ONTARIO

Front-line workers say that 3 paid sick days is not enough to protect them from contracting or spreading COVID-19

Duration: 02:23

WATCH: Kingston area MPP, the president of Kingston's hospital workers, and the president of the Ontario Nurses' Association call on the Ford government to do more to protect workers. They say that 3 paid sick days does not offer the protection needed when dealing with COVID-19 or any of its variants

SUDBURY

Laurentian created a 'manufactured crisis' to cut ties with 3 schools for $10M loan, court told

CBC/Radio-Canada 
29/4/2021

© Yvon Theriault/Radio-Canada Laurentian University has been going though unprecedented restructuring in the wake of declaring financial insolvency on Feb. 1. The Sudbury, Ont. school is currently under creditor protection, and was in Ontario…

Laurentian University's attempts to cut ties with three federated schools, as part of efforts to qualify for a $10-million loan to help it continue with restructuring for survival, was met with heated opposition in Ontario Superior Court on Thursday.

Laurentian lawyer D.J. Miller argued the Sudbury, Ont., university wouldn't' be sustainable without the loan, so needs to end contracts with Thorneloe University, the University of Sudbury and Huntington University, including to keep $7.7 million in grants and funding that would normally flow to those partners.

Miller also told Justice Geoffrey Morawetz that Laurentian severing its relationship with the three other universities is a requirement of getting approved for the loan from Firm Capital Mortgage Fund Inc.

Laurentian "cannot put forward a viable plan if it does not have the ability to stop the flow of money from Laurentian to the federated universities," she said.

The university needs the court's approval to move forward with restructuring. The hearing is the latest move in its ongoing attempts to operate while trying to gain financial stability as part of the insolvency process under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).

Earlier this month, the school started making deep cuts to staff and programs, prompting outcry from students, staff and supporters, and calls for governments to step in. The federated universities, in turn, launched court challenges after Laurentian announced cutting ties with them would be an important part of becoming financially viable again.

Schools say cost to cut ties overblown

Thorneloe and the University of Sudbury, however, say there's no cost to Laurentian to maintain ties with them, and ending the federated agreements would drive Thorneloe, at least, into its own financial crisis.

For its part, Huntington has reached an agreement to sell its online gerontology program to Laurentian and cease offering courses.

But during Thursday's court proceedings, it was revealed that if the other two universities win their court challenges, Huntington would also benefit and retain its federated status.

Andrew Hatnay, lawyer representing Thorneloe, accused Laurentian of just "plain mismanagement," saying it would only retain $1.8 million from ending its agreement with Thorneloe alone.

Hatnay argued Laurentian is exploiting the restructuring process, saying it simply wants to stop students from taking Thorneloe courses and direct them to Laurentian to lessen competition.

He said Laurentian's claim it needs a loan quickly, by the April 30 deadline, is a "manufactured crisis," and he accused Laurentian of deploying "tactics" to reach its financial goals.

Laurentian lawyer deflects competition idea

Miller said cutting personnel and programs were only part of the initial attempts to show how Laurentian would immediately reduce costs. She said the lending condition that the federated partners be severed was added April 19, after time was spent trying to negotiate a consensual agreement with them.

She dismissed the argument Laurentian simply wants to reduce competition.

"Evidence is clear, and the testimony of [Laurentian] president Robert Haché has been abundantly clear, that to suggest that Thorneloe and Laurentian are in competition is to suggest that a store that sells computers down the road is in competition with Dell," she said.

"This is not about eliminating the competition. There are three service providers here moving to one service provider which will provide service to all students."

Miller said Laurentian plans to use its own faculty and facilities, so isn't in need of support from the other schools.

If the federated universities win court challenges to stop the split, it would lead to Laurentian's demise, she said.

The University of Sudbury's case against Laurentian's separation plan is scheduled to be heard by another judge on Friday.

