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Jimmy Carter, nation’s longest-living former president, dies at 100

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Sunday, December 29, 2024

Former Democratic President Jimmy Carter has died at age 100, the Carter Center said Sunday. The big picture: As the nation's 39th president, Carter said he tried to forge a "competent and compassionate" U.S. government. A former peanut farmer and U.S. Navy nuclear physicist, Carter led a life of service that started well before his first elected office on the Sumter County, Georgia, Board of Education — and endured long after his presidency.He has often been called the "nation's greatest former president" for the humanitarian work he conducted in his more than four decades after Washington.Carter, the nation's longest-living former president and first to reach triple digits, began receiving hospice care at home in February 2023 after a series of short hospital stays, the Carter Center announced at the time. Driving the news: "Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States and winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, died peacefully Sunday, Dec. 29, at his home in Plains, Georgia, surrounded by his family," per a statement. Carter's son, Chip Carter, said in the statement that his father "was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love.""The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honoring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs," Chip Carter said. Flashback: Carter's wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, died in November 2023 at the age of 96. The former first lady, a lifelong mental health advocate, had been diagnosed with dementia earlier in the year and entered hospice days before her death.A 99-year-old Jimmy Carter traveled to Atlanta for her memorial service and attended her funeral in their hometown of Plains. President Biden and first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and first gentleman Doug Emhoff, and former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attended the Atlanta service.All living former first ladies — Melania Trump, Michelle Obama and Laura Bush — were also there.Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter had the longest presidential marriage, per AP. Carter greets people as he leaves after the funeral service for Rosalynn Carter at Maranatha Baptist Church on Nov. 29, 2023, in Plains, Ga. Photo: Alex Brandon/Pool/Getty ImagesLooking back on Carter’s lifeCarter was born on Oct. 1, 1924, in the small farming town of Plains, Georgia, at a hospital where his mother worked as a nurse. He was the first future president born in a hospital.Carter, the oldest of four, grew up picking peanuts on his family's farm. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946, becoming the first future president to graduate from the academy. That same year he married Rosalynn, a fellow Plains native who had known Carter her entire life.Carter served in Norfolk, Virginia, and Hawai’i before joining the Navy's nuclear submarine program in Schenectady, New York, as a nuclear physicist. When his father died in 1953, Carter resigned to run the family's farms and seed and supply company with Rosalynn — against her wishes. Following a stint on his local Sumter County Board of Education, Carter ran for the Georgia State Senate in 1962. While he initially lost in the Democratic primary, he successfully proved his opponent had won based on voter fraud. A judge threw out the results, and Carter held the office for two terms. After a failed gubernatorial campaign in 1966, Carter was elected governor of Georgia in 1970. While his campaign sought the support of segregationists, his inaugural address shocked many when he declared "the time for discrimination is over." His administration emphasized ecology, efficiency in government and the removal of racial barriers. The Carters at an inaugural ball in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 1977. The two were married for 77 years. Photo: Warren K Leffler/PhotoQuest/Getty ImagesCarter's presidential term Though largely unknown in national politics, Gov. Carter announced his candidacy for president in December 1974 and accepted the Democratic nomination in July 1976. (An Atlanta Constitution editorial declared: "Jimmy Carter is running for what!?")On Nov. 2, 1976 — during the country's bicentennial year — Carter and his running mate Walter Mondale defeated incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford.Carter's presidential victories included arranging the Camp David Accords that established a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, the ratification of the Panama Canal treaties, and the normalization of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China.Under his administration, 8 million jobs were created and the budget deficit decreased. He championed environmental and renewable energy policies, had solar panels installed on the White House, protected more than 100 million acres of land in Alaska, and signed the Environmental Protection Agency's "Superfund" hazardous waste cleanup program into law.Carter championed a wave of industry deregulation including aviation, transportation and telecommunications, established the Department of Education, and appointed record numbers of women and people of color to government positions.But his term was marred by rising energy costs, climbing inflation and interest rates, and a struggle to negotiate the release of 52 Americans held hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.In 2023, the New York Times confirmed that in 1980, allies of Carter's political opponent, former California Gov. Ronald Reagan, secretly urged Iran not to release the hostages until after the election — something Carter allies had long suspected. (The hostages were released minutes after Reagan's inauguration in 1981.)What he said: Carter often recalled how proud he was to have kept the U.S. out of war for his four years in office."We kept our country at peace. We never went to war. We never dropped a bomb. We never fired a bullet. But still we achieved our international goals," he told The Guardian in 2011. Carter in his hometown of Plains, Ga., following a press conference about receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Photo: Steve Schaefer/AFP via Getty ImagesPost-presidencyAfter his defeat to Reagan in 1980, the Carters returned to Plains and the family peanut business, which had been run into debt while in a blind trust during his presidency.In 1982, he and Rosalynn founded the Atlanta-based Carter Center — which today houses his presidential library and an active, influential nongovernmental organization focused on "waging peace, fighting disease and building hope."The center has undertaken a broad range of global programs, including conflict negotiation, election monitoring, and funding treatments to eradicate diseases such as river blindness and Guinea worm.Carter was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring peace to international conflicts and advance democracy and human rights.From the end of his presidency until 2020, Carter regularly taught Sunday school at his home Baptist church, often with hundreds of people lining up overnight to attend. Since 1984, he and Rosalynn remained devoted to one of their favorite causes: volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, which builds and restores homes for individuals and families in need.In 2015, Carter told reporters that doctors had discovered a form of melanoma that spread to his brain. Remarkably, four months later he announced that he was cancer-free.In March 2019, at 94 years and 172 days, he became the longest-living former president in U.S. history. He and Rosalynn attended every presidential inauguration since his own in 1977 until 2021. President Biden and first lady Jill Biden visited the Carters in April 2021. Biden and Carter built a long-standing friendship over decades. (In 1976, the first presidential endorsement that then-Gov. Carter got from an elected official outside of Georgia came from a young Sen. Biden.)Carter leaves behind four children — John William (Jack), James Earl III (Chip), Donnel Jeffery (Jeff), and Amy — and more than two dozen grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Former Democratic President Jimmy Carter has died at age 100, the Carter Center said Sunday.

