Brazil eyes record grain harvest as China demand booms


Issued on: 09/04/2021 - 

A worker scatters cropped soybeans in a truck in Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul, the third-largest state producer of grain in the country SILVIO AVILA AFP

Salto do Jacuí (Brazil) (AFP)

Brazil is on track to harvest record amounts of soy, corn and other grains this year, fueled by newly booming demand for commodities, particularly from China.

Farmers in the world's number one soy producer and number three corn producer have been harvesting at a record pace, capitalizing on prices that have leapt to multi-year highs on world markets after plunging because of the coronavirus pandemic last year.

The South American giant got off to a slow start because of a drought last season in key grain-belt states, but now has a bumper crop coming in thanks to superb weather.

"Grain production in Brazil continues at the record pace we have seen through the 2020-21 harvest season, with growth of 16.8 million tonnes, or 6.5 percent, over the last harvest," the government's agricultural supply agency, Conab, said Thursday in its latest update.

Brazilian grain farmers expanded their total crop land this year by 68.5 million hectares (169.3 million acres), a 3.9-percent increase, it said.

The soy harvest is forecast to come in at an all-time high of 135.5 million tonnes, 8.6 percent above last year's crop, which was itself a record.

Corn is also on track for a record, with a forecast harvest of 109 million tonnes, up 6.2 percent.

The huge crop has farmers working full-steam in places like Salto do Jacui, which sits at the heart of farm country in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil's third-biggest grain producing state.

Working side by side, combines have been plying the golden fields, cropping the sea of soybeans under a bright blue sky.

"We're very happy with the results of this year's harvest," said farmer Adroaldo Rossato.

"Thanks to great weather we had excellent productivity. And prices are also very high, way above previous years," he told AFP on a break from harvesting.

Much of Brazil's crop will be heading for China, whose rebound from the pandemic has put it back in the market for commodities in a big way.

The Bloomberg Commodity Index is up 32 percent over the past year, as Beijing's renewed appetite for raw materials drives prices to multi-year highs.

China has again become a voracious importer of not just soy -- which it largely uses for hog feed -- but oil, copper, iron ore and coal.

The trend has some analysts wondering whether the world is at the start of a new "commodities supercycle."

But it is likely too early to call.

"If we are to see the start of a new supercycle, this robust demand growth that we are seeing from China will have to be sustainable for several years," said ING bank head of commodities strategy Warren Patterson in a note.

© 2021 AFP

P3'S FOR PEANUTS
Brazil raises $620 mn in huge concession auction

Issued on: 10/04/2021 - 

Sao Paulo (AFP)

Brazil wrapped up a massive auction Friday for concessions to operate 22 airports, a rail line and five ports with a total take of $620 million and planned investments of $1.75 billion in all.

The three-day auction was seen as a risky bet by some analysts, coming as Brazil reels from a new surge of Covid-19 that is weighing down Latin America's biggest economy.

But President Jair Bolsonaro's government mostly managed to attract strong bids, seeking to show Brazil remains an attractive destination for private investors.

Despite the pandemic, which has now claimed nearly 350,000 lives in Brazil, the government was keen to underline its committment to long-delayed plans for large-scale privatizations and concessions of state-run companies and infrastructure.

That was a key campaign promise in 2018 from Bolsonaro, who comes up for reelection next year.

"We're very happy because we've shown Brazil is a country with a bright future," said Infrastructure Minister Tarcisio de Freitas.

His ministry closed out the week with the 216-million-reais ($38-million) lease of five port terminals in the northeastern state of Maranhao and southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.

On Wednesday, it raised a higher-than-expected $600 million for 30-year concessions to operate 22 small and medium airports -- the biggest day of the event it billed as "Infra Week."

French group Vinci and Brazilian group CCR were the winning bidders.

Thursday was the only lackluster day of the auction: the 35-year concession for the Fiol 1 freight rail line in the northeastern state of Bahia drew just one bidder, who won with a minimum bid of $5.75 million.

The government says it expects total investments of at least $1.75 billion over the lifetime of the projects.

RIGHT TO WORK (UNION FREE) STATE
Amazon warehouse workers reject union bid in Alabama

UAW LOST A FOR SURE VOTE AT VOLKSWAGON IN ALABAMA

Issued on: 10/04/2021 - 

Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama handed the online retail giant a decisive victory when they voted against forming a union and cut off a path that labor activists had hoped would lead to similar efforts throughout the company and beyond.

