Sober times and kind of perfect timing to be talking about this stuff considering what's happening in Texas But before we get to the politics, I wanted to ask you guys about yourselves as writers how you got into environmental writing And how you integrate that into your work your own experience into your work. So let's start with Mary Ellen Well, thank you Susan and also. Thank you to the library. I'm a huge fan and booster of the library as you know the ultimate Instrument of democracy par exemplar and my book my most recent book citizen science Scientist is is about really a democratizing of science and There's a wonderful environmental library in here who is Integrating some citizen science with the library, which is the right thing to do and I'm really pleased to be Hopefully helping her with that. So I'm resolutely an English major sort of a gal I started out as an editor, you know a book review editor a travel editor I thought when I was growing up. I wanted to be an English professor So it was it was kind of a slow change for me to become so interested in science and then in the environment and in Ecology essentially and it happened pretty gradually But a very very important moment came when I did write this book evidence of evolution it was my third book came out in 2009 and that was an honor of Darwin and his the centennial of his birth and the anniversary of on the origin of species So I wrote this book to explain evolution actually kind of hard to explain and really understand it when you drill down a Lot, you know, what's the context for it and all sorts of books are out there about it but they tell you about it in one way or another how to put it together so we could really understand what is evolution and I focused on specimens from the California Academy of Sciences and so I interviewed the taxonomous there and taxonomous study the vast tree of life that all life forms are part of all life forms have common ancestry everything is related and And ultimately taxonomous are making a vast genealogy of all life forms on earth So that it's a very ivory tower science taxonomy, but today with this mass extinction going on It's a particularly important ivory tower science But when I was researching that book over and over again, I kept hearing and this is 2007 and 8 when I'm researching this book the scientists were telling me Plants and animals are disappearing at a rate and magnitude Equally that which took out the dinosaurs were in an extinction. We're in a mass extinction Now Elizabeth Colbert's book probably most of you have read it or heard about it six extinction that came out in 2014 This is well before that and I'm like what you know, what are they talking about and It took me a long time took me months and several, you know talking to one after another of them To really grok what they were telling me and once I did. I mean I couldn't look back I had to say okay. What is going on here is It is a paradigm shift in in life on earth and Nobody knows what's really going on people don't understand this and I said okay next book I got to understand how this is happening and why that led me to my next book which is called the spine of the continent and The spine of the continent is kind of an overview of conservation biology Conservation biology is only about 30 years old and it's a science founded by famous people. You know Paul Ehrlich Jared Diamond E. O. Wilson and Conservation means to save so this is a science actually formulated to save biodiversity and they knew then in The 50s and 60s and 70s that what they saw the processes they saw in motion were only going to get bigger Only going to get worse and they said if we're going to do anything about this we have to quantify it So conservation biology was set up to quantify extinction essentially and the spine of the continent is the Alaska to Mexico And there's there's a lot of reasons to focus on that particular mega linkage to describe Some of why we know extinction happens how it does and what we still have to save and then I'm on that book I'm researching that book and I'm thinking God bless nonprofits. God bless university professors They're not what they're doing day in and day out is making zero impact in In terms of really the forces that are set against nature and I could really see up close and personal what was happening and Thought well, what could possibly scale what could happen that would actually meet the level of Destruction that's actually happening and I worked on a couple of citizen science projects as part of that book They weren't called citizen science, but they were regular people contributing data over long periods of time To scientists who used their data to show long-term patterns of change So this goes all the way back to Darwin. We see where species are when and how those patterns change. That's how we know What's true? What's happening? What's real? You need data across? Decades there aren't enough scientists to get that data There are people like you and me to get that data and the thing that I saw about citizen science was all kinds of people did it Republicans Democrats old people young people rich people poor people black people brown people Everybody and nobody talked about any of that. We talked about what we were doing with nature And then the most important thing is that the data was used to achieve concrete conservation outcomes. So one project was Helped reform grazing regulations in Utah and one helped Determine where highway overpasses would be built in the state of Arizona so that plants so that animals could move across highways without getting hit by cars and Historic animals are moving north as the climate is changing So that's my long answer. I said, okay citizen science this has the potential to scale and In 2012 I said I'm gonna write my next book about citizen science and then the whole thing boomed I mean, I hit it right. I hit it maybe a little early But I hit it at the right time and basically due to smartphone technology computing power and statistical analysis the and the understanding that Ecology the developments in ecology have shown us. There's no such thing as one-off Processes that occur everything is totally connected at different scales local regional continental global The only way you can get all those scales is by massive amounts of data and There's a lot of people doing this and it's burgeoning all over the place. So it's a fantastic thing it I have complete hope and Trust that we're gonna use it more and more to actually even change how we understand how life on earth unfolds and To also focus in on what needs what we need to do to make sure that it does keep unfolding great, so It sounds like for you sort of the emotional heart and then the connection for you into environmental writing was the this Awareness of extinction the sense of loss and the sense of grief over that You cut your teeth on the movement. So tell me a bit about that But what was it like growing up with Dave Brower? Kind of where you came into it. Yes, my my experience with the exact opposite of Mary Ellen's I was indoctrinated from the cradle in this. There's no way I could escape it My dad became the first ED of the Sierra Club in in 1952, but by then he'd already been doing He and Ansel Adams had worked together just to make King King Canyon National Park when he was still a very young man. So My dad was one of these guys who lived in lived in and slept it. He Norma's energy. He is all he thought about He brought it home to the family dinner table.  He would try to evangelize. We had no chance We're totally helpless little kids and and so in fact as a as a Because he what we were early in the game This was my father in becoming the ED of the Sierra Club became only the second full-time employee of the Sierra Club The first was a was a secretary Virginia Ferguson So his becoming an ED D double the staff of the Sierra Club But there's still only two people and when you think of the Sierra Club today, I mean, I don't know it's like 800 staff And they're all over the country so These eyes it when I was a kid in the 50s these ideas were new and One of the things I did because I've been so indoctrinated. I discovered that in school essays I could get my blood up I could get really emotional about things on cue because I had all these arguments and Automatic a each time so I was sort of like a little grade school hack, you know And even at the time I knew that there's something a little I was getting myself I was I was using it, you know, and I you know even in like like ten years old I realized is this quite right what I'm doing, but But um, do you remember any of the things you wrote, you know The one thing I wrote when I was 14 my dad put in the Sierra Club bulletin. It was it was it was on it was on Moby dick but um, I That's how I really began this writing thing my I finished my freshman year at Berkeley and my dad was doing At this point he and Ansel and Nancy knew all it started this exhibit format series these big books that nobody Had ever heard of before you they were a new genre When my father first proposed a bookstores, we're gonna do this 11 by 14 book they said we can't sell a book like that It's we don't have shelves for book like that and we've seen the future I mean it's now the past but but you know they broke coffee tables all over the land soon soon enough but He was having a on the 10th book he was having a problem with the Editor it was a book of that would marry pictures of the big sir coast with photographs With poetry by Michelle's father Robinson Jeffers No joking But but the put the he hired a poet to do the poet The poet was too poetic. He didn't quite get get it. So my father said why don't you take a sabbatical at the end? Freshman sabbatical at the end of your freshman year and go do this book for me. Oh, so dad. I'm a freshman. He said well You're an English major aren't you? Well, I said yeah, I haven't declared it yet, but I'm gonna be an English major and And he said well you're you're an artist weren't you and I was an artist when I was 12 Me and Michael Heiser who's now famous won the gold medal in this classic After two competition when I was 13 I said but dad that I was 13 back then And he said he wasn't one of these guys who would press It was like he was like the British Royal Navy in the age of sale He would press young people into service and and you could just be walking down the street and and I again was Hapless because I was handy So anyway, he draft drafted me and I I said, okay, I'll do it and I went down to Live two weeks in Ansel's house and saw him's house in in Carmel Highlands Forage the country for photographs came back and had Ansel vet them. Are these okay Ansel? Yeah, this one's pretty good And that's what crop them It was amazing experience because I was taking pictures in from really great Photographers on the coast when Bullock and and the West and and Ansel had this sort of presumption to take these pieces of paper And I'm watching over his shoulder, and he's cropping the picture It's just a wonderful experience to have and all of a sudden as it comes in like this, you know There's that moment where bing, you know, inevitability can't move one piece of paper anymore And he's doing this to the photographs of these these famous photographers anyway So I do that book and it's a very successful book. I Have asked the other thing he told me when I said I'm just a freshman. I'm just you know I'm I haven't been an artist for a long time and He said well, you did watch where when Ansel and Nancy and me put This is the American Earth together the first of the books and I said, you know, that's right because I had watched I was to fly on the wall while these three people put this first book together and I just I still remember the The creative excitement of these people as they did it. They knew they were onto something New and amazing They it was such a process because because Nancy This is the 50s everybody's drinking then they all everybody breaks down, but they they really drank in those days So my dad and Nancy were big my dad and answer big people and they could handle alcohol Nancy after a certain part of the evening Couldn't handle her alcohol and I remember a couple of times were this moment When she would say even