NORWAY MOVES THE CAPITAL FROM BERGEN TO OSLO

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Bergen, the capital of Norway until 1314 when on a day like today King Haakon V of Norway moves it to Oslo.

Bergen, historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway.

As of 2022, its population was roughly 289,330. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway after the national capital Oslo. The municipality covers 465 square kilometres and is located on the peninsula of Bergenshalvøyen. The city centre and northern neighbourhoods are on Byfjorden, the city fjord. The city is surrounded by mountains, causing Bergen to be called the city of seven mountains. Many of the extra-municipal suburbs are on islands. Bergen is the administrative centre of Vestland county. The city consists of eight boroughs: Arna, Bergenhus, Fana, Fyllingsdalen, Laksevåg, Ytrebygda, Årstad, and Åsane.

Trading in Bergen may have started as early as the 1020s. According to tradition, the city was founded in 1070 by King Olav Kyrre and was named Bjørgvin, the green meadow among the mountains.

It served as Norway's capital in the 13th century, and from the end of the 13th century became a bureau city of the Hanseatic League. 

Until 1789, Bergen enjoyed exclusive rights to mediate trade between Northern Norway and abroad, and it was the largest city in Norway until the 1830s when it was overtaken by the capital, Christiania (now known as Oslo). What remains of the quays, Bryggen, is a World Heritage Site.

The city was hit by numerous fires over the years. The Bergen School of Meteorology was developed at the Geophysical Institute starting in 1917, the Norwegian School of Economics was founded in 1936, and the University of Bergen in 1946. From 1831 to 1972, Bergen was its own county. 

In 1972 the municipality absorbed four surrounding municipalities and became a part of Hordaland county.

The city is an international centre for aquaculture, shipping, the offshore petroleum industry and subsea technology, and a national centre for higher education, media, tourism and finance. Bergen Port is Norway's busiest in terms of both freight and passengers, with over 300 cruise ship calls a year bringing nearly a half a million passengers to Bergen, a number that has doubled in 10 years. Almost half of the passengers are German or British.

The city's main football team is SK Brann and a unique tradition of the city is the buekorps, which are traditional marching neighbourhood youth organisations. 

Natives speak a distinct dialect, known as Bergensk. The city features Bergen Airport, Flesland and Bergen Light Rail, and is the terminus of the Bergen Line. Four large bridges connect Bergen to its suburban municipalities.

Bergen has a mild winter climate, though with significant precipitation. From December to March, Bergen can, in rare cases, be up to 20 °C warmer than Oslo, even though both cities are at about 60° North. In summer however, Bergen is several degrees cooler than Oslo due to the same maritime effects. The Gulf Stream keeps the sea relatively warm, considering the latitude, and the mountains protect the city from cold winds from the north, north-east and east.

The city of Bergen was traditionally thought to have been founded by king Olav Kyrre, son of Harald Hardråde in 1070 AD, four years after the Viking Age in England ended with the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Modern research has, however, discovered that a trading settlement had already been established in the 1020s or 1030s.

Bergen gradually assumed the function of capital of Norway in the early 13th century, as the first city where a rudimentary central administration was established. The city's cathedral was the site of the first royal coronation in Norway in the 1150s, and continued to host royal coronations throughout the 13th century. Bergenhus fortress dates from the 1240s and guards the entrance to the harbour in Bergen. 

The functions of the capital city were lost to Oslo during the reign of King Haakon V (1299-1319).

In the middle of the 14th century, North German merchants, who had already been present in substantial numbers since the 13th century, founded one of the four Kontore of the Hanseatic League at Bryggen in Bergen.

The principal export traded from Bergen was dried cod from the northern Norwegian coast, which started c. 1100. The city was granted a monopoly for trade from the north of Norway by King Håkon Håkonsson (1217–1263).  

Stockfish was the main reason that the city became one of North Europe's largest centres for trade.

By the late 14th century, Bergen had established itself as the centre of the trade in Norway.

The Hanseatic merchants lived in their own separate quarter of the town, where Middle Low German was used, enjoying exclusive rights to trade with the northern fishermen who each summer sailed to Bergen. The Hansa community resented Scottish merchants who settled in Bergen, and on 9 November 1523 several Scottish households were targeted by German residents. Today, Bergen's old quayside, Bryggen, is on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.

The Old Norse forms of the name were Bergvin and Bjǫrgvin, and in Icelandic and Faroese the city is still called Björgvin. The first element is berg or bjǫrg, which translates as mountain(s). The last element is vin, which means a new settlement where there used to be a pasture or meadow. The full meaning is then the meadow among the mountains. This is a suitable name: Bergen is often called the city among the seven mountains. It was the playwright Ludvig Holberg who felt so inspired by the seven hills of Rome, that he decided that his home town must be blessed with a corresponding seven mountains -and locals still argue which seven they are.

In 1918, there was a campaign to reintroduce the Norse form Bjørgvin as the name of the city. This was turned down -but as a compromise, the name of the diocese was changed to Bjørgvin bispedømme.

Bergensk is the native dialect of Bergen. It was strongly influenced by Low German-speaking merchants from the mid-14th to mid-18th centuries. During the Dano-Norwegian period from 1536 to 1814, Bergen was more influenced by Danish than other areas of Norway. The Danish influence removed the female grammatical gender in the 16th century, making Bergensk one of very few Norwegian dialects with only two instead of three grammatical genders.

More information: Visit Norway

Never walk away from home
ahead of your axe and sword.
You can’t feel a battle
in your bones or foresee a fight.

The Havamal

CHARLES DOOLITTLE WALCOTT & BURGESS SHALE FOSSILS

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Charles Doolittle Walcott, the American paleontologist, administrator of the Smithsonian Institution, who discovered Burgess Shale fossils on a day like today in 1909.

Charles Doolittle Walcott (March 31, 1850-February 9, 1927) was an American paleontologist, administrator of the Smithsonian Institution from 1907 to 1927, and director of the United States Geological Survey.

He is famous for his discovery in 1909 of well-preserved fossils, including some of the oldest soft-part imprints, in the Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada.

Charles Doolittle Walcott was born on March 31, 1850, in New York Mills, New York.

