Coronavirus: Mallorca caught in mass tourism trap as poverty rises

The popular Balearic island is experiencing rising poverty that's even spreading to its wealthier quarters. The next holiday season is unlikely to heal the wound from the pandemic.




More and more Mallorcans are dependent on food donations from charities

Tom Mardorf considers himself to be among the wealthier and more privileged parts of the population in Mallorca. He owns two houses on the well-known holiday island where he has been living since 1996 as a part-time resident. The German businessman has been selling organic cosmetics and nutrition supplements.

Mardorf is officially registered as a citizen of Malta because that's where his main residency is. But the 58-year-old German says he feels drawn to Mallorca and comes to the Balearic island as often as he can. His visit last September though came as "a shock" to him, he told DW.

"The canceled summer season has left ugly wounds everywhere," he says, adding: "Poverty is rising rapidly."

Following the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in spring 2020, Mallorca was the first Spanish tourism resort that had been allowed to reopen. But it was only a brief period that lasted for no longer than two months.

Watch video 02:01 Border control: Three cheers for tourists in Mallorca

Amid rising infections in Spain over the summer, the four Balearic holiday islands were shuttered again and have remained in a permanent lockdown ever since. Mallorca is said to be suffering the most of all Spanish resorts from the collapse in tourist arrivals.

An estimated 75% of all income generated on the island is directly or indirectly linked to the travel industry, which has led to both rising living standards and higher costs of living for its residents. "Those downsides of mass tourism are now becoming brutally visible," says Mardorf.

Despite the current pandemic-induced hardships, the government of the Balearic Islands region is planning to extend the sweeping measures until March, insisting the "balancing act" is necessary to avert the risk of continuing the shutdown over the popular Easter holiday season.

Mallorcans are increasingly venting their anger about lockdown measures including curfews

To make matters worse, both the national and the regional governments have announced that they want to spend the €140 billion ($169 billion) earmarked for Spain under the EU's pandemic rescue package for purposes other than tourism. The money is to flow into "future-oriented industries" Madrid says, and the regional government is prioritizing funding for universities, culture and agriculture.
Citizens' initiatives alleviate the plight

In view of the drama that's unfolding across Mallorca, Tom Mardorf feels his professional skills as a merchant and money manager are needed more than ever before. In collaboration with the Santa Ponsa Community Church, he has organized a food bank and a fundraising campaign. With the help of private donations that he and his team of 27 local helpers collect, they buy food to support about 70 families in Santa Ponsa.

Most of his fellow fundraisers are foreigners like him, and Mardorf fears that some of them could themselves become dependent on donations for their livelihoods if the pandemic endures.

Tom Mardorf (center) together with his staff at the food pantry in Santa Ponsa

Former hotel worker Paul Cameron is one of those delivering food to the needy in Santa Ponsa. The 40-year-old British citizen says Mallorca's rising poverty doesn't show itself in higher numbers of beggars in the streets or squatters in empty hotels. Poverty comes on "sneaking feet," he says, affecting not only jobless restaurant and hotel workers, but increasingly architects and lawyers, too.

"We're seeing more and more people in Palma [de Mallorca] living in tents along streets," he told DW, adding that he, his wife and their three children barely make ends meet by living off their savings.

For Bart Mooji, a 55-year-old restaurant owner from the Netherlands, the financial squeeze from the lockdown is also becoming more dramatic by the day. He's already amassed €23,000 in debt to cover running costs and says the Spanish government's aid is too slow in coming. "I've received roughly €2,000 in direct aid so far. The situation is really dramatic."

Restaurant owner Bart Mooij (left) is just one of many who don't know if their business will survive the pandemic

The fateful dependency on mass tourism

As most Mallorcans blame the regional government in Palma for their hardship, the problem of the holiday island's lopsided economic development goes much deeper, and for a good part way back into the past.

In the 1970s, former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco attempted to turn Mallorca into a primary holiday destination for people from wealthier and more industrialized nations in northern Europe. The concept of mass tourism was born, fostering Mallorca's long-held image as a place of unbridled revelry and excessive fun in the sun.

The destination became a money-spinner, also making many Mallorcans richer. In the 1980s and 1990s, more and more foreigners were drawn to the treasure island, trying to scoop up some of the new-found wealth as hotel and restaurant owners, physicians, lawyers and real estate brokers.

After Spain's entry into the European Union in 1986, Brussels fueled the boom by funding road projects and bridges as well as high-speed train connections and airports.

But now, after Britain's decision to leave the EU and the collapse of travel company Thomas Cook in 2019, Mallorca's fortunes appear to be turning, and the boom seems to be ending. The global coronavirus pandemic is likely to finish off the island's mass tourism model forever.

In the small town of Santa Ponsa, situated close to rich tourist hubs in the southwest of the island, poverty isn't directly perceptible in the streets. The province of Calvia, in which it lies, is home to many large hotels with around 60,000 tourist beds. And yet, some 1,500 households in the province rely solely on welfare benefits at the moment, says Mardorf.

The number of food packages delivered by the Santa Ponsa outlet has been growing steadily

The majority of the province's wealthier inhabitants are foreigners, including many Brits, Scandinavians, Germans and Americans. Living in their luxury condos and holiday rentals, he argues, they hardly take notice of the plight of the local population. It's like a parallel world, he finds, in which hardly anyone speaks Spanish or tries to integrate into society.

How to profit from a pandemic

Hardly surprising, the coronavirus pandemic is also offering rich pickings for some people living in Mallorca. Real estate agents are presently riding the wave of virus-caused foreclosures and bankruptcies, brokering lucrative deals for investors who are bargain-hunting for cheaper offerings especially in the lower and middle segment of the market, where prices have been falling.

