British Columbia

From open burning to open dialogue, these actions can mitigate the climate crisis, scientists say

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Modern technology, age-old practices and greater

 connectivity and communication offer hope

Bridgette Watson · CBC News · Posted: Aug 23, 2021 

Climate change is expected to exacerbate wildfires, with estimates of anywhere from a 74 to 118 per cent increase in Canadian land burned by 2100. British Columbians are already experiencing the impact as raging fires lay waste to large swaths of land and poison the air. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

Beaches and Mountains is an audio series exclusive to CBC Listen's On Demand streaming platform hosted by scientist Johanna Wagstaffe and storyteller Rohit Joseph.

It explores the many connections between our favourite natural spaces to be in, why they matter to us as humans, and how we have to fight to preserve them in the face of climate change. 

---

The writing is on the wall that climate change is already taking its toll on British Columbians.

Rising sea levels, raging fires and crop-crippling drought have, or will, affect livelihoods and alter the beautiful landscapes that provide recreation and respite to so many.

Yet as the coast erodes, the province burns and people choke on smoke, climate experts say there are some actions that have been taken — and some that still could be — to help combat the problems we are seeing now and whatever damage is yet to come.

• As B.C. bakes and burns, residents say their climate anxiety is peaking

"We have to find hope," says Alan Shapiro, a B.C.-based ocean scientist and environmental consultant. 

Fortunately, he has.

Solutions at sea

Shapiro says in the last year, he has seen an emergence of businesses and solutions that are "genuinely trying to engage" with climate change challenges.

He says one of the best homegrown solutions-based ideas he has seen so far is in Victoria, where a company has developed unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) that can remain at sea for months and collect data.

Open Ocean Robotics, founded by former National Geographic explorers Julie and Colin Angus, is using the data collected to help plot fuel-efficient shipping routes, learn more about rising sea levels and temperatures, monitor for oil spills and track illegal fishing and dumping. 

• Q&A
  Rising sea levels a threat to Metro Vancouver, prof says

A West Vancouver Secondary School holds a sign that says "Like the ocean, we rise" during a climate protest event in 2019. Sea levels could rise by as much as two metres by 2100 in a worst-case scenario involving melting ice caps and high CO2 emissions. (Rafferty Baker/CBC)

The information is also critical for scientists.

"Just even understanding climate impacts on oceans, we need more data," says Shapiro. "They're helping us by mapping the oceans, especially in this time of climate change."

Fight fire with fire

While robots monitor sea levels — which are expected to rise half a metre by 2050 — many British Columbians are, right now, more worried about fire than water.

Thousands of people have fled or are on edge as wildfires rip through the Interior, and while it is starting to feel like a seasonal normality, experts say it doesn't have to be.

For generations, Indigenous people used controlled burning to get rid of underbrush and other excess fire fuel that could enable a wildfire to grow out of control.

Former Yuneŝit'in government chief Russell Myers Ross, who leads his community's fire management program, told CBC in July those burns are also a way for Indigenous people to regain knowledge lost to colonialism.

• Thousands could die and costs could reach billions if wildfire response doesn't change, scientists say

"This is something that has been done by our ancestors for hundreds of years, if not longer," he said. "It's a real chance for us to regain that practice."

Carli Pierrot watches firefighters working to control part of the Sparks Lake wildfire complex burning on Skeetchetsn territory, near Kamloops, B.C., on July 14. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

Fire ecologist Robert Gray says it's time the province works with Indigenous people to put that knowledge into action. He says it is a long-term solution that can work.

"Historically, average fire size was less than 50 hectares and we can actually get back to that," said Gray.

As of Sunday, more than 8,600 square kilometres of B.C. has burned since April 1.

Spread the word

While it may sound like a small contribution, talking to other people about the climate dilemma is important, Shapiro says. He says research shows most deniers who change their minds, or people who start to engage more with the topic, do so because of human interaction.

"Helping people convert climate into concrete instead of this abstract climate change crisis that we're not engaged with, I think that's the biggest thing that we can do as individuals," says Shapiro.

Thousands of demonstrators attend a climate strike in Vancouver in 2019. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

A silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic is how it created a shared experience people all over the world can speak to each other about, he said. It also brought international leaders and policy makers together to tackle something that put everyone on the planet in jeopardy.

• 10 tips for talking with kids about climate change

This increased connectivity and communication could come in handy, says Shapiro.

"That shared experience, I think, is such a great jumping-off point for the kinds of collaborations we need for climate work," he said.