Walcott began his professional paleontology career by discovering new localities, such as the Walcott-Rust quarry in upstate New York and the Georgia Plane trilobite beds in Vermont, and by selling specimens to Yale University. In 1876, he became the assistant to James Hall, State Geologist of New York. Walcott also became a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In 1879, Walcott joined the US Geological Survey and rose to become chief paleologist in 1893 and then director in 1894. His work focused on Cambrian strata in locations throughout the United States and Canada; his numerous field trips and fossil discoveries made important contributions to stratigraphy.

Walcott was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1896, the American Philosophical Society in 1897, and the American Academy of Art and Sciences in 1899.

In 1901, he served both as president of the Geological Society of America and the Philosophical Society of Washington.

In 1902, he met with Andrew Carnegie and became one of the founders and incorporators of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. He served in various administrative and research positions in that organization.

In 1921, Walcott was awarded the inaugural Mary Clark Thompson Medal from the National Academy of Sciences.

He served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1923. He previously spearheaded the U.S. Geological Survey under President Theodore Roosevelt.

Walcott had an interest in the conservation movement and assisted its efforts.

Walcott became Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in 1907 after the death of Samuel Pierpont Langley, holding the post until his own death. He was succeeded by Charles Greeley Abbot. Because of Walcott's responsibilities at the Smithsonian, he resigned as director of the United States Geological Survey. As part of the centennial celebration of Darwin's birth, Walcott was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Cambridge in 1909.

In 1910, the year after his discovery of 508 million year old (middle Cambrian) fossils in the Burgess shale, Walcott returned to the area accompanied by his sons Stuart and Sidney.

More information: USGS

The Burgess Shale is a fossil-bearing deposit exposed in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils. At 508 million years old (middle Cambrian), it is one of the earliest fossil beds containing soft-part imprints.

The rock unit is a black shale and crops out at a number of localities near the town of Field in Yoho National Park and the Kicking Horse Pass. Another outcrop is in Kootenay National Park 42 km to the south.

The Burgess Shale was discovered by palaeontologist Charles Walcott on 30 August 1909, towards the end of the season's fieldwork. He returned in 1910 with his sons, daughter, and wife, establishing a quarry on the flanks of Fossil Ridge.

The significance of soft-bodied preservation, and the range of organisms he recognised as new to science, led him to return to the quarry almost every year until 1924. At that point, aged 74, he had amassed over 65,000 specimens. Describing the fossils was a vast task, pursued by Walcott until his death in 1927.

Walcott, led by scientific opinion at the time, attempted to categorise all fossils into living taxa, and as a result, the fossils were regarded as little more than curiosities at the time. 

It was not until 1962 that a first-hand reinvestigation of the fossils was attempted, by Alberto Simonetta. This led scientists to recognise that Walcott had barely scratched the surface of information available in the Burgess Shale, and also made it clear that the organisms did not fit comfortably into modern groups.

More information: University of California Museum of Paleontology

 The Smithsonian museums are among
this country's most endearing treasures
and I look forward to helping maintain
and enhance their coveted works of art.

Xavier Becerra

VISITING THE MONASTERY OF SANT FELIU DE GUÍXOLS

Today, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma have visited Sant Pol and the Monastery of Sant Feliu de Guíxols in El Baix Empordà, Girona.

Monestir de Sant Feliu de Guíxols is a Benedictine monastery in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, in the comarca of the Baix Empordà in Catalonia. 

It was first referenced around the year 961, and was declared a Bé d'Interès Cultural landmark in 1931.

The Romanesque building is an excellent example of the town's medieval architecture and has been remodeled several times. It includes the Porta Ferrada, the symbol of the town, as well as two towers. It houses a history museum.

On the basis of available records, the foundation of the Benedictine monastery can be traced back to the first half of the 10th century.

The bay of Guixols was chosen due to its good natural harbour and the proximity to the coast of the nearby range of hills, which would make it easier to flee and would give a certain degree of protection in cases of attack from the sea. The decision was no doubt also influenced by the martyrdom of Saint Felix of Africa and the opportunity to take advantage of existing buildings dating from the Roman period.

The monastery's role was to control the agricultural exploitation and production of the surrounding region, and also to provide protection to its inhabitants in return. It was thus a fortified coastal monastery exercising its feudal dominion over the territory. At its foundation, the monastery was dedicated to Saint Felix and the name of Sant Feliu, in its Catalan form, was thereafter forever associated with that of Guíxols, thus giving the present-day name of the town, used from the 10th century onwards.

More information: Museu d'Història Sant Feliu de Guíxols

The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict, in Latin Ordo Sancti Benedicti, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB, are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. 

Initiated in 529 they are the oldest of all the religious orders in the Latin Church.

The male religious are also sometimes called the Black Monks, especially in English speaking countries, after the colour of their habits. Not all Benedictines wear black however, with some like the Olivetans wearing white.

They were founded by Benedict of Nursia, a 6th-century Italian monk who laid the foundations of Benedictine monasticism through the formulation of his Rule. 

Benedict's sister, Scholastica, possibly his twin, also became a religious from an early age, but chose to live as a hermit. They retained a close relationship until her death.

Despite being called an order, the Benedictines do not operate under a single hierarchy but are instead organized as a collection of autonomous monasteries and convents, some known as abbeys. The order is represented internationally by the Benedictine Confederation, an organization set up in 1893 to represent the order's shared interests. They do not have a superior general or motherhouse with universal jurisdiction but elect an Abbot Primate to represent themselves to the Vatican and to the world.

Benedictine nuns are given the title Dame in preference to Sister.

More information: OSB

Be careful to be gentle,
lest in removing the rust,
you break the whole instrument.

Benedict of Nursia

FREDERICK WILLIAM HERSCHEL DISCOVERS ENCELADUS

Today, The Grandma has received the wondeful visit of one of her closest friends, Joseph de Ca'th Lon.

Joseph loves Astronomy and they have been talking about William Herschel, the German-British astronomer, who discovered Enceladus, a new moon of Saturn, on a day like today in 1789.

Frederick William Herschel, in German Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel, 15 November 1738-25 August 1822) was a German-British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline Herschel.

