Short-term moisture removal can eliminate downy mildew of spinach

AMERICAN PHYTOPATHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Research News

 

IMAGE: BRAHAM DHILLON IN SPINACH FIELD view more 

CREDIT: BRAHAM DHILLON

Downy mildew is the biggest threat to spinach production around the world. While the pathogen has a short life cycle (approximately a week), it can produce millions of spores during the spinach growing season. Overhead sprinkler irrigation systems and dew formation on cool nights leads to more moisture, which enables these spores to infect the spinach.

Scientists at the University of Arkansas explored the relationship between available moisture and disease establishment and in a recent article they demonstrated that removing moisture decreased both spore survival and disease. Even a 30-minute dry period reduced spore germination to almost zero. Spores were unable to recover and cause disease on spinach.

In another experiment, they found that the micro-environment of a leaf surface can facilitate spore survival. They covered spinach plants with a spore solution and allowed the plants to dry out for different periods of time. They found that when the spores were on the plants, they were better at surviving in dry conditions but after enough time they found a reduction in disease. They also showed that standing water on leaves is essential for the spores to cause disease. These findings can be leveraged to design better disease management strategies for growers.

"We were also interested in understanding how new races of the downy mildew pathogen originate," explained Braham Dhillon, the first author of the paper. "The pathogen produces another type of long-lived spore known as an oospore, that can become dormant and survive harsh weather and remain viable in soil for long periods of time. But very little is known about the role of oospores in the life cycle of the spinach downy mildew pathogen."

Dhillon and colleagues were able to artificially produce oospores in the lab by mating two different strains of the downy mildew pathogen. This is a critical step in trying to determine the environmental factors that control oospore dormancy and germination.

"We demonstrated that oospores are produced abundantly in commercial spinach production areas in Arizona and California, the largest spinach growing area in the U.S.," said Dhillon. "This was the first direct evidence that different strains of the spinach downy mildew were present, can mate, and produce hybrid progeny in the field and potentially contribute to emergence of new pathogenic races of the pathogen." For more information about this study, read "Sporangiospore Viability and Oospore Production in the Spinach Downy Mildew Pathogen, Peronospora effusa" published in Plant Disease.

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Self-watering soil could transform farming

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

Research News

 

IMAGE: THE SOIL PULLS WATER OUT OF THE AIR DURING COOLER, HUMID PERIODS AT NIGHT AND THEN RELEASES IT WHEN ACTIVATED BY SOLAR ENERGY DURING THE DAY. view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

AUSTIN, Texas -- A new type of soil created by engineers at The University of Texas at Austin can pull water from the air and distribute it to plants, potentially expanding the map of farmable land around the globe to previously inhospitable places and reducing water use in agriculture at a time of growing droughts.

As published in ACS Materials Letters, the team's atmospheric water irrigation system uses super-moisture-absorbent gels to capture water from the air. When the soil is heated to a certain temperature, the gels release the water, making it available to plants. When the soil distributes water, some of it goes back into the air, increasing humidity and making it easier to continue the harvesting cycle.

"Enabling free-standing agriculture in areas where it's hard to build up irrigation and power systems is crucial to liberating crop farming from the complex water supply chain as resources become increasingly scarce," said Guihua Yu, associate professor of materials science in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Each gram of soil can extract approximately 3-4 grams of water. Depending on the crops, approximately 0.1 to 1 kilogram of the soil can provide enough water to irrigate about a square meter of farmland.

The gels in the soil pull water out of the air during cooler, more humid periods at night. Solar heat during the day activates the water-containing gels to release their contents into soil.

The team ran experiments on the roof of the Cockrell School's Engineering Teaching Center building at UT Austin to test the soil. They found that the hydrogel soil was able to retain water better than sandy soils found in dry areas, and it needed far less water to grow plants.

During a four-week experiment, the team found that its soil retained approximately 40% of the water quantity it started with. In contrast, the sandy soil had only 20% of its water left after just one week.

In another experiment, the team planted radishes in both types of soil. The radishes in the hydrogel soil all survived a 14-day period without any irrigation beyond an initial round to make sure the plants took hold. Radishes in the sandy soil were irrigated several times during the first four days of the experiment. None of the radishes in the sandy soil survived more than two days after the initial irrigation period.

"Most soil is good enough to support the growth of plants," said Fei Zhao, a postdoctoral researcher in Yu's research group who led the study with Xingyi Zhou and Panpan Zhang. "It's the water that is the main limitation, so that is why we wanted to develop a soil that can harvest water from the ambient air."

The water-harvesting soil is the first big application of technology that Yu's group has been working on for more than two years. Last year, the team developed the capability to use gel-polymer hybrid materials that work like "super sponges," extracting large amounts of water from the ambient air, cleaning it and quickly releasing it using solar energy.

The researchers envision several other applications of the technology. It could potentially be used for cooling solar panels and data centers. It could expand access to drinking water, either through individual systems for households or larger systems for big groups such as workers or soldiers.

CAPTION

Researchers planted radishes in this miniature greenhouse using their self-watering soil and compared it to sandy soil found in dry regions of the world.

[Discussion Article] Against War in Արցախ | Qarabağ (Nagorno-Karabakh)


October 18, 2020


Summary: This “Decolonial, antifascist and ecofeminist statement from Armenia”
first appeared on the website of Sev Bibar on October 12, 2020, here https://medium.com/sev-bibar/against-war-in-%D5%A1%D6%80%D6%81%D5%A1%D5%AD-qaraba%C4%9F-2baaecfbad5e — Editors

Before proceeding with our statement, let us state that we found it important to situate our position in circumstances stemming from very specific geographic and political conditions and decisions which preceded the unfolding of the war in 2020. Violence is not abstract and quietist; neither should we be.

THE (COLONIAL) ORIGINS OF THE CONFLICT

The Արցախ / Qarabağ conflict, a dispute over the landlocked region labeled as “Nagorno-Karabakh” in the so-called “South Caucasus,” is a colonial product dating back to the early Soviet times when Joseph Stalin — then acting as the Commissar of Nationalities for the Soviet Union, made a decision to transfer Արցախ / Qarabağ, inhabited by a majority of indigenous Armenian population, under the control of oil-rich Azerbaijan SSR, in order to strengthen its own alliance with then seemingly pro-socialist Ataturk’s Turkey. During Soviet years the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) remained a self-governing territory within the jurisdiction of Soviet Azerbaijan, with a majority Armenian and a minority Azerbaijani, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Greek, Tatar and Georgian populations until the end of USSR.

