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Sustainability and Sense of Place in the Sonoran Desert/Baja Peninsula & Sea of Cortez

A Sense of the Sonoran Desert: Baja Peninsula & Sea of Cortez

Introduction

Members

 * Henry Merrill
 * Blanca Soto 7
 * Vianna Trigueros
 * Martha Chacon Martin

The Baja California Peninsula has always been a mysterious and exotic land full of wonder. Filled with cave paintings, stories of lost tribes, exotic flora and fauna, and more, the region still to this day holds much of the mystique it likely did for Spanish explorers landing in 1534. As notable anthropologist and explorer Arthur W. North remarked:

"'Baja California, until half a dozen years ago, possessed the doubtful honor to be almost the least known territory in the world, with the exception of the polar regions and some few deserts and inland places, difficult and dangerous of access.' Thus a noted geographer characterized the California peninsula in 1897, and thus I found it a few years later upon undertaking the compilation of its history and the exploration of its interior fastness."

North continued this exploration and documentation of the great peninsula, as have many others. However, he nor the Spanish, were among the first people to explore this great land. Shell middens found near Espíritu Santo Island indicate that human beings existed there as long as 35,000 B.P.

While our book focuses primarily on concepts and connections of the natural world, we would be remiss if we didn’t briefly discuss the indigenous populations of these regions. Not only because of their integral contributions to regional culture and history, but perhaps because by remembering and studying their lifestyles and connection to nature we may begin to further identify and understand the shortcomings of our current relationship with the ecological world.

Three main tribes occupied the peninsula when the Spanish first arrived, the Cochimí, Guaycura, and Pericú. These great tribes lived sustainably off the land, often relying on the exploitation of seasonal bounties. Data reveals significant cultural homogeneity between the Cochimí and Guaycura, while the Pericú remain a mysterious and isolated lost culture. The origins of the once-great Pericú remain a mystery to anthropologists. Much is still to be learned about these people whose dolichocranic traits have resulted in theorizing that they may have been an isolated relic population of an early coastal migration to North America. What is known about the Pericú and the other groups is that when the greatest threat they had ever faced arrived in the form of Europeans, they did not unite and continued infighting, with the Pericú going as far as to enlist early explorers in attacks against the Guaycura, who may have been encroaching into their territory.

Today the Sonoran Desert and Baja California face new threats. The very caves that yielded information about these tribes are currently threatened by tourist development. Throughout our portion of this book you will find highlighted some of the most amazing and important features of the Baja region of the Sonoran Desert. This section is brought to you with the hopes of giving the reader the opportunity to explore this great desert and peninsula in a fresh way, with the original sense of adventure, but with an eye for sustainability and with a sense of place. By doing this we hope we can be a small part of uniting people to help make sure both the Sonoran and our planet overcome the threats they now face. We hope you enjoy.

Baja California Pronghorn

The Baja California pronghorn (Antilocapra americana peninsularis) is a subspecies of pronghorn endemic to the Baja California Peninsula. The pronghorn is a critically endangered subspecies with only an estimated 200 animals remaining in the wild. These animals were once found in great abundance at least as far south as Cuidad Insurgentes, BCS. These iconic animals are the only remaining survivors of the animal family, Antilocapridae. Antilocapridae consisted of hoofed animals, existing primarily in the Pleistocene age (10,000 to 1.8 million years ago). This prehistoric survivor now faces extinction in the Anthropocene epoch, primarily from man-made causes.

Habitat and Life Cycle
The Baja California pronghorn now only exists in the El Vizcaíno Desert Biosphere Reserve of Baja California and in the Valle de Los Cirios Reserve of Baja California, Mexico. The animals once roamed largely over central Baja California, including areas like the one east of Guerrero Negro named Llano del Berrendo, or Pronghorn Plains.

This subspecies can stand up to 35 inches tall at the shoulder and weigh in at up to 125 pounds. These animals' coloration patterns range from golden brown to tan, with white on the jaws, stomach, rump, and lower neck. The Baja California Pronghorn is often called los fantasmas del desierto which translates to, “ghosts of the desert,” because their particular coloration, in combination with their fast speeds, allow them to disappear in the desert. Furthermore, these animals' white underbellies deflect ground heat, keeping them cool. Females are smaller than males, and if horned, retain their spike-like horns for 2-5 years before shedding them. The larger males are longer horned than females, with darker faces. Males' horns are forward-pointing prongs below backward-facing hooks, and outer sheaths are shed annually. These animals are known to live roughly 9-10 years in the wild but may live longer in captivity.

The Baja California pronghorn is the fastest hoofed mammal in the world and the second-fastest land mammal. They possess the ability to run at 40 - 60 miles per hour for over an hour. With 27-foot strides at their top speeds, the Baja California pronghorn has padded cloven hooves to absorb the resulting shock. When running these animals open their mouth and leave their tongue hanging to consume more air. Their windpipe can reach up to two inches in diameter, funneling air to their enlarged lungs and heart, which aid them in oxygen consumption. This unique animal’s oxygen consumption is three times greater than that of comparably sized animals.

Baja California Pronghorn have remarkable eyesight and have the largest eyes of any similar-sized hoofed animal in North America. They have the ability to see for miles. Their pupils can constrict into horizontal slits, which gives them 300-degree vision, protecting them from predators.

Conservation Status
Baja California pronghorn may be useful to be considered as an indicator species of the health of the larger Sonoran Desert Region of Baja California. The decline of the species suggests an untenable paradigm between human endeavor and environmental sustainability. The pronghorn, a valuable member of the food web and consumer of primary producers, being on the cusp of extinction likely indicates a major disturbance in the entire ecosystem. The inability of a previously flourishing prehistoric species to maintain its population numbers does not bode well for the broader biosphere.

Restoring pronghorn populations would be in the best interest of human beings for many reasons. Among those reasons are often posited moral claims. Many environmental schools of ethics likely result in mankind needing to take action to preserve the pronghorn. Biocentrists and zoocentrists, ecological holists and individualists, would likely all agree on the preservation of the pronghorn by essence of their position. However, the most telling argument may lie in that of the anthropocentric view of the problem. The anthropocentric view would likely be forced to admit that preservation of the pronghorn, which would require mankind to adopt a paradigm shift in relation to the environment, would certainly be the best option for mankind. This change would restore valuable ecosystem services to people and help to combat the climate crisis, ultimately serving a pragmatic role for the anthropocentric ethicist, likely without severe cost in relation to what man stands to lose.

The future for these animals remains uncertain. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists their conservation status as critically endangered. Livestock fencing and cattle ranching threaten their livelihood. These obstructions inhibit the animals' access to favorable habitats and their ability to conduct natural movement. Urban sprawl, human endeavor, and droughts also all threaten populations. High fawn mortality rates, exacerbated by climate change, is a major threat to the Sonoran Desert pronghorn and likely effects the Baja California pronghorn as well.

In 1997, the Mexican Government, in cooperation with ENDESU (Espacios Naturales y Desarrollo Sustentable), established the Peninsular Pronghorn Recovery Project. This project, working in conjunction with zoos, such as the Los Angeles Zoo’s animal husbandry program, has grown the population of the Baja California Pronghorn to now exceed 420 animals, both captive and wild, in the areas of the El Vizcaíno Desert Biosphere Reserve and The Valle De Los Cirios Reserve.

Cultural Significance
Baja California pronghorn have long-standing ties as a source of sustenance to people indigenous to Baja California. The animals, once widespread, were hunted with bows and arrows, eaten, and skinned to make women’s clothing. The indigenous people, the Cochimí, referred to them as ammo-gokio or ammogokió.

Leatherback Sea Turtle

The largest of all living turtles and is the fourth-heaviest modern reptile behind three crocodiles. It is the only living species in the genus Dermochelys and family Dermochelyidae. It can easily be differentiated from other modern sea turtles by its lack of a bony shell, hence the name. Instead, its carapace is covered by skin and oily flesh.

Cultural Significance:
The Seri people, a tribe found in Mexico, find the leatherback sea turtle of significant cultural significance because it is one of their five main creators. The Seri people devote ceremonies and fiestas to the turtle when one is caught and then released back into the environment.

Ecological Trouble:
Leatherbacks have slightly fewer human-related threats than other sea turtle species. Their flesh contains too much oil and fat to be considered palatable, reducing the demand. However, human activity still endangers leatherback turtles in direct and indirect ways. Directly, a few are caught for their meat by subsistence fisheries. Nests are raided by humans in places such as Southeast Asia. In the state of Florida, there have been 603 leatherback strandings between 1980 and 2014. Almost one-quarter (23.5%) of leatherback strandings are due to vessel-strike injuries, which is the highest cause of strandings. The Seri people have noticed the drastic decline in turtle populations over the years and created a conservation movement to help this. The group, made up of both youth and elders from the tribe, is called Grupo Tortuguero Comaac. They use both traditional ecological knowledge and Western technology to help manage the turtle populations and protect the turtle's natural environment. The Seri people have noticed the drastic decline in turtle populations over the years and created a conservation movement to help this. The group, made up of both youth and elders from the tribe, is called Grupo Tortuguero Comaac. They use both traditional ecological knowledge and Western technology to help manage the turtle populations and protect the turtle's natural environment.

