title: Stark effect

text: The effect is named after the German physicist Johannes Stark, who discovered it in 1913. It was independently discovered in the same year by the Italian physicist Antonino Lo Surdo, and in Italy it is thus sometimes called the Stark–Lo Surdo effect. The discovery of this effect contributed importantly to the development of quantum theory and Stark was awarded with the Nobel Prize in Physics in the year 1919.


title: Stark effect

text: Inspired by the magnetic Zeeman effect, and especially by Hendrik Lorentz's explanation of it, Woldemar Voigt performed classical mechanical calculations of quasi-elastically bound electrons in an electric field. By using experimental indices of refraction he gave an estimate of the Stark splittings. This estimate was a few orders of magnitude too low. Not deterred by this prediction, Stark undertook measurements on excited states of the hydrogen atom and succeeded in observing splittings.


title: Stark effect

text: By the use of the Bohr–Sommerfeld ("old") quantum theory, Paul Epstein and Karl Schwarzschild were independently able to derive equations for the linear and quadratic Stark effect in hydrogen. Four years later, Hendrik Kramers derived formulas for intensities of spectral transitions. Kramers also included the effect of fine structure, with corrections for relativistic kinetic energy and coupling between electron spin and orbital motion. The first quantum mechanical treatment (in the framework of Werner Heisenberg's matrix mechanics) was by Wolfgang Pauli. Erwin Schrödinger discussed at length the Stark effect in his third paper on quantum theory (in which he introduced his perturbation theory), once in the manner of the 1916 work of Epstein (but generalized from the old to the new quantum theory) and once by his (first-order) perturbation approach.


title: Stark effect

text: Finally, Epstein reconsidered the linear and quadratic Stark effect from the point of view of the new quantum theory. He derived equations for the line intensities which were a decided improvement over Kramers's results obtained by the old quantum theory.


title: Stark effect

text: While the first-order-perturbation (linear) Stark effect in hydrogen is in agreement with both the old Bohr–Sommerfeld model and the quantum-mechanical theory of the atom, higher-order corrections are not. Measurements of the Stark effect under high field strengths confirmed the correctness of the new quantum theory.


title: Stark effect

text: An electric field pointing from left to right, for example, tends to pull nuclei to the right and electrons to the left. In another way of viewing it, if an electronic state has its electron disproportionately to the left, its energy is lowered, while if it has the electron disproportionately to the right, its energy is raised.


title: Stark effect

text: Other things being equal, the effect of the electric field is greater for outer electron shells, because the electron is more distant from the nucleus, so it travels farther left and farther right.


title: Stark effect

text: The Stark effect can lead to splitting of degenerate energy levels. For example, in the Bohr model, an electron has the same energy whether it is in the 2s state or any of the 2p states. However, in an electric field, there will be hybrid orbitals (also called quantum superpositions) of the 2s and 2p states where the electron tends to be to the left, which will acquire a lower energy, and other hybrid orbitals where the electron tends to be to the right, which will acquire a higher energy. Therefore, the formerly degenerate energy levels will split into slightly lower and slightly higher energy levels.


title: Stark effect

text: The Stark effect originates from the interaction between a charge distribution (atom or molecule) and an external electric field.


title: Stark effect

text: The interaction energy of a continuous charge distribution formula_1, confined within a finite volume formula_2, with an external electrostatic potential formula_3 is


title: Stark effect

text: If the potential varies weakly over the charge distribution, the multipole expansion converges fast, so only a few first terms give an accurate approximation. Namely, keeping only the zero- and first-order terms,


title: Stark effect

text: where we introduced the electric field formula_6 and assumed the origin 0 to be somewhere within formula_2.


title: Stark effect

text: where formula_9 and formula_10 are, respectively, the total charge (zero moment) and the dipole moment of the charge distribution.


title: Stark effect

text: Classical macroscopic objects are usually neutral or quasi-neutral (formula_11), so the first, monopole, term in the expression above is identically zero. This is also the case for a neutral atom or molecule. However, for an ion this is no longer true. Nevertheless, it is often justified to omit it in this case, too. Indeed, the Stark effect is observed in spectral lines, which are emitted when an electron "jumps" between two bound states. Since such a transition only alters the internal degrees of freedom of the radiator but not its charge, the effects of the monopole interaction on the initial and final states exactly cancel each other.


title: Stark effect

text: Turning now to quantum mechanics an atom or a molecule can be thought of as a collection of point charges (electrons and nuclei), so that the second definition of the dipole applies. The interaction of atom or molecule with a uniform external field is described by the operator


title: Stark effect

text: This operator is used as a perturbation in first- and second-order perturbation theory to account for the first- and second-order Stark effect.


title: Stark effect

text: Let the unperturbed atom or molecule be in a "g"-fold degenerate state with orthonormal zeroth-order state functions formula_13. (Non-degeneracy is the special case "g" = 1). According to perturbation theory the first-order energies are the eigenvalues of the "g" × "g" matrix with general element


title: Stark effect

text: If "g" = 1 (as is often the case for electronic states of molecules) the first-order energy becomes proportional to the expectation (average) value of the dipole operator formula_15,


title: Stark effect

text: Because the electric dipole moment is a vector (tensor of the first rank), the diagonal elements of the perturbation matrix V vanish between states with a certain parity. Atoms and molecules possessing inversion symmetry do not have a (permanent) dipole moment and hence do not show a linear Stark effect.


title: Stark effect

text: In order to obtain a non-zero matrix V for systems with an inversion center it is necessary that some of the unperturbed functions formula_17 have opposite parity (obtain plus and minus under inversion), because only functions of opposite parity give non-vanishing matrix elements. Degenerate zeroth-order states of opposite parity occur for excited hydrogen-like (one-electron) atoms or Rydberg states. Neglecting fine-structure effects, such a state with the principal quantum number "n" is "n"-fold degenerate and


title: Stark effect

text: where formula_19 is the azimuthal (angular momentum) quantum number. For instance, the excited "n" = 4 state contains the following formula_20 states,


title: Stark effect

text: The one-electron states with even formula_20 are even under parity, while those with odd formula_20 are odd under parity. Hence hydrogen-like atoms with "n">1 show first-order Stark effect.


title: Stark effect

text: The first-order Stark effect occurs in rotational transitions of symmetric top molecules (but not for linear and asymmetric molecules). In first approximation a molecule may be seen as a rigid rotor. A symmetric top rigid rotor has the unperturbed eigenstates


title: Stark effect

text: Here "D" is an element of the Wigner D-matrix. The first-order perturbation matrix on basis of the unperturbed rigid rotor function is non-zero and can be diagonalized. This gives shifts and splittings


title: Stark effect

text: in the rotational spectrum. Quantitative analysis of these Stark shift yields the permanent electric dipole moment of the symmetric top molecule.


title: Stark effect

text: As stated, the quadratic Stark effect is described by second-order perturbation theory. The zeroth-order eigenproblem


title: Stark effect

text: Neglecting the hyperfine structure (which is often justified — unless extremely weak electric fields are considered), the polarizability tensor of atoms is isotropic,


title: Stark effect

text: It is important to note that for the ground state formula_29 is "always" positive, i.e., the quadratic Stark shift is always negative.


title: Stark effect

text: The perturbative treatment of the Stark effect has some problems. In the presence of an electric field, states of atoms and molecules that were previously bound (square-integrable), become formally (non-square-integrable) resonances of finite width. These resonances may decay in finite time via field ionization. For low lying states and not too strong fields the decay times are so long, however, that for all practical purposes the system can be regarded as bound. For highly excited states and/or very strong fields ionization may have to be accounted for. (See also the article on the Rydberg atom).


title: Stark effect

text: The Stark effect is at the basis of the spectral shift measured for voltage-sensitive dyes used for imaging of the firing activity of neurons.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: Pickering (2021 population 99,186) is a city located in Southern Ontario, Canada, immediately east of Toronto in Durham Region.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: Beginning in the 1770s, the area was settled by primarily ethnic British colonists. An increase in population occurred after the American Revolutionary War, when the Crown resettled Loyalists and encouraged new immigration. Many of the smaller rural communities have been preserved and function as provincially significant historic sites and museums. The city also includes the development of Durham Live, a multi-billion-dollar casino complex.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: The present-day Pickering was Aboriginal territory for thousands of years. The Wyandot (called the Huron by Europeans), who spoke an Iroquoian language, were the historical people living here in the 15th century. Archeological remains of a large village have been found here, known as the Draper Site. Later, the Wyandot moved northwest to Georgian Bay, where they established their historic homeland. There they encountered French explorers in the early 17th century, followed by missionaries and fur traders.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: The first recorded history of this area was made in 1669, when the French Jesuit missionary François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon noted reaching what he called the Seneca (more likely the Onondaga) village of Gandatsetiagon, on the shores of Frenchman's Bay (for whom it would be named). The Onondaga (and the Seneca) were among the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. The Onondaga (and other Iroquois) generally occupied territory to the south and west of Lakes Ontario and Erie in present-day New York that extended into Pennsylvania and the Ohio Valley, where they maintained hunting grounds. (The Seneca were located farther west, near Seneca Lake, among the Finger Lakes. Fenelon wintered at the village and started missionary work with this people.)