28:03Episode 3: How to help our beaches and mountains

Heat domes, wildfires, melting snow packs and rising sea levels. In this final episode, Johanna and Rohit will examine the consequences of climate change that will forever change our relationship with beaches and mountains. The solutions are there, from business innovation to Indigenous stewardship, they just need to be taken. This episode features the voices of Alan Shapiro, Nathan Gillet, Robert Gray, Karen Hodges, Mike Greer, Menetiye Eliot, James McGuire, and Kwulasultun. 28:03

With files from Rohit Joseph, Johanna Wagstaffe and Ethan Sawyer

Investors see green hydrogen advancing as China signals support

Bloomberg News | August 23, 2021 

Image: Joseph Brent | Flickr Commons.

Chinese investors see potential for further gains in companies making equipment needed to produce or use green hydrogen, a clean energy source most governments are betting will help them meet mid-century climate targets.


The sector has so far offered a haven from government crackdowns on technology and education companies that Beijing blames for exacerbating inequality and increasing financial risk. As China tightens oversight, industries driving growth through innovation and technology are seen gaining support.

“Hydrogen power is one of the ultimate solutions to achieve net-zero emissions,” said Li Weiqing, fund manager at JH Investment Management, which purchased shares of LONGi Green Energy Technology Co. due to the company’s hydrogen investments. The sector will get “heavy policy support.”

Although a surge in hydrogen-related stocks earlier this month that buoyed shares of companies like fueling-station equipment maker Houpu Clean Energy Co. and fuel cell engine maker Zhongshan Broad Ocean Motor Co. has leveled off, there remains plenty of upside potential, according to Li.

Government support for green hydrogen isn’t likely to come through direct central government subsidies, according to Xiaoting Wang, a BloombergNEF analyst based in San Francisco, who cited the high cost of that approach. Rather, Beijing will support large state-backed firms developing the energy.

However, the sector is benefiting as local governments, including Beijing and Inner Mongolia, introduce strategies aimed at cultivating green hydrogen firms to show compliance with net-zero targets. China will account for about two-thirds of the world’s electrolyzers, the equipment used to produce hydrogen by separating water, by the end of 2022, according to BNEF.

More than 20 provinces and 40 cities in China have published development plans worth trillions of yuan for hydrogen energy facilities, according to the state-run Economic Daily. The country delivered 558 fuel-cell buses in the first six months of 2021, compared with 17,000 battery electric buses deployed in the second quarter of this year alone, according to BNEF.

(With assistance from Jeff Sutherland)

China Muscles In on Middle East Renewables With Alcazar Deal

Nicolas Parasie
Mon, August 23, 2021,


(Bloomberg) --

China is making one of its biggest pushes yet into Middle Eastern renewable energy.

A group led by state power firm China Three Gorges Corp. is buying Alcazar Energy Partners, a Dubai-based wind and solar developer. The announcement on Monday confirmed a Bloomberg News report last week.

While financial details weren’t disclosed, Bloomberg reported earlier that a deal could value Alcazar at about $1 billion, including debt.

“The region has really high growth prospects,” Daniel Calderon, Alcazar’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. Alcazar and its backers saw a large number of bidders and selected a “blue-chip investor” with a strategy to grow the portfolio in the region.

The deal could serve as a springboard for China to increase clean energy investments in the Middle East. Chinese companies have put their money into oil and gas in the likes of Iraq and the United Arab Emirates for years, but have rarely invested in renewables.

Previous Chinese investments include JinkoSolar Holding Co. and Jinko Power Technology Co., two affiliated solar-panel makers, taking minority stakes in solar projects in the UAE.

Power Grids

Several Middle Eastern governments, including the major oil producers in the Persian Gulf, are trying to cut the use of fossil fuels in their power grids. China Three Gorges South Asia Investment Ltd., or CSAIL, the unit leading the Alcazar transaction, said the region could attract $175 billion of clean-energy investments in the next decade.

Founded in 2014, Alcazar has projects in Egypt and Jordan with a total generation capacity of around 410 megawatts. Its investors include a fund linked to Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co., Dubai-based BluStone Management Ltd. and the World Bank’s International Finance Corp.

Alcazar’s projects have helped power 275,000 households and saved over 15.6 million tons of carbon dioxide, according to Calderon. He was previously an executive at Masdar, an Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy firm owned by Mubadala, and General Electric.

