IKEA is now selling clean energy to Swedish households (no Allen key needed)

Michelle Lewis
- Aug. 17th 2021 


STRÖMMA is a locality in Stockholm County, Sweden. And it’s also the name Swedish furniture and home goods giant IKEA has given to its new clean energy retail service from next month in its home country.

IKEA’s clean energy – STRÖMMA

IKEA shoppers in Sweden will be able to not only buy everything from lights to appliances in one gargantuan blue building, they can also, from September, buy the clean energy from IKEA to power those items.

IKEA calls STRÖMMA an “electricity subscription,” and says it’s good for the planet and customers’ wallets.

IKEA products are named after a Swedish word based on the type of product. So, for example, fabrics are given female names, and bed and bath products are given flower and plant names. Perhaps further clean energy offerings will also be named after locations in Sweden.

The company explains in an announcement today:

The electricity from fossil fuels used at home has an impact on both our health and our planet. One simple action we can all take is switching to more renewable energy at home. IKEA offers more sustainable solutions that can be integrated seamlessly into our everyday lives. In addition to STRÖMMA in Sweden, IKEA offers solar panels to customers in 11 markets, with the ambition to enable customers in all our Ingka Group markets to use and generate more renewable energy through our energy services by 2025.

Through the STRÖMMA offer in Sweden, customers can buy affordable, certified electricity from solar and wind, and use an app to track their own electricity usage. Customers who have already bought solar panels from IKEA can also track their own production in the app and sell back the electricity they don’t use themselves.

Bojan Stupar, sales manager at IKEA Sweden, says:

IKEA is a home furnishing company, and we want to make it easier for more people to live a more sustainable life at home. Today we offer smart and energy efficient products and services that contribute to prolonging the life of products, reducing waste, saving water, and eating more healthily, as well as reducing electricity usage. Providing solar and wind power at a low price to more people feels like the natural next step on our sustainability journey.

The company plans on rolling out the offering to all of its global markets, and intends to source energy from wind and solar farms that are less than five years old to encourage the building of more of them.
Electrek’s Take

Talk about a turn (Allen) key solution. Reuters reports that Svea Solar, which is a partner of IKEA’s parent company Ingka and produces solar panels for IKEA, will buy the electricity on the Nordic power exchange Nord Pool and resell it without a surcharge. Consumers will pay a fixed monthly fee plus a variable rate. Combine that with IKEA’s smart lighting, and voila!



As a fun aside, we also wonder whether the STRÖMMA app features the cartoon “IKEA man”? If it doesn’t, then the instructions to sign up surely must.

Thanks to Marcus Johannson in Sweden!

Read more:
IKEA’s NYC delivery trucks will be fully electric by May 2021
IKEA put 1 million solar panels on 370 of its buildings in 2019

UK can’t fight climate crisis with austerity, warns expert

Author of government study says Treasury resistance to green spending programmes could halt progress to net zero

Nicholas Stern: ‘We mustn’t make the mistake we made a dozen years ago with premature austerity.’ Photograph: David Levenson/Getty Images


Michael Savage
Sat 14 Aug 2021

Imposing “premature austerity” again will undermine the fight against climate change and stop poorer households going green, one of the world’s leading climate economists has warned the government, amid claims that the Treasury is resisting policies to tackle the crisis.

Nicholas Stern, the author of the seminal 2006 government study into the costs of climate change, said comprehensive programmes were needed to help poorer households make the switch to electric cars and away from gas heating, if the government hoped to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

In an interview with the Observer, he joined other prominent figures in calling on Boris Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak to invest in the technology needed and adopt policies such as subsidised loans to help all households make the switch.

“It’s going to need determination, some resources and smart design to solve these problems,” he said. “These things have to be made easy for people. Growth has to be driven by innovative investment. And we mustn’t make the mistake that we made a dozen years ago with premature austerity.

“It’s about helping people make the change. You’ve got to have a credible plan to help people with the replacement of boilers, when there are real costs, particularly for the poorest.”

It comes after claims from inside and outside government that the Treasury is resisting expensive programmes to tackle climate change in the run-up to the Cop26 climate summit, such as so-called “green cheques” to help people switch from gas. A string of policies, from home insulation to new infrastructure spending, have been scrapped, watered down or delayed. No 10 is now said to be pushing a bigger scrappage scheme for gas boilers.

On Saturday night, Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, pledged to work with the government on matters of “national and international interest” and back an ambitious plan to tackle climate change. However, he warned that the government’s track record and current plans fell short and that Boris Johnson was failing to convince his party of the urgent need for action.

“The Labour party I lead will always engage with the prime minister on issues of national and international interest,” Starmer said. “We face a climate emergency and the prime minister needs to grasp the opportunity Cop26 presents – and convince his own MPs to do the same.

“The UK needs to lead at home to enable leadership abroad. So far the Tories are falling woefully short of meeting this moment. The government’s greenwashing and delay risks fatally undermining the UK’s credibility as hosts of Cop26 and our ability to build trust and turn up the pressure on major emitters.”

Johnson last week set out his plan to make “coal, cars, cash and trees” the focus of the Glasgow summit. But Labour criticised the government’s record on each count. It attacked the refusal to block the Cambo oil field project in the North Sea, its cut to electric car subsidies, the reduction of aid to help poorer nations deal with climate change and its failure to meet tree-planting targets.

