United States civil defense refers to the use of civil defense in the history of the United States, which is the organized non-military effort to prepare Americans for military attack and similarly disastrous events. Late in the 20th century, the term and practice of civil defense fell into disuse. Emergency management and homeland security replaced them.

History

Pre–World War
There is little known history of civil defense in the United States before the twentieth century. Since ancient times, cities typically built walls and moats to protect from invasion and commissioned patrols and watches to keep an eye out for danger, but such activities have not traditionally been encompassed by the term "civil defense." The US has a particular lack of early civil defense efforts because it was seldom threatened with a significant attack.  Nonetheless, there are some early examples of what would today be considered civil defense. For example, as early as 1692, the village of Bedford, New York, kept on staff a drummer, whose responsibility was to sound the town drum in the event of a Native American attack—a very early precursor to the wailing sirens of the Cold War.

World War I
Civil defense truly began to come of age, both worldwide and in the United States, during the first World War—although it was usually referred to as "civilian defense". This was the first major total war, which required the involvement and support of the general population. Strategic bombing during World War I brought bombing raids by dirigibles and airplanes, with thousands of injuries and deaths. Attacks on non-combat ships, like the Lusitania, presented another threat to non combatants. The British responded with an organized effort which was soon copied in the US. This was formalized with the creation of the Council of National Defense on August 29, 1916. Civil defense responsibilities at the federal level were vested in this council, with subsidiary councils at the state and local levels providing additional support—a multi-level structure which was to remain throughout the history of United States civil defense.

As the United States had little threat of a direct attack on its shores, the organization instead "maintained anti-saboteur vigilance, encouraged men to join the armed forces, facilitated the implementation of the draft, participated in Liberty Bond drives, and helped to maintain the morale of the soldiers." This freedom to focus beyond air raid attacks gave United States civil defense a much broader scope than elsewhere.  With the end of military conflict, the activities of the Council of National Defense were suspended. Thus, World War I marked the first time that organized civil defense was practised on a large scale in the United States. Although civil defense had not yet reached the scale and significance it soon would, many of the basic features were set in place.

World War II

World War II, which the United States entered after the attack on Pearl Harbor, was characterized by a significantly greater use of civil defense. Even before the attack, the Council of National Defense was reactivated by President Roosevelt and created the Division of State and Local Cooperation to further assist the Council's efforts. Thus, the civil defense of World War II began very much as a continuation of that of World War I. Very soon, however, the idea of local and state councils bearing a significant burden became viewed as untenable and more responsibility was vested at the federal level with the creation of the Office of Civilian Defense (OCD) within the Office of Emergency Planning (OEP) in the Executive Office of the President (EOP) on May 20, 1941. The OCD was originally headed by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia and was charged with promoting protective measures and elevating national morale.

These organizations and others worked together to mobilize the civilian population in response to the threat.  The Civil Air Patrol (CAP), which was created just days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, commissioned civilian pilots to patrol the coast and borders and engage in search and rescue missions as needed. The Civil Defense Corps, run by the OCD, organized approximately 10 million volunteers who trained to fight fires, decontaminate after chemical weapon attacks, provide first aid, and other duties. A Ground Observer Corps watched for enemy aircraft.

These efforts did not replace the kinds of civil defense that took place during World War I.  Indeed, World War II saw an even greater use of rationing, recycling, and anti-saboteur vigilance than was seen in World War I. As the threat of air raids or invasions in the United States seemed less likely during the war, the focus on the Civil Defense Corps, air raid drills, and patrols of the border declined but the other efforts continued.  Unlike the end of World War I, the US did not dismiss all its civil defense efforts as soon as World War II ended.  Instead, they continued after the end of the war and served as the foundation of civil defense in the Cold War.

Cold War

The new dimensions of nuclear war terrified the world and the American people.  The sheer power of nuclear weapons and the perceived likelihood of such an attack on the United States precipitated a greater response than had yet been required of civil defense.  Civil defense, something previously considered an important and common-sense step, also became divisive and controversial in the charged atmosphere of the Cold War.  In 1950, the National Security Resources Board created a 162-page document outlining a model civil defense structure for the US.  Called the "Blue Book" by civil defense professionals in reference to its solid blue cover, it was the template for legislation and organization that occurred over the next 40 years.  Despite a general agreement on the importance of civil defense, Congress never came close to meeting the budget requests of federal civil defense agencies.  Throughout the Cold War, civil defense was characterized by fits and starts.  Indeed, the responsibilities were passed through a myriad of agencies, and specific programs were often boosted and scrapped in a similar manner to US ballistic missile defense (BMD) systems with which it was seen as complementary.

In declassified US war game analyses of the early 1960s, it was estimated that approximately 27 million US citizens would have been saved with civil defense education in the event of a Soviet pre-emptive strike. At the time however the cost of a full-scale civil defense program was, in cost-benefit analysis, deemed less effective than a BMD system, and as the adversary was increasing their nuclear stockpile, both programs would yield diminishing returns.

Educational efforts

One aspect of the Cold War civil defense program was the educational effort made or promoted by the government. One primary way in which they did this was the publication and production of federally funded films that were distributed to the mass public. In Duck and Cover, Bert the Turtle advocated that children "duck and cover" when they "see the flash". In this film, children are instructed to "kneel with their backs facing the windows, eyes shut, their hands clasped behind their backs." Duck and Cover also reached audiences through printed media and radio waves. This included a 14-minute radio adaptation, a 16-page coloring booklet, and a nationwide newspaper serialization. The image of Bert the Turtle was often seen as a way to defuse tensions related to nuclear weapons. The creators of the cartoon "were forced to pick their way delicately through overly glib depictions of nuclear war on one hand, and terrifying descriptions prescribing hysteria and panic on the other." Thus, children were able to adapt to a world of panic and come to terms with the existence of the bomb while also learning how to prepare for the possibility of nuclear disaster.

Another educational program, produced by the Federal Civil Defense Administration, was Survival Under Atomic Attack. Produced in both film and print, Survival gave Americans information on how to prepare themselves and their homes in the case of a nuclear attack. The film showed citizens how the whole family can get involved in final moments of preparation if they were to hear the warning sirens that alerted them of an incoming attack. Along with popularity of the film, over a million copies of the Survival booklet sold within its first year of publication in 1951. Audiences of both the film and print sources learned specific skills on how to ensure their safety in the case of emergency. This included preparing a first aid kit, storing plenty of water and canned goods, stocking up on batteries for radios and flashlights, and equipping a fallout shelter that they could access easily and safely.

"Alert America" also sought to teach the American public how to prepare for instances of emergency and the threat of atomic attack. Created in December 1951, the "Alert America" program consisted of three convoys with ten thirty-two-foot trailer trucks that traveled 36,000 miles throughout the nation's 82 major cities and attracted 1.1 million people. While displaying products and information to educate people on the affects and preparedness associated with nuclear weapons, the "Alert America" program also showed federally supported films such as Duck and Cover, Survival Under Atomic Attack, and Our Cities Must Fight.

Educational efforts also targeted women in the form of campaigns such as "Grandma's Pantry". Supported by the National Grocer's Association, various pharmaceutical houses, and the American National Dietetic Association, "Grandma's Pantry" educated women on national guidelines for how, when properly prepared, a home could withstand a nuclear holocaust. Avoiding the scare tactics that were primarily used by other forms of civil defense education, "Grandma's Pantry" instead attempted a supposedly "softer" and so-called "feminine" approach to emergency preparedness by fusing female domesticity with paramilitary education. Through this, women were encouraged to "make ready for the possibility of nuclear war" by warning them against "the possibility of damaged water systems, broken sewer lines, mounting heaps of garbage, and a lack of food and fresh water after an attack", all of which were duties that typically aligned with prescribed gender roles given to women during the postwar era. Thus, civil defense education attempted to seemingly blend into already established societal norms.

