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12 Science November 2 2022 | World and Press World’s loneliest tree has story to tell scientists about climate change SCIENCE The spruce on Campbell Island has recorded carbon levels in its rings. By Bernard Lagan and Tom Whipple 1 THE WORLD’Sloneliest tree, a 120-year-old North American spruce planted by an Irish peer on a sub-Antarctic island, has found a role at last: fighting climate change. This spruce is the only tree on the uninhabited Campbell Island, a windy, cloudy 43 square-mile speck in the Southern Ocean more than 400 miles south of New Zealand. Here, the sun shines for less than an hour on most days, rains fall an average of 325 days a year, and the mean annual temperature is just 6C. Windswept and alone, this one tree ekes out a desolate existence. 2 The Campbell Island tree has held the mantle of “loneliest tree” since 1973, when a drunk truck driver ran over the Tree of Ténéré in the Sahara Desert. That acacia was the only tree for 250 miles in any direction in the Saharan portion of Niger. Since its passing, A treeless stretch of Campbell Island, seen in 2008. | Photo: Getty Images/LightRocket the title was transferred to this spruce, whose nearest neighbour grows on another island 120 miles away. 3 It shouldn’t be here at all: it is believed to have been planted by Lord Ranfulry, the governor of New Zealand, at the start of the 20th century. He did not plant a second one, and as a consequence, the tree will never meet another of its kind. It will, though, have a legacy. 4 Because for 90 of those 120 years, before the arrival of scientific monitoring, the chemical signature in its rings constituted the sole record of atmospheric carbon across this chunk of the Southern Hemisphere. “You can pretty quickly look at a world map and find out there’s not a whole lot of land,” the New Zealand scientist Dr Jocelyn Turnbull said. The Campbell Island tree is playing an important role in her research into the role the Southern Ocean plays in absorbing the world’s carbon. 5 Extending between Antarctica and the southern edges of Australia and New Zealand, the ocean absorbs ten per cent of all carbon emitted by humans, making it a climate change buffer, critical to keeping carbon levels in the atmosphere at manageable levels. 6 “It’s a really important component of the climate system,” Dr Andrew Meijers, of the British Antarctic Survey, said. Here, the currents churn up water from the depths of the ocean, in a conveyor belt that absorbs heat and – through biological and physical processes – takes in carbon. “It’s sort of where we brush climate change under the carpet – stuffing it into the ocean. It really acts to ameliorate its effects,” Meijers said. 7 But the rate at which the ocean absorbs carbon is changing. It slowed in the 1990s, sped up in the 2000s, and now appears to be slowing again, according to the New Zealand government science agency, GNS, which is Turnbull’s employer. To help to understand why, Turnbull needs to compare historical and current measurements of carbon dioxide and radiocarbon – which tells you the source of that CO 2 – in the atmosphere around the Southern Ocean. This is problematic. 8 “We did not collect samples in the Southern Ocean 30 years ago, and you can’t go back and sample the air that was there 30 years ago because it’s not there anymore,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The world’s loneliest tree’s rings, though, contain the long record she needs. “Every year, you have a ring you can distinguish. You can slice those rings out and measure the radiocarbon in them, and then we can get this story back in time of what’s been happening with how the Southern Ocean has been changing,” Turnbull said. … © The Times, London/News Licensing This article originally appeared in The Times, London. 