Stern’s plea for investment was echoed by other senior figures including John Gummer, the former Tory cabinet minister who now chairs the climate change committee that advises the government. “We have so far been very bad at dealing with helping people with the transition,” he said. “What we need to have is an honest national conversation, based upon the principle that we’ve actually got to achieve this. There isn’t an alternative. The price is something that society as a whole can afford. The issue is, how do you protect the vulnerable?


Calls for G7 spending restraint misguided, warns Lord Stern


“One of the issues that the Treasury has to recognise is that the longer it leaves this gap, the longer it gives people who want to make mischief an opportunity to say how very expensive everything is all going to be, and how everybody’s going to be in a terrible state. You mustn’t leave a gap, you’ve actually got to go in and say, these are the possibilities that we could do. We’ve had that vacuum over the past three or four months.”

Sir John Armitt, chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, also called for investment. “We’ve got to find ways in which this can be made affordable,” he said. “This has got to be something which we all, as citizens, can actually live with and recognise we’re going to have to pay for because we pay for it one way or the other – whether we pay through a government subsidy, or whether we pay through the meter.”

The government said £12bn had already been allocated for the prime minister’s 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution, “including billions to decarbonise our homes and vehicles – and a commitment to ensuring that the costs of the transition to net zero are fair and affordable”.

“We are already investing £1.3bn into helping make the homes of low-income families more energy efficient and cheaper to heat, and affordability and fairness will be at the heart of our comprehensive Net Zero Strategy that we’ll publish ahead of Cop26,” they said.

Opinion: Western Canadians are ready for a new economic era

Merran Smith is the executive director and Trevor Melanson is the communications director of Clean Energy Canada, a program at Simon Fraser University’s Centre for

Dialogue.

Author of the article: Calgary Herald
Publishing date: Aug 16, 2021 • 

With an abundance of wind, solar and other power sources, Alberta is set to lead job creation in the energy transition economy, say columnists. The Associated Press file

You’ve probably already heard that the village of Lytton, B.C., broke Canada’s all-time temperature record not once but three days in a row earlier this summer, culminating to an unbelievable 49.6 C before tragically burning to the ground.

What you may have missed: the unprecedented heat dome, which subsequently drifted eastward through the Prairies, was 150 times more likely because of human-caused climate change. For comparison, the Fort McMurray fire of 2016 was up to six times more likely as a result of global warming.

This year’s heatwave could hardly have been more symbolic, and yet it’s joined by a number of other significant recent events that together are imploring Western Canadians to look in the mirror and reassess their climate resilience and, along with it, their economic future.

Climate change threatens many important industries. While a decline in fossil fuel use is well-documented, crops will increasingly be impacted as well, by droughts or unexpected snowstorms. Indeed, climate change is already driving up food prices.

In short, climate change is no longer a distant threat. It’s now our lived reality.

Reality is changing in other ways too.

In the wake of COVID-19, countries around the globe are rebuilding their economies with purpose and climate change top of mind. Likewise, automakers are electrifying their most popular models, including their most popular trucks (even Premier Jason Kenney’s Ram 1500 will soon have an electric version).

There’s no pretending that things aren’t changing, nor is there any denying that global demand for what we produce here in Canada must change with it.

Western Canada has often been oversimplified as cowboys on the Prairies and hippies on the Left Coast, much to the annoyance of the 12 million people who actually live there and know better.

What Western Canada actually has in common is its entrepreneurial spirit.

Looking forward, Canada’s clean energy sector will add 210,000 jobs by 2030, many of them on this side of the country. According to recent modelling from Clean Energy Canada and Navius Research, Alberta will experience the biggest jump of any province: a 164 per cent increase in clean energy jobs over the next decade. In second, third and fourth place for fastest expected job growth: Saskatchewan, B.C. and Manitoba, respectively.

Given the diverse nature of the clean energy sector, growth will take different forms in different provinces. As Alberta updates its fossil-fuel-heavy electricity grid, the province is on track to see a surge in wind power jobs. Clean hydrogen and geothermal also represent opportunities for Alberta. The recent announcement of a $1.3-billion hydrogen facility in Edmonton is but one example that opportunity is rapidly becoming reality.

Additionally, as Alberta’s electricity grid (which is phasing out coal power way ahead of schedule) grows cleaner, so too will the many industries powered by it, giving them a competitive low-carbon advantage as our largest trading partners — the U.S. and the EU — eye carbon tariffs on future imports.

Luckily, Alberta isn’t just rich in oil; the province is generously endowed with renewable energy, with perhaps the best wind and solar resources in the country. It was Alberta wind power that yielded the lowest-ever rate for electricity in Canada, while the province’s solar power potential is roughly on par with Florida’s.

Job seekers are taking note. In a recent poll, seven in 10 Canadian fossil fuel workers said they’re interested in careers in the clean economy.

Western Canadians are looking to the horizon and wanting change.

The alternative — towns burning, streets flooding, missing out on the economic opportunity of a generation — is hardly an appealing proposition.

That’s especially true for a region that already possesses the right skills, the renewable resources, and the good old-fashioned tenacity to push forward.

Foreign ship stranded without refuelling options due to Rio Tinto Kitimat strike


The cargo vessel Indiana is docked in Kitimat but can’t be refueled because of the ongoing Rio Tinto aluminum smelter strike. (Ameblo.jp photo)

As captain calls for kindness, fuel suppliers afraid to cross union picket lines

BINNY PAUL
Aug. 16, 2021 2:00 p.m.