By contrast, the market for luxury real estate has remained stable despite the crisis, showing that demand for premium estates on the island is far from abating.

But renting a luxury villa has never been cheaper because operators don't want to let their first-class homes stand idle even during the lockdown. Fabian Dudek, the founder of Berlin-based startup Glassdollar, used the opportunity in Mallorca last fall, when he moved parts of his company to the island. The lockdown is "easier to sustain close to the beach," he says, and the rent he pays for his finca in Deia is "really affordable."

For food bank helper Paul Cameron, there's little consolation in all of this. About 35% of those lining up for food at the Santa Ponsa distribution outlet every day do this for the first time in their lives, he says. "They're having enormous fear and uncertainty about the future." He would return to Britain only in case of an emergency, he says, because Mallorca is "actually a safe place to raise your children without drugs and social conflict."

Leaving Mallorca isn't an option either for Bart Mooji, the Dutch restaurant owner. He has invested in his business and wants to raise his children here, he says. But at the same time he believes the crisis is "definitely changing" the holiday island.

AUDIOS AND VIDEOS ON THE TOPIC


Spain: Poverty in Mallorca

Is India's COVID vaccine giveaway risky diplomacy?

India's government has been supplying countries around the world with free coronavirus vaccine doses. However, there is some worry that this "vaccine diplomacy" will come at a cost to vulnerable Indians.



India has donated COVID vaccine doses to at least 17 countries

 https://p.dw.com/p/3pRgF

On Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for use in its COVAX vaccination program, which aims to provide poorer countries around the world with "equitable access" to COVID-19 vaccines.

The Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's largest vaccine maker by volume, has agreed to produce 1.1 billion doses for delivery.

And India is leveraging its manufacturing capabilities to launch its own initiative aimed at bolstering its global image as the "pharmacy of the world."

India has already started distributing millions of its domestically produced coronavirus vaccines for free to some of its neighbors and several countries around the world.

The "vaccine maitri" (Hindi for vaccine friendship) initiative was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi days after India began its nationwide vaccination campaign in January.

"India is deeply honored to be a long-trusted partner in meeting the healthcare needs of the global community," Modi said last month. "Supplies of COVID vaccines to several countries will commence [on January 20], and more will follow in the days ahead."

Watch video 12:06 India's vaccine rollout presents mammoth logistical challenge

The initiative started with countries in India's immediate neighborhood and key partner nations in the Indian Ocean. The doses were distributed as "gifts" — in line with New Delhi's "Neighborhood First" policy. Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean were among those further afield.

Several countries, including Nepal and Bangladesh, purchased additional doses on top.

According to the Foreign Ministry, India dispatched more than 15.6 million doses to 17 countries in the first two weeks. 

Is 'vaccine diplomacy' risky?

The Indian government's global vaccine initiative has received a mixed response at home.

India has approved two coronavirus shots so far: one developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, and another produced by Indian firm Bharat Biotech.

India has been shipping out the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, domestically produced by SII in the western city of Pune, and known in India as "Covishield."

Critics have questioned whether exporting precious vaccine doses is the right move, instead of speeding up the vaccination drive in India.

India, which has the world's second-highest caseload of coronavirus, plans to immunize 300 million people by August. It vaccinated about 3 million healthcare workers in the first two weeks of the campaign that began on January 16 and will need to step up the pace to meet the summer target.

Some argued for involving the private sector in the vaccination campaign.

Former Indian diplomat KC Singh has tweeted several times that the country was indulging in "vaccine diplomacy," amid initial concerns that the number of doses exported was more than those administered domestically. 

However, Raja Mohan, Director of the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore, said that New Delhi was making a smart move by using it's vaccine production to improve international relations.

"Delhi is showing both the political will and the diplomatic sensibility to use the cards it has," Mohan told DW.

"You cannot consume all the vaccines you produce yourself in a short time. They have a shelf life," he added.

"India is rolling out a national program, and they can take a bit of that to other countries," he said adding that India's large production capacity makes the initiative possible.

"Over the last four decades, India has become a major manufacturer of pharmaceuticals, generic drugs, and vaccines. Biotechnology research has also grown in India, which has given it more capabilities to be able to undertake such an initiative," he said. 

What are India's benefits?

Closer to home, India's vaccine outreach could play a role in repairing strained ties with its immediate neighbors such as Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

India-Nepal relations plummeted last summer after a diplomatic spat over a border dispute.

Both countries have made competing territorial claims over a stretch of disputed land that lies at a strategic three-way junction with China.

India's relations with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have been similarly frayed, and China has been a factor, with varying degrees, in these two cases.

Watch video 03:00 Mistrust curbs India’s COVID-19 vaccination drive

But as neighboring countries line up to receive vaccines from India despite their outstanding issues, foreign policy analysts believe it indicates the pragmatism that governs the bilateral interactions.

"Generally, all of the neighbors have their problems with India," said Mohan, adding that New Delhi has something these countries need, and can take advantage of demand.

"It shows a new political will in New Delhi that whatever capabilities you have, they can be deployed smartly for diplomatic purposes."

"This is something that has changed in the foreign office under the current leadership," Mohan said. "When there's an opportunity to do something good, you build some trust." 

Pakistan not interested

Pakistan, unsurprisingly, is not among the countries receiving COVID vaccine shipments from India.

In a press briefing, the Indian Foreign Ministry said that they had not received any requests from Pakistan seeking vaccine supplies.

Pakistan's Foreign Office and Health Ministry did not respond to DW's requests for comment.

The country started its vaccine campaign on February 3 after receiving half a million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine donated by its longtime ally China.