CSAIL is an overseas investment company controlled by China Three Gorges. Its aim is to acquire and develop renewable power assets, primarily in Asia. The IFC and Chinese sovereign wealth fund Silk Road are minority shareholders.

China Three Gorges listed its renewable energy subsidiary earlier this year in Shanghai, raising $3.6 billion. It has been acquiring foreign assets for more than a decade. Since early 2020, it’s invested roughly 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) in Spanish solar projects.

Standard Chartered Plc advised Alcazar on the deal. They began a strategic review last year, with the process taking longer than expected due to the coronavirus pandemic.

CSAIL was advised by Natixis and its affiliates by Vermilion Partners and EFG Hermes. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer provided legal advice to Alcazar


©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

Purple bacteria turn sewage into hydrogen fuel
Purple is the new black.

Purple bacteria are poised to turn your toilet into a source of energy and useable organic material.

 by Alexandru Micu

ZME
August 23, 2021

Dried sewage sludge.
Image credits: Hannes Grobe.

Household sewage and industrial wastewater are very rich in organic compounds, and organic compounds can be very useful. But there’s a catch: we don’t know of any efficient way to extract them from the eww goo yet. So these resource-laden liquids get treated, and the material they contain is handled as a contaminant.

New research plans to address this problem — and by using an environmentally-friendly and cost-efficient solution to boot.

The future is purple (and bacterial)

“One of the most important problems of current wastewater treatment plants is high carbon emissions,” says co-author Dr. Daniel Puyol of King Juan Carlos University, Spain.

“Our light-based biorefinery process could provide a means to harvest green energy from wastewater, with zero carbon footprint.”

The study is the first effort to apply purple phototrophic bacteria — phototrophic means they absorb photons, i.e. light, as they’re feeding — together with electrical stimulation for organic waste recovery. The team showed that this approach can recover up to 100% of the carbon in any type of organic waste, supplying hydrogen gas in return — which is very nice, as hydrogen gas can be used to create power cells or energy directly.

Although green is the poster-color for photosynthesis, it’s far from the only one. Chlorophyll’s role is to absorb energy from light — we perceive this absorption as color. Green chlorophyll, for example, absorbs the wavelengths we perceive as red (which sits opposite green on the color wheel). If you’ve ever toyed around with the color-correction feature in graphical software (a la Photoshop, for example), you know that taking out the reds in a picture will make it look green. The same principle applies here.

Plants are generally green because red wavelengths carry the most energy — and plants need energy to create organic molecules. But the substance comes in all sorts of colors in a variety of different organisms. Phototrophic bacteria also capture energy from sunlight, but they use a different range of pigment — from orange, reds, and browns, to shades of purple — for the job. However, the color itself isn’t important here.

“Purple phototrophic bacteria make an ideal tool for resource recovery from organic waste, thanks to their highly diverse metabolism,” explains Puyol.

These bacteria use organic molecules and nitrogen gas in lieu of CO2 and water as food. This supplies all the carbon, electrons, and nitrogen they need for photosynthesis. The end result is that they tend to grow faster than other phototrophic bacteria or algae and generate hydrogen gas, proteins, and a biodegradable type of polyester as waste.

But what really sealed the deal for the team is that they can decide which of these waste products the bacteria churn out. Depending on environmental conditions such as light intensity, temperature, and the nutrients available, one of these products will predominate in the material they excrete.

The team doubled-down on this property by flooding the bacteria’s environment with electricity.

“Our group manipulates these conditions to tune the metabolism of purple bacteria to different applications, depending on the organic waste source and market requirements,” says co-author Professor Abraham Esteve-Núñez of University of Alcalá, Spain.

“But what is unique about our approach is the use of an external electric current to optimize the productive output of purple bacteria.”

This concept — a “bioelectrochemical system” — works because all of the purple bacteria’s metabolic pathways use electrons as energy carriers. They use up electrons when capturing light, for example. On the other hand, turning nitrogen into ammonia releases electrons, which the bacteria need to dissipate. By applying an electrical current to the bacteria (i.e. by pumping electrons into their environment) or by taking electrons out, the team can cause the bacteria to switch from one process to the other. It also helps improve the overall efficiency of both processes (see Le Chatelier’s principle).

The team included an analysis of the optimum conditions for hydrogen production in the paper (it relies on a mixture of purple bacteria species). They also tested the effect of a negative current (electrons supplied by metal electrodes in the growth medium) on the metabolic behavior of the bacteria.