As the Kitimat aluminum smelter strike enters its fourth week, the captain of a Norwegian cargo ship trapped at a dock since July is calling on the the union and Rio Tinto to let it be refuelled.

The master of MV Indiana, berthed at Rio Tinto’s Terminal B wharf since July 17 in anticipation of loading up with aluminum, says the ship will run out of Emission Control Area (ECA) compliant low sulphur marine fuel if not refuelled by the end of the month.

“We ask for your kindness to allow us to replenish fuel in this berth,” said Capt. Roman Vicente Fudolig in a statement sent to Rio Tinto and Unifor Local 2301 on Aug. 15

Federal regulations state that any vessel docked in Canadian waters can only be refuelled with low sulphur marine fuel. The vessel does have high sulphur fuel onboard but switching to it would be in violation of other federal and International Maritime Organization mandates. MV Indiana has requested 100- 170 metric tonnes of low sulphur fuel.

Arbutus Point Marine Ltd. – the sole supplier of low sulphur marine gas oil to foreign flag ships on Canada’s Pacific coast – said their subcontractor, Northwest Fuels, is refusing to cross picket lines fearing social media defamation.

“MV Indiana is the unwitting victim of the Rio Tinto strike in Kitimat,” said Marc Gawthrop, managing director of Arbutus Point Marine.

Contractors fear that people on the picket line will take photographs of the fuel trucks and post them on social media, causing local repercussions for Northwest Fuels employees.

In July after the strike commenced, videos of contractors being heckled by union workers outside the smelter surfaced on social media.

Contractors remarked that getting through the picket line without being heckled by the union workers outside of the smelter was difficult, as videos surfaced on Facebook of an integrated fire and security company Tyco being yelled at and called “scabs” by multiple Unifor members as they drove through the picket lines.

READ MORE: BC Labour Relations Board lay down the law during labour dispute

“Compromising the safety and security of the crew members on board MV Indiana is not advancing their cause,” said Gawthrop and added that his calls and emails to both Unifor Local 2301 and Rio Tinto remain unanswered.

The foreign crew can’t disembark because of ongoing COVID-19 restrictions and the ship cannot be taken out of its berth because tug boat operators won’t cross picket lines either.

Northwest Fuels declined to comment on the situation citing confidentiality reasons with regards to information on customer deliveries.

While most vessels that arrive at the docks in Kitimat usually have enough fuel to turn back after collecting cargo, MV Indiana encountered a delay as the cargo delivery from the aluminum smelter was affected by the strike which began on July 25.

The strike between Rio Tinto and its approximately 900 unionized employees represented by Unifor Local 2301 began after negotiations for a collective agreement fell through and the aluminum giant refused to come back to the table.

While top officials from Rio Tinto and Unifor 2301 president met last week (Aug. 12) in Kitimat to determine if negotiations can be renewed, there have been no updates as to whether negotiations will resume again.

According to Gawthrop there are only three truck-accessible places on the north coast of B.C. for foreign flag ships to refuel – Stewart World Port and two Rio Tinto wharves in Kitimat. Heading to Stewart World Port is not a cost efficient option at this point, said Gawthrop estimating anywhere above $30,000 to take that vessel off the berth to Stewart for fuel, and back.

“Denying fuel to the International Transport Federation (ITF) crew members on board a foreign flag ship in Canada does not advance any labour interests for Unifor and posting photographs of contractors on social media to smear them is also a direct threat to the comfort and security of the ITF workers on board the Motor Vessel Indiana,” said Gawthrop.

In an email statement MV Indiana’s owners – shipping company Saga Welco headquartered in Norway – said their vessel Indiana made a scheduled port call for cargo loading operations in Kitimat and is an “innocent party” to the negotiations.

“We look forward to a quick and amicable resolution so the vessel can complete cargo loading,” said Saga Welco.

BHP moving ahead with Jansen potash mine in Saskatchewan

By David Giles Global News
Posted August 17, 2021

The long-delayed Jansen potash project, located about 140 kilometres east of Saskatoon, is expected to produce about 4.35 million tonnes of potash per year. 

BHP Group is going ahead with its oft-delayed Jansen potash project in Saskatchewan.


The Australian mining giant announced Tuesday morning that it has approved $7.5 billion in capital expenditures for the project approximately 140 kilometres east of Saskatoon.

“This is an important milestone for BHP and an investment in a new commodity that we believe will create value for shareholders for generations,” BHP chief executive Mike Henry said in a statement.

“In addition to its merits as a stand-alone project, Jansen also brings with it a series of high returning growth options in an attractive investment jurisdiction.”


READ MORE: BHP sets 2021 timeline for Jansen, Sask. potash mine investment decision

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said this is the single-largest economic investment a company has ever made in the province’s history.

“BHP’s decision highlights the strength of our potash resource and will undoubtedly help build a strong economy for Saskatchewan,” Moe said in a statement.

“We are thrilled to see this landmark potash mine move ahead. This project paves the way to create thousands of good-paying jobs for the people of this province.”

Construction is expected to take six years, with the first ore targeted for 2027.

BHP said the mine is expected to produce 4.35 million tonnes of potash yearly with the potential for future expansion.