"It's not that India excluded Pakistan. They don't want to take vaccines from India," Mohan said. "So many things have happened between the two countries that no Pakistani leader will ask India for help, even in the best of times," he added.

Watch video 1:33 Coronavirus: Anti-vaxxers pose major public health threat in Pakistan

Alternative to Chinese vaccines

India's global vaccine distribution also seeks to offer the developing world an alternative to Chinese vaccines, which Beijing has been pushing in countries that cannot afford multibillion-dollar deals with pharmaceutical giants, or as an alternative in countries experiencing supply bottlenecks.

Over the past couple of decades, China has made significant inroads in smaller South Asian countries, which India views as part of its sphere of influence. Beijing has outspent New Delhi in trade, investment, and infrastructure.

Vaccine production is one of the areas where India could still flex its muscles.

But the goodwill generated through this initiative is unlikely to make India's neighbors more agreeable toward its interests.

"All this doesn't mean that overnight everybody is going to love India." Mohan said.

A documentary film honors Germany's 'guest workers'

Facing a labor shortage after World War II, Germany designed a program to bring in so-called guest workers. The documentary "Gleis 11" by Cagdas Yüksel tells their story.



Between 1955 and 1973 thousands of people came to Germany from other countries to work

Platform 11 at Munich's main train station is where many of Germany's "gastarbeiter" — which literally translates as "guest workers" — arrived from 1955 to 1973.

At the time, laborers were urgently needed to keep the machinery of the German industrial powerhouse in operation. After World War II, the country lacked a working-age population because of death, imprisonment and other war-related consequences. As a result, labor recruitment agreements were made with several countries to ensure that the flow of men — and later women — would not stop.

During these 18 years, thousands of people, primarily from Italy, Spain, Greece and Turkey, made their way to Germany. (YUGOSLAVIA RELIED ON GUESTWORKER REMITTANCES FOR ITS GDP MORE THAN ANY OTHER EXPORT) Without internet or social media, they were connected to their homelands through pay phones, letters and packages, some of which took weeks to arrive.  REMITTANCES WHICH COUNTRIES STILL RELY ON, LIKE THE PHILLIPINES WITH ITS OTW PROGRAM, WERE SENT BACK THE BY AMERICAN EXPRESS INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS

In 2021, Germany looks back on the 60th anniversary of its labor recruitment agreement with Turkey. In the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, around one-third of residents have a migration background.

These days, many of those who came to Germany after the first call for labor are well into old age. Their children and grandchildren, the second and third generations of the immigrants, have long been and continue to be a topic of discussion in the media, in films and academic discourse.

But the first arrivals, those who went directly from the train platform into the mine shaft or into the sewing shop, have rarely been represented in the media or in film.


Different stories to tell in 'Gleis 11'

A homage in film

Filmmaker Cagdas Yüksel, who belongs to the third generation of Turkish immigrants, set out to change that with his documentary film Gleis 11 ("Platform 11").

His grandparents came to Germany as so-called guest workers, and like many others, they stayed. His grandfather died young in a traffic accident, leaving his grandmother to raise eight children alone in a foreign country. Her story inspired Yüksel to honor her and others from her generation. He wanted to "let this generation speak for itself" he told DW.

Initially, it looked as if Gleis 11 would never make it to the big screen. The topic was criticized as "irrelevant," and not cinema-worthy Yüksel said. These opinions did not stop him from sticking with his project over many years. "Every time I talked to these people, I was convinced that they had so many exciting stories that would be perfect to tell in a film." 

The director's grandmother (left) with her family shortly after her arrival in Germany in 1970

He wanted to prove that his subjects and their stories were worth telling, the 27-year-old told DW. He persevered "with tears, patience and coffee," he recounted at the premiere of his film. He finally found the support he needed as part of the #IchDuWirNRW integration and appreciation campaign run by North Rhine-Westphalia's Ministry for Children, Family, Refugees and Integration and Serap Güler, the state secretary for integration.

The film team shot the protagonists in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia

First-hand accounts

Gleis 11 begins with sound bites from German passers-by in reports from the early days of the recruitment agreement: "There are too many of them here," says one woman. "They only want to earn money, but not work," says another. Other perspectives are also present; one person says: "I don't think we can do without guest workers."

The film tells five parallel stories about migrants from that era.

One of them is the story of the filmmaker's grandmother, Nezihat, who came to the West German city of Mönchengladbach from rural Turkey in 1970 with four daughters and later, after having four more children, opened her own small shop. She lost her husband at an early age and then had to raise eight children alone.

Osman Yazici in the 1970s as a successful restaurant owner

Osman, another main protagonist in the film, came from northern Turkey in 1963, and worked in Essen before later opening the first local Turkish restaurant.

Bartolomeo from southern Italy, explains how he met "a beautiful woman" and found happiness in Germany.

Marina, from Greece, came to North Rhine-Westphalia via Munich and reports — still somewhat embarrassed — how she threw the banana given to her in a "welcome bag" out of the train window because she simply didn't know how to eat it.

And in one of the film's most moving scenes, the couple Esref and Ayse return to their home in southern Turkey after 49 years.

Unwavering optimism

Yüksel lets his interviewees recount their dreams, their expectations and tell of the hopes they had when they arrived. The movie thus bears witness to the unshakable optimism and stamina of migrants who sought and found happiness alone in a foreign country.

Yüksel told DW how remarkable he found it "that despite this initial situation, a person can bring and cherish so much optimism." Whether intentionally or not, Germany appears in Yüksel's film as a country where it is constantly grey or raining. In this way, the contrast to the home country of those who emigrated becomes even clearer and represents the immense homesickness that some of them report. 