Vaquita

This wonderful aquatic creature named Vaquita is under the Porpoises family which is a long group of marine animals that are mammals that are classified as Phocoenidae. Also the Vaquita, is an endemic animal, that is to say relevant of its location that receives its name “ Vaquita” which in Spanish means “little cow." This species appears in the Gulf of Baja California and unfortunately is in danger of extinction.

Cultural Significance
The Vaquita is one of the few species of the porpoise endemic which means that it exists only one place in the planet. Because of this it can bring many tourists in the area for ecotourism which is environmental tourism that sees wildlife in its habitat. But because unfortunately the Vaquita is in danger of extinction it can negatively affect the cultural aspect of the areas surrounding the Gulf of Mexico.

Ecological Trouble
Unfortunately, the Vaquita is in danger to extinction. Because of this there will be fewer animals for both prey and predators many sea creatures will be affected by this in which the balance of the food chain in the Gulf of Mexico will have to change and adapt with the disappearance of this wonderful aquatic creature. Vaquitas usually eat around a dozen different type of small and medium sized fish in which will have one less predator so their numbers can grow and affect the food chain their and also other larger species such as sharks were the Vaquita’s predator in which they will have one less food source again negatively affecting the food chain.

Spinytail Iguana

The Cape Spiny-tail Iguana (Ctenosaura hemilopha) is part of the Iguanidae family. Their name was given because of what they are and how they look. They help scientists by acting as a control group to the rest of the islands’ populations.

Range
These iguanas are spread out through deserts and subtropical forests in Mexico. They are found in the Sonoran Desert located in Baja California. The spiny-tail iguana lives on the peninsula of Baja California and its distribution can extend to the islands in the Sea of Cortez. They are mostly arboreal meaning that they prefer to live on trees or anything that will keep them from the ground. They can live in abandoned bird nests which can be on cacti or trees.

Cultural Significance
The cape spiny-tail iguana is said to have a wide distribution because the Seri people transported them everywhere, they went. The Seri people would use the cape spiny-tail iguana as a food source and to maintain the food, taking it with them was important.

Description
Cape spiny-tail iguanas are sexually dimorphic meaning that the male is larger than the female. The male can grow to be about 100 cm., while the females are about 70cm. They have a long tail that is longer than the body. When young they are a greener color with darker rings around their tail. As they grow older, they start to change to a tanner, brown coloration with darker rings around their tail. The males have larger dewlaps than the females.

Threats
One of the treats to the spiny-tail iguana is its habitat loss. With humans expanding their communities, the iguana’s habitat is being cut down. Because of this, the iguana is considered a vulnerable species.

Boojum Tree

Fouqueria Coumnaris, also often referred to as a Boojum tree or Cirio tree, is a nearly endemic species of stem succulent tree found in the Baja California Peninsula. These trees have a single or branched tapered primary stem. Their primary stems are armored with hundreds of horizontal secondary branches that are not succulents and are armed with spines. When moisture is available to the tree, leaves and secondary branches may grow. However, the trees are usually leafless during arid periods. In relation to moisture received during winter and spring months, the Boojum will elongate its stem. The Boojum is known to bloom in late summer and autumn, bearing clusters of white fragrant flowers or creamy yellow flowers with a honey scent. The tree is a member of the ocotillo family. The Boojum is reported to grow up to 70 feet tall, with its trunk growing up to 24cm thick.

Range
The Boojum tree is nearly endemic to the Baja California Peninsula. The tree grows with the help of moist, cool winds from the Pacific Ocean moderating the arid desert climate. The tree can be found in both upper and lower Baja, California. However, it is most commonly found in the subregion of Vizcaíno. Along the Gulf Coast of Sonora, a small population of Boojum exists with help from the cold waters that replicate the influence of the Pacific.

Name
The plant received its English name from the Southwestern naturalist Godfrey Sykes in 1922. When Sykes encountered the foreign-looking plants, he dubbed them “boojums,” a nod to Lewis Carroll’s poem The Hunting of the Snark. The Spanish name of Cirio, meaning candle, originates from the plant's long tapered look, similar to that of candles at nearby missions.

Cultural Significance
An indigenous group of people native to Sonora, the Seri, believe touching the Boojum tree will cause undesirable, strong winds to blow. Furthermore, botanists used to believe mainland patterns of distribution of the plant indicated that the Seri transplanted the boojum further in the interior. However, given the Seri belief about the Boojum, which they call cototaj, this belief has been called into question.

Additional Information
The Boojum tree differs from its relatives in the ocotillo family by growing in the winter. Boojum trees were previously believed to only grow inches per year and reach up to 700 years old. Scientists now know that the plants can grow up to as much as 1 to 2 feet during a wet year. Additionally, repeated photography helped discover that the plants only typically live roughly a century. Large individual Boojum are particularly susceptible to direct hurricane events which cause significant destruction to the Boojum population every few decades.

Notable Boojum
The tallest Boojum on record was in Montevideo Canyon near Bahai de Los Angeles. It was recorded by Robert Humphrey in the 1970s and at the time, was 81 feet tall. Hurricane Nora passed directly over the large boojum in 1997, however, the mighty tree survived.

The University of Arizona recently had to remove one of its diseased Boojum trees. The tree was planted in the 1920s or 1930s after a University of Arizona sponsored Baja California trip. The specimen was a noted member of the Krutch Garden and, at 37 feet tall, one of the largest Boojum in the state. Nurserymen plan to attempt to clone the tree using its tips. This process will be documented and is an opportunity for botanists to evaluate opportunities and methods for cloning Boojums. If the precise genotype is successfully saved, it will be reintroduced into Krutch Gardens.

Threats and Conservation
Boojum trees are pollinated by many different insects. A study of over 20 years yielded a wide variety of species from the same Boojum trees in both Baja California and Sonora. However, many of these species of insects have not been seen again for many years. This may be caused by a temporal niche separation. Diverse types of pollinators have been recorded every year prompted by unknown environmental circumstances in which further study is needed.

Other known threats to boojum include urban sprawl, expansions of agricultural frontiers, climate change, and harvesting for ornamental wood.

The El Vizcaíno Biosphere Region was created in 1988. This protected area is 9,625 sq. miles and is the largest protected wildlife refuge in Mexico. It is home to some boojum, as well as many other protected species. The El Vizcaíno Biosphere Region borders on the Valle de los Cirios.

The Valle de los Cirios, located near Guerrero Negro on the Baja California Peninsula, is the second-largest wildlife protection area in Mexico. This area was deemed a nationally-protected area in 1980 and encompasses over 9,500 sq. miles. The Valle de los Cirios contains a large population of boojum and other endemic flora and fauna.

Desrt Fig Tree

Baja California has two native species of figs from the Moraceae Family: Ficus Petiolaris, which grows from the Cape Region to the Tinaja de Yubay region, in Central Baja, many of the islands, and parts of Sonora; whereas, Ficus brandegeei has a smaller range from the Cape to a little north of Loreto, only. They are both pretty similar, with the largest difference being that the Ficus Petiolaris does not display its branches and leaves with long ¨hairs¨, meanwhile, the Ficus brandegeei does. Both varieties are called Higuera ("Fig" in Spanish), Zalate or Amate ("you love you" in Spanish), or the Desert Fig in English.

Ecological Significance
The Baja Ficus grows usually on cliffs or in the cracks of rocks. Trees and plants such as the Ficus, help to breakdown or weather stone, creating soil in its wake. Ficus Petiolaris, as well as three species of cacti in the Baja region (Pachycereus pringlei, Stenocerueus thurberi, and Opuntia cholla) feed on dense layers of microscopic bacteria and fungus that cover the rock surfaces. Then release valuable minerals such as potassium, zinc, magnesium, copper, iron, manganese, and phosphorus during this chemical weathering process. This process provides an indispensable supply of inorganic nutrients for other plants that do grow in the soil. In Baja, a tea made from the leaves and small branches is used as an antidote for rattlesnake bites in cattle and mules. A wash is used to treat cuts and infections. This is probably due to the facts that the milky white sap of this tree is natural latex that is toxic, a known allergen and is photosensitive. It is also shown to contain anti-inflammatory and antiseptic chemicals as well.

Ocotillo

This unique plant named the Ocotillo also known as a Fouquieria Splendens is a tall, greyish/greenish spiky plant from the Plantae family. This plant isn't considered a true cactus even though it is covered in thorns and is ingenious to both the Sonoran Desert and the Chihuahuan Desert.

Cultural Significance
The Ocotillo does flower but only when it rains and when the flower dries it can be collected and used for tisanes which is an herbal tea. Also, Native American use to use to cut off the flowers when they blossomed and also cut of parts of the root and collect them for when someone in the tribe use to get cut they would apply either the root or the flower on the open cut which slowed down the bleeding.