After months of aggressive campaigning from both sides, 1,798 warehouse workers ultimately rejected the union while 738 voted in favor of it, according to the National Labor Relations Board, which is overseeing the process.

Of the 3,117 votes cast, 76 were voided for being filled out incorrectly and 505 were contested by either Amazon or the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which led the organizing efforts in Bessemer. But the NLRB said the contested votes were not enough to sway the outcome. About 53% of the nearly 6,000 workers cast their ballots.

The union said it would file an objection with the NLRB charging the company with illegally interfering with the union vote. It will seek a hearing with the labor board to determine if the results “should be set aside" after it accused Amazon of spreading disinformation about the unionization effort at meetings that workers were required to attend.

“Amazon has left no stone unturned in its efforts to gaslight its own employees. We won’t let Amazon’s lies, deception and illegal activities go unchallenged,” said Stuart Appelbaum, the president of the RWDSU.

Amazon said in a statement that it didn't intimidate employees.

“Our employees heard far more anti-Amazon messages from the union, policymakers, and media outlets than they heard from us," the company said. “And Amazon didn’t win — our employees made the choice to vote against joining a union."

The union push was the biggest in Amazon’s 26-year history and only the second time that an organizing effort from within the company had come to a vote. But Bessemer was always viewed as a long shot since it pitted the country’s second-largest employer against warehouse workers in a state with laws that don’t favor unions. Alabama is one of 27 “right-to-work" states where workers don’t have to pay dues to unions that represent them.

That the labor movement in Bessemer even got this far was unexpected. Amazon has an undefeated record of snuffing out union efforts before they can spread. And at a time when the economy is still trying to recover and companies have been eliminating jobs, it is one of the few places still hiring during the pandemic, adding 500,000 workers last year alone.

But the pandemic also revealed inequities in the workforce, with many having to report to their jobs even while the coronavirus was raging, leading to concerns over health and safety. The organizing efforts in Bessemer coincided with protests happening throughout the country after the police killing of George Floyd, raising awareness around racial injustice and further fueling frustration over how workers at the warehouse — more than 80% who are Black — are being treated, with 10-hour days of packing and loading boxes and only two 30-minute breaks.

In a press conference held by Amazon, four workers at the Bessemer warehouse said talk of mistreatment by the company was the opinion of a few workers, not all of them.

“We’re really sorry that their experience hasn’t been the same as ours,” said Will Stokes, one of the warehouse workers who voted against the union.

The organizing effort inside the Bessemer warehouse began last summer when a group of workers approached the RWDSU about forming a union. The movement gained momentum ever since, attracting the attention of professional athletes, Hollywood stars and high-profile elected officials, including President Joe Biden.

During the voting process, workers were flooded with messages from Amazon and the union. Amazon hung anti-union signs throughout the warehouse and held mandatory meetings to convince workers why the union was a bad idea. It also argued that it already offered more than twice the minimum wage in Alabama plus benefits without paying union dues.

Union organizers, meanwhile, stood outside the warehouse gates trying to talk to people driving in and out of work. It also had volunteers call all of the nearly 6,000 workers, promising a union will lead to better working conditions, better pay and more respect.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, a progressive icon who traveled to Alabama for a pro-union rally last month, said he was “disappointed but not surprised by the vote.”

“It is extraordinarily courageous for workers to take on one of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful corporations, a company that spent unlimited sums of money to defeat the organizing effort,” he said in a statement.

Mark Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia University Business School, says that Amazon’s warehouses are “juicy targets of opportunity” for unions because they can be organized one at a time. The company employs more than 950,000 full- and part-time workers in the U.S. and nearly 1.3 million worldwide. Moreover, the status of Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos as the richest man in the world makes him easy to vilify, especially when his company enjoyed record profits last year that climbed 84% to $21 billion.

Cohen, who used to be an executive at Sears Canada, called retail a “rough and tough” industry, adding that “Bezos has built a high performance-based culture with expectations of performance and productivity at every level down to the shop floor. If that’s not your gig, don’t go work for them.”

The National Retail Federation, which represents Walmart, Target and other big retailers, struck a tone of relief after the vote in Bessemer.