I'm I'm about eight years old and I and she says something that's really off the wall It just doesn't compute and I remember Ansel and my dad looking at each other. Well, you know, that's it for tonight You know and then they would pour this huge one, you know, so To go away with but I liked in your book Ten's book is interviews with 19 different people who worked with his dad and almost every one of those interviews They talk about going out with your father and drinking martinis and him drinking them under the table You could not stay with my dad. Yeah, I tried to stay with him once. I remember six martinis in New York Oh my god, and I mean, I mean it was nothing to him, but I was just you know, but but um anyway I'm gonna finish this up, but but I went um so I go back to I go back to my to cow To start my fresh after this experience. I get all these honor courses because I'm an editor of a book, you know And I I do my six months at the end of the six months my dad says well You can finish your sophomore year or you can go down with Elliott Porter for four months The Galapagos Islands and do a book for me on the Galapagos and that was that was the end of my formal education and and I did 14 more books writing and editing 14 more books for him environmental books for Serif up and friends of the earth. Now. I finally made man made my escape and and Went off on my own. Mm-hmm. Wow. That's cool. That's cool. So both of you Let's talk a little bit since that the evening has been billed as a Discussion of Trump Let's talk a bit about where we are with with Trump Both what you see happening right now and given your longtime experiences environmental writers Put it in some context for us Take it away. Well in both when I wrote the spine of the continent and then citizen scientists both in both processes I realized there's no There's no differentiating there's no teasing out what's happening with the environment from the forces of history and history of the human humans on earth in the last hundred two hundred years has been about colonialism taking of territory often from indigenous people and Developing land and and over extracting resources. So the forces of history are Creating the environmental crisis that we are in Trump did not Create it. He's taking you know this ridiculous stand By the way in in terms of what we can actually physically do right now With Trump is in key our secretary of the interior has delivered and I don't think that this has been revealed yet I didn't read the Times today, but Zinke has delivered this his report on his recommendations for what to do about the national monuments to Trump It has not been revealed what he said nobody kind of knows why except that the The anniversary of the the National Park System is August 26 Maybe remind people what what is at stake here? So Zinke Zinke has reviewed all of the protections of the National Monuments of of the of America the United States and he is obviously going to be recommending that the protections be unrolled pulled back and that extractive industries are allowed to go in there and extract metals and and oil and gas and This is a disaster and it should not happen and it's ridiculous And what you can do when this gets revealed, which will be any day is start writing letters and get on the internet and an object We have to really make a big stink out of it These national monuments have protected for a reason and you know as evidenced by the sixth mass extinction We lose the plants and animals because they lose their habitat So these places are very very important habitat for creatures and by the way What we don't understand is that we actually need these natural systems for even human life to go on and so we're actually a Self-consuming system here. We're eating out of our of the very ground of our own being by taking away these national this functioning ecological landscape So Trump here's what's the bright side of no shadow without light We have to do it ourselves. This is happening in many many levels with Trump people are understanding women's rights You know gender identification rights Immigrant rights, we have to take local control and be active Personally, this is not this could not be more important to be active personally in the environment And I'm just gonna say that the environment is the biggest issue of them all because without the environment All of those other things go way way down the minute we start having like really really Scarce resources like scarce fresh water. What's gonna happen to women's rights? What's gonna happen to immigrants rights? Nothing good.  Thank you, but everybody who is really invested in these other issues I wish we didn't see them as separate issues because they're all connected and So for me Trump is about Forget it. We have to do it ourselves and here's the thing about citizen science is we can do it ourselves And there's immense amounts of free Software free databases free projects to actually visualize information That then creates a case that you take to your county state and federal officials to to argue for why Something needs to be protected Can you made the point when we were talking about what we were gonna talk about tonight that this is nothing new That what we're seeing with Trump is we've seen before we've been there before What are the lessons to draw from those previous? Yeah, um Zinke seems so bad now and he is but um, we don't want to forget James Watt under Reagan I mean remember why you remember how you felt back then? I mean there was a character. I mean Zinke I Mean he was there's something reptilian about the guy. I mean I like lizards, but this guy To the list yeah But um, but but then don't forget um a gale-norton under under bush the stuff these these interior secretaries did was terrible And we got over it. So um, so it's happened before it. This is not exactly end of times, you know, but but um, I Yeah, I'm just thinking what what you're saying about the science You know one of the wonderful things that our citizen scientists and government scientists have done is protect this information Protected global data was one of the first things they did. It's like these people who who took the the The Muslim library out of out of Timbuktu. They ran in there and said we got to save this stuff and they've They were very worried justifiably that that information would disappear all this climate science that has been assembled is These people protect it. So we have a lot of Institutional people working for us people in the departments who care about this people in the Park Service have been pretty good you know people people in EPA are pretty shell-shocked, but um, but We haven't cut out for us. I I also like to think let's let's think post-trump um, too and let's You know, we spin our wheels in Trump mud so much, you know every day every treat tweet We need to get over that and and I keep thinking. What do we do? This can't happen again You know, we can't let something like this happen again in not just for environment, but for democracy and then you said yeah We can't have another Trump type episode. We have to we have to this is so dangerous It's not just the environment to the life on earth to our cities. I mean, there's that red button, you know We can't we can't let this happen again. So we need to be working toward that Systemic changes electoral college changes stuff that um Long-range stuff to stop. This is just an episode, but we can't have too many more of these episodes Well something that that you said Mary Ellen struck me I mean you were saying that you know the environment is sort of at the core whether you're concerned about women's rights You know civil rights or whatever, but you know one of the blasts against the environmental movement has always been that it's a white Middle-class upper middle-class movement. So how do you pull that? Now, you know, how do you how do you pull in those other people or is that an anachronistic? No, I mean, I think there certainly the environmentalists all over the place Are very concerned about About trying to connect with other kinds of constituencies then then white people older white people about the environment I wish that the environmental movement would not and I'm be so interested what you think can I mean I Wish that the environmental movement would not flagellate itself over this I mean we have it's like let's look at Planned Parenthood who's really supporting that probably old white people are doing that, too You know we're part that's an establishment Demographic that has money in time to put into social causes You know it's really an interesting thing happening in the state of California And I'm forgetting who did this but somebody aggregated all of the Instagram and Facebook pictures of what people were taking in the state parks and Actually, there's a lot of people of color a lot of people of different socioeconomic demographics in the state parks and they've been taking pictures of themselves having fun in the state parks But the state park people who are running it haven't necessarily seen them So the tagline was there's a party going on in the state parks, but we don't know about it So actually, you know lots of different cultural groups do care about the environment You know, it's a messy kind of thing. It's it feels like a It feels like a luxury to care about the environment that it's something that wealthier people can do But the the social and environmental justice movements are just just hugely important And they are very much integrating with with You know the more the more white people ones Look, I mean the thing is like we have Syrian refugees that are climate change refugees that is a social and You know environmental justice issue that's happening. So if you care about But though the people that are the refugees themselves, are they saying I care about the environment first? No, they care about their freaking survival first But their survival actually depends on the environment The everybody needs to understand that our survival depends on the environment, although we don't frame it that way I mean now we know I think that's in fact I think the argument made that the Syrians actually heard about environment first I mean it was in this drought that preceded what's happening now. I agree with you on self-flage elation I think we do too much of that. Number one. I think it's a totally bunk charge. You're elitist.  So It's a it's a rut I'm in but but uh but but but I way back with my first wife I I ran for the chapter that SF chapter the Syracuse of the Bay chapter on the grounds. Let's diversify and I couldn't get anybody in my family in there My my in-laws, you know, they had other stuff to worry about it was that was the 60s They were getting there, you know, they were the police dogs and hoses But but um, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna apologize anymore if you want to join the movement join the movement Everybody's been trying to get you in every environmental outfit. I know has been trying to get you in come on in, you know So there's this is one of the reasons why I think citizen science has such an incredible potential because it is it can be addressed like purely as a social justice kind of thing that most of the way that exploitation has happened of peoples and lands and is by, you know, taking over territories that belong to other people or Ignoring, you know when it went at the citizen scientist citizen science Association conference this it was in May and the main speaker was the gal How a single mom? I think she's a single mom who was the whistleblower in Detroit Who said my water is tainted and she went to officials who said oh your kids are just not that bright and She said no, they are bright, but something is wrong with the water and She got this professor from the University of Richmond to come and bring in Postdocs and and grad students. This is a citizen science project. They then empowered people in Detroit to test the water and keep the data and to make documentation of of what was happening with the water this woman is a citizen scientist That's what citizen science is So citizen science is a free available platform for any community of people to use to create data and to make it spatially and visually explicit to show it