THIRD WORLD USA
COVID-19 has worsened inequalities in U.S., across the Americas, report 


January 31, 2020 National Institutes of Health official Dr. Anthony Fauci (C) speaks about the coronavirus during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C. Health and Human Services Secretary Alexander Azar (L) announced that the United States is declaring the virus a public health emergency and issued a federal quarantine order of 14 days for 195 Americans. Photo by Leigh Vogel/UPI | License Photo


April 7 (UPI) -- COVID-19 has increased social and economic inequality in the United States and other countries of the Americas, watchdog Amnesty International said Wednesday in its annual report on the state of human rights.

The 400-page analysis says North, South and Central America has been worst hit by the crisis, with about 55 million cases and 1.3 million deaths to date.

The United States, Brazil and Mexico have the world's highest death tolls, partly because their governments, the report says, struggled to give consistent health guidance, failed to protect the most vulnerable populations or failed to provide full transparency.

The report notes that COVID-19 exacerbated "systemic inequality, widespread repression and destructive policies" that contributed to the Americas becoming the worst-affected region.

RELATED Study: Mexico, U.S. have had most health workers die of COVID-19

Specifically, the study shows that women, refugees, migrants, underprotected health workers, Indigenous and Black people and other groups have borne the brunt of the pandemic. Some leaders, it says, actively exploited the crisis to ramp up their assault on human rights.

"Over the last year, we've witnessed certain leaders in the Americas respond to the pandemic with a mixture of denial, opportunism and contempt for human rights," Amnesty International Americas Director Erika Guevara-Rosas said in a statement.

"We cannot continue down the road to ruin, repeating the mistakes that left the region ravaged by inequality, discrimination and destruction, even before COVID-19 struck."

RELATED Pentagon halts plan to vaccinate Guantanamo Bay detainees

The Americas began 2020 as the world's most unequal region, and the pandemic only worsened conditions -- with an additional 22 million people falling into poverty and 8 million into extreme poverty.

COVID-19 hit the region's economy hard, while government measures "frequently undermined the social, economic and cultural rights of those in the most precarious situations," the report states.

More than 10,500 health workers across the Americas had died from COVID-19 as of last month.

RELATED Humanitarian groups warn rich countries are 'hoarding' COVID-19 vaccines

"Health professionals in almost every country [have complained] about their governments' failure to provide safe working conditions and sufficient personal protective equipment," it added. "Those who spoke out sometimes faced sanctions, as in Nicaragua, where at at least 31 health workers were fired after expressing their concerns."

Amnesty says arbitrary arrests have been common and often linked to enforcement of COVID-19 restrictions, with some countries forcibly quarantining people in state-run centers that failed to meet sanitary and physical distancing standards.

Several governments detained refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants in conditions that left them at high risk of contracting COVID-19, while others forcibly returned people without considering their asylum claims, the report said.

The hard-line immigration measures from the Trump administration were also criticized by Wednesday's analysis.

Amnesty says U.S. authorities "summarily detained and deported almost all asylum-seekers on the U.S.-Mexico border, expelling over half a million migrants and asylum-seekers from March 2020 through February, including more than 13,000 unaccompanied children as of November 2020."

Prisons in the Americas were rife with poor sanitary conditions and overcrowding, and inmates were denied their right to health and were often exposed to COVID-19.

The report said pandemic-related restrictions affected freedom of expression in nations where it is under threat, including Mexico, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Uruguay and Venezuela. Mexico, in fact, was the world's deadliest country for journalists in 2020. More than 3,000 Brazilians -- 79% of them Black -- were killed by police between January and June.

Violence against women and girls across the Americas has surged since the start of the outbreak, with lockdown measures leading to a marked increase in domestic violence, rape and homicide. Measures to protect women and girls were inadequate, Amnesty says.

"The governments of the Americas must rebuild the region into one grounded in fairness, compassion and humanity," Guevara-Rosas added.

"While the first year of the pandemic has been particularly difficult for the Americas, we draw strength from the passion and resilience that we have witnessed from activists across the region, especially from women, young people and anti-racist activists. Their courage in the face of adversity shows us that we can create a more just world for everyone."

upi.com/7087707

Crew completes deep dive on USS Johnston shipwreck

By Monica Danielle, Accuweather.com 4/7/2021

An expedition by undersea technology company Caladan Oceanic found the wreck of the Fletcher-class destroyer USS Johnston this week below 21,180 feet of water east of Samar Island in the Philippine Sea, the company said in a news release.