Born in the Electorate of Hanover, William Herschel followed his father into the military band of Hanover, before emigrating to Great Britain in 1757 at the age of nineteen.

Herschel constructed his first large telescope in 1774, after which he spent nine years carrying out sky surveys to investigate double stars. Herschel published catalogues of nebulae in 1802 (2,500 objects) and in 1820 (5,000 objects). The resolving power of the Herschel telescopes revealed that many objects called nebulae in the Messier catalogue were actually clusters of stars.

On 13 March 1781 while making observations he made note of a new object in the constellation of Gemini. This would, after several weeks of verification and consultation with other astronomers, be confirmed to be a new planet, eventually given the name of Uranus. This was the first planet to be discovered since antiquity, and Herschel became famous overnight. As a result of this discovery, George III appointed him Court Astronomer. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and grants were provided for the construction of new telescopes.

Herschel pioneered the use of astronomical spectrophotometry, using prisms and temperature measuring equipment to measure the wavelength distribution of stellar spectra. In the course of these investigations, Herschel discovered infrared radiation. Other work included an improved determination of the rotation period of Mars, the discovery that the Martian polar caps vary seasonally, the discovery of Titania and Oberon (moons of Uranus) and Enceladus and Mimas (moons of Saturn). Herschel was made a Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order in 1816.

He was the first President of the Royal Astronomical Society when it was founded in 1820. 

On 25 August 1822, Herschel died at Observatory House, Windsor Road, Slough, and his work was continued by his only son, John Herschel.

Herschel was born in the Electorate of Hanover in Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, one of ten children of Isaak Herschel and his wife, Anna Ilse Moritzen, of German Lutheran ancestry. His ancestors came from Pirna, in Saxony. Theories that they were Protestants from Bohemia have been questioned by Hamel as the surname Herschel already occurred a century earlier in the very same area that the family lived in.

More information: Herschel Museum of Astronomy

Enceladus is the sixth-largest moon of Saturn and the 19th-largest in the Solar System. It is about 500 kilometers in diameter, about a tenth of that of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. It is mostly covered by fresh, clean ice, making it one of the most reflective bodies of the Solar System. Consequently, its surface temperature at noon reaches only -198 °C (75.1 K; -324.4 °F), far colder than a light-absorbing body would be. Despite its small size, Enceladus has a wide variety of surface features, ranging from old, heavily cratered regions to young, tectonically deformed terrain.

Enceladus was discovered by William Herschel on August 28, 1789, during the first use of his new 1.2 m telescope, then the largest in the world, at Observatory House in Slough, England.

Its faint apparent magnitude (HV=+11.7) and its proximity to the much brighter Saturn and Saturn's rings make Enceladus difficult to observe from Earth with smaller telescopes. Like many satellites of Saturn discovered prior to the Space Age, Enceladus was first observed during a Saturnian equinox, when Earth is within the ring plane. At such times, the reduction in glare from the rings makes the moons easier to observe.

Prior to the Voyager missions the view of Enceladus improved little from the dot first observed by Herschel. Only its orbital characteristics were known, with estimations of its mass, density and albedo.

More information: NASA

Saturn seems to have impressed
the seal of melancholy on me from the beginning.

Marsilio Ficino

THE GUINNESS BOOK OF RECORDS FIRST PUBLICATION

Today, The Grandma has been reading about The Guinness Book of Records, the British book, that lists world human and natural world records, whose first edition was published on a day like today in 1955.

Guinness World Records, known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as The Guinness Book of Records and in previous United States editions as The Guinness Book of World Records, is a British reference book published annually, listing world records both of human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. Sir Hugh Beaver created the concept, and twin brothers Norris and Ross McWhirter co-founded the book in London in August 1955.

The first edition topped the bestseller list in the United Kingdom by Christmas 1955. The following year the book was launched internationally, and as of the 2024 edition, it is now in its 69th year of publication, published in 100 countries and 23 languages, and maintains over 53,000 records in its database.

The international franchise has extended beyond print to include television series and museums. The popularity of the franchise has resulted in Guinness World Records becoming the primary international source for cataloguing and verification of a huge number of world records. The organisation employs record adjudicators to verify the authenticity of the setting and breaking of records.

Following a series of owners, the franchise has been owned by the Jim Pattison Group since 2008, with its headquarters moved to South Quay Plaza, Canary Wharf, London, in 2017. 

Since 2008, Guinness World Records has orientated its business model away from selling books, and towards creating new world records as publicity exercises for individuals and organisations, which has attracted criticism.

On 10 November 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver, then the managing director of the Guinness Breweries, went on a shooting party in the North Slob, by the River Slaney in County Wexford, Ireland. After missing a shot at a golden plover, he became involved in an argument over which was the fastest game bird in Europe, the golden plover or the red grouse (the plover is faster, but neither is the fastest game bird in Europe). That evening at Castlebridge House, he realised that it was impossible to confirm in reference books whether or not the golden plover was Europe's fastest game bird.

Beaver knew that there must have been numerous other questions debated nightly among the public, but there was no book in the world with which to settle arguments about records. He realised then that a book supplying the answers to this sort of question might prove successful. Beaver's idea became reality when Guinness employee Christopher Chataway recommended university friends Norris and Ross McWhirter, who had been running a fact-finding agency in London. The twin brothers were commissioned to compile what became The Guinness Book of (Superlatives and now) Records, in August 1954. A thousand copies were distributed for free to pubs across Britain and Ireland as a promotional asset for the Guinness brand, and they became immensely popular with customers.

After the founding of The Guinness Book of Records office at the top of Ludgate House, 107 Fleet Street, London, the first 198-page edition was bound on 27 August 1955 and went to the top of the British bestseller list by Christmas. The following year, it was introduced into the United States by New York publisher David Boehm and sold 70,000 copies. Since then, Guinness World Records has sold more than 150 million copies in 100 countries and 40 languages.

For many records, Guinness World Records is the effective authority on the exact requirements for them and with whom records reside, the company providing adjudicators to events to determine the veracity of record attempts. The list of records which the Guinness World Records covers is not fixed, records may be added and also removed for various reasons. The public is invited to submit applications for records, which can be either the bettering of existing records or substantial achievements which could constitute a new record. The company also provides corporate services for companies to harness the power of record-breaking to deliver tangible success for their businesses.

