Siemens Energy unit picked to install 'next generation turbines' at $9 billion offshore wind hub

The East Anglia Hub will be able to power millions of homes once fully up and running.

Several large-scale offshore wind projects are being planned for the U.K., where authorities want offshore wind capacity to hit 40 gigawatts by the year 2030.

© Provided by CNBC

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has been given the nod to supply and install turbines for the £6.5 billion (around $9 billion) East Anglia Hub, a major offshore wind development planned for waters off the east coast of England.

In a statement Tuesday, project developer Scottish Power Renewables said the plan was to use over 200 "next generation turbines" for the scheme which, if fully realized, will consist of the East Anglia ONE North, East Anglia TWO and East Anglia THREE facilities.

SPR did not provide specific details of the turbines slated to be used by the wind farms but described them as "some of the world's most powerful and productive."

According to the firm, which is part of the Iberdrola Group, the East Anglia Hub will be able to produce as much as 3.1 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy, powering millions of homes in the process.

Planning consent has been granted for East Anglia THREE, while planning applications for the other two projects are in the process of being examined. If the project progresses smoothly, construction will start in 2023 and wrap up in 2026.

The East Anglia Hub is one of several large-scale offshore wind projects being planned for the U.K., where authorities want to increase offshore wind capacity to 40 GW by the year 2030. The U.K.'s operational offshore wind capacity currently stands at a little over 10.4 GW.

Last October, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he wanted the country to become the "world leader in low cost clean power generation."

Other projects in the pipeline include the Dogger Bank Wind Farm, which will be located in waters off the northeast coast of England and have a capacity of 3.6 GW.

Current facilities in operation include Hornsea One, in waters off Yorkshire, England, which has a capacity of 1.2 GW.

The U.K. is not the only country where wind power is starting to play an increasingly important role.

 

On Tuesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said daily electricity generation from wind hit a record 1.76 million megawatt-hours on December 23, 2020.

This, the EIA added, represented "about 17% of total electricity generation on that day."

"On average, EIA estimates that wind accounted for 9% of U.S. electricity generation in 2020," it went on to state. 

The first offshore wind farm in the U.S., the 30 megawatt, five turbine Block Island Wind Farm, only started commercial operations at the end of 2016.

When it comes to offshore wind, America still has some ways to go before it catches up with the U.K.

Change is coming, however, with a number of significant projects now planned for waters off the East Coast.

These include the Empire Wind and Beacon Wind projects, which are backed by oil and gas giants Equinor and BP.

Arctic Ocean was fresh water at least TWICE over past 150,000 years

© Provided by Daily Mail MailOnline logo

The Arctic Ocean spans more than five million square miles and although the water is salty, thousands of years ago the vast ocean was a filled with freshwater.

Researchers found the Arctic Ocean as well as the Nordic Seas did not contain sea-salt in at least two glacial periods - once about 70,000 to 60,000 years ago and also 150,000 to 130,000 years ago.

The ocean at these times was capped with a massive ice sheet of ice that measured about 2,952 feet, which trapped the fresh water from circulating out from the area.

The team also determined that because sea levels were much lower during these time periods, large icebergs extended to the sea floor that also restricted the exchange of water masses.

The flow of glaciers, ice melt in summer and rivers also drained into the Arctic Ocean, also delivered large amounts of fresh water to the system that could not escape.

© Provided by Daily Mail 

The Arctic Oceans spans more than five million square miles and although the water is salty, thousands of years ago the vast ocean was a filled with freshwater. The ocean was capped with a massive ice sheet of ice that measured about 2,952 feet, which trapped the fresh water from circulating out from the area

The Arctic Ocean surrounds the North Pole in the middle of the North Hemisphere and itself is surrounded by Eurasia and North America.

Scientists from Germany's Alfred Wegner Institute and the Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research conducted a detailed analysis of the commotions of marine deposits in the Arctic Ocean to uncover what secrets they may tell of the ocean.

The results showed the ocean, along with the Nordic Seas, contained freshwater and capped with a massive sheet of ice.

The sheet of ice kept the water from flowing into the North Atlantic for short periods, but the experts say sudden freshwater inputs could explain rapid climate oscillations for which no satisfying explanation had been previously found

.