Yüksel celebrated the online premiere of his film on Janaury 24, 2020

A virtual premiere

On January 24, the premiere of Gleis 11 took place at Essen's Lichtburg, Germany's largest movie theater. Only Yüksel's staff were present — and four of his protagonists. An online premiere was also held, and so many people logged on to watch the film that the server of Yüksel's website crashed. In non-pandemic times, these 1,300 viewers would have meant a sold-out theater — for a film that had once been rejected as being too "niche."

There has also been a great deal of interest in Gleis 11 from Turkey. Numerous people in the country purchased tickets for the virtual premiere. Some Turkish schools and universities have expressed interest in screenings, and Turkish distributors have also shown interest.

One of the film’s main characters, Yüksel’s grandmother Nezihat, was also present at the premiere. Lovingly, she watched her grandson as he moderated the digital event. She answered questions from the audience at the virtual premiere, which were read from a smartphone. She says she has never regretted coming to Germany.



This article was translated from German by Sarah Hucal.


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European migration stories told one object at a time

Europe wouldn't exist without migration, says the director of a German virtual migration museum. From "guest-worker" recruitment signs to audio cassettes from Turkey, the museum's archive is a treasure trove of stories.

Turkish guest workers transformed German society

In the 1960s, Turkish workers arrived in Germany to fill the demand for cheap labor in a booming post-war economy. Many of them never left, creating a minority community that changed the demographics of Germany forever.

'Turks in Germany still lack a sense of belonging'

It's been 55 years since Germany's recruitment agreement with Turkey. But many Turks still don't feel well integrated, says Gökay Sofuoglu, chairman of the Turkish Community in Germany (TGD).


Date 16.02.2021
Author Philipp Jedicke
Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3pNHZ

Berlin hotels open their doors to homeless during pandemic

Berlin's shelters have run out of space during the coronavirus winter. Hotels are empty, so some have decided to let people experiencing homelessness stay for free. This is changing lives.

Watch video 09:58 Bringing the homeless in from the cold

Christian is smiling as he steps through the door into his hotel room. He puts his backpack down, takes his jacket off and sits down on the bed. He already feels at home in the Pension Reiter in Berlin's Friedrichshain district.

Since November, people experiencing homelessness have been permitted to stay in the hotel for the night. Christian, who does not want to give his full name, has been living on the street for several years. "For the past few days I slept in a dumpster, that was okay for me," he says. "But this is much better."
Social distancing in the shelter

In the past, he used to spend winter nights in a shelter run by the Catholic Church. It provides 40 beds for homeless men. But this winter, things were different, says Wolfgang Willsch, who runs the shelter. They had to reduce the number of beds by half, to comply with social distancing requirements in the pandemic.

It was no longer possible to have several men share a small room or sleep on mats on the floor in the large assembly hall.

Wolfgang Willsch managed to find a solution: "We are very grateful that the Pension Reiter has offered to help. That means we never have to have more than two or three people sharing a room," he says.


Pension Reiter is one of several hotels helping people experiencing homelessness
Freezing temperatures in Berlin

Pension Reiter is one of several Berlin hotels taking part in this project to help people experiencing homelessness. And there is a benefit for them, too: The city government pays a small compensation for the beds — badly needed income at a time when tourism and business travel are still all but impossible in Germany.

Over the past few days, it has become apparent just how vital shelters are for people experiencing homelessness in wintertime: Temperatures plummeted well below -15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit), which makes sleeping on the street a deadly risk. So Berlin charities stepped up their efforts to get hotels to open their doors to people in need and managed to secure a total of 1,426 beds — the most ever, said Stefan Strass, spokesman for Berlin's social services.

Many of the hotels provide more than just a bed: They serve breakfast in the morning and a warm meal at night. That is even more important now, as homeless people have few means of making money; the downtown areas are empty and people are taking care to keep a distance. Still, Christian sets off every day trying to sell the newspaper for the homeless — more often than not, without success.

Sister Martha Arnould works with people experiencing homelessness

New opportunities arise

In the basement of the Pension Reiter there is a common room. "No Smoking" reads a sign on the door. A note with "Smokers' Room" has been pasted over it. Christian is sitting at one of the wooden tables. The sparsely furnished room is stuffy. In the harsh neon light, a scar right across Christian's face is very noticeable. Sister Martha Arnould brings him a cup of tea, saying: "Two sugars for you, as usual," as she sets it down.

Sister Arnould works with the shelter for people experiencing homelessness. But her main job is to lend an ear and offer assistance. The hotel beds are a big help, she says. The homeless men have the security of being able to spend the night indoors in a proper bed every night — if they abide by the rules.

"When the men come they are exhausted and dirty, suffering from depression and having given up all hope," Sister Arnould says. "But, after a few weeks, things are completely different. They reach a point where we can sit down and make plans for the future," she says, pointing out that some find jobs and rent apartments. "They have a chance at a better life," she adds with a smile.

A home of his own, that's what Christian wants for himself, too. He has managed to save a bit of money and is planning to return to his home country, Romania. "Maybe this summer, when the coronavirus crisis is over," he says, as he sips his hot tea. Until then, he knows he has found a place where he is safe and protected from the cold.

This article was translated from German.

Algeria: Thousands take to the streets to relaunch protest movement

The Hirak movement, which ousted former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, has been given a new breath of life after a year of coronavirus restrictions.



The protests mark the one-year anniversary of the first Hirak protests

Over 5,000 people gathered in the northern Algerian town of Kherrata on Tuesday to mark the two year anniversary of the Hirak protest movement that ousted the country's long term president from power in 2019.

Protesters gathered in the town where the movement originally began — 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of the capital Algiers — hoping to kick it off again a year after the coronavirus pandemic forced it off the streets.

