  We briefly review three ways that environmental noise can slow-down (or
speed-up) quantum transitions; (i) Lamb shifts, (ii) over-damping and (iii)
orthogonality catastrophe. We compare them with the quantum Zeno effect induced
by observing the system. These effects are relevant to poor qubits (those
strongly coupled to noise). We discuss Berry phases generated by the
orthogonality catastrophe, and argue that noise may make it easier to observe
Berry phases.