Henry said Jansen is located in the world’s best potash basin and opens a new front for the company to grow.

He predicted operations at the mine will last for 100 years.

“Jansen will deliver healthy returns as a high-margin, expandable resource which can support a century or more of operations,” Henry said.

“Potash provides BHP with greater diversification by commodity, country, and customer. This is a new and exciting chapter in BHP’s history.”


READ MORE: BHP delays decision on Jansen potash mine

Economic spinoffs

BHP said the project will create 3,500 jobs at its peak construction and 600 jobs in ongoing operations.

The company said its workforce will be gender-balanced and Indigenous employees will make up 20 per cent of the labor force.

BHP said there will be economic opportunities for local and Indigenous companies.

It has signed opportunity agreements with six First Nations around the Jansen site.

Energy and Resources Minister Bronwyn Eyre said the news of the project shows the investment climate is strong in Saskatchewan.

“The positive economic impact of this decision for our province cannot be overstated,” she said.

“The Jansen Mine will generate tens of billions of dollars in taxes and royalties and create thousands of quality jobs for the people of Saskatchewan.”

BHP also said it has signed a deal with Westshore Terminals in Delta, B.C., to handle the potash that will be shipped to export markets.

   

Analyst says Jansen mine catalyst for ‘Saskaboom 2.0’

Saskatoon / 650 CKOM

Brent Bosker

Aug 17, 2021 | 12:57 PM

The BHP Jansen potash mine, located about 140 kilometres east of Saskatoon. (Supplied)

A Saskatchewan business analyst says the province will see the economic spinoffs of a new potash mine for years to come.

BHP announced Tuesday it will bring its long-delayed Jansen potash project into production. The $7.5 billion capital investment includes the construction of an underground mine, processing facility and rail infrastructure.

“It adds to the value or worth of the province,” said business commentator Paul Martin.

“Once you build a mine you can’t unbuild a mine. Saskatchewan will be forever changed by this.”

The ripple effects, Martin says will be felt for a long time with new jobs, investment at the community level and new royalty revenue for the provincial government.

BHP has spent billions already on the project that has been touted as the largest potash mine in the world, with annual production of 4.35 million tonnes.

Martin believes there’s room for another mine despite the potash industry just going through a major expansion.

“Global populations are growing; demand for food and fertilizer as a consequence is growing. By the time this (mine) comes on stream the demand should have caught up to all the growth (Saskatchewan) did in the last 10 years and it should not over-saturate the market. It should be just in time, is what (BHP) is betting on,” said Martin.

According to Martin, global commodity markets are in the early stages of a resurgence and the Jansen mine will help the province capitalize on that growth.

“Saskatchewan’s economy is taking off right now and it’s being pushed by investment capital,” he said.

“Saskatchewan is back into Sashays and Sashays 2.0.”

Global firm bets billions on Sask. potash mine

CTV News SaskatoonStaff
Published Tuesday, August 17, 2021


NOW PLAYING
WATCH: CTV Saskatoon’s Pat McKay gets reaction to the largest investment in Saskatchewan’s history.

SASKATOON -- BHP has announced it will pour billions of dollars into a potash mine southeast of Saskatoon.

On Tuesday, the Australian firm said it has approved $7.5 billion in spending for its Jansen potash mine.

The mine has been in the works for a decade but a sluggish potash market had stalled the project.

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Jansen area residents optimistic for local economy after BHP mine announcement

Potash mine project in Jansen, Sask. put on hold

"This is an important milestone for BHP and an investment in a new commodity that we believe will create value for shareholders for generations," the firm's CEO Mike Henry said in a news release.

The Jansen Stage 1 project is expected to produce 4.5 million tonnes of potash a year, according to the company.

The community of Jansen is located roughly 150 kilometres from Saskatoon.

Premier Scott Moe was beaming during a news conference held in Regina Tuesday morning.

"While we were all sleeping last night one of the largest mining companies in the world approved one of the largest projects in their history, " Moe said, desribing the project as the "largest private economic investment" in Saskatchewan history.

"It certainly isn't every day in Saskatchewan or anywhere else where we have the opportunity to announce a new mine in the province, certainly not one the size and scope of what we are announcing here today," Moe said.

The province estimates the project will create around 3,500 jobs annually during construction and and provide direct employment for 600 workers once it is up and running.

Construction is expected to take six years, followed by a two-year "ramp-up" period.

The mine could operate for up to a century, according to BHP.

According to the company, it has already epent over $5.6 billion on the project over the years, describing the cost as a "significant initial outlay."

The firm said its approach would be different if considering the project again today.

As it shared news of its multi-billion dollar bet on the Saskatchewan mine, the firm also announced it would spin off its petroleum business.

"Our petroleum and Jansen decisions will increase the weighting of BHP’s remaining portfolio towards the future facing commodities that are most positively leveraged towards population growth, rising living standards, electrification and decarbonisation," Henry said in a note to shareholders.

 

Fizzing sodium could explain asteroid Phaethon's cometlike activity

by Jet Propulsion Laboratory

This illustration depicts asteroid Phaethon being heated by the Sun. The asteroid’s 

surface gets so hot that sodium inside Phaethon’s rock may vaporize and vent into

 space, causing it to brighten like a comet and dislodge small pieces of rocky debris. 

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/IPAC

Models and lab tests suggest the asteroid could be venting sodium vapor as it orbits close to the Sun, explaining its increase in brightness.

