Another Out Of Touch, Wealthy, White Woman Is Horrified By Unhoused People
Danielle Campoamor 

R29 6/5/2021


Caitlyn Jenner has had a busy couple of weeks. On April 23, Jenner announced she’s running for governor of California, hoping to unseat current Gov. Gavin Newsom. Last Saturday, she said to TMZ that she believes trans girls shouldn’t be allowed to participate in girls’ sports. And just last night, Jenner appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show to do the difficult work that is required of this country’s politicians during this time: lament the horrors that unhoused people impose on the white, rich, and powerful.

 

© Provided by Refinery29

“My friends are leaving California,” Jenner told Hannity while *checks notes* sitting inside her Malibu airplane hangar. “The guy right across, he was packing up his hangar and I said, ‘Where are you going?’ And he says, ‘I’m moving to Sedona, Arizona. I can’t take it anymore. I can’t walk down the streets and see the homeless.'”


Jenner’s comments — coming from an out-of-touch, rich white woman who has never experienced being unhoused in her life — immediately drew outrage. After all, Jenner’s estimated net worth is an egregious $100 million. She lives in a $3.5-million ranch-style home in Malibu, CA. She owns a number of expensive vehicles, including multiple Porsches and an Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite. So it’s safe to say that her taking offense with Los Angeles’ large population of unhoused people doesn’t exactly bode well for her bid to become governor of California.

But it’s not just Jenner’s ignorance when it comes to unhoused people that is the problem — it’s her lack of understanding that her own community, the trans community, is also plagued by this issue. Recent data shows that a reported 63% of trans adults and 80% of gender non-conforming adults are unhoused, according to data from the National Alliance to End Homelessness. One 2015 survey examining the experiences of over 27,000 trans people across the country found that one in 10 surveyed experienced violence at the hands of a family member once they came out, and 8% were kicked out of their home because they were transgender. The same survey found that 30% of respondents who had a job had been either fired, denied a promotion, or experienced mistreatment or harassment in the workplace as a result of their gender identity. And the unemployment rate among respondents was three times that of the total U.S. population, while nearly one-third were living in poverty.

Shelters that provide clothing, food, and housing to those experiencing housing insecurity often double as another source of potential danger for trans and gender non-conforming people. Of respondents who had experienced being unhoused over the past year, 70% said they were mistreated in a shelter because they’re transgender, and 26% said they avoid shelters altogether for fear they’ll be harassed or assaulted.

But just like Jenner has no clue what it’s like not to have access to housing or shelter, she doesn’t seem to know much about the many other struggles facing transgender people. Shortly after she shared her gubernatorial aspirations with the world, Jenner supported Republican-led efforts to ban trans students from joining school sports teams that align with their gender identity. “This is a question of fairness,” Jenner told a reporter. “That’s why I oppose biological boys who are trans competing in girls’ sports in school. It just isn’t fair. And we have to protect girls’ sports in our schools.”

If Jenner truly cared about the problems of trans people who don’t live in Malibu mansions or fly on private planes, she would know that 43% of trans youth have been bullied on school grounds, and that 60% of trans and non-binary youth have seriously considered suicide. She would also know that studies have shown participation in school sports can lead to greater wellbeing, a reduction in anxiety, increased self-esteem, and improved overall mental health.

Of course, there’s also the possibility that Jenner does know these facts (after all, Google is a thing) and simply doesn’t mind sacrificing children on the altar of partisan politics. It’s clear now, more than ever, that she is making an appeal to conservative Californians — rich, white ones at that — in her effort to gain political power. Unhoused trans kids be damned.



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Caitlyn Jenner Doesn't Want Trans Girls In Sports

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Caitlyn Jenner In Office Would Hurt Trans People

Samantha Bee Tells Republicans To ‘Stop Policing Other People’s Bodies’ After Transphobic Sports Bills

"At the end of the day, Republicans need to stop policing other people's bodies, mind their own f***ing business, and let trans people live their lives."

Getty Images Samantha Bee

Samantha Bee is slamming Republican legislators in the U.S. after more than 30 states introduced transphobic sports-related bills that would ban transgender students from playing against cisgender athletes.

"Conservatives are staging a co-ordinated attack on trans kids by making up a problem that absolutely doesn't exist," the Toronto-born Bee says during an episode of her "Full Frontal". "They falsely claim trans women automatically have more testosterone and therefore more muscle mass than cis women. But studies don't show a consistent relationship between testosterone and athletic performance."

U.S. senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee have spearheaded a federal trans sports bill, which Bee says, is just a tactic to earn themselves more votes. "Just like with the bathroom bills, Republicans are trying to scare their base to vote," she says.

"At the end of the day, Republicans need to stop policing other people's bodies, mind their own f***ing business, and let trans people live their lives."

'Polarizing topic': Sides grapple with fairness of trans women competing on female teams

Jim Morris 
GLOBAL NEWS

6/5/2021

9

© Stephen Groves/The Associated Press A woman demonstrates against a proposed ban on transgender girls and women from female sports leagues in South Dakota in March. Republican lawmakers in several U.S. states have introduced legislature related to…

It's an easy question to ask but finding a conclusive answer is proving difficult.

Republican lawmakers in several U.S. states have introduced more than 100 bills related to transgender issues, many of them aimed at preventing transgender women and girls from competing on female sports team.