In 1976, a Guinness Book of World Records museum opened in the Empire State Building. Speed shooter Bob Munden then went on tour promoting The Guinness Book of World Records by performing his record fast draws with a standard weight single-action revolver from a Western movie-type holster.

More information: Guinness World Records

And as -funny enough, it actually became-
so I've always wanted to be a Guinness world record holder.
And believe it or not, before I made this
there was not a category for world's largest Nerf gun,
but there is now.

Mark Rober

'DECLARATION DES DROITS DE L'HOMME ET DU CITOYEN'

Today, The Grandma has been reading about the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, that was approved by the National Constituent Assembly of France on a day like today in 1789.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, in French Déclaration des droits de l'Homme et du citoyen de 1789, set by France's National Constituent Assembly in 1789, is a human civil rights document from the French Revolution.

Inspired by Enlightenment philosophers, the Declaration was a core statement of the values of the French Revolution and had a significant impact on the development of popular conceptions of individual liberty and democracy in Europe and worldwide.

The Declaration was initially drafted by Marquis de Lafayette, with assistance from Thomas Jefferson, but the majority of the final draft came from Abbé Sieyès. 

Influenced by the doctrine of natural right, human rights are held to be universal: valid at all times and in every place. It became the basis for a nation of free individuals protected equally by the law. It is included at the beginning of the constitutions of both the Fourth French Republic (1946) and Fifth Republic (1958), and is considered valid as constitutional law.

The content of the document emerged largely from the ideals of the Enlightenment. Lafayette prepared the principal drafts in consultation with his close friend Thomas Jefferson.

In August 1789, Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès and Honoré Mirabeau played a central role in conceptualizing and drafting the final Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

The last article of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen was adopted on the 26 of August 1789 by the National Constituent Assembly, during the period of the French Revolution, as the first step toward writing a constitution for France.

Inspired by the Enlightenment, the original version of the Declaration was discussed by the representatives based on a 24-article draft proposed by the sixth bureau, led by Jérôme Champion de Cicé. The draft was later modified during the debates. A second and lengthier declaration, known as the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1793, was written in 1793 but never formally adopted.

The concepts in the Declaration come from the philosophical and political duties of the Enlightenment, such as individualism, the social contract as theorized by the Genevan philosopher Rousseau, and the separation of powers espoused by the Baron de Montesquieu. As can be seen in the texts, the French declaration was heavily influenced by the political philosophy of the Enlightenment and principles of human rights, as was the U.S. Declaration of Independence, which preceded it (4 July 1776).

The Declaration defined a single set of individual and collective rights for all men. Influenced by the doctrine of natural rights, these rights are held to be universal and valid in all times and places. For example, Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good. They have certain natural rights to property, to liberty, and to life. According to this theory, the role of government is to recognize and secure these rights. Furthermore, the government should be carried on by elected representatives.

When it was written, the rights contained in the declaration were only awarded to men. Furthermore, the Declaration was a statement of vision rather than reality. The Declaration was not deeply rooted in either the practice of the West or even France at the time. The Declaration emerged in the late 18th century out of war and revolution. It encountered opposition, as democracy and individual rights were frequently regarded as synonymous with anarchy and subversion. This Declaration embodies ideals and aspirations towards which France pledged to struggle in the future.

More information: Elysée

There are those who say to you
-we are rushing this issue of civil rights.
I say we are 172 years late.

Hubert H. Humphrey

KITASATO SHIBASABURO & THE BUBONIC PLAGUE AGENT

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Kitasato Shibasaburō, the Japanese physician and bacteriologist, who discovered the infectious agent of the bubonic plague and publishes his findings in The Lancet, on a day like today in 1894.

Kitasato Shibasaburō (January 29, 1853-June 13, 1931) was a Japanese physician and bacteriologist. 

He is remembered as the co-discoverer of the infectious agent of bubonic plague in Hong Kong during an outbreak in 1894, almost simultaneously with Alexandre Yersin.

Kitasato was nominated for the first annual Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1901. Kitasato and Emil von Behring, working together in Berlin in 1890, announced the discovery of diphtheria antitoxin serum. 

Von Behring was awarded the 1901 Nobel Prize because of this work, but Kitasato was not.

Kitasato was born in Okuni village, Higo Province, (present-day Oguni Town, Kumamoto Prefecture, Kyūshū), the son of Kitasato Korenobu, a village head, and Tei, the daughter of a samurai. His parents were strict about his education and sent him to a relative's home and requested rigid discipline. He is said to have inherited his leadership qualities from his mother. He was educated at Kumamoto Medical School and Tokyo Imperial University.

He studied under Robert Koch in the University of Berlin from 1885 to 1891. In 1889, he became the first person to grow the tetanus bacillus in pure culture, and in 1890 cooperated with Emil von Behring in developing a serum therapy for tetanus using this pure culture. He also worked on antitoxins for diphtheria and anthrax. 

Kitasato and Behring demonstrated the value of antitoxin in preventing disease by causing passive immunity to tetanus in an animal that received graded injections of blood serum from another animal infected with the disease. Kitasato's discoveries on tetanus and von Behring's work on diphtheria lead to the field of serotherapy, which has benefitted many worldwide.

After returning to Japan in 1891, he founded the Institute for Study of Infectious Diseases with the assistance of Fukuzawa Yukichi. One of his early assistants was August von Wassermann. 

Kitasato demonstrated how dead cultures can be used in vaccination. He also studied the mode of infection in tuberculosis.

He travelled to Hong Kong in 1894 at the request of the Japanese government during an outbreak of the bubonic plague, and identified a bacterium that he concluded was causing the disease. Yersin, working separately, found the same organism several days later. Because Kitasato's initial reports were vague and somewhat contradictory, and later reports proved inaccurate, some scientific historians give Yersin sole credit for the discovery; while others advise dual credit. However, a thorough analysis of the morphology of the organism discovered by Kitasato by microbiologists determined that although his samples likely became contaminated with pneumococci later, leading to the conflicting reports from his laboratory, there is little doubt that Kitasato did isolate, study, and reasonably characterize the plague bacillus in Hong Kong and should not be denied this credit. Four years later, Kitasato and his student Shiga Kiyoshi were able to isolate and describe the organism that caused dysentery.