© Provided by Daily Mail 

The team also determined that because sea levels were much lower during these time periods, large icebergs extended to the sea floor that also restricted the exchange of water masses

According to their study, the floating parts of the northern ice sheets covered large parts of the Arctic Ocean in the past 150,000 years.

Once about 70,000 to 60,000 years ago and also about 150,000 to 130,000 years ago, and during both these periods, freshwater accumulated under the ice, creating a completely fresh Arctic Ocean for thousands of years.

The next step was determining how the large basin that is connected by several straits with the North Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean could go from sea-salt to entirely fresh water.

Professor Ruediger Stein, geologist at the AWI and the MARUM, said: 'Such a scenario is perceivable if we realize that in glacial periods, global sea levels were up to 42 feet lower than today, and ice masses in the Arctic may have restricted ocean circulation even further.'

Near shallow connections, like Bering Strait or the sounds of the Canadian Archipelago, were above sea level at the time, which cutting off the water flow to the Pacific Ocean entirely.

In the Nordic Seas, large icebergs or ice sheets extending onto the sea floor restricted the exchange of water masses.

The flow of glaciers, ice melt in summer, and rivers draining into the Arctic Ocean kept delivering large amounts of fresh water to the system, at least 1200 cubic kilometres per year.

A part of this amount would have been forced via the Nordic Seas through the sparse narrow deeper connections in the Greenland-Scotland Ridge into the North Atlantic, hindering saline water from penetrating further north. This resulted in the freshening of the Arctic Ocean.

Dr Walter Geibert, geochemist at the Alfred Wegener Institute, said: 'Once the mechanism of ice barriers failed, heavier saline water could fill the Arctic Ocean again.'

'We believe that it could then quickly displace the lighter freshwater, resulting in a sudden discharge of the accumulated amount of freshwater over the shallow southern boundary of the Nordic Seas, the Greenland-Scotland-Ridge, into the North Atlantic.'

These results mean a real change to our understanding of the Arctic Ocean in glacial climates,' said Geibert.

'To our knowledge, this is the first time that a complete freshening of the Arctic Ocean and the Nordic Seas has been considered - happening not just once, but twice.

'

© Provided by Daily Mail 

The team also determined that because sea levels were much lower during these time periods, large icebergs extended to the sea floor that also restricted the exchange of water masses

To uncover these findings, the team conducted a geological analysis of ten sediment cores pulled from different areas of the ocean, along with Fram Strait and the Nordic Seas.

And the stacked deposits mirror the climate history of the past glacials.

When investigating and comparing the sediment records, the geoscientists found that an important indicator was missing, always in the same two intervals.

'In saline sea water, the decay of naturally occurring uranium always results in the production of the isotope thorium-230. This substance accumulates at the sea floor, where it remains detectable for a very long time due to its half-life of 75,000 years,' Geibert explained.

Massive ice 'volcano' forms in Kazakhstan

Duration: 00:50 

A natural phenomenon in Kazakhstan's largest city has created an enormous structure that resembles a volcano made of ice.

VEGAN SCIENCE
Scientists Taught Spinach How to Send Emails to Help Fight Climate Change — and This Isn't a Joke

Scientists have found a way to teach spinach to send emails. But it's not just for fun or to tell you about a huge sale event — these specific messages are meant to warn people about climate change or explosive materials, according to EuroNews

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© Provided by Travel + Leisure Richard Bord/Getty

According to a study published in the scientific journal Nature Materials, engineers at MIT created a new method for detecting major changes in our climate thanks to the root systems in spinach plants.

"Plants are very environmentally responsive," said Professor Michael Strano, who led the study, in a statement to EuroNews. "They know that there is going to be a drought long before we do. They can detect small changes in the properties of soil and water potential. If we tap into those chemical signalling pathways, there is a wealth of information to access."

The new technology, called "plant nanobionics," uses the spinach plant roots to detect nitroaromatics in groundwater. Nitroaromatic compounds are found in man-made industrial chemicals (often found in explosives), according to EuroNews. According to the study, when the "carbon nanotubes" inside the spinach roots detect these compounds, they could send a signal to an infrared camera, which then triggers an email alert to scientists who conducted the study.