Ecological Significance
Both White-Tailed deer and Mule deer have the Ocotillo in their diet, but white-tail deer tends to eat much more Ocotillo than the Mule deer. Because the Ocotillo does flower both hummingbirds and native carpenter bees are able to get nectar from them which also helps the Ocotillo spread its pollen. Also, it can provide some cover or shelter from the hot desert for smaller mammals, birds and reptiles.

Shaw's Agave

Shaw’s Agave (Agave shawii) is an agave that was called emally by the native people that used it

Range
This agave grows in the southernmost part of California and extends to Baja California. They usually grow around the coast, but nowadays, it is hard to find one of these plants in the wild.

Cultural Significance
Shaw’s Agave is an important part of the Kumeyaay people. They would consume the stalks and roots of the agave after roasting them. The leaves would be dried and beaten to take all the juices and sap out. The fibers that would be left of the leaves would be used for ropes, rabbit nets, sandals, and other things.

Description
The plant is an agave with leaves that could range from 20 cm to about 51 cm and be almost 8-20 cm wide. The leaves are arranged to form a rosette with a sharp tip on each leaf. They have a stalk in the middle that has flowers and surprisingly, the plant dies after it flowers which can take some years.

Threats
With the plant only growing on a certain area that ranges between two countries it is greatly affected by the border. These plants are rare to be seen in nature because the area they usually inhabit is being used by humans.

Geology
The peninsula of Baja California is located in the northwestern part of Mexico; it covers an area of 71,777.589 km2. This peninsula extends to almost 1,300 km from north to south and is a land of steep mountain ranges and coastal valleys. Mexicali is a city just south of the US border, and the capital city of Baja California. The Gulf of California (also known as The Sea of Cortez) separates this peninsula with mainland Mexico and the maximum distance between the two is 250 km. The Pacific Ocean lies on the west of Baja California. Several NNW to SSE trending mountain ranges are present on this peninsula, and Picacho del Diablo is the highest peak on the Baja California peninsula, measuring 3,096 meters (10,157 ft). It is alternately called Cerro de la Encantada, "Hill of the Enchanted", "Hill of the Bewitched". The peak is located in the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir, part of the Peninsular Ranges. Desert areas comprise about 65% of the peninsula. The largest desert in Baja California is the Vizcaíno Desert, located in the west-central part, that has been designated a protected Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations. This peninsula has a variety of types of geological environments like coastal wetlands, sandy beaches, over 100 islands mostly located along the Gulf coast.

Cape Region

A region of geologic and ecologic importance commonly referred to as the Cape Region is found stretching from La Paz to Cabo San Lucas. The region’s unique geologic origins created an area uniquely adapted to being conducive to a large amount of biodiversity. Within this region lies the notable Sierra de La Laguna Biosphere Reserve.

Running through the heart of the desert is the Sierra de la Laguna Mountains. These mountains are part of a broader group of mountain ranges called the Peninsular Ranges stretching from Baja California to Southern California. This region was once originally part of the Mexican mainland. However, it later was sheared off by geologic activity, becoming an island. During the Miocene, ten thousand years ago, the previously isolated area reconnected with the peninsula. The result of this moment was the creation of granitic mountains that run southward from the Gulf of California to the Pacific. The mountains are crossed by canyons and valleys and feature large plateaus.

The geologic origins of this area led to it being one of the most biodiverse regions of Baja California. Flora and fauna evolved on this island in isolation before its collision with the desert. The region features 974 higher plant species reported with 23.2% of those being endemic species, with five endemic Geneva. It also represents highly contrasting ecosystems according to UNESCO, showcasing arid zones, low deciduous forest type, matorrales evergreen oak: Quercus devia (“encino”) woods, pine-evergreen oak mix woods and oases with palms and “guerivos.” These ecosystems exist within three distinct ecoregions the Sierra de la Laguna pine-oak forests, the San Lucan xeric scrub, and the Sierra de la Laguna dry forests.

Mountains
“La Giganta” Mountain Range (“Sierra de la Giganta”) lies to the west, extending along the center of the state of Baja California Sur, parallel to the gulf coast. The geology and topography of the Loreto region, extending from Bahía Concepción to Agua Verde, is a coastal belt consisting "mainly of a narrow belt of ridges, valleys, and pediments adjacent to the escarpment, low- to moderate-elevation ranges transverse to the coast, and narrow coastal plains”.

Volcanos
Volcán Coronado is a small stratovolcano at the northern tip of Coronado Island, 3 km off the eastern coast of Baja California in the Canal de los Ballenas. The roughly 440-m-high volcano forms a 2-km-wide peninsula at the northern end of the elongated NNW-SSE-trending island and contains a 300 x 160 m wide crater. The age of the most recent eruptive activity from Volcán Coronado is not known, although fumarolic activity was reported in September 1539 (Medina et al., 1989).

The Cultural Use of Minerals

Baja California is home to a total of 161 operating mines in the whole Mexican state. A total of 19 different minerals are being mined which are Gold, Tungsten, Copper, Iron, Silver, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Sulfur, Manganese, Lead, Aluminum, Barium-Barite, Graphite, Silica, Zinc, Zirconium, Titanium, Titanium Metal, Molybdenum and Chromium. The mines are spread out through the state of Baja California and are broken into 5 different provinces which is placed depending on its location and what are mined. In the first province deposits of mesothermal sulfates of iron, copper and gold are being mined. The second province corresponds to the gold veins distributed along the whole state. The third province corresponds to deposits of tungsten. The fourth province corresponds to the deposits of manganese sulfites, barite, lead, zinc and silver. The fifth province involves the gold pleasure deposits. Some of the cities in Baja California that have these mines are Tijuana (which has 23 operating mines), Ensenada (which has 13 operating mines) and Mexicali (which has 4 operating mines). More mines are located in other cities and towns throughout the Baja California region.

Climate
The Gulf's climate is hot and humid, with abundant sunshine (desert with some rainfall in summer). The median temperature is 24.4 °C (76 °F). The temperatures are hot from June through October. These summer days have highs around 34 °C (93 °F) and high humidity. Such as the city of Loeto, which according to the National Meteorological Service, Loreto's highest official temperature reading of 44.2 °C (112 °F) was recorded on July 2, 2006; the lowest temperature ever recorded was 0.0 °C (32 °F) on December 15, 1987. In the spring season, the temperatures are moderate and temperate. Autumn and winter months are usually windy. The city is built on relatively flat land with an average elevation is 10 meters (33 ft) above sea level.

Land Use
For land usage, unfortunately, there is a lot of trash that is illegally dumped throughout the desert and in the ocean but the trash that is collected, each city in Baja California gathers it and disposes it to its closest landfill in which each large city has their own in their outskirts and the smaller towns around it uses them as well. Landfills are located in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexicali, Tijuana, Ensenada, San Quintin, Rosarito, Santa Rosalia, Loreto and La Paz. Sewage waste is also disposed of in landfills alongside solid waste.

Mining

Mining is one of the primary land uses in the Baja California Region of the Sonoran Desert. It is also one of the most significant challenges to sustainability in the area. Mining sites are widespread throughout the Baja California Peninsula. Gypsum ore is mined on the San Marcos Islands. Copper and manganese mining is being revived in Santa Rosalia. Phosphorous mining is present in San Juan De La Costa. Gold and silver were mined in the areas of El Trunfio and Bahia De Los Angeles. Outside the town of Guerrero Negro, near the edge of Lago Ojo de Liebrea, one of the region's most massive mining expeditions exists, a salt mine producing seven million tons of salt yearly.

A notable example of environmental justice was the recall of permits allowing construction of the proposed Los Cardones Mine. The proposed site, owned by the Mexican company Invecture Group and closely affiliated with Vancouver-based Frontera Mining Corporation, consisted of 13,000 hectares of land 65km southeast of the city of La Paz in Baja California and fell within the Sierra de La Laguna Biosphere Reserve. Risks anticipated with the site included contaminated ground and drinking water, cyanide pollution and high levels of dust laced with arsenic and heavy metals.

Local and international protests drew researchers and government officials into the dispute. A team of researchers from N-Gen, the Mexican Commission for Natural Protected Areas (CONANP), the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, UC MEXUS, multiple participating academic institutions, local NGOs, and local community members conducted research into the issue concluding:

Our international team of 29 scientists from 19 institutions conducted a biodiversity survey inside the Sierra La Laguna Biosphere Reserve in Baja California Sur, Mexico. This eight-day expedition was undertaken at the request of, and in collaboration with CONANP to document the diversity encountered on ca. 1,235 acres of land currently petitioned for use as the open pit gold mine project Los Cardones. From December 4th to 11th of 2015 the participating scientists documented the presence of 877 species, including 381 plants, 29 mammals, 77 birds, 366 insects, and 24 reptiles and amphibians. The true diversity of the region is expected to be double that documented in the week-long excursion. The majority of the diversity was found associated with the La Junta riparian system at the core of the proposed mine site. Twenty-nine species, protected under Mexican law due to their inclusion on the endangered species list (NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010), were discovered inside the project footprint, as well as 107 species endemic to the Cape Region. The biodiversity found in and around Arroyo La Junta and its tributaries forms the base of a complex food-web. Based on the high levels of diversity and endemism, especially the multitude of life forms associated with aquatic habitats, the findings of this initial survey support the prior designation by Mexican and international bodies of this region as a protected area.