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: The British took over Canada in 1763 following defeat of the French in the Seven Years' War, known in Colonial America as the French and Indian War. They likely completed survey of the township about 1776. British colonial settlers were steadily migrating into the area from eastern areas of Canada. There is some controversy over the identity of the earliest European settler in the area. One of the candidates is Mike Duffin, who settled in what later became the Pickering Village (now in Ajax), possibly in the 1770s. The other candidate is Benjamin Wilson of Vermont, who probably lived in Pickering for sometime, before moving to Whitby in 1794.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: In the 1780s, the present-day Pickering area was a part of the Nassau District of the Province of Quebec. In 1791, Augustus Jones undertook a survey of the area, establishing the baseline and some of the concessions. The same year, the District was transferred to the newly-created province of Upper Canada. In 1792, the district was renamed Home District, and Pickering was established as a township.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: The township was originally called "Edinburgh" but in 1792 was renamed after Pickering, North Yorkshire. Pickering Village, now part of Ajax, emerged as the major population and commercial centre of the Pickering Township in the early 19th century. The conversion of a local trail into the Kingston Road in 1799 contributed greatly to the increased settlement in the area. In 1807, Quakers led by Timothy Rogers settled in the area, and by 1809, the population of Pickering Township consisted of 180 people, most of whom lived along the Duffins Creek. In 1811, the Pickering Township became a separate municipality. Several sawmills, gristmills, taverns, and other businesses operated in the area. During the War of 1812, the maintenance of the Kingston Road improved because of the increased military traffic and further contributed to the development of the area.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: In the 19th century, several other small communities developed in the Duffins Creek watershed, within the Pickering Township. These included Whitevale, Brougham, Green River, Claremont, Altona, Greenwood, and Balsam. A few communities also developed in the smaller Carruthers Creek watershed, including Audley (now part of Ajax), Kinsale, and Salem. In 1849, the village of Dunbarton was established along the Dunbarton Creek. The Grand Trunk Railway reached the Township in 1856.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: Pickering was represented in the Mackenzie Rebellion of 1837. One of its leaders, Peter Matthews, had been one of the most prominent members of the community. In 1851, the Pickering Township was severed from the York County, and became a part of the newly-established Ontario County.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: In the later decades of the 19th century, a fall in the demand for wheat led to economic decline in the primarily-agricultural township. The township lost over 40% of its population in the second half of the 19th century, and the decline continued in the first half of the 20th century.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: In the first half of the 20th cenutry, two new communities emerged in the Pickering Township: the cottage community of Pickering Beach and the self-contained community around the federal government-owned Defence Industries Limited Pickering Works munitions plant. Both areas are now part of Ajax. After the World War II, urbanization began in the southern part of Pickering, and later spread to other parts of the Township.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: On 1 January 1974, the Ontario County was dissolved, and the area became part of the Regional Municipality of Durham. The southeastern portion of the Pickering Township, including the Pickering Village and Pickering High School, became part of the independent town of Ajax. The rest of the township became the Town of Pickering, which in 2000, became the City of Pickering.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: In the last quarter of the 20th century, much of the government-owned land in northern Pickering sat idle because of uncertainty over the proposed Pickering Airport. That included the land expropriated by the federal government for the airport and the adjacent land expropriated by the provincial government for the proposed Seaton community that would benefit from the airport.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: The development of Seaton picked up pace in the 21st century, but as of 2022, only 1,549 of the 20,989 planned units had been built. The city also considered the development of a new community called Veraine, to be built in northeastern Pickering. The city also saw a rise in the number of high-rise condos.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: Toronto, Markham, and Rouge Park border Pickering on the west; Ajax and Whitby border Pickering on the east; Uxbridge is to the north; and Lake Ontario forms Pickering's southern boundary.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: The southern part of the city is mainly suburban, with industrial areas restricted to the area around Pickering Nuclear Generating Station. Most of the suburban areas were built as subdivisions after World War II, starting in the area around Frenchman's Bay. Prior to the war, the few suburban areas in the township were the communities of Dunbarton, Fairport Beach, Liverpool Market, and Rouge Hill. Squires Beach, located by the lakeshore in the southeast part of the city, is now a ghost town as the area was cleared from 1966 to make way for the construction of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station. The only home standing in Squires Beach was built by Timothy Rogers in 1842 and relocated to Montgomery Park Road. Squires Beach Road is now cut off from the lake by a waste water treatment plant.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: The northern part of the municipality is mainly rural, primarily used for agricultural purposes. However, a number of residential developments are found in this area, and the locally controversial Seaton area also falls within this part of the city. The primary rural communities in Pickering are Claremont, Brougham, and Whitevale; a number of smaller communities exist throughout northern Pickering, such as Greenwood. John Diefenbaker, a Prime Minister of Canada, lived in Greenwood for a number of years.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: The abandoned ghost town of Altona is located there. Cherrywood, another hamlet in Pickering, is one of the few areas that are protected within the Greenbelt.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: The communities of Kinsale in the northeast and Green River on the York-Durham town line are other small communities in Pickering, with a population each of between 50 and 100 people. Most of these communities were founded in the 1700s and 1800s and have churches and historic estates that have been restored through government funding. Dixie is a small rural community situated in rural Pickering, with more contemporary buildings.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: The film industry has been very active in communities such as Whitevale, since the 1980s, due to the quality of the historical buildings and untouched nature of the landscape. The television shows "Hannibal" (2013–2015) "Suits" (2011–2019), and "American Gods" (2017) have filmed extensively in Whitevale and in other locations in Pickering.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: Nautical Village is located at Frenchman's Bay and features entertainment, a playground, a boardwalk, restaurants, shops and an art gallery.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Pickering had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: In 2021, 16.5% of the population was under 15 years of age, and 16.6% was 65 years and over. The median age in Pickering was 40.8 years.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: As per the 2021 census, the most common ethnic or cultural origins in Pickering are English (14.0%), Irish (11.5%), Scottish (11.0%), Canadian (10.6%), Indian (9.6%), Italian (5.6%), German (5.0%), Jamaican (4.3%), Filipino (4.3%), Chinese (3.9%), British Isles (3.6%), Pakistani (3.5%), Sri Lankan (3.3%), and French (3.3%). Indigenous people made up 1.1% of the population, mostly First Nations (0.5%) and Métis (0.5%). Ethnocultural backgrounds in the town included European (47.0%), South Asian (21.2%), Black (11.4%), Filipino (4.1%), Chinese (3.0%), West Asian (2.1%), Arab (1.7%), and Latin American (1.5%).


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: Immigrants made up 36.3% of the population in 2021. The top places of birth of the immigrant population were India (11.2%), Sri Lanka (8.2%), Pakistan (7.9%), Philippines (7.5%), Jamaica (7.2%), the United Kingdom (7.0%), Guyana (6.6%), Trinidad and Tobago (3.7%), China (2.7%), Bangladesh (2.5%), Afghanistan (2.4%), and the United States (1.7%).


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: In 2021, 53.7% of the population identified as Christian, with Catholics (25.7%) making up the largest denomination, followed by Anglican (3.9%), Orthodox (3.8%), United Church (3.0%), and other denominations. 23.2% of the population reported no religious affiliation. Others identified as Muslim (12.6%), Hindu (8.3%), Sikh (0.8%), Buddhist (0.5%), and with other religions.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: The 2021 census found English to be the mother tongue of 69.2% of the population. This was followed by Urdu (3.1%), Tamil (3.0%), Tagalog (1.8%), Arabic (1.2%), Spanish (1.1%), French (1.1%), Italian (1.0%), Gujarati (1.0%), Dari (0.9%), Mandarin (0.8%), and Cantonese (0.8%). Of the official languages, 98.6% of the population reported knowing English and 7.3% French.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: Pickering is home to the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, an eight-reactor facility with a capacity of 4,120 megawatts. The first station, Pickering A, opened with four reactors in 1971. Ontario Power Generation, the plants' operator, is the largest single employer in the city. In 2001, the wind-powered OPG 7 Commemorative Turbine was opened on the generating station site. The nuclear power plant is expected to start decommissioning in 2024.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: A number of manufacturers are also located in the city. Major employers include Yorkville Sound (audio equipment), the Canadian headquarters of Purdue Pharma (pharmaceuticals and health & beauty products), Hubbell Canada (electrical equipment), PSB Speakers – Lenbrook (stereo equipment) and Eco-Tec Inc. (industrial water purification and chemical recovery systems).