As a comet zooms through the inner solar system, the Sun heats it, causing ices below the surface to vaporize into space. The venting vapor dislodges dust and rock, and the gas creates a bright tail that can extend millions of miles from the nucleus like an ethereal veil.

Whereas comets contain lots of different ices, asteroids are mainly rock and not known for producing such majestic displays. But a new study examines how near-Earth asteroid Phaethon may in fact exhibit cometlike activity, despite lacking significant quantities of ice.

Known to be the source of the annual Geminid meteor shower, the 3.6-mile-wide (5.8 kilometer-wide) asteroid brightens as it gets close to the Sun. Comets typically behave like this: When they heat up, their icy surfaces vaporize, causing them to become more active and brighten as the venting gases and dust scatter more sunlight. But what is causing Phaethon to brighten if not vaporizing ices?

The culprit could be sodium. As the new study's authors explain, Phaethon's elongated, 524-day orbit takes the object well within the orbit of Mercury, during which time the Sun heats the asteroid's surface up to about 1,390 degrees Fahrenheit (750 degrees Celsius). With such a warm orbit, any water, carbon dioxide, or carbon monoxide ice near the asteroid's surface would have been baked off long ago. But at that temperature, sodium may be fizzing from the asteroid's rock and into space.

"Phaethon is a curious object that gets active as it approaches the Sun," said study lead Joseph Masiero, a scientist at IPAC, a research organization at Caltech. "We know it's an asteroid and the source of the Geminids. But it contains little to no ice, so we were intrigued by the possibility that sodium, which is relatively plentiful in asteroids, could be the element driving this activity."

Asteroid-meteor connection

Masiero and his team were inspired by observations of the Geminids. When meteoroids—small pieces of rocky debris from space—streak through Earth's atmosphere as meteors, they disintegrate. But before they do, friction with the atmosphere causes the air surrounding the meteoroids to reach thousands of degrees, generating light. The color of this light represents the elements they contain. Sodium, for example, creates an orange tinge. The Geminids are known to be low in sodium.

Until now, it was assumed that these small pieces of rock somehow lost their sodium after leaving the asteroid. This new study suggests that the sodium may actually play a key role in ejecting the Geminid meteoroids from Phaethon's surface.

The researchers think that as the asteroid approaches the Sun, its sodium heats up and vaporizes. This process would have depleted the surface of sodium long ago, but sodium within the asteroid still heats up, vaporizes, and fizzes into space through cracks and fissures in Phaethon's outermost crust. These jets would provide enough oomph to eject the rocky debris off its surface. So the fizzing sodium could explain not only the asteroid's cometlike brightening, but also how the Geminid meteoroids would be ejected from the asteroid and why they contain little sodium.

"Asteroids like Phaethon have very weak gravity, so it doesn't take a lot of force to kick debris from the surface or dislodge rock from a fracture," said Björn Davidsson, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and a co-author of the study. "Our models suggest that very small quantities of sodium are all that's needed to do this—nothing explosive, like the erupting vapor from an icy comet's surface; it's more of a steady fizz."

Lab tests required

To find out if sodium turns to vapor and vents from an asteroid's rock, the researchers tested samples of the Allende meteorite, which fell over Mexico in 1969, in a lab at JPL. The meteorite may have come from an asteroid comparable to Phaethon and belongs to a class of meteorites, called carbonaceous chondrites, that formed during the earliest days of the solar system. The researchers then heated chips of the meteorite to the highest temperature Phaethon would experience as it approaches the Sun.

"This temperature happens to be around the point that sodium escapes from its rocky components," said Yang Liu, a scientist at JPL and a study co-author. "So we simulated this heating effect over the course of a 'day' on Phaethon—its three-hour rotation period—and, on comparing the samples' minerals before and after our lab tests, the sodium was lost, while the other elements were left behind. This suggests that the same may be happening on Phaethon and seems to agree with the results of our models."

The new study supports a growing body of evidence that categorizing small objects in our solar system as "asteroids" and "comets" is oversimplified, depending not only on how much ice they contain, but also what elements vaporize at higher temperatures.

"Our latest finding is that if the conditions are right, sodium may explain the nature of some active asteroids, making the spectrum between asteroids and comets even more complex than we previously realized," said Masiero.

The study, titled "Volatility of Sodium in Carbonaceous Chondrites at Temperatures Consistent with Low-Perihelia Asteroids," was published in The Planetary Science Journal on Aug. 16, 2021.

Rare blue asteroid responsible for Geminid meteor shower reveals itself during fly-by

More information: Joseph R. Masiero et al, Volatility of Sodium in Carbonaceous Chondrites at Temperatures Consistent with Low-perihelion Asteroids, The Planetary Science Journal (2021). DOI: 10.3847/PSJ/ac0d02

Journal information: The Planetary Science Journal 

Provided by Jet Propulsion Laboratory 

 

Signed in secrecy off Newfoundland 80 years ago, the Atlantic Charter changed world history

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Charter was signed in secret off coast of Argentia

Alex Kennedy · CBC News · Posted: Aug 17, 2021 

Four months before the U.S. went to war, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Sir Winston Churchill chat aboard HMS Prince of Wales on August 10, 1941, a rendezvous that gave the world the Atlantic Charter. To the extreme left behind FDR is Capt. Elliott Roosevelt, his son. (The Canadian Press/AP)

War historians in Newfoundland and Labrador are marking the 80th anniversary of the signing of the Atlantic Charter, a closed-doors deal between Britain and the United States that helped shape the course and aftermath of the Second World War.