to other people to make a case for defending Territory and defending quality of things like water and and air Well, let me just say I think you're right about this business about environment and underlying all these other causes My dad used to say that he he would say this is the one thing. We absolutely have to get right We can mess up some of the others, but this one we have to get right because And his line was there'll be no art. There'll be no music. There'll be no sign There'll be no social justice. There'll be love music on a dead planet And this is where we live and and and this is this is the this underlies every single cause Important cause we have I really agree. Mm-hmm. So how do you get to people who don't see that? I mean, I was thinking about early hush child had this book this year where she talks about the ways in which all these people living in chemical alley in Louisiana are totally aware of the pollution around them in the way in which it is just destroying their lives and yet Don't make the political jump from that too. They're dying of their own poisons. I read her book I mean there they they have cancer because And they still are taking this other position But you know, I mean we're all writers the three of us here I think that we're probably all kind of constantly thinking where's the story? Where's the way to tell the story where you get the connection the emotional connection that opens the heart and mind of the reader To this other information that softens the barriers to that I mean her book is a good example because these people to me. I felt like they were just very defensive they very much wanted to Have some kind of power that they did not feel that they had and taking the position that they took They felt like they were aligning themselves with powerful forces. Yeah, they were like their own death But you know with chemical companies, but this is I think to the point And I think you know Ken has such an amazing story with David Brower being your dad of This generational understanding and connection that really is from the heart of what you take in from someone you love and How you see the world, you know, I wrote about my father's death in my book partly because it intersected so amazingly with some of the things I was trying to convey about Observation, he was a writer. He taught me to write to be a writer based on observation And you think of your dad teaching you to observe and also Empowering you to be creative in with these. I mean, I don't know. I think that's what we have to do and more of us do it Connecting people, you know, and there's a wonderful book by Terry Tempest Williams called refuge for example in which she This is her classic book Her mother's dying of breast cancer and she goes she goes through all of these birds in Utah And and goes through the death of her mother and but she also highlights all of these birds And she just so seamlessly connects the process of her own Understanding of her mother's death the process of her mother's death and the natural world Which is still there to sustain us through these, you know, huge developmental Moments in our life and to me this is what is at stake. We if we don't have nature, for example, where's our consolation? Where do we go? You want to take a walk in the woods when you experience something big a loss or or love or Any kind of moment in your life? What if there's no woods to walk in?  Yes, we're kind of nuts. I Guess the first thing you'd have to say is we're not succeeding No, so true. I'm not just environmental writers, but on our environmental movement In the list of concerns of American citizens is down there around ten usually so we're not doing it And and it is a how and this question. How do we do it better? I don't know the answer My own thing is long for him, which is really not the way to do it It's why do you say that because nobody's reading anything but but you know, but sound lights anymore. I Used to think that that at least you know, and it's true and it's still partly true that in the place It appears if you appear in the New Yorker or the Atlantic you are your are influencing people who count There was once this class of people who it's horrible, but this class of people who made things happen I'm not sure that's it's true anymore So so for me the long form is even less and less if you're a writer you want to write well one of the things that people keep saying is Correctly is that the that the right has found the language to get to people we have not and But the trouble is this mendacious language We don't want to do that do we I mean I I don't want to do that So it really is this dilemma I think it's very tough and and I think it's it is very tough to get beyond preaching to the choir, which I think Certainly every time I've ever appeared on environmental things. That's who is in the audience It's people who are already been convinced of these problems And I don't know how you get past them I don't know how you get to people your dad in your book There was a quote somebody quoted your dad saying you cannot reason prejudice out of a person Because it didn't get in that way and I thought okay So it's emotional, but I will say something that I think we should all do which is talk about it all the time Bum people out at the dinner parties that you go to like talk about extinction Really, I always do it. I'm very popular Like Mary Ellen the problem had one glass of wine what happens if you've had three well, I get even worse But I mean if I will say that if you go into any denies across the United States today I bet you everybody in those denies Knows the term climate change they might tell you that they don't believe in it But they know what you're talking about and I think secretly they know it's real But did they know biodiversity loss? No because even Professional scientists in other fields don't know about biodiversity loss There's a scientist that I you know kind of keep tabs on it Stanford his name is Rodolfo Deerzo and he he recently had a paper out about this You know not only the extinction of you know the termination of the entire lineages of Lifeforms that is accelerated today, but this huge amount of numbers of bodies of wildlife of Vertebrates and birds which are vertebrates, you know mammals every everything has decreased by like 40% Since 1970 Now, why do we need why does that matter? Well, here's one reason why it matters those bodies are actually They're keeping us healthy Because so let's say we cut down the Amazon the Amazon has plants and in it that have Co-evolved with viruses for millions of years and you cut down the plants and then the mammals and the birds and the reptiles and Amphibians go because they don't have habitat, but the viruses don't go and hello Ebola. Hello Zika They look for a host and they find a super abundant big mammal. That's us and Rodolfo also so he coined this term Defonation of planet earth which I find sort of a horrible word but very descriptive and another one rodent identification So when you lose all this biodiversity of other types of biodiversity What what booms rats rats do and rats are also disease vectors So, you know people in the Presidio There's a coyote population in the Presidio and people have conflicts with their dogs all the time and they want the coyotes like taken out of the Presidio But the the the coyotes keep the rat population under control So there's a reasons of why we need the bodies of of plants and animals So we need to just talk about that like it's not going to be easy Necessarily to live with coyotes for example nearby, but we actually have to figure out how to do that for our own health Well, you're talking about sort of Reinforcing the idea of the interconnectedness of exactly system that we live in and you know that it's a fantasy That we can be separate from it and actually love to hear you know can talk about the fantasies that people have about human life being kind of in a pod that could just be sort of shot up to Mars and Maybe that will save us. Yeah, there's this idea a lot of people have that we're actually doing pretty well in managing Natural systems or or farming systems this idea that well if if this is web of life that that nurtured us and created us and Sustains us was gone. Well, we'll be able to muddle on through and and that's completely ignores the history of our record in Trying to manage natural systems or even how badly we farm You know the dust bowls and stuff we're not through that Every generation of scientists and technicians thinks oh, we've got it knocked now Now we understand how this system works. We can reproduce it.  I mean the list is amazing So this is an illusion everybody have that we can somehow operate Independently of this I did a piece on a guy. I love Freeman Dyson I did a book on him and this call the starship in the canoe him and his son He believes this is a very bright man He somehow thinks that we can because he's so smart that humanity smart enough to do this We're not and and that thinking forgets that even the smartest of people is but a subset of the bigger thing of nature So we can really probably never Know we the human brain can't like encompass nature because nature encompasses the human brain But so much of human experience has been Positing that humans exist outside of nature. It's different. It's separate. It's the park. It's the forest. It's the mountains.  Well, yes and no It happens that the man nature the human nature dichotomy happens to be very Effective way of describing my problem that there is a dichot. Yeah, and For environmental writers, I think number one one of the things we can't keep doing and most and many of us have learned This is doom save them to death It gets so depressing You and I've learned this long ago back in the Sierra Club. You cannot just bombard them with gloom and doom You have to leave some hope there and and you have to tell story you have to find a different way to To convey this an awful lot of environmental writing is very the same There's a kind of a reporting that that's pretty predictable. You need to I'm sure you're doing with some of the stuff you're doing that that um You got to tell story that's gripping a story And and be an actual writer I'm just I'll say what I'm working on right now my Very good friend of mine Tony de Broom who's the foreign secretary of the Marshall Islands. There's a great Climate change advocate. He's the guy talking to the UN all the time. He died on the 22nd So I'm I'm I'm going back to a thing I wrote about him way back in 1980 when I was going through I did four books on Micronesia I was going through Micronesia and um Hooked up with him found this dictionary. He was making as a student. He made something called a touche in a it was the Marseille's English Dictionary and and I read in this book Um, I absolutely fell in love with this book What you learn about a people from 600 pages of their dictionary how they see the world When he started feeding fishing terms and he didn't even know this the computer started smoking and burning fishing turns Just come on forever this incredible variety canoe terms For some reason Marseille's smell terms It's like they have a heightened whole factory sense the smell pages go on and on you get a sense of who these people are so This these people are going under Marshall Islands are you know average six feet above sea level. They're they're going under So my approach in the piece I'm Revising right now is words words are going to be gone all these words that are attached to these places And in the marshals there's these tiny little areas have names because they're so small. There's 70 70 square miles of of um Of dry land or about a hundred million miles of ocean, you know, that's not that many two million miles one million mile of ocean, but Square miles of ocean, but um, but the kinds of things you're losing This whole worldview that you saw in this dictionary. Um, it's a way to approach this problem that's not the routine way of approaching And one of the reasons to not lose indigenous historical knowledge is because many of these peoples have Figured out things that we don't we don't understand and we are at pains to understand and in my book You know, there's a category of citizen science called co-creation