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: Pickering is a founding member of the Durham Strategic Energy Alliance or DSEA. The nucleus of the DSEA is primarily Pickering businesses, such as Ontario Power Generation, Veridian, Siemens/Trench, Tetra Tech WEI, AECL, Intellimeter, Areva and Eco-Tec Inc.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: Other notable organizations with headquarters in Pickering include: Municipal Property Assessment Corporation. MPAC performs value assessment for property tax purposes for all municipalities in Ontario. In 2012 Search Engine People, Canada's largest Internet-marketing company, moved to Pickering's downtown. The International Institute of Business Analysis is also headquartered in Pickering.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: In 2006, "Profit" magazine recognized Pickering as one of the top 10 cities in Canada for growing a business.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: In 2013, the Region of Durham released its Business Count (Employment Survey), which indicated that Pickering has the most jobs amongst Durham Region municipalities, with 29,000+ positions. This figure represents a near 1/3 ratio of jobs to residents.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: With the implementation of Seaton and downtown intensification, the Province of Ontario's planning anticipates the creation of 40,000 new jobs for Pickering over the next two decades.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: Pickering has planned a downtown intensification program, which includes new condominium developments around the Pickering GO station and Pickering Town Centre. Pickering Town Centre is a two-story mall located in Pickering. An enclosed pedestrian bridge constructed over the 14 lanes of highway 401 was a recent development that has contributed to Pickering's push for more density downtown. The project Durham Live in south Pickering received approval for construction in 2017. It will include a water park, film studio, five star hotel, performing arts theater and possibly a casino.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: The city council consists of a mayor, three regional councillors, and three city councillors. The mayor and regional councillors sit on the council and also represent the city at Durham Regional Council. The city councillors sit on city council only. Pickering is divided into three wards of roughly equal population, with one city councillor and one regional councillor elected to represent each ward, in what are known as single-member districts.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: Transit service began in Pickering with the Bay Shores dial-a-bus, which began in 1970–1973. In 2001 Pickering Transit merged with former Ajax Transit to form the Ajax-Pickering Transit Authority (APTA). In 2006, the regional transit system Durham Region Transit took over operations in the Durham Regional Municipality.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: The Pickering GO station offers public rail transit on an east-west axis. In 2012, Pickering's landmark bridge opened – connecting the Pickering GO station to the City's downtown core.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: Durham Regional Roads serve the city, north and south. Highway 401 runs near the south end of Pickering and Highway 407 ETR runs through the mid-north of the City.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: Pickering Airport was a planned second major airport for the Greater Toronto Area. Lands were expropriated in north Pickering in 1972 but the plan was stopped. As of 2021 no firm plans for the airport exist.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: Police services in Pickering are provided by the Durham Regional Police from a division office located in the eastern section of the city. Officers from this location also patrol Ajax. Pickering Fire Services operates from four stations with a force of all full-time firefighters. Claremont Fire Hall is now fully staffed by full-time firefighters 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Ambulance/emergency medical services are provided by Durham Region.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: Pickering is served by the Durham District School Board, the Durham Catholic District School Board, the Conseil scolaire Viamonde and the Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud. As of early 2007, the public board operates 17 elementary schools and two secondary schools, Dunbarton High School and Pine Ridge Secondary School (Pickering High School was previously located in Pickering, but was transferred to Ajax when the city boundaries were changed). The Catholic board runs eight elementary schools and one secondary school, Saint Mary Catholic Secondary School. The French public school board operates École Ronald-Marion, which serves both elementary and secondary students.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: Blaisdale Montessori School, a private school chain, has several locations throughout Pickering serving children from preschool age to grade 8. There is also a private elementary and junior high school there called Montessori Learning Centre. Also serving the Durham Region is Durham Secondary Academy and Middle School, an inspected private high school and middle school for grades 5 to 12.