Those who support the legislation argue transgender athletes have a physical advantage in women's sports.


So, do they?

"It's a very polarizing topic," said Allison Sandmeyer-Graves, chief executive officer for Canadian Women and Sport.

"There is quite a bit of research on the topic, with more being produced all the time. Our understanding of the research is that it's also divided, therefore quite inconclusive. Everybody's kind of got signs on their side. That's part of what makes this really a tricky conversation to navigate."

Veronica Ivy, a Canadian transgender athlete who is a two-time UCI Women's Masters Track World Championship winner, argues there is no advantage.

"The idea that [in] pre-puberty there's any physiological advantage for trans girls is literally nonsense," said Ivy, who was born in Victoria and is an associate professor of philosophy at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. "So, these bills are not scientifically grounded.

"When it comes to post-puberty trans women, there's also no clear advantage, let alone an advantage large enough to justify exclusion. We have to remember that we already allow huge performance advantages within the women's category."

Sandmeyer-Graves' group has joined with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports (CCES) to conduct a review of the research done on whether transgender athletes have an advantage.

"A lot of people assume the answer," Sandmeyer-Graves said. "I think the science tells us that is actually a lot more complex than most people realize."

Caitlyn Jenner recently added fuel to the debate when she said it "just isn't fair" for biological boys who are transgender to compete in girls' sports in school.

Jenner won an Olympic decathlon gold medal as a male at the 1976 Oympics in Montreal.

"It plays into a lot of the fears that people have about how trans women's participation will impact women's sports," Sandmeyer-Graves said. "We don't believe those fears are well founded."

COACHES ARE ABUSIVE

COACHING IS ABUSE
Video: Women abused by ski coach call for protection in sport (Global News)


Ivy said Jenner had previously supported the right for trans girls to participate in girls' sports.

"I suspect her about-face is politically motivated as she seeks the California governor's position as a Republican, tossing red meat to a transphobic voting base," Ivy said. "It's hypocritical to say the least."

'Trans girls are girls'

Six U.S. states have passed bills preventing athletes from competing in categories different than their biological sex at birth. Ivy called the laws "cruel, unfounded and harmful."

"They will do nothing but harm innocent children by taking away their right to play with people of their gender," she said. "Trans girls are girls. They are females.

"When we're talking about children, sports and playing on teams is such an important part of their social and intellectual development. Taking that away from already marginalized kids is nothing but cruel."

In Canada, the CCES has worked to develop policies for transgender athletes.

"That guidance essentially says that a person should have the right to participate in sport in the gender they identify with," said Paul Melia, the CCES's president and chief executive officer. "There should be no requirements for either surgery or hormone therapy imposed upon on individual as a condition of their participation in sports because of the harmful consequence that kind of intervention can cause an individual."

In 2018, U Sports, the governing body of Canadian university sports, released a policy saying transgender athletes can participate on varsity sports team that correspond with their sex assigned at birth or with the gender they now identify with.
Existing concerns

The issue of transgender athletes may not be making headlines in Canada, but concerns do exist. Some high school athletes might fear having a transgender person competing on their team could cost them a chance at a university scholarship.

"We're not receiving complaints from universities or sports organizations directly, but we are hearing some negative feedback," Melia said.

"This is probably more nuanced and complex. Our policy guidance at the community sport level has probably helped a lot of sports organizations. But once the rewards start to be become more significant, that's where the friction comes into the system."

Canada's domestic policies might also face headwinds at higher levels where sports are governed by international federations.

Last year, World Rugby became the first international sports governing body to institute a ban on transgender women competing in global competitions like the Olympics and the women's Rugby World Cup. The ban was introduced because "safety and fairness cannot presently be assured for women competing against trans women in contact rugby."

Rugby Canada has rejected the policy, saying it has a trans inclusion policy and believes everyone deserves "respectful and inclusive environments for participation."

Laurel Hubbard, a transgender weightlifter from New Zealand, has qualified for this summer's Tokyo Olympics. The 43-year-old lived as a male for 35 years and never made it into international weightlifting.

Sandmeyer-Graves said a lack of funding and support for women's sports is a greater threat than transgender athletes.

"I don't think there's going to be a wave of trans women taking over women's sports," she said. "I think the threat might be overstated.

"The real threat to women's' sport is coming back to the idea of there's scarce resources and opportunities. The fact that women's sport isn't supported, funded with equitable opportunities, equitable resources and equitable coverage is a far more significant impediment to women's participation and advancement in sport than trans women's involvement."

WHY DON'T WE EVER HEAR ABOUT TRANS BOYS/TRANS MEN, PLAYING SPORTS OR USING BOYS/MENS BATHROOMS?!

Fossil Fuels, Climate Change and India's COVID-19 Crisis
Justin Worland 

TIME 6/5/2021

©

 Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times—Getty Images Commuters out on a smoggy day at NH-9 near Mayur Vihar on Feb. 8, 2021 in New Delhi, India.

The surge of COVID-19 cases and the humanitarian crisis now unfolding in India has shocked the world and led to a search for an explanation of how the situation got so bad so fast. Scientists are investigating several factors including new variants and public health officials have pointed to underinvestment in the country’s health system.