Civil defense educational efforts also included training in practical life skills lessons that they could implement in the case of nuclear war. Home economics courses in grade schools trained students on how to build and maintain fallout shelters, the basics of food preparation and storage, safety and sanitation, child care, and how to care for the sick and injured. These lessons transferred to real life expectations, where even adults were continuously instructed on how to manage homes, perform gendered assigned roles, and prepare their families for the case of nuclear attacks. Such examples were found in literature and educational films which taught women the values and skills of home nursing and first aid that would protect and save the lives of their family members. Women were also taught to be the ones to dominate kitchen work during the first few days within shelters if there was an emergency, only to be relieved by teenagers and young children who were only expected to volunteer when needed.

Evacuation plans
At the dawn of the nuclear age, evacuation was opposed by the federal government. The Federal Civil Defense Administration produced a short movie called Our Cities Must Fight. It argued that in the event of a nuclear war, people need to stay in cities to help repair the infrastructure and man the recovering industries. "Nuclear radiation," it advised, "would only stay in the air a day or two." Despite this early opposition, evacuation plans were soon created. One city at the forefront of such efforts was Portland, Oregon. In 1955, their city government completed "Operation Greenlight"—a drill to evacuate the city center.  Hospital patients were packed into semi-trucks, pedestrians were picked up by passing motorists, and the city's construction equipment and emergency vehicles were rushed out to "dispersal points." The entire city center was evacuated in 19 minutes. On December 8, 1957, CBS Television aired a dramatization of how a well prepared city might respond to an imminent nuclear attack.  The show, A Day Called 'X', produced "in co-operation with the Federal Civil Defense Administration," was shot in Portland, using city officials and ordinary citizens instead of professional actors. It was narrated by Glenn Ford.

Such plans were plausible in the early days of the Cold War, when an attack would have come from strategic bombers, which would have allowed a warning of many hours, not to mention the high possibility of interception by anti-air systems and fighters. However, the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles in the late 1950s made this goal less realistic. Despite that, civil defense officials still worked to prepare evacuation plans. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan announced the Crisis Relocation Program. The White House suggested that the $10 billion, five-year program could allow the evacuation of targeted urban centers to rural "host areas" and thus save 80% of the population. The plan allowed up to three days for the evacuation to be completed, believing that a nuclear war would not come in a surprise attack but rather as the culmination of a crisis period of rising tensions. However, the plan has been criticized by academics and organizations like the Federation of American Scientists for failing to take into account disruptions to healthcare infrastructure preventing the effective treatment of the wounded, disruption to the food supply, ecological devastation (including nuclear winter), and social unrest following an attack. Because of these shortcomings, Stanford University physician and professor Herbert L. Abrams estimated that no more than 60 million people (25% of the population) would survive if the program was executed as designed.

Ensuring continuity of government
Governments made efforts to exist even after an apocalyptic nuclear attack, something called continuity of government.  Many city halls built Emergency Operation Centers in their basements.

Fallout shelters
President Kennedy launched an ambitious effort to install fallout shelters throughout the United States.  These shelters would not protect against the blast and heat effects of nuclear weapons, but would provide some protection against the radiation effects that would last for weeks and even affect areas distant from a nuclear explosion.  As such, some of them were even located on the upper floors of skyscrapers.

CD officials encouraged people to build in the suburbs away from key targets and to be conscientious of the needs of a nuclear age when building houses and other structures.

CONELRAD
In order for most of these preparations to be effective, there had to be some degree of warning.  The United States embarked on creating systems at both the local and national levels to allow the communication of emergencies.

In 1951, President Harry S. Truman established the CONELRAD (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation) Plan.  Under the system, a few primary stations would be alerted of an emergency and would broadcast an alert.  All broadcast stations throughout the country would be constantly listening to an upstream station and repeat the message, thus passing it from station to station.  After broadcasting the message, all radio communications would cease except for two designated lower power AM frequencies (640 and 1240 kHz).  This was designed to prevent enemy planes from using transmitters as navigation aids for direction finding.  The later threat of ICBMs (which used internal guidance) made this obsolete, and CONELRAD was replaced in 1963.

Operation Alert and opposition to civil defense drills
In 1954, the United States government began an annual national civil defense exercise called "Operation Alert". The exercise extended over several weeks to months, and would culminate in a one-day public drill simulating a nuclear attack. The aim of the annual exercise was to evaluate emergency preparedness in the face of a nuclear attack, determine government continuation readiness, and identify problems that might occur during an alert.

Operation Alert was actively protested by the Catholic Worker Movement, Ralph DiGia, Dorothy Day and others in New York City when held on June 15, 1955. Protesters objected to the notion that a nuclear war was survivable, and answered with the assertion that the only way to survive a nuclear war was for one not to happen at all. 29 were arrested in City Hall Park and jailed for refusing to take shelter during a drill. Protests, initially small and isolated, continued and grew throughout the 1950s.  Opposition to the drills increased; young mothers with children joined the protests in 1960. Civil Defense Operation Alert drills were stopped after the 1961 protest.

Emergency Broadcast System

In 1963, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) created the Emergency Broadcast System to replace CONELRAD. The EBS served as the primary alert system through the Cold War ICBM era and well into the 1990s. In addition to these, air raid sirens such as the Thunderbolt siren pictured to the right, would sound an alert.

Post–Cold War
Since the end of the Cold War, civil defense has fallen into disuse within the United States.  Gradually, the focus on nuclear war shifted to an "all-hazards" approach of comprehensive emergency management. Natural disasters and the emergence of new threats such as terrorism have focused attention away from traditional civil defense into new forms of civil protection such as emergency management and homeland security.  In 2006, the old triangle logo was finally retired, replaced with a new logo featuring a stylized EM (for emergency management). The new logo was announced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency; however, a depiction of the old CD logo (without the red CD letters) can be seen above the eagle's head in the FEMA seal. The name and logo, however, continue to be used by Hawaii State Civil Defense Hawaii State Civil Defense and Guam Homeland Security/Office of Civil Defense Guam Homeland Security | Office of Civil Defense. The Republic of the Philippines has an Office of Civil Defense that uses a similar logo.

Past and present civil defense agencies
After the September 11, 2001, attacks, US civil defense planning was conducted within the cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Between 1979 and 2001, the duties of civil defense were served by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Originally an independent agency, FEMA was absorbed into DHS in 2003. Before the creation of FEMA in 1979 the responsibility for civil defense in the United States was shared between a wide variety of short-lived and frequently changing departments, agencies, and organizations. Some of the notable national pre-FEMA organizations in the US included:
 Council of National Defense
 Joint Task Force - Civil Support
 Office of Emergency Planning (OEP) in the Executive Office of the President (EOP)
 Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in the Office of Emergency Planning
 Civil Air Patrol
 National Security Resources Board (NSRB), both as an independent agency and as an office within the Executive Office of the President
 Office of Defense Mobilization in the Executive Office of the President
 Office of Defense and Civilian Mobilization in the Executive Office of the President
 Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization in the Executive Office of the President
 Office of Emergency Planning in the Executive Office of the President
 Office of Emergency Preparedness in the Executive Office of the President
 Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA), both as an independent agency and as a board within the Executive Office of the President
 State defense forces of individual US states
 United States Coast Guard Auxiliary

See also
 American Civil Defense Association
 Blast shelter
 NYPD Auxiliary Police
 State defense force

References

Further reading

World War II civil defense
 Louis L. Snyder, editor. Handbook of Civil Protection. New York: Whittlesey House (McGraw-Hill), 1942. .
 Burr Leyson. The Air Raid Safety Manual. New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, 1942. .

