Move over, Med diet – plantains and cassava can be as healthy as tomatoes and olive oil, say researchers
Findings from Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro region indicate traditional eating habits in rural Africa can boost the immune system and reduce inflammation
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/apr/17/mediterranean-diet-african-food-tanzania-heritage-traditional-healthy
#health #diet #research #preindustrial
Archaeologists Unearth 2,500-Year-Old Ice Maiden with One of the Earliest Recorded Tattoos
In 1993, Russian archaeologist Dr. Natalia Polosmak led a groundbreaking excavation on the Ukok Plateau, a region that spans across Russia, Mongolia, China, and Kazakhstan and is known for its harsh climate and layers of permafrost. This excavation centered around a burial mound, or kurgan, that had been untouched for over 2,500 years.
Inside the mound, the research team discovered the remarkably preserved remains of a woman, laid to rest in a wooden coffin and surrounded by elaborate burial artifacts. The frigid environment of the area played a crucial role in preserving her skin, hair, and clothing. Numerous items were found at the site, including textiles, tools, and six horses equipped with saddles and bridles, indicative of her high social status.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the Ice Maiden was her detailed tattoos, which are among the earliest known and have been exceptionally well-preserved due to the permafrost.
'#InsatiableGreed': Richest 1% Have Already Burned Through Their #CarbonLimit for 2025
"The #SuperRich continue to squander humanity's chances with their lavish lifestyles, polluting stock portfolios and pernicious political influence. This is theft—pure and simple."
Jake Johnson, Jan 10, 2025
"An #Oxfam analysis published Friday shows that the richest 1% of the global population has already blown through its global carbon budget for 2025—just 10 days into the New Year. The figures, which arrive amid catastrophic fires in Los Angeles that may turn out to be the costliest in U.S. history, highlight the disproportionate role of the #UltraWealthy in fueling a #ClimateEmergency that is causing devastation around the world.
"Oxfam calculates that in order to keep critical climate goals in reach, each person on Earth must have a CO2 footprint of roughly 2.1 tons per year or less. On average, each person in the global 1% is burning through 76 tons of planet-warning carbon dioxide annually—or 0.209 per day—meaning it took them just over a week to reach their CO2 limit for the year.
"By contrast, the average person in the poorest 50% of humanity has an annual carbon footprint of 0.7 tons per year—well within the 2.1-ton budget compatible with a livable future.
"'The future of our planet is hanging by a thread,' Nafkote Dabi, Oxfam International's climate change policy lead, said in a statement Friday. 'The margin for action is razor-thin, yet the super-rich continue to squander humanity's chances with their lavish lifestyles, polluting stock portfolios and pernicious political influence.'
"'This is theft—pure and simple―a tiny few robbing billions of people of their future to feed their insatiable greed,' Dabi added.
"'Rich polluters must be made to pay for the havoc they're wreaking on our planet.'
"Oxfam's new analysis came as the @CopernicusEU Climate Change Service confirmed that 2024 was the hottest year on record and 'the first calendar year that the average global temperature exceeded 1.5°C above its #PreIndustrial level.'
"'All of the internationally produced global temperature datasets show that 2024 was the hottest year since records began in 1850,' Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo said in a statement. 'Humanity is in charge of its own destiny, but how we respond to the climate challenge should be based on evidence. The future is in our hands—swift and decisive action can still alter the trajectory of our future climate.'
"Oxfam called on governments to move urgently to curb the emissions of the rich, including by implementing #WealthTaxes, banning #PrivateJets and #Superyachts, and imposing strict new regulations on #polluting companies.
"'Governments need to stop pandering to the richest,' Dabi said Friday. 'Rich polluters must be made to pay for the havoc they're wreaking on our planet. Tax them, curb their emissions, and ban their excessive indulgences—private jets, superyachts, and the like. Leaders who fail to act are effectively choosing complicity in a crisis that threatens the lives of billions.'"
https://www.commondreams.org/news/rich-carbon-limit
#EatTheRich #YeetTheRich #Oligarchy #CorporateColonialism #CorporateGreed #TechBros #CEOSeason
In May, a group of researchers conducted a geochemical survey in the Antas Valley, Iglesiente region, Sardinia, to explore the environmental (and health) impacts of pre-industrial mining from a silver-mining boom in the 12-14th centuries.