title: Pickering, Ontario

text: In September 2012, the Durham College/Centennial College Joint Learning Site opened at the north terminus of the pedestrian bridge. The Joint Learning Site offers primarily graduate certificate programs, with a number of complementary courses and classes. At the time of its opening, it was the only public post-secondary institution in the Province of Ontario with a direct connection to public transit.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: Perseus is a constellation in the northern sky, being named after the Greek mythological hero Perseus. It is one of the 48 ancient constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and among the 88 modern constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). It is located near several other constellations named after ancient Greek legends surrounding Perseus, including Andromeda to the west and Cassiopeia to the north. Perseus is also bordered by Aries and Taurus to the south, Auriga to the east, Camelopardalis to the north, and Triangulum to the west. Some star atlases during the early 19th century also depicted Perseus holding the disembodied head of Medusa, whose asterism was named together as "Perseus et Caput Medusae"; however, this never came into popular usage.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: The galactic plane of the Milky Way passes through Perseus, whose brightest star is the yellow-white supergiant Alpha Persei (also called Mirfak), which shines at magnitude 1.79. It and many of the surrounding stars are members of an open cluster known as the Alpha Persei Cluster. The best-known star, however, is Algol (Beta Persei), linked with ominous legends because of its variability, which is noticeable to the naked eye. Rather than being an intrinsically variable star, it is an eclipsing binary. Other notable star systems in Perseus include X Persei, a binary system containing a neutron star, and GK Persei, a nova that peaked at magnitude 0.2 in 1901. The Double Cluster, comprising two open clusters quite near each other in the sky, was known to the ancient Chinese. The constellation gives its name to the Perseus cluster (Abell 426), a massive galaxy cluster located 250 million light-years from Earth. It hosts the radiant of the annual Perseids meteor shower—one of the most prominent meteor showers in the sky.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: In Greek mythology, Perseus was the son of Danaë, who was sent by King Polydectes to bring the head of Medusa the Gorgon—whose visage caused all who gazed upon her to turn to stone. Perseus slew Medusa in her sleep, and Pegasus and Chrysaor appeared from her body. Perseus continued to the realm of Cepheus whose daughter Andromeda was to be sacrificed to Cetus the sea monster.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: Perseus rescued Andromeda from the monster by killing it with his sword. He turned Polydectes and his followers to stone with Medusa's head and appointed Dictys the fisherman king. Perseus and Andromeda married and had six children. In the sky, Perseus lies near the constellations Andromeda, Cepheus, Cassiopeia (Andromeda's mother), Cetus, and Pegasus.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: In Neo-Assyrian Babylonia (911–605 BC), the constellation of Perseus was known as the "Old Man" constellation (SU.GI), then associated with East in the MUL.APIN, an astronomical text from the 7th century.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: Four Chinese constellations are contained in the area of the sky identified with Perseus in the West. "Tiānchuán" (天船), the Celestial Boat, was the third paranatellon (A star or constellation which rises at the same time as another star or object) of the third house of the White Tiger of the West, representing the boats that Chinese people were reminded to build in case of a catastrophic flood season. Incorporating stars from the northern part of the constellation, it contained Mu, Delta, Psi, Alpha, Gamma and Eta Persei. "Jīshuǐ" (積水), the Swollen Waters, was the fourth paranatellon of the aforementioned house, representing the potential of unusually high floods during the end of August and beginning of September at the beginning of the flood season. Lambda and possibly Mu Persei lay within it. "Dàlíng" (大陵), the Great Trench, was the fifth paranatellon of that house, representing the trenches where criminals executed en masse in August were interred. It was formed by Kappa, Omega, Rho, 24, 17 and 15 Persei. The pile of corpses prior to their interment was represented by "Jīshī" (積屍, Pi Persei), the sixth paranatellon of the house. The Double Cluster, h and Chi Persei, had special significance in Chinese astronomy.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: In Polynesia, Perseus was not commonly recognized as a separate constellation; the only people that named it were those of the Society Islands, who called it "Faa-iti", meaning "Little Valley". Algol may have been named "Matohi" by the Māori people, but the evidence for this identification is disputed. "Matohi" ("Split") occasionally came into conflict with "Tangaroa-whakapau" over which of them should appear in the sky, the outcome affecting the tides. It matches the Maori description of a blue-white star near Aldebaran but does not disappear as the myth would indicate.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: Perseus is bordered by Aries and Taurus to the south, Auriga to the east, Camelopardalis and Cassiopeia to the north, and Andromeda and Triangulum to the west. Covering 615 square degrees, it ranks twenty-fourth of the 88 constellations in size. It appears prominently in the northern sky during the Northern Hemisphere's spring. Its main asterism consists of 19 stars. The constellation's boundaries, as set by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a 26-sided polygon. In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between and , while the declination coordinates are between and . The International Astronomical Union (IAU) adopted the three-letter abbreviation "Per" for the constellation in 1922.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: Algol (from the Arabic رأس الغول "Ra's al-Ghul", which means "The Demon's Head"), also known by its Bayer designation Beta Persei, is the best-known star in Perseus. Representing the head of the Gorgon Medusa in Greek mythology, it was called Horus in Egyptian mythology and "Rosh ha Satan" ("Satan's Head") in Hebrew. Located 92.8 light-years from Earth, it varies in apparent magnitude from a minimum of 3.5 to a maximum of 2.3 over a period of 2.867 days.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: The star system is the prototype of a group of eclipsing binary stars named Algol variables, though it has a third member to make up what is actually a triple star system. The brightest component is a blue-white main-sequence star of spectral type B8V, which is 3.5 times as massive and 180 times as luminous as the Sun. The secondary component is an orange subgiant star of type K0IV that has begun cooling and expanding to 3.5 times the radius of the Sun, and has 4.5 times the luminosity and 80% of its mass. These two are separated by only 0.05 astronomical units (AU)—five percent of the distance between the Earth and Sun; the main dip in brightness arises when the larger fainter companion passes in front of the hotter brighter primary. The tertiary component is a main sequence star of type A7, which is located on average 2.69 AU from the other two stars. AG Persei is another Algol variable in Perseus, whose primary component is a B-type main sequence star with an apparent magnitude of 6.69. Phi Persei is a double star, although the two components do not eclipse each other. The primary star is a Be star of spectral type B0.5, possibly a giant star, and the secondary companion is likely a stellar remnant. The secondary has a similar spectral type to O-type subdwarfs.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: With the historical name Mirfak (Arabic for "elbow") or Algenib, Alpha Persei is the brightest star of this constellation with an apparent magnitude of 1.79. A supergiant of spectral type F5Ib located around 590 light-years away from Earth, Mirfak has 5,000 times the luminosity and 42 times the diameter of the Sun. It is the brightest member of the Alpha Persei Cluster (also known as "Melotte 20" and "Collinder 39"), which is an open cluster containing many luminous stars. Neighboring bright stars that are members include the Be stars Delta (magnitude 3.0), Psi (4.3), and 48 Persei (4.0); the Beta Cephei variable Epsilon Persei (2.9); and the stars 29 (5.2), 30 (5.5), 31 (5.0), and 34 Persei (4.7). Of magnitude 4.05, nearby Iota Persei has been considered a member of the group, but is actually located a mere 34 light-years distant. This star is very similar to the Sun, shining with 2.2 times its luminosity. It is a yellow main sequence star of spectral type G0V. Extensive searches have failed to find evidence of it having a planetary system.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: Zeta Persei is the third-brightest star in the constellation at magnitude 2.86. Around 750 light-years from Earth, it is a blue-white supergiant 26–27 times the radius of the Sun and 47,000 times its luminosity. It is the brightest star (as seen from Earth) of a moving group of bright blue-white giant and supergiant stars, the Perseus OB2 Association or Zeta Persei Association. Zeta is a triple star system, with a companion blue-white main sequence star of spectral type B8 and apparent magnitude 9.16 around 3,900 AU distant from the primary, and a white main sequence star of magnitude 9.90 and spectral type A2, some 50,000 AU away, that may or may not be gravitationally bound to the other two. X Persei is a double system in this association; one component is a hot, bright star and the other is a neutron star. With an apparent magnitude of 6.72, it is too dim to be seen with the naked eye even in perfectly dark conditions. The system is an X-ray source and the primary star appears to be undergoing substantial mass loss. Once thought to be a member of the Perseus OB2 Association, Omicron Persei (Atik) is a multiple star system with a combined visual magnitude of 3.85. It is composed of two blue-white stars—a giant of spectral class B1.5 and main sequence star of B3—which orbit each other every 4.5 days and are distorted into ovoids due to their small separation. The system has a third star about which little is known. At an estimated distance of 1,475 light-years from Earth, the system is now thought to lie too far from the center of the Zeta Persei group to belong to it.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: GRO J0422+32 (V518 Persei) is another X-ray binary in Perseus. One component is a red dwarf star of spectral type M4.5V, which orbits a mysterious dense and heavy object—possibly a black hole—every 5.1 hours. The system is an X-ray nova, meaning that it experiences periodic outbursts in the X-ray band of the electromagnetic spectrum. If the system does indeed contain a black hole, it would be the smallest one ever recorded. Further analysis in 2012 calculated a mass of 2.1 solar masses, which raises questions as to what the object actually is as it appears to be too small to be a black hole.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: GK Persei, also known as Nova Persei 1901, is a bright nova that appeared halfway between Algol and Delta Persei. Discovered on 21 February 1901 by Scottish amateur astronomer Thomas David Anderson, it peaked at magnitude 0.2—almost as bright as Capella and Vega. It faded to magnitude 13 around 30 years after its peak brightness. Xi Persei, traditionally known as Menkhib, a blue giant of spectral type O7III, is one of the hottest bright stars in the sky, with a surface temperature of 37,500 K. It is one of the more massive stars, being between 26 and 32 solar masses, and is 330,000 times as luminous as our Sun.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: Named Gorgonea Tertia, Rho Persei varies in brightness like Algol, but is a pulsating rather than eclipsing star. At an advanced stage of stellar evolution, it is a red giant that has expanded for the second time to have a radius around 150 times that of our Sun. Its helium has been fused into heavier elements and its core is composed of carbon and oxygen. It is a semiregular variable star of the Mu Cephei type, whose apparent magnitude varies between 3.3 and 4.0 with periods of 50, 120 and 250 days. The Double Cluster contains three even larger stars, each over 700 solar radii: S, RS, and SU Persei are all semiregular pulsating M-type supergiants. The stars are not visible to the naked eye; SU Persei, the brightest of the three, has an apparent magnitude of 7.9 and thus is visible through binoculars. AX Persei is another binary star, the primary component is a red giant in an advanced phase of stellar evolution, which is transferring material onto an accretion disc around a smaller star. The star system is one of the few eclipsing symbiotic binaries, but is unusual because the secondary star is not a white dwarf, but an A-type star. DY Persei is a variable star that is the prototype of DY Persei variables, which are carbon-rich R Coronae Borealis variables that exhibit the variability of asymptotic giant branch stars. DY Persei itself is a carbon star that is too dim to see through binoculars, with an apparent magnitude of 10.6.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: Seven stars in Perseus have been found to have planetary systems. V718 Persei is a star in the young open cluster IC 348 that appears to be periodically eclipsed by a giant planet every 4.7 years. This has been inferred to be an object with a maximum mass of 6 times that of Jupiter and an orbital radius of 3.3 AU.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: The galactic plane of the Milky Way passes through Perseus, but is much less obvious than elsewhere in the sky as it is mostly obscured by molecular clouds. The Perseus Arm is a spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy and stretches across the sky from the constellation Cassiopeia through Perseus and Auriga to Gemini and Monoceros. This segment is towards the rim of the galaxy.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: Within the Perseus Arm lie two open clusters (NGC 869 and NGC 884) known as the Double Cluster. Sometimes known as h and Chi (χ) Persei, respectively, they are easily visible through binoculars and small telescopes. Both lie more than 7,000 light-years from Earth and are several hundred light-years apart. Both clusters are of approximately magnitude 4 and 0.5 degrees in diameter. The two are Trumpler class I 3 r clusters, though NGC 869 is a Shapley class f and NGC 884 is a Shapley class e cluster. These classifications indicate that they are both quite rich (dense); NGC 869 is the richer of the pair. The clusters are both distinct from the surrounding star field and are clearly concentrated at their centers. The constituent stars, numbering over 100 in each cluster, range widely in brightness.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: M34 is an open cluster that appears at magnitude 5.5, and is approximately 1,500 light-years from Earth. It contains about 100 stars scattered over a field of view larger than that of the full moon. M34 can be resolved with good eyesight but is best viewed using a telescope at low magnifications. IC 348 is a somewhat young open cluster that is still contained within the nebula from which its stars formed. It is located about 1,027 light-years from Earth, is about 2 million years old, and contains many stars with circumstellar disks. Many brown dwarfs have been discovered in this cluster due to its age; since brown dwarfs cool as they age, it is easier to find them in younger clusters.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: There are many nebulae in Perseus. M76 is a planetary nebula, also called the Little Dumbbell Nebula. It appears two arc-minutes by one arc-minute across and has an apparent brightness of magnitude 10.1. NGC 1499, also known as the California Nebula, is an emission nebula that was discovered in 1884–85 by American astronomer Edward E. Barnard. It is very difficult to observe visually because its low surface brightness makes it appear dimmer than most other emission nebulae. NGC 1333 is a reflection nebula and a star-forming region. Perseus also contains a giant molecular cloud, called the Perseus molecular cloud; it belongs to the Orion Spur and is known for its low rate of star formation compared to similar clouds.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: Perseus contains some notable galaxies. NGC 1023 is a barred spiral galaxy of magnitude 10.35, around from Earth. It is the principal member of the NGC 1023 group of galaxies and is possibly interacting with another galaxy. NGC 1260 is either a lenticular or tightly wound spiral galaxy about from Earth. It was the host galaxy of the supernova SN 2006gy, one of the brightest ever recorded. It is a member of the Perseus Cluster (Abell 426), a massive galaxy cluster located from Earth. With a redshift of 0.0179, Abell 426 is the closest major cluster to the Earth. NGC 1275, a component of the cluster, is a Seyfert galaxy containing an active nucleus that produces jets of material, surrounding the galaxy with massive bubbles. These bubbles create sound waves that travel through the Perseus Cluster, sounding a B flat 57 octaves below middle C. This galaxy is a cD galaxy that has undergone many galactic mergers throughout its existence, as evidenced by the "high velocity system"—the remnants of a smaller galaxy—surrounding it. Its active nucleus is a strong source of radio waves. 3C 31 is an active galaxy and radio source in Perseus 237 million light-years from Earth (redshift 0.0173). Its jets, caused by the supermassive black hole at its center, extend several million light-years in opposing directions, making them some of the largest objects in the universe.


title: Perseus (constellation)

text: The Perseids are a prominent annual meteor shower that appear to radiate from Perseus from mid-July, peaking in activity between 9 and 14 August each year. Associated with Comet Swift–Tuttle, they have been observed for about 2,000 years. The September Epsilon Perseids, discovered in 2012, are a meteor shower with an unknown parent body in the Oort cloud.