Undoubtedly, the causes are varied, and as I watched the numbers surge, I began to wonder whether it’s worth considering the role air pollution may be playing. Since the early days of the pandemic, researchers have understood that exposure to polluted air makes people more vulnerable to COVID-19, and India’s megalopolises are among the most polluted in the world. “We understand that the impact of pandemic can be higher in polluted regions where people’s lungs have already been weakened due to long term exposures,” says Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of research and advocacy at Centre for Science and Environment in Delhi. “That makes Indian cities vulnerable.”

There’s been some research on air pollution and COVID-19 in India specifically, but it’s probably first worth looking at the bigger picture. A slew of studies have shown direct links between exposure to air pollution and vulnerability to COVID-19. One paper published in December in the journal Cardiovascular Research found that chronic exposure to particulate matter—a type of pollution that results from a mix of chemicals that come from sources like smokestacks and fires—is likely linked to some 15% of global COVID-19 deaths. Particulate matter doesn’t just come from fossil fuels, but the study’s authors found that more than 50% of air pollution-linked COVID-19 deaths are specifically connected to fossil-fuel use.

A seemingly endless stack of studies has shown the causal links that explain this: extended exposure to air pollution contributes to a range of ailments—from asthma to diabetes—that are risk factors for COVID-19.

The research in India is still in early stages, but scientists have already begun to evaluate the local connection. A preliminary study out of Malaviya National Institute of Technology in Jaipur, India found a correlation between COVID-19 cases and air pollution and climatic conditions—like wind and humidity—in Delhi. Another preliminary paper from the World Bank relying on data from India found that a “1 percent increase in long-term exposure to [particulate matter] leads to an increase in COVID-19 deaths by 5.7 percentage points.” The study suggested a range of “urgent” interventions from promoting cleaner fuel sources to reducing pollution in the transportation system that would complement more obvious public health measures like vaccination and mask wearing.

“A scientific consensus seems to be emerging that improving air quality may play an important role in overcoming or at least reducing the impacts of the pandemic,” the authors of the World Bank paper wrote. “Research implies that pollution must be limited as much as possible when lockdowns are lifted.”

This dynamic is important to understand not only because it helps explain one factor that has worsened the pandemic, but also because it offers a lens into so-called “climate co-benefits”—a key consideration that helps make the case for urgent action on climate change. That term refers to the positive effects beyond carbon dioxide emissions reduction that result from tackling climate change. Co-benefits range from improved soil health (resulting from agricultural practices that reduce carbon emissions) to improved energy security (as a positive outcome of expanding renewable energy sources and reducing reliance on fossil fuel imports).

But perhaps no co-benefit is more significant—and more urgent—on a global level than the clean air that results from nixing fossil fuels. In India, for example, chronic exposure to air pollution causes the premature death of more than a million people each year. Hundreds of thousands more are similarly affected in China. Even in the U.S., which has relatively strict environmental standards, more than 100,000 people have been estimated to die prematurely due to particulate matter air pollution every year, according to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. And, in the U.S. and around the world, the burden falls disproportionately on low-income communities of color.

Policymakers and scientists have had many a thorny debate about the best ways to account for those co-benefits, but on a purely human level it’s another example of how tackling climate change would save lives—not just 30 years in the future but right now.

‘A dirty business’: how one drug is turning Syria into a narco-state

Martin Chulov 

Middle East correspondent

THE GUARDIAN 

In the summer of 2015 a businessman in the Syrian province of Latakia was approached by a powerful security chief, seeking a favour. The official wanted the merchant, an importer of medical supplies, to source large amounts of a drug called fenethylline from abroad. The regime, he said, would readily buy the lot.

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: 

AP A Saudi customs officer opens imported pomegranates containing Captagon pills in Jeddah.

After an internet search, the merchant made a decision. He left his home that same week, first sending his wife and children to exile, then following after, scrounging what he could from his businesses for a new start. “I know what they were asking me to do,” he said from his new home in Paris. “They wanted the main ingredient for Captagon. And that drug is a dirty business.”


Other businessmen in Syria’s north have not shared his reservations. The manufacture of Captagon in the regime heartland has become one of Syria’s only recent business success stories; a growth industry so big and sophisticated that it is starting to rival the GDP of the flatlining economy itself.

From the ruins of Syria, and the similarly disastrous collapse across the border in Lebanon, where this week a shipment of Captagon hidden in pomegranates and exported from Beirut was found by Saudi officials, a reality is crystallising: both countries are fast becoming narco-states - if they have not met that definition already.

© Provided by The Guardian Captagon is one of several brand names for the drug compound fenethylline hydrochloride. Photograph: NapoliPress/Rex/Shutterstock

Before last Sunday’s seizure of millions of Captagon pills, which led to a ban in Saudi Arabia on all agricultural imports from Lebanon, at least 15 other shipments of the drug had been intercepted in the Middle East and Europe in the past two years. Six police and intelligence officials in the Middle East and Europe have told the Guardian that all were shipped from Syria’s Captagon heartland, or across the frontier in Lebanon, where a network of untouchables – crime families, militia leaders and political figures – have formed cross-border cartels that make and distribute industrial scale quantities of drugs.

“They are very dangerous people,” said one senior official in Beirut. “They are scared of no one. They hide in plain sight.”