Their first key finding was that the nutrient blend that fed the highest rate of hydrogen production also minimized the production of CO2 — this would allow the bacteria to recover biofuel from wastewater with a low carbon footprint, the team explains. The negative current experiment proved that these bacteria can use cathode electrons to perform photosynthesis.

Even more striking were the results using electrodes, which demonstrated for the first time that purple bacteria are capable of using electrons from a negative electrode, or “cathode“, to capture CO2 via photosynthesis.

“Recordings from our bioelectrochemical system showed a clear interaction between the purple bacteria and the electrodes: negative polarization of the electrode caused a detectable consumption of electrons, associated with a reduction in carbon dioxide production,” says Esteve-Núñez.

“This indicates that the purple bacteria were using electrons from the cathode to capture more carbon from organic compounds via photosynthesis, so less is released as CO2.”

The paper “Biological and Bioelectrochemical Systems for Hydrogen Production and Carbon Fixation Using Purple Phototrophic Bacteria” has been published in the journal Frontiers in Energy Research.



Alexandru Micu
Stunningly charming pun connoisseur, I have been fascinated by the world around me since I first laid eyes on it. Always curious, I'm just having a little fun with some very serious science.

CUPE decries state of North Bay hospital contract negotiations

Union calls on MPP Fedeli to 'advocate'

Author of the article: Jennifer Hamilton-McCharles
Publishing date: Aug 23, 2021

Michael Hurley, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees' Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, spoke to local media, Monday morning, outside the North Bay Regional Health Centre about upcoming bargaining. Jennifer Hamilton-McCharles/The Nugget

One of the biggest unions in the province is calling on Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli to intervene on behalf of the front-line workers at the North Bay Regional Health Centre to stop wages and working 

Michael Hurley, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE), and OCHU Northeastern Ontario Area 6 vice-president David Tremblay held a press conference outside the North Bay Regional Health Centre Monday morning to highlight the situation.

“We’re reluctantly here to talk about the bargaining situation for the staff at North Bay Regional Health Centre and hospital workers across Ontario,” Hurley told local media.

“There’s a disconnect with what the government says about these workers and how they treat them.”

He said CUPE met with the Ontario Hospital Association back in June to start the bargaining process.

“There was not one single word of a thank you for stepping up (during this pandemic). Instead, there was 17 pages of concessions threatening their job security rights and posting rights.”

Tremblay echoed the message that everyone in health care stepped up and did their part to help keep their communities safe.

“The public and province gave us accolades during the pandemic calling us heroes. However, it came as a shock to us that the (Premier Doug) Ford government passed legislation that for the first three years of our contract, which expires in September, our wage increases will be limited to one per cent (per year),” he said.

“According to Statistics Canada, from July (2020) to July (2021) the rate of inflation is 4.1 per cent, which means we will have a 3.1 per cent decrease in wages. That makes all the thank yous from the provincial government dishonest.”

CUPE is praising the province for increasing the hourly wage for personal support workers, but argues increases should be across the board.

Hurley said there also is concern about the difficulty nurses had obtaining N95 masks and superior respirators.

“There are many struggling workers in the hospital with anxiety, addiction, PTSD, depression, which have been worsened by the environment they’re working in. We’re prevented from bargaining any access to psychological counselling or any supports. We don’t have any and we will not be able to bargain any. And that’s not fair,” he said.

“The North Bay community has a very influential member of cabinet. Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli chairs cabinet and he’s in a good position to be advocates for these people. And we’re asking him to do that.”

Fedeli was unavailable for comment as he is away on vacation this week, according to his spokeswoman Rebecca Bozzato.

“Bill 124 is designed to protect public sector jobs and vital front-line services, which are essential in our fight against COVID-19. This is a fair, consistent and time-limited approach that will enable us to protect front-line jobs and workers,” a statement from Treasury Board president Prabmeet Sarkaria’s office said.

“It is inaccurate to suggest that Bill 124 caps wages at one per cent annually. Under this legislation, Ontario’s public sector employees will still be able to receive salary increases for seniority, performance, or increased qualifications as they do currently. As we continue to respond to the evolving COVID-19 situation here in Ontario, our government remains committed to working with our sector partners to support our front-line health-care workers and ensure the health and well-being of Ontarians.”

Hurley said hospital workers will head to Toronto Sept. 10 to provide a “gentle” push before the three weeks of bargaining and mediation. A rally also is being planned for the fall in North Bay.