The big picture: As the nation's 39th president, Carter said he tried to forge a "competent and compassionate" U.S. government.

A former peanut farmer and U.S. Navy nuclear physicist, Carter led a life of service that started well before his first elected office on the Sumter County, Georgia, Board of Education — and endured long after his presidency.
He has often been called the "nation's greatest former president" for the humanitarian work he conducted in his more than four decades after Washington.
Carter, the nation's longest-living former president and first to reach triple digits, began receiving hospice care at home in February 2023 after a series of short hospital stays, the Carter Center announced at the time.

Driving the news: "Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States and winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, died peacefully Sunday, Dec. 29, at his home in Plains, Georgia, surrounded by his family," per a statement.

Carter's son, Chip Carter, said in the statement that his father "was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love."
"The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honoring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs," Chip Carter said.

Flashback: Carter's wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, died in November 2023 at the age of 96. The former first lady, a lifelong mental health advocate, had been diagnosed with dementia earlier in the year and entered hospice days before her death.

A 99-year-old Jimmy Carter traveled to Atlanta for her memorial service and attended her funeral in their hometown of Plains.
President Biden and first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and first gentleman Doug Emhoff, and former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attended the Atlanta service.
All living former first ladies — Melania Trump, Michelle Obama and Laura Bush — were also there.
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter had the longest presidential marriage, per AP.

Carter greets people as he leaves after the funeral service for Rosalynn Carter at Maranatha Baptist Church on Nov. 29, 2023, in Plains, Ga. Photo: Alex Brandon/Pool/Getty Images

Looking back on Carter’s life

Carter was born on Oct. 1, 1924, in the small farming town of Plains, Georgia, at a hospital where his mother worked as a nurse. He was the first future president born in a hospital.

Carter, the oldest of four, grew up picking peanuts on his family's farm. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946, becoming the first future president to graduate from the academy.
That same year he married Rosalynn, a fellow Plains native who had known Carter her entire life.
Carter served in Norfolk, Virginia, and Hawai’i before joining the Navy's nuclear submarine program in Schenectady, New York, as a nuclear physicist. When his father died in 1953, Carter resigned to run the family's farms and seed and supply company with Rosalynn — against her wishes.
Following a stint on his local Sumter County Board of Education, Carter ran for the Georgia State Senate in 1962. While he initially lost in the Democratic primary, he successfully proved his opponent had won based on voter fraud. A judge threw out the results, and Carter held the office for two terms.
After a failed gubernatorial campaign in 1966, Carter was elected governor of Georgia in 1970. While his campaign sought the support of segregationists, his inaugural address shocked many when he declared "the time for discrimination is over." His administration emphasized ecology, efficiency in government and the removal of racial barriers.

The Carters at an inaugural ball in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 1977. The two were married for 77 years. Photo: Warren K Leffler/PhotoQuest/Getty Images

Carter's presidential term

Though largely unknown in national politics, Gov. Carter announced his candidacy for president in December 1974 and accepted the Democratic nomination in July 1976. (An Atlanta Constitution editorial declared: "Jimmy Carter is running for what!?")