title: Stephen Geoffreys

text: Stephen Geoffrey Miller (born November 22, 1964), known professionally as Stephen Geoffreys, is an American actor. Rising to prominence in teen films in the 1980s, Geoffreys is perhaps best known for his role as high school misfit-turned vampire, "Evil Ed" in the 1985 horror film "Fright Night", in addition to both starring and supporting performances in "Heaven Help Us" (1985), "Fraternity Vacation" (1985), "At Close Range" (1986), and "976-EVIL" (1988).


title: Stephen Geoffreys

text: Born Stephen Geoffrey Miller in Cincinnati, Ohio, Geoffreys first began acting on the stage. In 1984, he was nominated for Broadway's Tony Award for "Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical" for his performance in a play based on "The Human Comedy". For this role, he won the Theatre World Award in 1984.


title: Stephen Geoffreys

text: Geoffreys appeared in several horror and teen films in the 1980s, most notably "Heaven Help Us" (1985) as well as "Fraternity Vacation" and "976-EVIL" with the director/actor Robert Englund from "A Nightmare on Elm Street" in 1989. He also played a supporting part in the critically acclaimed drama "At Close Range" in 1986. He is best known for playing the teenage misfit-turned vampire "Evil" Ed in the 1985 vampire horror film "Fright Night", also starring Roddy McDowall, William Ragsdale, and Chris Sarandon. Geoffreys was asked to reprise his role in "Fright Night Part 2" but turned it down to play the lead role in "976-EVIL".


title: Stephen Geoffreys

text: During the 1990s, Geoffreys appeared for several years in gay pornographic movies, using the alias Sam Ritter.


title: Stephen Geoffreys

text: Geoffreys returned to horror in a supporting role as "Mr. Putski" in the independent film "Sick Girl", released in October 2007, after an almost 9-year absence from mainstream film. He went on to play a lead role in the horror film "Do Not Disturb". He later appeared in the horror film "Emerging Past", which also featured actor Brooke McCarter of "The Lost Boys" fame. As part of the Mad Monster Party on 28 March 2015, Geoffreys wore his Evil Ed costume.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2 or Global Goal 2) aims to achieve "zero hunger". It is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2015. The official wording is: "End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture". SDG 2 highlights the complex inter-linkages between food security, nutrition, rural transformation and sustainable agriculture. According to the United Nations, there are around 690 million people who are hungry, which accounts for slightly less than 10 percent of the world population. One in every nine people goes to bed hungry each night, including 20 million people currently at risk of famine in South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: SDG 2 has eight targets and 14 indicators to measure progress. The five "outcome targets" are: ending hunger and improving access to food; ending all forms of malnutrition; agricultural productivity; sustainable food production systems and resilient agricultural practices; and genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals; investments, research and technology. The three "means of achieving" targets include: addressing trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets and food commodity markets and their derivatives.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Under-nutrition has been on the rise since 2015, after falling for decades. This majorly results from the various stresses in food systems that include; climate shocks, the locust crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. Those threats indirectly reduce the purchasing power and the capacity to produce and distribute food, which affects the most vulnerable populations and furthermore has reduced their accessibility to food. Up to 142 million people in 2020, have suffered from undernourishment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stunting and wasting children statistics are likely to worsen with the pandemic. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic "may add between 83 and 132 million people to the total number of undernourished in the world by the end of 2020 depending on the economic growth scenario".


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The world is not on track to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030. "The signs of increasing hunger and food insecurity are a warning that there is considerable work to be done to make sure the world "leaves no one behind" on the road towards a world with zero hunger." It is unlikely there will be an end to malnutrition in Africa by 2030.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: In September 2015, the General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that included 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Building on the principle of "leaving no one behind", the new Agenda emphasizes a holistic approach to achieving sustainable development for all. In September 2019, Heads of State and Government came together during the SDG Summit to renew their commitment to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. During this event, they acknowledged that the first four years of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda included major progress, but that overall, the world is not on track to deliver the SDGs. This is when "the decade of action" and "delivery for sustainable development" was launched, demanding stakeholders to speed up the process and efforts of implementation.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: SDG 2 aims to end all forms of malnutrition and hunger by 2030 and ensure that everyone has sufficient food throughout the year, especially children. Chronic malnutrition, which affects an estimated 155 million children worldwide, also stunts children's brain and physical development and puts them at further risk of death, disease, and lack of success as adults.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: As of 2017, only 26 of 202 UN member countries were on track to meet the SDG target to eliminate undernourishment and malnourishment, while 20 percent have made no progress at all and nearly 70 percent have no or insufficient data to determine their progress. "There is less than enough food produced today to feed every last one of us." According to FAO, there are almost 690 million people who remain chronically undernourished. This number has dropped by almost half in the past two decades because of rapid economic growth and increased agricultural productivity.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Malnutrition and extreme hunger constitute a crucial barrier to sustainable development. Both create a trap from which people cannot escape. Hungry people are less productive and easily prone to diseases. As such, they will be unable to improve their livelihood.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: SDG 2 lays the foundational way to sustaining the world's population and making sure that nobody will ever suffer from hunger. It should be done through promoting sustainable agriculture with modern technologies and fair distribution systems. Innovations in agriculture are meant to ensure increase in food production and subsequent decrease in food loss and food waste.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: SDG 2 states that by 2030 people should achieve food security by ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition. This would be accomplished by doubling agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers (especially women and indigenous peoples), by ensuring sustainable food production systems, and by progressively improving land and soil quality. Agriculture is the single largest employer in the world, providing livelihoods for 40% of the global population. It is the largest source of income for poor rural households. Women make up about 43% of the agricultural labor force in developing countries, and over 50% in parts of Asia and Africa. However, women own only 20% of the land.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: A report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) of 2013 stated that the emphasis of the SDGs should not be on ending poverty by 2030, but on eliminating hunger and under-nutrition by 2025. The assertion is based on an analysis of experiences in China, Vietnam, Brazil, and Thailand. Three pathways to achieve this were identified: 1) agriculture-led; 2) social protection- and nutrition- intervention-led; or 3) a combination of both of these approaches.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The World Food Program indicates that around 135 million people suffer from acute hunger caused by the climate change, man-made conflicts, and the economic downturns. Around 690 million people across the globe are hungry or around 8.9% of the world population. Sustainable food production system is achieved and implementing resilient agricultural practices aimed at increasing production and productivity. It also seeks to help in maintaining ecosystems and also strengthening capacity for climate change adaptation, drought, extreme weather, and other disasters.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The UN has defined 8 targets and 13 indicators for SDG 2. Four of them are to be achieved by the year 2030, one by the year 2020 and three have no target years. Each of the targets also has one or more indicators to measure progress. In total there are fourteen indicators for SDG 2. The six targets include ending hunger and increasing access to food (2.1), ending all forms of malnutrition (2.2), agricultural productivity (2.3), sustainable food production systems and resilient agricultural practices (2.4), genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals (2.5), investments, research and technology (2.a), trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets (2.b) and food commodity markets and their derivatives (2.c).


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The first target of SDG 2 is Target 2.1: "By 2030 end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round".


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Food insecurity is defined by the UN FAO as the "situation when people lack secure access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life." The UN's FAO uses the prevalence of undernourishment as the main hunger indicator.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: In order to monitor SDG target 2.1 and measure food insecurity, the FAO got inspiration from many countries leading the way and scaled their systems to the global level. The approach that they used is based on a survey that reports specific conditions and behaviors related to constraints on access to food. The "Food Insecurity Experience Scale" (FIES) survey module is composed of eight questions, carefully selected and tested, and proven effective in measuring the severity of the food insecurity situation of respondents in different cultural, linguistic and development contexts.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: It was estimated that in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic economic shocks will push between 83 and 132 million people into food insecurity.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The full title of Target 2.2 is: "By 2030 end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving by 2025 the international agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under five years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, and older persons."


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Stunted children are determined as having a height which falls below the median height-for-age of the World Health Organization's Child Growth Standards. A child is defined as "wasted" if their weight-for-height is more than two standard deviations below the median of the WHO Child Growth Standards. A child is defined as "overweight" if their weight-for-height is more than two standard deviations above the median of the WHO Child Growth Standards.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Stunting is an indicator of severe malnutrition. The impacts of stunting on child development are considered to be irreversible beyond the first 1000 days of a child's life. Stunting can have severe impacts on both cognitive and physical development throughout a person's life. Child stunting portrays linear growth and measures long-term growth faltering. According to the 2017 "High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development" (HLPF) Thematic review of SDG 2, there will be 130 million stunted children by 2025 if this trend continues. Furthermore, about 30 million will be above the global target, which is a 40% reduction in numbers of stunted children compared to a baseline of 165 million in 2012. Currently, there are: "59 million children that are stunted in Africa, 87 million in Asia, 6 million in Latin America, and the remaining 3 million in Oceania and developed countries."


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The prevalence of overweight and obesity is rapidly growing particularly in low- and middle-income countries, with a small difference between the richest and poorest in most countries. It is believed that most overweight children under 5 live in low- and middle-income countries, and the increase in overweight prevalence extends to adults, with maternal overweight reaching more than 80 percent in some high-burden countries.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, wasting (low weight for height)—which is a manifestation of acute malnutrition—is spiking in 2020.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The full title for Target 2.3: "By 2030 double the agricultural productivity and the incomes of small-scale food producers, particularly women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets, and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment".