After his work on the Bubonic Plague in Hong Kong, Kitasato continued his work on infectious diseases by researching Northeast Asian epidemic plagues and in 1909, he presented a paper on Tuberculosis in Europe.

In 1911, Kitasato found himself in Manchuria amidst one of their most severe pneumonic plagues studying its prevention, as he believed his purpose was to investigate the science behind public health and provide advancement in that field.

When the Institute for Infectious Diseases was incorporated into Tokyo Imperial University in 1914, he resigned in protest and founded the Kitasato Institute (the forerunner of Kitasato University), which he headed for the rest of his life. 

While Kitasato was still involved with the activities of the newly established institute, he also organized a new medical facility, in collaboration with Yukichi, that has since become a prominent center of medical learning in Japan.

In September 1921, Kitasato founded, together with several medical scientists, the Sekisen Ken-onki Corporation, with the intention of manufacturing the most reliable clinical thermometer possible. The company was later renamed Terumo Corporation.

Kitasato also was the first dean of medicine at Keio University, first president of the Japan Medical Association, and served on the House of Peers. He was ennobled with the title of danshaku (baron) in the kazoku peerage system in February 1924. Although Kitasato transitioned from actively studying disease to politics and conferences, he continued improving upon his work on tuberculosis up until his death and made significant contributions in the realm of public health.

Kitasato was elected an International Member of the American Philosophical Society in 1914.

Kitasato Shibasaburō died at his home in Azabu, Tokyo, on June 13, 1931. His grave is at the Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo

More information: Nippon

If a Black Death could be spread throughout the world
once in every generation survivors could procreate
freely without making the world too full.

Bertrand Russell

THE PANIC OF 1857, THE FINANTIAL CRISIS IN THE USA

Today, The Grandma has been reading about the Panic of 1857, the financial crisis in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy.

The Panic of 1857 was a financial crisis in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. 

Because of the invention of the telegraph by Samuel F. Morse in 1844, the Panic of 1857 was the first financial crisis to spread rapidly throughout the United States.

The world economy was more interconnected by the 1850s, which made the Panic of 1857 the first worldwide economic crisis.

In Britain, the Palmerston government circumvented the requirements of the Bank Charter Act 1844, which required gold and silver reserves to back up the amount of money in circulation. Surfacing news of this circumvention set off the Panic in Britain.

Beginning in September 1857, the financial downturn did not last long, but a proper recovery was not seen until the onset of the American Civil War in 1861. The sinking of SS Central America in September 1857 contributed to the panic, since New York City banks were waiting on a much-needed shipment of gold that was being transported by the ship. After the failure of Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company, the financial panic quickly spread with businesses beginning to fail, the railroad industry experiencing financial declines, and hundreds of thousands of workers being laid off.

Because the years immediately preceding the Panic of 1857 were prosperous, many banks, merchants, and farmers had seized the opportunity to take risks with their investments, and, as soon as market prices began to fall, they quickly began to experience the effects of financial panic. American banks did not recover until after the Civil War.

The early 1850s saw great economic prosperity in the United States, stimulated by the large amount of gold mined in the California Gold Rush that greatly expanded the money supply. By the mid-1850s, the amount of gold mined began to decline, causing western bankers and investors to become wary. Eastern banks became cautious with their loans in the eastern US, and some even refused to accept paper currencies issued by western banks.

The US Supreme Court decided Dred Scott v. Sandford in March 1857. After the enslaved man Dred Scott sued for his freedom, Chief Justice Roger Taney ruled that Scott was not a citizen because he was Black, and so did not have the right to sue in court. Taney also called the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional and said that the federal government could not prohibit slavery in US territories. The decision had a significant impact on the development of the western territories. Soon after the decision, the political struggle between 'free soil' and slavery in the territories began.

The western territories north of the Missouri Compromise line were now opened to the expansion of slavery, which would obviously have drastic financial and political effects: Kansas land warrants and western railroad securities' prices declined slightly just after the Dred Scott decision in early March. This fluctuation in railroad securities proved that political news about future territories called the tune in the land and railroad securities markets.

More information: National Park Service

Before 1857, the railroad industry had been booming due to large migrations of people to the west, especially to Kansas. The large influx of people made the railroads a profitable industry, and the banks began to provide railroad companies with large loans. Many of the companies never made it past the stage of a paper railroad and never owned the physical assets necessary to run a real one. Prices of railroad stocks as a whole began to experience a stock bubble, and railroad stocks saw increasingly-speculative entries into the fray, worsening the bubble. In the meantime, the Dred Scott decision lent uncertainty to railroads in general.

In July 1857, railroad stock values peaked. On August 11, 1857, N. H. Wolfe and Company, the oldest flour and grain company in New York City, failed, shaking investor confidence and beginning a slow selling-off in the market that continued into late August.

On the morning of August 24, 1857, the president of Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company announced that its New York branch had suspended payments. The company, an Ohio-based bank with a second main office in New York City, had large mortgage holdings and was the liaison to other Ohio investment banks. Ohio Life went bankrupt because of fraudulent activities by the company's management, which threatened to precipitate the failure of other Ohio banks or, even worse, to create a run on the banks.

By the spring of 1858, commercial credit had dried up, forcing already debt-ridden merchants of the West to curtail new purchases of inventory. The limited purchasing in the West led to merchants around the country seeing decreases in sales and profits. The railroads had created an interdependent national economy, and now an economic downturn in the West threatened... an economic crisis. 

Since many banks had financed railroads and land purchases, they began to feel the pressures of the falling value of railroad securities. The Illinois Central​; Erie​; Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago​; and Reading Railroad lines were all forced to shut down by the financial downturn. The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and the Fond du Lac Railroad were forced to declare bankruptcy. 

By 1859, the Panic began to level off, and the economy had begun to stabilize. President James Buchanan announced that the paper-money system seemed to be the root cause of the Panic and then decided to withdraw the usage of all bank notes under twenty dollars. He advised the State banks to break away from the banks and urged them to follow the example of the Federal Government.