On Nov. 2, 1976 — during the country's bicentennial year — Carter and his running mate Walter Mondale defeated incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford.
Carter's presidential victories included arranging the Camp David Accords that established a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, the ratification of the Panama Canal treaties, and the normalization of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China.
Under his administration, 8 million jobs were created and the budget deficit decreased. He championed environmental and renewable energy policies, had solar panels installed on the White House, protected more than 100 million acres of land in Alaska, and signed the Environmental Protection Agency's "Superfund" hazardous waste cleanup program into law.
Carter championed a wave of industry deregulation including aviation, transportation and telecommunications, established the Department of Education, and appointed record numbers of women and people of color to government positions.
But his term was marred by rising energy costs, climbing inflation and interest rates, and a struggle to negotiate the release of 52 Americans held hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
In 2023, the New York Times confirmed that in 1980, allies of Carter's political opponent, former California Gov. Ronald Reagan, secretly urged Iran not to release the hostages until after the election — something Carter allies had long suspected. (The hostages were released minutes after Reagan's inauguration in 1981.)

What he said: Carter often recalled how proud he was to have kept the U.S. out of war for his four years in office.

"We kept our country at peace. We never went to war. We never dropped a bomb. We never fired a bullet. But still we achieved our international goals," he told The Guardian in 2011.

Carter in his hometown of Plains, Ga., following a press conference about receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Photo: Steve Schaefer/AFP via Getty Images

Post-presidency

After his defeat to Reagan in 1980, the Carters returned to Plains and the family peanut business, which had been run into debt while in a blind trust during his presidency.

In 1982, he and Rosalynn founded the Atlanta-based Carter Center — which today houses his presidential library and an active, influential nongovernmental organization focused on "waging peace, fighting disease and building hope."
The center has undertaken a broad range of global programs, including conflict negotiation, election monitoring, and funding treatments to eradicate diseases such as river blindness and Guinea worm.

Carter was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring peace to international conflicts and advance democracy and human rights.

From the end of his presidency until 2020, Carter regularly taught Sunday school at his home Baptist church, often with hundreds of people lining up overnight to attend.
Since 1984, he and Rosalynn remained devoted to one of their favorite causes: volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, which builds and restores homes for individuals and families in need.
In 2015, Carter told reporters that doctors had discovered a form of melanoma that spread to his brain. Remarkably, four months later he announced that he was cancer-free.
In March 2019, at 94 years and 172 days, he became the longest-living former president in U.S. history. He and Rosalynn attended every presidential inauguration since his own in 1977 until 2021.
President Biden and first lady Jill Biden visited the Carters in April 2021. Biden and Carter built a long-standing friendship over decades. (In 1976, the first presidential endorsement that then-Gov. Carter got from an elected official outside of Georgia came from a young Sen. Biden.)

Carter leaves behind four children — John William (Jack), James Earl III (Chip), Donnel Jeffery (Jeff), and Amy — and more than two dozen grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Read the full story here.

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Contributor: Truck makers breaking emissions deal are hurting themselves — and all Californians

This is no longer just about truck emissions. It's about who gets to write the rules that govern our economy and who gets to decide how polluted our state will be.