0 – 1 SPRUCEFichte — carbon level “"kA…b´n‘ Kohlenstoffgehalt — peer Adeliger — role Aufgabe — uninhabited “ÆønIn"hœbItId‘ unbewohnt — 43 square-mile ca. 111 km 2 groß — speck Fleck — Southern Ocean Südpolarmeer — mean annual temperature Jahresmitteltemperatur — windswept windgepeitscht — to eke out a desolate existence “i…k; "des´l´t‘ ein trostloses Dasein fristen 2 – 4 mantle h.: Titel — acacia “´"keIS´‘ Akazie — portion; s.w.u. chunk Teil — passing Ableben — legacy “"leg´si‘ Erbe Continued from page 1 — scientific monitoring “"mÅnIt´rIN‘ wissenschaftl. Beobachtung — chemical signature chemische Spur — to constitute “"kÅnstItSu…t‘ darstellen — sole einzig 5 – 6 to extend s. erstrecken — to emit “i"mIt‘ ausstoßen — buffer Puffer — to be critical to … entscheidend dazu beitragen … — manageable “"mœnIdZ´b´l‘ beherrschbar — British Antarctic Survey brit. Polarforschungsinstitut — current “"kør´nt‘ Strömung; s.w.u. aktuell — to churn up “tS‰…n‘ aufwirbeln — conveyor belt “k´n"veI´Æ-‘ Förderband (Ozeanströmung) — to brush s.th. under the carpet (fig) etw. unter den Teppich kehren — to stuff stopfen — to ameliorate “´"mi…lj´reIt‘ verbessern; h.: mildern 7 – 8 science agency “"eIdZ´nsi‘ Wissenschaftsbehörde — measurement “"meZ´m´nt‘ Messung; s.w.u. to measure messen — carbon dioxide “ÆkA…b´n daI"ÅksaId‘ CO 2 — radiocarbon Radiokohlenstoff — sample Probe; s.w.u. to sample Proben nehmen — broadcasting corporation Rundfunkanstalt — to distinguish “dI"stINgwIS‘ unterscheiden — to slice out herausschneiden ic and cultural ramifications of Brexit, which have yet to become fully apparent since the move took effect in 2020. 8 “What we’ve seen recently is not normal – it’s chaos,” said Rod Dacombe, director of the Center for British Government at King’s College London. “Sunak is going to have some very difficult choices to make. He will have to present himself as an economically steady hand at the same time that the U.K. economy is in dire straits, with the looming prospect of a general election in the background.” 9 Sunak also faces a party in disarray. The Conservatives have a strong majority of seats in the House of Commons but have been torn by infighting over their party’s direction. A general election is not expected until January 2025, but polls have shown that if one were held now, the Conservatives would be wiped out by the opposition Labour Party. 10 “Sunak’s biggest challenge is going to be reassuring people that the government is on their side and actually looking after them,” said Darren Lilleker, a professor of political communication at Bournemouth University. “Then there is rebuilding the economy and reassuring the markets and rebuilding trust in the party. Those are each quite challenging in their own right.” 11 Sunak has strong conservative credentials. He supported Brexit – which was fueled by antiimmigrant sentiment – and has joined Britain’s culture wars by railing against “woke nonsense” that he says is “permeating public life.” He supports a controversial government policy to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda for processing. 12 Sunak will make history at 10 Downing St. not only for his ethnicity. A Hindu who has spoken frequently and fondly about his religious traditions, he will be Britain’s first non-Christian prime minister. His victory in the leadership contest Monday came on the same day as the important Hindu holiday of Diwali. In a nation of 63 million that is 87% white, Asians like Sunak are the biggest ethnic minority, at 7%. Most have roots in India, zusatzmaterial Unterrichtsvorbereitung fertig zum Download! Pakistan, and Bangladesh, which were part of British-ruled India until 1947. 13 Sunak grew up in the English port city of Southampton to immigrant parents who were born in East Africa, but has close personal ties to the subcontinent. He is married to Akshata Murthy, the daughter of an Indian tech billionaire. Sunak, whose worth is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, will be the wealthiest British prime minister in modern history. He was educated at Oxford and Stanford University. … © 2022 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. ramifications “ÆrœmIfI"keIS´nz‘ Auswirkungen — to take effect wirksam werden — to present o.s. s. präsentieren — steady hand ruhige Hand — in dire straits in e-r äußerst misslichen Lage — to loom s. abzeichnen — in disarray “ÆdIs´"reI‘ in Unordnung; h.: gespalten — infighting “"-Æ--‘ interne Machtkämpfe — poll Umfrage — to be wiped out (fig) vernichtend geschlagen werden 10 – 11 to reassure s.o. “Æri…´"SO…‘ jdm. versichern; jdn. beschwichtigen — in one’s own right für s. genommen — credentials “krI"denS´lz‘ Hintergrund; Werdegang — to fuel befeuern — culture war Kulturkampf — to rail against s.th. gegen etw. wettern — to permeate “"p‰…mieIt‘ durchziehen — to deport abschieben — asylum-seeker Asylsuchende(r) — processing h.: Bearbeitung des Asylantrags 12 – 13 ethnicity “eT"nIs´ti‘ ethnische Zugehörigkeit — fondly gern — minority Minderheit — ties Beziehungen — billionaire “ÆbIlj´"ne´‘ Milliardär(in) — worth h.: Vermögen