The charter was signed near Argentia, on ships off the coast of Newfoundland, on August 14, 1941, by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

It included eight principles the world could follow at the end of the war, including an agreement between the two countries not to seek territorial expansion, free seas, and international labour and economic standards.

Gary Walsh, immediate past-president of the Crow's Nest Officers' Club, said the beginnings of the deal came at a time when the war wasn't going so well for the British — and Churchill knew he needed help from the Americans.

"They were afraid that Germany may invade and whatnot," Walsh told The St. John's Morning Show on Friday.

"They decided 'we have to meet,' and of course Churchill was very anxious to get the Americans to join in. So a very top secret set of meetings was arranged. And they decided to meet at a very secret location … and Newfoundland was selected of all places."

Walsh said Newfoundland was chosen for several reasons. It wasn't overly populated, which meant there was less chance of being caught by a spy. The island had also connected the British and Americans in the past through naval and air bases, which allowed for a safe meeting place.

"The year before in 1940 … the British allowed the Americans to set up some naval and air bases in their British territories, one of them, of course, being Newfoundland."

Roosevelt even had a family connection to the island, with his son, Franklin Roosevelt Jr., stationed in Gander in 1940.

The anniversary, which is commemorated every five years, was celebrated Saturday. Festivities included a dinner in Placentia, remarks from Premier Andrew Furey and federal Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole and a showing of a play that was created for the 75th anniversary called Mysterious Visitors.

Walsh said the signing of the charters highlights an important time during the Second World War that he hopes can be preserved for years to come.

"They wanted this eight principles that the world could follow once the war was over. That's what came out of the charter," he said. "This meeting really developed a joint, strong initiative to get together...and there's a lot of historians who think it's very much worth commemorating."

The ancient symbol that was hijacked by evil

(Image credit: Alamy)


By Kalpana Sunder16th August 2021

How an auspicious sacred sign was twisted to become the graphic embodiment of hate and intolerance. Kalpana Sunder explores the extraordinary history of a potent emblem.

The equilateral cross with legs bent at right angles – that looks like swirling arms or a pattern of L shapes – has been a holy symbol in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism for centuries. And, of course, the swastika (or the similar-looking hakenkreuz or hooked cross) is also a symbol of hate, embodying painful and traumatic memories of the Third Reich. The symbol of Nazism, it is associated with genocide and racial hatred after the atrocities of the Holocaust.

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- The ancient origins of the new nomads

- A coded symbol hidden in a masterpiece

The swastika has a long, complex history – much older than its association with Nazi Germany – dating back to prehistoric times. The emblem was a sign of well-being and long life, and was found everywhere, from the tombs of early Christians to the catacombs of Rome and the Lalibela Rock Churches, to the Cathedral of Cordoba. "The motif appears to have first been used in Eurasia, as early as 7,000 years ago, perhaps representing the movement of the sun through the sky… as a symbol of wellbeing in ancient societies," says the Holocaust Encyclopedia.


The Mezquita Cathedral in Cordoba, Spain, is adorned with intricate symbols including the swastika (Getty Images)

The word swastika comes from the Sanskrit roots su (good) and asti (to prevail), meaning wellbeing, prosperity or good fortune, and has been used in the prayers of the Rig Veda, the oldest of Hindu scriptures. In Hindu philosophy it is said to represent various things that come in fours – the four yugas or cyclical times, the four aims or objectives of life, four stages of life, the four Vedas. Swastika is even a girl's name in certain parts of India.

In Buddhism, known as the manji in Japanese, the emblem signifies the Buddha's footsteps. To Jains it means a spiritual teacher. In India, it's a symbol of the sun god with a clockwise orientation, and the auspicious symbol can be seen, often smeared in turmeric, drawn on thresholds and shop doors as a sign of welcome, or on vehicles, religious scriptures and letterheads. It is displayed at weddings and other festive occasions, to consecrate a new home, and while opening account books at the beginning of the financial year, or starting a new venture.


In Indian philosophy it represents the fourth state of consciousness, which is beyond waking, sleeping and dreaming – Ajay Chaturvedi

Ajay Chaturvedi, author of Lost Wisdom of the Swastika, tells BBC Culture: "The swastika is a four-dimensional cube used in Vedic Mathematics, and also symbolises an entire state of being in Indian philosophy – the fourth state of consciousness, which is beyond waking, sleeping and dreaming. The sign as used by Hitler was demonising [it]… and using it in politics, without any understanding of what it stood for in Indian philosophy, where symbols are always backed by meaning and deep significance."

Windows created in the shape of the swastika on a building in Lalibela, Ethiopia (Credit: Alamy)

Different civilisations associate the sign with outstretched hands, four seasons, four directions or with spreading light in all directions. In the 19th-Century book The Swastika: The Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migrations, Thomas Wilson documents how the swastika was found all over the ancient world, on everything from quilts and shields to jewellery. Some believe that its shape was inspired by an ancient comet. The Ancient Greeks used swastika motifs to decorate their pots and vases. The ancient Druids and Celts also used the sacred sign, and in Norse mythology the swastika represented Thor's hammer.