According to Caladan Oceanic, the underwater operation was the deepest shipwreck dive ever carried out.

The Johnston sank on Oct. 25, 1944, during the Battle off Samar. According to Stripes.com, it was "the central scene of action in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, one of the biggest naval battles ever fought in the attempt to liberate the Philippines from the Imperial Japanese."

The Philippines was first attacked by Japanese forces nine hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 8, 1941. Although the Philippines had a semi-independent government at the time, the United States controlled the island nation and operated several important military bases there.

The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Johnston off Seattle on October 27, 1943.

 Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy

RELATED Lake Michigan's shifting sands uncover 19th century shipwreck

The USS Johnston was led by Cmdr. Ernest Evans, a Native American from Oklahoma. Of the 327 crew members, he was among the 186 sailors to perish when the vessel went down. According to the U.S. Navy, Evans was severely wounded during the battle, but despite his injuries pressed sailors to continue attacking. He eventually was killed and, according to Navy historians, his body vanished in the chaos of the battle.

Evans subsequently became the first Native American in the Navy to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

Cmdr. Ernest Evans at the commissioning ceremony of the 

destroyer USS Johnston in Seattle in 1943. 

Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy/Wikimedia

Two former U.S. Navy officers funded and carried out the expedition to film the wreck. Parks Stephenson, a retired lieutenant commander and naval historian, served as navigator and mission specialist, Caladan reported.

RELATED Nazi shipwreck may solve 75-year-old Amber Room mystery, divers say

Retired Navy Cmdr. Victor Vescovo funded the search for the Johnston and personally piloted Limiting Factor, a deep submergence vehicle, to the wreck site during two separate 8-hour dives that Caladan said "constituted the deepest wreck dives, manned or unmanned, in history." The vehicle has no operating-depth limitation, does not require a surface tether and can hold two occupants.

"It was an honor and privilege to be the first people to directly lay eyes on her since she went down 76 years ago. At 6,000+ meters, there is little oxygen, so things don't deteriorate like they do in shallower waters." Vescovo said on Twitter.

Water temperature also plays a significant role in the decay rate of a shipwreck. According to Study.com, "higher temperature water means the water molecules have higher kinetic energy, which is the energy of motion."

RELATED Watch: Vermont divers discover paddle wheels from 201-year-old shipwreck

Higher water temperatures mean that more molecular energy is foisted upon the shipwreck, accelerating the rate of decay. But as the water gets deeper, kinetic energy is inhibited.

"From the surface to around 10 meters down, the water temperature stays roughly constant," Study.com points out. "Temperature decreases rapidly for the next 5 meters, and then stays roughly consistent to depths greater than 50 meters," or about 150 feet. "This tells us the deeper the wreck, the slower it decays based on the temperature factor alone."

Since the USS Johnston wreck sits so deep in the ocean, lower water temperatures likely played a role in keeping it from decaying more than it has over the past 76 years.

Vescovo has held ongoing discussions with the Navy Heritage and History Command about investigation of the wreck and the protocols for not only preserving it but respecting it as the final resting place for many of its crew.

Rear Adm. Samuel Cox, director of Naval History and curator for the Navy, said in a statement, "I deeply appreciate that Commander Vescovo and his team exhibited such great care and respect during the survey of the ship, the last resting place of her valiant crew. Three other heroic ships lost in that desperate battle have yet to be found."

Taiwan cuts water two days a week amid worst drought in years

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC, may not be affected by a recent government decision to cut water supply to central Taiwan amid a severe drought in the country. File Photo by David Chang/EPA-EFE

April 6 (UPI) -- Taiwan has started to cut water supply to its central region for two days a week as an ongoing drought threatens chipmakers amid a global semiconductor shortage.

The Taiwanese government began to ration water Tuesday to its central region that includes Taichung, Miaoli, Hsinchu and Changhua, Taiwan News reported.