“If unsuccessful, we’ll come back and talk about giving them a firmer push. We’re certainly hoping there will be a recognition from the Ford government and hospitals this is not a fitting fair way to recognize health-care workers during the pandemic,” he said.

Hurley said while CUPE is trying to negotiate a contract, “large” numbers of people are leaving the nursing profession.

“They can’t take it anymore,” he said.

“We already had the fewest staff working in our hospitals, and the second fewest in long-term care, of any province in the country. When you start to take large groups of workers away like this, the impact on workloads and quality of care is huge.”

Hurley said hospitals are competing for employees who are now making changes and “quality of life calculations.

“People are increasingly aware if you’re an RPN or RN and you work for an agency hire, you don’t have to work nights, weekends or evenings. When you give PSWs $3 in long-term care and $2 in hospitals, you have others who are doing nursing care. They (nurses) say they went to school two or four years and yet there’s no recognition for them. It’s a piecemeal way to deal with labour force problems.”

CUPE represents more than 600 employees at North Bay Regional Health Centre.

Hurley said there are several hospital proposals that have made CUPE “very concerned about privatizing jobs,” such as cleaning positions.

Hospital Union pushing for more respect for hospital workers

'This is totally, totally about respect'

 By: Chris Dawson

(L to R) David Tremblay, Area 6 Vice President with OCHU based out of Sudbury and Michael Hurley, President of OCHU speak to the media Monday morning. Photo by Chris Dawson/BayToday.

Michael Hurley says it's all a matter of respect.

"This is totally, totally about respect," said Hurley, President of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE).

Hurley says after working the past 18 months at a hectic pace in the pandemic, hospital workers feel devalued and betrayed by both the province and their hospital employers including here in North Bay.

"It is about respect and dignity and it isn't that people believe they should be entitled but it is that they feel that there is this incredible disconnect between what the government says on one hand when they say, 'we value your work and thank you so much, you are heroes,' and then on the other hand how they have set up this group to be treated," said Hurley.

"They have set themselves up to have their wages effectively reduced and they have set them up with respect to the hospitals to have their basic working conditions eroded. That makes people feel profoundly disrespected and hurt. I think hurt would be the best."

Hurley, along with David Tremblay, Area 6 Vice President with OCHU based out of Sudbury, held a media event at the entrance to the North Bay Regional Health Centre Monday morning to voice their displeasure over wage increases which they say just do not add up.

Hurley believes the government is rewarding them with a cut to real wages under provincial legislation (Bill 124) that restricts them to a wage increase less than 1/3 of the rate of inflation, which is running at over four per cent in Ontario

He says the province has also hampered hospital workers’ ability to negotiate much-needed increases to mental health supports like post-traumatic stress counselling.

“We are asking Mr. Fedeli to intervene and do what’s right here,” said Hurley, about Nipissing's MPP stepping in.

“North Bay hospital workers have held the line for patients and the people of Nipissing. They sacrificed to do that, and they were proud and grateful to be able to help. They did not expect a reward. But a cut to their modest real wages and the gutting of their contracts is not acceptable. We hope that the provincial government will walk back from its one per cent wage cap, as the British government did in July, in acknowledgement of the pandemic effort.

A rally in North Bay is planned for late September.

PERU

Southern Copper keeps faith in iconic mine spurned by government
Bloomberg News | August 20, 2021 | 

Tía María’s construction plan has been halted and readjusted twice, in 2011 and 2015, due to fierce opposition by locals. (Image: Southern Copper).

Southern Copper Corp. remains hopeful it can convince Peru’s new left-wing government of the merits of building a fiercely contested copper mine in the coastal mountains.


President Pedro Castillo has singled out the Tia Maria project as a non-starter under his administration, a view that was echoed by Minister of Energy and Mines Ivan Merino in a meeting with company executives Thursday.

But opposition to the project is based on incorrect assumptions about its ecological footprint, according to Chief Financial Officer Raul Jacob. For example, the mine will get its water from a desalination plant rather than dipping into the Tambo River and will use a leaching process that’s cleaner than conventional production methods, he said.

“This information may not be known by some of the authorities and that has created some miscommunication,” Jacob said in a telephone interview Friday. “It’s a matter of time before the authorities recognize the work we have been doing — not only on the technical and permitting side but also with the local population.”

OPPOSITION TO THE PROJECT IS BASED ON INCORRECT ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT ITS ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT, ACCORDING TO THE COMPANY’S CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Developing the $1.4 billion project would be a major breakthrough in a country where mining’s relations with isolated rural communities often sour. The previous government’s 2019 decision to approve a license for Tia Maria unleashed weeks of protests in the Arequipa region.