“Union representation is a choice for workers, but many clearly prefer opportunities in a competitive marketplace that provides strong wages and benefits over the anonymity of a collective bargaining agreement,” said David French, a spokesman for the federation.

Unions have lost ground nationally for decades since their peak in the decades following World War II. In 1970, almost a third of the U.S. workforce belonged to a union. In 2020, that figure was 10.8%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Private sector workers now account for less than half of the 14.3 million union members across the country.

Richard Bensinger, a former organizing director for the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the United Automobile Workers, noted the large number of workers who didn’t vote in Bessemer: “To me, that’s all about the paralysis, the fear. They don’t want to be supportive of the company but they are afraid to stand up for the union.”

Despite the union defeat, Lynne Vincent, a professor at Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management, believes the momentum of the labor movement will still grow, with more Amazon workers considering unionization and the possibility that labor laws will be changed to give employers less of an advantage.

“I don’t think Amazon can breathe comfortably,” she said.

Emmit Ashford, a pro-union Amazon worker in Bessemer who spoke at a press conference held by the retail union, said he is not giving up.

“This is just a spark that has started the fire," Ashford said. "We will keep fighting. This experience has bonded us. Our time will come around again and next time we will win.”

Workers urge Google parent to get tough on harassment

Issued on: 10/04/2021 - 

Google was urged in an open letter to better protect victims of workplace harassment Robyn Beck AFP/File

San Francisco (AFP)

A letter calling for Google's parent company Alphabet to better protect people who report sexual harassment on the job was signed by more than 1,000 workers soon after being posted online Friday.

The open letter contended the tech giant had a pattern of safeguarding or even rewarding those responsible for sexual harassment while leaving victims to suffer in the workplace.

"Alphabet does not provide a safe environment for those who face harassment in the workplace," the text says.

"Even when (human resources) confirms harassment, no action is taken to make the reporter safe."

Anyone found to have harassed a co-worker should be barred from leadership roles, and be made to switch teams to be distanced from victims, the letter demanded.

"We're deeply aware of the importance of this issue," a Google spokesperson said in response to an AFP inquiry.

"We work to support and protect people who report concerns, thoroughly investigate all claims and take firm actions against substantiated allegations."

In a column published Friday on the New York Times website, former Google engineer Emi Nietfeld said her "stalker" co-worker was left sitting at a desk next to her in the office even after she complained to human resources.

Google has faced criticism in recent years regarding its internal response to sexual harassment, especially if the accused were executives.

Thousands of Google employees joined a coordinated worldwide walkout in late 2018 to protest the US tech giant's handling of the issue.

Some 20,000 Google employees and contractors participated in the protest in 50 cities around the world, according to organizers.

"We've made significant improvements to our overall process, including the way we handle and investigate employee concerns, and introducing new care programs for employees who report concerns," the Google spokesperson said.

"Reporting misconduct takes courage and we'll continue our work to improve our processes and support for the people who do."

© 2021 AFP

Volcanic eruption rocks Caribbean island of St. Vincent

The government earlier had ordered people to leave their homes. They are being evacuated to other parts of St. Vincent or other islands in the eastern Caribbean.



The early morning eruption was predicted, meaning the area nearby was evacuated ready for the dramatic explosion


An explosive eruption of the La Soufriere volcano rocked the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent on Friday.

It followed a mandatory evacuation orders from the local government, who told some 16,000 people to leave their homes.

Officials said the ash column rose as high as 10 kilometers (6 miles) and it headed east into the Atlantic Ocean.

The coastal La Soufriere volcano sent a cloud of ash drifting into the Atlantic Ocean

Heavy ash fall also was reported in communities around the volcano, according to Erouscilla Joseph, who leads the University of the West Indies Seismic Center.

"More explosions could occur," she said, adding that it was impossible to predict whether potential explosions would be bigger or smaller than the first.

Authorities on the island have reported no casualties so far; St Vincent has seen a number of fatal volcanic eruptions in the past.

One in 1902 is estimated to have claimed the lives of about 1,600 people. Advances in seismology and early-warning systems mean that modern-day eruptions are much less likely to catch communities unawares and claim larger numbers of lives.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said evacuees would be able to seek temporary refuge on neighboring islands or be relocated to shelters in another part of St. Vincent.