THE MODERN PERIOD AND THE 1988–1994 WAR

In February 1988, after decades of experiencing biased and oppressive, settler colonialist policies of Azerbaijani SSR towards the Armenian population in NKAO, mass demonstrations in favor of Արցախ / Qarabağ’s unification with Armenia were held first in the region’s capital Stepanakert and then in Yerevan. Soon, the NKAO Supreme Council issued a request to transfer the region to Soviet Armenia.

These attempts of self-determination, however, were met by an anti-Armenian genocidal pogrom in the coastal Azerbaijani city of Sumgait, and then two similar pogroms in Kirovabad and Baku, the latter in January 1990. Such tensions quickly evolved into guerilla warfare between the two sides, and on September 2, 1991 the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was proclaimed in Stepanakert, and then approved through a referendum in December. It was met with rejection by Soviet Azerbaijan’s government once again, boycotted by the region’s 20% Azerbaijani population, but democratically passed with 99,98% voting “for” the independence.

Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviets only a month later, on October 18. Despite the fact that the very rationale of Azerbaijan’s independence is grounded in the self-determination principle of international law, reserved in the Law on Secession from the USSR and in the USSR Constitution and protected in Chapter I, Article I of the UN Charter and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as a right of “all peoples,” NKAO’s own declaration of independence — an attempt to undo Stalin’s unjust imperial maneuver — was met with denial and violence, thus making the newly-born Azerbaijani Republic no less than a colonizing state itself.

The clashes grew into a full-scale destructive war of 1992–1994, where post-Soviet Russia (more openly) and NATO ally genocidal Turkey (more discreetly) were taking sides based on their geopolitical goals and imperialist ambitions, leading to a volatile ceasefire based on the Bishkek Protocol in 1994. Tens of thousands, including civilians were killed during the war that witnessed horrible episodes such as the Khojaly massacre of Azeri civilians, hundreds of thousands were displaced from both sides, and a large part of the once NKAO plus 7 adjacent territories ended up under the control of the Armenian forces.

THE POST-CEASEFIRE DECADES

After the ceasefire, the masterfully orchestrated threat of war controlled and deprived the peoples of Armenia, Արցախ / Qarabağ and Azerbaijan of autonomous and de-colonial decision-making in social, political and economic issues. For decades, corrupt and unelected governments looted, oppressed and exerted violence on the people, preventing any opportunity for regime change in the countries.

Similar exploitation and oppression techniques used by the ruling classes in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey, who profited off corruption, authoritarianism, heavy metal and fossil fuel mining, trade and mass destruction arms sales grounded in the glorification of war and hetero-patriarchy, strangled any possibility for a long-term post-national, de-colonial, anti-patriarchal, antifascist ecofeminist solidarity across borders between all classes, races, ethnicities, genders, sexualities, languages, abilities, cultures and ages in all affected localities․

The minority political elites and the ruling classes within each country also demonstrated more solidarity with each other than with the oppressed majority of the people, silencing dissent by instigating the breach of ceasefire across the closed borders. The richest bailed themselves out of conscription, while the recruits from the poorest layers of the societies were subject to violence, abuse, suicide and murders during the military service.

Any possibility of peaceful resolution of the conflict was buried in representative and classified diplomatic meetings and resulted in the maintenance of the status-quo preserved for 30 years which was profitable for the arms-trading imperial powers and their ruling proxies in the conflicting countries.

The people of Armenia, Արցախ / Qarabağ and Azerbaijan accommodated themselves with a fascist, xenophobic rhetoric towards each other, where three generations grew up reproducing the ethnic and religious hostility, previously more or less prevented/appeased by the policy of “national brotherhood” in the Soviet era. Fascism, racism and xenophobia reached a particularly high level in Azerbaijan, manifesting themselves in official discourse, such as president Aliyev’s 2015 tweet stating that “Armenia is not even a colony, it is not even worthy of being a servant”, and in state practice, in the example of Azerbaijani army officer Ramil Safarov axe murdering sleeping Armenian lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan during a NATO sponsored training seminar in Budapest, and then being pardoned, proclaimed a hero, promoted and gifted by president Aliyev.

While Azerbaijan remains a dictatorial state, the people in Armenia made an attempt to break through the vicious circle and initiated a protest movement in 2018 which resulted in a peaceful transfer of power from a kleptocratic oligarchy to a neoliberal establishment. The newly formed democratic government made numerous though insufficient attempts to restore looted public resources. However, a bourgeois-democratic national “revolution” which does not resist and reject the patriarchal, colonial, neoliberal capitalist and anti-environmental system, which manifests an institutional resistance towards fragmented labour rights movements or ecofeminist, grassroots, community-based rejections of the mining industry is doomed to failure and risks reversal sooner or later. Autocratic regional powers, needless to say, would be eager to work toward that reversal. If not through a coup d’etat, then perhaps through a war.

THE 2020 WAR

On September 27, 2020, the Azerbaijani dictatorial regime raged a Turkey-backed war against Արցախ / Qarabağ with a political goal of “ending Armenian occupation” and restoring its “territorial integrity.” Who started the aggression is neither a matter of commentary, nor a matter of opinion, as many centrist “unbiased” views suggest. Rather, it is a matter of record. Finding itself in a political and economic deadlock exacerbated by the falling prices of oil since March this year, Azerbaijan’s president Aliyev’s autocratic regime seems to have decided, once again, to play its last card of war and nationalism, thus diverting its people’s attention to Qarabağ.

Turkey, following its neo-Ottoman expansionist approach, is a clear party of the conflict, being on the side of Azerbaijan both diplomatically and in the battlefield, providing not only weapons and expert personnel, but also at least hundreds of mercenaries from Syria . Erdogan’s regime is attempting not only to dismantle the OSCE Minsk Group format and insert itself into the issue in order to have a say in the region, but also to open a new proxy-war front with Russia by destabilising another region under the influence of the latter, in order to make gains on other colonial fronts, namely Syria and Libya. Additionally, this could also have a domestic significance for the Erdogan regime, as for years Turkish expansionism and Neo-Ottoman ambitions, coupled with the crackdown on the political opponents and antifascists who tried to resist, served Erdogan and his establishment as a source of legitimacy and diverted the people from the devastating effects of neo-liberal economic policies and non-stop privatization. Azerbaijan’s ruling petrodollar class has openly welcomed the turco-supremacist paradigm — the “one nation two states” slogan is nothing but the forced submission of Azerbaijanis to Turkey’s political elite.