and I was looking for a story about co-creation That's where you really have like not just the researcher saying I'm the researcher I'm going to study you but the researcher says I have a question that I want to ask about your people or where you live Do you also can you want to collaborate with me? Is there a question that you have? To that can be investigated at the same time and the story that I found which really changed the whole way that I wrote The book was about the Amamutsan people in the Santa Cruz Mountains Anyway that the native Californians and this is not true of indigenous people everywhere or even just in the United States But in California native Californians Cultivated the wild without depleting wild species or domesticating them. We don't know how to do that We domesticate animals, you know, we've got our cows and our sheep our dogs our cats Our birds, you know, we domesticate animals or we deplete them and they go extinct like grizzly bears and wolves But the the native Californians actually cultivated wildlife increasing their populations feeding themselves and Everybody lived a vibrant life together. How did they do that? The way they did it was has specific practices associated with it, but absolutely inextricable from their culture So these are the things these are examples of you know, we lose that knowledge We actually might be losing a way forward for ourselves Because we don't have a way forward if we take off all of these wild animals The wild animals create the environment that we live in they actually create the oxygen that we breathe and the fresh water that we drink And we don't we don't live without that. We can't make that ourselves So we need those wild animals. So how are we going to keep them keep their populations vibrant? We don't know how to do it. This is amazingly especially true in these low coral islands in the Pacific And I think it's just because there's everybody can see that they're finite You know these people arrive by canoe you come to a coral islet, you know You start at the lagoon beach and three minutes later at the ocean beach. That's it. There's no it's no slash and burn We're gonna move on to the next the next for us because this is my own theory And I'm sure it's true of why these people develop these wonderful Systems for managing these small places where they can pass down for thousands of years a pristine reef There's things like I mean We'll go out there Our guys with spear guns will shoot spawning grouper in the past female grouper And the island is this you're gonna you're gonna shoot this spawning female grouper.  There'll be a number of islets together the third and for the fifth.  I just give one example of Palau Islands where I spent a year of my life is our They were once thought to maintain to have been inhabited by 40,000 people it's a big archipelago And and they passed on this beautiful people the most beautiful reefs in the world pristine We've been there for 20 years or now 40 years and 15,000 people can't live there because Fishing for cash Ignoring all the conservation rules. There's only 15,000 people you look at those old village site There were 40,000 people and they gave us this wonderful System so our system isn't very good that way. Yeah, I'm gonna I think we want to open it up to questions, but first I just want to give a plug to both of these guys books Which I meant to do in the beginning Mary Ellen's is citizen scientist and it's just a wonderful sort of tour of The age of extinction through the lens of people doing citizen science and then kens The wildness within which is really interesting kind of coverage of his dad's career through the eyes of people who worked with him So now let me open it up to questions


It's an instant camera, it's a Polaroid, and I had one when I was really young. Can I smile, cheese? It's lovely. It's quite sweet, isn't it? It's tasty. I might let the children use it as well. Would you? Well, it's very simple. It's really not much to break, and they're old enough. That's true.  And you can ask it questions. Alexa, can you put on Radio 2? Radio 2. Can you tune it? Oh. Oh. Can you tune it? Is this your first time? Oh. No, Rob. No, it's clever. It's clever. Alexa, what is the capital of Paraguay? Paraguay's capital city is Asuncion. Oh, we see that's clear. That's very cool. What do you think? Do we think we want this for Christmas or not? Oh, no. Yeah, I think they're great. They're such fun. Do you think it would tell my husband to do the cleaning? Oh! What is it? Oh, my favorite. What is it? My favorite. My favorite. What is chocolate? Oh, the children are going to love that. Well, I don't know about the children. But definitely, I would adore this. Lovely tablet. Very smart. It's so useful. It is. And what you do thinks. Yes, you turn it around. Well, you see, what's so wonderful about it? It's got this enormous screen. So all your photos look terrific, aren't they? You can do your emails. Yes. And you can do your Twitter. Twitter? Do you Twitter? No, I don't do Twitter. No, I don't. Well, you can do it. If you wanted to, you could do that. You could, yes. What is it? Haven't a clue. Well, it spiralizes vegetables like carrots, courgettes. If you've got these different cutting blades, which gives you the different shapes, then all you've got to do is turn the handle. How are we doing? It's happening. Oh, good. You see, so look how easy it is. Absolutely. You can use those for putting around your salad, and you get a very pretty shape with them. I'm going to do a selfie.


Welcome back to my channel guys. It's your girl Coco styles and on this channel. We talk about beauty fashion lifestyle and styling So first want to apologize for not posting Tuesday and Saturday. Your girl has been all over the place, but I am back So in today's video, I wanted to talk about things we can do to get prepared or spring. I did a video about bags and things that Bags that are good for the spring But I don't think I actually went through anything as far as the clothes that we currently have in our closets and our wardrobes That we could actually use for this current spring that are pretty much classic pieces If you've been following me for a really long time, you already know that I swear by basic classic pieces And when I don't like to say the word basic I like to use the word you sent shoes because these are the pieces that you can wear Time and time again, and they'll never go out of style. So with that being said I'm gonna break down some of the things that you probably already have in your closet that you can wear this spring First thing is button-up shirts. You guys know I love a button-up shirt Whether it's a cotton button-up shirt a linen button-up shirt an oversized button-up shirt Or even a crop button-up shirt and when I mean by button-up, I mean a white button-up shirt Those are classic pieces. They will carry you through winter spring summer and fall The reason why I like white button-up shirts is because you can wear them tied up You can wear them open with like a Tube top under it some girls who are on the shorter side Can wear them as dresses with like cute little sandals It really just depends but a white button-up shirt is essential for spring And girls if you don't have one in your closet right now because you probably do Definitely go out and pick one up from pretty much anywhere You want something that is gonna be breathable So go for something that has a really nice blend and if you do not want to spend a ton of money check out Places like Banana Republic the men's section They have a really nice button-up shirts that are cotton But the oversized fit of them are really nice and this is for the tall girls who struggle with finding shirts to fit their sleeves To fit their arms Definitely go for Banana Republic. I have a really nice one that I just so happen to stumble across It's not linen and it's not that regular Material of a white button-up shirt, but it's like in between Love it. I actually got it from an outlet Absolutely love it So a white button-up shirt is something that you should have this spring and you probably already have it in your closet The second thing you want to have this spring would be straight leg jeans Okay for my tall girls jeans are a struggle in general but Straight jeans aren't even hard enough to be quite honest because what they're doing is they're making a lot of skinny jeans Still for us, or they're making jeans that are Kind of like on the balloon side and some of us really don't have a ton of hips Myself included so balloon jeans kind of don't really work for us But you can find jeans at I'm gonna say the place You guys know I don't shop there Hmm good old fashion over the girls are buying their jeans from there because they're really long I had a client who she's sex six. I keep out. I hope I'm not mess up. She was I think six four And she bought jeans from there. So don't sleep on them. Check them out Also, you guys know I always get creative when it comes to jeans if I see something that's Zara That is like slightly hitting I'm either gonna get it cropped or I am going to get two of them and have my tailor worker magic I'll show you guys another video what I did to the pants that I told you guys that I was going to actually Crop maybe I'll try them on and then do a snippet in here, but they came out really really nice So just get creative when it comes to jeans But you definitely need a really nice pair of jeans if you want something that's gonna take you through the entire spring Go for something that is classic in style Maybe not so much distress on them because they can kind of give away if you water pants twice champ But get something a little bit more classic So a straight pair of jeans really nice fitting jeans is gonna be an essential for this fall And you probably already have it in your closet. Third thing is going to be trench coats Now they are trench coats that have a lining in them if you have that already in your closet There is no need to buy another trench coat. Here's why take the lining out If your trench coat is a color that you may not necessarily want to wear in the spring because you guys know There's multiple styles of trench coats one and two multiple colors So there's some that's more on the lighter color side that would fit Better for a spring and then some that have like a darker like Grage color that you may not want to wear in the spring, but they have cropped trench coats meaning cropped sleeves They have some that are very very tailored at the waist. They have some that are like midi length They have some that are long but have a trench coat for those nights that are cool because summer is not here So we do know at nighttime. It still gets a little bit cooler So a trench coat isn't essential for the spring and you probably already have it in your closet Fourth thing is going to be my good old favorite satin skirts okay As I told girl finding maxi skirts are very hard for us. Okay Norma Kamali has a really long satin Satin satin maxi skirt that I purchased and I want to say it's called the obi skirt I think it is if I have a video I'll pop in a video and it's very long It actually looks like the Saint Laurent skirt, but at a fraction of the cost girls It's still not the cheapest, but it's maxing if you don't want to get something maxi You can definitely go for something that is a midi Satin skirts will always be in you can dress them up. You can dress them down I have seen girls wear these things a ton of ways and Definitely go for maxi skirts and with that being said you also want to get you a really nice denim skirt denim skirts are Always going to be in in my opinion. I think they are classic You can get a maxi denim skirt some girls don't like it They feel like they just a little bit too covered up or you can get like a mini now for the tall girls. I Don't know about you. I don't do many skirts But if you do go for something that has like kind of like cargo style pockets Especially if you do not have like a larger hip area Anything a little bit straight you may not like it, but something with like some pockets would look really really cute for this fall Would look really really cute for this spring and you probably already have it in your closet girls So check those closets before