He felt that would decrease the paper money supply to allow the specie supply time to increase and to reduce inflation rates. Buchanan wanted the state banks to follow the federal government, specifically the Independent Treasury system, which allowed the federal government to keep up with specie payments. That helped to alleviate some of the financial stress that had been brought on by the bank suspensions.

The result of the Panic of 1857 was that the largely-agrarian southern economy, which had few railroads, suffered little, but the northern economy took a significant hit and made a slow recovery. The area affected the most by the Panic was the Great Lakes region, and the troubles of that region were quickly passed to those enterprises in the East that depended upon western sales. After approximately a year, much of the economy in the North and the entire South had recovered from the Panic.

By the end of the Panic, in 1859, tensions between the North and South regarding the issue of slavery in the United States were increasing.  

The Panic of 1857 encouraged those in the South who believed the North needed the South to keep a stabilized economy, and southern threats of secession were temporarily quelled. Southerners believed that the Panic of 1857 made the North more amenable to southern demands and would help to keep slavery alive in the United States.

More information: Columbia Business School

America has seen enough of a handful of people
growing rich at the cost of our nation  

descending into economic crisis.

 

Cory Booker

ENJOYING F.C.BARCELONA AT JOAN GAMPER TROPHY

Today, The Grandma has enjoyed FC Barcelona Women Joan Gamper Trophy at Estadi Johan Cruyff in Sant Joan Despí.

The Joan Gamper Trophy, in Catalan Trofeu Joan Gamper, is an annual association football exhibition match held in August, before the start of Barcelona's La Liga season, where top division clubs from the world compete against them.

The competition is hosted by FC Barcelona at the Camp Nou stadium (men) and at Johan Cruyff stadium (women) and is named in honour of Joan Gamper, a founding member, player, and later president of the club. The competition was inaugurated in 1966 by Enric Llaudet, one of Gamper's successors as club president.

The trophy itself is an 800-gram silver cup with five micrometres of gold finishing, on top of a 10-kilogram marble plinth base.

Initially, four teams participated in the competition, which featured two semi-finals, a third-place play-off, and a final.

For the first competition in 1966 (men), Barcelona were joined by Belgium's Anderlecht, France's Nantes, and Germany's 1. FC Köln. Barcelona beat the German team 3-1 in the final. Köln subsequently won the competition in 1978 and 1981 and were runners-up in 1979, making them the only team, other than the hosts, to win the competition more than once.

More information: FCBarcelona

Once again, Barça Women start their season with the Joan Gamper Trophy at the team's base, the Estadi Johan Cruyff. Just a few days before leaving to tour the USA, the blaugranes will be reunited with their fans for the first home game against AC Milan on Friday August 23. 

The event will include the team's presentation to the fans plus a wide range of different fun activities and musicians performing live to suit everyone's tastes.

Fans will be able to enjoy different games and surprises, which will include a DJ set, games in the stands and on the big screen relating to the women's first team and the Club's 125th anniversary, a shower of shirts for those in attendance, as well as Estrella Damm games both pre-match and at half time, with the usual hosts whipping up the atmosphere. Ginestà are the guest musical duo, and they will sing the Barça anthem pre-match, while performing one of their own songs at half time.

One of the most eagerly waited moments of the event will undoubtedly be the presentation of the squad and the coaching staff. As usual, the players will take to the pitch one by one to greet the fans, including the new coach and the recent signings.

Something new for this edition of the Gamper game will be the jersey the players wear against AC Milan, as the men's first team did at the Gamper on August 8. Given the Club will celebrate its 125th anniversary this year, the blaugranes' kit will have a specially created logo on the right sleeve to commemorate the year the Club was founded, which was presented a few months ago at an event with president Joan Laporta and the 125th anniversary commissioner, David Carabén. This won't be the only time this logo will appear as it will be used on other items throughout the season as the 125th anniversary celebrations continue.

The first three editions of the women's Gamper game took place at Estadi Johan Cruyff and this edition will be the fourth. The trophy remained at home for the previous three editions.

More information: Hans Max Gamper-Haessig, More Than A Founder

La capitana és la primera que es compromet
als objectius que es fixen internament,
han de donar exemple per reforçar-ho.

The captain is the first to make a commitment
to the objectives that are set internally,
they have to lead by example to reinforce that.

Alèxia Putellas

MATS ARNE OLOF WILANDER, THE SWEDISH CHAMPION

Today, The Grandma has bene reading about Mats Wilander, the Swedish tennis player, who was born on a day like today in 1964.

Mats Arne Olof Wilander (born 22 August 1964) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. 

From 1982 to 1988, he won seven major singles titles (three at the French Open, three at the Australian Open, and one at the US Open), and one major men's doubles title (at Wimbledon). His breakthrough came suddenly and unexpectedly when he won the 1982 French Open at the age of 17.

In 1988, Wilander won three of the four singles majors and finished the year ranked as the world No. 1. Although he never won the singles title at Wimbledon, Wilander twice won the Australian Open when it was played on grass courts. This makes Wilander one of only seven men (along with Jimmy Connors, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz) to have won major singles titles on grass courts, hard courts, and clay courts since it was first achievable in 1978 (when US Open was first played on hard courts). Wilander, Nadal, and Djokovic are the only men to have won at least two major singles titles on each of the three surfaces.

Wilander won his fourth major singles title at the age of 20, the youngest man in history to have achieved the feat. He also won eight Grand Prix Super Series titles (1983-88), the precursors to the current ATP Tour Masters 1000. He won 33 singles titles and seven doubles titles during his career. He was also a driving force behind Sweden's run of seven consecutive Davis Cup finals in the 1980s.

In 2002, Wilander was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Born in Växjö, Sweden, Wilander first came to the tennis world's attention when he won the French Open junior title, the European under-16 and under-18 championships, and the Orange Bowl under-16 event in Miami.

Wilander made his debut on the professional tour at the clay court tournament in Båstad, Sweden in 1980.