Russia, on the other hand, arming both countries for decades and using the conflict for growing its own political and economic influence in the region, probably expects Armenia to give away the remains of its political and economic sovereignty, and some of the post-Velvet Revolution democratic advancements, in exchange for peace.

According to the numbers of military casualties that both sides report on each other, the war has already claimed the lives of more than 8,000 people in total and displaced thousands on both sides.

THERE ARE NO WINNERS IN WAR

There is no ‘victory’ in war except for those who profit from it. The glorification of war is deeply rooted in toxic masculinity of the patriarchal heteronormative system, the perpetuation of which depends on the very existence of war and its ideological hegemony. War erases all anti-capitalist, anti-militarist, anti-fascist, anti-racist, environmental, feminist and queer struggles. Pervasive patriarchal and nationalist discourses not only become dominant but also mandatory, and any divergence from the mainstream is seen as a further punishable treason to the ‘nation-state’ and the ‘nation-army’. Another war means another wave of exacerbating hate, closing doors to reconciliation and trust, rise of nationalism and targeting of marginalized voices that challenge the machinery of war production and imperialist expansion. This war, like any other, has grave environmental consequences as well, transcending borders and identities. This part of Earth, already damaged and exhausted by mining almost to the point of no return, is now being destroyed on a daily basis.

Militarization becomes omnipresent: on a personal level, while following the news stream, learning about the casualties, endless bombings, shellings and destruction, while doing voluntary work to support the refugees, we no longer feel the boundary between getting militarized and ‘stepping outside’. There seems to be no option of ‘not being a part of the war’, so the only rescue remains care, mutual support and the solidarity networks that help maintain our values and ensure our survival. Today, the only legitimate solidarity we are allowed to have is that of dying together or organizing the logistics and support for those who fled from the combat zone, the gendered solidarity of care, healing and cleaning up the physical, psychological and ecological mess. Since young age our bodies do not belong to us, they are one way or another seen as servants of the conflict. This cycle needs to end. We need a solid antifascist pro-peace political movement and agenda․

So far, we have failed to form such a movement partly because a) the critique of nationalism, patriarchy, capitalism and militarism remains largely a marginal and suppressed discourse, b) anti-war stances are non-viable in the conditions of foreign military aggression and expansionist discourse, c) already marginal pro-peace discourses are often dominated by liberal, top-down approaches that equalize and homogenize power dynamics, contexts and realities, and d) anti-nationalist and internationalist stances are often easily identified with the Soviet experience of totalitarian socialism, the collective memory of which leaves little if any space for left politics. For such spaces to open up in the wider region, a struggle for decolonization should be coordinated with and maybe even preceded by overthrowing the dictatorships in Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia.

The Soviet Union was not the peace solution but the part of the problem itself. Just as the Western capitalist system, it actively contributed to the modernist vision of anthropocentric and colonialist superiority of the “Human,” manifested in scientific progress, military-industrial expansion and arms trade, exploitation of labor, the disciplining and controlling of bodies and minds.

TIME FOR DE-COLONIAL, ANTI-FASCIST AND ANTI-MILITARIST ECOFEMINIST ACTION

We call for Azerbaijan to stop the attacks; this conflict cannot have a military solution.

We call for substituting the ideological frameworks of nation and territory with those of people and rights. People’s rights, not states’ rights. The conflict cannot continue being seen merely through the legalistic principle of territorial integrity.

We call for the recognition of Արցախ / Qarabağ’s self-determination and the undoing of Soviet colonial maneuver of a century ago. Borders drawn in the beginning of the 20th century by bolsheviks and reified by independent Azerbaijan have never reflected the rights of the majority of Արցախ / Qarabağ. They have created conditions for the perpetual war in the region, and the following displacement of populations and necessity of a buffer zone constituted of the adjacent territories.

We stress the importance of all refugees’ right to return to their homes and their right for self-determination in conditions of demilitarization, societies’ detoxification from mutual hatred, mutual and solid guarantees of security, and restraint of fascist imperialist powers’ meddling in the region — Azerbaijani refugees from the 7 adjacent territories and Armenian refugees from Baku, Sumgait, Nakhichevan and other Azeri towns once populated by Armenians.

We call for dropping expansionist and maximalist stances in favor of post-national ones.

We call for a multilateral recognition of and reparations for past genocides and massacres for the sake of preventing future ones, namely the Armenian Genocide, the Shushi massacre, the pogroms of Sumgait, Kirovabad, Baku, and the Khojaly Massacre.

We express our solidarity with fellows in Azerbaijan, Turkey and beyond, who raised their voices against this war.

We call for global peace and demilitarization. For the abolishment of the colonial military-industrial complex and the arms trade, supported by heavy metal mining and fossil fuel industries. For a stop to heavy metal mining and fossil fuel burning worldwide.

We call for solidarity and peaceful coexistence across borders, identities and classes.

We call for adopting the respect for life — both human and nonhuman, as a ruling political principle.

We call for an international struggle for the suppression of fascism, dictatorial appetites of the capitalist system and its agents in our region and beyond. We denounce totalitarianism and its propaganda in all its forms.

We dream of a post-nationalist, pluralist and sustainable cohabitation for the people of Caucasus within a life-oriented political ecology, through the creation of internationalist self-governed and autonomous communities in the region.

12/10/2020

A.N.
M.S.
P.H.
T.T.

P. S. There are two clarifications we would like to make after receiving some feedback from readers.
a) Speaking of the various refugees, in the context of their right to return, we have mentioned the Azeris from the 7 adjacent regions, but failed to mention the Azeri refugees originating from the Armenian SSR and NKAO. This, as it should be clear from the spirit of our text, was purely unintentional. Similarly, on the other hand, some Armenian refugees were left unmentioned in our text, such as those from Shahumyan, an adjacent area of NKAO, or those from other then Armenian-populated localities such as Getashen, and so on. In short, when we say “all refugees,” we mean allrefugees.
b) Some readers, it has been pointed out, could read the “necessity of a buffer zone constituted of the adjacent territories”, in reality written as part of a historical narrative, as a claim about the permanent irreversibility of that situation. To those we invite to (re)read the paragraph immediately following that sentence, which should resolve any such misunderstanding.

Editorial Note: This is not a Sev Bibar statement, though we gladly provided our platform for this piece.