This attention, in conjunction with widespread protests coordinated by local communities and environmental justice groups, spurred governmental action and in 2017 SEMARNAT, Mexico’s central environmental authority, revoked the companies permits to mine. However, estimated reserves of 1.2 million ounces of gold are believed to exist there, leading to speculation mining companies may revise their strategies and renew attacks.

Though the Los Cardones mine was never started, mining continues to operate and expand throughout the Sonoran Desert and broader regions. In any attempt to create a model for sustainable use of water and land in the Baja California portion of the Sonoran Desert, equal attention and stewardship should be given to the desert areas surrounding the Sierra La Laguna Biosphere Reserve. The Los Cardones project may serve as an example of successful conservation through cohesion and coordination between environmentally conscious citizens, researchers, organizations, and governmental officials.

Water Use

The Gulf of California is also known as Sea of Cortez in Mexico and was named after the 16th-century Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés. The Mexican government changed the official name to the Golfo de California (Gulf of California) in the early 20th century, although both names are in vogue and are interchangeably used on maps. This gulf is over 1000 km long that extends from the mouth of the Colorado River in the north to the cape at San Lucas in the south. The Colorado River Delta was once the most important wetland of Western North America now has become almost like a desert due to this river being dammed within the USA. The sea is shallow in the north because sediment brought by the Colorado River forms a huge delta that extends from land into the sea. This gulf south of La Paz becomes more or less like an ocean, with deep trenches, canyons, and tall seamounts, and meets the Pacific Ocean further south at the southernmost tip of the Baja Peninsula known as Finisterra or the Land’s End.

For water usage the water is gathered from the Colorado River in Mexicali Baja California and with a canal system it goes through La Rumorosa which goes to into a reservoir named “El Carrizo” in which Tecate, Rosarito and Tijuana Baja California. In the south most of the water is collected by rainfall in the mountains named “Sierra de las Trincheras” and “El Novillo” in which water is distributed to La Paz and its surrounding towns.

Opportunites and Threats

Many opportunities are found in Baja California because it is in the middle of both the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California. Because of this tourism is in every city that is in the shore to either of the Pacific Ocean or the Gulf of California. For example, San Felipe is in the shore of the Gulf of California and because of this many people from both the U.S and other parts of Mexico go there to enjoy the beach. Also because of the tourism the beaches bring San Felipe they also host an off-road racing event named San Felipe 250 which happens yearly bringing more people to this city.

The threats from what the Baja California Peninsula and the Gulf of California suffers from are all done by humans. The principal threats are livestock ranching, salt extraction, and hunting. With ranching many acres of space are taken away in which affected both populations of mule deer and bighorn sheep significantly. With hunting because so much deer type animals are being hunted it has affected the population of Pumas in the area due to they no longer have their main source of food available as much as they were having. And with the salt extraction from the see this has negatively affected the breeding and migration of gray whales.

Climate Change
Climate change looms as the largest ecological threat to the Baja California subregion and the entire Sonoran Desert. Unchecked, the effects of climate change in the Sonoran Desert will be far-reaching and widespread throughout all biomes and ecosystems. The Sonoran Desert already finds itself in a drought with at least a 25 to 40% drop in precipitation over the last 50 years. The region has been identified as being within a projected “global hot spot” resulting from climate change, with models demonstrating warming of 5.4-10.8 degrees Fahrenheit.

Increased temperatures place strains on entire ecosystems by undermining food webs. Warming temperatures, among many other factors, will increase evapotranspiration rates, stressing primary producers, and the resulting food webs. Slow-moving species such as desert tortoises will have much harder times reacting to the unpredictable weather patterns produced by climate change. Furthermore, species capable of more rapid reaction and migration may attempt to move out of designated protected wildlife areas, such as the Valle de los Cirios area, only to have their movement blocked by human habitat fragmentation.

Opportunities to address climate change exist at every moment of every person’s day on a global scale. From choosing a profession that champions global climate change causes or conducts research to a persons simple daily choices, there is a way for everyone to get involved. A plethora of information is widely available for making more sustainable choices. Other ways to help address climate change are to research and donate to the most effective organizations battling climate change. Practicing responsible civics by researching and voting for environmentally friendly legislation and candidates and starting grassroots environmental movements or joining current movements are all ways of addressing climate change.

Invasive Species

Sahara mustard weed, a large, hardy fast-growing winter annual, along with a with similar invasive grass, Buffelgrass, threaten many of the endemic flora of Baja California and the Sonoran Desert. Sahara mustard started as a localized population before beginning a massive range expansion. The weed is particularly effective at challenging native cacti and perennial shrubs for resources such as light and soil moisture. Furthermore, the weed possesses the capacity to smother native herbaceous plants.

First recorded in California’s Coachella Valley in 1927, by the 1970s the plant was widespread across the Sonoran Desert and Baja California. Sahara mustard mainly kept to disturbed soil and sandy areas until in the 1990s, when it began invading undisturbed desert. In the twenty-first century, the weed again adapted and began invading the steep desert slopes and rocky soils of the Sonoran. It is now known to cause acres of impenetrable thickets in some places, completely excluding any other annuals.

Currently, research is being conducted on the best ways to combat aggressive invasive species such as Sahara mustard weed. The most effective method to date is hand weeding. Though this method is not considered a tenable long-term solution, it has been shown to be useful while research is being developed. The Bureau of Land Management conducts hand weedings, in which they may be looking for local volunteers. Contacting your local BLM office may be one of the best ways to help fight such invasive species. Furthermore, the U.S. Forest Service recommends detecting, reporting, and mapping known infestations.

Endangered Species

Antilocapra americana peninsularis, also known as the Baja California pronghorn, is a subspecies of pronghorn endemic to the Baja California Peninsula. The Baja California pronghorn is a critically endangered subspecies according to the IUCN with only an estimated 200 animals remaining in the wild.

Combatting climate change may be one of the best ways to help save the pronghorn. High mortality rates, especially during droughts have contributed to the decline of this species. Currently, CONANP (Mexico’s National Commission of Protected Natural Areas) is working with American organizations such as the L.A. Zoo to stabilize the pronghorn through the Peninsular Pronghorn Recovery Program in the El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve. Consider donating to or contacting these organizations to ask how you can help these animals. Finally, people can raise awareness about the Baja California pronghorn.

Fishing

Fishing can be seen as both an opportunity and a threat if the proper precautions aren't taken. The country of Mexico has taken great measures to make sure laws are placed so that overfishing doesn't occur and disrupt marine life. Guaymas is one of the prime examples of how vital fishing can be to an economy. Guaymense fishing occupies 11,800 people in the catch and another 325 are engaged in aquaculture. It contributes 70% of the total state fisheries production, with the main species caught, sardine, shrimp, and squid. It has 175 kilometers of coastline where important bays such as Guaymas, Lobos, San Carlos (Mexico), and the Herradura are formed. The municipality has more than 83% of the docks operating in the State. The fleet consists of 359 shrimp vessels, 32 sardineras, 3 escameras, and 910 smaller vessels, for a total of 1,304. 55% of catches are traded in the State and the rest, i.e. 45% has as its final destination the domestic market and the foreign market, to the latter, is mainly sent shrimp that has a high price in the international market, which makes guaymense fishing very dependent on the conditions of this market. The population of fishermen in coastal communities has its ancestry by 80% in the same region where the community is located; the rest comes from other localities of the state and about 5 percent from other states, particularly Sinaloa and Nayarit.

Tourism

Due to the cities' of the Gulf having some incredible beaches and marine life, they have naturally become popular tourist destinations. Tourism is one of the highest sources of income for many of the coastal cities. One example is the city of Loreto. The city is a tourist resort, catering mostly to American travelers, with daily flights from California to Loreto International Airport. Many American tourists enjoy fishing in "pangas" for "dorado" (Mahi-mahi or Dolphin Fish). Local restaurants willingly prepare the daily catch of the tourists. Loreto has a museum that coexists alongside the historic, but still active, parish. Loreto has active sister city relationships with the California cities of Hermosa Beach, Cerritos, and Ventura.

Urban Sprawl

Urban sprawl is a current threat to the Sonoran Desert portion of Baja California. Cabo San Lucas is a major tourist destination for Baja California. However, developers now have sourced colonial Loreto as a potential location for a tourist and vacation destination. These developing tourism destinations threaten to bring urban sprawl to the lower half of Baja California, increasing the probability of land conversion and habitat fragmentation, affecting endemic species.