Captagon is one of several brand names for the drug compound fenethylline hydrochloride. A stimulant with addictive properties, it is used recreationally across the Middle East and is sometimes called a “poor man’s cocaine”. It is also used by armed groups and regular forces in battle situations, where it is seen as having properties that boost courage and numb fears.

For all intents and purposes, the border between both countries is redundant, a lawless zone where smugglers operate with the complicity of officials on both sides. The smugglers move precursors and finished products, both hashish and Captagon, along a route that takes in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley, the Syrian border town of Qusayr and the roads north through the Alawite heartland of the Assad regime, towards the ports of Latakia and Tartus.

© Provided by The Guardian The port of Latakia is favoured by smugglers. Photograph: Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images

Latakia in particular has been under the intense scrutiny of European and American police and intelligence agencies. A cousin of the Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad, Samer al-Assad is an influential figure at the port. According to the exiled merchant and three other Latakia businessmen, anyone who wants to operate must pay a substantial cut from proceeds in return for access to networks and protection. Despite the scrutiny on the port, few interdictions have been made at the source. Instead the roll call of hauls found since 2019 has rivalled the heyday of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel for scale and efficiency.

They include five tonnes of Captagon tablets found in Greece in July that year, two similar hauls in Dubai in subsequent months, and four tonnes of hashish uncovered in the Egyptian city of Port Said in April 2020, wrapped in the packaging of the Milkman company. At the time the company was owned by the regime tycoon Rami Makhlouf.

There was also a Captagon shipment to Saudi Arabia hidden in tea leaves, as well as seizures in Romania, Jordan, Bahrain and Turkey. In July last year, the biggest ever haul of the drug, with a street value of more than €1bn (£870m), was intercepted in the Italian port of Salerno, which is believed to have been intended as a waypoint en route to Dubai.

© Provided by The Guardian Naples law enforcement officers inspect a huge seizure of Captagon tablets in Salerno in July 2020. Photograph: Ciro Fusco/EPA

The consignment was hidden in paper rolls and machinery sent from a printing plant in Aleppo, and officials in Rome initially blamed the import on the Islamic State terror group. Last December, blame was shifted to the powerful Lebanese militia-cum-political bloc Hezbollah. The party denies involvement and claims it has no hand in a regional and global trade in Captagon that is rapidly becoming associated with both failing states.

The research organisation the Centre for Operational Analysis and Research, which focuses on Syria, this week released a report highlighting the role of Captagon and hashish in the country, where the economy has been crippled by a decade of war, western sanctions, entrenched corruption and the collapse of Lebanon, where billions of dollars have disappeared in the pit of the country’s banking system.

“Syria is a narco-state with two primary drugs of concern: hashish and the amphetamine-type stimulant Captagon,” the report says. “Syria is the global epicentre of Captagon production, which is now more industrialised, adaptive, and technically sophisticated than ever.

“In 2020, Captagon exports from Syria reached a market value of at least $3.46bn [£2.5bn]. Though conjectural, a market ceiling significantly higher than this is distinctly possible. Although Captagon trafficking was once among the funding streams utilised by anti-state armed groups, consolidation of territorial control has enabled the Assad regime and its key regional allies to cement their role as the prime beneficiaries of the Syrian narcotics trade.”

An exiled former regime insider who retains connections with some officials inside the country said: “The war in Syria has not only caused the death of hundreds of thousands, over 6 million refugees, 8 million internally displaced, around 1 million injured, [and] the complete destruction of towns and cities, but [also] a total collapse of the economy following the Lebanese banking crisis, followed by the pandemic and the Caesar Act [of US sanctions] which has turned the country officially into a ‘narco-state’ … with a few regime businessmen and warlords turning into drug lords.

“At the start of the conflict, $1 was equal to 50 Syrian pounds. The exchange rate dropped but managed to stay at 500-600 Syrian pounds throughout eight years of the war until the Lebanese crisis began in 2019. Then we started seeing the total collapse of both currencies simultaneously, which shows how interconnected they are. Lebanon had been acting as Syria’s respirator. And it suddenly lost its oxygen supply.”

Several months after the Latakia merchant fled Syria, a visitor arrived in Lebanon on a private jet from Saudi Arabia. His name was Prince Abdulmohsen bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, a member of the royal family, then in his late 20s. As the prince prepared to fly home, on 26 October 2015, he was arrested, allegedly with two tonnes of Captagon pills in his luggage. For the next four years, he was held in a room above a police station in Beirut’s Hamra district, where he was given more perks than other prisoners as negotiations for his release continued.

“He was set up by Hezbollah,” said a Lebanese intelligence official. “He walked right into a trap, and it took them [Riyadh] a long time to free him, because the people here were looking for the right prize for him. The state was not involved. It was all made to go away. The right people were paid, and he went home in 2019. Captagon can get things done.”

The Electric Vehicle Freedom Act could put billions into a nationwide EV charging network

Kyle Hyatt 

The Biden administration has made no secret that it is interested in pushing US transportation to an electric future, promising to spend vast sums of money on bringing electric vehicles into the US Government fleet as well as increasing the national EV charging infrastructure. It's a big deal.