Central and southern Taiwan are grappling with a water crisis amid an unprecedented drought. Typhoons that typically bring substantial rain to the island did not make a landfall in 2020, the report said.

Water reservoir levels remain critically low on the island. Southern Taiwanese cities including Hsinchu, Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung could soon be expected to undergo water rationing. Kaohsiung is Taiwan's third-largest city with a population of nearly 3 million people.

The water shortage has forced the country to prioritize producers of semiconductors. Bloomberg reported last month Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC, and Micron Technology Inc., would not be affected by the water restrictions. Both companies have plants in Taichung in central Taiwan.

The red alert on the water supply was issued for the first time in six years in March.

Taiwanese Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua said last month Taiwan has enough water to keep tech firms running until late May. Seasonal rains are expected to pick up around that time, Wang said, according to Bloomberg.

RELATED GM temporarily shutters Missouri plant amid semiconductor chip shortage

TSMC needs 156,000 tons of water daily, Nikkei Asia reported last month. Earlier this year the company was not ruling out truck deliveries of water for manufacturing.

Water quality "is extremely critical to chip production lines and the processes," TSMC said last month, according to Nikkei Asia.

"It could affect product performance, so that needs to be handled very carefully. ... So far, the situation is manageable, but if it does not rain properly and continues like this until the end of May, that would be a real big problem."

USA
Lawsuits seek to stop mining, construction on sacred sites


Arizona's Ga'an Canyon in Oak Flat, also known as Chi'chil Bildagoteel, is 65 miles east of Phoenix. Apache tribal members and their allies are fighting to stop the construction of a copper mine there. Photo by Russ McSpadden/Center for Biological Diversity

LONG READ

April 6 (UPI) -- Two disputes over sites that are sacred to Native Americans are on the docket at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

A group of Apache tribal members and their allies are fighting to stop the construction of a copper mine on a place in Arizona where Indigenous people have worshiped for centuries.

For members of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and the Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde, it's too late to save an altar and burial grounds near Mount Hood in Oregon -- the site was bulldozed to widen a highway. But they want remediation of the site, a declaration that their religious rights were violated and a promise that they will be consulted before the federal government does more construction.

In both cases, the tribes allege their rights under the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act were violated. The act bars the government from substantially burdening a person's exercise of religion except in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest -- and only if an action is the least restrictive means of furthering that interest.

The government denies imposing a substantial burden on the tribes and says they were not forced to violate their religious beliefs.

University of Notre Dame law professor Stephanie Barclay, who represented the tribes in the Oregon case, said courts sometimes do not see the religious exercise and sites of Indigenous people as equally important as those of Christian churches.

As part of their traditions and spiritual beliefs, a lot of tribal people want to leave their sites pristine, said Barclay, director of Notre Dame's Religious Liberty Initiative, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the Apaches.

To some, a site might look like landscape that is nothing special, she said.

"That's a problem when we're unwilling to recognize the importance of religious beliefs of someone else just because they look different from our own," Barclay said.

Pausing for review

The transfer of the Arizona land to Resolution Copper Mining that was slated for March has been delayed, but opponents face a tough fight to save the holy site. The land, which is about 65 miles east of Phoenix, is called Oak Flat and also known as Chi'chil Biłdagoteel.

The U.S. Forest Service has withdrawn a final environmental impact statement that describes the potential effects of Resolution Copper's planned operations on 2,422 acres of the Tonto National Forest that are to be swapped for 5,459 acres of conservation lands. The agency's publication of the statement on Jan. 15 meant the trade had to go forward no later than 60 days after that date, and March 11 was set as the time for the swap.

But the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced March 1 that it had directed the Forest Service to rescind the FEIS so the agency could review "significant input received from collaborators, partners and the public" since the publication of the six-volume statement. The USDA estimates the consultation could take several months.

Wendsler Nosie Sr., former San Carlos Apache tribal chairman and a leader in Apache Stronghold -- a nonprofit organization of Apaches, other Native Americans and their supporters -- called the move "a temporary strategic retreat."

"They still intend to try and give away our sacred land," Nosie said in a statement.

The Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act, which was passed by Congress and signed into law in December 2014 by President Barack Obama, directed the U.S. Forest Service to convey title to the Arizona acreage, including Oak Flat.