IMHO
https://imhojournal.org/articles/discussion-article-against-war-in-qarabag-nagorno-karabakh/

From Black Lives Matter to Gezi and Rojava


October 29, 2020

Summary: Questions for the Black Lives Matter uprising in light of the Turkish and Kurdish mass movements and uprisings — and repression — since 2013 — Editors

My argument refers to the unity of theory and praxis, in the Gramscian sense of a historical bloc. In this regard, I would like to hear more about how the current Black struggle or Black-led multiracial movement in the U.S. spontaneously organizes itself. Marxist-Humanists have claimed that they have never experienced a social movement on this scale, partly because it has become an international movement.

These movements remind me of another social movement that I had experienced in Turkey, the Gezi Park protests or uprisings in 2013. These occurred after the Arab Spring in 2011. At the time, I also thought that the Turkish social and leftist movement had never experienced such kind of movement. Its character was also spontaneous. After the brutal end of the movement the Erdogan regime became more aggressive, violent, and harsh. In the Gezi protest, there were different social and leftist groups coming together. Even Kurdish and Turkish nationalists tried to struggle together against the semi-democratic and authoritarian government.

The form Gezi took was also very interesting because it contained a communal feature, with nearly a direct form of democracy. People had taken the responsibility to clean the park every morning and evening. Nobody told them what they had to do. People who could not occupy and sleep in the park tried to bring food, blankets and tents, medicine, masks, and other things that helped to protect Gezi from brutal police attacks. A mother wearing a headscarf brought food that she cooked herself and said that “I am here for the future of my daughter and we are done with what Erdogan is saying and we do not want him to even enter our bedroom.” There were artists, there were discussions groups, there were doctors who were coming after their shifts in the hospital, there were forums, theater performance. In short there was great solidarity among intellectuals. Maybe it was first time that the intellectuals and people came together in this way.

I was impressed particularly by the forum, which was a form of direct democracy, as it seemed to me. Here I saw how people needed to make their voices heard. They needed to talk.

The problem arose after the brutal police attacks that ended the occupation of Gezi Park. People tried to unite in different parks in different districts or parts of Istanbul. But the movement was not able to mount a sustained resistance. It could not transform itself into a political organization. This makes me wonder about the future of these current movements in the U.S.

Here it is important to refer to the significance of space for social movement. Gezi Park was the site of creation for a revolutionary movement. I want to stress that today the struggle is no longer in the mountains; the urban areas are the site of struggle. This park opened a space of struggle!

It is the case also after Erdogan’s attack on the peace movement of some intellectuals who called themselves “Academic for Peace” who signed a petition to call a cessation of Turkish military attacks to the part of Turkish Kurdistan (Bakurê). Many thousands of academics signed and then after the coup attempt of 2016 but most of them were dismissed from their university positions. They created new space for their struggles in streets and parks. They continued to teach on the streets and in the parks, in particular in big cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Kocaeli, etc. This semi-democratic and neoliberal authoritarian system — the Erdogan regime — is creating academic refugees/an academic migration from the south to the north.

Another point to consider regarding the unity of theory and praxis is the Rojava experience. I think it is also important in order to comprehend how to design a non-capitalist society. Rojava had an experience based on the gender equality, called Democratic Confederalism. Democratic Confederalism is based on “a platform of shared values: environmental defense, self-defense, gender equality and pluralistic tolerance for religion, politics and culture.” It of course has its defects or shortcomings; for example, regarding the political economy of the new society. I think this is both problematic and particularly important for its democratic political agenda. It can therefore be said that the Rojava project is based on politics, that is, more on the superstructure than on the structure, here using Marx’s famous terms. Rojava tried to struggle against three things: 1) the patriarchal system; 2) the nation-state or the state system in general; 3) the capitalist system.

The revolution is strengthened via daily life. There are academies, cooperatives, and municipalities. Municipalities are social and political units. Cooperatives are the economic units and academies are the training units. These three elements must be connected and if one of them is missing the revolution cannot be complete and thus the transformation of daily life would be considered incomplete. The economic sphere supplies the whole of society and there are municipalities as decision mechanisms and a place to identify problems.

Democratic autonomy has multiple dimensions, concerning issues such as women’s situation, ecology, the economy, self-defense, justice, diplomacy, etc. A female presence can be observed in each of these areas. Each institution is a mixed institution with fifty percent female representation along with a female/male co-presidency system. In parallel with all of these aspects, a women’s committee or council is established. For example, if there is a municipality, there is also a municipality for women; if there is a cooperative, there is also a women’s cooperative. In each municipality, committees are established among these multiple dimensions as needed. One example would be self-defense for the safety of the village, where if there are problems the committee of magistrates tries to create a group able to face them and to reconcile the parties, all according to people’s needs. Diplomacy can provide external relations with other municipalities and other ethnic groups.

I do not want to go into deep the discussion or to give a detail but I just want to say that it is very crucial to consider these experiences in order to create or design a theory of How.

IMHO

https://imhojournal.org/articles/from-black-lives-matter-to-gezi-and-rojava/

Islamic Liberation Theology as Critique: 

Critical Islamic Political Thought in the Age of Systemic Racism and Exclusion

You are cordially invited to a webinar talk by Dr. Farid Esack, Professor in the Study of Islam in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Johannesburg - South Africa, entitled Islamic Liberation Theology as Critique:

Critical Islamic Political Thought in the Age of Systemic Racism and Exclusion.


This talk is sponsored by the ECMC Chair in Islamic Studies, Department of Political Science, Edmonton Council of Muslim Communities, and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (MEIS) research group:

Islamic Liberation Theology as Critique:

Critical Islamic Political Thought in the Age of Systemic Racism and Exclusion


When: Saturday, November 28, 2020, 1:00 – 2:30 PM

Where: Zoom Webinar
For Registration Please CLICK HERE





Abstract:

Islamic liberation theology is a critical expansion of both Islamic political thought and liberation theology in terms of the preferential option of the oppressed. In this presentation, Professor Esack will speak about the history and principles of Islamic liberation theology by focusing on themes such as the preferential option for the oppressed, praxis over doxy, pluralism, post-essentialism, and the mediation of social analysis and theology.

One of the key projects of social analysis in contemporary Islamic liberation theology is the reconceptualization of race as the power to critique the world. A decolonial approach to the power of race is central to the social analysis of contemporary Islamic liberation theology. This presentation will argue that that the approach to racism has shifted between the postcolonial theory and decolonial theory which in turn is based on a shift towards coloniality as a world system connected to the history of modern racism as an all-encompassing power. The power of racism is not only connected to the western and northern world. It is also internalized and entrenched in the social and political life of the global south. A decolonial critique proposed by Islamic liberation theology takes this challenge seriously by offering a critique of racism both within and outside Islam.