you go out and buy anything. The goal is not to always buy things If you buy in pieces it can be something that is unique and you don't have it But most of the time you have a lot of the stuff that comes back and forth when it comes to trends And you don't really have to buy it again. Here's an example the Gucci horse fit bag The girls are not buying the newest bag They're going on the pre love market and they're finding the old ventures vintage bag because they do actually look a little bit better So think about that when you are actually shopping, but denim skirts and satin skirts are another Essential that you should have this spring and you probably already have it in your closet All right, so the other item you should have is a lightweight blazer Goal for something that is linen or even satin, okay? Now the satin one you may not be able to wear on a really hot day But definitely something you can wear if you're going out for brunch and you're in like a cooler area But I love to get my blazer sleeves cropped Girls because it's so fabulous if you have not cropped a blazer at the sleeves You are missing outs on having a unique piece in your closet for the tall girls We already know the struggle is real when it comes to finding something that's gonna fit us all the way down to the Wrist it's not that it's not possible, but it's harder when you see something that is kind of like on trend They usually don't fit us, but we can chop chop chop at the tail of girls So having a really nice blazer is something that you probably already have in your closet probably from a few years ago Maybe even a linen one that you are gonna need this spring If you have something that's oversized even better, you can wear that a ton of ways If not, that's still fine as well, but definitely check your closet for a nice lightweight blazer for this spring And girls like I said, you probably already have it in your closet and the last pretty much essential piece and item that you probably already have in your closet are Certain shoes. All right flats are always gonna be in some little nice little slides that are classic in style A lot of the girls like to wear the Hermes Iran sandals. Those are cute, but Expensive Zara always comes out with their slides every single year. The only thing about Zara slides is that Depending on where they were made They may be a little bit more narrow as opposed to others I have quite a few pair of them and the white pair that I have they definitely feel like real leather and they feel More comfortable than the black ones. I don't know. They just seem different in size But a pair of cute slides will be perfect for this spring also along with slides Y'all know kitty hills came back out. Okay. I used to love wearing slingbacks back in the day and slingbacks to me are Always going to be a classic. I came across a website called Mmm, let me see if I can find it guys. I think it was called nice Please tell me I didn't take it off my screen. I did I think it was called like nice shoes or something like that Not a luxury brand or anything like that. However, they had a bunch of slingback shoes for like a hundred and fifty dollars And different colors and they were leather. Okay so You don't always have to buy something that is super luxury And they went up to a really large size if I can find it I am gonna link it below because I just was googling the other day and I came across it and I was so tempted to order But got sidetracked of course But if you are wanting a pair of shoes definitely go for some slingbacks and the last pair of shoes would be Some really nice peep toes Well, not even the last pair some peep toe shoes with a heel Something that's comfortable that you can wear with some jeans something that you can wear with skirts and dresses Something that is going to fit your wardrobe aesthetic now what you probably have in your closet right now Would be some nice slides. Oh In the last pair a pair of like strappy sandals.  So you won't waste your money But definitely get all of those shoes if you don't already have them in your closet Which you probably do but those are some shoes that I would deem as essentials for this spring If you are just starting out in building a wardrobe if you notice, I do not have a ton of clothes and the reason why it's because I shop Based on my wardrobe needs not based on what's trendy. So when it comes to spring I'm always gonna have stuff that is great quality because I go for things that are classic in style that I can wear A ton of ways. So even if a trend was to come out and I don't really like it, but I want to try it. I Can mix it with something that I already have to fit my personal style. I hope that makes sense So before you go out shopping and buying a slew of things definitely Check out your closet Try things on play dress up put some music on This is what I used to do back in the day and figure out what you have you might be surprised You might not need anything. Maybe a pair of slides, maybe a bag or something, but trust me The stuff is there. It's in your closet guys So I hope you guys enjoyed the video if you stayed to the end of this video Please comment cocoa. We see you and guys don't forget to follow me on Instagram at Cocoa Styles NYC and Cocoa Styles and why and my personal style blog Cocoa Styles NYC guys, please check out the blog It's amazing Absolutely love it and also my style services Cocoa Styles NY Com animal tickety tickety talk Cocoa Styles NYC and I will catch you guys in the next one. Bye guys


We assembled for this relief and appointment ceremony and Sergeant Major Turner departs us and Sergeant Major Miller assumes his position of leadership and to that information. Knowing the importance of your fine presence in our lives, we ask for a continued blessing on Sergeant Major Turner and his fight to never, as to what has fallen, brought him strength and resilience through this time of change. Thank you for his hard work and determination and sending your ship to the center of the earth. Wisdom, strength and character, and he who killed Major Miller, model of the great importance of medicine and serve as Sergeant Major Miller assumes his new leadership position. We ask that you bless him and his man with many challenging situations that he will face, finding us all women's and family and saviors here in the families. We ask for his things in your most holy name amen. Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. Present day braids in the Marine Corps at their base is a vote from muscle load plus days for yesterday. In those early days, the line of battle was just that, a line of two or three ranks and looked much like the great formation you will see today. The Ashton forms the line of battle. The Ashton for today's ceremony is Master Sergeant Major Miller in the military. Whether the grade was that of the commission or non-commissioned officer, the responsibilities of the rank of all his men though is due to attendance over the organization's drill, discipline, morale and administration. In the Marine Corps, the grade was created by Congress in 1798. The first incumbent was Sergeant Major Archibald Summers. For a time of this century, tell us Spanish AmeriCorps in 1898 or have a one Sergeant Major building, which is the origin of today's post in the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps. All enemies were made to freeze, but also instilled automatic and immediate responsive demands, vital to the success on the battlefield as well as visiting the condition of the handling of any personal weapons of that time. Effected in 1321-April 2023, he understands the operational art and multi-domain coalition and tries to retain full capabilities, bringing them together with unified identity and a new sense of community. An exceptional communicator is an approachable leader, but the address of each and each person's situation and its own appropriate context. A master of the complex resources within the group is that advice is critical to the political and political discipline's capabilities. Sergeant Major turned to professionalism, personal initiative, and told the dedication of the dude to collect the great credit on him and repeat in the highest traditions of the Marine Corps of the United States of America Service. For the rest of them, signed, day-to-day, body-knocked, Lieutenant General, United States Marine Corps, main general to the Marine Corps of the United States of America Service. In the secondary division band, please, 47, Sergeant Major and Master Gunnery Sergeant, 66, Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel, and this shows the exceptional responsibility, significant challenges, and the impact of this position. They also included this past year, 24 meritorious sergeants and 48 meritorious corporals, which bears out Sergeant Major Turner's direct influence, his impact, and shows how his imprint will be felt across the Marine Corps for many years to come. His sincerity and his drive with. I very much look forward in every way to working with him. Please join me in thanking the Marines, the Second Marine and District Forces for major groups. A great opportunity to have had to learn from you and I will value our friendship for the rest of my life. Thank you, Sergeant Major Turner. Today it is, but as usual, Mother Nature gets a vote. To take these Marines back that you can see behind me, showcase the very best of what our nation has to offer. There are various talents and skill sets for eye watering. I would offer, if you ever see a Marine in general, or any of these Marines in particular, seek them out and just talk to them. The various items that they, I'm in interest of this and they keeping on on the deal and not going into tangents. To find commanders while assigned to the mid, I've had Colonel Russell and now Colonel to push the limits of my self-proclaimed title of the hardest working Marine in the Corps. I've heard you of the majority of my time I've spent with Colonel. He has presented himself as a learning experience for myself because every day in the mid is just different. Sir, thank you for the opportunity to harness your craft to commander ship. Another mission I have while assigned in the mid, you know, this is like the extra prize you get was being the mid. So I bring it in general, right, because the mid is some of the most talented. We have this little saying in our household when it's orders time, when we say we have to have the sandwich talk. And my kids know it's not the good sandwich. It's that sandwich that everyone has to take a bite of, you know, it's just been phenomenal. Thank you. I'm super proud of you're part of this. I've been there ever since. I ask for these orders. I hope to make you proud. To college guy, thank you for the kind words. Thank you to all the chief staff, sergeant major, command master chiefs, master commanders, senior list leaders. If everyone, thank you for being here. Pretty much I'm pretty. Thank you, sir. I will once again, General Nebel. Thank you, sir. The Miller family or big family of yours and Joanne and the girls likewise. Dylan and Sophie who came out here today. And to everyone, our most distinguished guest today is sergeant major, Wes Turner. My name is Wes. You packed on me. Our turnover was smooth. And here, just a few moments at the hands of our sergeant, our drill master, sergeant, our commander, our troops, the leader leaders, and all the big staffers that don't get the attention they deserve that made this thing possible. These Marines are going to march by here. That's going to be it. That'll be a wrap. That'll be another successful tour for you. And then you get to go home and enjoy some time with your family. Much deserved. Well done. It's my wife, Jenny, 21 years. Here's a couple more here with Carolina Mattaf where we love, where we've raised our boys. And we're sitting right there behind her with my dad, Wayne Miller. Thanks for being here, dad, and sharing this moment with me. To my boys, I expose you to events like this to show you what aid, what service looks like. And you may choose to do this in uniform or not, but just know that that is your calling to live a life of service. Excuse me, everyone. Marine sales, the two-man innovation group, your reputation, purpose and a life worth living.