Urban sprawl may have secondary detrimental environmental effects. Baja California sources the majority of its energy from power plants, such as those in Rosarito and Ensenada. These power plants are massive contributors to man-made climate change. Increases in tourism and resulting urban sprawl will increase demand for energy from these pants, which run off destructive natural gasses supplied by the United States.


text: Template:Swadesh list 207 plain

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Template:Swadesh list 207 plain


text:
Lingwa de planeta/Swadesh list

This is a Swadesh list of words in Lingwa de Planeta, compared with that of English.

List
Credits go to the Lingwa De Planeta workgroup of the University of Saint-Petersburg, initiated by Dmitry Ivanov and Anastasia Lysenko.

All lemmas are in the Lingwa De Planeta - English dictionary.

title: Lingwa de planeta/Swadesh list


text:
User:Brs57/sandbox/biodiversity

Biodiversity of the Gulf Region of the Sonoran Desert:

 Animal Species: Leatherback Sea Turtle (Dermochelys Coriacea)  The largest of all living turtles and is the fourth-heaviest modern reptile behind three crocodiles. It is the only living species in the genus Dermochelys and family Dermochelyidae. It can easily be differentiated from other modern sea turtles by its lack of a bony shell, hence the name. Instead, its carapace is covered by skin and oily flesh.  Cultural Significance:  The Seri people, a tribe found in Mexico, find the leatherback sea turtle of significant cultural significance because it is one of their five main creators. The Seri people devote ceremonies and fiestas to the turtle when one is caught and then released back into the environment.  Ecological Trouble:  Leatherbacks have slightly fewer human-related threats than other sea turtle species. Their flesh contains too much oil and fat to be considered palatable, reducing the demand. However, human activity still endangers leatherback turtles in direct and indirect ways. Directly, a few are caught for their meat by subsistence fisheries. Nests are raided by humans in places such as Southeast Asia. In the state of Florida, there have been 603 leatherback strandings between 1980 and 2014. Almost one-quarter (23.5%) of leatherback strandings are due to vessel-strike injuries, which is the highest cause of strandings. The Seri people have noticed the drastic decline in turtle populations over the years and created a conservation movement to help this. The group, made up of both youth and elders from the tribe, is called Grupo Tortuguero Comaac. They use both traditional ecological knowledge and Western technology to help manage the turtle populations and protect the turtle's natural environment.

 Plant Species:Desert Fig Tree (Ficus Petiolaris)  Baja California has two native species of figs from the Moraceae Family: Ficus Petiolaris, which grows from the Cape Region to the Tinaja de Yubay region, in Central Baja, many of the islands, and parts of Sonora; whereas, Ficus brandegeei has a smaller range from the Cape to a little north of Loreto, only. They are both pretty similar, with the largest difference being that the Ficus Petiolaris does not display its branches and leaves with long ¨hairs¨, meanwhile, the Ficus brandegeei does. Both varieties are called Higuera ("Fig" in Spanish), Zalate or Amate ("you love you" in Spanish), or the Desert Fig in English.  Ecological Significance:  The Baja Ficus grows usually on cliffs or in the cracks of rocks. Trees and plants such as the Ficus, help to breakdown or weather stone, creating soil in its wake. Ficus Petiolaris, as well as three species of cacti in the Baja region (Pachycereus pringlei, Stenocerueus thurberi, and Opuntia cholla) feed on dense layers of microscopic bacteria and fungus that cover the rock surfaces. Then release valuable minerals such as potassium, zinc, magnesium, copper, iron, manganese, and phosphorus during this chemical weathering process. This process provides an indispensable supply of inorganic nutrients for other plants that do grow in the soil. In Baja, a tea made from the leaves and small branches is used as an antidote for rattlesnake bites in cattle and mules. A wash is used to treat cuts and infections. This is probably due to the facts that the milky white sap of this tree is natural latex that is toxic, a known allergen and is photosensitive. It is also shown to contain anti-inflammatory and antiseptic chemicals as well.

title: User:Brs57/sandbox/biodiversity


text: User talk:Pennenetui3000

title: User talk:Pennenetui3000


text:
User talk:Brs57

= A Glimpse into the Gulf Region of the Sonoran Desert  =

Animal Species: Leatherback Sea Turtle (Dermochelys Coriacea)

The largest of all living turtles and is the fourth-heaviest modern reptile behind three crocodiles. It is the only living species in the genus Dermochelys and family Dermochelyidae. It can easily be differentiated from other modern sea turtles by its lack of a bony shell, hence the name. Instead, its carapace is covered by skin and oily flesh.

Cultural Significance:
The Seri people, a tribe found in Mexico, find the leatherback sea turtle of significant cultural significance because it is one of their five main creators. The Seri people devote ceremonies and fiestas to the turtle when one is caught and then released back into the environment.

Ecological Trouble:
Leatherbacks have slightly fewer human-related threats than other sea turtle species. Their flesh contains too much oil and fat to be considered palatable, reducing the demand. However, human activity still endangers leatherback turtles in direct and indirect ways. Directly, a few are caught for their meat by subsistence fisheries. Nests are raided by humans in places such as Southeast Asia. In the state of Florida, there have been 603 leatherback strandings between 1980 and 2014. Almost one-quarter (23.5%) of leatherback strandings are due to vessel-strike injuries, which is the highest cause of strandings. The Seri people have noticed the drastic decline in turtle populations over the years and created a conservation movement to help this. The group, made up of both youth and elders from the tribe, is called Grupo Tortuguero Comaac. They use both traditional ecological knowledge and Western technology to help manage the turtle populations and protect the turtle's natural environment.

Plant Species: Desert Fig Tree (Ficus Petiolaris)
Baja California has two native species of figs from the Moraceae Family: Ficus Petiolaris, which grows from the Cape Region to the Tinaja de Yubay region, in Central Baja, many of the islands, and parts of Sonora; whereas, Ficus brandegeei has a smaller range from the Cape to a little north of Loreto, only. They are both pretty similar, with the largest difference being that the Ficus Petiolaris does not display its branches and leaves with long ¨hairs¨, meanwhile, the Ficus brandegeei does. Both varieties are called Higuera ("Fig" in Spanish), Zalate or Amate ("you love you" in Spanish), or the Desert Fig in English.

Ecological Significance:
The Baja Ficus grows usually on cliffs or in the cracks of rocks. Trees and plants such as the Ficus, help to breakdown or weather stone, creating soil in its wake. Ficus Petiolaris, as well as three species of cacti in the Baja region (Pachycereus pringlei, Stenocerueus thurberi, and Opuntia cholla) feed on dense layers of microscopic bacteria and fungus that cover the rock surfaces. Then release valuable minerals such as potassium, zinc, magnesium, copper, iron, manganese, and phosphorus during this chemical weathering process. This process provides an indispensable supply of inorganic nutrients for other plants that do grow in the soil. In Baja, a tea made from the leaves and small branches is used as an antidote for rattlesnake bites in cattle and mules. A wash is used to treat cuts and infections. This is probably due to the facts that the milky white sap of this tree is natural latex that is toxic, a known allergen and is photosensitive. It is also shown to contain anti-inflammatory and antiseptic chemicals as well.

Geology:

The peninsula of Baja California is located in the northwestern part of Mexico; it covers an area of 71,777.589 km2. This peninsula extends to almost 1,300 km from north to south and is a land of steep mountain ranges and coastal valleys. Mexicali is a city just south of the US border, and the capital city of Baja California. The Gulf of California (also known as The Sea of Cortez) separates this peninsula with mainland Mexico and the maximum distance between the two is 250 km. The Pacific Ocean lies on the west of Baja California. Several NNW to SSE trending mountain ranges are present on this peninsula, and Picacho del Diablo is the highest peak on the Baja California peninsula, measuring 3,096 meters (10,157 ft). It is alternately called Cerro de la Encantada, "Hill of the Enchanted", "Hill of the Bewitched". The peak is located in the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir, part of the Peninsular Ranges. Desert areas comprise about 65% of the peninsula. The largest desert in Baja California is the Vizcaíno Desert, located in the west-central part, that has been designated a protected Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations. This peninsula has a variety of types of geological environments like coastal wetlands, sandy beaches, over 100 islands mostly located along the Gulf coast.

Mountain Ranges
“La Giganta” Mountain Range (“Sierra de la Giganta”) lies to the west, extending along the center of the state of Baja California Sur, parallel to the gulf coast. The geology and topography of the Loreto region, extending from Bahía Concepción to Agua Verde, is a coastal belt consisting "mainly of a narrow belt of ridges, valleys, and pediments adjacent to the escarpment, low- to moderate-elevation ranges transverse to the coast, and narrow coastal plains”.

Volcanos
Volcán Coronado is a small stratovolcano at the northern tip of Coronado Island, 3 km off the eastern coast of Baja California in the Canal de los Ballenas. The roughly 440-m-high volcano forms a 2-km-wide peninsula at the northern end of the elongated NNW-SSE-trending island and contains a 300 x 160 m wide crater. The age of the most recent eruptive activity from Volcán Coronado is not known, although fumarolic activity was reported in September 1539 (Medina et al., 1989).