Resolution Copper, a joint venture by British-Australian corporations Rio Tinto and BHP, says it has spent more than $2 billion to develop the project. Dan Blondeau, a spokesman for Resolution Copper, which is not a defendant in the suit, said the company is evaluating the decision to rescind the FEIS.

"In the meantime, we will continue to engage in the process determined by the U.S. government and are committed to ongoing consultation with local communities and Native American tribes," Blondeau told UPI in an email.

Court battles

Apache Stronghold filed suit against the government on Jan. 12 in U.S. District Court in Phoenix asking for a permanent injunction prohibiting the land transfer and any mining that would destroy Oak Flat.

The organization also asked for a preliminary injunction stopping the Forest Service from proceeding with the swap while its suit is pending. That request was denied. Apache Stronghold appealed the denial to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The organization also filed an emergency motion asking to stop the land transfer until there is a ruling on the appeal.

"The arguments that the government is making in this case, if accepted by the court, would set a precedent for the destruction of any sacred site on any federal land," said Luke Goodrich, senior counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents Apache Stronghold.

Soon after the appeal was filed, the government withdrew the FEIS, and the appeals court ruled 2-1 four days later to deny the emergency motion as premature.

The dissenter, Judge Patrick Bumatay, said Apache Stronghold has shown it has a strong likelihood of winning the suit, and the group is entitled to a pause on the transfer.

Bumatay wrote that "the government's 11th-hour promises of delay and consultation with the Western Apaches are not enough to allay the threat of irreparable harm."

"Resolution Copper's mining activities won't just temporarily exclude the Western Apaches from Oak Flat, or merely interrupt the worship conducted there," the dissent says. "Instead, Resolution Copper will turn Oak Flat into a crater approximately 2 miles across and 1,100 feet deep."

The request to overturn the denial of the preliminary injunction request at the district court is pending at the 9th Circuit.

Two other suits fighting the land transfer, one filed by the San Carlos Tribe and the other by environmentalists, are pending.

'Place of Big Big Trees'

Tribal chiefs say they alerted government officials to the importance of the burial grounds at Ana Kwna Nchi nchi Patat, or the "Place of Big Big Trees," but the site was bulldozed in 2008. The project left the other side of the highway untouched and protected nearby wetlands and a tattoo parlor, the suit says.

Barclay said the government could have used construction techniques that would have been more protective of the site, such as putting up a retaining wall.

"Instead, the government widened the highway in the most destructive way possible, cutting down oak grove trees that the Indigenous people testified were like the wall of a church to them," Barclay said.

In 2008, hereditary chiefs Wilbur Slockish and Johnny Jackson; tribal elder Carol Logan; the Cascade Geographic Society; and the Mount Hood Sacred Lands Preservation Alliance sued the government in U.S. District Court in Portland, which led to two and a half years of negotiations that ultimately failed.

The suit stalled and then in 2015, tribal members returned to court seeking remedies for the bulldozing and a declaration that their religious rights had been violated.

"All we want is the return of our sacred artifacts, the rededication of the area for our ancestors, and the promise that we can continue to worship as our tribes have done for centuries," Logan said.

A magistrate juge -- citing an earlier 9th Circuit decision that said "a government action that decreases the spirituality, the fervor, or the satisfaction with which a believer practices his religion is not what Congress has labeled a 'substantial burden,'" -- recommended that the lawsuit be dismissed.

A district judge accepted the recommendation and closed the case in February. Tribal members have appealed to the 9th Circuit to reverse the decision.

Crustal mineralogy drives microbe diversity beneath Earth's surface


Researchers -- pictured from left to right, Lily Momper, Brittany Kruger and Caitlin Casar -- pose next to a borehole in an abandoned mine in South Dakota where they cultivated microbial biofilms. Photo by Matt Kapust

April 8 (UPI) -- Deep beneath the surface of the earth, microbes proliferate without sunlight and oxygen -- eating and breathing minerals, these microbes colonize the rocks that buoy the planet's continents.

For obvious reason, scientists don't know a lot about these microbes, but researchers estimate they account for anywhere between 20 and 80 percent of Earth's bacterial and archaeal biomass.