Laurentian wants to continue to be protected from creditors so it can apply for the $10 million, which would allow it to still operate while restructuring, and needs court approval for certain conditions to qualify for the loan — most importantly getting the OK to split with the three federated universities.

Miller said getting the $10-million loan would allow it to deal with creditors, and teach spring courses as well as six Indigenous studies courses.

As well, she said, Laurentian would be able to meet the terms it agreed on with Huntington University, including paying $1.2 million into a pension plan and Laurentian would acquire Huntington's gerontology program.

Lender has 'a lot of skin in the game'

Vern Da Re, representing Firm Capital Mortgage Fund in court, confirmed the lender's condition that Laurentian end its agreements with the federated universities to qualify for loan money on top of the $25 million it already lent to Laurentian.

"I don't think my client should be forced to advance $10 million — that would have a chilling effect on further loans," Da Re said.

He said his client simply wants to know his loan will be repaid, and emphasized these are all business decisions.

"We've got a lot of skin in the game."

Morawetz expressed frustration that he was being asked to make a critical decision within a short amount of time.

"Could this timing crisis not been averted with actions entirely within the power of the applicant?" the judge asked.

But Morawetz said he and the judge in the University of Sudbury hearing will deliver written decisions sometime before 11 p.m. ET on Sunday.

Classes for Laurentian's spring term start May 3.

WHY YOU NEED A UNION
As more retailers turn to tech, Macy's store employees score victory in challenging self-checkout in mobile app

Melissa Repko 

A union that represents Macy's employees scored a victory in challenging a self-checkout feature in the retailer's mobile app.

An independent arbitrator ruled last week that Macy's violated its bargaining agreement and said the company must find a way to credit employees for sales through the app or exclude departments, such as men's suits and cosmetics, that have commission-based pay.

The labor dispute spotlights the tension between technology and workers in the retail industry, especially as the pandemic drives more digital adoption and retailers race to adapt to consumer preferences.

© Provided by CNBC People wear facemasks as they walk through Herald Square on January 8, 2021 in New York City.

When Macy's rolled out a new self-checkout feature in its mobile app in 2018, the department store touted how customers could browse stores but skip the hassle of the checkout line. For some store associates, however, that set off alarm bells — and concerns that it would jeopardize their jobs or dock their pay.

Three years later, a union that represents Macy's employees has scored a victory in challenging the tech-based approach and how it cuts them out of commissions. An independent arbitrator ruled last week that Macy's violated its bargaining agreement and said the company must exclude departments, such as men's suits and cosmetics, that have commission-based pay from self-checkout.

The grievance was filed by about 600 employees at six stores in the Boston area and Rhode Island who are part of the United Food and Commercial Workers. UFCW represents 1.3 million workers, including over 11,000 Macy's workers in major cities including Seattle, San Francisco and New York City.

The labor dispute spotlights the tension between technology and workers in the retail industry. For years, retailers from department stores to major grocers have raced to keep up as online giant Amazon and direct-to-consumer e-commerce brands stole away market share.

Amazon has made technology a central feature as it expands its own brick-and-mortar footprint. At its convenience stores, called Amazon Go, it uses high-tech camera systems that automate checkout — speeding up payments for customers and eliminating the need for cashiers. It's thought to be bringing that technology to at least some of its Amazon Fresh full-sized grocery locations. And it is expanding a palm-scanning payment system to Whole Foods stores, too.

With the pandemic, the debate has come to the forefront again. Consumers have downloaded apps and adopted new modes of shopping such as curbside pickup to limit store trips and socially distance during the health crisis. Along the way, shoppers have learned to love the added convenience these services provide. That's added urgency for retailers to adapt their digital options, supply chain and workforce to keep up with consumer preferences.

For instance, contactless payments have gone mainstream, according to data from Mastercard. It found 41% of in-person transactions globally in the third quarter of 2020 were contactless, up from 37% in the second quarter, and 30% a year prior.
Remaining competitive

Santiago Gallino, a professor at the Wharton School who specializes in digital transformation, said retailers in particular are under pressure "to reinvent themselves and rethink the role of employees" or risk becoming extinct. The industry is littered with cautionary tales, from RadioShack to Toys R Us.