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Small-scale producers have is systematically lower production than larger food producers. In most countries, small-scale food producers earn less than half those of larger food producers. It is too early to determine the progress done on this SDG. According to statistics division of the department of Economic and Social Affairs at the UN, the share of small-scale producers among all food producers in Africa, Asia and Latin America ranges from 40% to 85%.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The price of goods is an important indicator of the balance between agricultural production and market demand. It has a strong impact on food affordability and income. Food prices influence consumer affordability and the income of farmers and producers. In low-to-middle income countries in particular, most of the population is employed in agriculture.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: This target connects to Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality). According to "National Geographic", the pay gap between men and women in the agriculture field averages at 20-30%. When the incomes of small-scale food producers are not affected by whether the farmer is female or where they are from, farmers will be able to increase their financial stability. Being more financially stable means doubling the productivity of food. Closing the gender gap could feed 130 million people out of the 870 million undernourished people in the world. Gender equality in agriculture is essential to helping achieve zero hunger.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The full title for Target 2.4: "By 2030 ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters, and that progressively improve land and soil quality".


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: "Sustainable agriculture is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda". This indicator is purely dedicated to addressing issues related to agriculture.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: A farm was considered unsustainable if the soil is bad and the water is not well managed. However, in recent years, there has been a realization that sustainability is far beyond this. It includes economic and social dimensions, as well as putting the farmer at the centre. A farm can no longer be labelled as sustainable if it is not economically well and resilient to external factors, or if the well-being of the farmers and everyone working at the farm is put at stake.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The full title for Target 2.5: "By 2020 maintain genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants, farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at national, regional and international levels, and ensure access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge as internationally agreed."


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The FAO's Gene Bank Standards for Plant Genetic Resources is the entity that sets the benchmark for scientific and technical best practices.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Biodiversity is key to food security and nutrition, and to ensuring sustainable increases in agricultural production.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: In the case of extinction, only less than 1% of local breeds across the world have enough genetic material stored that would allow us to reconstitute the breed. There has been no progress in conserving animal genetic resources or even efforts to preserve these resources. The increasingly rapid environmental and social changes are causing threats to the diversity of both plant and animal genetic resources.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: This target is set for the year 2020, unlike most SDGs which have a target date of 2030.FAO makes sure the progress of each indicator under Target 5.1 is being met within the stated year of actualization.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The full title for Target 2.a: "increase investment, including through enhanced international cooperation in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, technology development, and plant and livestock gene banks to enhance agricultural productive capacity in developing countries, in particular in the least developed countries".


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Agriculture can be an engine for sustainable development, consequently achieving SGDs. The "Agriculture Orientation Index" (AOI) for Government Expenditures compares the central government contribution to agriculture with the sector's contribution to GDP. An AOI larger than 1 means the agriculture section receives a higher share of government spending relative to its economic value. An AOI smaller than 1 reflects a lower orientation to agriculture.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The high risk faced by agricultural producers often requires the intervention of the government when it comes to redistribution to support smallholders in distress after crop failures and livestock loss from pests, droughts, floods, infrastructure failure, or severe price changes.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: To break the vicious cycle of extreme poverty, undernourishment, and malnutrition, it is essential to accelerate growth in the agricultural economy. Economic development and public investment in agriculture are highly correlated. As mentioned in the 2017 "High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development" thematic review of SDG 2, the parts of the world in extreme poverty and hunger have stagnated values of agricultural capital per worker and public investments in agriculture.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development clearly identifies ODA (Official Development Assistance) and OOFs (Other official flows) as a "relevant element in the financing of sustainable development programmes." Here, "Other official flows (OOF) are transactions by the official sector with countries and territories which do not meet the conditions for eligibility as ODA, either because they are not primarily aimed at development or because they do not meet the minimum grant element requirement."The agricultural sector is facing several environmental challenges, including changing climate patterns, water shortages, treatment-resistant plagues and increased incidence of natural disasters. There is also an increasing food demand caused by population growth and changing consumer preferences. The challenges and demands could become important threats and risks for food security in many parts of the world. The COVID-19 pandemic could worsen these risks by restricting the mobility of people and products, and disrupting trade and global value chains. During the lockdown, people, products and global value chains had limited mobility. This could lead to scarcity of specific foods and food price increase.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The full title for Target 2.b: "Correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets, including the parallel elimination of all forms of agricultural export subsidies and all export measures with equivalent effect, in accordance with the mandate of the Doha Development Round".


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: During the 10th Ministerial Conference in Nairobi in December 2015, the World Trade Organization decided to eliminate the export subsidy for agricultural commodities, including export credit, export credit guarantees, or insurance programs for agricultural products. The Doha Round is the latest round of trade negotiations among the WTO membership. It aims to reach major reforms of the international trading system and introduce lower trade barriers and revised trade rules.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The full title for Target 2.c is: "adopt measures to ensure the proper functioning of food commodity markets and their derivatives, and facilitate timely access to market information, including on food reserves, in order to help limit extreme food price volatility".


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Food price anomalies are measured using the domestic food price volatility index. Domestic food price volatility index measures the variation in domestic food prices over time, this is measured as the weighted-average of a basket of commodities based on consumer or market prices. High values indicate a higher volatility in food prices. Extreme food price movements pose a threat to agricultural markets and to the food security and livelihoods, especially of the most vulnerable people.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool designed to measure and track hunger at global, regional, and national levels.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Each year, GHI scores are calculated to track progress and setbacks in fighting hunger. The GHI is designed to raise awareness and understanding of the struggle against hunger. It provides a way to compare levels of hunger between countries and regions. It calls attention to areas of the world where hunger levels are highest and where additional efforts are needed to eliminate hunger.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) is a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities. Monitoring of food prices is provided by publicly available sources including food price index (FAO-FPI): monitoring prices monthly, with trends analysed biannually by the Food Outlook publication; reporting on food import bills is provided quarterly by the Crop Prospects and Food Situation publication, and quarterly WFP Global Market Monitor: reporting on price trends of staple commodities in approximately 70 countries and monthly country-specific market bulletins.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The GIEWS Food Price Monitoring and Analysis (FPMA) provides an analysis of domestic price trends of basic foods at global level and latest food market policy developments as well as early warnings on exceptionally high food prices at the country level that may negatively affect food security.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Despite the progress, research shows that more than 790 million people worldwide still suffer from hunger. There has been major progress in the fight against hunger over the last 15 years. In 2017, during a side event at the "High-Level Political Forum" under the theme of "Accelerating progress towards achieving SDG 2: Lessons from national implementation", a series of recommendations and actions were discussed. Stakeholders like the French UN mission, Action Against Hunger, Save The Children and Global Citizen were steering the conversation. It is unlikely there will be an end to malnutrition on the African continent by 2030.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: To achieve progress towards SDG 2 the world needs to build political will and country ownership. It also needs to improve the narrative around nutrition to make sure that it is well understood by political leaders and address gender inequality, geographic inequality and absolute poverty. It also calls for concrete actions including working at sub-national levels, increasing nutrition funding and ensuring they target the first 1000 days of life and going beyond actions that address only the immediate causes of malnutrition and look at the drivers of under-nutrition, as well as at the food system as a whole.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The SDG 2 targets ignore the importance of value chains and food systems. Among the targets of SDG 2 are micronutrient and macronutrient deficiencies, but not overconsumption or the consumption of foods high in salt, fat, and sugars, ignoring the health problems associated with such diets; The SDG 2 targets propose a doubling of agricultural productivity and incomes for the small-scale farmer, but ignoring that also larger-scale farmers can earn relatively low incomes from farming; It calls sustainable agriculture without clarifying what sustainable agriculture entails exactly. A substantial number of indicators currently used for SDGs monitoring are not specifically developed for the SDGs, so the information needed for SDGs monitoring is not necessarily available and is not appropriate to reflect the interconnected nature of the SDG. The lack of connected or coordinated action from food production to consumption at all levels hinders progress on SDG 2.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: In 2021, the first review of the food security aspects of SDG 2 was conducted in Melanesia. Review and research findings suggest that Pacific Small island developing States (PSIDS) are facing a "global syndemic" of the trinity of obesity, malnutrition, and climate change. While SDG 2 has made progress in reducing stunting and wasting, considerable efforts are still needed to reverse the rising incidence of non-communicable diseases and achieve food security in PSIDS. In the case of Melanesians, the shift from traditional diets to nutrition is accelerating global malnutrition, over-rapid urbanization, lifestyle changes, imported food, and deforestation are destroying traditional agricultural biodiversity and knowledge of food systems. The review shows that SDG 2's future strategies should focus on promoting the link between agriculture, nutrition, and health.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The achievement of SDG 2 has been jeopardized by a number of factors, the most serious of which happened in 2019, 2020 and 2021; with the unprecedented 2019–2021 locust infestation in Eastern Africa and the 2020 global COVID-19 pandemic. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has noted that trends in food insecurity, disruption in food supply, and income contribute to "increasing the risk of child malnutrition, as food insecurity affects diet quality, including the quality of children's and women's diets, and people's health in different ways".