Now, thanks a first-of-its-kind study conducted in an abandoned mine shaft, scientists have a better idea of how these hidden microbial communities are distributed beneath the planet's surface.

The new research, published Friday in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, showed the mineralogical makeup of Earth's deep-lying rocks drives hotspots for subsurface life.

RELATED Unexpected life found at bottom of High Arctic lakes

For the study, scientists cultivated microbial biofilms on rocks located a mile under Earth's surface inside South Dakota's Deep Mine Microbial Observatory, part of a former gold mine now known as the Sanford Underground Research Facility.

Using microscopy, spectroscopy and spatial modeling, scientists tracked and analyzed the growth of the experimental biofilms. The results showed the biofilms were thickest on rocks with iron-rich mineral grains.

"Our results demonstrate the strong spatial dependence of biofilm colonization on minerals in rock surfaces," study first author Caitlin Casar said in a press release.

RELATED Study: Mars has four bodies of water underneath surface

"We think that this spatial dependence is due to microbes getting their energy from the minerals they colonize," said Casar, earth scientist and doctoral candidate at Northwestern University.

The study's authors' hypothesized that mineral composition drives the distribution and diversity of microbial communities deep underground, and the latest findings confirmed as much.

The findings should help scientists predict the locations of subsurface microbial hotspots, as well as better understand other subsurface phenomena.

RELATED Crustal forces, not weathering and erosion, control the height of mountains

"Our findings could inform the contribution of biofilms to global nutrient cycles, and also have astrobiological implications as these findings provide insight into biomass distributions in a Mars analog system," said Casar.

Japan's fisheries challenge Fukushima wastewater plan


Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said contaminated water at the Fukushima No. 1 plant needs attention. Tokyo plans to dispose the water into the ocean. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo

April 7 (UPI) -- Japanese fisheries representatives say they oppose a government decision to release Fukushima wastewater into the ocean, as Tokyo is expected to soon deliver an ultimatum on the disposal of radioactive water.

Hiroshi Kishi, the head of JF Zengyoren, a national federation of fisheries cooperatives, said he remains "absolutely against" a potential government move to dispose the treated water into the sea, Jiji Press and the Nikkei reported Wednesda
"There has been no change in our position of 'absolute opposition'" to the idea, Kishi said, according to reports.y.

Japan initially planned to dispose of the contaminated water in November, but suspended the decision. The South Korean government also has voiced concerns about the policy, citing environmental pollution and concerns about hazardous waste.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has endorsed Tokyo's plan of disposal. According to Kyodo News, the IAEA had said throwing out the water meets global standards of practice in the nuclear industry.

Japan's fisheries are concerned about how the disposal could affect their bottom line. Despite assurances of safety, the industry is worried customers will stop buying their catch.

"It is 

"I want the government to clarify how it intends to respond to such reputational damage."

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga met with Kishi on Wednesday. Suga has not made a final decision, Kishi said.

On Tuesday, Suga appeared on a late-night television program to address the issue of the contaminated water in Fukushima, Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

Suga said the water cannot "always be left unattended" and must be disposed of soon.

Water contaminated with radioactive matter continues to be produced at the Fukushima No. 1 plant at a daily rate of about 140 tons, according to the Asahi Shimbun.

Survey finds 82% of dead eagles with rat poison in their systems



New research suggests rat poison exposure is common among North America's eagle populations. Photo by skeeze/Pixabay


April 7 (UPI) -- Scientists found rat poison in the systems of 82% of the few hundred dead eagles examined for a multiyear survey between 2014 and 2018.

The survey results, published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One, are a reminder of the lurking threats that face even the most well-protected animals.

"Generally, bald eagle populations have been thriving in the United States. This is great news and a conservation success story," corresponding author Mark Ruder told UPI in an email.

"However, as wildlife health researchers, we are always concerned about the health of wildlife, including eagles. We live in a changing world and the human population puts a lot of pressure on our natural resources," said Ruder, an assistant professor at the University of Georgia's College of Veterinary Medicine.

RELATED Brain disease killing bald eagles traced to unknown cyanobacterium

For the survey -- officially, the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study -- scientists collected and analyzed the diagnostics records of more than 300 deceased eagles.

Researchers also analyzed toxicology reports for liver samples collected from 116 bald eagles and 17 golden eagles.