Bio:

Farid Esack is a Professor in the Study of Islam in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Johannesburg - South Africa, and a South African Muslim liberation theologian. He studied in Pakistan, the UK, and Germany and is the author of Qur’an, Liberation, and Pluralism, On Being a Muslim: An Introduction to the Qur’an, and with Sarah Chiddy, the co-editor of Islam, HIV & AIDS –Between Scorn Pity & Justice (all by Oxford: Oneworld). He has published on Islam, Gender, Liberation Theology, Interfaith Relations, and Qur'anic Hermeneutics and currently works on the Qur’an and socio-economic justice, and in developing a niche at the University of Johannesburg for the Study of Islam, Decolonization and Liberation. Professor Esack served as a Commissioner for Gender Equality in South Africa, and has taught at the Universities of Western Cape, the College of William & Mary and Union Theological Seminary (NY), and at Xavier University in Cincinnati. Before his appointment at the University of Johannesburg, he served as the Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal Professor of Contemporary Islam at Harvard University.


For more information and registration please visit the MEIS website HERE

All Welcome
For Registration Please CLICK HERE

Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies
Research Group


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The University of Alberta respectfully recognizes it is located in ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ (Amiskwacîwâskahikan) on Treaty 6 territory of the Papaschase, and the homeland of the Métis Nation.



L’Université de l’Alberta reconnait respectueusement qu’elle est située à ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ (Amiskwacîwâskahikan) sur les terres du Traité 6, le territoire du Papaschase, et les territoires de la nation Métis.

Jacindamania and the Aotearoa New Zealand Elections of 2020: Hopes and Potentialities

October 25, 2020

Summary: The New Zealand elections as a gain and as a limitation for the left — Editors.

[…] the Struggle for freedom did not end with the elections. They have just begun.

-Raya Dunayevskaya in Africa Today, 1962

One of the major problems which the global mainstream left has continuously faced has been its fetishized desire to replicate the past through the actions of certain individuals. Be it Stalin or Castro or Trotsky or Mao, the mainstream left has been infested with the politics of ‘icon-ism’. However, at the same time, it does not propose to do the same for the actual people who perform the revolution, whose individual subjectivity does not hold any revolutionary potential for them. The statement from Karl Marx in his Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, “The individual is the social being. His (Their) manifestations of life – even if they may not appear in the direct form of communal manifestations of life carried out in association with others – are therefore an expression and confirmation of social life”, has been, unfortunately, pushed away from the domain of leftist politics in favour of ideas which advocate the dissolution of the individual subjectivity in totality.

The global mainstream left, as has been the case since the dissolution of the Marxist IWMA, desperately needed a hero, it has been needing one since quite a long time now. The primary candidates for the same, Jeremy Corbyn in Britain, has been side-lined within the Labour Party in the UK, and the ‘political revolution’ of Bernie Sanders has been now appropriated by the mainstream political system in the US. The image of Alexandra Ocasio Cortez (aka AOC) within the global left seems to be a positive one but not a heroic one per se. While all this has been going on in the northern hemisphere, the south has been particularly active. The small island nation of Aotearoa New Zealand (ANZ) has recently seen an election which has potentially exhibited a shift towards the left in the country with unprecedented numbers for the Labour party headed by Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern (JA), one-time president of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IYSS) [a coalition of youth wings of various parties basing themselves on the policies of the Second Internationale].

But unfortunately, the global mainstream left does not consider her a heroine, the reason being their simple refusal of the Labour party in toto of being even a relatively progressive party. Again, it demonstrates a classic case of subverting the actual human within the structure. The New Zealand Labour Party in the 2020 elections secured an unprecedented vote share of 51%, and Jacinda Ardern’s role in it is tremendous. In fact, to compare this electoral victory of the Labour party, one has to go back as far as to 1938 when Labour first came to power in the country. This author does not hold any qualms about the fact that any Labour party cannot be inherently revolutionary, but then again, the term revolutionary itself has to be analysed with regards to the society in which it is desired to be applied. The New Zealand Labour Party (NZL) has in recent history, always been a social democratic party that has treaded the line of Blairism and the Third Way propagated by Tony Blair and Anthony Giddens, which is based on a kind of ‘social-ism’ rather than socialism.

The voter turnout in the 2020 elections was 82.5%, which was the highest in the last two decades (7 elections). This turnout was also a result of the increasing numbers of the votes from the young people and the Māori populace of the country. The New Zealand Labour Party (NZL) ran a campaign which promised affirmative action and ‘big things’, both for the working class and the middle classes along with the Indigenous populace. One of the major highlights of its 2020 campaign was the branding of Ardern as a saviour of Aotearoa, both economically and socio-culturally. Especially post the terrible tragedy which took place on the 15th March of 2019 in Christchurch, when a far-right gunman conducted two attacks on the Muslim populace during their traditional Friday prayers. These attacks by the single gunman began at the Al Noor Mosque of Riccarton and was followed by another one at Linwood Islamic Centre. These two attacks, one of which was livestreamed on social media, resulted in the deaths of 51 people while injuring 40 others. JA quickly stepped in, but the uniqueness of her approach was that it was not articulated as a political one or a ‘revolutionary’ one but rather as a humanist one- one human being supporting a fellow human being struck by tragedy. Most importantly, Ardern spoke to the victims in the language of the victims, as opposed to the ‘radical’ left, which continued to speak only of philosophical abstractions, which made little sense to the victims. JA’s image to the victims, was not constructed as a PM but rather as a friend, who was eager to listen to them, and not talk solely about Islamophobia.

This was one of the early initiators of the ‘Jacindamania’ in which posts of her useful and humanist interventions into the Christchurch tragedy grabbed the attention of the entire globe. For a small time, the world witnessed explicitly Islamic organisations praising a centre-left party for its efforts. Amidst all of this global fervour, perhaps, it was one of the few times, when the global left was in fact, looking at the victory of the Labour party in a small nation, with appreciative eyes. It is true that in New Zealand, poverty is still at an alarmingly high level for the Indigenous population. Remnants of the colonial management and takeover of the Māori society are still quite evident by the percentages which come up regarding education, poverty and health care accessibility. But it cannot be denied that the humanist outlook and branding of Ardern have helped in constructing the image of JA not as an iron lady but rather as a ‘human-being’ first and politician later.