Climate:
The Gulf's climate is hot and humid, with abundant sunshine (desert with some rainfall in summer). The median temperature is 24.4 °C (76 °F). The temperatures are hot from June through October. These summer days have highs around 34 °C (93 °F) and high humidity. Such as the city of Loeto, which according to the National Meteorological Service, Loreto's highest official temperature reading of 44.2 °C (112 °F) was recorded on July 2, 2006; the lowest temperature ever recorded was 0.0 °C (32 °F) on December 15, 1987. In the spring season, the temperatures are moderate and temperate. Autumn and winter months are usually windy. The city is built on relatively flat land with an average elevation is 10 meters (33 ft) above sea level.

Main Water Resourse:
The Gulf of California is also known as Sea of Cortez in Mexico and was named after the 16th-century Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés. The Mexican government changed the official name to the Golfo de California (Gulf of California) in the early 20th century, although both names are in vogue and are interchangeably used on maps. This gulf is over 1000 km long that extends from the mouth of the Colorado River in the north to the cape at San Lucas in the south. The Colorado River Delta was once the most important wetland of Western North America now has become almost like a desert due to this river being dammed within the USA. The sea is shallow in the north because sediment brought by the Colorado River forms a huge delta that extends from land into the sea. This gulf south of La Paz becomes more or less like an ocean, with deep trenches, canyons, and tall seamounts, and meets the Pacific Ocean further south at the southernmost tip of the Baja Peninsula known as Finisterra or the Land’s End.

Fishing:

Fishing can be seen as both an opportunity and a threat if the proper precautions aren't taken. The country of Mexico has taken great measures to make sure laws are placed so that overfishing doesn't occur and disrupt marine life. Guaymas is one of the prime examples of how vital fishing can be to an economy. Guaymense fishing occupies 11,800 people in the catch and another 325 are engaged in aquaculture. It contributes 70% of the total state fisheries production, with the main species caught, sardine, shrimp, and squid. It has 175 kilometers of coastline where important bays such as Guaymas, Lobos, San Carlos (Mexico), and the Herradura are formed. The municipality has more than 83% of the docks operating in the State. The fleet consists of 359 shrimp vessels, 32 sardineras, 3 escameras, and 910 smaller vessels, for a total of 1,304. 55% of catches are traded in the State and the rest, i.e. 45% has as its final destination the domestic market and the foreign market, to the latter, is mainly sent shrimp that has a high price in the international market, which makes guaymense fishing very dependent on the conditions of this market. The population of fishermen in coastal communities has its ancestry by 80% in the same region where the community is located; the rest comes from other localities of the state and about 5 percent from other states, particularly Sinaloa and Nayarit.

Tourism:

Due to the cities' of the Gulf having some incredible beaches and marine life, they have naturally become popular tourist destinations. Tourism is one of the highest sources of income for many of the coastal cities. One example is the city of Loreto. The city is a tourist resort, catering mostly to American travelers, with daily flights from California to Loreto International Airport. Many American tourists enjoy fishing in "pangas" for "dorado" (Mahi-mahi or Dolphin Fish). Local restaurants willingly prepare the daily catch of the tourists. Loreto has a museum that coexists alongside the historic, but still active, parish. Loreto has active sister city relationships with the California cities of Hermosa Beach, Cerritos, and Ventura.

Google tour:
For a further look into more cities located in the Gulf Region of the Sonoran Desert please visit for a virtual tour: https://tourbuilder.withgoogle.com/tour/ahJzfmd3ZWItdG91cmJ1aWxkZXJyEQsSBFRvdXIYgIDgmOP-9gkM

title: User talk:Brs57


text:
Big Idea Physics/Motion

Intro
A large part of physics is the study of how things move. In this section, the motion that you experience in everyday life will be explained.

Position
In order to describe how things move, we first must describe where they are. Coordinates are anyway to tell where a particle is. You can have a line, for example, where the coordinates might be described by the Real number line. You could also talk about two-dimensional coordinates, x and y, that tell you where things are on a rectangle.

Displacement
Displacement is the change in the position of something.

For example, say we have the real number line with an ant at 0. If the ant moves to the 2, its displacement would be 2.

What if the ant moves from 0 to 2 to 5 and then to 2 again? Its displacement over the whole series of actions would still be 2, for displacement only measures the change in position after a series of actions. Its distance, however, would be 6.

title: Big Idea Physics/Motion


text:
User:Kelvargan

I am a learner from the United States of America.

title: User:Kelvargan


text:
User talk:Adamstony33me

https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Adamstony33me&action=edit

title: User talk:Adamstony33me


text:
User:Adamstony33me/sandbox

https://en.wikibooks.org/ w/  index.php?  title=User:Adamstony33me/sandbox&action=edit&redlink=1

title: User:Adamstony33me/sandbox


text:
User:Syd Anne

SydAnne

title: User:Syd Anne


text:
User:Brunoworthy

Nous vous invitons à agir pour manifester la volonté du Seigneur

title: User:Brunoworthy


text:
Professionalism/The Right to Be Forgotten

The Right to Be Forgotten (RTBF) is a right for individuals to permanently erase negative personal information from search engines and websites under certain circumstances. Currently, the European Union and Argentina have recognized this concept as a law. Free pressing rulings in the first amendment rights prevents the U.S. from adopting RTBF. This means that Americans must deal with the possibility that anyone, including potential employers, can find information about them on the internet that is damaging and sometimes inaccurate.

European Union
In 1995, the European Union adopted the European Data Protection Directive, intended to regulate and supervise data controllers, ensuring data-processing systems “protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons, and in particular, their right to privacy. This was implemented 3 years before search engine Google was founded and was mainly enforced to protect privacy from “media companies”.

In 2010, Mario Costeja González filed a complaint with a Spanish data protection agency against a local newspaper and Google Spain for claims relating to auction notices that were filed in 1998, mentioning him. The agency granted his complaint against the agency, but not the newspaper because the newspaper was lawfully published and had no obligations to remove announcements. In the case, Google Spain v. Agencia Española de Protección de Datos, the court questioned whether search engines should be subject to the Directive, which would enforce Google to remove links to data upon request of the data subject.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that the Directive applies to search engines and individuals have a right to request search engines to remove links to personal data. Although Google Inc. is based out of the US, its subsidiary (Google Spain) operating within its territory makes it so the directive applies to Google. In 2018, Google released information showing they had received over 2.4 million requests to remove private information from their search engine since the law was enforced 2014, and they have complied with 43.3% of these requests.

Argentina
In 1984, the Argentina Supreme Court ruled that a right to privacy that includes a right of personality, preventing certain unauthorized uses of one’s image, though public figures may not be able to complain about publicity in which they sought. In the 1990’s, Argentina adopted the habeas data movement, provising their constitution to be part freedom-of-government-information law and part data privacy law. Then in 2000, Argentina Congress adopted Ley 25.326, a comprehensive data protection law that regulates how public and private databases collect, process, and distribute data about individuals. This guarantees that data shall be accurate and relevant in relation to its purpose and destroyed when it ceases to be necessary.

Although Argentina protects recognizes RTBF, the unique laws have become relevant to celebrities' RTBF with many unresolved lawsuits. In a 2009 trial, Argentina pop singer Virginia da Cunha prevailed against Google in Yahoo, claiming her photographs were being linked to websites offering sexual content without her permission. Cunha failed to recognize that these photographs acted with fault in relation to the third-party content at stake. The lower court ruled that Google and Yahoo were liable for these photographs but in 2010, the Appeals court ruled that the search engines were not liable. She argued that the Court of Appeals wrongly prioritized freedom of expression and search engines have the potential to amplify harm therefore they should be responsible for the links created between her name and the illicit content. With exception to this one case, Argentina's courts appear to be willing to grant celebrities an effective right to control use of their images online.

United States
The First Amendment of the US Constitution protects the rights to freedom of speech and expression, making it difficult to implement RTBF. According to a survey by Software Advice, 61% of Americans want this right. In 2017, NY Assemblyman David I. Weprin introduced a bill that requires people to remove ‘inaccurate’, ‘irrelevant’, ‘inadequate’, or ‘excessive’ statements about others on the internet. No action has been made and the bill is still pending.

First-Pressing Rulings
Actress Cindy Lee Garcia, was hired to do two lines for a film called Desert Woman and unknowingly, the writer-director used the footage of her from Desert Woman and dubbed over her voice for an anti-islam film titled Innocence of Muslims, which was broadcasted on YouTube in 2016. She claims to have received hate and death threats for this film, even though she did not know that the director was using footage of her for this film. She sued Google and tried to get the film to be taken down, but her case was dismissed due first amendment rights. In the Martin V. Hearst Corporation (2015) case, Lorraine Martin and her two sons were arrested for drug charges and the state declared to deny prosecuting Martin and her arrest was removed from her record. The media had published articles relating to her arrest and Martin asked to remove the articles, which she considered false. The news corporation refused and Martin sued for defamation. The court rejected Martin’s claims, showing there is no recognition of R2BF. Protection of free-press rulings are recognized in Florida Star v. BJF (1989), Cox Broadcasting Co. v. Cohn (1975), and Smith v. Daily Mail Publishing (1979).