© Provided by Roadshow Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Andy Levin are looking to jumpstart a massive national EV charging network. Samuel Corum/Getty Images

But maybe it's not big enough -- especially if you're Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Andy Levin, D-Mich. The two members of Congress are pushing a new piece of legislation called the Electric Vehicle Freedom Act, and it goes even farther than President Biden's promises, according to a report published Wednesday by Automotive News.

Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Andy Levin (D-MI) are looking to jumpstart a massive national EV charging network.

The Electric Vehicle Freedom Act seeks to build hundreds of thousands of electric-vehicle-charging stations around the US within five years and also seeks to shift government funding and tax breaks away from internal combustion vehicles and toward EVs. This would take billions beyond the $15 billion that President Biden has already earmarked.

The push toward electric vehicles is also getting a substantial push from states like California, which seeks to ban the sale of new internal combustion vehicles by 2035, and from 11 other states, including Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington, that have signed on to California's program.

Given how much America's electric charging infrastructure has grown in recent years, and how much growing there is left to do, the Electric Vehicle Freedom Act could make for exciting times for EV enthusiasts in years to come if it's able to survive its trip through the halls of Congress.

MPs from across political spectrum urge feds to support WTO's COVID-19 vaccine waiver

WASHINGTON — A broad coalition of MPs from all five parties wants the federal government to support waiving the global rules that guard vaccine trade secrets.

 

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The group of 65 MPs has written a letter urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to support the proposed World Trade Organization waiver.

The government has agreed to take part in talks, but says in a statement it "firmly believes" that protecting intellectual property is important.

It also notes it supports other methods of expanding access to vaccines, providing $940 million to date to expand access in low- and middle-income countries.

Supporters of the waiver say it would make it easier for developing countries to import the equipment, expertise and materials needed to make their own vaccines.

The idea is opposed by the pharmaceutical industry and a number of key world leaders who say it would be counterproductive.

"Our government firmly believes in the importance of protecting (intellectual property), and recognizes the integral role that industry has played in innovating to develop and deliver life-saving COVID-19 vaccines," International Trade Minister Mary Ng said in a statement.

"Since the introduction of the IP waiver proposal, Canada has actively worked with partners to identify barriers to vaccine access — many of which are unrelated to IP, such as supply chain constraints."

Diana Sarosi, policy and campaigns director for Oxfam Canada, called agreeing to talks a step in the right direction, but assailed the government for its "wait-and-see approach" on intellectual property.

"Canada continues to prioritize profits over public health," Sarosi said in a statement.

Signatories to the letter to Trudeau include a number of prominent government MPs, as well as Conservatives like Michelle Rempel Garner and Phil McColeman.

"There is no question that normative intellectual property rights represent a significant potential barrier" to vaccine access in some parts of the world, they write.

"Last July, alongside other world leaders, you wrote that 'where you live should not determine whether you live,' but that is exactly what is happening."

The United States surprised many this week when it expressed support for the waiver and promised to sit down at the WTO to take part in text-based negotiations — a significant step toward a consensus.

But consensus is notoriously difficult to come by at the world trade body, and several prominent members, including Germany and the U.K., stand firmly opposed to the idea of a waiver.

THEY ARE MANUFACTURING COUNTRIES FOR PHARMA CANADA IS NOT

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2021.

The Canadian Press

Carbon emissions from energy dropped 10% in the EU last year

BRUSSELS — Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion dropped 10% in the European Union last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to estimates from the EU's statistical office.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Eurostat said in a statement Friday that emissions fell in all of the EU's 27 member nations compared to 2019 as governments imposed lockdown measures to slow the spread of the virus.

Greece recorded the largest decrease (-18.7%), followed by Estonia (-18.1%), Luxembourg (-17.9%), Spain (-16.2%) and Denmark (-14.8%). The countries with the smallest reductions were Malta (-1%), Hungary (-1.7%), Ireland (-2.6%) and Lithuania (-2.6%).

Eurostat said the sources of the cutbacks varied.

“The largest decreases were seen for all types of coals. The consumption of oil and oil products also decreased in almost all member states, while natural gas consumption decreased only in 15 member states and increased or stayed at the same level in the 12 others,” the office said.

CO2 emissions from energy consumption account for about 75% of all man-made greenhouse gases in the EU. The amounts produced are influenced by many factors, including economic growth, transportation and industrial activities.

As part of the “European Green Deal," the EU has committed itself to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. Brussels is also aiming to become “climate-neutral” by midcentury. Scientists say this goal needs to be achieved to keep average global temperatures from rising above 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) by the year 2100.

___

Follow AP's climate coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate

The Associated Press

WHY EMPLOYERS CAN'T FIND WORKERS 
Dollar General at center of labor unrest controversy after frustrated workers walk off job in Maine citing low wages and understaffed stores

insider@insider.com (Áine Cain) 

© Courtesy of Nate Theriault Courtesy of Nate Theriault

WOBBLIES

BAD WORKING CONDITIONS LOW PAY WOBBLE THE JOB

Dollar General employees quit in protest over understaffing and low pay at a store in Eliot, Maine.

"They figured that they had me trapped in a job that I couldn't get out of. To some degree they were right," one worker told Insider.

The walkout at the Dollar General follows much labor unrest in the state in recent months.