"We came to revive the Hirak that was stopped for health reasons. They didn't stop us. We stopped because we care for our people. Today coronavirus is over and we will get the Hirak back," Nassima, a protester, told Reuters.

The protesters waved Algerian flags and chanted: "A civilian state, not a military state" and "The gang must go."

What is the Hirak movement?

The Hirak protests were successful in forcing the veteran former president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, to step down, but protests numbering in the tens of thousands continued.

Protesters called for "Freedom of the press and of expression"

They called for the complete removal of Algeria's political elite and dubbed the elections that followed Bouteflika's resignation a charade.

Abdelmadjid Tebboube, who was elected in the December 2019 vote, praised the Hirak movement, but failed to pass any major reforms.

Around 70 people are currently in prison for their connection to the Hirak protests, the CNLD prisoners' support group said.

Karim Tabbou, a prominent figure in the protests, who was given a one-year suspended sentence in December for "undermining national security" was also present in Kherrata.
What do the protesters want?

Hirak is a leaderless movement, but supporters have spent lockdown discussing online how to reinvigorate the protests while under Algeria's COVID-19 lockdown.

Watch video 01:38 Looking back on the Arab Spring

Smaller demonstrations have been taking place across the country in recent weeks in a build-up to the February 22 anniversary of the first nationwide protests.

"It is a revolutionary process for a very precise goal, which is the departure of the regime, the whole regime with all its components," another protester, Hamid, told Reuters.

The movement is seeking to overhaul the country's political system which has been in place since it gained independence from France in 1962.

ab/aw (Reuters, AFP)

Why does Bitcoin need more energy than whole countries?

Running the cryptocurrency Bitcoin requires more energy than New Zealand and Belgium put together. How can something virtual keep power plants around the world so busy? DW's Timothy Rooks looks into the numbers.


An artist's rendition of what a Bitcoin could look like if it were made of metal

If you are reading this article, you are using electricity. The same goes for every Google search, email sent and photo saved to the cloud. As our lives go digital, we need more electricity to power those lives. Yet there is one digital outlier that keeps getting a lot of attention: Bitcoin.

For something that doesn't physically exist, Bitcoin really captivates the imagination and needs a lot of electric power to keep going. That's according to an ongoing study by the University of Cambridge's Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index. They calculate that in one year the machines behind the cryptocurrency require more power than the Netherlands, a country with over 17 million inhabitants.

As the value of Bitcoin has skyrocketed recently to over $50,000 (€41,300), so has the need for electric power to run it.

Bitcoin supporters say this is OK since it is creating an entirely new financial system free of government interference. Mining gold and printing money too cost a lot to produce, transport and keep safe. Meanwhile, today's financial system with its digital platforms and offices uses lots of energy too.

How much power does Bitcoin need?

Undisputed numbers are hard to come by because of the complex nature of the calculations. Back at the start of 2017, Bitcoin was using 6.6 terawatt-hours of power a year. In October 2020, that was up to 67 terawatt-hours. Now a few months later, it has nearly doubled to 121 terawatt-hours, the Cambridge researchers found, enough to run their entire university for nearly 700 years.

By these same calculations, if Bitcoin were a country, only 30 other countries would use more electricity. It would surpass the yearly power needs of the UAE, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Belgium, Austria or Israel.

Dutch economist Alex de Vries is a bit more conservative and thinks Bitcoin uses 77 terawatt-hours of power a year. He has also been following the situation for years and publishes his research on Digiconomist's Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index.

Today all data centers globally — the ones that run Big Tech, the cloud, the internet and the current financial system — need around 200 terawatt-hours of electricity a year, according to de Vries. "At the moment the Bitcoin network consumes about half this amount," he told DW.

By comparison, one Bitcoin transaction had the same energy footprint as 80,000 Visa transactions in 2018. Now a single Bitcoin transaction uses the same electricity to run 453,000 Visa transactions, according to numbers on Digiconomist, a website "dedicated to exposing the unintended consequences of digital trends."

Why does Bitcoin need energy at all?

Bitcoin is a virtual cryptocurrency. Basically, that means it is run by a massive peer-to-peer computer network. To keep track of everything and to keep the network safe, it uses a ledger system called blockchain. This records all transactions and everyone in the network gets a copy and each copy is linked to each other. Since everything is interconnected the hope is that tampering with the system is impossible.

Anyone can become a part of the network; they just need to have a high-powered purpose-built computer, the more powerful the better. These computers solve increasingly difficult math problems to keep it all going. To avoid overheating, the busy machines must be kept cool.

Elon Musk, Bitcoin's most famous investor

The people running these computers, often called miners, don't get paid per se, but have the chance of being rewarded with Bitcoin. The more computing power they have, the higher their chances of getting some. When the price of Bitcoin goes up, it makes investing in more technology attractive. It's an upward spiral as more computers are added.

"The higher the price, the more miners will earn, and the bigger the incentive to add more machines to the network," said de Vries, adding that usage is also important "because the network can only process five transactions per second, it quickly gets more expensive to use Bitcoin if a lot of people try to do so. Since transaction fees also go to the miners, this also drives miner earnings and ultimately energy consumption."

Where are the Bitcoin miners?

Currently, over 65% of Bitcoin miners are in China, followed by the US and Russia both with around 7%, according to the researchers at Cambridge.

"In China, they can get cheap excesses of hydropower in the summer and take advantage of cheap coal-based power in the winter," de Vries told DW. "Since they still have to move seasonally within China to optimally benefit from this, we've recently seen countries like Iran and Kazakhstan gain popularity."