As a breakfast in Placivia, Africa, banditry has become an enterprise making millions from the abduction of victims. They use lots of the money to buy more weapons and then reinforce and strengthen their capacity to continue what they're doing. The Nigerian government, the Niger State government, I beg your pardon, says over 60 motorcycles on specified number of cows and ams were recovered from terrorists and at least 200 people, 200 bandits have been killed in Niger State in the past days by operatives of the Joint Force, Tack Force in Rafi and Marag, local government areas in a gondola. Now in a total of 60 motorcycles were recovered and on certain number of cattle were also returned to their owners. Meanwhile, the Niger State government in a report says that bandits have taken over 12 local government areas in Niger State and no fewer than seven communities have been submerged in flooding in Sheruro local government area due to the ongoing construction of the hydroelectric power station in the state. We're being joined by security expert Yawso Getso this morning to make sense of all of this. Now, the Niger State has 25 local government and out of 25, you have 12 being occupied, dominated by bandits. Yawso Getso, just recently the government said that they had killed 20, according to the reports that we have, 20 bandits have been killed. And now we hear that 12 local government out of 25 it's in the control of this bandits. Is this not an irony? But as far as I'm concerned, it is the government that is fueling this crisis. I consider government responsible. I consider the people on power responsible and I consider the security operatives responsible and I consider the federal government of the federal republic of Nigeria as incapable and on serious and not really ready to fight this insurgents. Why? Because I had made mention time without number. That's one, the kidnapping business and other criminal criminalities that is happening in the North West and North Central, particularly that of Niger State. The criminals are known. The criminals location is known. Their hideout is known. And this activity started from one community out of many number of communities in the 25 number of local governments as you mentioned. When it is started, we have had a number of programs and a number of clarion call and we have provided free services, expert services at no cost to the government through local and international media providing professional ethical norms and values and guidance and patriotic approaches for how to deal with this situation. I want to tell you that I have been telling the government of the federal republic of Nigeria that there is no location of bandits that is not known to me. There is no location of bandits that is not known to the councilors that is not known to the local government chairman that is not known to the members of the state assemblies and that is not known to the members of the national assembly and that are not known to the members of the Senate of the federal republic of Nigeria. And at the same time, I want to tell you if you don't know, let me tell you the architectural structure that we have as far as formal and informal security structure that we have in all parts of northern Nigeria and in all parts of the country in Nigeria. One, we have community leaders that we call white heads. We have community leaders that we call district heads. We have community leaders that we call village heads. So all these village heads collect information through the other informal and formal structures, generate this information, and deliver it to the white heads every day and every now and then. That is one. These white heads used to meet with the district head whenever there is a serious intelligence information, either serious or un-serious. They normally provide this information to the district head. And in almost all the political words, 774 political words. And likewise, especially in Nigeria state, which is the subject matter, there are outposts here and there, at least in each local government, besides the division and police office, you have other outskirts, what is called outposts. That is a police outpost in the political words and other communities that are large. So at the same time, you have what is called, you have four primary sources of information, sources of intelligence, sources of operations, sources of making sure that they provide a kind of policy to ensure security of life and properties in all the locations. And there is no local government that you don't have division and police officer. There is no local government that you don't have the LSO, that is the local security officer, who is the representative of the DSS. There is no local government that you don't have a commanding officer of the civil defense. And there is no local government where you don't have an immigration officer who is in charge of that local government. These, among others, including the special tax posts, including the joint tax posts, including the special marshals and special co, as well as the civil vigilante, they work harmoniously in addressing and attending to ensuring provision of security of lives and property. So how comes, even at a time when Nigerians are suffering from getting the fuel, when Nigerians are finding a stain, two, three mates at the fueling station, even in Abuja here, where I'm talking to you, before we get fuel, how comes the bandits are getting fuel to fuel their vehicles, 200 motorcycles, 60 motorcycles, 150 motorcycles, and move, travel, and drive a ride between one kilometer to 60 kilometer to 100 kilometer to go and conduct their activities successfully and pull out. All right. Yahooza gets an interesting point you've raised, an interesting point you've raised about the bandits being able to fuel their motorcycles to drive many kilometers to go wreck havoc. We're talking about banditry. Before now, what's Boko Haram and Iswab? Let's just get a sense of who are these bandits? Two weeks ago, we had bandits killed about 1918 soldiers and six or seven police officers in KB state. When they attacked the convoy, no less than, of no less a person than the deputy governor of KB states. Who are these bandits and how did they get so powerful? And thank you very much for this question. As a criminal and criminality therapist of a West African forest, as well as the expert on security intelligence and investigation, I want to reveal, I want to tell you that bandits are those mostly members of those communities that are most of them full army that pick up arms as a result of their cattle that have been rusted and injustice from the government and judiciary as well as the security operatives. And this started many years ago because time may not allow us to give the full history of what happened, but we call them most of them are full army, hardsmen. And I want to tell you that 99.9% of these bandits are Nigerians and while 99.9% of those who are bringing arms to them who are importing arms to these guys, foreigners, the armed traders, 80% if not more than that are Nigerians. The armed transporters are 99.9% are Nigerians. The armed movers, 99.9% are Nigerians. And these bandits are members of our communities in all parts of northern Nigeria, that is in the northwest, in the northeast and is in the north central. And 99% of them are known to the communities they are attacking. So they are relating, it's not that they are new or they are coming from far away or as proclamation by the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria through the Minister of Information sometime back and many times to the statement credited by many other principles of the government of Bahá'í administration that the bandits are foreigners. It is really not true. Bandits are Nigerians, bandits are citizens and indigenous of Niger state, of Sokoto state, of Zampara state, of Kaduna state, of all the state where they are operating. So these are the bandits and they are in possession of more sophisticated hands than what is obtainable in the hands of the Nigerian army. More sophisticated and more dangerous arm and weapons than what is obtainable in the hands of all the security operatives in Nigeria, in Nigeria. To our surprise, the inability of the government, lack of passion and lack of interest for the life, protection of life and property of common man, that is what is promoting or have promoted because the activity of the bandits started from the remotest part of the communities in northern Nigeria, in Niger state. It started from one local government and one community and we have one separately. Yahuza gets all information to the government to do the needful in order to deal with the situation but inability of the government, incapability as excavated in realistic and practical term that government is incapable of dealing with situation or government is part of the process or activities of the bandits and other criminalities in the forest. Yahuza gets all, the Niger state government has also given some reason why the activities of this bandits despite efforts being made to ensure that this menace has taken away has been on the increase. We've talked about the conventional security architecture that the country actually has and the fact that it makes vulnerable some of these communities. For instance, the response time and so you find out that some communities are in isolation. Before security personnel gets this a lot that you have bandits around, it takes three to four hours before they can actually get there. Don't you think that this should also be an issue of concern? I disagree with that. Why? Because I told you in each and every local government there used to be division and police office. There used to be. Local security office. You said there used to be. Division and police office, local security officers are present of the DSS, civil defense commandant, immigration in charge of the local government and there used to be a meeting in all the 774 local governments in Nigeria every month which is called monthly security meeting where hard earned money, taxpayers' money are being used for repression. Taxpayers' money are being used for transportation to the district heads, to the wide heads, to the police officers and everybody who is attending the monthly review meeting. So if this is happening and if a simple criminality will be the politicians are using it and conducting elections successfully and delivering a polling box and every other material successfully and peacefully to other moot areas, how comes they are saying or they are proclaiming that they cannot access some of these communities? It means that is exposing their negligence. That is exposing that is on seriousness. That is exhibition of incapability that is demonstrating and practically the government is making it very clear that the Nigerian government under Buhari's watch is not serious, is not committed and is not capable of managing the security of life and property. So then if they cannot provide security for life and property, how can they tell us that some of the communities are hard to reach? Where are the hard to reach communities? How are they delivering the polling boxes? How are they delivering the election materials? How are they delivering their key messages for when they wanted to be voted? How have they crossed all these communities when they were campaigning in the 2014, 2013, 2015 and 2019 before the elections? So this is unrealistic. These are kind of a shady excuses that cannot be accepted by us. We know all these communities. There is nowhere in Northern Nigeria, no community, no settlement, no hard to reach terrain that I don't know. Where are the difficult places? What is the importance of communication between the Division of Police Officer and the 3rd Commander of the Police? What is the importance of the communication between the controller of the immigration and the immigration staff of the local government? What is the importance of the communication between the commanding officer the 우리 and the state commandant of the civil defense and that of the commanding officer of the local government? What are they doing there? So how are they communicating? And why does that mean if that's the case, then government should come out and