The NZL victory was based firmly upon the policies which NZL had brought forward during the pandemic induced lockdowns in the country. The cult of JA’s personality created within the media as, not as a mother figure, but rather as a friendly neighbour, tremendously helped NZL to make that connection to the youth. In many ways, this was similar to how Helen Clark rose to prominence in the 90s in the country. This branding of JA secured her position as a symbol of hope among the citizens, something which the left has failed to do since a very long time. The radical left in ANZ, formed chiefly by a multiplicity of various organisations at a smaller scale include the International Socialist Organisation (ISO ANZ), Socialist Aotearoa and a couple of other ‘blogs’ like Fightback. The new Communist party of Aotearoa (NCPA) formed recently is still a minor player within the left-wing politics of the island nation.

The problem with the dominant ‘left’ within ANZ is that it continuously speaks a language (politically) which does not have an audience in ANZ. At least, not to the extent that it thinks it has. While NZL speaks of socio-economic conditions and pragmatic solutions which appeal to the citizens, the radical left mostly speaks of solutions which seem to be far away from the actually existing situation and aspirations of the individuals within the society. One of the primary causes of the same being their complete dissociation from the lives of individuals who make up the society itself. It is in this field that NZL makes its mark in the election- the individual contact which JA had had with the citizens, the attention which she gave to the individual human subjectivity of the voter.

The major takeaway from the elections is the gender diversity of the MPs which this election has brought forth. The ANZ parliament with 10% of its MPs being non-heterosexual, is now the most gender diversified parliament in the world with its Auckland Central seat being won by a gay candidate from the Greens, Chlöe Swarbrick (CS), who is only 26 years in age. Another major takeaway is the overall result of the Greens and the Māori party. For the first time, the country has a MP who has Tā Moko (traditional Māori tattoo on the face) on his entire face, Rawiri Waititi (RW). While it has to be acknowledged that the victory for the Māori party in this election is historic, it also has to be noted that, ironically, the left’s relationship with the Māori party and the Indigenous populace of the country continuously seems to be on the decline. NZL, to the current author, retains certain core social democratic values more than the British Labour party, such as working for settling conflicts, piecemeal improvements in labour laws, increasing the number of holidays, among others. At the same time, since they are social democrats and more so social democrats working as a Labour Party, it is not proper to expect radical change from the NZL at a structural level. But, with all these going in favour of the left, the current election has definitely witnessed a shift towards the left. It is also true that it is a moment of hope for the global progressive left movement. But, along with that, what the election also means is that one needs to critically look at the way political institutions and system are organised. The problem with orthodox Stalinism or Trotskyism starts with the fact that both of these currents remain inept to address the concerns of the individuals who actually vote for the parties.

The MMP system in ANZ (one vote for the party and one for the individual), which was brought into place in the mid-90s to ensure coalition governments has come a full circle now with an absolute majority being granted to NZL for the first time since the MMP was put in place. To trace out the last time a single party got such an absolute majority in the ANZ parliament one has to go back to 1990 (the country then still ran elections on the first past the post basis), when the National Party received 67 out of the 97 electorate seats in the parliament. The problem with any political system, which insists upon the existence of a party to be a prerequisite for an electoral victory, is that it fundamentally does away with the agency of the individual. It overlooks the fact that it is at the end of the day, the individual who votes, celebrates and mourns the party. So, while it is a great achievement for the left as a whole in ANZ to celebrate the electoral victory of Ardern, it is also a point of deep reflection. The reflection has to run along the lines of how the left theorises the society in Aotearoa New Zealand itself. It also questions the relevance of Trotskyism, the dominant variety of left-wing politics in the country, which though on paper, argues for the entire world, but has little participation within the student movement and the women’s movement in the country. In other words, the elections have shown that being detached from the individuals who form the society, no left-wing politics can make a mark.

JA and the NZL’s victory are a victory of the people, this basic fact cannot be denied. In fact, the entire 2020 elections with significant victories of the Greens and the Māori parties, are all victories of the people, especially the youth of the country. The election also exhibited that it is no longer necessary to be donning a military coat or an army cap to make a leftward shift in the society- smiles and a humanist approach to societal problems can also do the job. In other words, being a humanist today can actually make one more probable of becoming the primary choice of the people. Giving attention to human subjectivity no longer seems to be the escapist route which the traditional orthodox left terms it to be, but rather, it seems to be the only way in which contradictions related to gender and the Indigenous populace within any country can be resolved. It is, at the end, the connection to individuals in the society which can take left wing and progressive politics forward.

The ANZ elections are definitely a shift to the left but there is only so much that the centre left can do. It is true that the NZL’s stands on certain issues have been debatable but one also needs to take cognisance that it is functioning within a global capitalist order so isolating it as a ‘paper left’ does not help progressive politics but only hampers the progressive forces because the only encouragement this type of statement provides is to forces, who have very little audience, both publicly and academically within ANZ (and whose contributions are seriously doubtable). This is revisionism, but it is the practical thing to do in the state in which the world is in – the symbols of hope need to be protected while still being critical of them, and JA is one of them.

Regarding the Greens and the Māori Party, they are a combination of capitalists, liberals, socialists and far-lefts. So, the approach on the left has to be more nuanced rather than generalised, which again directs one back to the fundamental question- the importance of individual and human subjectivity in objective revolutionary conditions. MMP can function better only if it boosts individual subjectivity in a manner which encourages common people like union organisers, activists, etc to contest elections on their own without the support of their parties. This individual subjectivity can be the force towards the transition from a ‘left-ward shift’ to a proper left-wing shift within the society of ANZ. But till then, the centre left has to be protected and a continuous deliberation has to be held with them, which has to again, give importance to individuals within the centre left. The policies coming from people like JA, CS and RW, and their politics have to be analysed in a manner which locates them within a dynamic relationship with the party they represent. The principal task for the left thus is to take adequate cognisance of these processes within the society which have now become explicit. With Jacindamania’s victory in the ANZ elections, the implications for the left are clear and well defined- Marxist-Humanism is the path forward.

IMHO

https://imhojournal.org/articles/jacindamania-and-the-aotearoa-new-zealand-elections-of-2020-hopes-and-potentialities/

 Summary: These two related pieces are by a U.S. political prisoner who relates the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin to the need not to separate demands for defunding police from ending capital punishment and abolishing the prison system. You reach him at: Khalfani Khaldun, 874304, PO Box 1111 G-215, Carlisle, IN 47838

Justice for Jacob Blake: Where Were You that Night?