Critics see this as a big problem. Many countries have unstable power grids and some cannot handle the increased needs. In January, the Iranian government blamed Bitcoin mining for power outages in the country. On top of that, there is the giant CO2 footprint of all that electricity production.

Though Bitcoin's environmental damage is so far only a tiny fraction of what cars and industry produce, these ecological concerns have pushed many miners away from coal power to places with cheaper hydroelectric power. And despite most concerns, the cryptocurrency still has a big fan base, most famous among them Tesla's Elon Musk.

Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency on the block though. Understudied cryptocurrencies added 50% on top of Bitcoin's energy needs last year, according to de Vries. Some use a similar mining technique to Bitcoin. Others use alternatives in which the block creation process depends on wealth rather than computational power. "Theoretically this modification could also be implemented in Bitcoin and would remove any incentive to use specialized mining hardware, saving both energy and electronic waste," he concluded.


Watch video 01:31 A tipping point for Bitcoin?

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Nigeria — the world's second-largest Bitcoin market after the United States — has banned the trading of cryptocurrencies. It's triggered anger among Nigerians who see cryptos as a safe haven in a battered economy.

Will Bitcoin become 'millennial gold'?

After smashing multiple records in recent weeks, Bitcoin is on track to become the gold of the future, investment experts say. But the precious metal, which could hit record prices this year, won't dull so easily.
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The Dream of New Money — Founders' Valley (3/5)


Date 16.02.2021
Author Timothy Rooks
Related Subjects Bitcoin, Blockchain
Keywords Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, blockchain, energy consumption, alternative energy, Tesla, Elon Musk
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Belarus jails 2 journalists for filming protests


The two women were accused of orchestrating demonstrations against longtime leader Alexander Lukashenko. One of them said she "risked her life every time she went to work."

Viktor Babariko: The Belarusian banker who challenged Lukashenko


Viktor Babariko had Belarusians queuing round the block to support his short-lived run for the presidency before his arrest. Who is the former banker now facing 15 years in jail and what does he stand for?

Georgia prime minister resigns over opposition leader arrest plan


Giorgi Gakahria has said in a statement he would step down to avoid more "political polarization" following the announcement of plans to arrest opposition politician Nika Melia.

Thousands of cold-stunned turtles rescued in Texas

Duration: 01:04 
Residents have been rescuing cold-stunned sea turtles and taking them to a convention center in a South Texas resort town. (Feb. 17)

Glacial event that killed dozens could happen more often due to climate change

Warming temperatures across the globe are changing landscapes and threatening local cities and communities

A devastating break of a glacier in the Himalayas on Feb. 7 left dozens dead and more than 100 missing after it smashed into multiple dams, collecting debris and energy as it made its way down the flank before slamming into two hydroelectric plants in northern India.

While it's difficult to attribute the cause of the collapse on climate change alone, rising temperatures will undoubtedly create more of these types of events in the future, experts told ABC News.

"With the accelerated warming that is happening in the Himalayas, and the rapid response of glaciers across the Himalayas ... the probability for hazards does go up, Summer Rupper, a glaciologist at the University of Utah, told ABC News

.

© AP National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel clear debris after a portion of the Nanda Devi glacier snapped off Sunday morning, releasing water trapped behind it in Tapovan, northern state of Uttarakhand, India, Feb. 9, 2021.
It is still unclear what caused the dam to break

Scientists are still trying to figure out exactly what caused the glacier to break on Feb. 7. At first, a glacial lake outburst was blamed. Although satellite imagery soon disproved that theory, there is potential for glacier outbursts to increase in number and time as temperatures increasingly cause them to thin and retreat, Joerg Schaefer, a climate scientist at Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, told ABC News.

© Yawar Nazir/Getty Images, FILE

Schaefer hypothesized that some kind of mechanism triggered a landslide and that the resulting water pressure eventually burst the dam, causing the mass to plunge down the "extremely steep" flank.MORE: Greenland's glaciers could lose more ice than predicted, study says

Schaefer described the mass as a "water monster" that made the event even more hazardous.

Hazards experts in the Himalayas have feared that these type of disastrous events would come to fruition. A calamitous glacier event has been a "huge conversation" within the hazards community, Rupper said, and experts have been warning the Indian government since 2014 of the potential of landslides and avalanches, The Associated Press reported.

There is concern that there wasn't adequate monitoring or early warning systems in the valley, especially with multiple hydropower plant projects that were all damaged, Rupper said. And the potential for another landslide is currently there, as a glacial lake is currently forming behind a landslide in the valley where the accident occurred, she added.

© Rajat Gupta/EPA via Shutterstock The damaged Dhauliganga 

hydro power project in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, India, is 

shown on Feb. 9, 2021.

The melting of glaciers will cause catastrophe in more ways than one

Another type of glacial event that can occur as temperatures warm is the potential for the ice masses to drape across varied topography, including steep landscapes that result in hanging glaciers that are especially prone to breaking off and causing ice avalanches, Rupper added.

In addition, the melting of glaciers is a considerable contributor to sea level rise, on par with melting ice sheets, which can cause catastrophic events for coastal areas all over the world.MORE: Researchers to commemorate first 'dead' glacier with plaque, memorial service

Glaciers across the Himalayas have experienced significant ice loss over the past 40 years, with the average rate of ice loss doubling in the 21st century compared to the end of the 20th century, according to a study published in Science Advances in 2019, which Rupper and Schaefer co-authored.

The Himalayan glaciers are retreating "very homogeneously and accelerating their retreat," Schaefer said, adding that the "single culprit" is warming temperatures.

© Yawar Nazir/Getty Images, FILE In this June 25, 2010, file photo, a receding glacier on in Sonamarg, Kashmir, India, is shown.