Cold War civil defense
 Edward Zuckerman. The Day after World War III. New York: Viking Press, 1984. .
 Laura McEnaney. Civil Defense Begins at Home: Militarization meets everyday life in the fifties. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000. .
 Jennifer Leaning and Langley Keyes, editors. The Counterfeit Ark: Crisis Relocation for Nuclear War. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1983. .
 National Security Resources Board. United States Civil Defense. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), 1950. .
 Henry Eyring, Editor. Civil Defense: A symposium presented at the Berkeley meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, December 1965. Washington, DC: AAAS, 1966. .
 Dee Garrison. Bracing for Armageddon: Why Civil Defense Never Worked. Oxford University Press, 2006.
 Andrew D. Grossman. Neither Dead nor Red: Civil Defense and American Political Development During the Early Cold War. New York: Routledge. 2001.
 David F. Krugler. This is Only a Test: How Washington D.C. Prepared for Nuclear War. New York: Palgrave macMillan. 2006.
 Patrick B. Sharp. Savage Perils: Racial Frontiers and Nuclear Apocalypse in American Culture. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007.

Post–Cold War civil defense
 Mark Sauter. Homeland Security: A complete guide to understanding, preventing, and surviving terrorism. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005. .
 Juliette Kayyem and Robyn Pangi, editors. First to Arrive: State and Local Responses to Terrorism. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003. .

External links

 Suburban Emergency Management Project, "SEMP Biot #243: What Is Civil Defense? World War I through the Eisenhower Administration," August 1, 2005
 Suburban Emergency Management Project, "SEMP Biot #244: What Is Civil Defense? Kennedy Administration through the George W. Bush Administration," August 2, 2005

United States civil defense
Continuity of government in the United States
Disaster preparedness in the United States
Organizations established in 1949
1949 establishments in the United States

Civil defense in the United States


Joshua Livestro (born 16 December 1970, in Amersfoort) is a Dutch columnist and political writer. He was a former assistant to EU commissioner Frits Bolkestein.

Livestro studied political science at Leiden University and philosophy at the University of Cambridge. Livestro was active in the Edmund Burke Foundation, a conservative think tank. During his studies, Livestro was an active checkers player, and became national students' champion in 1994. He writes a column about foreign affairs for De Telegraaf.

Livestro succeeded Ronald Plasterk as a columnist for the Sunday morning television talkshow Buitenhof. Plasterk became an education and culture minister in the fourth Balkenende cabinet. The producers of Buitenhof fired Livestro after just four months, saying that his columns were subpar. Livestro said in a Telegraaf op-ed that he was fired for his "right-wing views," that the show routinely ignores alternate viewpoints and even censures columnists' views. He also called one of the broadcaster of Buitenhof, the NPS, a "left-wing funnel," where "a DDR mentality reigns." In wake of Livestro's firing, political parties D66 and VVD asked parliamentary questions to the culture minister, Ronald Plasterk, who incidentally was Livestro's predecessor at Buitenhof. Plasterk answered that there was enough diversity in Dutch public television.

On 25 November 2010, the Dutch daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad published an article which names Livestro an advisor to Sarah Palin; Livestro confirmed the announcement by telephone from his home in Nottingham, England.

Livestro launched Jalta.nl on 18 September 2014. He lives in Guernsey.

References

1970 births
Living people
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Conservatism in the Netherlands
Dutch columnists
Dutch draughts players
Dutch evangelicals
Dutch expatriates in England
Dutch political writers
Guernsey people
Leiden University alumni
People from Amersfoort

Joshua Livestro


Garden waste, or green waste dumping is the act of discarding or depositing garden waste somewhere it does not belong.

Garden waste is the accumulated plant matter from gardening activities which involve cutting or removing vegetation, i.e. cutting the lawn, weed removal, hedge trimming or pruning consisting of lawn clippings. leaf matter, wood and soil.

The composition and volume of garden waste can vary from season to season and location to location. A study in Aarhus, Denmark, found that on average, garden waste generation per person ranged between 122 kg to 155 kg per year.

Garden waste may be used to create compost or mulch, which can be used as a soil conditioner, adding valuable nutrients and building humus. The creation of compost requires a balance between, nitrogen, carbon, moisture and oxygen. Without the ideal balance, plant matter may take a long time to break down, drawing nitrogen from other sources, reducing nitrogen availability to existing vegetation which requires it for growth.

The risk of dumping garden waste is that it may contain seeds and plant parts that may grow (propagules), as well as increase fire fuel loads, disrupt visual amenity, accrue economic costs associated with the removal of waste as well as costs associated with the mitigation of associated impacts such as weed control, forest fire.

Cause
There are strong links between weed invasion of natural areas and the proximity and density of housing. The size and duration of the community have a direct relation to the density of weed infestation. Of the various means in which migration of exotic species from gardens take place, such as vegetative dispersal of runners, wind born and fallen seed, garden waste dumping can play a significant role. The results of one North German study found that of the problematic population of Fallopia, app. 29% originated from garden waste. Of a population of Heracleum mantegazzianum, 18% was found by Schepker to be generated by garden waste (as cited by Kowarik & von der Lippe, 2008) pg 24–25.

An Australia government publication suggest that some of the main reasons for the dumping of garden waste can be attributed to lack of care for the environment, convenience, or a reluctance to pay for the correct collection or disposal of the waste. (Environmental Protection Agency [EPA]. 2013). People dump garden waste to avoid disposal fees at landfill sites or because they do not want to spend the time or effort disposing of or recycling their waste properly. This activity is carried out by people in all parts of the community, from householders to businesses, such as professional landscapers and gardeners.
The spread of exotic vegetation can out-compete locally endemic vegetation, altering the composition and structure of an ecosystem.

Dumping of garden waste in particular facilitates the spread of exotic vegetation into forest remnants via the introduction of seeds and propagules contained within the garden waste. Common selection criteria for home gardeners when choosing plants are often based on ease of propagation, suitability to local environmental conditions and novelty. These specific chosen characteristics increase the chance of plant parts and seeds that are introduced into forested areas becoming a problem.

The three major causes of animal habitat degradation are; the disruption or loss of ecosystem functions, the loss of food resources and loss of resident species. Non-native invaders can cause extinctions of vulnerable native species through competition, pest and disease transportation and habitat and ecosystem alteration.

The dumping of garden waste in nature reserves surrounding and near urban areas increases the risk of fires. The dumped garden waste will eventually dry out creating fuel adding to already fallen debris fuel load on which a fire can thrive and spread on. Garden waste can spread weeds and these weeds build fuel for fires.  Dumped garden waste can facilitate higher rates of erosion by smothering natural vegetation cover.  With no root systems for stabilisation the top soil is vulnerable to erosion (Ritter, J. 2015), This can add higher  levels of sediments, contributing to the siltation of creeks and waterways.

If plant matter gets into waterways it can create reduced oxygen levels through the process of decomposition of green waste such as lawn clippings. This directly upsets the quality of water, affecting fish and aquatic wildlife.
This dumping of green waste can also lead to the blocking of drainage systems; directly through the build-up of plant debris, and indirectly through the spread of invasive plant species that colonise wet areas, reducing and or changing the flow of waterways. This change in flow, including path and velocity, can alter hydrological cycles, affecting frequency and intensity of floods.

Impact
Green and garden waste has a direct impact to the visual aesthetics of land and can often attract further illegal dumping.

Increased fire risk
Dumping garden waste in nature reserves and parks surrounding and near urban areas can directly and indirectly affect the existing flora and fauna, as well as human life through the  increased risk of fires.  The dumped garden waste will eventually dry, creating additional  fuel, adding to already fallen debris on which a fire can thrive and spread. Garden waste can spread weeds and these weeds also build fuel for fires. Fires may also spread to the suburban areas where humans can also be impacted by losing their homes from fire, incur injury or death from smoke or burns, and suffer economic loses such as income loss and clean-up costs. Fires can lead to an overall loss of habitat and biodiversity.