California’s air is under attack — by the very companies that promised to clean it up.In 2023, truck manufacturers struck a deal with the California Air Resources Board to drastically reduce emissions and invest in electric trucks. This summer, however, several of the companies — Daimler Truck, Volvo Group, Paccar and Traton — backed out of the partnership and sued California, with support from the Trump administration. Now fossil-fuel-aligned corporations are leveraging political connections to weaken oversight, erode environmental protections and entrench their dominance.This is no longer just about truck emissions. It’s about who gets to write the rules that govern our economy and who gets to decide how polluted our state will be. It’s about defending democracy from corporate overreach.Likely seeing an opportunity to profit from diesel under new federal leadership, the major truck manufacturers doing business in California are injecting instability into the very market they once sought to stabilize. This is political opportunism, plain and simple.The 2023 deal, known as the Clean Truck Partnership, was rooted in trust and a shared interest in predictable, stable rules during the transition away from fossil fuels. It wasn’t a regulation or a law; it was a collaboration — an experiment in handshake agreements that now looks like a cautionary tale for regulators and communities everywhere: Corporations can walk away from deals like this the moment political winds shift or the quarterly earnings dip.The manufacturers’ gratuitous lawsuit comes alongside a proposed rollback of the Environmental Protection Agency’s greenhouse gas standards and a surprise Federal Trade Commission move to condemn the partnership. The commission issued a statement closing an investigation it never publicly announced, after the companies sent letters playing victim. Is it any surprise that Trump’s federal lawyers jumped in days later to sue California along with the truck makers?The consequences of breaking the agreement are real and devastating. Diesel freight pollution has long hit hardest in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color near ports, warehouses and freight corridors, causing higher rates of asthma, heart disease and cancer. Rolling back the Clean Truck Partnership means more diesel trucks on California roads, more hospital visits and more lives cut short. It’s an assault on environmental justice that tells Californians their health is expendable.And everyone pays. Delaying clean truck adoption locks fleets into high and volatile diesel prices and undermines U.S. competitiveness. The manufacturers themselves are maintaining that crisis by discouraging the shift to electric trucks: California has documented a $94,000 markup on some electric trucks in the U.S. compared with Europe.When a handful of corporations can derail public policy this way, states must push back. California tried a compromise; now it must defend its right to set stronger standards, invest in clean infrastructure and refuse to subsidize companies that break their commitments.California’s leadership on clean transportation has helped it become the world’s fourth-largest economy. Its authority to set its own standards has driven innovation, created jobs and put more zero-emission vehicles on the road than in any other state. The public wants clean air and modern infrastructure. The choice is clear: double down on clean truck commitments or cede leadership to China and watch our industries and economy fall behind.A predictable market is essential for corporate investment in the energy transition. California brokered this partnership to give manufacturers the certainty they said they needed and say they still need. Now some of those same manufacturers are adding uncertainty by trying to revert to older standards and delay the transition. But it must come, and the sooner the better — for manufacturers, Californians and the nation.There’s still time to do the right thing. The truck makers who broke their word can still step up to electrify trucks. And the manufacturers who have not joined the lawsuit against California — Cummins, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — should publicly reaffirm the goals of the Clean Truck Partnership, follow through on their commitments and reap the rewards. If these companies choose to stand with California now, they won’t just be honoring a promise; they’ll be helping build an economy that creates good jobs, drives innovation and secures a competitive future for American freight.Guillermo Ortiz is a senior clean vehicles advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Craig Segall is a former deputy executive officer and assistant chief counsel of the California Air Resources Board. The following AI-generated content is powered by Perplexity. The Los Angeles Times editorial staff does not create or edit the content. Ideas expressed in the pieceTruck manufacturers who signed the 2023 Clean Truck Partnership are engaging in political opportunism by backing out of their commitments, taking advantage of the Trump administration’s support to weaken environmental protections and maintain their dominance in the diesel market.The lawsuit represents corporate overreach that undermines democracy, as these companies are leveraging political connections to write the rules governing California’s economy and determine pollution levels in the state.Breaking the partnership agreement will have devastating consequences for environmental justice, particularly harming low-income neighborhoods and communities of color near ports and freight corridors who face higher rates of asthma, heart disease, and cancer from diesel pollution.The manufacturers’ decision to abandon the deal creates market instability and undermines U.S. competitiveness in clean transportation technology, while maintaining artificially high prices for electric trucks compared to European markets.California must defend its authority to set stronger emissions standards and refuse to subsidize companies that break their commitments, as the state’s leadership on clean transportation has helped it become the world’s fourth-largest economy.Companies that have not joined the lawsuit should publicly reaffirm their commitments to the Clean Truck Partnership goals and help build an economy that creates jobs, drives innovation, and secures America’s competitive future in freight transportation.Different views on the topicTruck manufacturers argue they are “caught in the crossfire” between conflicting directives, with California requiring adherence to emissions rules while the U.S. Department of Justice instructs them to stop following the same standards that Congress recently preempted under the federal Clean Air Act[1].The manufacturers contend that the Clean Truck Partnership is being applied to enforce regulations that no longer have federal waivers, following Congress’s passage of resolutions under the Congressional Review Act in June 2025 that nullified EPA’s earlier waivers allowing California to implement key programs including the Advanced Clean Trucks regulation[1].Industry representatives maintain that the agreement includes provisions that limit manufacturers’ ability to contest CARB regulations, creating legal constraints that may no longer be valid given the changed federal regulatory landscape[1].Some manufacturers are adopting a “wait and see” approach, with companies like Isuzu anticipating “a good faith discussion with CARB and other regulated signatories to determine the agreement’s current scope and relevance” rather than immediately abandoning all commitments[2].Legal experts and former CARB officials argue that the partnership remains binding regardless of federal changes, pointing to language in the agreement that commits manufacturers to meet CARB regulations “irrespective of the outcome of any litigation challenging the waivers or authorizations for those regulations”[2].Manufacturers express concerns about the lack of clarity in how to proceed with truck sales in California, with some companies like Volvo Group choosing to keep their current sales policies “as they are for now” while the regulatory situation remains uncertain[2].

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Robert Redford, Oscar-winning actor and director, dies aged 89

Redford achieved huge critical and commercial success in the 60s and 70s with a string of hits including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Way We Were and The Sting, before becoming an Oscar-winning directorRobert Redford, star of Hollywood classics including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting and All the President’s Men, has died aged 89.In a statement to the New York Times, his publicist said the actor died in his sleep at his home in Utah. Continue reading...