The data showed an overwhelming majority of surveyed eagles had rat poison in their systems. Scientists blamed rat poison exposure, or anticoagulant rodenticide toxicosis, for the deaths of 12 eagles, or 4% of the examined eagles.

RELATED Wildlife biodiversity is a boon to human health, seafood nutrition

As previous studies have shown, population declines are rarely traceable to a single cause, which is why scientists are keen to keep close tabs on the many ways human pressures are affecting wildlife health.

"Many wildlife populations face tremendous obstacles now, or in the future, which are unrelated to disease, such as habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation," Ruder said. "Being proactive to identify additional disease threats to populations may help to get in front of a problem and minimize negative impacts in the future."

Although eagles have made a tremendous comeback across North America over the last half-century, local threats remain.

RELATED Blue-green algae blooms can release harmful toxins into the air

In Wisconsin, scientists have discovered a deadly virus spreading among eagles.

Researchers have been tracking a deadly brain disorder caused by blue-green algae that is decimating eagle populations in pockets of the American South.

Now, the latest findings suggest rat poison exposure is common among eagles across the country.

RELATED Scientists map Earth's undiscovered biodiversity

"People in many suburban/urban, commercial and agricultural settings use various anticoagulant rodenticide compounds to control rodent populations," Ruder said.

"This may range from controlling mice and rats inside and around structures in urban settings to controlling prairie dog populations in the Western United States. The applications are quite variable, but wherever these compounds are used, there is potential for non-target wildlife exposure and intoxication. This is not isolated to eagles, it is well-documented in a variety of raptor species and also occurs in mammals," Ruder said.

In followup studies, researchers plan to investigate possible exposure pathways, as well as develop new mitigation strategies.

They said they also hope to investigate the sublethal effects of rat poison exposure on the health of eagles and other animals.

"Even when a particular wildlife species appears to be thriving, it is important to define causes of mortality," Ruder said. "These animals live in a changing world, one that is significantly impacted by humans."

"Causes of mortality, such as pathogens and toxicants, can often be additive and we need to be proactive in identifying potential threats to wildlife now and looking in the future," Ruder said.


upi.com/7087959

British army readies solar farm to reduce emissions


Construction of a 430,000 square-foot array of solar panels is underway at an army base in Leconfield, England, the British Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday. Photo courtesy of British Ministry of Defense

April 7 (UPI) -- The British army announced its construction on Wednesday of a photovoltaic solar farm to supply its Leconfield, England, transport school with electricity.

With 4,248 solar panels to be arrayed on a field, it was described in a Twitter statement on Wednesday as "the first of four photovoltaic solar far

The solar farm is part of the British Army's "Project Prometheus," with a goal of attaining net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and is expected to result in an emissions reduction of 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide -- as well as a $1.37 million efficiency savings, per year.

The project at Leconfield's Defense School of Transport is one of four planned sites, which are expected to provide one-third of the needed electrical power for each site.

Leconfield, in Yorkshire; the Duke of Gloucester Barracks in South Cerney, Gloucestershire; the Rock Barracks in Suffolk and Baker Barracks on Thorney Island, Sussex, are scheduled to go on line by the summer of 2021.

Another 80 solar farms across the country are planned by the British army in the next seven years.

"The Army remains wholly committed to play its part in meeting the UK's commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050," British army sustainability chief Maj. Gen. David Southall said in a press release.

"To deliver this, we are working hard to reduce energy demand as well as increase 'green' supply across our estate," Southall said.

 

Virginia General Assembly votes to legalize adult marijuana possession

April 7 (UPI) -- Virginia's General Assembly on Wednesday granted final approval to a bill to legalize simple possession of marijuana for adults and limited home growth beginning this summer.

The bill allows adults 21 and older in the state to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and grow up to four marijuana plants per household beginning July 1, making Virginia the first southern state to legalize recreational marijuana

The state House approved the measure by a 53-44 vote, while Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax was forced to break a 20-20 tie in the Senate, voting in favor of the legislation as part of a one-day session to tie up consideration of Gov. Ralph Northam's budget and bill amendments.

Northam proposed moving the deadline to legalize marijuana possession up three years from its original date of 2024, when the state is set to begin permitting recreational marijuana sales.