tell us that they don't have facilities, they don't have equipment, they are not ready, they are, then the government should resign. The whosoever should get out of the office. That's the reality. Yeah, who's against it? We're always seeing from. It's difficult to reach energy states. Yeah, yeah, who's against it? Yeah, Mr. Getso, we're always seeing from these reports. It may sort of paint the wrong picture, if you're not careful, of what is going on in Niger state. And it may threaten to overshadow the successes that have been recorded in the fight against banditry and insurgency in the northern part of the country. Because I think the governor of Niger state, Sandy Bello, did mention it a couple of days ago when he visited an internally displaced persons camp that they've recorded some successes. For instance, if you look at three days ago, a joint security task force in that same Niger state killed at least 100 suspected bandits in an operation at Bangi village in Marigaloko government area of Niger state. And you have other such killings of bandits and criminals in Niger state. So are we not being unfair to the government of Nigeria when we take these reports and do not look at the successes recorded in the fight against the criminality in that part of the country? Let me tell you, all these are political deceits. The governor's statement is a political deceit. The federal government statement, if they are in support of that, is a political deceit. I have told you, and I have said it time without number, and I'm going to repeat myself once again, there is no location of the bandit that is not known to us. When I say us, I mean the sunny pillow himself. I mean all the district heads. I mean all the Amias of Kwantagora, the Amias of Mina, the Amias of Bidya, and all other Amias. I mean all the district heads. I mean all the white heads. I mean all the councillors. I mean all the National Assembly and State Assembly members. I mean all the three senators from Niger state. And I mean all the police working in Niger state. And I mean all the DSS working in Niger state. And I mean all the immigration and the military working in Niger state. Let me tell you one thing. Do you know that we have an Air Force training school in Niger state and very close to where these bandits are operating? What is the essence of the barracks that we have in Niger state? What is the essence of the police command? And I said it and I'm repeating myself and I repeat myself that the location and hideout of all these criminals are known. And all these bandits, their commanders are known. Their relatives are known. Their locations is known. It's not, they are not in the hands of us. Have you, that's a quick one. A quick one, yeah, who's that gets a very quick one. The Commissioner Police in Niger state, Balakourias, is saying that the rural dwellers and those affected should not hesitate to report to the nearest security outfits. Any person or group of people who they may know may have a link with this. So have you reported, gone to the discourage agencies, even if the DSS has to say I have information? Very quickly, please. I think the order of who's in this and on this, not only to Niger state governor, even to the DSS, the IGP, the DGNIA, I have met them one-on-one. Let me tell you, I'm not just telling the story. We have to let you know. I have met them one-on-one. So being part of the show. I go to Iboard. And I have mentioned- Yeah, who's that gets, so. I'm really sorry we have to let you go. I'm really sorry we have to let you go. We know where they are. The Councilors know where they are. Thank you, yeah, who's that gets. So we have to go. Thank you very much. So you said you've done that already and I want to appreciate your time this morning on the program. Thank you, Edwina, good to have you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. And all the best in Abuja. Mercy is quite a passionate response from him. I mean, people are suffering over that part in that part of the country and they are displaced in Niger State. People can't stay in their communities, in their homes, in their villages. It's really, really sad indeed. Well, we just bring you this latest report. There's a letter that is making the rounds. It's no longer a secret what you have. The letter saying notice, notice, notice. And this is last warning. It talks about saying that we, the unknown gunmen has concluded that from now on henceforth, there will be no residing of the national end term on the national pledge in any school and in any gathering. That's the letter there, but I'm not sure if you can actually see that. But we do have a resident from Emo State, if I'm not mistaken. Kelechi, who will be speaking from us right away from Oweri. Kelechi, it's good to have you join us this morning. Can you quickly tell us about this letter and what does the letter say? Okay, good morning. We hope that we can make sure that that's correct. And so, let's hope that we can make sure that we can make sure that this letter is safe. That's about to become aware of it. And we must make sure that it's compliant with the letter. So, what we're trying to do is ask an office and start to round the day that 15 is in, for it out, 15 is in that case, that 15 is out, about what we're doing, our morning, the day that we're talking about. Kalechi, can you hear us please? Unfortunately, we have been able to have a smooth connection with Kalechi, but as soon as we have all of the details, and of course we would have that reconnection, but that's the much that we can do at this point in time. We hope that everything would actually be all together, everything would be one. We constantly have faith in the entity called Nigeria, and we all have a responsibility to play. Well, that's the much that we can take if you missed out on any part of the conversation. It's alright to follow the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagrams at Plus TV Africa. And Plus TV Africa Lifestyle, subscribe to our YouTube channel. I am Messi Boko. Thanks for watching. And I'm Kofi Bartelsa. We'll be back tomorrow right here. Keep watching Plus TV Africa.


As we're going to go beneath the surface powered by Microsoft I'll let you lead the way coach we've got two plays from Deandre Hopkins We're going to take a look at the first one comes on a third down first look We're going to now you see D hop and you say well it doesn't look like he's at wide receiver They do a lot of things with him. He's in the backfield here He's like a running back back here in the backfield now for a defense that presents a lot of problems How are we going to match him up? How are we going to match with the other people?  You see what he's doing here right now. This is not insignificant He's looking at the coverage. He's looking at the coverage to see the type of route He's going to have to run and he understands the coverage and how he's going to uncover And I want to show you this protection that we have look at this We always talk about clearing the cylinder for the quarterback. Let's look at this cylinder right here as it's cleared This is a clear view for the quarterback. This quarterback's got a beautiful clear view right now what he's doing He's looking off the receiver. He's looking away from where this ball is going to be thrown Look at all the people around D hop when he catches that football Look at the number of people surrounding him tanny. He'll looking it off good protection And then D hop he's going to catch the football And this is a very valuable first down from a running back position for one of the best wide receivers in the league Well, let's watch it one more time all the way through with everything that I've explained Take a look You see Brewer you see Brewer put his hand up up to the left Brewer put his hand up to the left brunskles the tap guy. He's tapping the center because it's loud loud loud in that stadium Watch it all the way through. Let's get a clear view of it. Nice catch. Go down now Let's watch Ta-Jay Spear get off of my guy now watch Brewer coming here get off of the little guy Let's take a look at a deep pass That we had a chance to see Deandre Hopkins catch and this ends up being a 38 yard play. So let's move to the next one coach This is what you called up in the box.  I do because there's also a back here Directly behind Ryan Tannehill as well. So when you heard Mike Keith call for diamond formation This is what he's talking about now both of these guys back here can do it on any number of things They can free release so you can get five out of the scheme. They can help protect one side of the other This is turn protection. This is turn protection, which is play action protection, which is max protection So when you heard Mike Keith call for diamond formation, this is what he's talking about now Both of these guys back here can do it on any number of things they can free release So you can get five out of the scheme that can help protect one side of the other This is turn protection. This is turn protection, which is play action protection, which is max protection We're going to turn the line where these two guys are going to come over here this way and then the line is going to turn Watch this see the turn protection Have come this way and then we have turned this protection This way that's turn protection. That's max protection off of the play action max protection off the play action Because this route we're getting ready to see this is a TRC when you hear me say TRC in the booth This is a transcontinental this is coming from one side of the field to the other But Mike it takes a long time for this to happen and for this to happen you have to have tremendous protection All right, let's take a look at the play Look at the bot look at the look at look at the protection look at this pocket right here that he has right now Take a look at this pocket right here. How clean this is this is a new in fact You've got people you got skaranski over here looking for work Peter Skaranski is up here right here He's looking for work because you got everybody blocked up This is a transcontinental it's against a split safety look so it takes a long time to get across the field watch the result And there's D hop Big big play that all of that has to come together So the Andre Hopkins tremendous addition to this football team offensively He's a weapon however you want to use him We've seen an instance out of the backfield and then we've seen a transcontinental But in both instances we've had a good cylinder to throw from and we've had good protection it all adds up Coach Mac. Thanks for taking us beneath the surface presented by Microsoft. You do so many nice things for us