Berndt Erikson worked as the nightly closer and key-holder at a Dollar General in the small town of Eliot, Maine. After every shift, he'd count up the money generated by the store and clean up before heading out.

But when he closed up shop on May 3, he knew he wouldn't be going back.

Erikson and his fellow employees walked out of the store that day, leaving signs on the windows highlighting what they say were unacceptable working conditions at the retailer.

He said that understaffing, low wages, and frustration over a lack of communication from the company's district management ultimately led to his decision to move on. In total, two employees and a manager quit the store, leaving one sole staffer remaining.

"Out of respect for these individuals, as well as the value we place on open and direct communication with our employees, we do not plan to comment on their employment status further," Dollar General told local news station WMTW in a statement. "Our Eliot store remains open to provide the York County community with convenient, affordable access to everyday essentials."

The company did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.
-☭ ♥️Berndt♥️Erikson♥️☭ (@Berndt_LVS) May 3, 2021

Erikson had started at the Maine Dollar General in January 2020, after getting laid off from a local Super Shoes store. But very quickly, he said, the Dollar General began hemorrhaging workers. Pay for workers stayed around $13 an hour on average, which Erikson says was not a living wage in that part of Maine.

"People started to try to find better jobs, or they just had enough of being worked to death and being disrespected by both corporate and customers," he told Insider. "We were already understaffed the entire time I had worked there, but it got to a point where we were not able to keep up."

Keeping lean store staffs is a part of Dollar General's business model, and one of the reasons the chain has been able to expand its footprint at such a rapid rate. In 1992, the company operated 1,522 stores in the US. As of February 26, 2021, Dollar General has a fleet of 17,266 stores across 46 states.

However, critics say that having so few employees to man the stores creates an unsafe environment, leaving workers as targets for robberies and violence. In Erikson's case, he said that anti-maskers and anti-vax customers often screamed at employees, adding further tension to an already-difficult work environment. Meanwhile, requests by store managers that he receive a raise for his work were often ignored.

"They figured that they had me trapped in a job that I couldn't get out of. To some degree, they were right," he said.

But eventually, Erikson said, he decided that it would be better to seek out work with a different employer. And he's not alone. As the coronavirus pandemic winds down, many business owners have complained about a tightening labor market, with employees quitting their minimum wage jobs to seek higher-paying roles.

The day before Erikson quit, the store manager left. He later called the acting district manager numerous times to say that he couldn't man the entire store from opening to closing, but never heard back. Fed up, he and his coworker wrote up the signs - even including a special message to Joe, a beloved regular customer who'd often buy them sodas - and locked up the place at 4 p.m. that day.

The store opened back up the next day, with assistance from the acting district manager.
-Andy "Pass the PRO Act" O'Brien (@aobrien2010) May 4, 2021

"The Dollar General walk-out in Eliot is yet another example of service sector realizing the true value of their labor after suffering with low wages, poor treatment and lousy working conditions," Maine's AFL-CIO union communications director Andy O'Brien said in a statement to Insider. "While business owners are constantly whining and complaining about how they can't find enough people to work for them, they still refuse to pay living wages to attract employees and the workers are fighting back."

O'Brien added that, in the case of Dollar General, workers say the company expects in-store salaried employees work 70 to 80 hours a week. O'Brien said that a bill in the Maine legislature could make most salaried employees earning up to $55,000 a year eligible for overtime pay, which would "prevent the kind of blatant exploitation of salaried employees that Dollar General continues to get away with."

The walkout at the Dollar General in Eliot isn't the only flicker of labor unrest to occur in the state in recent months. According to O'Brien, "the pandemic and the sacrifices frontline workers have had to make" have sparked a recent victory for striking shipyard workers, an ongoing strike by delivery drivers and mechanics, and successful union drives among nurses and museum workers in the state.

"When working people win, other workers become inspired and that's why we're seeing more of these kinds of wild cat strikes and walk outs," O'Brien said. "It's an exciting time to be alive."

Erikson told Insider that he's well aware that he may be retaliated against, or black-balled from future retail jobs. But he said he's glad that his story has resonated with frustrated retail workers around the country, based on the reaction on social media. He also said that, in a way, his experience at Dollar General has helped bolster his self-esteem.

"I eventually got fed up with it and started to see my own self worth," he said. "I actually gained the confidence to fight back, which is probably what led to me leaving in style. So thank you, Dollar General."

Recalling the eruption of Mount Pelée — deadliest volcano in the 20th century

Randi Mann 

7/5/2021

Listen to The Weather Network's This Day in Weather History podcast on this topic, here.

This Day In Weather History is a daily podcast by The Weather Network that features stories about people, communities, and events and how weather impacted them.

On Wednesday, May 7, 1902, Mount Pelée, on the island of Martinique in the Lesser Antilles, started to erupt. Around 29,000 people died, making it the deadliest eruption of the 20th century and one of the most destructive in recorded history.

On Apr. 23, Mount Pelée started eruptive activity. The volcano let out a series of large phreatic explosions that occurred before subsiding until early May.

© Provided by The Weather Network1902 eruption. 

Photograph of Mt. Pelee by Angelo Heilprin. Courtesy of Wikipedia

When Pelée started to start up again, the sky filled with dark clouds and lightning. The mountain emitted ash that blacked out the sun.