Macy's doesn't want to join that list. It has been battling a yearslong period of sales declines. Its sales fell for three consecutive years, from 2015 through 2017. Revenue dropped again in 2019. And the pandemic intensified its challenge, temporarily shuttering stores and causing annual sales to drop by about 28%.

In the arbitration, Macy's said it needed the technology "to remain competitive in an ever changing retail market."

While Macy's declined to comment on the arbitration's outcome, the ruling won't have an immediate effect for customers.

The company expanded self-checkout, called scan and pay, to all of its approximately 500 Macy's stores in 2018. Customers could scan bar codes on items with their phones and apply coupons or loyalty program discounts on their own, but had to get security tags taken off by an employee. The feature excluded some departments, such as big-ticket items like mattresses and fine jewelry.

Macy's took the feature offline for tech improvements in October and doesn't have a timeline on when it will bring it back, company spokeswoman Blair Rosenberg said. It would not be available in stores covered by the arbitration.

Macy's leaders have said, however, that it will direct its investments toward its digital business. At a virtual conference hosted by Goldman Sachs in September, Macy's interim Chief Financial Officer Felicia Williams said using technology — including self-checkout — to improve the customer experience is a priority.

As retailers adapt to stay relevant, Wharton's Gallino said leaders must strike a delicate balance: adding technology that customers want while stressing employees' importance, even if their job descriptions change.

"If the conversation is about cutting labor, cutting hours, the reaction of these sales associates is not a surprise," he said. "But if the retailer explains the transformation the industry is going through and how the associates add value in this environment, then I would hope both employees and management can get to a better place."

He said commissions have become trickier in a digital world, too. Historically, he said, retailers used the pay to incentivize employees' efforts on the sales floor, from fetching customers other sizes to recommending merchandise. The payoff came for the sales associate when he or she checked out a customer.

Increasingly, however, customers may come to a store to try on pairs of shoes, browse aisles or ask questions — only to buy the item later online. That can make the role of the employee in that sale harder to track even if they were instrumental in influencing that sale, he said.

"The link between the cause and the effect is not so clean," he said. "The moment when that link is broken, my sales rep may lose the incentive to be helpful and pay attention to a customers' needs."

As stores serve more as showrooms, he said, retailers must think of new ways to motivate strong customer service.

'Just the beginning'

As part of the ruling, Macy's must provide backpay that employees at those six stores would have made on about $2,000 in total sales made through scan and pay.

Fernando Lemus, who represents the workers who filed the grievance as president of UFCW 1445, said the self-checkout feature drove a small number of sales at the stores. Even so, he said, employees want to make sure that changing responsibilities don't amount to a pay cut.

"As technology continues to advance in this industry, we were concerned this was just the beginning," he said.

Over the past five years, he said, Macy's workers in his local union have declined by about 33% as the retailer reduces its workforce — and some who still work at stores have moved into jobs such as fulfilling online orders.

For Terri Barkett, who works at the Macy's store in Warwick, Rhode Island, the arbitrator's decision came as a relief. Unlike some of her colleagues, she said, her wages aren't based on commission. But she said she worried scan and pay could eventually lead to stores with few, if any, cashiers.

Barkett has worked for Macy's for 19 years. She said she takes pleasure in helping customers find the perfect birthday gift or outfits for special occasions — and often looks high and low for the right color, style or size. She said she believes human connection is one of retailers' strongest tools to deepen loyalty and drive higher sales.

Just this week, she said, she checked out a customer and noticed the Tommy Bahama logo on his shirt. She told him that brand was on sale and pointed to the display.

"He ran right over there. He got two more [shirts]," she said. "An app can't see that."

Amazon is spending big to take on UPS, USPS and FedEX

Annie Palmer 
CNBC 4/30/2021

Amazon is investing heavily in adding more warehouses and growing its fleet of airplanes, trucks and vans.