The National Museum of the History of Ukraine houses a wide range of objects featuring the symbol. The oldest is probably a mammoth-ivory figurine of a bird, found in 1908, with a meandering swastika pattern on it that was carbon-dated to 15,000 years ago. Seals depicting swastika motifs have been found in the Mohenjo-Daro and Harappan ruins in India.


There are few more potent symbols with alternative meanings than the swastika in its many iterations – Steven Heller

US art director Steven Heller, author of Swastika: Symbol Beyond Redemption? tells BBC Culture: "I am a graphic designer. Symbols and signs and how they are used and manipulated is important to my practice. There are few more potent symbols with alternative meanings than the swastika in its many iterations."

Before World War Two, the swastika was used in branding – seen here at the Carlsberg factory entrance (Credit: Alamy)


In the early 20th Century, the swastika was widely used in Europe as a symbol of good luck. Interlocked swastikas were used in textiles and architecture. "The sign was used in many ways before Hitler adapted it. A sign of good fortune, fertility, happiness, Sun, and it was given spiritual import as well as commercial value when it was used with or as a brand or logo," says Heller. In the early 20th Century, the swastika was used as a symbol of good luck in advertising, architecture and jewellery. The Danish brewing company Carlsberg, headquartered in Copenhagen, used the symbol as its logo from 1881 to the 1930s, and then discontinued it because of its Nazi association.

Until recently, the Finnish Air Force used a swastika as an insignia on its badges. Rudyard Kipling featured the symbol on many of his book covers because of his association with India. It was used as a symbol by the Scouts in Britain until 1935 – like Kipling, Robert Baden Powell may have picked it up in India. For the Navajo people in the US, the right-facing swastika was a symbol of friendship, which they gave up after World War Two.

Hindu cultural organisations and religious groups have tried to explain that the Nazis did not use the swastika, but a hooked cross. The Nazi swastika has the arms turned to 45 degrees giving a slant to the symbol, whereas the swastikas of Hinduism are presented with the base arm lying flat.

A complex history

When Adolf Hitler was looking for a symbol for his newly launched party, he used the hakenkreuz, rotating the swastika to the right and omitting the four dots – he then adopted this as the party's emblem in 1920. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's minister of propaganda, passed a law in May 1933 that prevented unauthorised commercial use of the hooked cross.

In Hindu tradition, the emblem is frequently used at festive occasions such as weddings

DALIWAL  (Credit: Alamy)


It has been suggested that Hitler's adoption of the symbol may have had its roots in Germans finding similarity between their language and Sanskrit, and drawing a conclusion that Indians and Germans came from the same "pure" Aryan ancestry and lineage. During his extensive excavations, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann discovered, in 1871, 1,800 variations of the hooked cross on pottery fragments at the site of ancient Troy, which were similar to artefacts from German history. "This was seen [by the Nazis] as evidence for a racial continuity and proof that the inhabitants of the site had been Aryan all along," writes anthropologist Gwendolyn Leick.

Of course, cultural appropriation usually harms the original culture. The German Orientalist Max Muller wrote to Schliemann, and warned him to avoid using the word swastika on the icons: "Swastika is a word of Indian origin, and has its history and definite meaning in India. I know the temptation is great to transfer names, with which we are familiar, to similar objects which come before us… the occurrence of such crosses in different parts of the world may or may not point to a common origin."

Not everyone agreed with this interpretation, however. In his book The Sign of the Cross: From Golgotha to Genocide, Dr Daniel Rancour-Laferriere, an expert on Christianity, suggests that Hitler's decision to use the hakenkreuz as a symbol of the Nazi party "may have been due to his childhood upbringing at the Benedictine Monastery in Austria, where he repeatedly saw the hooked cross in many places".

In Hinduism the swastika cross has for many centuries been a symbol of religious devotion (Credit: Alamy)


But over the decades, the swastika has become a contentious and controversial cultural icon. In his book The Swastika and Symbols of Hate, Heller says: "The swastika is an ancient symbol that was hijacked and perverted, twisted into the graphic embodiment of intolerance." In many European countries including Germany, public display of Nazi symbols is prohibited by law, and violating such terms is a criminal offence.

New York State Senator Todd Kaminsky introduced a bill in the New York Senate in 2021, which would require schools in the state of New York to teach that the swastika is an example of a hate symbol. Due to the bill's national implications, organisations including the World Hindu Council of America urged the New York Senate to differentiate between the original swastika and the Nazi hakenkreuz.

Director of advocacy and awareness for the World Hindu Council of America (VHPA) Utsav Chakrabarty said, "We acknowledge the horrid way the swastika has been misused and misinterpreted… For the past 70 years, the swastika continues to remain a vilified and maligned symbol. This must be corrected. Instead of censoring the symbol, we must celebrate the positive history of it."

An ancient mosaic in Uzayzy, Jordan, shows a version of the sacred emblem (Credit: Alamy)


Even members of the Jewish community have highlighted on several occasions the way in which the sign has been misused. "A distorted version of this sacred symbol was misappropriated by the Third Reich in Germany, and abused as an emblem under which heinous crimes were perpetrated against humanity, particularly the Jewish people. The participants recognise that this symbol is, and has been, sacred to Hindus for millennia before its misappropriation," said the declaration made at the Second Hindu Jewish Leadership Summit in Jerusalem held in February 2008.