"Plants are very good analytical chemists," said Strano to EuroNews. "They have an extensive root network in the soil, are constantly sampling groundwater, and have a way to self-power the transport of that water up into the leaves."

Strano added that the study has helped to "overcome the plant/human communication barrier." This method could also apply to detecting pollution or changes in the environment in order to help fight climate change, EuroNews reported.

In addition, another study from American University also found that spinach could be used to power fuel cells for metal-air batteries –– which are more energy-efficient alternatives for lithium-ion batteries that are often used for electronics like laptop computers and smartphones, according to EuroNews.

Aside from being a nutritious addition to your salads and smoothies, the modest spinach plant also seems to be doing the work to save the planet too.

Andrea Romano is a freelance writer in New York City. Follow her on Twitter @theandrearomano.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/99442.The_Secret_Life_of_Plants

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/525843.Supernature#:~:text=SUPERNATURE%20-%20The%20legendary%2C%20ground-breaking%20book%20about%20the,doubt%20that%20science%20is%20stranger%20than%20the%20supernatural.

Footage from ISS shows the Moon 'deflating'

Duration: 00:42 

Mesmerizing footage recently captured by Russian cosmonaut Sergei Kud-Sverchkov from aboard the International Space Station shows the Moon deflating like a giant beach ball.

Foreign Owned Salmon Farms Take Canada to Court

Three firms challenge the feds’ decision to close down 

Discovery Islands operations

The fisheries minister’s decision to end licences for 19 net-pen fish farms in BC waters prompted celebrations from wild salmon advocates, and now a legal challenge by the firms affected. Photo by Tavish Campbell.

The wrath of British Columbia’s foreign-owned fish farming industry is about to descend upon Ottawa. Three multinational corporations are seeking a judicial review and an injunction against the federal government’s recent decision to remove industrial Atlantic salmon operations from the Discovery Islands by June 2022.

We’ve got a global crisis or two — or three — on our hands. Let’s take these solutions into 2021.

After intense consultations with seven First Nations, Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan announced on Dec. 17 that she would terminate the licences for 19 open-net pen salmon operations in the area.

But in three separate but similarly worded legal challenges, the companies allege that the minister did not notify the firms such terminations were being contemplated or provide them with “an opportunity to know and respond to the case it had to meet regarding its Aquaculture Licence Applications.”

The companies include Mowi, the world’s largest Atlantic salmon producer; Cermaq, a global firm with feedlots in Norway, Canada and Chile; and Grieg Seafood, which operates 22 ocean feedlots in B.C. Flushed by nutrient-rich currents, the Discovery Islands account for 30 per cent of Mowi’s production in B.C.

The minister’s decision surprised many observers because the federal DFO had just weakened its sea lice restrictions to accommodate the industry’s chronic problems — a menace that has severely affected the population health of young migrating wild salmon.

And in response to recommendations made by Cohen Commission, the DFO had concluded that fish farms “pose no more than a minimal risk to Fraser River sockeye salmon abundance and diversity under the current fish health management practices.”

To industry it looked like the renewal of 19 fish farm licenses in the Discovery Islands was guaranteed.

But that’s when seven First Nations, concerned about the physical and cultural survival of wild Pacific salmon, abruptly changed the status quo. They made it clear to the minister they were convinced by research that the industry’s presence in coastal waters threatened the survival and the recovery of wild salmon.

The Liberal government has promised to move all open-net pen facilities to land-based facilities by 2025.

“This is the first time First Nations and the federal government have been allied on the future of wild salmon,” said Alex Morton, an independent scientist and advocate for wild salmon. The salmon farmers bringing suit “say they respect Aboriginal rights, and here they are in court contesting the right of First Nations to say no.”

Since the federal decision, the industry has pushed back through public relations as well. The BC Salmon Farmers Association has posted letters from employees expressing their concern that as many as 1,500 rural jobs may be lost.

Mayors in the northern part of Vancouver Island have unanimously opposed the decision. In a letter to Minister Jordan, they threw their support behind the industry.

But Homalco First Nation Chief Darren Blaney told the Victoria News that both industry and the mayors are showing little regard for the 102 First Nations that have lobbied hard for the removal of industrial feedlots from the ocean as threat to the survival of wild salmon.