During the 1995 French Open he and Karel Nováček tested positive for cocaine. They appealed the initial three-month suspension by the International Tennis Federation, claiming flawed test procedures but withdrew their appeals in May 1997 and on 15 May 1997 received a three-month suspension from the ATP Tour for failing a drugs test. Additionally Wilander had to return his prize money since May 1995, amounting to $289,005, and forfeit ranking points.

Wilander competes from time to time on the senior tour. Since retiring as a player, he has served as captain of the Swedish Davis Cup team. Wilander also serves as a commentator for tennis matches on Eurosport.

Wilander, who won $8 million as a pro and more in endorsements, now spends much of his time living on an 81-acre estate in Hailey, Idaho, United States.

More information: Instagram-Mats Wilander

There is no such thing as bad luck in tennis.
Just bad technique.

Mats Wilander

EMILIO SALGARI, ITALIAN PIONEER OF SCIENCE FICTION

Today, The Grandma has been reading Sandokan, the masterpiece written by Emilio Salgari, who was born on a day like today in 1862.

Emilio Salgari (21 August 1862-25 April 1911) was an Italian writer of action adventure swashbucklers and a pioneer of science fiction.

In Italy, his extensive body of work was more widely read than that of Dante Alighieri. In the 21st century, he is still among the 40 most translated Italian authors. Many of his most popular novels have been adapted as comics, animated series and feature films. He is considered the father of Italian adventure fiction and Italian pop culture, and the grandfather of the Spaghetti Western.

Emilio Salgari was born in Verona to a family of modest merchants. From a young age, he had the desire to explore the seas and studied seamanship at a nautical technical institution in Venice, but his academic performance was too poor, and he never graduated.

He began his writing career as a reporter for the daily La Nuova Arena, which published some of his work as serials. As his powers of narration grew, so did his reputation for having lived a life of adventure. He claimed to have explored the Sudan desert, met Buffalo Bill in Nebraska (he had actually met him during his Wild West Show tour of Italy), and sailed the Seven Seas. His early biographies were filled with adventurous tales set in the Far East, events which he claimed were the basis for much of his work. Salgari had actually never ventured farther than the Adriatic Sea.

Salgari married Ida Peruzzi  - nicknamed "Aida," with whom he was very happy for years. The couple had four children. Salgari's private life was clouded by several tragedies. In 1889 his father committed suicide. Ida became ill after 1903 and Salgari's struggling increased with her medical bills.

These events led Salgari to depression, and he attempted suicide in 1910. After Ida was committed to a mental ward in 1911, Salgari was overwhelmed and took his own life soon afterwards, imitating the Japanese ritual of seppuku, and died on 25 April 1911. He left three letters, addressed to his and Ida's children, his publisher, and the editors of his newspaper in Turin.

Salgari wrote more than 200 adventure stories and novels, setting his tales in exotic locations, with heroes from a wide variety of cultures. He gained inspiration from reading foreign literature and newspapers, travel magazines and encyclopedias, which he used to portray his heroes' worlds. He wrote four major series: The Pirates of Malaysia; The Black Corsair Saga; The Pirates of Bermuda; and a collection of adventures set in the Old West. Salgari's heroes were mostly pirates, outlaws and barbarians, fighting against greed, abuse of power, and corruption.

His most legendary heroes Sandokan, The Tiger of Malaysia, a Bornean prince turned pirate, and his loyal lieutenant Yanez of Gomera, led their men in attacks against the Dutch and British fleets. They declared war on James Brooke, the White Rajah of Sarawak, and tried to force him from his throne. The Black Corsair and Captain Morgan maintained a chivalric code in the Caribbean, while Salgari's pirates of Bermuda fought for American independence.

His tales had been so popular that soon his publisher hired other writers to develop adventure stories under his name. They added 50 novels to his canon. Salgari's style was imitated by many, but no other Italian adventure writer managed to duplicate his popular success.

He also published numerous minor works, among which Il Brick Maledetto (Milano, Sonzogno, 1936) published posthumously.

More information: Roh Press

A cluster of ships rocked and tugged

at anchor in the bay,
sheltered somewhat by a reef.

Emilio Salgari

MAYTE COMES BACK TO DISCOVER 'LES FESTES DE GRÀCIA'

Today, The Grandma has received news from Mayte, who has visited Gràcia, one of the most popular neighbourhoods of Barcelona, and has shared her memories and photos with The Grandma.

Gràcia is a district of the city of Barcelona, Catalonia. 

It comprises the neighbourhoods of Vila de Gràcia, Vallcarca i els Penitents, El Coll, La Salut and Camp d'en Grassot i Gràcia Nova.

Gràcia is bordered by the districts of Eixample to the south, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi to the west and Horta-Guinardó to the east. A vibrant and diverse enclave of Catalan life, Gràcia was an independent municipality for centuries before being formally annexed by Barcelona in 1897 as a part of the city's expansion.

Gràcia was established in 1626, by a Novitiate of Carmelites, who established a convent there, called Nostra Senyora de Gràcia.

Following the War of the Spanish Succession, Gràcia remained an independent municipality in the direction of the Serra de Collserola mountains (north/northwest) from central Barcelona.

Passeig de Gràcia, the street which is today home to the most high-end international fashion brands and posh hotels , was back then a country road linking the town to the larger city, through the plain of Barcelona.

During the mid-1800s, Barcelona was rapidly industrialising and significantly expanding its borders from those of the Roman walls and old city. The advent of new industry was drawing Catalans by the thousands to abandon their farms and move to the city, spurring a shift from an agriculturally based, rural economy to an urban economy focused on manufacturing and trade.

In 1897, Barcelona formally annexed the town of Gràcia, and it has existed since as a neighborhood of the Catalan capital. Although no longer independent, Gràcia has long maintained a distinct identity as a unique district of the diverse, larger metropolis to which it belongs.

More information: Meet Barcelona

Gràcia is both the smallest district by area, at 4.2 km2, and the second most densely populated neighbourhood in Barcelona. One of the hippest, most cosmopolitan areas in the city, Gràcia's intimate, close-packed streets and predominately low-rise, Mediterranean architecture give it a distinct feel. Its old, one-way streets are organized around a series of plazas, including Plaça de Vila de Gràcia, Plaça del Sol and Plaça de la Virreina. Old-world charm abounds.