Threat to biodiversity
The invasion of exotic plant species into remnant native forests is a threat to biodiversity. Some impacts of habitat degradation include; when native animals, insects and birds become vulnerable and put at risk; loss of food source for native wildlife; disruption of native plant-animal relationships ie pollination and seed dispersal and disconnection of plant-host relationships. Highly adaptive plants chosen for their ease of cultivation out compete more specialised species.
Weed invasion of a forest system can change the processes of plant succession (the system of one species replacing another due to disturbance factors), the composition of the plant community and the composition and availability of nutrients. The change in forest composition can lead to loss of unique plant species.
When a habitat is destroyed, the plants, animals, and other organisms that occupied the habitat have a reduced carrying capacity so that populations decline and extinction becomes a threat. Many endemic organisms have very specific requirements for their survival that can only be found within a certain ecosystem. The term 'hotspot' is used to describe areas featuring exceptional concentrations of endemic species and facing high potential of habitat degradation. The 25 most significant hotspots contain the habitats of 133,149 plant species (44% of all plant species worldwide; table 1) and 9,645 vertebrate species (35% of all vertebrate worldwide; table 2). These endemics are confined to an expanse of 2.1 million square kilometers (1.4% of land surface). Having lost 88% of their primary vegetation, they formerly occupied 17.4 million square kilometers or 11.8% of land surface.
The recruitment of alien invasive species may lead to a homogenisation of landscapes. Although increased bio diversity in subregions created by newly introduced species may occur, the displacement of the existing plant species may lead to reduced biodiversity on a global scale.

When population-level properties that indicate superior competitive ability of the invading species are examined, 13–24 (42–77%) of the species are included, with the majority of species showing traits capable of modifying natural systems at both ecosystem and community/population scales.

Waterways quality
The dumping of green waste such as lawn clippings can block drainage systems which pollutes water therefore effecting water quality and the health of aquatic plants and animals. Dumped garden waste can add high levels of sediments, reducing the light available for photosynthesis.  Dumping also block waterways and roads, cause flooding and facilitate higher rates of erosion by smothering natural vegetation cover.

Causes / stakeholders
Illegal dumping is carried out by all types of people in all parts of the community, from householders to businesses and other organizations. Addressing these motivations will enable strategies to be developed that deal with the root causes, rather than the results, of illegal dumping.

Some of the main reasons for this careless disregard for waste can be put down to sheer convenience, lack of care for the environment and also a reluctance to pay for the correct collection or disposal of the waste. The monitoring of illegally dumped garden waste by the community and industries will drive effectual tactics to battle illegal depositing. People dump waste illegally to avoid disposal fees at landfill sites or because they do not want to spend the time or effort disposing of or recycling their waste properly. Alligator weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides (Mart.) Griseb.) is an introduced weed originating from Sri Lanka and is creating major issues throughout the Australia since its introduction into the country. Alligator weed has the potential to affect aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity severely and to cause considerable social and economic costs, particularly in aquatic situations.

Mitigation
Education on the value of biodiversity and the negative effects of weed invasion have been identified as key items in changing current trends. Specific education campaigns on the risks of dumping garden waste could be targeted at high-risk societal groups such as residents of housing in close proximity to reserves as well as members of gardening communities and plant sellers.
Restricting the selection of garden species in new housing developments adjacent to reserves may reduce the effects of illegal dumping, thereby reducing requirement and associated cost of weed management. Creating habitat for wildlife by planting native plants, making a water source available, provide shelter and places to raise young. Healthy ecosystems are necessary for the survival and health of all organisms, and there are a number of ways to reduce negative impact on the environment. Cultivation of native plant species may benefit not only native plant populations but also native animal populations. For example, Sears & Anderson suggest that native bird species diversity in Australia and North America tend to match the volume and diversity of native vegetation. Crisp also explains the percentage of native insect species in a fauna has been found to be consistent with the percentage of native plant species.

Composting is a great way to recycle nutrients back into soils. Mulching the garden with leaves and clippings (BMCC, n.d).
Fostering an appreciation of local natural environmental features and plant species may also help mitigate the issue. as well as the restriction of highly invasive plant species through international policy.

Utilization of green waste bins that are provided by some councils or shires that are emptied via curbside collection (BMCC. n.d). The addition of facilities for waste disposal could also improve the issue (DECC. 2008).  Mitigation may involve governments holding campaigns that show people disposing legally and reporting the consequences for disposing illegally. A way Australian governments are addressing the problem is through the increase of fines in conjunction with better law enforcement.  In Australia, fines can be up to $1,000,000 and can also incur imprisonment. The Protection of the Environment Operations Act imposes penalties for offences including polluting waters with waste, polluting land, illegally dumping waste or using land as an illegal waste facility.

Australia
The new section of the POEO Act (The Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997) now imposes further penalties for offences including polluting waters with waste, polluting land, illegally dumping waste or using land as an illegal waste facility (Parrino, Maysaa, Kaoutarani & Salam, 2014). Communities are encouraged to report illegal dumping. In accordance with NSW Illegal Dumping Strategy 2014–16, hefty fines and a maximum jail sentence of 2 years can be handed down to repeat offenders.

References

Biodegradable waste management
Gardening
Biological contamination
Litter

Garden waste dumping


Food grading involves the inspection, assessment and sorting of various foods regarding quality, freshness, legal conformity and market value. Food grading is often done by hand, in which foods are assessed and sorted. Machinery is also used to grade foods, and may involve sorting products by size, shape and quality. For example, machinery can be used to remove spoiled food from fresh product.

By food type

Beef

Beef grading in the United States is performed by the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural and Marketing Service. There are eight beef quality grades, with U.S. Prime being the highest grade and U.S. Canner being the lowest grade. Beef grading is a complex process.

Beer

In beer grading, the letter "X" is used on some beers, and was traditionally a mark of beer strength, with the more Xs the greater the strength. Some sources suggest that the origin of the mark was in the breweries of medieval monasteries Another plausible explanation is contained in a treatise entitled "The Art of Brewing" published in London in 1829. It says; "The duties on ale and beer, which were first imposed in 1643... at a certain period, in distinguishing between small beer and strong, all ale or beer, sold at or above ten shillings per barrel, was reckoned to be strong ''and was, therefore, subjected to a higher duty. The cask which contained this strong beer was then first marked with an X signifying ten; and hence the present quack-like denominations of XX (double X) and XXX (treble X) on the casks and accounts of the strong-ale brewers".

In mid-19th century England, the use of "X" and other letters had evolved into a standardised grading system for the strength of beer. Today, it is used as a trade mark by a number of brewers in the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and the United States.

European Bitterness Units scale, often abbreviated as EBU, is a scale for measuring the perceived bitterness of beer, with lower values being generally "less bitter" and higher values "more bitter". The scale and method are defined by the European Brewery Convention, and the numerical value should be the same as of the International Bitterness Units scale (IBU), defined in co-operation with the American Society of Brewing Chemists. However, the exact process of determining EBU and IBU values differs slightly, which may in theory result with slightly smaller values for EBU than IBU.

The International Bittering Units scale, or simply IBU scale, provides a measure of the bitterness of beer, which is provided by the hops used during brewing.  Bittering units are measured through the use of a spectrophotometer and solvent extraction.

Butter

Coconut milk
Several grades of coconut milk exist: from thick at 20-22% fat to thin at 5-7% fat level.

Coffee

Coffee growers, traders, and roasters grade beans based on size, color, and a variety of other characteristics. Coffees of exceptional quality are traded as "specialty coffees" and fetch a higher price in the international market.

After the roast, Coffee grading involves assessment of roasted coffee seed colorization and then labeling as light, medium light, medium, medium dark, dark, or very dark. A more accurate method of discerning the degree of roast involves measuring the reflected light from roasted seeds illuminated with a light source in the near infrared spectrum. This elaborate light meter uses a process known as spectroscopy to return a number that consistently indicates the roasted coffee's relative degree of roast or flavor development.