But he urged people to remain calm as the government tried to find them emergency accommodation.

 

Framework could support more reliable electric power distribution systems

Texas A&M researchers are developing a reliability framework to help utility companies better prepare for uncertainties that may arise.

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

Imagine the process of distributing electricity to homes from the power grid is like travelers boarding a train.

There are multiple steps to take before they can reach their final destination. First, they have to buy a ticket at the ticketing booth - this is where the power is generated. Then, they board a train that departs from the station - the power is transmitted over distances using transmission lines. Finally, the train takes the travelers (electricity) to their final destination. This final step of sending power to homes and businesses is called the distribution system - and it is critical that it remain reliable.

Chanan Singh and doctoral student Arun Karngala from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, are working to develop a reliability framework for the distribution system so that utility companies can be better prepared for uncertainties that may arise. Singh is a Regents Professor, the Irma Runyon Chair Professor and University Distinguished Professor.

By developing these models and methods to perform the analysis of the distribution level of the power grid, adverse effects of localized weather events or equipment failure can potentially be prevented.

The researchers' framework can be also used to test the systemwide impact of installing rooftop solar and energy storage by the customers in the distribution system.

"We found that with 40% of customers installing solar capacity, that amounts to 1.5 times the peak demand of the respective households," Karngala said. "With sufficient energy storage systems, the reliability indices measured significant improvements. For example, the system average interruption frequency index was improved by 50%, the system average interruption duration index was improved by 70% and the customer average interruption duration index was improved by 45%."

Karngala said that this framework can also be used to decide the capacity of solar rooftop installation: "If the installed solar capacity is increased from one time the peak demand to two times the peak demand, the reliability indices show steady improvement. The improvement in indices tapers off after the installed solar capacity is increased more than 2.5 times the peak demand."

Performing reliability studies can help create business cases for purchasing such storage, and ongoing research on storage technologies is helping to provide more affordable and reliable alternatives.

The research team is focused on the analysis and reliability at the distribution level as it is the most vulnerable of all stages of power allocation and therefore can cause the most trouble for customers. Further, unlike high-level sectors of the power grid - such as power generation and transmission - that have existing methods of analysis and procedures to ensure that the reliability will be maintained in the presence of uncertainties at specified levels, the distribution level generally does not have such standards.

Most independent system operators (ISOs) ensure they have enough power generation reserve so that if an unexpected issue arises (e.g., transmission line failure, generator failure, the load being higher than forecasted, etc.) resulting in the total load not being supplied, the load can be adjusted so that it is not lost completely for all customers. Many ISOs use criteria that ensure that, on average, this load curtailment would not occur more than one day in 10 years. Such standards are not typically used at the distribution level.

This work was published in IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy in January.

"The winter storm event that happened recently in Texas was of a different nature that spanned the entire state," Singh said. "But extreme weather can be in a variety of forms. For example, you can have tornadoes or hurricanes where the effect is not statewide but instead more limited areas are affected. We believe that in those situations these models and the tools that they will provide to us to manage the system will enhance the reliability of the distribution system because you don't have to rely only on the power that is coming from the grid, but also from other local sources such as solar and perhaps wind."

One challenge that the team is facing is the many different kinds of generating systems being integrated into distribution systems that must be accounted for. Karngala said distribution systems previously were considered the only consumers of energy, but today there are newer technologies and many more distributed energy resources coming into the distribution system such as solar panels, wind generation and storage.

"The exciting part about working on distribution systems is that these are in a phase of change now," Karngala said. "These are changing from traditional systems to much more advanced systems, and we are in that transition phase where we need to develop models and methodologies."

Ultimately, the team is looking to build a comprehensive framework of reliability analysis where approaches such as demand response, price strategies and operational strategies can be included and be expanded upon as the power grid evolves.

"There is no shortage of projects that can be developed around this framework as many models, methods and operational strategies can be included in the reliability evaluation," Karngala said.

###

This work is funded by the Department of Energy as part of the U.S.-India Collaborative for Smart Distribution System with Storage project.

For girls, learning science outside linked to better grades, knowledge

NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

In a new study, North Carolina State University researchers found that an outdoor science program was linked to higher average science grades and an increase in a measure of science knowledge for a group of fifth grade girls in North Carolina.