RELATED Study dispels 'lazy stoner' myth: Pot users don't exercise any less

Under the bill, Virginians will still be prohibited from smoking in public or in a vehicle and penalties for youth use and possession on school property will remain in place.

Plants grown at households must also be labeled, kept out of public view and outside the range of anyone under 21 years old.

"I think providing a safe, legal means for folks to produce while we set up the regulatory framework is important," Democratic Sen. Jeremy McPike said.

RELATED New York legalizes adult-use marijuana sales

Northam's amendments also call for the automatic expungement of past misdemeanor marijuana convictions to begin as soon as possible.

"This is because there is a straightforward injustice to punishing people for something we've already agreed should be legal, especially when we know that the punishments are given out inequitably," said House Democratic leader Charniele L. Herring.

The proposal also requests immediate funding for a public health campaign on the risks of cannabis use and police training to identify drivers under the influence of marijuana.

RELATED New Jersey legalizes recreational marijuana use, regulates sales

Some Republicans said the early date for legalizing possession does not give law enforcement enough time to prepare.

"There is a right way and a wrong way to do this. We are doing this the wrong way by trying to rush another bill with more than 50,000 substantial changes," Republican Sen. Bryce Reeves said.

Republicans also opposed an amendment that would permit the Cannabis Control Authority to revoke a company's license if they interfere with union organizing efforts, don't pay a prevailing wage under federal law or classify more than 10% of employees as independent contractors.

"The business community in my region and across the state of Virginia are very upset," GOP Sen. Bill DeSteph said. "They see this as a back door way to appease labor union

Continued warming to put one-third of Antarctic ice shelves at risk of collapse



A long crack is seen across the Larsen C Ice Shelf, as seen by the Operational Land Imager on the NASA/USGS Landsat 8 spacecraft in 2017, is one of the largest remaining shelves in Antarctica -- but researchers are worried about the threat that warmer temperatures pose to its health. File Photo by NASA/UPI | License Photo

April 7 (UPI) -- If global temperatures reach 4 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, more than a third of Antarctic's ice shelves will be at risk of collapse, according to new models detailed Thursday in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Modeling the potential collapse of Antarctica's ice shelf is key to forecasting global sea level rise, said climate scientists at Britain's University of Reading.

The new simulations showed, specifically, that more than two-thirds of the ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula would be at risk of collapse under a severe warming scenario.

Conversely, if warming is limited to 2 degrees, simulations suggest the risk of collapse along Antartica's coast can be halved and accelerated sea level rise can be avoided.

RELATED Two new icebergs break off from giant iceberg A68a

Should the continent's ice shelves collapse, Antarctica's interior ice sheet would become increasingly exposed to warm air and water, further accelerating melt rates and sea level rise.

While the collapse of a third of Antarctica's ice shelves sounds dramatic, paleoclimate data suggests ancient warming events have previously triggered the rapid loss of ice shelves, ice sheets and glaciers.

Currently, Antarctica's ice shelves serve as a protective buffer, insulating interior glaciers from warm water currents and rising atmospheric temperatures.

RELATED Western half of Antarctica warming faster than eastern half, new study shows why

The ice shelves also work like a dam, counteracting gravity's influence on southern continent's interior ice.

Even without continued warming, destabilization of Antarctica's ice shelf would guarantee accelerated melt rates and sea level rise for a century or more.

"We know that when melted ice accumulates on the surface of ice shelves, it can make them fracture and collapse spectacularly," study lead author Ella Gilbert, climate scientist at the University of Reading in Britain, said in a press release.

RELATED Antarctic ice sheets can retreat as fast 165 feet per day

"Previous research has given us the bigger picture in terms of predicting Antarctic ice shelf decline, but our new study uses the latest modeling techniques to fill in the finer detail and provide more precise projections," said Gilbert, a climate scientist at the University of Reading.

"The findings highlight the importance of limiting global temperature increases as set out in the Paris Agreement if we are to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, including sea level rise," Gilbert said.

Gilbert developed the new models to isolate the effects of warming trends on the fracturing process inside Antarctica's ice shelf. The simulations considered three global warming scenarios: warming of 1.5, 2 and 4 degrees Celsius.