Eggs
In the United States, egg grading is performed by the USDA, and is based upon the interior quality of the egg (see Haugh unit) and the appearance and condition of the egg shell. Eggs of any quality grade may differ in weight (size). Egg grading is performed by candling, which involves observing the interior of eggs by placing them in front of a bright light.

Fish

The freshness of fish may be measured using the Torry freshness scale, based on an objective assessment of the smell, taste, and general appearance of the fish, supplemented by electronic measurements.  The scale was initially developed in 1953 at the Torry Research Station of the Central Science Laboratory in the UK.

Guar gum
Guar gum grading involves analysis for coloration, viscosity, moisture, granulation, protein content and insolubles ash.

Honey
Honey grading in the United States is performed voluntarily based upon USDA standards (USDA does offer inspection and grading "as on-line (in-plant) or lot inspection...upon application, on a fee-for-service basis.") . Honey is graded based upon a number of factors, including water content, flavor and aroma, absence of defects and clarity. Honey is also classified by color though it is not a factor in the grading scale. U.S. honey grade scales are Grade A, Grade B, Grade C and Grade substandard.

Lobster

In the U.S., lobster grading involves denoting lobsters as new-shell, hard-shell or old-shell, and because lobsters which have recently shed their shells are the most delicate, there is an inverse relationship between the price of American lobster and its flavour. New-shell lobsters have paper-thin shells and a worse meat-to-shell ratio, but the meat is very sweet. However, the lobsters are so delicate that even transport to Boston almost kills them, making the market for new-shell lobsters strictly local to the fishing towns where they are offloaded. Hard-shell lobsters with firm shells, but with less sweet meat, can survive shipping to Boston, New York and even Los Angeles, so they command a higher price than new-shell lobsters. Meanwhile, old-shell lobsters, which have not shed since the previous season and have a coarser flavour, can be air-shipped anywhere in the world and arrive alive, making them the most expensive. One seafood guide notes that an eight-dollar lobster dinner at a restaurant overlooking fishing piers in Maine is consistently delicious, while "the eighty-dollar lobster in a three-star Paris restaurant is apt to be as much about presentation as flavor".

Maple syrup

Following an effort from the International Maple Syrup Institute (IMSI) and many maple syrup producer associations, both Canada and the United States have altered their laws regarding the classification of maple syrup to be uniform. Whereas in the past each state or province had their own laws on the classification of maple syrup, now those laws define a unified grading system. This had been a work in progress for several years, and most of the finalization of the new grading system was made in 2014. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced in the Canada Gazette on 28 June 2014 that rules for the sale of maple syrup would be amended to include new descriptors, at the request of the IMSI.

As of December 31, 2014, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and as of March 2, 2015, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) issued revised standards on the classification of maple syrup as follows:

Grade A
Golden Color and Delicate Taste
Amber Color and Rich Taste
Dark Color and Robust Taste
Very Dark Color and Strong Taste
Processing Grade
Substandard

As long as maple syrup does not have an off-flavor and is of a uniform color and clean and free from turbidity and sediment, it can be labelled as one of the A grades. If it exhibits any of these problems, it does not meet Grade A requirements and must be labelled as Processing Grade maple syrup and may not be sold in containers smaller than 5 gallons. If maple syrup does not meet the requirements of Processing Grade maple syrup (including a fairly characteristic maple taste), it is classified as Substandard.
As of February 2015, this grading system has been accepted and made law by most maple-producing states and provinces, other than Ontario, Quebec, and Ohio. Vermont, in an effort to "jump-start" the new grading regulations, adopted the new grading system as of January 1, 2014, after the grade changes passed the Senate and House in 2013. Maine passed a bill to take effect as soon as both Canada and the United States adopted the new grades. They are allowing a one-year grace period. In New York, the new grade changes became law on January 1, 2015, with a one-year grace period. New Hampshire did not require legislative approval and so the new grade laws became effective as of December 16, 2014, and producer compliance was required as of January 1, 2016.

Golden and Amber grades typically have a milder flavor than Dark and Very dark, which are both dark and have an intense maple flavor. The darker grades of syrup are used primarily for cooking and baking, although some specialty dark syrups are produced for table use. Syrup harvested earlier in the season tends to yield a lighter color. With the new grading system, the classification of maple syrup depends ultimately on its internal transmittance at 560 nm wavelength through a 10 mm sample. Golden has to have more than 75 percent transmittance, Amber has to have 50.0 to 74.9 percent transmittance, Dark has to have 25.0 to 49.9 percent transmittance, and Very Dark is any product less than 25.0 percent transmittance.

Old grading system

In Canada, maple syrup was classified prior to December 31, 2014, by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) as one of three grades, each with several color classes: Canada No. 1, including Extra Light, Light, and Medium; No. 2 Amber; and No. 3 Dark or any other ungraded category. Producers in Ontario or Québec may have followed either federal or provincial grading guidelines. Québec's and Ontario's guidelines differed slightly from the federal: there were two "number" categories in Québec (Number 1, with four color classes, and 2, with five color classes).  As in Québec, Ontario's producers had two "number" grades: 1, with three color classes; and 2, with one color class, which was typically referred to as "Ontario Amber" when produced and sold in that province only. A typical year's yield for a maple syrup producer will be about 25 to 30 percent of each of the #1 colors, 10 percent #2 Amber, and 2 percent #3 Dark. Producers in Quebec and Ontario may follow either federal or provincial grading guidelines, which differ slightly.

The United States used (some states still do, as they await state regulation) different grading standards. Maple syrup was divided into two major grades: Grade A and Grade B. Grade A was further divided into three subgrades: Light Amber (sometimes known as Fancy), Medium Amber, and Dark Amber. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets used a similar grading system of color, and is roughly equivalent, especially for lighter syrups, but using letters: "AA", "A", etc. The Vermont grading system differed from the US system in maintaining a slightly higher standard of product density (measured on the Baumé scale). New Hampshire maintained a similar standard, but not a separate state grading scale. The Vermont-graded product had 0.9 percent more sugar and less water in its composition than US-graded. One grade of syrup not for table use, called commercial or Grade C, was also produced under the Vermont system. Vermont inspectors enforce strict syrup grading regulations, and can fine producers up to US$1000 for labelling syrup incorrectly.

Milk
In the United States, there are two grades of milk, with Grade A primarily used for direct sales and consumption in stores, and Grade B used for indirect consumption, such as in cheese making or other processing.

The two grades are defined in the Wisconsin Administrative Code. Grade B generally refers to milk that is cooled in milk cans, which are immersed in a bath of cold flowing water that typically is drawn up from an underground water well rather than using mechanical refrigeration.

Oranges
The USDA has established the following grades for Florida oranges, which primarily apply to oranges sold as fresh fruit: US Fancy, US No. 1 Bright, US No. 1, US No. 1 Golden, US No. 1 Bronze, US No. 1 Russet, US No. 2 Bright, US No. 2, US No. 2 Russet, and US No. 3. The general characteristics graded are color (both hue and uniformity), firmness, maturity, varietal characteristics, texture, and shape. Fancy, the highest grade, requires the highest grade of color and an absence of blemishes, while the terms Bright, Golden, Bronze, and Russet concern solely discoloration.

Peas

Pea grading involves sorting peas by size, in which smallest peas are graded as the highest quality for their tenderness. Brines may be used, in which peas are floated in them, from which their density can be determined.

Potatoes
In the U.S., potato grading for Idaho potatoes is performed in which No. 1 potatoes are the highest quality and No. 2 are rated as lower in quality due to their appearance (e.g. blemishes or bruises, pointy ends). Density assessment can be performed by floating them in brines. High density potatoes are desirable in the production of dehydrated mashed potatoes, potato crisps and french fries.