The company revealed Thursday in its first-quarter earnings that its capital expenditures grew a whopping 80% over the trailing 12 months.

The investments are part of Amazon's goal to manage its own deliveries and speed up the process, thereby relying less on third parties such as UPS and the U.S. Postal Service.

© Provided by CNBC Amazon driver Shawndu Stackhouse delivers packages in Northeast Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, April 6, 2021.

Amazon has long set its sights on being the fastest in the online delivery race. Its first-quarter earnings report on Thursday revealed just how much it's willing to spend to get there.

On an earnings call with investors, Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky said the company's capital expenditures, which include such things as logistics expansion and the costs of data centers, increased a whopping 80% over the trailing 12 months.

While the coronavirus pandemic pushed many businesses to slow spending, Amazon plowed profits back into physical expansion, growing its transportation and logistics presence across the country. Olsavsky said the company added more warehouses and grew its fleet of airplanes and linehaul trucks. Amazon also continues to grow its contracted delivery network, often distinguishable by blue Amazon-branded vans, to oversee more than 100,000 drivers.

All told, the company increased capacity of its in-house logistics operations, known as AMZL, by 50% year over year, Olsavsky said. Amazon expects to keep spending big in these areas throughout the remainder of 2021 and potentially into 2022.

Logistics expansion is critical for Amazon as it seeks to speed up deliveries and, in the future, make the business of delivering packages more cost effective. Olsavsky signaled that Amazon is making progress on that front, noting that "our cost right now is very competitive with our external options." It's unclear whether Amazon has closed that gap when it comes to rural areas, which significantly increase last-mile delivery costs compared with densely populated regions.

Amazon still relies on third-party providers such as UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service to handle a portion of deliveries. But the company has steadily grown its fleet of planes, trucks and vans to inch closer to its shipping partners. One estimate last August suggested Amazon now delivers roughly two-thirds of its own packages.

By operating its own fulfillment and logistics network, Amazon can continue to optimize the process of preparing and delivering packages to shoppers' doorsteps. In doing so, Amazon has already shifted from a two-day delivery model to one- and even same-day delivery.

"What we see which is very helpful is the ability to control the whole flow of products from the warehouse to the end customer," Olsavsky told investors on the call. "It's turned what normally was a batch process, where we would hand off a large batch of orders to a third party once a day, let's say, to a continuous flow process where we continually have orders leaving our warehouses five, six times a day, going through middle mile and then to final delivery, either through our AMZL drivers or [contracted delivery] partners."

Ultimately, these investments in fulfillment and logistics also strengthen Amazon's "flywheel effect."

Amazon's increasingly end-to-end control of a package's journey from warehouse to doorstep has meant that consumers "get more precise estimates of delivery" after they've placed an order, Olsavsky said. That makes things like Amazon's Prime subscription service, which recently crossed 200 million paying members, worth the expense for consumers.

As shoppers continue to flock to Amazon, it pushes more businesses to have a presence on the site and, if they're not already, buy ads and pay to tap into Amazon's warehouse footprint. Amazon makes money from selling third-party seller services, by taking a cut of each sale and collecting fees from sellers who use its warehouses. Revenue in that segment surged 64% during the quarter.

Colombian Paramilitaries Killed Another Farmer Leader


The sign reads, "Being a social leader is not a crime," Bogota, Colombia, April 29, 2021. | Photo: Twitter/ @InfoNodal

Published 30 April 20

1,173 social leaders have been murdered since the signing of the 2016 Peace Agreement.

Colombia's Institute of Studies for Development and Peace (INDEPAZ) on Thursday reported the murder of social leader Wilson Lopez by armed men in Aguadas municipality, Caldas Department.


RELATED:

Colombia Goes on Strike to Demand an End to Violence

"Lopez, who was renowned for promoting family farming campaigns in El Congal village, was shot to death while walking through the community on Wednesday afternoon," INDEPAZ stated.