The findings, published in the International Journal of Science Education, indicates outdoor education could be a promising tool to help close gender gaps in science.

"The outdoors is a space where teachers can find tangible ways to make science come alive," said the study's lead author Kathryn Stevenson, assistant professor of parks, recreation and tourism management at NC State. "The natural environment is also a place that everybody has in common. In a way, it's also a great context for employing reform-based teaching practices like hands-on, inquiry-based learning or group work. These practices can be good for all students, but they may be particularly good for reaching students who aren't as well-served in classroom settings."

The researchers studied the impact of an outdoor science education program called Muddy Sneakers on fifth graders' science grades and knowledge of, and attitudes about, science. Fifth graders from western North Carolina attended between six and 10 days of Muddy Sneakers during the 2016-2017 school year. They had science lessons in nearby natural areas, including state parks and school grounds. Outdoor lessons followed the standard course of study for science through hands-on activities, hikes, science journaling, nature exploration and reflections.

Researchers compared the performance of 237 students who learned about science in the classroom to 403 students who participated in the outdoor program. They compared students' grades - which were provided by their teachers - and also used surveys to evaluate students' knowledge about how science works and their feelings about science.

When researchers evaluated students' science grades by gender, they saw that girls who participated in the outdoor science program maintained their science grades on average, while girls' average grades in the traditional science classes dropped. They also saw that participation in the outdoor program helped girls learn more about how science works on average, but traditional classrooms did not.

Boys in the outdoor and traditional class settings had fairly stable science grades on average and saw similar gains in knowledge of how science works.

The researchers reported their findings for girls was consistent with research that shows that girls start to disengage with science around age 10. The outdoor program could be providing a learning context that is different than those that enforce traditional gendered narratives about science and science learning, they argued.

"Outdoor education seems to be one of those contexts that helps everyone learn, but it may be really, really helpful for some students in particular," Stevenson said.

When they evaluated ratings of self-efficacy, which is students' confidence in their own science ability and interest in the field, they found boys' and girls' ratings actually declined on average.

The researchers argued that the measure of science efficacy may be missing an important component that could be more important for encouraging long-term interest in science: an attitude of persistence despite failure. It could be that the results captured that the students were less likely to see science ability as an innate talent rather than the product of hard work.

They also say the outdoor program could have been a new challenge for students. That might explain why students were less confident in their science ability after the program, but still showed gains in science grades and knowing how science works.

"A good combination for students to sustain success is - you need them to learn, but you need them to feel comfortable with not knowing it all," Stevenson said. "While self-efficacy dropped, achievement was stable."

###

Note to authors: The abstract follows.

"How outdoor science education can help girls stay engaged with science"

Authors: Kathryn T. Stevenson, Rachel E. Szczytko, Sarah J. Carrier and M. Nils Peterson.

DOI: 10.1080/09500693.2021.1900948

Published online March 22 in International Journal of Science Education.

Abstract: Although gender gaps associated with K-12 science achievement have narrowed significantly, gaps in science engagement and efficacy in childhood likely explain why women remain underrepresented in science careers. Early intervention programs may address root causes of gender gaps in science careers. Outdoor science education (OSE) is one understudied but promising strategy, that provides ample opportunity for reform-based instructional practices that may benefit girls, including girls of colour. Using a pre-post, treatment-control quasi-experimental design, we evaluated how an OSE program differentially impacted the science grades, science knowledge, and science self-efficacy of fifth grade girls versus boys (n = 640). We found the OSE treatment increased knowledge and maintained science grades for girls while grades fell for girls in the control group. We also found that science self-efficacy decreased for both boys and girls in the treatment group. We did not detect direct or interaction effects of race on science outcomes. Research suggests OSE may help students associate science learning with challenge, which may help explain the decrease in self-efficacy coupled with the increase in achievement for girls. We suggest future research continue to investigate how OSE can benefit all students, including those who may become disengaged with learning in traditional classroom settings.