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Redford’s film breakthrough arrived in 1965: an eye-catching role as a bisexual film star in Inside Daisy Clover opposite Natalie Wood, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe.After a series of solid Hollywood films, including The Chase and a screen adaptation of Barefoot in the Park, Redford had a huge hit with the 1969 outlaw western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in which he starred opposite Paul Newman and Katharine Ross. It was nominated for seven Oscars, though none were for the actors.Redford starred in Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here, the first directing credit in over 20 years by former blacklistee Abraham Polonsky, and then a string of key 1970s hits: frontier western Jeremiah Johnson (1972), period romance The Way We Were (1973) opposite Barbra Streisand, crime comedy The Sting (1973), again opposite Newman, and literary adaptation The Great Gatsby (1974). 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Photograph: APIt was in this period that the Sundance film festival – which Redford’s production company had co-founded in 1978 as the Utah/US film festival and renamed in 1984 after Redford’s Sundance Institute – began to exert its influence as a showcase for US independent cinema, promoting the likes of Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Smith. Its impact only increased in subsequent decades as a forum for boosting films’ commercial chances and achieving awards recognition, showcasing films such as 500 Days of Summer, Napoleon Dynamite, Whiplash, Fruitvale Station and Coda.skip past newsletter promotionTake a front seat at the cinema with our weekly email filled with all the latest news and all the movie action that mattersPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionRedford’s 2007 Afghan war film Lions for Lambs was a disappointment, but an impressive solo performance in the 2013 survival-at-sea drama All Is Lost went some way to compensating for it. In 2014 Redford joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Hydra leader Alexander Pierce in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. He said at the time: “I wanted to experience this new form of film-making that’s taken over, where you have kind of cartoon characters brought to life through high technology.” He made a cameo in the same role in Avengers: Endgame in 2019.Redford in his final major film role in The Old Man & the Gun in 2018. 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Can Diet and Exercise Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease? What the Research Says

Early studies suggest that lifestyle changes such as diet, exercise and social engagement may help slow or prevent Alzheimer’s symptoms—but the evidence is inconsistent, and many doctors remain cautious