World and Press | November 2 2022 Hindu nationalism in India ratchets up tensions among immigrants in the U.S. INDIAN AMERICANS Conflicts between Hindus and religious minorities in India have sometimes spilled over into Indian communities in the U.S. mit Übungsmaterial By Jeong Park and Suhauna Hussain 1 IN A PARKin Anaheim last month, hundreds gathered to celebrate Indian Independence Day. They bought Indian food from booths and settled on the grass to watch traditional song and dance performances. The holiday had special significance this year: Aug. 15 was the 75th anniversary of the end of British rule. 2 Then, about a dozen people, most of whom were Indian American, marched silently past the crowd, carrying signs that read “Abolish caste” and “Protect India’s Muslim lives.” A few men from the independence celebration charged at the protesters, grabbing the signs, breaking them, and throwing them into trash cans. Some shouted obscenities in Hindi-Urdu. They called the protesters “stupid Muslims” and yelled at them to “get out of here.” Through a microphone, an announcer led a chant: “Bharat Mata ki jai” – “Victory for Mother India.” 3 “We are Indian,” Rita Kaur, a protester who is Sikh and was born and raised in Southern California, said later. “We are simply speaking for Indians who are harmed relentlessly.” 4 Indian Independence Day means vastly different things to different people in a country shaped by religious and ethnic conflicts, as well as caste discrimination. For many of the majority Hindu religion, the day represents the end of colonialism and the birth of India as an independent nation that became the world’s largest democracy. For many Muslims and other minorities, it represents the bloody partition of the former British colony into India and Pakistan and the Women in Houston, TX, demonstrate against India’s treatment of Muslims in June 2022. | Photo: Picture Alliance/NurPhoto persecution of non-Hindus and lower castes. 5 Since Narendra Modi became prime minister of India in 2014, his naked appeals to patriotism and his party’s frequent scapegoating of minorities, especially Muslims, have resonated with some who believe he has made the country stronger and safer. Meanwhile, religious minorities, especially Muslims, have faced mob attacks from Hindu vigilante groups. 6 Those conflicts have sometimes spilled over into Indian communities in the United States. An Indian Independence Day parade last month in Edison, New Jersey, featured a bulldozer with a photo of Modi – a provocative symbol when local officials in India have used bulldozers to demolish the homes of Muslims. Parade organizers later apologized. 7 In Silicon Valley, discrimination against people from the Dalit caste surfaced in a lawsuit filed in 2020 by California officials on behalf of an engineer at Cisco Systems who alleged that higher-caste supervisors gave him lower pay and fewer opportunities. At Google this year, a talk about caste equity was canceled after some employees accused the speaker of being anti-Hindu. 8 “This poison of sectarian hatred has been getting more widespread,” said Rohit Chopra, a communications professor at Santa Clara University who has long been critical of Modi and his supporters for promoting Hindu nationalism. “That same pattern of increasing aggression and impunity seems to have replicated itself in the diaspora.” 9 Organizers of the Anaheim Independence Day celebration did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement to NBC Asian America, organizer Manoj Agrawal said the event was “not religion-biased” and included many Muslim vendors. Agrawal said the protesters intended “to create trouble and then record something which can help them to showcase something.” 10 The Hindu American Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy group, defended the Independence Day organizers. The protesters were seeking to “disrupt children performing on stage inside the event,” the group’s managing director, Samir Kalra, said in a statement. 