UMD tracks the adoption of green infrastructure, from water conservation to policy

Collaborative study uses Tucson, Arizona, as a case study to explore the role of policy entrepreneurship and interest groups in the trajectory of green infrastructure

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND

Research News

 

In a new paper published in the Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, the University of Maryland teamed up with local researchers to examine green infrastructure adoption and leadership in Tucson, Arizona, an interesting case study where grassroots efforts have helped to drive policy change in a growing urban area surrounded by water-constrained desert. Green infrastructure (any installation that manages water or environmental factors, such as rain gardens, stormwater basins, or urban tree cover) is slowly transitioning from a fringe activity to an important part of the way governments and municipalities are dealing with water and the local effects of a changing climate. By examining the trajectory of sustainability and the role of policy entrepreneurship in broader adoption, Tucson can provide a peek into the future of green infrastructure in the Southwest and across the country.

"This work came out of a long term collaboration in Arizona trying to understand a lot of aspects of how green infrastructure (GI) is used there," says Mitchell Pavao-Zuckerman, assistant professor in Environmental Science and Technology at UMD. "We are looking at the functionality of GI, its practical benefits, but also how governance and learning around GI changes, inhibits, or helps adoption. Looking at evolution and adoption, we can see different types of players that are key, like policy entrepreneurs who are early adopters or innovators in either practice or policy and how they help diffuse knowledge around the city. Learning these lessons, we gain a lot of insight into how policy is changing, and how other areas could adapt going forward."

Funded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Coupled Human and Natural Systems program, Pavao-Zuckerman collaborated with the University of Arizona, the Udall Center for Public Policy in Tucson, and the University of Virginia to examine these GI trends. The researchers took a mixed methods approach to the work, examining policy, documentation, and newspaper reports to create a timeline of GI developments in the history of the city. The timeline was then used as a starting point when interviewing stakeholders and GI players in Tucson, providing a richer context and backdrop to the interview data.

"The timeline and our approach to gathering this information is innovative; it puts a method behind anecdotal stories," explains Pavao-Zuckerman. "Studying this kind of process in an urban setting around GI is a new thing, so that is one of the unique pieces of this paper. In lots of places, you have this knowledge and history of how things have come about, but using the timeline and interviews to document how things have changed, and putting it within theories of adaptation and governance - these are new frontiers for working with GI and urban environments."

As Pavao-Zuckerman describes it, Tucson provides a compelling look at how GI emerges in places that don't necessarily have water quality mandates, which are prominent in Maryland and the area surrounding the Chesapeake Bay. In Tucson and much of the Southwest, water sustainability and conservation is often the driver.

"In Maryland with the Bay, a lot of GI is implemented as a way to meet water quality standards and meet pollution reduction targets," says Pavao-Zuckerman. "But in this case, there aren't water quality mandates, and the focus is really on harvested water. A lot of water consumption in the Southwest goes to domestic irrigation for lawns and gardens, which can sometimes be up to 50% of potable water usage, so the demand is huge. You also see integration with urban tree canopy and stormwater basins that can help mitigate heat islands and buffer for future climate change when things get even hotter out there. So you see the same types of things there as in the Bay area, like curb cuts to redirect stormwater and urban tree cover, but it is coming from a different place. So it is interesting to see how you get to the same place from a different start point."

One thing that Pavao-Zuckerman and the team found in Tucson that the rest of the country can learn from is an overall culture of what is known as water ethics. Similar to the concept of One Health (the intersection and interconnectedness of animal, human, and environmental health), Tucson water municipalities call it One Water.

"Part of what we see going forward is a more holistic way of thinking about water," says Pavao-Zuckerman. "Stormwater is usually thought of as a waste stream that we want to get rid of as quickly as possible, but people are starting to see it as a resource and not a waste. The water municipality there calls it One Water, thinking about the integration of the whole water system. Instead of thinking of stormwater and drinking water as two separate things, we think about water collectively, and that gives you a different perspective for management. That mindset will hopefully also start to happen in other places."

Other key findings from the paper include the need to think about GI across all scales, from individual and neighborhood adoption to the city level. Additionally, there is a need for more equitable dispersion of GI to ensure environmental and social justice.

"A lot of this practice is done effectively voluntarily," explains Pavao-Zuckerman. "Neighborhoods and the city will promote it, but the city isn't necessarily going out and implementing most of these structures - that is up to the home or property owner. Because implementation has started from policy entrepreneurs and individuals in Tucson, it didn't happen randomly and also didn't happen necessarily in communities where it is most needed. Most cities are like this, with more affluent communities having more implementation, and places that have less money or more people of color tend to have less implementation, so they are bearing the brunt of the environmental harms that they are trying to solve. So that needs to be part of the trajectory going forward, thinking about how to shift practice to reflect that and encourage cooperation at all levels and scales to be more equitable."