This article is part of “Innovations In: Alzheimer's Disease” an editorially independent special report that was produced with financial support from Eisai.When Juli comes home after work, her husband doesn’t regale her with stories about his photography business the way he once did. Instead he proudly shows her a pill container emptied of the 20 supplements and medications he takes every day. Rather than griping about traffic, he tells her about his walk. When they go out to a favorite Mexican restaurant, he might opt for a side salad instead of tortilla chips with his quesadilla. “He’s actually consuming green food, which is new,” says Juli, who asked to be identified by only her first name to protect her husband’s privacy.Over the past year Juli’s husband has agreed to change his daily habits in hopes of halting the steady progression of Alzheimer’s disease, which he was diagnosed with in December 2023 at age 62. Juli and her husband are both self-employed, and their insurance plans didn’t cover the positron-emission tomography scans for disease tracking that a neurologist prescribed, which would have cost thousands of dollars. So they decided to spend that money on a doctor who promises that diet and lifestyle changes can treat Alzheimer’s. He recommended a keto diet, along with light cardio exercise and strength training. He also prescribed a bevy of supplements, such as creatine, which Juli’s husband takes alongside the memantine and donepezil prescribed by his neurologist. Juli doesn’t expect the diet and daily walks to cure her husband, but she hopes the healthy lifestyle will help manage and even improve his condition. It feels like common sense. “You stop eating fried food, you move your butt, and you feel better,” she says.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Increasingly, evidence suggests that addressing health problems such as vision and hearing loss, stress, poor diet, diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol and high blood pressure can help slow or even prevent Alzheimer’s symptoms. It’s a tantalizingly simple solution to a complicated condition that has proved difficult to treat. For families like Juli’s that have been left with a grim diagnosis and few options, lifestyle changes bring a much needed sense of hope and agency. But researchers worry about overpromising on the efficacy of these changes, especially for people already experiencing dementia symptoms. Evidence around the importance of different diets, exercises and activities—when to start them and which to prioritize—is mixed, and only in a few high-quality studies have researchers examined large, diverse groups of people. It’s a promising but nascent field of research, one that scientists worry gives patients dangerous and heartbreaking hope for a cure that doesn’t exist.“There are a lot of claims,” says Miia Kivipelto, a dementia researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. She worries about expensive but unproven regimens that promise to reverse cognitive decline, restore and protect the brain, or significantly improve cognition for people with early-stage Alzheimer’s or other dementias. “Of course, people want to have hope,” she says. But she cautions against making promises that can’t be upheld. “It’s risk reduction,” she says. “That’s maybe what we can promise.”Kivipelto led the Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER), a trial that enrolled more than 1,200 residents of Finland between the ages of 60 and 77. Results were published in 2017. They showed that after two years, participants who were given nutritional advice, exercise regimens and brain-training games had improved their executive function, processing speeds and complex memory by about 83, 150 and 40 percent, respectively, compared with those who didn’t take those measures. Kivipelto has continued to follow that initial FINGER cohort and found that several years after the initial trial, their health in general continues to be better than that of their counterparts. The participants had a lower risk of stroke, had fewer medical emergency room visits and needed less inpatient care. Now Kivipelto is running World Wide FINGERS, a global network of studies investigating the same interventions in different countries and populations.It’s not clear whether these interventions prevent disease onset or simply delay it.Similarly encouraging data have come from the Systematic Multi-Domain Alzheimer Risk Reduction Trial (SMARRT), a two-year randomized, controlled study. Researchers tested the effect of treating modifiable risk factors such as uncontrolled hypertension, social isolation and physical inactivity with more than 170 septuagenarians and octogenarians at high risk for dementia. Participants chose a few interventions to prioritize out of eight options, such as improved physical fitness or social connection. After two years, no matter which intervention people opted for, those who received individualized treatments had reduced risk factors for dementia and a 74 percent greater increase in cognition compared with their counterparts in the control group.It’s not clear whether these interventions prevent disease onset or simply delay it. At a certain point, prevention and treatment become almost the same thing: if people can postpone the onset of symptoms until they’re 85 or 90 years old, Kivipelto says, “they might die of something else.” A report from a commission on dementia from the Lancet Group—which comprises experts who make recommendations on health policy and practice—suggests that addressing a range of these lifestyle-based risk factors could help reduce the global incidence of Alzheimer’s and dementia by 45 percent population-wide. For people with a genetic predisposition to dementia, introducing diet, exercise, and other modifications before symptoms appear might be particularly important for fending off illness.The idea that diet and exercise could curb a disease that currently affects more than 55 million people globally is an exciting prospect. But scientists say the field is simply too young for anyone to make bold assertions that lifestyle interventions could act as treatments or cures. “We don’t have mature information,” says Howard Feldman, a neurologist at the University of California, San Diego.One big caveat is that studies such as SMARRT and FINGER were conducted with people who had mild cognitive decline, not full-blown dementia. “There are people who are really exaggerating some of these claims,” says Kristine Yaffe, a neurologist at the University of California, San Francisco, and the lead author on the SMARRT study. “There’s very little evidence that these [interventions] work when people have the disease.”Also, the list of possible risk factors gets longer as more data emerge. When Kivipelto started FINGER, she didn’t look at elements such as poor sleep and stress. But more evidence suggests that these factors could increase risk for Alzheimer’s. Meanwhile interventions that had shown initial promise, such as the MIND diet—a diet geared toward brain health that combines elements of Mediterranean and hypertension-focused diets—weren’t backed by further research.Answering questions about lifestyle changes—what works, what doesn’t and why—is particularly challenging because these interventions are not as easy to quantify as medications are. When researchers test pharmaceuticals, they’re often investigating how a molecule interacts with a specific receptor. “We’re gonna look at making sure that we’ve got target engagement, that we’ve got the right amount of medicine for the target and that we’re getting the right effects,” Feldman says. Nonmedical interventions don’t work in that way. Take exercise: There’s no particular receptor to examine. Instead exercise might lead to better blood flow in the brain. It might affect cerebral metabolism. It could affect insulin levels or increase oxygen flow. All these factors have been linked to the development of Alzheimer’s in some way.Then there’s the matter of dosage: What is the right amount of exercise? How much should people exert themselves and for how long? And how can researchers assess compliance? When researchers test pills, they can easily dispense medication and count how many pills are left at the end of a trial. It’s much harder to know whether someone in a lifestyle study has done the assigned exercises or whether all participants worked out at the same intensity.Another big unknown is when these interventions should begin. Some research suggests that to reduce risk factors, middle age might be the most impactful time. Kivipelto says that it’s never too late to start but that the most effective interventions may vary with age. Stress and sleep might be bigger risk factors in middle age, whereas social isolation might become more important as people grow older. “You should have a kind of check wherever you are in your life,” she says.Perhaps the biggest limitation, however, is that scientists can’t measure all the biological and environmental systems at play, nor can they follow enough people for a long enough period to understand which systems are most important. One theory suggests that health interventions—such as diet, exercise and social stimulation—work because they boost cognitive reserve, or the ability of a person’s brain to resist dementia. People with more cognitive reserve might not show symptoms even if they have the same pathology as someone else who is symptomatic. Researchers think being active, eating right and socializing might help build up that cognitive-reserve buffer. But they can’t measure it. There is no known biomarker for cognitive reserve and no way to measure its effects over time. “It’s an evolving concept,” Kivipelto says.Even while scientists work on more high-quality studies of lifestyle changes for Alzheimer’s—with large, diverse patient populations, control groups, and careful measurements for the intensity of the intervention—numerous commercial companies claim to offer scientifically backed cures. These products, including the approach Juli and her husband are trying, are often based on research in predatory journals, which charge authors high fees to publish papers that look scientific but have none of the oversight of peer-reviewed publications. Others lack rigorous trials and rely only on case reports that don’t describe study methods and can’t be replicated. Still others haven’t been tested in large groups or in humans at all. For example, small studies have suggested ketosis could help improve cognition, but no large-scale clinical trials have tested the hypothesis. Similarly, creatine supplements have shown promise in mice but have not been tested extensively in humans. No large, high-quality clinical trials have shown that supplements can improve human cognition or brain health, but companies selling these products now represent an industry valued at more than $6 billion globally.Some people spend their life savings to follow a protocol that requires them to remediate mold in their homes, even though the evidence linking mold and dementia is debated. Other families report that sticking to a restrictive diet ultimately feels cruel when a parent or spouse has few pleasures left. Neurologist Joanna Hellmuth, then at the University of California, San Francisco, wrote an article in 2020 in the Lancet Neurology about pseudoscience and dementia, warning that fraudulent solutions can be financially and emotionally harmful for families. “Hope is important in the face of incurable diseases and intuitive interventions can be compelling,” she wrote. “However, unsupported interventions are not medically, ethically, or financially benign, particularly when other parties might stand to gain.”Even under the best of circumstances, changes to diet and exercise cannot ward off Alzheimer’s for everyone. Yaffe has seen patients who play bridge, go running and practice über-healthy lifestyles only to be astonished to learn they also have Alzheimer’s. “There’s something called bad luck, and there’s something called genetics,” she says. Scientists measure the impact of lifestyle modifications in population-wide estimates that don’t translate to individual risk. Diet, exercise, hearing aids, and other interventions might reduce the global incidence of dementia by 45 percent, but that doesn’t mean they will reduce your specific risk by the same amount. Yaffe estimates that roughly half of a person’s Alzheimer’s risk is based on genetics, and half probably depends on their activity level, diet and luck. But the biggest risk factor is age.Even as Juli is gently prodding her husband to eat more broccoli, she’s also preparing for his inevitable decline. The couple is in the process of moving from their two-story home in a Dallas suburb to a single-story house they are having built in a nearby gated community. Her husband will trade in his car for a golf cart, and Juli will work almost entirely from home to make sure he stays safe. She knows they are incredibly lucky to be able to afford to build their new home from the ground up. She’s already designed it with a shower and doors wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair.Juli acknowledges that it’s impossible to know whether the changes to their health routines are working. There’s no control group, no way to assess how her husband’s disease might have progressed if they’d stuck to only medications. Right now they can afford the supplements ($150 per month), extra visits to doctors ($900 per hour twice a year), blood draws ($500 every six months), and memberships to their doctor’s practice and to a platform that promotes the protocol they are following ($3,000 per year).For Juli, the costs are justified by the change she sees in her husband. Their daily regimen gives him a sense of agency, which has alleviated some of the anxiety and depression that plagued him after his diagnosis. “It’s given him work to do—and hope,” she says. “If that’s all we take away from it, it’s worth it.”