The social leader encouraged the return to the community of dozens of people who were victims of forced displacement by paramilitary and guerrilla groups.

Sixteen years ago, El Congal was affected by armed groups that committed crimes and constantly threatened its inhabitants.

"Just a few days ago, the farmers returned to their territory. Today they are left without their struggle's leader," INDEPAZ stressed.

Fifty-seven social leaders have been killed so far this year. The number of leaders killed stands at 1,173 since the signing of the 2016 Peace Agreement.

On Wednesday, Colombians took to the streets to protest against the increasing violence in their country and the systematic assassinations of social leaders.

Six Catholics Kidnapped in Haiti Are Released



Catholics praying for the release of the hostages, Haiti, April, 2021. | Photo: Twitter/ @vaticannews_fr

TELESUR
Published 30 April 2021

"A relief for the whole society, for all those who love life, and for all those who defend life," said Archbishop of Port-au-Prince Max Leroy Mesidor.

The Society of Saint-Jacques Fathers announced that four priests, a nun, and a layman kidnapped in Haiti were released on Friday.

RELATED:

Haitians Block Streets to Protest Kidnappings

Among them are two French citizens, nun Agnes Bordeau and priest Michel Briand, who has lived in Haiti for three decades.

"It's a relief for the whole Church. A relief for the whole society, for all those who love life and for all those who defend life," said Archbishop of Port-au-Prince Max Leroy Mesidor.

The Saint-Jacques Fathers also thanked the Haitian authorities and the ambassadors of France and the United States for their efforts.

The meme reads, "Relief at the release announcement of Agnes Bordeau and Michel Briand, who were kidnapped 19 days ago in Haiti. All my support for the Island's inhabitants who have to live in this insecure environment."

On April 11, ten people were kidnapped by the “400 Mawozo”, a criminal group operating in Croix-des-Bouquets, on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. A few days later, on April 15, this criminal act precipitated the resignation of Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe.

Subsequently, the Haitian Catholic Church held several days of protest and closed its churches, schools, and universities to demand the release of the hostages.

A week ago, the 400 Mawozo began to free some hostages, among whom was the mother of priest Jean Anel Joseph and three other religious.

One Billion-Year-Old Fossil Could Be The Oldest Multicellular Animal

David Bressan
Contributor

 F0RBES

30/04/2021

Science
I deal with the rocky road to our modern understanding of earth


Bicellum brasieri n. g. n. sp. holotype specimen showing differentiated cell layers, a unique ... [+] STROTHER ET AL. 2021

A team of scientists, led by the University of Sheffield in the UK and Boston College in the U.S., has found a microfossil in the Scottish Highlands which contains two distinct cell types and could be the earliest multicellular animal ever recorded. The discovery sheds light on how and when solo cells began to cooperate with other cells to make a single, cohesive life-form.

The fossil was found at Loch Torridon in the Northwest Scottish Highlands in sediments deposited in a lake. Scientists were able to study the fossil due to its exceptional preservation, allowing them to analyze it at a cellular and subcellular level.

Dated to around a billion years ago, the microfossil shows evidence of two distinctly different types of cells, providing a link in the evolution between single-celled organisms and holozoans with cell differentiation and complex life-cycles. Holozoans are life-forms with complex multicellular tissues and include all modern animals. The fossil organism is still very simple, resembling a blob of cells with a diameter of just 5 to 20μm.

The fossil has been described and formally named Bicellum brasieri in a new research paper published in Current Biology. The name refers to the two cell types in the organism and the late Martin Brasier, a British paleontologist who dedicated his life to the study of Precambrian life-forms and who unfortunately was killed in a car crash in 2014.

Based on modern genetic research, biologists hypothesized that the first multicellular organisms evolved from single-celled organisms in the Precambrian about three to one billion years ago. The previously oldest fossils of multicellular organisms dated to about 600 million years ago and were found in marine sediments from the Doushantuo Formation in central Guizhou Province of South China. 