We must not see this young Black man as a victim—he’s more like a survivor of a wanton bloodthirsty trained killer, the Kenosha Wisconsin police.

Instead of looking to the video to base the focus of factual evidence on this shooting, the media was given a story that Jacob Blake was simply just another Black criminal. They were looking to undermine the seriousness of this man being shot 7 times in his back at almost point-blank range.

Where were you the night Jacob Blake was shot? I was sitting in a prison cell when the story came across my TV screen. As I watched this scene play out before me, I instantly felt human compassion for his mother. I felt a deep-rooted rage for Jacob’s father, as if Jacob Blake was my own son. Jacob Blake was shot and had he died from his injuries he would have left behind four beautiful Black sons. As they had to see their father lying flat on a hospital bed unable to move, their hearts and brains must have been weighed by questions like, “What did he do wrong? We have been raised to believe the police are here to serve and protect us, right?” Jacob Blake’s son’s will never get over what these callous police did to their daddy.

In 1983 I was 14 years old. My mother and eldest brother, who is now deceased, went out to a party to celebrate my brother’s graduation from high school. I stayed up till late that night waiting for them to come home. I saw my mother’s car bend the corner and a police squad car followed, pulling up behind them, in front of our house. The officer pulled out his weapon and ordered my loved ones to get out of the car. They were told to put their hands on their heads. The officers conducted a pat search, then searched the car, discovering a 22-milimeter derringer gun in my mother’s purse. As I watched on, I witnessed the police manhandle my mother, place her in handcuffs, and arrest her for the gun. My mother was slammed up against the squad car and forced into the back seat and taken away to the local jail. She was bonded out and released. We picked her up and headed home.

I have never forgotten what happened to my mother, who died from cancer in 1997. That caused me not to trust or call the police for anything. While activist groups and revolutionary organizations push the Defund Police Campaign around this country, we must never forget about these prison plantations. They should be defunded also. Officers who may lose their jobs on the force could become a prison officer inside the Indiana Department of Corrections.

One example of what I am saying is the recent removal of a warden at the Pendleton Correctional Facility. He was replaced by the man who once ran the Guantanamo Bay Prison for accused terrorists. This guy is enforcing as lot of behavior modification programs and wants to be seen as a law and order type of person. His actions have an impact on prisoners right now.

Please join the chapter of Black Lives Matter and all progressive groups in your cities and states. Get involved in the fight for justice. Speak up and speak out as our movement build its focus and reshape its vision to bring change to America. Let us get some real justice for Jacob Blake, and all of our brothers and sisters at the hands of the police. Stand together in solidarity!

 

Not in Our Name: No Justice, No Peace, Defund the Police

I have been a ward of the state since 1987. Between the years 1994 and 1997 we lost several comrades to state executions. Gregory Resnover was the last person to be murdered here in Indiana by electrification. His co-defendant Tommy Smith was the first to be murdered by lethal injection. For some years now the death penalty in Indiana was somewhat on hold. Now that election day is drawing near, the Trump administration has pushed to lift that hold, advising Governor Eric Holcolm to resume the murder of prisoners on Indiana’s death row.

In recent months, as the state of Indiana has been panicked by the spread of Covid-19, they have murdered half a dozen prisoners by lethal injection. I have not witnessed this many executions in this state, in my three decades of imprisonment. The president wants his supporters to know that he is the law and order killer that will kill in their name. We who oppose everything he stands for must stand in solidarity and say, Not in Our Name.

Murder only begets murder, violence only begets violence. As we the people move to defund the police, we must move to defund the prison industrial complex and defund the death penalty. We can no longer underestimate the systematic racism and white supremacy that is controlling the politics of this country. The standing your ground laws have worked for them—they can work for us too. President Trump and his administration are incapable of repairing wounds forced upon the Black nation in Amerikkka.

We might just see a revolution in my lifetime. Power to the People—Trump’s actions are not in our name.

INFRASTRUCTURE WEEK
The Nation’s Aging Schools Must Improve Air Quality to Prevent Covid Transmission, Experts Say. 

But the Price Tag is Daunting: $145 Billion

(Getty Images)

THEY HAVE KNOWN ABOUT THIS CRISIS IN SCHOOL BUILDINGS HVAC  SINCE METLIFE STUDY SCHOOL HOUSE IN THE RED, PUBLISHED IN THE 1990'S!!!


Like many districts, Massachusetts’s Framingham Public Schools is trying to determine how to safely bring back students for in-person instruction. Unlike most, this suburban district just outside Boston has a specific re-entry plan that runs 67 pages and includes a detailed survey of the ventilation system in each of its 14 schools.

Framingham is paying attention to its schools’ air quality because it wants “to help reduce the risk of contracting COVID” for staff and students, said Matthew Torti, the district’s director of building and grounds. The 9,000-student district spent $19,000 on its HVAC survey and another $340,000 on portable air filters.

Framingham has been teaching a very small percentage of its highest needs students in person, but expects to welcome 400 more students Thursday. “We’ll be ready for those students,” Torti said. Overall, the area’s transmission rates remain high, so it’s unclear when all students will transition to in-person learning.

At schools across the country, the calculus of reopening varies widely. Officials must gauge the community spread of COVID-19, state guidelines on masks and social distancing, and their ability to transport and feed children safely. But one factor is constant making sure the air is safe to breathe.

Updated guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month recognized that while most people get infected by coming into close contact with someone with COVID-19, the coronavirus can be spread by airborne transmission, especially in enclosed areas with poor ventilation. It can happen even if they are more than six feet apart from an infected person or after someone with COVID has left the space, according to the agency.

Jose-Luis Jimenez, a professor of chemistry at the University of Colorado, estimates that more than a third of positive COVID transmissions occur from aerosols, not direct contact.

The importance of air quality is heightened as more districts — including, in recent weeks, Miami, Indianapolis, and Houston — head back to school. Others, such as Boston, have delayed planned returns as area infection rates have risen.

Research shows it is likely that HVAC repairs will be needed. A 2020 study from the U.S. Government Accountability Office shows 40 percent of schools need to update or replace their ventilation systems. The national Council on School Facilities estimated four years ago it would take $145 billion annually to upgrade schools to acceptable standards.

“The concept of deferred maintenance is commonplace in most buildings,” said Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg, an associate professor and the director of the Energy Studies Building Lab at the University of Oregon. “K-12 schools are notorious for deferred maintenance.”