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Food

Health

Replacement Interstate 5 bridge inches towards construction

Oregon and Washington lawmakers were told Monday that final federal approval could be received early next year. Skeptics worry the $7.5 billion price tag will balloon.

A replacement for the Interstate 5 bridge across the Columbia River could get its final environmental and federal approvals early next year and move into construction shortly thereafter, planners told a joint committee of Oregon and Washington lawmakers on Monday.But questions remain about the overall cost of the project, toll rates, whether it will be a single span or a lift bridge, and whether the project will receive a final $1 billion in federal funding.The new bridge connecting Portland and Vancouver is officially expected to cost as much as $7.5 billion. But lawmakers from the two states pressed Greg Johnson, administrator of the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program, Monday whether that’s still a reliable estimate, given inflation that’s driving up the cost of major construction projects.Oregon lawmakers also said planners should have provided them an updated cost estimate before the special session on transportation that began Aug. 29 and is expected to conclude Wednesday.“It would be helpful if we could get that updated cost estimate as soon as possible,” said Sen. Khanh Pham, a Portland Democrat.Construction prices continue to rise.The replacement Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, for instance, was originally expected to cost $1.9 billion. It’s now expected to cost more than $5 billion.“We are seeing this type of inflationary spiral on major projects here in the Portland area as well as nationally,” Johnson said. “We are tracking what we are seeing all over. It is not a pretty picture.”As much as $1.6 billion of the replacement bridge’s cost will be paid for by tolling. As previously announced, tolls could range from $1.55 to $4.70, depending on several factors. They’re expected to start in the spring of 2027, a year later than first announced.Also unresolved is whether the center of the bridge will be able to lift to accommodate marine traffic. Coast Guard officials previously said a fixed bridge would be too low. If the Coast Guard ultimately requires a movable span, Johnson said, it will add an estimated $400 million to the project. He expects a decision from the Coast Guard early next year.The final $1 billion in federal funding for the new bridge also isn’t expected to be secured until 2028. During the public comment portion of the meeting, civic, business and construction groups mostly spoke in favor of the project, but critics continued to question the bridge’s cost.“A safe and modern bridge is an investment in Oregon and Washington’s future,” said Khanh Tran of the Oregon Chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors, calling the project a “generational” opportunity for disadvantaged businesses.“I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to watch infrastructure this critical in nature being put off and put off and put off,” said Dee Burch, a director of the Oregon Columbia Chapter of the Association of General Contractors, who noted a replacement interstate bridge in Minneapolis got built in just over a year, although it was a significantly smaller project that cost $234 million. But critics, including economist Joe Cortright, with the Portland policy think tank City Observatory, said lawmakers need to contend with escalating costs that he expects will be “squarely in the $10 billion range,” telling lawmakers that would mean Oregon and Washington will each need to come up with another $1 billion in funding.Cortright also questioned whether the traffic assumptions on which tolling estimates are based are inflated and whether it’s prudent to count on the final $1 billion in federal funding, given ongoing cuts to the federal budget.“Federal funding is very, very much in doubt,” Cortright said, later calling it “reckless to embark on this project” when all the funding isn’t secured.The group of lawmakers, formally known as the Joint Interim Committee on Interstate 5 Bridge, will meet again in December.If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