“They voted unanimously to overturn this decision saying that it was a ‘mistake,’ and so does that mean my culture is a mistake?” asked Blaney. “Passing on our culture to future generations, is that a mistake? That’s what this challenge is. It goes right back to the kind of racism that our people have been treated throughout Canada.”

Morton noted that multinational salmon farming companies are being investigated in Europe and the U.S. for acting as a “cartel.” In Scotland, a number of salmon farming companies are being investigated for chemical pollution. In both cases, the companies deny any wrongdoing.


In Chile, authorities levied a record US$6-million fine on Mowi for the escape of 700,000 fish.

“This is an industry in chaos as it resists maturing into closed systems,” said Morton.


This Year May Decide the Fate of BC’s Wild Salmon READ MORE

Meanwhile, orcas have returned to the Broughton Archipelago where First Nations forced the industry to remove their facilities in order to respect First Nation rights and protect dwindling stocks of wild fish.

Acoustic harassment devices used by the industry to repel fish-eating seals drove away the orcas for 20 years.

“Last year the Burdwood farm, which was located at the hub of four important channels was removed. And when it was removed, the whales came back,” said Morton, who has been documenting the movement of whales and fish in the area for more than 20 years.

The BC Salmon Farmers Association has said the federal government’s decision “puts salmon farming in B.C. and across Canada at risk... during a pandemic when local food supply and good local jobs have never been more important.”

BC First Nation company explores feasibility of waste-to-energy facility in northern interior

Nearly two years after Canfor shut down its sawmill in Vavenby, B.C., a respected First Nations-owned resource company is exploring the possibility of a new waste-to-energy facility to take its place. 

“We started thinking, is there something that we should look into that might create a different environment, a different buzz?” said Al Chorney, CEO of Simpcw Resources Group. “And with forestry taking it on the chin, decade after decade, one has to look at the region through a different lens.”

About 187 direct jobs were lost when Canfor closed its Vavenby sawmill in 2019, along with about twice as many associated jobs, said Clearwater Mayor Merlin Blackwell, whose council presides over the 700-member community of Vavenby as well.

“The whole logging economy in the valley suffered after Canfor went away,” Blackwell said.

Vavenby is located in the Thompson Valley, about 110 km north of Kamloops. The territory of Simpcw First Nation, which owns Simpcw Resources, spans 5 million hectares, from just north of Kamloops, to east of Jasper and northwest to Kakwa Park.

“The ultimate goal is to serve the needs of the Thompson Valley communities, while the net benefit is providing a renewable energy source,” said Chorney of the waste conversion concept.

The concept, as currently envisioned, would divert plastics, construction and demolition debris, municipal solid waste, sewage sludge, and agricultural and forestry materials, among other things, from the landfill and convert it to clean thermal and electrical energy.

Simpcw Resources, which oversees forestry, aggregates, pipeline maintenance, construction and more for Simpcw First Nation, didn’t originally intend to pursue a major new business. Initially, the goal was to find a replacement for Canfor, a foundational customer to anchor the industrial park, and draw other tenants.

But attracting a new medium, or large, business to the valley was difficult.

“One of the challenges that the region's faced is that there are limitations as to how one might develop a new industry or create that environment that actually serves to attract new industry,” Chorney said.

So the company considered the situation from another perspective. If they couldn’t attract outside interest, maybe they’d have to prove the opportunity themselves; maybe Simpcw Resources would be the anchor tenant.

The company chose a ‘clean energy’ business concept that would convert municipal, industrial, and other waste into power, wastewater, thermal heat, and natural gas.

“We're looking at diverting those potential landfill materials into something that really generates a long lasting benefit,” said Chorney.

With the help of an engineering firm, Simpcw Resources considered processes proven elsewhere to determine which would best serve the type of waste currently in the valley, he said.

Next, Simpcw Resources will apply to the provincial government for funding of a feasibility study. Both the Clearwater and Valemount councils have expressed support for the study.

Valemount Mayor Owen Torgerson is interested, both for its landfill waste diversion and heat generation potential.

“You see examples of this in South Korea, Sweden; they're not reinventing the wheel here,” Torgerson said.