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown has placed a huge amount of pressure on agricultural production, disrupted global value and supply chain. Subsequently, this raises issues of malnutrition and inadequate food supply to households, with the poorest of them all gravely affected. This has caused more than 132 million people to suffer from undernourishment in 2020. According to recent research there could be a 14% increase in the prevalence of moderate or severe wasting among children younger than five years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Supply of agricultural materials: During covid-19, the transportation was blocked and the supply of agricultural materials was tight. Agricultural departments at all levels successively issued a series of policies to ensure the normal transportation of downstream agricultural materials.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: New challenges brought by the pandemic: The novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic has spread worldwide and will cause interference to the international grain market. Food costs have been at an all-time high on the international market since December 2019. The food price index released by FAO in January 2020 increased by 2.8% month to month, reaching the highest value since May 2018. To deal with grain crises caused by various public emergencies and natural disasters, we need a robust grain reserve regulating system and emergency management mechanism.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The development of agricultural intelligence has been sparked by Covid-19. The most significant difficulty that Covid-19 has posed to the grain planting and processing industry is a labor shortage. Farmers with automated production and artificial intelligence technologies, on the other hand, have a greater edge in this pandemic and a better ability to respond to emergencies. In the future, smart agriculture will become a growing trend.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: To address the increasing challenge of attaining the SDG 2 goal of Zero Hunger, new research has emerged on some of the new technologies that can be implemented to increase agricultural productivity and address the issues of climate change. Climate change is likely to continue slowing the estimated reductions in hunger, especially in the coming decades, increasing the number of people that are at the risk of hunger to over 16 million by 2030. To mitigate the negative consequences of climate change, increasing investment in agricultural technology is required to enhance agricultural productivity. Furthermore, increased agricultural R&D will lower the prevalence of hunger among 55 million people in Africa. When agricultural intensification is needed, increased investment in capital technology is required to increase the overall productivity while minimizing the carbon footprint of farming. Advancing technology, such as robots and mechanization, is one of the many economic benefits. At the same time, pay attention to the following points: 1. Water efficiency - water conservation and pollution. 2. Switch to sustainable materials. An increase in new technology investment will have a substantial influence on solving climate change concerns and reaching the SDG 2 goal of Zero Hunger.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: It has been recommended that the use of carbon smart technologies should be used to improve the chemical and physical qualities of soil, which can aid in mitigating GHG emissions and increase crop yields. Crop residue retention, tillage, agroforestry, land use management systems, biofuels, and integrated nutrient management are some of the Carbon Smart Technologies advised. USA-Based Remote-Sensing Imagery has also been looked at to support SDG 2. As increases of small mammals pose a threat to crop production, the technology seeks to create a balance in the ecosystem. As a result, new advancements such as unmanned aerial systems (UAS) will have a substantial impact on the commercial and scientific applications of remote sensing. There has also been research into the use of Clustered regular interspace short palindromic repeats-associated protein (CRSPR-Cas) technology. It can be utilized to improve food crops and aid in the development of future crops in order to assist in the eradication of global hunger.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: It is critical that new agricultural technologies improve sustainability to reduce the impact that agriculture has on the environment. In order to handle the mounting issues of climate change the new tech should be able to provide sustainable solutions, which can assist in the achievement of SDG 2's zero hunger goal.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The ongoing effort to enhance food production has put a major strain on world soil resources. Tillage, the absence of continuous year-round plant cover, the lack of continuous deep root systems and crop functional variety, and inadequate nutrient budgets have all contributed to soil degradation. In order to support high yielding food production, the use of degraded land for agricultural production is used, employing this type of land demands ever increasing management interventions. Management interventions used often exacerbate land degradation by increasing soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) losses. Perennialization, or the use of perennial crops and forages in extended cycles, has been viewed as a critical strategy for maintaining present and future crop yields needed to feed the world's population.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Perennialization can help with soil fertility restoration, soil carbon sequestration, nitrogen (N) availability, and phosphorus (P) retention, all of which are important parts of ecological nutrient management. Traditional farming methods commonly result in soil organic carbon loss. Perennialization may also help with climate mitigation methods by promoting high-aggregation soils that are more equipped to withstand large precipitation events. Perennials are an important part of sustainable soil management and can assist in achieving the goal of zero hunger.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Inland fish provide food and livelihoods for billions of people throughout the world, and they are critical to the proper functioning of freshwater ecosystems. However, these services are noticeably absent from development talks and initiatives, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Inland fisheries are small-scale, subsistence-based fisheries that are caught and consumed locally. In the developing world, fishes are a valuable source of protein, as well as micronutrients. Inland native fishes are particularly important as a source of protein as other sources are either unavailable or too expensive, and hence are rarely consumed. Essential micronutrients such as vitamins D and B, minerals (calcium, phosphorus, iodine, zinc, iron, and selenium) and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) are highly bioavailable and found in abundance in fish.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: There are subpopulations in Africa, South America, and Asia that are disproportionately reliant on inland fisheries. Recent study found that diet variety scores would decline from three to two if fish were eliminated from meals [diets in Sub-Saharan African children], increasing the risk of micronutrient deficiencies. As a result, it's critical that policies protect the present supply of nutrient-dense fish for the children who rely on fish for their diet quality.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The significance of inland fisheries to global food security is currently underestimated due to insufficient evaluation and data availability. Inland fisheries have been overlooked in favor of other benefits that freshwater can provide, such as: electricity, municipal use, and agricultural irrigation. Inland fisheries are commonly underrepresented or ignored in national and municipal water development decision-making processes as a result.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: As a result, if we are to achieve the goal of zero hunger, we must recognize the importance inland fisheries have on global nutrition.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The rapid growth of the world population requires the development of new technologies to feed people adequately; even now, an eighth of the world's people go to bed hungry. The genetic modification of food plants can help meet part of this challenge. In the mid-1990s, genome breeding methods and transformation techniques modified by mutation and transgene improved plant traits and produced high-yielding crop varieties. The CRISPR-CAS technology has helped improve the quality and efficiency of crop varieties through improved photosynthesis to achieve zero hunger and overcome malnutrition in a short period of time. Traditional crop domestication is a long process, but CRISPR's MGE system can significantly speed up that process. In addition to major food crops, orphan crops, such as millet (Panicum miliaceum), pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), cassava (Manihot esculenta), yam (Dioscorea sp.), etc., can also be easily modified through MGE systems to boost the food supply.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: We know that iron deficiency is a global problem and that second-best zinc supplements are more common than previously thought. A number of programmes have been developed to prevent and treat iron and zinc deficiency, ranging from the supplement and fortification of common staple foods to changes in traditional food preparation methods, where genetic modification of plants to improve micronutrient nutrition is a complementary approach. Increasing the micronutrient content of conventional crops and/or increasing the bioavailability of iron and zinc in such crops can improve the micronutrient nutrition of the population eating these crops. Beta-carotene enhances iron absorption in humans and has a direct stimulating effect on iron uptake by cells. One of the most famous iron absorption promoters is ascorbic acid. Increased ascorbic acid in the diet results in a significant increase in iron absorption in the body. Therefore, the overexpression of ascorbic acid in plants may positively affect human iron nutrition. For example, Golden Rice is a genetically modified Rice variety developed with the help of Syngenta, an American seed company. The edible part of the endosperm of rice has been genetically engineered to contain beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A. Beta-carotene is converted into vitamin A in the body and can alleviate vitamin A deficiency. The carotene gives the rice its golden colour, hence the name "golden rice".


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Future of agriculture: The global population continues to grow and will surpass 9.5 billion by 2050. Demand for food is expected to double by 2050. If we do not use genetically modified crops we will have to use more land for farming, We need an additional 120 million acres to maintain the status quo. That's roughly the size of California. This pressure on land for agriculture means more wetlands will be drained, and an increase in deforestation. We need more land to feed our diet. As a result, we need to realize the importance of GM crops to achieve zero hunger.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: The SDGs are deeply interconnected. All goals could be affected if progress on one specific goal is not achieved.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Climate change and natural disasters are affecting food security. Disaster risk management, climate change adaptation and mitigation are essential to increase harvests quality and quantity. Targets 2.4 and 2.5 are directly linked to the environment.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: Reducing hunger can directly help in advancing Goals SDG 1, SDG 3 and SDG 8 by increasing rural and developing country incomes and access to nutrition. Since a significant number of farmers, especially in Africa and Asia, are women, advancing SDG 2 can also impact SDG 5, gender equality. Hunger and Agriculture are also linked to SDG 6 (when dealing with water scarcity and pollution), SDG 13 (when discussing greenhouse gas emissions) and SDG 15 (since it is linked to soil degradation).


title: Sustainable Development Goal 2

text: In the US there are over 18,000 tax-exempt organizations working on issues related to UN SDG 2, according to data filed with the Internal Revenue Service –IRS and aggregated by X4Impact. X4Impact, with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, and Giving Tech Labs, created a free online interactive tool Hunger and Malnutrition in the US. This online tool enables users to see hunger-related indicators nationally and by state, as well as relevant information for over eighteen thousand tax-exempt organizations in the US working on issues related to UN SDG 2. The nonprofit data in the tool is updated every 15 days while the indicators are updated annually.


title: Haole

text: Haole (; Hawaiian ) is a Hawaiian term for individuals who are not Native Hawaiian, and is applied to people primarily of European ancestry.