I want to neutralise the swastika, to remove its association with evil, so that no one need fear it anymore – Edith Altman


Swastikas have however been allowed in the filming of historical movies and the making of video games. There have been some attempts to redeem its image by artists down the ages. The symbol was included by pop star Madonna in a video in 2012, accompanying the song Nobody Knows Me. Madonna later said that she used it to show growing intolerance of people to other communities and people.

The KiMo Theatre in New Mexico, USA, is adorned with traditional Navajo emblems (Credit: Alamy)

In 1993, a Jewish artist named Edith Altman – who lost her grandparents to the Holocaust – created an installation entitled Reclaiming the Symbol: The Art of Memory. She painted a gold swastika on a wall above a black Nazi swastika painted on the floor. "I want to neutralise the swastika, to remove its association with evil, so that no one need fear it anymore," she told the Chicago Reader.

The anti-Semitic use of the swastika did not end with World War Two. Even today racist neo-nazi gangs use the sign to desecrate Jewish graves or houses of worship. Some people feel that its taboo status has enhanced its appeal for hate groups. "The latest 2021 police figures from the two cities with the largest Jewish populations, New York and Los Angeles, show both cities tracking for a record year for overall hate crime, with Jews being the most targeted in New York and third most targeted in Los Angeles," says Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism (CSHE), and a professor of criminal justice.

In 2020, a 21-year-old Indian student in the US, Simran Tatuskar, faced a backlash on social media after she attempted to portray the swastika as a peaceful symbol that should be included in the school syllabus. One group tweeted: "In Nazi Germany, one of the first things anti-Semites did was erase the history and persecution of the Jews, minimise their struggles and appropriate their beings. By normalising the swastika, this is repeating that vicious cycle." Ultimately Simran Tatuskar had to clarify her position on the issue, and apologise for any unintentional misunderstanding.

The Shoin Shrine in Hagi, Japan, features the ancient sign (Credit: Getty Images)


Before the 2021 Olympic Games in Japan, the decision to drop the Japanese symbol (the manji) for temples on tourist maps, and replace it with a pagoda icon, provoked a backlash. When the elements of a culture are adopted out of context, it seems, its history and heritage become tainted.

As Brian Levin puts it: "Unfortunately, but rightly, the most recent and widespread use of the swastika as a symbol of Nazi hatred and genocide will forever cast an indelible shadow over its lengthy history and alternative meaning. It is important, however, to note that expanding our teaching of history and civics can incorporate not only the origins of symbols, but how they can be co-opted and rebranded to the most evil of ends."

SEE  MANWOMAN SACRED SWASTIKA

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Archaeologists find skeleton, evidence of Greek in Pompeii

ROME (AP) — Archaeologists in the ancient city of Pompeii have discovered a remarkably well-preserved skeleton during excavations of a tomb that also shed light on the cultural life of the city before it was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in AD 79.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

A skull bearing tufts of white hair and part of an ear, as well as bones and fabric fragments, were found in the tomb in the necropolis of Porta Sarno, an area not yet open to the public that is located in the east of Pompeii’s urban center. The discovery is unusual since most adults were cremated at the time.

An inscription of the tomb suggested that its owner, a freed slave named Marcus Venerius Secundio, helped organize performances in Greek in Pompeii. Experts said it was the first confirmation that Greek, the language of culture in the Mediterranean, was used alongside Latin.

“That performances in Greek were organized is evidence of the lively and open cultural climate which characterized ancient Pompeii,” the director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, said in a statement announcing the discovery.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Zuchtriegel said Marcus Venerius clearly had been able to make a living for himself after he was freed as a slave, given the “monumental" size of his burial tomb. “He didn't become super rich, but certainly he reached a considerable level of wealth," Zuchtriegel said.

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD destroyed Pompeii. Excavations over the years have yielded remarkable discoveries of tombs, chariots and brilliantly frescoed homes.

The Associated Press

 

Pompeii tomb offers new hints about cultural life in ancient city

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Newly excavated tomb belonged to man who organized performances in Greek

The Associated Press · Posted: Aug 17, 2021 

Archaeologists in the ancient city of Pompeii have discovered a remarkably well-preserved skeleton during excavations of a tomb. The discovery is unusual since most adults were cremated at the time. (Alfio Giannotti/Pompeii Archeological Park via AP)

Archeologists in the ancient city of Pompeii have discovered a remarkably well-preserved skeleton during excavations of a tomb that also shed light on the cultural life of the city before it was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in AD 79.

White hair and part of an ear, along with bones and fabric fragments, were found in the tomb in the necropolis of Porta Sarno, an area not yet open to the public that is located in the east of Pompeii's urban centre. The discovery is unusual, since most adults were cremated at the time.

This is the tomb of Marcus Venerius Secundio, located in the necropolis of Porta Sarno, in an area not yet open to the public in the east of Pompeii’s urban centre. (Alfio Giannotti/Pompeii Archeological Park via AP)

An inscription on the tomb suggested that its owner, Marcus Venerius Secundio, helped organize performances in Greek in Pompeii. Experts said it was the first confirmation that Greek was used alongside Latin.

"That performances in Greek were organized is evidence of the lively and open cultural climate which characterized ancient Pompeii," Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, said in a statement announcing the discovery.

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The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD destroyed Pompeii. Excavations over the years have yielded remarkable discoveries of tombs, chariots and brilliantly frescoed homes.