“From a geothermal standpoint, there are over 50 global examples of how waste heat can be better utilized,” said Torgerson, whose own administration is seeking Federal Government funding for a deep bore-hole geothermal heating project.

Could a waste management facility in the Thompson Valley provide some part of a solution for his community?

Torgerson isn’t sure, but he’s hopeful.

Valemount waste is trucked three hours to Prince George for disposal. Vavenby is half that distance away.

Many questions remain, but still, it’s exciting, he said.

“Anything that doesn't have to go on a truck and has value, versus, a cost and a dumping fee, that does change the economics of even simple garbage here,” said Clearwater Mayor Blackwell, whose own community’s refuse is hauled 1.5 hours away, twice a week.

Even so, it’s too early to draw any conclusions, Blackwell said.

“The evolution of the project can take you in a completely different direction, but you need to crack the door open and start looking at it. That's where they're at right now,” he said.

“The Simpcw have a pretty good track record with their resources company in terms of responsibility and being a good corporate citizen in the valley,” said Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Peter Milobar. “So, them trying to advance and look at something to see if it's even feasible makes sense.”

Typically, any type of project like this would require a fair amount of study, Milobar said. “Given how entrepreneurial the resources company seems to be, it doesn't surprise me that they'd be looking at other opportunities to try to bring more economic benefit to their people, as well as, the whole valley.”

There's a growing global trend to change the landfill mindset and shift the paradigm a little bit through technology, said Chorney.

“We're no experts yet,” he said, “but we hope to learn enough to determine whether we're on the right track or not.”

Fran@thegoatnews.ca / @FranYanor

Fran Yanor, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Rocky Mountain Goat

83% of Americans agree COVID-10 relief and minimum wage should be separate: poll

83% of Americans say $7.25 minimum wage is not enough: poll

Jessica Smith
·Chief Political Correspondent
Wed, February 3, 2021

GO HERE FOR CHARTS AND VIDEO

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/video/83-americans-agree-covid-10-163501254.html

Americans overwhelmingly agree the federal minimum wage should be increased, but many people think it should be considered separately from the next COVID-19 relief bill, according to new findings from Yahoo Finance and the Harris Poll.

President Joe Biden is pushing to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour as part of his $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, but it has proven to be one of the most controversial pieces of the proposal. Republicans have rejected the idea and Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W. Virg.) – a key moderate vote for Democrats – said he doesn’t support a $15 minimum wage either. Manchin said a minimum wage of $11 an hour would be more appropriate in West Virginia.

The last federal minimum wage increase was in 2009. In 2017, 80.4 million workers age 16 and older were paid at hourly rates, representing 58.3% of all wage and salary workers, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Most Americans support raising the minimum wage

When asked what is the highest minimum wage they would support, most people chose the range of $10-$15 an hour. Thirty-five percent — the largest share of respondents — said they’d support between $13-$15 an hour, 29% would support $10-$12 and 13% would back a hike to more than $15 an hour (which Congress is not considering).

Six percent of respondents said the minimum wage should be higher than current levels, but below $10 an hour. Three percent of respondents said they would actually lower the minimum wage. $15 an hour was the median answer.


In an interview before the survey was taken, Rep. Bobby Scott (D., Virg.) told Yahoo Finance the public largely supports the wage increase. He pointed to the states, including Republican states, like Florida, that have recently voted to raise the minimum wage. Scott has led efforts to raise the minimum wage in the House, and re-introduced the Raise the Wage Act last week. The House passed the bill last year, but the Senate never took it up.

“The only resistance, only pushback appears to be Republicans in Congress. I think many of them in the Senate that have been hiding behind Leader McConnell killing it by just not bringing it up,” said Scott. “Now we have an opportunity to vote on it when Leader Schumer brings it up for a vote, and you have a lot of Republicans who are in states who have indicated by either polling or on a referendum...overwhelming support for an increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour.”

Many Republicans not only believe $15 an hour is too much, but that the issue is unrelated to the COVID relief efforts and should be considered separately. Sen. Susan Collins (R., Me.) told reporters on Tuesday she would support raising the minimum wage to an amount less than $15 an hour, but not in the stimulus package.