title: Haole

text: The origins of the word predate the 1778 arrival of Captain James Cook, as recorded in several chants stemming from that time. The term was generally given to people of European descent however, as more distinct terms began to be applied to individual European cultures and other non-European nations, the word "haole" began to refer mostly to Americans, including American Blacks who were referred to as "haole ʻele ʻele", meaning; "black haole". Its connotations range from positive, neutral and descriptive to invective, depending on the context in which it is used. Of the Polynesian race, Robert Louis Stevenson said; "God's best-at least God's sweetest works..." and then wrote of the; "beastly haoles". In correspondence to a friend, he stated, "What is a "haole?" You are one; and so, I am sorry to so say am I".


title: Haole

text: A newspaper challenge in 1929 offered one hundred dollars to anyone that could satisfactorily explain what the word meant to Dr. Theodore Richards. James K. Keola stated that he believed the term only referred to white foreigners, giving as his own references such figures as Stephen Desha and Joseph M. Poepoe. Mr. Keola also believed the origins of the word came from the name Howell, part of Vancouver's team however, today the name would be pronounced "ha-wela". John M. Bright also stated that the term meant white and was in use as early as 1736. He also defines the term to mean, "without husk or waif". W.O Smith stated that, in his youth, he was told the term came from a fish called ahole. Lorrin Andrews, writes in his dictionary that the term only refers to white foreigners and that for Blacks the term "haole eleele" was used.


title: Haole

text: A popular fable is that the word means "without breath". This meaning was attributed to Native Hawaiian Professor, Frederick William Kahapula Beckley Jr. by Charles W. Kenn in his 1944 article in the publication; "Paradise of the Pacific". According to that author, Beckley states; "The white people came to be known as ha-ole (without breath) because after they said their prayers, they did not breathe three times as was customary in ancient Hawaii."


title: Haole

text: Kenn wrote, "In the primary and esoteric meaning, haole indicates a race that has no relation to one's own; an outsider, one who does not conform to the mores of the group; one that is void of the life element because of inattention to natural laws which make for the goodness in man."


title: Haole

text: Albert J. Schütz, former professor of linguistics at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, believes that there is no documentation the "ha-ole" etymology is accurate and, based on that states; "Thus, as far as we know, the word "haole" cannot be separated into shorter words".


title: Haole

text: According to Juri Mykkanen of the Helsinki Institute of Urban and Regional Studies in his book; "Inventing Politics: A New Political Anthropology of the Hawaiian Kingdom", Hawaiians, in trying to understand and make sense of changing alii, projected an entire cosmology onto everything they did and then passed down this narration to descendants. Under this belief, the origins of the term come from "Kahiki" the ancestral lands of Hawaiians, stemming from the mele chant; "Kūkanaloa". In this chant a demi-god/hero from Kahiki is described as "haole" and is referenced to Samuel Kamakau's book; "Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii (1991), pages 114-115. As a symbol of origin, Kahiki had great significance to Hawaiians who saw themselves as descendants of a divine haole.


title: Haole

text: Among Hawaiian residents who have descended from various ethnic groups who worked on the plantations (often known as "locals"), "haole" is a term used to describe people of European ancestry. The term itself can be merely descriptive, but some argue that it can be used in a way that is pejorative or discriminatory. Haole is only one of several words commonly used in Hawaii to describe various ethnicities. Technically, haole means someone who is foreign, as opposed to someone who is local. Haole has come to be a term for those of European ancestry. Also, it is associated with peoples who exhibit traditions, accents, and habits of the continental United States, as opposed to those which are prevalent in the Hawaiian islands. For example, if someone goes to the continental US and returns speaking with an accent typical of that area, people might say he is "haole-fied." Certain foods typical of the continental US could be called "haole food," and if someone does something in a way that is not typical of what is done in Hawaii, that could be called "haole style."


title: Haole

text: Some from other ethnic groups have used the word "haole" as an insult or as part of a racial pejorative in incidents of harassment and physical assault towards white people in Hawaii. Hawaiian nationalists and language advocates, including Haunani-Kay Trask, have argued that the word cannot be understood apart from the history of racial oppression in Hawaii, with Trask saying, "It’s not pejorative — it’s descriptive.”


title: Stone spheres of Costa Rica

text: The stone spheres of Costa Rica are an assortment of over 300 petrospheres in Costa Rica, on the Diquís Delta and on Isla del Caño. Locally, they are also known as bolas de piedra (literally stone balls). The spheres are commonly attributed to the extinct Diquís culture, and they are sometimes referred to as the Diquís Spheres. They are the best-known stone sculptures of the Isthmo-Colombian area.


title: Stone spheres of Costa Rica

text: They are thought to have been placed in lines along the approach to the houses of chiefs, but their exact significance remains uncertain.


title: Stone spheres of Costa Rica

text: The Palmar Sur Archaeological Excavations are a series of excavations of a site located in the southern portion of the country, known as the Diquís Delta, and have centered on a site known as "Finca 6" (Farm 6). The archaeological findings date back to the Aguas Buenas Period (300–800 CE) and Chiriquí Period (800–1550 CE).


title: Stone spheres of Costa Rica

text: In June 2014, the Precolumbian Chiefdom Settlements with Stone Spheres of the Diquís was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. In July 2014, a project, which had been proposed in 2011, to declare the spheres a national symbol of the country was approved.


title: Stone spheres of Costa Rica

text: According to some archaeologists' hypothesis the spheres could represent solar systems or just be inspired by various stages of the sun and the moon as viewed with the naked eye, including setting or rising suns, and half moons.


title: Stone spheres of Costa Rica

text: The spheres range in size from a few centimetres to over in diameter, and weigh up to 15 tons. Most are sculpted from gabbro, the coarse-grained equivalent of basalt. There are a dozen or so made from shell-rich limestone, and another dozen made from a sandstone.


title: Stone spheres of Costa Rica

text: They appear to have been made by hammering natural boulders with other rocks, then polishing with sand. The degree of finishing and precision of working varies considerably. The gabbro came from sites in the hills, several kilometres away from where the finished spheres are found, though some unfinished spheres remain in the hills. They are used for decoration.


title: Stone spheres of Costa Rica

text: The archaeological site of Palmar Sur is located in the southern portion of Costa Rica, known as the Diquís Delta, and in the southernmost part of the Puntarenas Province. The Diquís Delta is defined as the alluvial plain with the geographical boundaries of the Fila Grisera to the north and east, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Osa Mountains comprising the southern boundary.


title: Stone spheres of Costa Rica

text: The Site is located in Palmar Sur, southern Costa Rica. The site is located on approximately 10 hectares of property that was previously owned by the United Fruit Company in the alluvial plain of the Térraba River.


title: Stone spheres of Costa Rica

text: The archaeological site of Farm 6 has been dated to the Aguas Buenas Period (300–800 CE) and Chiriquí Period (800–1550 CE). It was a multifunctional site accommodating a settlement and a cemetery, and remains of monumental architecture and sculpture are also present on the site. The monumental architecture consists of two mounds which were constructed with retaining walls made of rounded river cobbles and filled with earth. The site contains multiple locations where large stone spheres are found "in situ". Additionally, since many of the stone spheres in the region were removed from their original locations and serve as landscape decoration, the site has become a storage location for spheres that have been returned to the National Museum. One of the neighboring towns to Farm 6 also had spheres or "esferas". They were called "zanahoriagas", for their more oval-like shape.


title: Stone spheres of Costa Rica

text: The stones are believed to have been first created around the year 600, with most dating to after 1000, but before the Spanish conquest. The only method available for dating the carved stones is stratigraphy, but most stones are no longer in their original locations. The culture of the people who made them disappeared after the Spanish conquest.


title: Stone spheres of Costa Rica

text: The spheres were discovered in the 1930s as the United Fruit Company was clearing the jungle for banana plantations. Workmen pushed them aside with bulldozers and heavy equipment, damaging some spheres. Additionally, inspired by stories of hidden gold, workmen began to drill holes into the spheres and blow them open with sticks of dynamite. Several of the spheres were destroyed before authorities intervened. Some of the dynamited spheres have been reassembled and are currently on display at the National Museum of Costa Rica in San José. The collection at the National Museum of Costa Rica is made up of six of the spheres. A lot of the spheres also ended up as lawn decorations for many Tico citizens.


title: Stone spheres of Costa Rica

text: The first scientific investigation of the spheres was undertaken shortly after their discovery by Doris Stone, a daughter of a United Fruit executive. These were published in 1943 in "American Antiquity", attracting the attention of Samuel Kirkland Lothrop of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. In 1948, he and his wife attempted to excavate an unrelated archaeological site in the northern region of Costa Rica. In San José he met Doris Stone, who directed the group toward the Diquís Delta region in the southwest ("Valle de Diquís" refers to the valley of the lower Río Grande de Térraba, including the Osa Canton towns of Puerto Cortés, Palmar Norte, and Sierpe) and provided them with valuable dig sites and personal contacts. Lothrop's findings were published in "Archaeology of the Diquís Delta, Costa Rica 1963".


title: Stone spheres of Costa Rica

text: In 2010, University of Kansas researcher John Hoopes visited the site of the Stone Spheres to evaluate their eligibility for protection as a Unesco World Heritage Site.