"It's a very disturbing finding because it means that if you're not asking what happens to the glacier tomorrow, but what happens with the glacier in 10, 15 years, it will follow the temperature curve, which keeps getting warmer," he said.

The shrinking of the Himalayan glaciers, which contribute to local water resources, poses several challenges for neighboring societies, researchers say. The glaciers also feed the hydro plants and they will stop providing meltwater as they shrink, Shaefer said.

"We know that temperatures are warming across the Himalayas. That's really well documented," Rupper said. "And we know that the rate of mass loss of glaciers has accelerated over time. And so that affects everything from water resources to hazards across the Himalayan range."
The melting will also mean the end of climbing in the region

For mountaineers who spend their lives dreaming of climbing the Himalayas and other sought-after destinations around the world, climate change means they may not get there in time.

Cory Richards, a National Geographic photographer who has been climbing for 35 years, told ABC News that he's seen "massive observable shifts" in the deflation and disruption in glaciers around the world.MORE: Missing hiker found dead atop glacier on mountain

"So what that means for us as an industry is yet to be seen," he said. "Certainly, there are routes on specific mountains that will be altered as glaciers start to become less predictable."

One of the places where this is most evident is on the Khumbu Icefall, a passage on the Nepalese side of Mount Everest where ice is constantly falling from the head of the Khumbu glacier, Richards said.

"As temperatures rise, the calving of big ice cliffs and the collapsing of ice features in the Khumbu Icefall will accelerate, there's no doubt about that," he added, describing it as a "tumultuous piece of glacier."

© Planet Labs, Inc. via AP This Feb. 6, 2021, satellite image released by Planet Labs, Inc., shows Uttarakhand, India, before part of a Himalayan glacier broke off.

In addition, if the glacier dam that sits near the Khumbu Valley floods or breaks, it will flood the entire valley downstream, endangering the lives of the residents.

The warming also poses a risk for classic trade routes, such as on the south side of Mount Everest. It will be difficult for guided companies to ensure people will be able to climb safely, Richards said.

For at least 20 years, people in the climbing industry have said, "I don't know how much longer this is gonna be climbable," according to Richards.

"Now, we seem to find ways to do those things, continually," he added. "But that's not to say that it is safe or smart."

Republican politicians are using the widespread power outages in Texas to place false blame on renewable energy sources, but clean energy isn't what was fueling the majority of power plants that failed.

VIDEO
CEO of Texas power company responds to governor’s call to resign amid blackouts

Millions in the state were without power following a massive winter storm that brought snow and freezing temperatures to the region as a second storm loomed nearby.

MORE: Why green hydrogen is the renewable energy source to watch in 2021

Republicans soon after began casting renewable energy as unreliable.

On Tuesday, Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines retweeted a picture of a wind turbine being defrosted, arguing this is a reason to oppose Democratic Rep. Deb Haaland, who has supported wind energy in the past, as interior secretary.

Former Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, who served under the Trump administration, appeared Tuesday on a Fox News segment that contained the chyron, "Storm Shutters Green Energy," where he stated that the current situation in Texas are the reason why fossil fuels should continue to be the main energy source.

© Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

MORE: Millions without power in Texas as dangerous winter weather continues

Brouillette described renewables as "intermittent to sometimes unreliable," adding, "... the technology is not ready for primetime.

"

© Austin American-Statesman via USA Today A gas station in Pflugerville, Texas turned away people that needed gas, Feb 16, 2021, after a winter storm disrupted deliveries and caused power outages.

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott attributed his state's crisis to the 10% of power plants that are powered by renewables and even went as far as to describe the Green New Deal, a climate proposal by House Democrats, as "deadly" in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity on Tuesday.

MORE: As power outages rock Texas, here's what you should know to stay safe

"Our wind and our solar got shut down, and they were collectively more than 10% of our power grid, and that thrust Texas into a situation where it was lacking power on a statewide basis," he said.

Abbott later acknowledged in a press conference Wednesday that coal and natural gas played a role in the outages.

"Those coal and natural gas power generating facilities either froze up or had mechanical failure, and we're incapable of adding power to the power grid," the governor said. He also noted that one of the power outages was at the South Texas Project, a nuclear power plant.

The politicians are "misleading the public," Daniel Cohan, associate professor of environmental engineering at Rice University in Houston, told ABC News.

"The tiny piece of it that's true is that wind turbines, like every other major piece of the Texas power supply, produced less power than we expected it to under these arctic blast conditions," he said. "What is not true is that that is anywhere near in the top five list of the problems that have caused millions of homes to lose power this week and have caused life-threatening conditions across the state."

© Austin American-Statesman via USA Today Austin, Texas is covered in snow on Feb. 15, 2021.

During winter months, the "vast majority" of energy in Texas, more than two-thirds, is supplied by fuel, coal and nuclear sources, Cohan said. The crisis is not so much that the power plants are failing, but that they don't have enough supply, especially of fuel, he added.

"The crisis has shown us the mutual vulnerabilities of our power and natural gas systems to each other when we are so over-reliant on natural gas for our power and heating needs at the same time," Cohan said.

Neil Chatterjee, former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, also said on CNBC Wednesday that the power outages seem to be a combination of the extreme weather event coupled with a spike in demand for electricity, stating that he thinks "people are so quick to view things through partisan lenses."

"I am confident that if we take the politics out of this and let the engineers and the economists and the experts examine what went on here, we will figure out ways to continue the energy transition that's taking place in Texas and around the country while maintaining the reliable affordable grid that really sets Texas and the United States of America apart from the rest of the world," Chatterjee said.

© Ashley Landis/AP Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon stands on his kitchen counter to warm his feet over his gas stove, Feb. 16, 2021, in Austin, Texas.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which oversees the state's electric grid, started rolling blackouts earlier this week to conserve power.