Overall, this paper provides a landscape of GI implementation and gives researchers, policy makers, and advocates alike a chance to understand where things are coming from so they can think more strategically about where things are headed.

"It lets us do backcasting and forwardcasting," emphasizes Pavao-Zuckerman. "We can see where things came from and new threads that are starting to emerge. GI is important because it adds different aspects of resilience to an environment. It helps to buffer environmental extremes, and it adds more flexibility throughout the landscape to withstand and respond to extreme events. We think of climate change as this thing that is going to be hotter, wetter, or drier, but it is the extreme ends of weather events that really hit cities and people hard, and GI is something that we think is going to really help. We are paying particular attention to the role of people and organizations in driving GI change in this work to understand it as a way for how people can shape urban transformations to make a more sustainable and resilient community."

###

This paper is entitled "Agency and governance in green infrastructure policy adoption and change" and is published in the Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, DOI: 10.1080/1523908X.2021.1910018.

This work is funded by the National Science Foundation, Grant Number Award #1518376, Linking Ecosystem Services and Governance of Water Resources in Urbanized Landscapes.

BOURGEOIS PRESS REPORT

NDP convention targets inequality, as contentious planks threaten to steal spotlight

OTTAWA — Inequality is fast shaping up to be a key focus of the federal NDP policy convention as thousands of New Democrats prepare to gather online this afternoon to kick off the three-day event.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Party members cast their votes recently to whittle down hundreds of proposed resolutions into a short list whose top policies include a $15 federal minimum wage and a call to "abolish billionaires" and for-profit long-term care.

Delegates also have the opportunity to insert the word "socialism" into the party constitution after members voted to scrub it from the preamble in 2013 under then-leader Thomas Mulcair.

The term, once a nearly taboo descriptor in federal politics, has surged back into discussion amid a widening wealth gap and the rise of avowedly social-democratic politicians such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the U.S.

While the inequality motif is poised to rally New Democrats around a common theme this weekend, the lead-up to the convention threatened to expose fissures between party brass and the grassroots as well as among MPs.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said this week he opposed a resolution from a downtown Toronto riding association to phase out the Canadian military, a proposal that failed to make it to the virtual convention floor.

But several controversial resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are among the top-ranked. One demands Canada suspend arms dealing with Israel. A second, endorsed by more than 40 riding associations, rejects a working definition of anti-Semitism set out by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance on the grounds it is used to chill criticism of Israeli policy.

The proposal found NDP lawmakers and party members on opposite sides of a sensitive issue that threatens to distract from the message of unity the party aims to project.

"I don't think it's going to overshadow, because we've got a lot of really important and exciting policy debates on issues that impact people right now in the pandemic," Singh said in a recent interview.

The resolutions to be debated, voted on and distilled into policies by some 2,000 delegates will serve as de facto planks to construct a platform ahead of a possible election this year.

The event will also vie for attention with a virtual Liberal policy convention happening simultaneously.

Former federal NDP leader Ed Broadbent will help launch the convention with a speech Friday afternoon, followed by addresses from the leaders of the Manitoba and Yukon New Democrats.

B.C. Premier John Horgan — the only NDP leader who currently heads a government — will address attendees Saturday, with veteran leader of the Ontario NDP Andrea Horwath taking the virtual stage later on.

Singh aims to rally the base with the keynote speech Sunday, hoping to convey a sense of rah-rah enthusiasm despite there being no convention floor to stomp nor walls to rattle.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 9, 2021.

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press

ENBRIDGE LINE 3
Opinion: The pipeline that President Biden needs to stop

Opinion by Ilhan Omar and Tara Houska 

By the Mississippi River headwaters -- the mighty river running through the center of our country and powering much of Minnesota -- is a small, clear stream. Its bends hold marshy reeds surrounded by towering pines. It's one of the places where traffic noise is a rarity and the forest looms large. Lately, however, the sounds of heavy equipment and excavators prepping the ground to transport tar sands oil under the riverbed echo through the wetlands. Segments of the Enbridge Line 3 replacement pipeline wait in nearby work yards, ready to redirect the dirtiest fossil fuel more than 300 miles through "The Land of 10,000 Lakes."

