather kill myself,” Nabeel says. He plans to appeal the asylum official’s decision. There are loopholes in the German system allowing for people like Nabeel — who aren’t strictly fleeing from war or political persecution — to temporarily stay in Germany on humanitarian grounds. Some are eventually granted permanent residence. But only about 4 percent of asylum requests by Pakistanis are currently decided in their favor. And Nabeel’s rejection comes at a time when the German government is increasingly taking measures targeting those migrants it deems ineligible for protection. It is determined to enforce deportation more strictly and even hired a consulting firm to help. Negotiations for deportation deals with Afghanistan and Nigeria are underway on the national and the European level. [Europe pressing harder on countries to take back deported migrants] Politicians in favor of a more restrictive asylum policy argue that some migrants apply for refugee status based on flimsy evidence and come to Germany for purely economic reasons. Others, they say, could escape the dangers they’re facing by simply approaching the local police or by moving to a different part of their home country. Daniel Owolabi Ajibade is one of the more than 10,000 Nigerians who applied for asylum in Germany this year. The business consultant claims that members of a Nigerian cartel attempted to kill him because they feared that the high-quality marbles and tiles he wanted to bring into the country would ruin their business with cheap Chinese imports. Although the 35-year-old has a newspaper article to prove the incident, the chances are high that German migration officials won’t heed his plea. The protection rate for Nigerians is only about 9 percent and to be allowed to stay, Ajibade will have to convince authorities that he had nowhere else to go. “I’m very afraid of what the outcome will be, since going back to Nigeria would be very risky,” he says. “I understand that there’s a real war in Syria and our problems with Boko Haram are mostly in the north . . . but I wish that the German government would also accept more of us until things quiet down.” “Our system caters primarily to those who have a concrete claim for protection, as bitter as this might be for some individuals,” said Ansgar Heveling, a lawmaker with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and chairman of the German parliament’s Home Affairs Committee. Heveling thinks that the vast majority of applicants are given their due. “If in individual cases a wrong decision is made, we have courts to correct them,” he said. [Germany said it took in more than 1 million refugees last year. But it didn’t.] The nongovernmental organization Pro Asyl says that the flood of appeals against the Federal Office’s decision suggest that the system is flawed. So far, 18,666 Syrians went to court this year to fight for a better status of protection than they were granted. Many cases were dropped, but of the 1,943 verdicts, 1,547 were in favor of the plaintiffs. Stephan Dünnwald, spokesman for the Bavarian Refugee Council, said that there is a danger of the German authorities sweepingly rejecting certain groups of asylum seekers because they’re overburdened or because of political decisions made in Berlin. “The decision-making is a disaster, because there are so many new and inexperienced deciders who are under a lot of time pressure . . . In some situations, where there should be additional probing, this simply isn’t done. The quality of the interpreters has declined rapidly. There are no quality standards,” Dünnwald said. “Sometimes it almost feels as if people must be beaten to death before they are being believed.”

It's terrible that so many people all around the world seem to want to flee their home countries rather than do more to make them better. I understand fearing death and economy troubles but if everyone just left those countries the ones they flee to will just have similar problems. I can understand how Germany doesn't want to just accept anyone and yet at the same time can feel sorry for those that have legit claims and are just turned away because of where they are from.


The person is male. Racially, the person is black / african american. The person is 37 years old. The person has a college or university degree. The person earns 40000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 5.5 in openness, 7.0 in conscientiousness, 1.0 in extraversion, 6.5 in agreeableness, and 6.0 in stability.

It hurts my heart to think about all the people who leave the place of their birth only not to find a home that they are looking for. I would love to see the day were people treat all other humans like people no matter how they look and where they are from. I wonder why people can not relate to other people and just help.


I feel the asylum process is very, very bad in most countries not just Germany. For example in USA it is pretty bad as well. WE need to do better in letting people in to be honest. I feel like it isn't fair that some countries don't get let in as easy as others. IT might have to do with crisis's in countries but it is not fair.


The person is female. Racially, the person is white. The person is 38 years old. The person has a postgraduate / professional degree. The person earns 42000 dollar per year. According to the Big Five personality test, on a scale of 10, the person has scored 3.5 in openness, 7.0 in conscientiousness, 6.5 in extraversion, 5.5 in agreeableness, and 6.5 in stability.