RELATED Scientists calculate sea level rise if Antarctic ice shelves collapse

Every year, meltwater runoff cleaves holes and crevices in the large expanses of ice that stretch into the Southern Ocean. New snow and refrozen meltwater often fills theses gaps, but when meltwater rates outpace new snow, these gaps can grow larger and larger.

Eventually, these widening crevices can cause parts of the ice shelf to collapse.

In 2017, this process caused a massive iceberg to cleave into the ocean from Antarctica's Larsen C ice shelf, leaving the shelf vulnerable to further breakdown.

In 2002, Larsen C's neighbor, the Larsen B ice shelf, disintegrated in the wake of a similarly dramatic breakaway.

The newest simulations showed that the Larsen C, Shackleton, Pine Island and Wilkins ice shelves are most at risk of collapse under accelerated warming scenarios.

"If temperatures continue to rise at current rates, we may lose more Antarctic ice shelves in the coming decades," Gilbert said. "Limiting warming will not just be good for Antarctica -- preserving ice shelves means less global sea level rise, and that's good for us all."

Scientists measure ocean currents underneath 'Doomsday Glacier'


The calving front of Thwaites Ice Shelf, with a view of the ice below the water's surface, as seen from the NASA DC-8 in 2012. Photo by James Yungel/NASA/Flickr

April 9 (UPI) -- For the first time, climate scientists have measured ocean conditions beneath Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier, sometimes called the "Doomsday Glacier."

The fresh observations, published Friday in the journal Science Advances, show Thwaites is exposed to larger amounts of warm water than previously estimated.

Thwaites is thought to be one of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet's most vulnerable glaciers, its location and structure making it especially susceptible to influxes of warm, salty water.

In recent years, scientists have watched its grounding line recede and its height shrink as melting rates accelerate.

RELATED Map reveals land beneath Antarctic ice sheet in unprecedented detail

To better understand the vulnerabilities of the glacier's underbelly, scientists sent a remote-controlled submersible named Ran beneath the ice shelf to investigate.

"This was Ran's first venture to polar regions and her exploration of the waters under the ice shelf was much more successful than we had dared to hope," study co-author Karen Heywood said in a news release.

"We plan to build on these exciting findings with further missions under the ice next year," said Heywood, a professor of physical oceanography at the University of East Anglia.

RELATED Calving to leave Thwaites Glacier increasingly vulnerable to collapse

Ran measured current speeds, as well as water temperature, salinity and oxygenation, at a variety of depths beneath Thwaites.

The data helped scientists mapped the movement of underwater currents in the region, revealing a large volume of deep water flowing toward the Antarctic coast from Pine Island Bay -- a pathway scientists previously thought was blocked by a ridge.

The discovery suggests Thwaites is vulnerable to a larger supply of warm water than previously estimated.

RELATED Antarctic ice instability could yield rapid melting, dramatic sea level rise

"The channels for warm water to access and attack Thwaites weren't known to us before the research," said co-author Alastair Graham, climate scientist at the University of South Florida.

"Using sonars on the ship, nested with very high-resolution ocean mapping from Ran, we were able to find that there are distinct paths that water takes in and out of the ice shelf cavity, influenced by the geometry of the ocean floor," Graham said.

Thwaites is one of several coastal glaciers slowing the descent of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet into the Southern Ocean.

Currently, the ice sheet is responsible for just 10 percent of global sea level rise, but that number would surely increase -- and rapidly -- if Thwaites or one of its neighbors collapse.

The underwater data collected by Ran also revealed a diverse array of meltwater flows surrounding the pinning points, the areas where the bottom of the glacier anchors on the seabed -- areas critical to the ice shelf's overall stability.

"This work highlights that how and where warm water impacts Thwaites Glacier is influenced by the shape of the sea floor and the ice-shelf base as well as the properties of the water itself," said co-author Rob Larter of the British Antarctic Survey.

"The successful integration of new sea-floor survey data and observations of water properties from the Ran missions shows the benefits of the multidisciplinary ethos within the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration," Larter said.

The future of Antartica's ice sheets, and their influence on global sea level rise remains one of climate science's largest uncertainties, but the study's authors suggest the latest data will help them develop more accurate forecasting models.