On May 5, a mudflow came down a side of the mountain and buried around 150 people. The mudflow also triggered three tsunamis that damaged coastal buildings.

Between May 6 and 7, the phreatic explosions turned magmatic.

On May 8, at about 8:00 a.m., the volcano exploded. Lava and turbulent gases flowed down the mountain at hurricane speeds. The volcanic material reached Saint-Pierre at 8:02 a.m. No one could escape. Most of the city's population died. Only two people in the actual city survived, and a few people from surrounding areas. All survivors experienced severe burns.

© Provided by The Weather Network Remains of Saint-Pierre. Courtesy of Wikipedia

Thumbnail: "Evacuees on Rue du Pavé, Fort-de-France after 1902 eruption, photographed by William H. Rau." Courtesy of Wikipedia/William Herman Rau

After the explosion, rescuers headed to the island. On May 20, Mount Pelée exploded again, killing 2,000 of the rescuers and other people who were helping with the aftermath. On Aug. 30, another eruption generated a pyroclastic flow, which killed an additional 800 people.

Mount Pelée continued to erupt until Oct. 1905.

This Day In Weather History is a daily podcast by The Weather Network that features unique and informative stories from host Chris Mei.

India's rich are not the only ones fleeing the Covid crisis on private jets, says CEO

Karen Gilchrist 

CNBC

6/5/2021

Indian tycoons and Bollywood stars are not alone in fleeing the country's escalating coronavirus crisis, says the CEO of private jet charter company JetSetGo.

Upper-middle class families are pooling their resources to escape to Maldives and Dubai, Kanika Tekriwal told CNBC.

JetSetGo has seen a 900% surge in bookings in recent weeks — with some 70% to 80% coming from the upper middle class, instead of their regular ultra high net worth customers.

India's wealthy are not alone in fleeing the country's Covid crisis, says private jet CEO


Tycoons and Bollywood stars may be among the most high profile residents fleeing India's shores on private jets as the coronavirus crisis escalates — but they are by no means the only ones, according to private jet charter company JetSetGo.

The situation in India has become so dire that even upper-middle class families are pooling their resources to make an escape, its co-founder and CEO Kanika Tekriwal told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia."

The South Asian country, battling a devastating surge in the virus, recorded 412,262 new cases on Thursday, taking its total caseload to more than 28 million.

"To say that only wealthy Indians are leaving India on private jets would be wrong," Tekriwal said Thursday from Maldives.

"In the last 10 days, what we have really seen is anyone who can put together the resources and the means to pool in money for a private jet, or to pool in money just to get out of the country, getting out."

Tekriwal said JetSetGo has seen a 900% surge in bookings in recent weeks — with some 70% to 80% coming from the upper middle class, instead of their regular ultra high net worth customers. The majority of them are fleeing to Maldives, which currently offers quarantine at a secluded resort for passengers arriving from India, or Dubai, which allows entry from business purposes.

"They're just people who are putting together money to get out of the country. I think it's them who fear Covid the most because they're not the ultra-rich or the most accessible to medical care," she said.

© Provided by CNBC Crowds of people are seen shopping during a weekly market at Kandivali.

JetSetGo has not increased its rates in response to the surging demand, Tekriwal said adding: "That would be opportunistic and wrong."

But at $18,000 to $20,000 for an eight-seater jet to Maldives, or $31,000 for a six-seater jet to Dubai, the journey does not come cheap — even for India's upper-middle class, who earn around $15,000 plus per year.

However, Tekriwal said the situation has become so out of control that, in some cases, the price of a private jet flight can be less than hospitalization fees.

Hospitalization costs about $2,500 a night, she said. "It's what hospital rooms are going at. So even if you've got two family members in hospital for 14 days, you're looking at double the price of flying to Dubai."

"That's what most of my customers have been telling me: 'We're okay with spending six months' of salary or our savings on escaping the country rather than being in half a hospital bed and not knowing how much we're going to be paying or if we're even going to be getting a hospital bed."

Tekriwal added that passengers who test positive for Covid-19 are not accepted on its regular flights. However, the company does offer a separate domestic and international air ambulance service.

Still, a private jet doesn't guarantee escape from the virus.

Despite enforcing new safety measures since last March — including mandatory testing, regular sanitization of aircrafts and no interaction between passengers and crew — Tekriwal said 30% of her staff have continued to test positive for the virus.

"What really hurts me most is that these teams come in, come out there, work with people to get them from point A to point B safely. And when they do test positive, they're taking the virus back home to their families, to their young children, and to their parents, which is quite disturbing," she said.

WATER IS LIFE 

'Goodwill' money from proposed nuclear waste site pours into declining Ontario farm town. What if it stops? BRIBERY BY ANY OTHER NAME

Colin Butler 

© Michelle Stein Protecting Our Waterways – No Nuclear Waste is a grassroots group that's trying to stop the community of Teeswater, Ont., from becoming a disposal site for nuclear waste.

A citizens' group is accusing Canada's nuclear industry of using its financial might to groom a declining Ontario farm community into becoming a willing host for the country's most dangerous radioactive waste.

In a pamphlet about the proposed disposal site that was published last year, the Ontario municipality of South Bruce —which encompasses the farming communities of Teeswater, Mildmay, Formosa and Salem — says it's "on the decline."