Rice
The main criteria used by many countries and millers in rice grading are degree of milling, appearance (color), damaged (broken) and percentage of chalky kernels. In the United States rice is marketed according to three main properties size, color and condition (kernels damage), these properties are directly related to quality, milling percentage and other processing conditions. All properties are considered important in grading. For instance, chalky kernels are not desirable because they give lower milling yields after processing and easily break during handling.

Spices

Cinnamon
In Sri Lanka, cinnamon grading is performed by dividing cinnamon quills into four groups, which are then further divided into specific grades.

Vanilla

Several vanilla fruit grading systems are in use. Each country which produces vanilla has its own grading system, and individual vendors, in turn, sometimes use their own criteria for describing the quality of the fruits they offer for sale.

Tea

In the western black tea industry, tea leaf grading is the process of evaluating products based on the quality and condition of the tea leaves themselves. The highest grades are referred to as "orange pekoe", and the lowest as "fannings" or "dust". This grading system is based upon the size of processed and dried black tea leaves. Despite a purported Chinese origin, these grading terms are typically used for teas from Sri Lanka, India and countries other than China; they are not generally known within Chinese-speaking countries.

Black tea
Black tea grading is usually based upon one of four scales of quality. Whole-leaf teas are the highest quality, followed by broken leaves, fannings, and dusts. Whole-leaf teas are produced with little or no alteration to the tea leaf. This results in a finished product with a coarser texture than that of bagged teas. Whole-leaf teas are widely considered the most valuable, especially if they contain leaf tips. Broken leaves are commonly sold as medium-grade loose teas. Smaller broken varieties may be included in tea bags.

Rooibos
Rooibos grades are largely related to the proportion of "needle" or leaf to stem content in the mix. A higher leaf content will result in a darker liquor, richer flavour and less "dusty" aftertaste. The high-grade rooibos is exported and does not reach local markets, with major consumers being in the EU, particularly Germany, where it is used in creating flavoured blends for loose-leaf tea markets. In development within South Africa are a small number of specialty tea companies producing similar blends.

Food additives and preservatives

Carrageenan
There are two basic grades of carrageenan, refined carrageenan (RC) and semi-refined carrageenan (SRC). In the United States, RC and SRC are both labeled as carrageenan. In the European Union, RC is designated by the E number E-407, and SRC is E-407a. RC has a 2% maximum for acid-insoluble material and is produced through an alcohol precipitation process or potassium chloride gel press process. SRC contains a much higher level of cellulosic content and is produced in a less complex process. Indonesia, the Philippines, and Chile are three main sources of raw material and extracted carrageenan.

Lye
Lye is used to cure foods such as lutefisk, olives (making them less bitter), canned mandarin oranges, hominy, lye rolls, century eggs, and pretzels. It is also used as a tenderizer in the crust of baked Cantonese mooncakes, and in lye-water "zongzi" (glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves), chewy southern Chinese noodles popular in Hong Kong and southern China, and Japanese ramen noodles. In the United States, food-grade lye must meet the requirements outlined in the Food Chemicals Codex (FCC), as prescribed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Lower grades of lye are commonly used as drain or oven cleaner. Such grades should not be used for food preparation, as they may contain impurities harmful to human health.

Sodium bisulphate
Sodium bisulphate is used as a food additive to leaven cake mixes (make them rise) as well as being used in meat and poultry processing and most recently in browning prevention of fresh-cut produce. The food-grade product meets the requirements set out in the Food Chemicals Codex.  It is denoted by E number E514ii in the EU and is approved for use in Australia and New Zealand where it is listed as additive 514.  Food-grade sodium bisulfate is used in a variety of food products, including beverages, dressings, sauces, and fillings.

By country
 In India, AGMARK is a certification mark employed on agricultural products, assuring that they conform to a set of standards approved by the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, an agency of the Government of India.

See also

 Agricultural economics
 Food industry
 Food packaging
 Food safe symbol
 Food safety
 Food science
 Food technology
 Optical sorting
 Restaurant rating

References

Works cited

Further reading
 USDA Grade Standards for Food: How They are Developed and Used. Department of Agriculture. Issue 1027 of Program aid. 1977.

Food industry
Food processing
Food science

Food grading


Obdurodon tharalkooschild is an extinct species of platypus in the genus Obdurodon. Only one single tooth has been found. This was at the Miocene fossil beds in Riversleigh in Queensland, Australia.

The tooth was discovered in 2012 by a team from the University of New South Wales including Mike Archer, Suzanne Hand, and Rebecca Pian.

The species lived during in the middle and upper Miocene about 5–15 million years ago.  Wear on the tooth shows that it probably crushed hard shells such as those of turtles. Because of this, scientists believe that  O. tharalkooschild was carnivorous. They also believe that it was twice the size of the modern platypus at one metre long. Its name was chosen in honour of an indigenous Australian creation story for the platypus, where a duck named Tharalkoo gives birth to a strange and fantastic creature after being ravished by a water-rat.

References

Monotremes
Fossils

Obdurodon tharalkooschild


Mimosa pudica  is a
well-known species of Mimosa. It is a creeping annual or perennial herb often grown for its curiosity value: the compound leaves fold inward and droop when touched or shaken, re-opening minutes later. The species is native to South America and Central America, but is now a widespread weed.

Description
The stem is erect in young plants, but becomes creeping or trailing with age. The leaves of the Mimosa pudica are compound leaves.

The leaves are bipinnately compound, with one or two pinnae pairs, and 10-26 leaflets per pinna.  The round-shaped flower heads, which are inflorescences, are 8–10 mm in diameter (excluding the stamens). The floret petals are red in their upper part and the filaments are pink to lavender. The fruit consists of clusters of 2-8 pods from 1–2 cm long each.  The pods break into 2-5 segments and contain pale brown seeds some 2.5 mm long. The flowers are pollinated by the wind and insects. The seeds have hard seed coats which restrict germination.

Plant movement
Mimosa pudica is well known for its rapid plant movement.
Like a number of other plant species, it undergoes changes in leaf orientation termed "sleep".  The foliage closes during darkness and reopens in light.

The leaves also close when touched, warmed, blown, or shaken. When the plant is disturbed, specific regions on the stems release potassium ions which force water out of the cell vacuoles. The water diffuses out of the cells, producing a loss of cell pressure and cell collapse; this differential turgidity between different regions of cells results in the closing of the leaflets and the collapse of the leaf petiole. This is quite a common trait in the Mimosoideae subfamily of the legume family, Fabaceae. The stimulus can also be transmitted to neighbouring leaves.  The function of this trait is not known. The plant may use its ability as a defense from predators. Animals may be afraid of a fast moving plant and would rather eat a less active one.  Another possible explanation is that the sudden movement dislodges harmful insects.

References

Barneby, R.C. 1992. "Sensitivae Censitae: a description of the genus Mimosa Linnaeus (Mimosaceae) in the New World." Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden, 65.
[change]

Mimosoideae
Rapid plant movement

Mimosa pudica


Prince Gomolvilas (born August 28, 1972) is a Thai American playwright. He has written many plays which have been produced in the United States and won several distinctive awards, including a PEN Center USA West Literary Award for Drama.

He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of Thai-born parents. His family moved to California when he was age seven and he spent most of his youth in Monrovia. He attended San Francisco State University and received a BA in film and screenwriting and an MFA in creative writing and playwriting.

Playwriting

Plays
In 1992, while living in San Francisco, Gomolvilas began writing plays. His plays include Big Hunk o' Burnin' Love (1998), The Theory of Everything (2000), winner of the Beverly Hills Theatre Guild/Julie Harris Playwright Award, the International Herald Tribune/SRT Playwriting Award, and the PEN Center USA West Literary Award for Drama, Bee (2001), and the stage adaptation of Mysterious Skin (2003), which is based on the novel by Scott Heim.