To the northern end of Gràcia on El Carmel mountain lies Park Güell, arguably the most famous work of Catalonia's most famous architect, Antoni Gaudí.

On Carrer de les Carolines, between Plaça Lesseps and Fontana, lies Casa Vicens, Gaudí's first major work of architecture and a staple in his canon of modernist design. An occupied house for decades, Casa Vicens only recently became a tourist attraction on November 15, 2017. The building was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005.

Casa Fuster, a fabled, grand modernist-style hotel that lies at the edge of Gràcia's southern end on the Plaça de Nicolás Salmerón. Designed by Catalan master architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner between 1908 and 1910, the ornate house was converted to a hotel in 2004.

In the Plaça de la Vila de Gràcia, the bell tower marks the old administrative centre of the former independent municipality. The tower, a 33-meter-high octagonal figure, was built by Rovira i Trias between 1862 and 1864. A legend describes the Campana de Gràcia and its role in local conflicts from 1870.

Mercè Rodoreda's most important novel, La Plaça del Diamant, is set mainly in Gràcia at the time of the Second Spanish Republic and the Spanish Civil War.

The Gràcia population is a mix of young professionals and artists and a growing elderly population, with a significant portion of older Catalans who came of age as Franco came to power. Catalan flags adorn many a Gràcia window or terrace, symbols of the neighbourhood's fiercely pro-independence politics.

The most notable event in Gràcia is the Festes de Gràcia, which goes on for eight days every August. 

The largest neighbourhood festival in Barcelona, the Festa Major de Gràcia began in 1817 as a celebration of the neighbourhood itself, at the time still an independent town.

Gràcia's residents compete for the crown of best street or square, selecting distinct themes and extensively decorating in Spanish carnival style, and organised by a number of local associations. The selected themes range from scenes of nature, to wild animals and creatures, to characters from popular culture.

More information: Barcelona Tourist Guide

 Popular culture is one of the sites
where this struggle for and against a culture
of the powerful is engaged:
it is also the stake to be won or lost in that struggle.
It is the arena of consent and resistance.

Stuart Hall

CYPRESS ISLAND ATLANTIC SALMON PEN BREAK IN 2017

Today, The Grandma has been reading about the accident occurred at a salmon farm near Cypress Island, Washington, on a day like today in 2017.

On August 19, 2017, a net pen at a salmon farm near Cypress Island, broke, releasing into the Pacific Ocean hundreds of thousands of non-native Atlantic salmon. The fish farm was run by Cooke Aquaculture Pacific, LLC.

According to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, inadequate cleaning was likely the primary cause for the pen break; the nets were supporting more than six times their own weight in biofouling.

Coastal tribes were hired to fish the escaped salmon.  

Atlantic salmon farming was later banned in Washington state in reaction to the incident.

Prior to the incident, Washington was the only US state on the Pacific coast where Atlantic salmon was farmed. 

Atlantic salmon are favoured by salmon farmers, since their domestication process is much farther along; farmed Atlantic salmon have been selected for faster growth, higher tolerance to disease, and greater docility.

The net pen was managed by Cooke Aquaculture, a Canadian company based in New Brunswick and one of the largest aquaculture companies in the world. It took over the Cypress Island aquafarms in 2016.

The pen that was breached was a 10-cage salmon pen that contained 305,000 fish, and had been placed in 2001. It was anchored in Deepwater Bay, southeast of Cypress Island and to the west of Bellingham Channel, which separates Cypress Island from Guemes Island. The pen was submerged from 20 m to 30 m, and was approximately 55 m wide by 133 m long.

The August 2017 pen break was preceded by an incident a month earlier with the same pen; on July 24 and 25 its mooring failed, was restored, failed again, and was restored a second time. This incident occurred during the strongest tidal currents of the summer of 2017.

The salmon pens had been stocked with 369,312 smolts in May 2016, and had been scheduled to be harvested starting September 2017. At the time of the incident, the biomass held by the salmon pen was estimated to be around 1,290 metric tons.

More information: High Country News

The pen break was reported by a boater on August 19, 2017. The Washington State Department of Natural Resources estimated that 243,000 to 263,000 salmon escaped the pen, which was much higher than Cooke Aquaculture Pacific's estimates of 4,000 to 5,000 salmon. The company later estimated that around 160,000 fish had escaped.

According to Cooke Aquaculture Pacific, the pen break was due to unusually strong tidal currents during that week's solar eclipse, but Washington State Department of Natural Resources investigators found that the tidal currents were well within the range that the same pen had survived in previous years, and the solar eclipse did not affect the tidal currents significantly.

The investigators determined that insufficient maintenance, especially lack of cleaning, was the primary cause of the break. They found that the pen -about 16 metric tons of net material- was supporting around 100 metric tons of biofouling, more than six times its own weight.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife authorized the unlimited catching of escaped Atlantic salmon from the farm, and around 57,000 were recaptured. Coastal tribes such as the Swinomish, Samish, and Lummi were involved in recapturing them.

The Lummi declared a state of emergency and caught around 44,239, approximately 178 metric tons. The salmon were sold back to Cooke Aquaculture Pacific, which paid $30 per fish. Cooke offered to raise the price to $42 per fish if the Lummi were willing to abandon their pursuit of a prohibition of salmon aquaculture, but they refused.

In November and December 2017, some of the salmon were captured from the Skagit River by members of the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, who were still finding them in April 2018, up to eight months after the incident.

The Washington State Senate passed a law in March 2018 banning the farming of Atlantic salmon in the state, the ban to be complete by 2025.

In April 2018, the Thurston County Superior Court upheld the termination of Cooke Aquaculture Pacific's farming license by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources; this effectively prevented the company from restocking its Atlantic salmon fishing pens again before the ban took effect.

More information: Our Sound, Our Salmon

 You don't know

how to fix the holes in our ozone layer.
You don't know 

how to bring salmon back up a dead stream.
You don't know 

how to bring back an animal now extinct.
And you can't bring back forests 

that once grew where there is now desert.
If you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!

Severn Cullis-Suzuki