11 Orange County resident Waqas Syed, a member of the Coalition for Democracy and Secularism in India, said it is common for protesters against caste and religious discrimination to be harassed. But Syed, who is also a director of Justice America, which focuses on Indian issues in the U.S., said the conflicts in Anaheim and New Jersey were a new low. “Just five years ago, this event that you witnessed a couple of weeks ago would never Immigrants 13 have happened. Since the growth of Hindutva in all areas, this has become possible, and this is going to happen in much more areas,” he said, using a term for Hindu nationalism. 12 In a recent column in ‘India- West Journal,’ Shakeel Syed explained why he refuses to celebrate Indian Independence Day. Syed, executive director of the South Asian Network in Artesia, has fond memories of growing up in India and is grateful for the values he learned in a relatively secular society. But that India no longer exists, he wrote. “The value of ‘fellowship’ that I learned from my teachers, neighbors, and friends (irrespective of their religion and ethnicity) nurtured a shared spirit of decency, mutual respect, and unconditional love for each other and the greater good,” Syed, who is Muslim and left India 40 years ago, wrote. “Today’s India is obliterating ... fellowship with bigotry, fanaticism, xenophobia, and intolerance, organized and institutionalized by the State.” … 13 Dimpel Gandhi, a 40-year-old beauty salon worker who came from India 20 years ago, said “regular people” and the “new generation” are not thinking about religious tensions. In India, her family lives next to a Muslim family, and “they are always together,” she said. Asked what she thought of the recent conflicts among Indian Americans in the U.S., she said, “Everyone is good. Everyone should respect.” Then she fell silent, shaking her head. © 2022 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. 0 – 1 TO RATCHETup verschärfen — tensions “"tenS´nz‘ Spannungen — to spill over übergreifen — booth Stand — to settle s. setzen — rule Herrschaft 2 to march past demonstrierend vorbeiziehen — to abolish “´"bÅlIS‘ abschaffen — caste “kA…st‘ h.: das Kastensystem — to charge at s.o. auf jdn. losgehen — trash can (AE) Mülleimer — obscenity “´b"sen´ti‘ Beschimpfung — announcer Moderator(in) — chant Sprechchor 3 – 5 relentlessly “rI"lentl´sli‘ unaufhörlich — vastly höchst — partition Teilung — persecution “Æp‰…sI"kju…S´n‘ Verfolgung — naked (fig) unverhohlen — appeal Appell — to scapegoat s.o. jdn. als Sündenbock darstellen — to resonate with s.o. “"rez´neIt‘ (fig) bei jdm. Anklang finden — vigilante group “ÆvIdZI"lœnti‘ Bürgerwehr 6 – 7 local official lokale(r) Amsträger(in) — to surface “"s‰…fIs‘ (fig) zum Vorschein kommen — to file a lawsuit e-e Klage einreichen — to allege “´"ledZ‘ behaupten — supervisor Vorgesetzte(r) — equity “"ekwIti‘ Gleichheit 8 – 10 sectarian hatred “sek"te´ri´n; "heItrId‘ religiös motivierter Hass — to get more widespread s. immer weiter ausbreiten — impunity “Im"pju…n´ti‘ Straffreiheit — to replicate o.s. “"replIkeIt‘ s. reproduzieren — diaspora “daI"œsp´r´‘ h.: indische Gemeinde im Ausland — religion-biased “"baI´st‘ religiös ausgerichtet (b. voreingenommen) — vendor Verkäufer(in) — to showcase zeigen — foundation Stiftung — nonprofit advocacy group “"œdv´k´si‘ gemeinnützige Interessengruppe — to seek to do tun wollen — managing director; s.w.u. executive director “Ig"zekj´tIv‘ Geschäftsführer(in) 11 coalition Bündnis — secularism “"sekj´l´rIz´m‘ Trennung von Staat und Religion; s.w.u. secular — to harass “"hœr´s‘ schikanieren — low Tiefpunkt — Hindutva polit. Bewegung für Hindu-Nationalismus und die Errichtung e-s Hindu-Staates 12 – 13 fellowship Gemeinschaft — irrespective of “ÆIrI"spektIv‘ unabhängig von — ethnicity “eT"nIs´ti‘ Ethnie — to nurture “"n‰… tS´‘ (fig) fördern — decency “"di…s´nsi‘ Anstand — mutual “"mju… tSu´l‘ gegenseitig — unconditional bedingungslos — the greater good das Allgemeinwohl — to obliterate “´"blIt´reIt‘ zerstören — bigotry “"bIg´tri‘ Engstirnigkeit — xenophobia “Æzen´"f´Ubi´‘ Fremdenfeindlichkeit — to fall silent verstummen