In collaboration with musician Brandon Patton, Gomolvilas wrote Jukebox Stories, in which he also performs in. A self-described "storytelling/song-singing/bingo-playing theatrical extravaganza," the three, different full-length shows ran in 2006 as Jukebox Stories, in 2008 as Jukebox Stories: The Case of The Creamy Foam and in 2013 as Jukebox Stories: The Secrets of Forking. The initial runs of the shows were at the Impact Theater in Berkeley, California, but eventually expanded to a wide array of venues including other theaters, coffee shops, bars, colleges, comedy clubs, music venues and more in Boston, Los Angeles, Middletown (CT), Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Smithfield (RI), and Washington (DC), as well as the National Asian American Theater Festival. The show  received strong reviews in the East Bay Express and the San Francisco Chronicle, was also an "Editor's Pick" in Theatre Bay Area magazine.

Gomolvilas' other plays include Seat Belts and Big Fat Buddhas (1999), Debunking Love''' (2000), Boyz of All Nationz: The Rise and Fall of a Multi-Ethnic Boy Band (2002), and The Fabulous Adventures of Captain Queer (2006). He frequently writes comedies with a supernatural twist.

Gomolvilas also developed at TheatreWorks in the San Francisco Bay Area the short plays Oskar: The Kid That Could (which encourages students to embrace reading and writing), Oskar and the Big Bully Battle (which confronts the issue of bullying), and Oskar and the Last Straw (which tackles issues of self-worth and resiliency). These three plays have been touring elementary schools throughout the Bay Area since 2006. The Alley Theatre in Houston began touring Oskar and the Big Bully Battle in 2014, and has commissioned Gomolvilas to write Oskar and the Curiously Colorful Clash, a play about diversity that will start touring in 2015.

To supplement the California Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000, the New Conservatory Theatre Center's YouthAware Educational Theatre in San Francisco commissioned Prince to research, develop, and write the play Outspoken, which explores the many reasons teenagers feel ostracized and which has been touring to middle schools and high schools throughout Northern and Central California since 2005.

Recurring themes in his work include the contemporary Asian-American experience, the tension between immigrants and their offspring, queer identity, race relations in the United States, the trauma of displacement, and the complexities of loss and grief.

Short plays
His short plays include Cause and Effect on Clement Street (Actors' Theatre, Santa Cruz, 1997), Donut Holes in Orbit (Ensemble Studio Theatre, New York City, 1998), Cyclops (Theatre Rhinoceros, San Francisco, 2001), Bridges (City Lights Theatre Company, San Jose, 2002), The Last Gayorcism (Chalk Repertory Theatre, Los Angeles, 2010), Chunky Mary (Ferocious Lotus Theatre Company, San Francisco, 2010), ATM (East West Players' Studio Lab Project, Los Angeles, 2011), and Heteronesia (Impact Theatre, Berkeley, 2014).

Awards
For his play, The Theory of Everything (2000), Gomolvilas won the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Drama, the Julie Harris/Janet and Maxwell Salter Playwright Award from the Beverly Hills Theater Guild, and the International Herald Tribune/SRT Playwriting Award.

For his other plays, Gomolvilas received the East West Players' Made in America Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement for the Asian Pacific Islander Community.

Gomolvilas has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation. He has also received new-play commissions from the South Coast Repertory, the Alley Theatre, the Asian Stories in America Theatre, TheaterWorks, the Impact Theatre, the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, the New Conservatory Theatre Center, the Playwrights Foundation, and the Center Theatre Group's Asian Theatre Workshop.

His plays has also been developed at American Conservatory Theater, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Bear Arts Foundation's ColorFest, Center Theatre Group, Chalk Repertory Theatre, Ford Amphitheatre, Lark Play Development Center, La Jolla Playhouse, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, and South Coast Repertory, the Asian Stories in America Theatre, The Drill Hall, DueEast Theatre Company, East West Players, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Orlando International Fringe Festival, Pork Filled Players, Rude Guerrilla Theater Company, Singapore Repertory Theatre, SIS Productions, Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre, and Vertigo Theatre Productions. Geographically, his plays have been produced around the United States in such cities as Arlington, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York, Orlando, Portland, San Francisco, Santa Ana, Seattle, and Washington (DC), as well as in Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, and Singapore.

Films
Gomolvilas wrote the screenplay for the short film Lunchtime (directed by Keo Woolford) which was an Official Selection of the Boston Asian American Independent Film Festival, the Asian American International Film Festival in New York, Outfest, the San Diego Asian Film Festival, the Sicilia Queer FilmFest in Italy (where it won a Special Jury Prize), the Thessaloniki International LGBTQ Film Festival in Greece, and Tokyo Asian Queer Film Festival and other film festivals.

He has also served on the jury of the South East European Film Festival.

Gomolvilas was also selected for a prestigious and competitive screenwriting fellowship with The Chesterfield Writer's Film Project, a program sponsored by Paramount Pictures. Currently, he is developing a feature-length screenplay tentatively entitled Straight Face, for award-winning filmmaker PJ Raval.

Teaching and other work
Gomolvilas has served as the associate director of the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California, where he is also an assistant professor in writing. He has also taught in the David Henry Hwang Writers Institute at East West Players.

In 2013, Gomolvilas presented a TEDx talk in "Mind the Gap" at Chapman University.

Gomolvilas, who has also lived in Bangkok, Thailand, currently lives in Los Angeles.

PlaysBig Hunk o' Burnin' Love (1998)Seat Belts and Big Fat Buddhas (1999)The Theory of Everything (2000)Debunking Love (2000)Bee (2001)Boyz of All Nationz: The Rise and Fall of a Multi-Ethnic Boy Band (2002)Mysterious Skin (2003) [Gomolvilas' first play adaptation from a book]The Fabulous Adventures of Captain Queer (2006)Jukebox Stories (in collaboration with Brandon Patton) (2006)The Brothers Paranormal (2019)

Awards
1998: Beverly Hills Theatre Guild/Julie Harris Playwright Award, The Theory of Everything1998: International Herald Tribune/SRT Playwriting Award, The Theory of Everything2001: PEN Center USA West Literary Award for Drama, The Theory of Everything''
2006: East West Players Made in America Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement for the Asian Pacific Islander Community
National Endowment for the Arts Grant
Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation Grant

References

External links

Jukebox Stories

1972 births
21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
Writers from California
Living people
American people of Thai descent
American writers
Writers from Indianapolis
San Francisco State University alumni
American LGBT dramatists and playwrights
American LGBT people of Asian descent

Prince Gomolvilas


Sir David Stephen Eastwood,  (born 5 January 1959), is a British academic and long serving university leader who was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham between 13 April 2009 and December 2021.

Early life
Eastwood was born on 5 January 1959 in Oldham, Lancashire, and educated at Sandbach School. In 1980, he graduated from St Peter's College, Oxford, with a First Class Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Modern History, and was promoted to Master of Arts (MA) in 1985. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in 1985, also from the University of Oxford.

Career
Eastwood has held the posts of Chief Executive of the Arts and Humanities Research Board and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Swansea University. His academic specialism is modern history, and he was fellow and senior tutor of Pembroke College, Oxford.

He was Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), a post he had held since September 2006.
His former posts also include Vice-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia and Chief Executive of the Arts and Humanities Research Board.

On 13 April 2009, he succeeded Michael Sterling as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham. In March 2011, Eastwood announced plans to raise the undergraduate tuition fees at the University of Birmingham to the maximum of £9000 (subject to OFFA approval) for courses commencing 2012/13. Eastwood retired from the position in December 2021 and was succeeded by Adam Tickell.

Eastwood is a former chair of the QAA Steering Group for Benchmarking and a former member of the QAA Board. He has contributed numerous times to several newspapers, among them The Guardian, The Sunday Telegraph and The Times. His specialist subject is 19th- and 18th-century British and American politics.

He has been a member of the board of the Universities Superannuation Scheme since 2007.

Honours
Eastwood was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS) in 1991. On 25 January 2012, he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the West Midlands. He was knighted in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to higher education.