I felt like this was really sad for the people involved.  They are caught in a situation with no real solution and there is not much they can do.  I try to imagine being in their shoes and it is diffivult to fathom, but I am certain it would be very difficult and distressing.  No one should have to fear for their life on a day to day basis and it sounds like Germany is making decisions som ewhat arbitrarily or with bias.  However, on the same token it is up to Germany to decide who they want to let in, and it is generous of them to do so to start with.  So there is that.


This is something that is hard to choose sides with.  When people seek asylum its fine to want to help. At some point though it becomes too much and a country like Germany can only hold so much people in it. I think what Germany needs is to overhaul their immigration laws and make a change down the middle where asylum is fair but realistic.


Wind turbines killing more than just local birds —  Wind turbines are known to kill large birds, such as golden eagles, that live nearby. Now there is evidence that birds from up to hundreds of miles away make up a significant portion of the raptors that are killed at these wind energy fields. Using DNA from tissue and stable isotopes from the feathers of golden eagle carcasses, researchers from Purdue University and the U.S. Geological Survey found that golden eagles killed at the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area in northern California can come from hundreds of miles away. Golden eagles are a species of conservation concern, so understanding population-level differences and how individuals interact with turbines is key to meeting a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service target of no net loss to their populations. The APWRA is one of the oldest wind farms in the country and one of the largest in the world originally with around 5,000 turbines. Worldwide, such facilities have been responsible for the deaths of 140,000 to 328,000 birds and 500,000 to 1.6 million bats, raising questions about their effects on population sustainability. "Eagles tend to use that habitat around the turbines. It's windy there, so they can save energy and soar, and their preferred prey, California ground squirrels, is abundant there," said J. Andrew DeWoody, a Purdue professor of genetics in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources. "As they soar, these eagles are often looking straight down, and they fail to see the rapidly moving turbine blades. They get hit by the blades, and carcasses are found on the ground under the turbines." Collaborator David Nelson, a stable isotope ecologist with the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, tested the birds' feathers for stable hydrogen isotopes, which can be used to determine where the birds likely grew their feathers. The research team determined that about 75 percent of the 62 birds were from the local population. The remaining 25 percent likely migrated into the area before they were killed. Isotopes are atoms of an element that have different molecular weights. As precipitation moves inland, water with the heavier form of hydrogen falls out first, which creates predictable patterns of the stable isotopes ratios of precipitation across continents. "When a bird drinks water or eats animals in a particular place, the hydrogen isotope ratios of precipitation in that area get recorded in its tissues," Nelson said. "You can use these hydrogen ratios in the feathers to determine the approximate place that the bird grew its feathers." A genetic analysis revealed that golden eagles from the western U.S. have gene pools similar to those killed at the APWRA, which reflects the capacity of these birds to disperse widely. "The population models we built confirm that the age structure of the eagles killed at Altamont is difficult to replicate without substantial immigration," said co-author Todd Katzner, a wildlife biologist with the USGS. Katzner said these findings suggest that environmental assessments of alternative energy facilities like Altamont Pass should take into consideration that animal populations affected by wind turbines might not be just local. "If you only consider local birds in an environmental assessment, you're not really evaluating the effect that facility may have on the entire population," Katzner said. DeWoody said that wind energy generators can receive permits that allow a certain number of unintended bird deaths. But if that number is too large, the companies could be fined. And knowing that a large percentage of the birds killed are from neighboring states could muddy the management waters. "The golden eagle fatalities at this one site have demonstrated consequences that extend across much of the range of the species across North America," DeWoody said. The golden eagle population is a concern for several state and federal agencies, DeWoody added. He said future research could include looking at more bird species affected by turbines.

I think it's sad that the golden eagles are being killed by manmade technology.  It's so typical that something we have made for our convenience is just carelessly killing wildlife in the area, and an endangered species at that.  It's also sad that birds are traveling from long distances just to be killed by these things.  And there is not much that can be done except maybe to just do away with the technology altogether.  This is just one of many similar examples anyway.


To me this is a hard story to think about. First thing I think about when I hear wind turbines is clean and green power, which in my opinion is a good thing. I would have never thought that they would be killing eagles and bats. This is a hard because we use wind to help the environment, but the turbines are hurting flying animals.