Dear students, I welcome you in the course of leadership, emotional intelligence and decision-making. This is module number 58 and we are going to talk about that we have to be whole which means we have to act with integrity and we have to respect the whole person. When we talk about the whole person we actually mean that we are going to be focused on our 360 degree perspective of life. Now we have to respect the whole person. That would actually mean that we have to redefine the relationships with their relative importance and value. In our previous exercises we tried to define our relationship with community, home, profession and self, how important is it, how much focus is there and how much satisfaction we are getting and how is our performance. And obviously we looked into the tables that sometimes we have to redefine things because with the passage of time certain imbalances are created in our life. The second thing we need to talk about is our clear expectations with the other people, our clear expectations with our four domains, our clear expectations with all the stakeholders and obviously we also need to share those expectations with the other people. The third thing is that we have to recognize and respond to the expectations of the other people towards our self as well. Expectations are not just with our friends, but with other stakeholders as well. So if our clash of expectations comes, that would be also creating a big conflict. Therefore we have to recognize and respond to all the expectations which are surrounding us. And then at the same time remember that we have to learn to respect others. It would be difficult for us to manage the life and to become a total leader. Now identifying key stakeholders is the key step we have. In your life your stakeholders can be anyone and can be anywhere. Any person can be the one who is influencing you and you are influencing them. And in any aspect of the world you deem important and the importance of that person can be very important for you. So have you identified that in all aspects of society, home, profession and your self, which aspect and which stakeholder is most important? And why? It is important to know both of these things. Now when we identify key stakeholders, we have to see that who is most important and who is most important. It can be your self, it can be a person in the community, it can be a member of your family or it can be a person in your professional life. So we have to see that who is most important in your life. And when you have discussed who is most important, you have to see who has the most importance. And these two things are different. Who has the most importance and who has the most importance. The third thing is how much you interact with the people who are important to you. Because it is possible that you consider a person important in your life but for a long time you did not have any connection with that person. So these are imbalances. These are imbalances which shake your hierarchy of priority in life. Another important thing is that with all the things that you are talking about, what relationship you have? And can that relationship come into any definition or not? Can you publicly announce and pronounce that relationship or not? Can that relationship really relate to you? The relationship you feel it is difficult to live without is difficult. But remember that the stakeholders of your life are important to everyone. And sometimes we cannot define that importance properly because we have never done analysis and analysis of our life as we should. What are your trade-offs? You have to bear the opportunity cost. There are many perspectives in which we should think about the aspects of life. And another important thing is that what are you trying to accomplish? Whatever importance you have given to someone, what do you want to achieve with that importance? What are going to be your outcomes? What are your deliverables? What are your achievements? Because unless and until you are not calculated, you will become the victim of confusion. You have to be clear that who is important? Why that person is important? Or what is important? What actually you want to achieve? And at the same time you have to see that you are not compromising or you are not going towards sacrifices. So you have to be clear in your perspectives, particularly when you call yourself a leader now. Now who matters most? To understand this, we have another exercise. And this exercise talks about we have to see, we have to actually write down the names of the people in our stakeholder list. And we have to write down the names of the people in the domain of work, in the domain of home, in the domain of family, and in the domain of community and society. That who are most important to you? And when you write down those names, then you have to ask yourself some questions. The first question, who are the most important people among those whose names you have written? Groups or other entities, and those can even be animals that can be the part of the environment. And why do you think they are important to you? Another thing important that you have to think about now is that in the domains where you have written down the names that were most important to you, how frequent is your contact with them? Because as I said earlier, sometimes it is important for us, but it is not the center of our attention. We are focusing on our time, our resources somewhere else. So therefore, remember that we have to set our priorities. We have to be mindful. We have to understand when, where and how, who are important to us, and how important is our satisfaction, our performance, and our happiness. Last but not the least point in this exercise is that who are the people with the greatest amount of influence on your life, and the people on whose lives you exert the highest influence. When you think about your own importance, then you should also look at the people who have the maximum impact on you and you can influence them as much as possible. The main purpose of all these exercises is that we can explore whether our priorities in the life are clear, whether we are not a victim of imbalances, because those imbalances will take us very far from our leadership perspective which we want to achieve in 360 degree life. If we conclude all this, then my dear students, remember one thing, that this life is only for one time. And we should utilize this in the best possible ways. So the North-South-East-West of our life, which is actually our home, our community, our self, and our profession, we can create a balance in that and a balance will only be created when we are self-aware. Thank you.


I've got some questions and answers that I'll try to address. Let's see, is there an SUV value that could be used to distinguish between post-radiation osteonecrosis versus local regional residual disease recurrence if imaging performed before three months or 12 weeks, I think, post-radiotherapy? So my answer to this question is almost always no, there's never an SUV cutoff that, you know, will help you answer a question like that. It's really for me, more of like a visual interpretation. And sometimes a lot of times I think actually we can't use, or we can't really come down in these cases of like post-radiation. And I often will give a read that says this could represent IR or, and I recommend a short-term follow-up PET CT because I think that that sometimes we just need more time to sort out a finding. Okay, in post chemo-radiation scenario, reptile cancer responses assessment, which is better MRI or PET? So that is an interesting question. And a lot of times I think they're actually used together. I think that MRI and PET will go together nicely to give you kind of the anatomy, right? Because we don't get much anatomy detail with PET because oftentimes we're using a non-contrast or sometimes a contrast CT, but we all know that contrast MR is really superior to either of those. So I think MRI is often done in the first instance to see if there's anything questionable. And then if there is a finding that's just residual disease, PET can be done after that to kind of work it out. But I think that the best scenario is using them together. I think stepwise we do MR first and then PET to troubleshoot that. But I think PET can actually be a little bit more definitive, right? If it's negative, then we feel really good about it. If it's positive, we kind of don't know if we're in that scenario of post treatment change versus residual disease and we might need kind of more imaging. Why is comment of liver SUV needed as part of technique in the report? So we kind of touched on this before. It's really just more for quality control and in terms of making sure that our bio-distribution is good and that the patient had adequate fasting and that we have like a good quality of report. And then as I mentioned, we do use it in interpretation for Doville scoring and the assessment of lymphoma. But I think for the limitations that we also discussed, it's not as big of a part of interpretation as it used to be. Okay. Do you measure a lesion on a PET image if it's ill-defined on CT? That's a really good question. So sometimes the answer is yes. If I'm reading a PET that there's been diagnostic imaging done in the past month or two months, for instance, like a pulmonary mass or a pulmonary nodule, I know that because of technique that the measurements that are taken on the diagnostic CT are going to be significantly more reliable than what's on my attenuation correction CT. And so if I'm providing a measurement, I will use the one from the diagnostic. But there are lots of cases where we either don't have diagnostic imaging available to us or not within the right timeframe or the lesion has changed or a really good example of this is when you're reading a post-radiation change and there's a recurrence and by CT you cannot tell where the tumor is. So in those cases where it's very ill-defined by CT, I will measure on the PET, but one strategy I use is I really back off of the avidity and turn down the window level so that you're not getting a blooming artifact where if something's very, very avid, it will sometimes appear bigger than it actually is. But when you back off the window and kind of open up the level a little bit, at some point the lesion will stop getting smaller and it'll just start getting kind of less avid and that's where you kind of know what the true size of your finding is. I find that really actually important and helpful with donutate imaging because those are often so avid that we open up the study and we say, oh my gosh, there's this like two centimeter tumor. How did we not see it on CT?  It's a very small tumor. It's just the, it's so avid that it looks like it's very big. So yes, sometimes I do measure size on the PET but I also make sure that I'm not overmeasuring by manipulating the window for that. How do you divide uptake of FDG minimal mild intense as their formula? So that's a great question too. I'll use what I have here on the screen right now to kind of show you. So like, and I wish this was in black and white because that's how we actually read, right? The colors just for show but, you know, something that's like intensely FDG avid, it should really be the most intense thing on the scan. It should really be kind of in line with what we see in the bladder and the collecting system. So like all of these findings in the lung I would characterize as intense. When things are kind of less intense than that, they're still, you know, like significantly greater than, you know, say liver or they're, you know, very noticeable but they're not quite as like avid as collecting system or, you know, what we're seeing here in the lung. I would give that kind of like a moderate, you know, maybe kind of this degree of uptake that we're seeing here. And then mild is sort of kind of, it's not negative but it's not very impressive. And, you know, maybe what we're seeing in the liver here I would characterize as mild. And then, you know, this stuff that we're seeing in the GI tract which is like, it's noticeable, right? But it's not very impressive. This is probably minimal. And then when I say barely perceptible this is just kind of a personal thing that's where I have to really crank the window to be able to see the finding. And it's not negative but it's very, very low degree of uptake. So it's definitely a visual thing. There's not a formula. There's not like an SUV cutoff but it's just kind of picking a scale and, you know, using it and being consistent with it. I'll just do one more here. Somebody asked how to report Doville if adenopathy is present which may or may not be lymphoma related. So with the Doville criteria there's, you know, five categories that we use and then there's an X qualifier. So if I think that a finding is not related to lymphoma but it's very FDG avid, for example like thyroiditis or something you can give it a designation of a Doville X which is what you're saying is this is very avid and it's abnormal but I don't think it's related to lymphoma. You can use that for lymph nodes too if you think that they're not related to lymphoma but you have to be very careful in attributing an FDG avid lymph node to not being lymphoma in the case of, you know a patient with suspected or known lymphoma. Oh, sorry. One more last one because it's important with PSMA do you use SUV values? And for the answers that we kind of like or for the reasons we talked about earlier in this in the slides, no because we don't really know what they mean outside of FDG. So that's the short answer. There's a longer answer but that's the short answer. So I think that's all we have time for but thank you all for your attention and I hope that you guys got something out of today's lecture.