This year set to be first to breach 1.5C #GlobalWarming limit
by Mark Poynting
November 6, 2024
"Global temperatures have been so high through the first 10 months of 2024 that only an implausibly sharp drop in the final two months would prevent a new record from being set.
"In fact, it is likely that 2024 will end up at least 1.55C hotter than #preindustrial times, according to data from the European #Copernicus #ClimateChange Service."
The Pliocene Warm Period is a key period of past #climate to study if we want to understand warmer climate conditions of the #future .This data-model comparison shows that it was about 3-4 degrees warmer than the #preindustrial climate, which is warmer than previous estimates.
Abstract. We present a reconstruction of the surface climate of the mid-Pliocene Warm Period (mPWP), specifically Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) KM5c or 3.205 Ma. We combine the ensemble of climate model simulations, which contributed to the Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP), with compilations of proxy data analyses of sea surface temperature (SST). The different data sets we considered are all sparse with high uncertainty, and the best estimate of annual global mean surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly varies from 2.1 up to 4.8 °C depending on the data source. We argue that the latest PlioVAR analysis of alkenone data is likely more reliable than other data sets we consider, and using this data set yields an SAT anomaly of 3.9±1.1 °C, with a value of 2.8±0.9 °C for SST (all uncertainties are quoted at 1 standard deviation). However, depending on the application, it may be advisable to consider the broader range arising from the various data sets to account for structural uncertainty. The regional-scale information in the reconstruction may not be reliable as it is largely based on the patterns simulated by the models.
2/ 🧵 Presentations are by leading scholars in #preindustrial mining communities and the history of science and technology: Pamela H. Smith, Tina Asmussen, Nicolas Minvielle Larousse, Guy Geltner, +
Registration for our hybrid #Colloquium on #Preindustrial #PublicHealth closes tomorrow for in-person, Monday for online attendance. Programme in the link.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdOE8hSiUoYhNoHfau2EsHPFbFV66rR2l6lWKosutIClvah3Q/viewform
#premodern #medievaltwitter #mughalhistory #medici #intellectualhist #crusades #envhist
A showcase of research by our team of historians, (bio)archaeologists and religionists unearthing preindustrial public health attitudes and practices of diverse groups (miners, pilgrims, courts) across Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, and South Asia. Follow @prosanitate for updates on X/ (Twitter), Bluesky, and Mastodon. For information about our project and researchers, including publications, check out our website. This Discovery Project is generously funded by the Australian Research Council, DP220102914.
EU climate service: Earth records 12 straight months of record high temperatures
By Clyde Hughes, UPI
July 8 (UPI) -- "June 2024 was hotter than any June previously on record, leaving people exposed to life-threatening temperatures and more extreme weather, the European Union's #Copernicus #ClimateChange Service said Monday.
"Copernicus researchers found that temperatures worldwide each month for the past 12 months were 1.5 degrees Celsius greater than the average before the #preindustrial age.
"The report said temperatures in Europe were higher on average than in the southeast regions. It added the countries and regions with the hottest temperatures outside of #Europe were eastern #Canada, the western #UnitedStates, western #Mexico, #Brazil, northern #Siberia, the #MiddleEast, northern #Africa, and western #Antarctica.
"'Even if this specific streak of extremes ends at some point, we are bound to see new records being broken as the climate continues to warm,' said Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, according to The Guardian.
"'This is inevitable unless we stop adding greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and the oceans.'
"The report said its review of the oceans, air temperatures were higher than average in the #AtlanticOcean and #IndianOcean along with most of the #PacificOcean. Temperatures were below average in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean and smaller regions around the world, like the Bering Sea.
"Copernicus uses measurements from various sources, including airplanes, weather stations, ships and satellites to capture vital climate information worldwide.
"'This is not good news at all,' said Aditi Mukherji, the co-author of the newest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 'We know that extreme events increase with every increment of global warming and at 1.5 degrees Celsius, we witnessed some of the hottest extremes this year.'"
#ClimateCrisis #GlobalWarming #ExtremeHeat #ClimateCatastrophe
Combining archaeological, historical + paleo sciences: our project reconstructs #preindustrial #mining #landscapes of workshops, shafts, hotspots of toxic metals, w/ rich archival data of the Iglesiente trade and legislative history, to understand human-environment entanglements.
Maurice Lanselle
Jamez Barrett 🜃 ॐ Ⓐ
DoomsdaysCW
Preindustrial Public Health
Niels de Winter