“It is not relevant to treatment or the economic recovery, or getting vaccines out. In fact it would be very difficult for the hospitality industry which has been particularly harmed,” said Collins.

The Raise the Wage Act would gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 over the course of five years.

David Foster/Yahoo Finance

The survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults found 83% agreed Congress should consider the wage hike separately from a COVID relief package. If Congress does increase the minimum wage, a majority of people polled said it should be increased in the future based on cost-of-living or median wages.
High earners, college educated disconnected from realities of minimum wage

Eighty-three percent of Americans agreed that a person working a full-time job at the current minimum wage of $7.25 an hour isn’t making enough money to live.

People in households making more than $100,000 a year were most likely to think a full-time minimum wage job was enough for people to get by, according to the poll. Twenty-eight percent of high-earners said $7.25 an hour was enough to live on, while just 12% of those in households making less than $50,000 annually said $7.27 an hour sufficed.

Service industry workers listen to remarks and hold up signs during a rally in support of today's introduction of the Raise the Wage Act, which includes a $15 minimum wage for tipped workers and is also included in President Biden's American Rescue Plan at the National Mall on January 26, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for One Fair Wage)More

College graduates also appear to be more disconnected from the realities of minimum wage, with graduates being more than twice as likely as non-graduates to say minimum wage is enough for a person to live on.

Almost three-quarters of respondents say they believe a full-time minimum wage job should keep an individual above the poverty line and allow them to afford a one-bedroom apartment. The federal poverty guideline (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) is $12,880 for one person, $17,420 for a household of two and $26,500 for a family of four. A minimum wage employee working 40 hours a week would bring in a gross income (before taxes) of $15,080.

Last year, research showed the average minimum wage worker would have to work 79 hours per week to afford a one-bedroom rental home at average fair market rent. A full-time worker making the minimum wage could only afford a one-bedroom rental in 145 counties in the United States.

“That's not right,” said Scott. “People know that we have to do something, and there's a consensus all over the country.”

Majority of Americans think minimum wage hike would help the economy

While Republicans argue the next coronavirus relief package should be more targeted and focus solely on relief efforts, Democrats make the case that raising the minimum wage would spur the economic recovery and provide more security for minimum wage workers amid the pandemic.

The poll found 59% of Americans believe raising the minimum wage would have a positive impact on the economy.

Last year, the Congressional Budget Office found that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would boost the income of millions of people, but it would also result in some job losses. The CBO is reportedly set to release new projections soon, that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) hopes will bolster his case for a wage hike.

There is a range of research about the impact of raising the minimum wage, and disagreement about how to interpret the findings. The National Bureau of Economic Research found last month that “this body of evidence and conclusions points strongly toward negative effects of minimum wages on employment of less-skilled workers.”

A quarter of respondents surveyed said a federal minimum wage should not exist at all.

Jessica Smith is chief political correspondent for Yahoo Finance, based in Washington, D.C. Follow her on Twitter at @JessicaASmith8.

Biden Urged to 'Be the Hero' to Save American Bumblebee From Extinction

"It is our hope that the Biden administration grasps the gravity of this moment."

by

Andrea Germanos, staff writer

 Published on Monday, February 01, 2021

by

Common Dreams

Failure to secure Endangered Species Act protections for the American bumblebee, said the the Center for Biological Diversity's Jess Tyler, could risk "losing this iconic part of the American landscape forever." (Photo: Xerces Society / Katie Lamke)

Warning that threats including the climate crisis and pesticides are pushing the American bumblebee toward extinction, two conservation groups on Monday urged the Biden administration to give federal protections to the native pollinator.

"We're asking President [Joe] Biden to be the hero that steps up and saves the American bumblebee from extinction," said Jess Tyler, an entomologist and staff scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. "It's unthinkable that we would carelessly allow this fuzzy, black-and-yellow beauty to disappear forever."

"It's unthinkable that we would carelessly allow this fuzzy, black-and-yellow beauty to disappear forever."
—Jess Tyler, Center for Biological DiversityTo stave off that scenario, Tyler's group joined the Bombus Pollinator Association of Law Students of Albany Law School in urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the American bumblebee as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Keith Hirokawa, a professor of law at Albany Law School, called it "unfortunate that we're forced to call upon the Endangered Species Act to protect a species so fundamental to human and ecosystem health."