References

1959 births
Alumni of St Peter's College, Oxford
Honorary Fellows of St Peter's College, Oxford
Fellows of Keble College, Oxford
Fellows of Pembroke College, Oxford
Vice-Chancellors of the University of East Anglia
Academics of the University of East Anglia
Academics of Swansea University
Living people
People educated at Sandbach School
Deputy Lieutenants of the West Midlands (county)
Vice-Chancellors of the University of Birmingham
Knights Bachelor
Fellows of the Royal Historical Society

David Eastwood


In music, a projected set is a technique where a collection of pitches or pitch classes is extended in a texture through the emphasized simultaneous statement of a set followed or preceded by a successive emphasized statement of each of its members.  For example, a set may be stated as a simultaneity and then a series of phrases may end on notes which are the members of the set, as in the downbeat of m. 19 through measures 46 of Béla Bartók's Second String Quartet. (Wilson 1992, p. 23)

Pattern completion is "the use of a projected set to organize a work over a long span of time" (ibid, p. 210n5).

Sources
Wilson, Paul (1992). The Music of Béla Bartók. .

Musical set theory

Projected set


George Young (15 July 1777 – 8 May 1848) was a Scottish divine, scholar and flood geologist.

Biography
George Young was born in Kirknewton south-west of Edinburgh to John Young and his wife Jean.  George was born without a left hand and this situation led his parents to educate him for the ministry.

At the University of Edinburgh he distinguished himself in mathematics and natural philosophy. He was a favorite student of Professor John Playfair who was, at that time, becoming the great promoter of James Hutton's uniformitarian geology. After receiving high honors upon completion of his degree in 1796, he studied theology under George Lawson at Selkirk for five years, receiving at the end of this period a licence to preach from the Presbytery of Glasgow.  In 1806 he became the pastor of the Cliff Street chapel in Whitby where he served for 42 years.  He obtained an M.A. degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1819.  In 1826 he married Margaret Hunter.  Though married for 20 years they had no children.

Young could read and write Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, and Italian with some acquaintance with Arabic, Chaldean and Syriac, and he developed his own shorthand, which is still undecipherable.  He helped establish Whitby Museum as the first secretary and a founding member of the Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society.  He procured fossil and mineral collections for the Yorkshire Philosophical Society.

Young wrote twenty-two books on many topics: inter alia, the history of Whitby; the great solar eclipse of 1836; an acclaimed biography of Captain James Cook; the downfall of Napoleon; and, a catalog of hardy garden plants.

With John Bird as artist he wrote A Geological Survey of the Yorkshire Coast in 1822 published in Whitby. This book remains in print in facsimile. A second edition (1828) was printed and published in the north of England, Edinburgh, and London. The second edition contains seventeen plates: numbers one to fifteen, and number seventeen, are on one page, and number sixteen is a two-page spread. The plates are hand-coloured with watercolour: brush-strokes are clearly visible. The effect is exquisite and may reflect Young's passion for geology, and Bird's art.

The title was followed by Scriptural Geology in 1838.

George Young was immersed in fossil collecting and selling.  He helped preserve preserving the Yorkshire Philosophical Society and museum. He promoted fossil collecting saying, "The researches of the geologist are far from being unworthy of the Christian, or the philosopher: for, while they enlarge the bounds of our knowledge, and present a wide field for intellectual employment and innocent pleasure, they may serve to conduct us to the glorious Being."

On 8 May 1848, two years after the death of his wife, George Young died of influenza at the age of 71 years.

Notes

References

 (second edition 1928)

1848 deaths
1777 births
Scottish geologists
19th-century Scottish writers
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Scottish Calvinist and Reformed theologians
19th-century Presbyterian ministers
19th-century British geologists
Deaths from influenza
19th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians
19th-century Scottish theologians
19th-century Scottish scientists
Scottish Presbyterian ministers ordained outside Scotland

George Young (Presbyterian minister)


Robert Patrick "Bob" Gunton, Jr. (born November 15, 1945) is an American actor. He is known for playing strict, authoritarian characters and villains. He is most known for his role as the cruel "Warden Samuel Norton" in the 1994 movie The Shawshank Redemption.

Gunton was born on November 15, 1945 in Santa Monica, California. He studied at Mater Dei High School and at University of California, Irvine. Gunton was married to Annie McGreevey from 1980 until they divorced in 2006. He has been married to Carey Pitts since 2006. He has one child with McGreevey.

References

Further reading
 Voisin, Scott. Character Kings: Hollywood's Familiar Faces Discuss the Art & Business of Acting. BearManor Media, 2009. .

Other websites

1945 births
Living people
American movie actors
American television actors
American stage actors
American voice actors
Actors from Santa Monica, California

Bob Gunton


Belle Meade is a small, unincorporated community in Fauquier County, Virginia, situated on  State Route 55, and bypassed by Interstate 66.  The hamlet is east of the Warren County line in the vicinity of Distillery Road.  The Norfolk Southern Railway B-line runs through it, as well as being near the Appalachian Trail and the G Richard Thompson Wildlife Management Area.

The term 'Belle Meade' is losing local use.

Belle Meade is also the name of a small suburban community in Roanoke County, Southwest Virginia, with the zip code of 24018.

Unincorporated communities in Fauquier County, Virginia
Unincorporated communities in Virginia

Belle Meade, Virginia


Thomas H. Jackson (born June 20, 1950) is an American legal scholar who was the ninth president of the University of Rochester, preceded by Dennis O'Brien. Jackson held the position of president from 1994 until he formally stepped down on June 30, 2005, and was succeeded by Joel Seligman. Jackson's tenure was marked by the controversial "Renaissance Plan", which cut undergraduate enrollment while making admission more selective, and cut several graduate programs. He holds the position of Distinguished University Professor and has faculty appointments in the department of political science and in the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester. Jackson is known as one of the nation's foremost experts on bankruptcy law.

In July 2011 Jackson was appointed chairman of the board of trustees of George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film.

Jackson was vice president and provost of the University of Virginia, following his appointment as dean of the School of Law. He has also been a professor of law at Harvard Law School (1986-1988) and served at Stanford University (1977-1986).

Jackson earned his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1975 and a bachelor's degree from Williams College. He clerked for Judge Marvin E. Frankel and William H. Rehnquist, then an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.

Publications
Books
The Logic and Limits of Bankruptcy Law (1986) Harvard University Press

Articles
Bankruptcy, Non-Bankruptcy Entitlements, and The Creditors' Bargain (1982) 91 Yale Law Journal 857
Avoiding Powers in Bankruptcy (1984) 36 Stanford Law Review 725
Corporate Reorganizations and the Treatment of Diverse Ownership Interests: A Comment on Adequate Protection of Secured Creditors in Bankruptcy (1984) 51 University of Chicago Law Review 97 (Co-authored with Douglas G. Baird)
The Fresh Start Policy in Bankruptcy Law (1985) 98 Harvard Law Review 1393
Translating Assets and Liabilities to the Bankruptcy Forum (1985) 14 Journal of Legal Studies 73
Of Liquidation, Continuation, and Delay: An Analysis of Bankruptcy Policy and Nonbankruptcy Rules (1986) 60 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 399
Bargaining After the Fall and the Contours of the Absolute Priority Rule (1988) 55 University of Chicago Law Review 738 (Co-authored with Douglas G. Baird)
On The Nature of Bankruptcy: An Essay on Bankruptcy Sharing and The Creditors' Bargain (1989) 75 Virginia Law Review 155 (Co-authored with Robert E. Scott)

See also
 List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 9)

References
Thomas H. Jackson, Past University of Rochester President
UR Press Release on Renaissance Plan

Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
American legal scholars
Living people
George Eastman House people
Presidents of the University of Rochester
Williams College alumni
Yale Law School alumni
Harvard Law School faculty
Stanford Law School faculty
1950 births

Thomas H. Jackson