"The discovery of this new fossil suggests to us that the evolution of multicellular animals had occurred at least one billion years ago and that early events prior to the evolution of animals may have occurred in freshwater like lakes rather than the ocean," Professor Charles Wellman, one of the lead investigators of the research, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, said.

Wellman continues: "The origins of complex multicellularity and the origin of animals are considered two of the most important events in the history of life on Earth, our discovery sheds new light on both of these. We have found a primitive spherical organism made up of an arrangement of two distinct cell types, the first step towards a complex multicellular structure, something which has never been described before in the fossil record." To work together, individual cells must form contact surfaces with neighboring cells. The fossil shows such Y-shaped junctions, suggesting the cells communicated together exchanging chemicals.

Professor Paul Strother, lead investigator of the research from Boston College, said: "Biologists have speculated that the origin of animals included the incorporation and repurposing of prior genes that had evolved earlier in unicellular organisms. What we see in Bicellum is an example of such a genetic system, involving cell-cell adhesion and cell differentiation that may have been incorporated into the animal genome half a billion years later."

The team hope to now examine the Torridonian deposits for more interesting fossils which could provide more insight into the evolution of multicellular organisms.

David Bressan
I'm a freelance geologist working mostly in the Eastern Alps. I graduated in 2007 with a project studying how permafrost, that´s frozen soil, is reacting to the more visible recent changes of the alpine environment. Studying therefore old maps, photographs and reports, I became interested in the history of geology and how early geologists figured out how earth works, blogging about it in my spare time. Living in one of the classic areas of early geological research, I combine field trips with the historic maps, figures and research done there. But geology is more than a historic or local science, as geological forces shaped and still influence history worldwide.

Thousands of barrels of suspected toxic DDT found dumped in California ocean

Extent of possible toxic waste site near Catalina Island ‘staggering’, says chief scientist on sea survey

01:03Scientists find huge suspected toxic dumpsite off California coast – video

Associated Press
Tue 27 Apr 2021 10.44 BS

Marine scientists say they have found what they believe to be as many as 25,000 barrels possibly containing DDT dumped off the southern California coast near Catalina Island, where a massive underwater toxic waste site dating back to the second world war has long been suspected.

The 27,345 “barrel-like’” images were captured by researchers at the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. They mapped more than 36,000 acres of seafloor between Santa Catalina Island and the Los Angeles coast in a region previously found to contain high levels of the toxic chemical in sediments and in the ecosystem.

Historical shipping logs show that industrial companies in southern California used the basin as a dumping ground until 1972, when the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act, also known as the Ocean Dumping Act, was enacted.
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Resting deep in the ocean, the exact location and extent of the dumping was not known until now.

The territory covered was “staggering”, said Eric Terrill, chief scientist of the expedition and director of the Marine Physical Laboratory at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Underwater drones using sonar technology captured high-resolution images of barrels resting 900 metres (3,000ft) below the surface all along the steep seafloor that was surveyed. They also were seen beyond the dumpsite limits.

“It really was a surprise to everybody who’s worked with the data and who sailed at sea,” he told reporters on Monday.

The survey provides “a wide-area map” of the barrels, though it would be up to others to confirm through sediment sampling that the containers held DDT, Terrill said. It is estimated between 320 and 640 tonnes of DDT were dumped in the area, 12 miles from Los Angeles, and 8 miles from Catalina Island.

The long-term impact on marine life and humans was still unknown, said Scripps chemical oceanographer and professor of geosciences Lihini Aluwihare, who in 2015 co-authored a study that found high amounts of DDT and other man-made chemicals in the blubber of bottlenose dolphins that died of natural causes.

“These results also raise questions about the continued exposure and potential impacts on marine mammal health, especially in light of how DDT has been shown to have multi-generational impacts in humans,” said Aluwihare, who was not part of the survey expedition.