Arguments For RTBF
RTBF advocates contend that the policy allows citizens to maintain personal privacy. They also uphold that RTBF can prevent the resurfacing of crimes said to be expunged by law. While many see RTBF as a way for powerful individuals to erase history, advocates stress that these types of removal requests are mostly denied by search engines.

Protection of Private Information

RTBF advocates often argue that certain cases of information removal protect private information without conflicting with free speech. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of a privacy advocacy group, lists examples of such information: “bank account numbers, social security numbers, and sexually explicit images”. For example, Youth Cancer Europe (YCE) has used the RTBF to remove the outdated medical status of youth cancer survivors. Before permitted RTBF, YCE suggests that mortgage and insurance companies used search engines to find a history of cancer in these survivors. These companies could then use this private information to raise the premiums of cancer survivors, claiming that they were more vulnerable to future medical issues.

Prevents the Resurfacing of Expunged Crimes

Another common argument for RTBF is that it enables the erasure of expunged crimes from the Internet. Although courts can expunge offenses from criminal records, these offenses can appear on search engine results linked to blog posts, news articles, or leaked data. A survey shows that 78% of people search others online before any interaction, so the surfacing of these legally nullified actions have the potential to damage personal reputation. These misleading search results are especially detrimental when individuals apply for jobs, where potential employers can “find the supposedly purged information within seconds of entering a candidate’s name into a Google search“. Another RTBF proponent claims that the policy can protect people from being “perpetually adversely judged, stigmatized, and/or punished as a consequence of some long-ago minor infraction ”

Wrongful Removal Requests are likely to be Denied

Dissenters of RTBF fear that the policy allows individuals to limit the public’s right to access information by “altering the historical record”. However, proponents of RTBF point out that not all information removal requests are granted by Google. In Europe, Google receives the requests and “assesses [them] on a case-by-case basis”. Between May 2014 and May 2020, Google received over 3.6 million delisting requests. Only 46.3% of these requests were honored. Delisting requests categorized as “Personal Information” and “Sensitive Personal Information” experienced an approval rate of 97%. On the other hand, 5% of “Political” requests were approved and 22% of “Professional Wrongdoing” requests were approved. The latter two categories are more likely to present cases of wrongful removal of public information, and these categories are far more likely to be denied by Google. In addition, 88% of the requests come from “private individuals”, which represent people who are not government officials, public figures, nor corporate entities. Dr Paul Bernal, law professor at UEA school of Law, argues that if “most of the requests are private and personal ones, then it’s a good law for the individuals concerned”. Google’s transparency reports convince some proponents of RTBF that the policy helps individuals protect privacy more than it allows powerful individuals to delete lawfully public information.

Arguments Against RTBF
Advocates against the right to be forgotten have several arguments for their agenda. These include constitutional violations, history suppression, enforcement, and legal definitions.

First Amendment

Critics argue that the RTBF violates first amendment rights of American citizens. Constitutional attorneys have been vocal, stating that the First Amendment has no exceptions for “ speech deemed "irrelevant" or "inadequate" or ‘excessive.’" Each country has a different set of laws which companies like Google must account for in their proceedings.

History

In removing information found online, critics argue that the RTBF changes or deletes history. “In 2015, The Telegraph, an English newspaper, summarized 100 articles it had published that had been removed from search results in the year since the European Court of Justice articulated the right to be forgotten." These news articles can no longer be searched for, causing concern for researchers and writers. In 2016, a Belgium superior court “ordered a newspaper to delete from a 22-year-old article in its online archives the name of the driver who was in an accident that resulted in two deaths.” In this instance information was removed but the article was maintained. Edits like this are calling into question the scope and limit of RTBF changes.

Enforcement

Since large companies like Google reach dozens of countries, enforcement of laws becomes more complicated. Even in individual states or provinces, the regulations may be subject to change. New York introduced a RTBF bill, but what if someone in New York wants to censor an article published in California? In Europe, “search engines began removing links only from European versions of their sites.”

Definitions

The RTBF has definitions that are subjective. Different advocates want different protections, so it makes classifying changes difficult. For the bill that was introduced in New York, information subject to the RTBF includes "inaccurate, irrelevant, inadequate, or excessive." information. This can be anything from an old legal record to financial matters. Critics are worried that information about criminals or public officials may be censored. However, The Guardian reported that over 99% of links removed from Google were about “private or personal information.”

Conclusion
RTBF presents a complex ethical question for the US. The policy can be used by individuals to save their reputation or protect their right to privacy. At the same time, nefarious individuals can exploit the policy to infringe upon the public's right to historical information. Hopefully, Europe's use of the policy can help the US weigh these delicate pros and cons.


text:
Talk:Professionalism/Alexandra Elbakyan and Sci-Hub

Lancaster - Changing the Status Quo, Need for Change Shown by COVID-19, Sci-Hub as Civil Disobedience

Robertson - Legality, End User Issues, Academic Integrity

Zaman - Background, History, Open Access, Conclusions


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Cookbook:Multicooking

A multicooker (also written "multi cooker") is an electric kitchen appliance for automated cooking using a timer. A typical multicooker is able to boil, simmer, bake, fry, deep fry, grill roast, stew, steam and brown food.

The device is operated by placing ingredients inside, selecting the corresponding program, and leaving the multicooker to cook according to the program, typically without any need for further user intervention. Some multicookers have an adjustable thermostat.

In addition to cooking programs, a multicooker may have functions to keep food warm, reheat it or to cook it at a later time. Some multicookers can also function as slow cookers.

Recipe scripts and other features
Modern cookers include electronic time, temperature and pressure controllers and are marketed as "automated multipurpose cooking appliances". The most modern ones include Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities and cooking procedures in recipe scripts, mainly by choosing the temperature, time and pressure in multiple steps, to execute and share.

Instant Pot
Instant Pot (abbreviated in recipes as IP) is a brand of multicookers. The multicookers are electronically controlled, combined pressure cookers and slow cookers. The original cookers are marketed as 6-in-1 or more appliances designed to consolidate the cooking and preparing of food to one device (multicooker).

Smart Wifi users can operate their Instant Pot from the “Remote Control for Smart Wifi” App and use Alexa or Google Home with it.

title: Cookbook:Multicooking


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User talk:Joelo Membrane

I love this wikipedia,i want my fellow mate to make use of this wonderful website.It will help you so much.God bless you all and stay safe.Thanks.

title: User talk:Joelo Membrane


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Category talk:American recipes

American and Americasan
What about use Americasan, for the Americas' recipes, as used in Wikipedia?. --BoldLuis (discuss • contribs) 20:45, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

title: Category talk:American recipes


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Cookbook:Instant Pot Beans

| Beans

This is a recipe to cook beans in Instant Pot multicooker.

Ingredients

 * 3 cups dried beans, picked through
 * 8 cups water
 * ½ onion, peeled
 * 3 garlic cloves, peeled
 * Salt
 * Ham (optional), diced or chopped

Procedure

 * 1) Soak the beans in water for 4–12 hours. Drain the water.
 * 2) Place the soaked beans, water, garlic, onion, and ham pieces in the Instant Pot.
 * 3) Seal the lid, close the valve, and set the "manual" button to 35 minutes.
 * 4) Use a natural pressure release or the quick pressure release (see how).
 * 5) When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid.
 * 6) Season with salt to taste.
 * 7) Serve or reuse in other recipes that employs beans.

Notes, tips, and variations

 * The "manual" button and "pressure cook" button are the same and so interchangeably named for the different models.
 * The longer the beans soak, the less cooking time is required.
 * Be sure any beans containing the toxin phytohaemagglutinin (e.g. kidney beans) are thoroughly cooked to prevent toxicity.

title: Cookbook:Instant Pot Beans


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User talk:Bridget

Request
Hi bridget,can we be friends? Mirabelle heavens (discuss • contribs) 19:02, 5 April 2022 (UTC)

 * Hi there, we can absolutely be friends! Welcome to the Wikibooks community, I hope you enjoy contributing here! Bridget (discuss • contribs) 14:02, 8 April 2022 (UTC)

Thanks
Yeah, thanks so much,at least someone has made me feel at home. Mirabelle heavens (discuss • contribs) 22:20, 9 April 2022 (UTC)

So far
Well, Bridget.lets say you are 3 years old on this website,and I am just new.well I have to tried editing and copyediting too,I bet you could say I'm getting along a little.So are you a student Mirabelle heavens (discuss • contribs) 22:25, 9 April 2022 (UTC)

title: User talk:Bridget


text: Category:Pressure cooker recipes

title: Category:Pressure cooker recipes


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Talk:End-user Computer Security/Main content/Passwords and digital keys

Add section under "Digital cryptography: security certificates, keys & tokens" entitled something like "PGP signing and encryption for secure communications"?
There isn't any information on how to use PGP signing and encryption for secure communications (such as secure email communication, and secure forum posts). Probably such information should be included somewhere. The aspect of 'security by time passed' in the repeated communication of public keys is covered somewhat in "Broad security principles" (chapter 8)-§"Time based"-§"Based on time passed"-§"Example 2" however, that is only in passing, and not a full exposition on how to use PGP signing and encryption for secure communications.