© CNN Enbridge Line 3 pipeline

© Bill Weir/CNN Tara Houska



We're just two months into President Joe Biden's administration. On his first day in office he revoked the permit to halt construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, another long-fought tar sands oil project proposed out of Alberta, Canada. Climate science and racial justice are clear priorities for this administration. Science isn't a bad word and Covid-19 is a crisis, not a hoax.

Yet, here in the north woods of Minnesota, any progress feels far away. It's hard to celebrate when your sacred places are threatened to be torn apart in front of your eyes. Tears swim in tired eyes and prayers go up for the delicate wild rice beds downstream, the generations not yet born and the pain of inequity as old as the state of Minnesota.

It isn't just a pipeline. To hear Enbridge, the fossil fuel corporation behind the Line 3 project, tell the tale, it's a replacement pipeline to bring crude oil through the territory, most for eventual foreign export.

The old Line 3 is leaking, they say, and it must be replaced for safety reasons. Their story omits the fact that the replacement pipeline would nearly double its current capacity, all but guaranteeing that our state would not meet its emissions reduction targets. It also ignores that the new route goes through hundreds of acres of wetlands and over 200 bodies of water untouched by pipeline, and that Enbridge wants a new pipeline corridor through Minnesota's wetlands to avoid congestion. Notably, the old pipeline route would be left in the ground to rot.

It omits the fact that we've been conditioned to believe that a company's "need" to build a new pipeline should be automatically approved and accepted by the public. The Minnesota Department of Commerce is now challenging the state's Public Utilities Commission in court for approving the pipeline -- arguing that Enbridge failed to submit a long-range forecast showing a demand for the oil Line 3 carries. It overlooks that the new Line 3 would emit 193 million tons of carbon dioxide each year -- more than the rest of the state -- and, moreover, that it is another nail in the coffin for sustainable human life on this planet and another slap in the face to indigenous sovereignty.

Many of the Ojibwe people gathered at the Mississippi to lend support to the George Floyd demonstrations last summer. We marched, we stood united against police brutality and demanded justice. Our liberatory fronts are intertwined -- stolen labor and stolen land lie at the foundation of the United States. Our watersheds are intertwined; what happens upstream affects the millions downstream. Our personhood is intertwined; what happens to the vulnerable reflects the societal whole.

In February, an excavator broke through the ice with the operator trapped inside. Thankfully, the operator lived. Enbridge released a statement in response, saying, "Safety is our first priority for the thousands workers who are currently replacing Line 3 on construction sites spread across the more than 330 mile route." In December, another Enbridge contractor who was the father of nine died after he was run over by a fork lift. Enbridge paused work until the next day and said, "safety standards and protocols were reinforced."

Several tribal-led lawsuits are waiting to be heard by the courts as Enbridge works at full steam ahead to bulldoze through our wetlands. Earlier this year, a US appeals court ruled in favor of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and upheld a lower court's decision to strike down a key federal permit for the Dakota Access oil pipeline. That victory, however, came over three years after the Dakota Access pipeline was finished, and the pipeline has already leaked multiple times. It is a common tactic of the fossil fuel industry to slam through projects that tribes may oppose before their legal issues are heard.

The Line 3 replacement, which would be one of the largest tar sands infrastructure in North America, won't run through wealthy suburbs. It largely threatens places that are out of sight and out of mind for most Americans: the prairies, the wetlands, the wild rice tributaries and the treaty lands of indigenous peoples. And at its terminus, like so many other refineries across the US, we find communities of low wealth, communities treated as sacrifice zones. Cancer clusters, contaminated water and deadly explosions are too often overlooked when corporations stand to benefit. It's convenient to continue relying on fossil fuels and dangerous chemicals. Dehumanization comes at a steep cost -- our lands, our waters, our lives become expendable and inequity the norm.

As an immigrant and an indigenous person, we see the interconnectedness of climate justice, of structural racism and disregard for human life. Climate change does not stop at the border of a reservation or a state or a country -- it impacts us all. The decision to move forward with the implementation of Line 3 is a decision made for the entire world and for all future generations of humanity. Now is not the time to be silent. Now is the time to raise our voices and urge President Biden to take action to stop Line 3.

© U.S. House Office of Photoraphy Ilhan Omar