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Nature

Transportation

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1948 and Counting

Reports on Costa Rica's ability to manage without a military since 1948, despite invasions based in Nicaragua. Addresses the role of private armies serving multinational corporations, and whether the country's civil guard is a military by another name. Places Costa Rica in the context of Central and Latin American populist struggles against US backed regimes in El Salvador, Chile, Panama, Nicaragua and Honduras. Touches on the colonial history and explores whether Costa Rica depends on US military backing, and whether it is able to maintain independence from the US.

Government

Business

Let There be Light

Genesis 1:3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Taiwan was founded on agriculture in the early days. However, in the face of rapid urbanization, there was no time to build infrastructure such as sewage pipelines, and a large amount of sewage was discharged indiscriminately, causing severe water pollution. To connect domestic sewage to the water purification plant and turn it into water resources that can be continuously recycled, the sewage engineering team adopted a most humane "equation" to appease and compensate the residents disturbed by the project. They invited the residents to participate in the beautification design of the back alley, which was damaged by the engineering project, and hired old painters who have painted "Roman Holiday" and "Back to the Future" movie billboards, and new generation painters to create with colorful brushes. The colorful paintings make the originally dark, dirty, and smelly back alleys clean and bright, and people are more willing to enter the back alleys to make tea and chat, a secret paradise for locals is then created. Let’s walk into the back alleys and see how the light makers light up the back alleys with human touch and let the light penetrate the water, creating Formosa’s unique “Light Making Equation”. This action has been carried out since 2016 and will continue in the future.

Water

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Pollution

Sashiko as Cultural Sustainability

When we talk about Sustainability, we tend to focus on the sustainable solutions based on physical resources. However, very frequently we overlook a key part for creating a successful sustainable society: Cultural Sustainability.

Culture

Sustainable

Solutions

Voice of Vanilla

In the rainforests of Madagascar, vanilla offers hope to farmers hindered by the relentless tide of poverty and cyclones. How will the women responsible for vanilla cultivation weather the storms that threaten their livelihoods? Join us on this journey to uncover the truth behind one of the world’s most beloved spices and to support the women farmers at the heart of the vanilla industry.

Social Justice

Food

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Florida Caviar

Meet three generations of women growing sturgeon in a unique farm in Pierson, Florida. They're harvesting the sturgeon for Florida caviar.

Sustainable

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Jimmy Carter, nation’s longest-living former president, dies at 100

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Suggested Viewing

1948 and Counting

Let There be Light

Sashiko as Cultural Sustainability

Voice of Vanilla

Florida Caviar

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Jimmy Carter, nation’s longest-living former president, dies at 100

Looking back on Carter’s life

Carter's presidential term

Post-presidency

Related News

Contributor: Truck makers breaking emissions deal are hurting themselves — and all Californians

Why fast-tracking oil drilling in California won’t lower prices at the pump

Robert Redford, Oscar-winning actor and director, dies aged 89

Can Diet and Exercise Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease? What the Research Says

Replacement Interstate 5 bridge inches towards construction

Suggested Viewing

1948 and Counting

Let There be Light

Sashiko as Cultural Sustainability

Voice of Vanilla

Florida Caviar

Join us to forgea sustainable future

sign up for our mailing list to stay informed on the latest films and environmental headlines.

Join us to forge
a sustainable future