(GAO)

For Framingham, the mission was clear: ensure its ventilation systems were operating effectively and find ways to improve air quality, Torti said. Once the district determined that its HVAC systems needed no major repairs, it upgraded filters where possible. HVAC units older than 20 years aren’t able to handle the MERV 13 filters now called for by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, he added. These filters capture up to 85 percent of exhalation droplets before air is recirculated.

Torti said his office was “nailed with every sales pitch” as it decided whether additional measures were needed. The district considered using either electrical charges or UVC radiation in its HVAC system to destroy virus particles. In the end, Framingham bought enough portable air filters to place two inside most rooms.

The HEPA air filters “might be overkill, but it gives people security,” he added. The units cost $160 each and another $40 per spare filter. They are able to capture ultra fine particles from the air, but this solution may not be available to every district: Framingham budgets $19,200 per student, well above the national average.

In a sign of the constantly changing conditions schools face, Torti said one of his staffers tested positive for COVID this week, requiring the bulk of his department to self-quarantine for 14 days. The case won’t affect the district’s plan to bring kids back into schools.

Nationwide, the approach districts are taking to checking schools’ air quality varies. In Chicago, where all learning remains remote, the district is “undertaking a comprehensive assessment of every ventilation system in every school building” prior to restarting in-person learning, said Emily Bolton, the district’s director of media communications and strategy.

Erin Bromage, immunologist and associate professor at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth (University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth)

In New York City, school officials investigated each classroom to ensure proper ventilation before starting hybrid classes in early October. The inspections sought to identify working HVAC systems, but they also counted a classroom as having adequate ventilation if the room has a working window, an option that grows less practical as the temperature drops.

California legislators approved up to $600 million on September 30 for schools to test, adjust, repair, or replace school ventilation systems in the next three years.

While replacing a school’s HVAC system can cost up to $7 million, it is not necessary to opt for an expensive fix to improve classroom air flow. Erin Bromage, an immunologist and associate professor at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, said schools could improve air quality with nothing more than a well-positioned box fan in an open window.

Understanding the science

The reason schools’ air quality is important is that it can take less than five minutes in a room where people are talking to potentially transmit the virus, according to Bromage’s online analysis. Mixing classroom air with outside air and filtering both can stop the virus from lingering and reduce the chances of transmission.

The basic standard for schools is to replace the air inside a classroom four times an hour, said Bromage, but he said schools should try to up this rate to at least six times an hour.

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The Air They Breathe: NYC Teachers’ School Ventilation Complaint Spotlights Complex Challenge

Corey Metzger, the founder of Resource Consulting Engineers in Ames, Iowa, said schools need to consider air exchanges, filters, and the amount of outside air introduced into a building to find the right formula. Changing air six times an hour with poor filtration and little outside air is probably worse than changing the air four times an hour with 50 percent outside air that is well filtered, he said.

Those are the best-case scenarios.

Unfortunately, a lot of schools are old and improving a filter or changing the settings to increase outside air isn’t that easy. The average school is 44 years old, according to Education Week.

“We have a lot of old schools, similar to the rest of the country,” said Scott Brown, the director of school facilities in Maine. Many of these schools simply have unit ventilators that sit in individual classrooms and recirculate classroom air. “They really need to be replaced.”

Despite that, Brown said his state has spent the last 20 years catching up on maintenance, in particular improving schools’ air quality. Even though this puts Maine ahead of the curve to improve ventilation, Brown added, “I’m on the phone all day with people trying to reassure them. It’s a tough situation. I’ve been trying for years to bring attention to air quality.”

In addition to opening windows, some Maine schools are holding classes outdoors, using tents in some cases. But with nighttime temperatures already dipping below 30 degrees in some parts of the Pine Tree State, that’s at best a temporary fix.

An official with the American Federation of Teachers said schools can also buy CO2 monitors for each room. While the buildup of carbon monoxide isn’t typically a hazard, high levels can indicate poor air circulation. Even though monitors are fairly inexpensive at about $200, having one in every classroom would quickly add up. In New York City, teachers complained that they were not trained how to use these monitors and didn’t know what constituted a dangerous CO2 level.

HVAC repairs

If schools need to replace or make major repairs on HVAC systems, they may not have the funds or the time to get work done quickly, said Mike Stangel, the executive director of facilities for the Green Bay Area Public School District in Wisconsin. Tackling his district’s needs over the last decade has left the 42-school district in good air quality shape, he added.

Right now, Green Bay is only teaching a few classes of special needs students in person, but Stangel said he’s trying to replace classroom air eight times an hour and is flushing every school with 100 percent outside air at the end of each school day.

The idea of increasing the amount of outside air in a building is antithetical to the industry’s recent attempts to cut energy costs, experts said. Outside air typically has to be either heated or cooled to maintain a comfortable environment, increasing energy consumption.

This is one area where older buildings can have an advantage, said Metzger. New buildings are made more airtight to minimize the air exchange and be energy efficient. “Old buildings breathe really well with all their cracks and leaks. That makes it easier to get away with a lot of things you can’t in a tight building.”

One concern, Van Den Wymelenberg said, is ensuring the outside air an HVAC system is pulling in is clean. When fires were raging in three states earlier this year, that wasn’t a possibility. Schools located near industrial areas can have the same problem, where the building’s HVAC filters can’t remove harmful or smelly particles.

Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg, an associate professor and the director of the Energy Studies Building Lab at the University of Oregon. (University of Oregon)

While the experts agreed that air quality is key, Bromage was quick to point out that other factors, such as transmission rates, will also affect student safety. For schools located within areas that have low transmission rates, a school of 250 students should average about one positive COVID student every month. “That’s not a ‘close down the school’ rate,” he added. A similarly sized school in an area with high transmission rates might average one positive student for every two classrooms.

Bromage and others discouraged schools from spending lots of money on “deep cleaning,” saying the focus was misplaced. Some schools with an in-person hybrid schedule are taking one day off weekly to clean and disinfect high-touch areas such as desks and doorknobs. But “at most, surfaces are responsible for a few percentage of all infections,” Bromage said.

If schools have to pick one area to concentrate on, Van Den Wymelenberg said, it should be aerosol transmission. “Surfaces are easier to understand and less scary” than containing airborne particles. “It’s a much more complicated problem, but it is solvable.”

While the Oregon professor praised administrators for paying attention to air quality now, he rued that it took so long for most people to comprehend its importance. “We had all summer to get our schools ready, and now we’re left scrambling.”