CEO Bill Magness told ABC News the power systems are not designed to withstand extreme cold. While the storm was the "central cause" of the power outages, he said there were outages caused by generation of coal and natural gas, as well as wind and solar, he said.

"So, you know, I think what this storm does is expose the vulnerabilities perhaps of all different kinds of power making generation on the system," Magness said.

© Ron Jenkins/Getty Images Pike Electric service trucks line up after

 a snow storm, Feb. 16, 2021, in Fort Worth, Texas.

ERCOT stated in November in its planning document for winter that it had well over 10,000 megawatts of surplus power but that just 8% would come from wind and solar. The power company ended up losing more than 30,000 megawatts in supply, Cohan said.

"I think what the politicians are missing, and what they’re misleading the public about, is the fact that average conditions are different from peak conditions, and the way we need to plan for extreme events is to realize that the needs on the coldest days are different than the needs on the hottest day, which are different than the needs on the mildest days throughout the year," Cohan said.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation will open a joint federal inquiry into the grid operations during the storm.

ABC News' Tom Dunlavey and Stephanie Ebbs contributed to this report.

THEY LOOTED THE 1%

US charges North Korean computer programmers in global hacks

LET'S SEE; RUSSIA, IRAN, CHINA NOW

NORTH KOREA 

THINK WE SHOULD TELL THE US ABOUT MOSSAD?

POST MODERN ROBIN HOOD

© Provided by The Canadian Press

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has charged three North Korean computer programmers in a broad range of global hacks, including a destructive attack targeting an American movie studio, and in the attempted theft and extortion of more than $1.3 billion from banks and companies, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

The newly unsealed indictment builds off an earlier criminal case brought in 2018 and adds two additional North Korean defendants. Prosecutors identified all three as members of a North Korean military intelligence agency, accusing them of carrying out hacks at the behest of the government with a goal of using stolen funds for the benefit of the regime. Alarmingly to U.S. officials, the defendants worked at times from locations in Russia and China.

THEY ROB BANKS, LIKE BONNIE AND CLYDE

Law enforcement officials say the prosecution highlights the profit-driven motive behind North Korea's criminal hacking, a contrast from other adversarial nations like Russia, China and Iran who are generally more interested in espionage, intellectual property theft or even disrupting democracy. As the U.S. announced its case against the North Koreans, the government was still grappling with hacks by Russia of federal agencies and private corporations that officials say was aimed at information-gathering.

“What we see emerging uniquely out of North Korea is trying to raise funds through illegal cyber activities,” including the theft of traditional currency and cryptocurrency, as well as cyber extortion schemes, said Assistant Attorney General John Demers, the Justice Department's top national security official.

Because of North Korea's economic system and sanctions imposed on the country, he added, “They use their cyber capabilities to try to get currency wherever they can do that, and that's not something that we really see from actors in China or Russia or in Iran.”

None of the three defendants is in American custody, and though officials don't expect them to travel to the U.S. anytime soon for prosecution, Justice Department officials in recent years have found value in indicting foreign government hackers — even in absentia — as a message that they are not anonymous and can be identified and implicated in crimes.

At the same time, prosecutors unsealed a plea deal with a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen who investigators say organized the sophisticated laundering of millions of dollars in stolen funds. Ghaleb Alaumary, 37, of Ontario, Canada,agreed to plead guilty in Los Angeles to organizing teams of co-conspirators in the U.S. and Canada to launder funds obtained through various schemes.

The indictment unsealed Wednesday charges Jon Chang Hyok, Kim Il and Park Jin Hyok with crimes including conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud. Park was previously charged in 2018 in a criminal complaint linking him to the hacking team responsible for the hack of Sony Pictures and the WannaCry global ransomware attack, among other acts.

Besides naming two additional defendants beyond the original case, the new indictment also adds to the list of victims from around the world of hacks carried out by the Reconnaissance General Bureau.

The indictment accuses the hackers of participating in a conspiracy that attempted to steal more than $1.3 billion of money and cryptocurrency from banks and businesses, unleashed a sweeping ransomware campaign and targeted Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014 in retaliation for a Hollywood movie, “The Interview,” that the North Korean government didn't like because it depicted a fictionalized assassination of leader Kim Jong Un.

The indictment says the hackers engaged not just in cybertheft but also in “revenge-motivated computer attacks, at times executing commands “to destroy computer systems, deploy ransomware” or otherwise render victims' computers inoperable.

“The scope of these crimes by the North Korean hackers is staggering," said Tracy Wilkison, the acting U.S. Attorney in the Central District of California, where Sony Pictures is located and where the indictment was filed. “They are the crimes of a nation-state that has stopped at nothing to extract revenge and to obtain money to prop up its regime.”

Wilkison would not say how much money the hackers actually received. But the indictment does charge them in connection with a theft from Bangladesh's central bank in 2016 involving wire transfers “totalling approximately $81 million to bank accounts in the Philippines and $20 million to a bank account in Sri Lanka," and with multiple other multi-million-dollar ATM cashouts and cyber extortion schemes.

All told, the conspirators “attempted to steal or extort more than $1.3 billion," according to the indictment.

To empty the cryptocurrency accounts of victims, the cyberthieves seeded malware posing as cryptocurrency-trading software on legitimate-seeming websites to trick victims, according to an alert published by the FBI and other U.S. agencies. Once infected, a victim’s computer could be entered and controlled by remote access. Later, hackers used other techniques including phishing and social engineering to infect victims' computers.

____

Associated Press writer Frank Bajak in Boston contributed to this report.

Eric Tucker, The Associated Press