"It is our hope," said Hirokawa, "that the Biden administration grasps the gravity of this moment."

The groups' 72-page petition [pdf] to the agency describes the gravity in clear terms, pointing in part to how the species— referring to the pollinators known as both Bombus pensylvanicus and Bombus sonorous—have gone from being once common and dominant to suffering a "devastating loss" of abundance. From the filing:

Once the most commonly observed bumblebee in the United States, the American bumblebee has declined by 89% in relative abundance and continues to decline toward extinction due to the disastrous, synergistic impacts of threats including habitat loss, pesticides, disease, climate change, competition with honey bees, and loss of genetic diversity. In the last 20 years, the American bumblebee has vanished from at least eight states, mostly in the Northeast, and it is in precipitous decline in many more. For example, in New York it has suffered a catastrophic decline of 99% in relative abundance, and in Illinois it has disappeared from the northern part of the state and is down 74% since 2004. In sum, the American bumblebee has become very rare or possibly extripated [sic] from 16 states in the Northeast and Northwest; it has experienced declines of over 90% in the upper Midwest; and 19 other states in the Southeast and Midwest have seen declines of over 50%.

Bolstering the groups' argument for ESA protections is international recogintion of the American bumble's plight, with the petition citing as an example the IUCN's "vulnerable" classification. Further, the groups add,  "The American bumblebee has not been protected under any state endangered species statute."

Simply put, the species "urgently needs the protections that only ESA listing can provide. Without these necessary protections, the American bumblebee will continue to precipitously decline," the groups wrote.

According to the center's Tyler, while the situation for the bee is grim, there is hope.

"There's no question that human activities have pushed this bee toward extinction, so we have the ability to wake up, reverse course, and save it," said Tyler.

"But this late in the game," he added, "it's going to take the powerful tools provided only by the Endangered Species Act to get the job done. Anything short of that and we risk losing this iconic part of the American landscape forever."

White Privilege: Where's Kyle?

by

Abby Zimet, Further columnist

 Wednesday, February 03, 2021

Good times. Photo is state's exhibit.

It seems the courts have lost track of Kyle Rittenhouse, the 18-year-old punk charged with multiple felony counts, including homicide, after he killed two people and wounded one at last summer's BLM protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin sparked by the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Being a white boy and all, Rittenhouse was out on bail after Trump-loving, riot-inciting, election-fraud-lie-spewing attorney Lin Wood - who is now under investigation for voting illegally in said election - raised $2 million to get him released. Kyle was so happy that, right after his arraignment on Jan. 5, he "demonstrated his carefree attitude," in the words of prosecutors, by high-tailing it to a bar, drinking three beers - he was still 17 at the time but under the clearly wise tutelage of his mother - and getting his picture taken with a bunch of "Proud Boys" while flashing white power signs and wearing a "Free As Fuck" t-shirt, because he's just that classy a guy. But when Kenosha detectives recently went to what was Rittenhouse's address, a man said he'd been renting the apartment since Dec. 15 and Kyle was nowhere in sight, having inexplicably declined to correct his address on a document he signed Jan. 22.

On Wednesday, prosecutors asked a judge to issue a new arrest warrant charging Rittenhouse with violating bail conditions; they also asked bail be upped by $200,000, noting it's rare for a homicide defendant to be left to roam free and they'd kinda like to know where he is. Rittenhouse’s attorney countered in a motion that death threats have driven Rittenhouse and his wonderful mom into a "safe house," he offered to give prosecutors the address if they'd keep it secret, but they refused. Online, some argued Kyle fits right into the "big tent" GOP of bigots, insurrectionists, neo-Nazis, grifters, liars and rapists. Many also noted that, while it's a tad alarming Kyle's just out there, it would be way scarier if he'd been charged with, say, selling individual cigarettes or holding up a cell phone or playing with a toy gun or riding a bike without a light or turning a car without signalling or running or sleeping or babysitting or passing a baby or taking the subway or knocking on a door after running out of gas or carrying a bag or stealing a bag of chips or having a mental health crisis or wearing a hoodie or, you know, living while black, so there's that.