MarkJFernandes (discuss • contribs) 08:24, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

Add information under "Password security" about how security is affected by the 'keep me logged-in' option (available when logging into online accounts)?
Choosing 'keep me logged-in' can perhaps help to reduce the attack window (and so also the attack surface) associated with the interception of passwords entered during log-in. However, if you accidentally leave your computer unlocked, then it can also leave some of your online accounts exposed that wouldn't be if you had not invoked this option on those accounts.

MarkJFernandes (discuss • contribs) 08:45, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

Add non-incidental content on crypto-shredding and the Heads “Destroy key when attacked” functionality?
The Heads “Destroy key when attacked” functionality is probably something usefully documented in the "Passwords and digital keys based /  Chapter 2" section because it is a good way to secure digital keys. If documenting under the section, having a link to the broader “Destroy key when attacked” security principle (in the Broad Security principles chapter) would probably be a good idea.

Likewise, the practice of crypto-shredding for the purposes of increasing security, probably ought to be also documented in the "Passwords and digital keys based /  Chapter 2" section. For example, a user may encrypt some important asset, crypto-shred the encryption keys, and then only be able to recover the data by relying on their key backups. By doing this, they may have effectively increased the security protecting the asset considerably (at the price of it being more difficult [but not impossible] to recover the asset). Such backup methods perhaps might be good for protecting BitCoin wealth where it doesn't matter if it takes a while to recover the wealth.

MarkJFernandes (discuss • contribs) 16:50, 15 May 2020 (UTC)

The distinction of 'psychic' within the broader topic of 'thought reading and control' is perhaps pointless?
See discussion page for the "Mind-reading attacks" chapter.

"Psychic spying of password" section is missing mention of protection using MFA
Such is missing most likely because it was first thought that it was significantly covered under password encryption. However, that is not the case. Probably a new sub-section should be created to document such protection. After such documentation, probably the "This principle is somewhat related to the later “Protection using password encryption” subsection." footnote, as well as probably the "Also, the use of security tokens (such as USB security tokens[1]) as well as the use of password encryption, can overcome such psychic attacks." sentence, should be accordingly updated and improved. Also, such documentation should link to the "Multi-step authentication and multi-factor authentication" subsection.

If fake keys are added to paper-based keyboard scrambler, use of such fake keys can obfuscate the password capture that mind-reading spies might try?
Essentially, paper keyboard scrambler is extended to include keys outside the keyboard area. When user presses on such keys, nothing is input into the keyboard. Then the user can potentially use such fake key presses, during the typing of their password, to obfuscate the password they think about in their mind.

If password length is 10, alphabet size is 26, and number of fake key presses is 5, then perhaps the password is obfuscated by up to the following factor when attacker knows password length (where factor relates to number of sub-strings attacker will need to try using brute-force method):

$$\binom {15}{5} \times (26^5\times5!) =$$ $$\color{gray}\dfrac{15!}{5! \times (15-5)!} \times (26^5\times5!)$$ $$\color{black}=$$ $$\color{gray}\dfrac{1,307,674,368,000}{120 \times 3,628,800} \times (11,881,376\times120)$$ $$\color{black}=$$ $$\color{gray}\dfrac{1,307,674,368,000 \times 1,425,765,120}{435,456,000}$$ $$ = \color{blue}4,281,572,655,360$$

Perhaps add these ideas to the "Protection using password encryption > Without technology" subsection?

ADD use of deep-fake-resistant media for communicating public keys → §"Non-compromised communication of public keys"❓
Deep-fake-resistant videos (and other media) can perhaps be used to communicate public keys, such that it is difficult to fake such media.

Ideas for deep-fake-resistant technology:

 * Use 3D videos that are perhaps harder to fake.
 * Use camera angle that rotates round.
 * Use famous head of company to communicate key (face that everyone knows).
 * Shoot video in famous location, such as in the centre of New York.
 * Use high quality resolution and audio. The higher the quality, perhaps the easier it is to detect whether it has been faked or not.
 * Use holograms in video, that are difficult to fake.

Further ideas regarding password security
I'm moving closer to the overhaul of my security credential system. Have been using the paper-based keyboard scrambler for a few months now, creating a new scrambler/cipher with a week between different ciphers, or with a longer lapse between ciphers (such as when other activities have taken higher priority). It appears to be effective as well as generally good to use—seems like sometimes low-tech solutions are the best. Am thinking of using the Google password manager/vault (that comes as standard with Google accounts), to store all of my passwords. I would then also use it to create random strong passwords for all my accounts. Moving the browser window such that suggested strong passwords don't appear on the VDU, seems to be good and to work well. Might make a video about it because it seems to be a really good idea: you overcome ppl spying over your shoulder, ppl spying with hidden cameras, and also spying via interception of VDU electronic signals.

With such a planned set-up, there would mostly only then be one password to remember: the master password for the Google password manager/vault. Some more thoughts about keyed-in passwords:
 * When using a paper-based scrambler/cipher, it doesn't seem so necessary to add "salt" to memorable words or phrases making-up what the user consciously selects in the keying-in of the password; more generally, what the user remembers as the password before scrambling, doesn't need to be difficult to crack. The scrambler/cipher would seem to add the necessary "salt" to what the human person remembers, to make the actual "computer-keyboard-presses password", hard to crack. The user could then perhaps just remember a certain easy-to-remember natural-language phrase to input into the scrambler/cipher.
 * After the user uses the scrambler/cipher, the user can add to the password without the scrambler/cipher installed, for the better defeating of mind-reading password-capture attacks. As already touched upon in §⟪Protection by thinking little⟫, passwords that aren't thought about much during the keying-in, perhaps because of very good rote memorisation, can perhaps defeat mind-reading attacks. The second part of the password, that the user enters without the scrambler installed, can be this other kind of rote-memory password that is keyed-in with very fast key presses. There would then be a two-pronged defence against mind-reading capture of the password: the defence formed by the first part of the password entered using the paper-based scrambler, and the defence formed by the second part of the password entered using rote-memory fast keyboard entry.
 * It may also be a good idea to use copy-and-paste functionality of text never displayed on the VDU (perhaps by using white-on-white text), to add a third part to the password. Even though cryptographic security USB tokens can be used for similar effect, it might be that somehow, the security added by such tokens is defeated perhaps due to there being certain surveillance deliberately monitoring such technology. Copy-and-paste functionality might overcome such monitoring, because adversaries might not be considering the copy-and-paste functionality so much. Copy-and-paste functionality can overcome key-loggers, because recording the key presses associated with using the functionality does not reveal the actual pasted text.

The Google password manager/vault master password in such a set-up would be a particular point of attack. Fortunately, the free security generally available with Google accounts, seems to be good. Things like security alerts concerning unusual logins to your account, help to keep security at a high level. The master password would have to be changed on a regular basis to ensure security. I may just end-up doing it once per week, in tandem with creating a new paper-based keyboard scrambler/cipher each week.

By only needing to remember one master password, and because that password would be used each working day, the password memorisation work would hopefully be much less. In contrast, several passwords that are each used on average just once per month, might take significantly more resources for memorisation, both for all of them together, as well as for any one of them. Practice makes perfect, and repetition each day helps with memorisation.

== Perhaps add info under § ⟪Digital cryptography: security certificates, keys & tokens⟫, about the requirement to keep public-key security certificates up-to-date? ==

Maintaining an up-to-date cache of public-key security certificates is likely important when only using a static historic copy of an OS—perhaps on a live DVD—in order that the security of internet communications be maintained. To this end, downloading the latest certificates to some secure storage in such circumstances, perhaps each day, or each week, probably would be a good idea. It may be no use updating the cache just when it is detected that internet communications have become compromised, because downloading the latest certificates with compromised certificates, is open to MITM attack where the man in the middle can keep modifying your downloads so that you only download bogus certificates. When your OS is installed to a rewritable system disk instead (rather than being a static version), the OS will likely apply security updates of its own accord, to make sure its cache of certificates is kept sufficiently up-to-date.

Are collision attacks a serious threat to the security of digital signatures (such as those used for signing firmware)?
The info in the table under the section "Cryptanalysis and validation" of the Wikipedia article on SHA-2, appears to indicate that they might be.

" ... Definitely not formally a security researcher (by any means), but just was wondering whether due to the signatures likely being relatively short, collision attacks (based on hash collisions, where two different messages can produce the same signature? [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collision_attack]) could be used to sign rogue firmware components. You could have a small malware program, then bulk it up with "dead" redundant code (doesn't get used) in such fashion that you manage to get it matched to some valid signature. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flame_(malware) . ..." - https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=286049&start=50#p1737381