The pamphlet tells of a shrinking population, where rural towns and village "downtowns are fading from what they used to be," with vacant store windows, big infrastructure bills and few prospects for new economic growth.

Protecting Our Waterways – No Nuclear Waste, a grassroots citizens' group, accuses the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) of taking advantage of the decline by spending millions of dollars on "goodwill" projects the community couldn't afford on its own.

Bill Noll, a resident of Teeswater and the vice-president of Protecting Our Waterways, said the money has done a lot of good — it's helped find small-town doctors, boosted senior care, upgraded wells, and even bought local firefighters lifesaving new safety equipment.

Money 'divorced' from project, group says

"Its strictly a goodwill gesture," said Noll. "That money is not tied to anything to do with the project. It is completely divorced. Why would you spend one and a half million dollars on a community if you didn't expect something back in return?"

© Steven Travale/Municipality of South Bruce School officials pose with NWMO relationship manager Paul Austin, second from the left, at a cheque presentation at Hillcrest Central School in Teeswater. The NWMO has been bankrolling community projects for years through a 'goodwill' fund.

The project Noll is referring to is a $23-billion nuclear disposal site where the NWMO wants to inter some three million spent nuclear fuel bundles in a sprawling network of tunnels and holes 500 metres below the ground.

South Bruce is one of two Ontario communities — the other is Ignace, about 2½ hours northwest of Thunder Bay — under consideration for what the NWMO is calling the "deep geological repository." The NWMO says it's working with local communities in selecting the site in 2023.

In the case of South Bruce, test drilling recently began north of the dairy town of Teeswater to see if the ancient bedrock is viable enough. But funds from the NWMO have been flowing in since 2012, when the local council volunteered to be considered as a host.

According to a March 2021 report from South Bruce Treasurer Kendra Reinhart, the community has received more than $3.2 million from the NWMO since 2012. It's been used to pay for everything from St John Ambulance training, to offsetting extra costs of the pandemic, to the salaries of municipal employees.




The report didn't include all the money, and noted several sources of NWMO funding were omitted. For instance, left out were requests for additional support, such as the $1.5 million the municipality is seeking from a $4-million NWMO-sponsored investment fund to help offset the cost of expanding a local sewage treatment plant.

Michelle Stein, another Teeswater resident and president of Protect Our Waterways, said the money has become so ubiquitous that on March 23, the same day the treasury report was presented to South Bruce council, NWMO appeared on the council agenda 121 times.
Mayor says community 'foolish not to' take money

"If you look through our council agendas, its commonplace now to see an organization now like a community centre or fire hall to put in a request for a project, and included in their request is, 'Could we please have some money from the community well-being fund?'"

"Our community has really started to rely on the money from the NWMO," said Stein.

Stein and Noll said the more the municipality of South Bruce becomes intertwined financially with the NWMO, the harder it will be for the community to disentangle itself by saying no to the nuclear disposal site, lest it cut off the community's newfound source of wealth.

"We are not depending on the money we get from the NWMO to run the municipality. I can't stress that enough," South Bruce Mayor Robert Buckle told CBC News on Wednesday.

Buckle said that aside from the expense of exploring the proposal, the community is using the money for other projects he described as "not necessary to have, but are nice to have."

Critics say by taking the money, the municipality is undermining its official position, which has neither been for or against hosting the nuclear disposal site.

Buckle disagrees, saying the municipality is open to explore any and all opportunities that come its way and, if an organization such as NWMO is willing to pay the expenses, then the town should take full advantage.

"You are foolish not to," he said. "That's just business."

In the end, Buckle said, it should be the people who decide, but only if and when the NWMO picks Teeswater as its preferred location, and the decision should go to a referendum.

"This is my personal view," he said, noting council has yet to take an official position.

Until then, he said, the community will continue to take the money until the NWMO is set to make its official announcement sometime in 2023.
Nuclear industry wants to build 'positive legacy'

The NWMO said it is fully prepared to help shoulder the cost of the project as well as help build infrastructure capacity in South Bruce, if the community decides it's willing to host the project.

© Steven Travale/Municipality of South Bruce Firefighters with the South Bruce Fire Rescue service pose in new gear purchased by the NWMO, which is spending millions in the community on everything from playgrounds to finding rural doctors with its 'goodwill' fund.

"We are committed to leaving a positive legacy in all the communities in which we engage," said Lise Morton, vice-president of site selection for the NWMO.

Morton said all of the documentation for the spending as well as the financial agreements with communities participating in the site selection process are fully transparent and available online.

Still, critics charge that communities with few prospects for economic development may grow dependent on NWMO money, something Morton said she wouldn't speak to.

"That's really not for NWMO to determine or comment on. Really the municipality needs to ensure they're following their requirements under the Municipal Act."

She said the main objective of the NWMO, which is a non-profit organization, is to leave the potential host communities better off than when the process began, even if they say no.

But for Stein and Noll, who co-chair Protecting Our Waterways – No Nuclear Waste, no isn't the answer they worry about when it comes to the $23-billion project or the 700 jobs that would come with it.

"With such a large influx of employees and such a large influx of traffic going on, we're going to see a significant change to the culture of the community," said Noll.

"The population of South Bruce is only 5,600 people. When you bring that amount of people, there's going to be major changes going on."