Diana Aga, a chemistry professor at University at Buffalo who is not affiliated with the study, said the findings were shocking if the barrels were proven to contain the toxic chemical. “That’s a lot of DDT at the bottom of the ocean,” she said.

If the barrels had not leaked, they could be moved to a place where disposal was safer, Aga said. If they leaked, scientists could take samples from the water, sediment and other marine life to gauge the damage.

Researchers on the research vessel Sally Ride deploy an autonomous underwater vehicle near Santa Catalina Island. Photograph: AP

Scientists conducted the survey from 10-24 March following a Los Angeles Times report last year about evidence that DDT was dumped into the ocean.


Regulators missing pollution’s effect on marine life, study finds

Terrill said: “Unfortunately, the basin offshore Los Angeles had been a dumping ground for industrial waste for several decades, beginning in the 1930s. We found an extensive debris field in the wide area survey.”

Scientists started the search where University of California Santa Barbara professor David Valentine had discovered concentrated accumulations of DDT in the sediments and spotted 60 barrels about a decade ago.

High levels of DDT have been detected in the area’s marine mammals, and the chemical has been linked to cancer in sea lions.

Scripps researchers say they hope their survey will support clean-up efforts. The expedition on the Sally Ride research vessel included a team of 31 scientists, engineers, and crew conducting 24-hour operations and two autonomous underwater vehicles.

25,000 barrels of toxic DDT found dumped in ocean off California

The insecticide is listed as a possible carcinogen.

By Alexandra Kelley | April 27, 2021

Story at a glance

• New research identified more than 27,000 possible barrels of DDT in ocean sediment.
• DDT was widely used as an insecticide up until the 1970s.
• Large-scale industrial dumping took place in ocean waters.

New research from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California identified a potential dump site for the chemical dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT).

Mapping more than 36,000 acres of seafloor between Santa Catalina Island and the Los Angeles coast, scientists found more than 27,000 individual targets that likely had an excess of 100,000 debris objects on the seafloor.

This area was previously known to have abnormally high levels of DDT in its sediments. DDT was commonly used as a pesticide up until regulatory agencies began restricting its use in the 1970s. 

Scientific literature suggests that long-term exposure to DDT can possibly result in cancer. Other effects include vomiting, tremors and shakiness, and seizures. 

Still, build up from decades of industrial dumping linger, harming the surrounding flora and fauna. New research from Scripps confirms the presence of harmful chemical compounds at the bottom of the sea. 

"Unfortunately, the basin offshore Los Angeles had been a dumping ground for industrial waste for several decades, beginning in the 1930s. We found an extensive debris field in the wide area survey," said Eric Terrill, chief scientist of the expedition and director of the Marine Physical Laboratory at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. "Now that we've mapped this area at very high resolution, we are hopeful the data will inform the development of strategies to address potential impacts from the dumping."

The targets identified on the seafloor that are likely barrels of DDT gave off stronger levels of brightness when surveyed with Scripps's underwater technology. 

Patterns began to emerge while researchers scanned for DDT-laced sludge, which offer clues as to how the chemicals were dumped offshore.

"There are several distinct track-line patterns in the surveyed area, suggesting that the dumping was repeatedly done from an underway platform such as a moving ship or barge. Some of those lines are as long as 11 miles and approach state waters," Terrill said. 

Newly tracked barrels extend further than researchers previously expected.

The identification of continued large volumes of DDT sediments prompts new questions.

"How this vast quantity of DDT in sediments has been transformed by seafloor communities over time, and the pathways by which DDT and its degraded products enter the water column food web are questions that remain to be explored," added Scripps chemical oceanographer and professor of geosciences Lihini Aluwihare. 

USA 

HANFORD LEAKS

Underground tank leaking radioactive chemical waste

Tori B. Powell CBS NEWS

30/04/2021


An underground radioactive chemical storage tank in southeast Washington state is leaking gallons of nuclear waste, the Washington State Department of Ecology, which is overseeing the site's cleanup, reported Thursday.

 Courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Hanford's B Tank Farm, in April 2021

The 75-year-old tank B-109 at Hanford Nuclear Reservation is estimated to be leaking 3.5 gallons of waste a day into the ground, which equates to nearly 1,300 gallons per year.

"This highlights the critical need for resources to address Hanford's aging tanks, which will continue to fail and leak over time," Washington DOE Director Laura Watson said in a statement.

B-109 holds 123,000 gallons of waste and is reportedly leaking into an area where an estimated 200,000 gallons have already leaked from other tanks at the site. Since March of 2019, an estimated 1,700 gallons of waste have apparently leaked from B-109 and the Washington state DOE has been tracking it for over a year.

Randy Bradbury, the Washington DOE communications manager, told CBS News that his department recognized that B-109's liquid level was decreasing more than a year ago, but that they weren't sure what was causing it. The Washington DOE were notified Thursday, however, that the tank was indeed leaking.

Hanford Nuclear Reservation, was constructed during World War II to make plutonium for nuclear weapons, includes tanks that contain various mixed waste materials made of both radioactive components and some of the "most dangerous waste created over four decades," the Washington DOE reported. In the past, more than 67 tanks at the reservation have been suspected to be leaking or have actually leaked.

An environmental impact statement from the National Environmental Policy Act said that "numerous geologic problems with the Hanford Reservation have been pointed out."


"Leaving the waste in the ground is just not acceptable," the statement read. "There is not enough information to take a chance on leaving any radioactive waste in the ground."

And controlling a tank leak is what Bradbury said will take years to address.

"They're all very well into the ground," Bradbury said. "This isn't something that's going to happen next week or next month."

But Watson said that as of now "the leak poses no immediate increased risk to workers or the public, but it adds to the ongoing environmental threat at Hanford."

Bradbury said that the department's main concern is preventing the waste from reaching the Columbia River, which is only 10 miles away from B-109.

"It will just basically sit around in the soil but in fact, it does migrate and some of it has migrated," he said.

Local organizations have called on legislators to address the site's repeated tank leaks.

"This new leak of B-109 puts a spotlight on the need for Congress and the Energy Department to act immediately to increase funding for cleanup and design and build new tanks, as soon as possible," the Hanford Challenge, a nonprofit advocacy organization, released in a statement Thursday. "Hanford needs new tanks now."

The group has gathered nearly 2,000 signatures on a petition addressed to the U.S. Secretary of Energy to build new tanks at the reservation

Cargo bikes for cleaner air in Bogota

In Bogota, air pollution contributes to thousands of deaths each year. Ditching trucks for electric cargo bikes could radically cut fine particulate matter.

Watch video 05:41 Colombia: Tackling congestion in Bogota

Dirty, outdated and soon to be gone from the streets of Bogota? The Colombian capital is clogged with trucks and people's health is suffering. One of the world's most congested cities, Bogota has repeatedly had to declare an environmental emergency and Mayor Claudia López is looking for cleaner alternatives to inner-city goods transport.

Heavy goods vehicles alone are responsible for around 40% of fine particulate pollution in Bogota. But with BiciCargo, these polluting vehicles are left at the city gates and goods transferred to electric cargo bikes for delivery. Even though it takes several bikes to carry the load of a single truck, the founders of the pilot project say it saves time as well as emissions.

Totally gridlocked: Bogota is considered one of the most congested cities in the world

Project goal: The BiciCarga initiative aims to save 16 metric tons of particulate matter each day by switching trucks for electric cargo bikes.

Project partners: The BiciCarga pilot project is coordinated by theBogotá transport commission, which is responsible for implementing, evaluating and potentially expanding the project. As an initiative to decarbonize the transport sector, BiciCarga receives support from the World Bank Group.

Funding: Professional and technical assistance from the World Bank Group valued at US$300,000.

Project duration: The BiciCarga pilot project runs from May 2020 to June 2021.

A film by Nicole Frölich