‘Positive’ meeting

Jacob described the meeting with the minister as positive. The company laid out its $8 billion project pipeline in the country, as part of a company-wide goal of expanding its 1 million-ton capacity to 1.8 million tons by 2030.

Despite its ongoing opposition to Tia Maria, the Castillo administration is working on a new approach to community relations and red tape to unlock more of the country’s huge mineral wealth. Peru is the biggest copper producer after Chile and a major supplier of zinc and silver.

Southern Copper is “very close to signing a new social program” with communities for its Michiquillay project, Jacob said, adding that mining investments offer a much needed boost to local economies.

Still, the company will be paying close attention to policy priorities laid out by the prime minister in an upcoming presentation, which will help it make investment decisions. Castillo’s administration is studying a proposal to lift taxes and leave more of the mining windfall in the country.

Jacob said the company’s mines are running normally in the pandemic.

“We’re complying with our mining plans,” he said. “We’re expecting to be slightly higher than what we believed at the beginning of the year in terms of production.”

(By James Attwood, with assistance from María Cervantes)

Clay found in bauxite deposits helps produce low-carbon cement
MINING.COM Staff Writer | August 23, 2021 | 

Bauxite mine in Brazil. (Reference image by Norsk Hydro ASA, Flickr).

Researchers at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Germany and the Brazilian University of Pará have found an alternative to the alternative to produce climate-friendly cement.


In a paper published in the journal Sustainable Materials and Technologies, the team explains that Portland cement – the most commonly used type of cement – is traditionally made using various raw materials, including limestone, which are burned to form clinker. In the process, calcium carbonate is converted into calcium oxide, releasing large quantities of carbon dioxide.

One promising solution is calcium sulphoaluminate cement, in which a large portion of the limestone is replaced by bauxite. However, bauxite is a sought-after raw material in aluminum production and is not available in unlimited quantities.

THE ALTERNATIVE TO THE ALTERNATIVE IS, THUS, NOT USING PURE BAUXITE BUT RATHER AN OVERBURDEN: BELTERRA CLAY

“This layer of clay can be up to 30 metres thick and covers the bauxite deposits in the tropical regions of the Earth, for example in the Amazon basin,” Herbert Pöllmann, co-author of the study, said in a media statement. “It contains enough minerals with an aluminum content to ensure good quality cement. It is also available in large quantities and can be processed without additional treatment.”

According to Pöllmann, another advantage is that Belterra clay has to be removed anyway, so it does not have to be extracted only for cement production.

In the study, the researcher and his colleagues explain that even though cement cannot be entirely produced without calcium carbonate, at least 50% to 60% of the limestone can be replaced by Belterra clay.

Another advantage of this process is that burning only requires 1,250 degrees Celsius – 200 degrees Celsius, which is less than for Portland cement.

“Our method not only releases less CO2 during the chemical conversion but also when heating the rotary kilns,” Pöllmann said. “By coupling these effects, CO2 emissions can be reduced by up to two-thirds during cement production.”

In extensive laboratory tests, the mineralogists were able to prove that their alternative cement meets all the quality requirements placed on traditional Portland cement.

ECOCIDE WE ALL LIVE DOWNSTREAM
Waste from Angola’s Catoca diamond mine leaked into waterways last month

Angola mine leak causes 'unprecedented' pollution in Congo rivers, researchers say


KINSHASA,  (Reuters) - A suspected leak of heavy metals from a mine in northern Angola is causing an "unprecedented environmental catastrophe", affecting some 2 million people in Democratic Republic of Congo, researchers at Kinshasa University said on Friday.

Reuters | August 23, 2021 | 

Credit: Catoca Mining Company

Waste material from Angola’s biggest diamond mine leaked into a river last month, filling waterways with sediment before the breach was sealed, Sociedade Mineira de Catoca (Catoca Mining Company) said in a statement seen by Reuters on Monday.


Congolese researchers on Friday said pollution caused by a leak from a tailings dam, used to store waste mining material, had turned rivers red and caused fish to die in Congo’s southern Kasai province.

The researchers did not link the pollution to a specific mine.

Catoca said in a statement, dated Aug. 9 and seen by Reuters on Monday, that tailings were seen to have leaked into the Lova river on July 27 following a rupture in a spillway for the mine waste dam.

The company said it immediately sought to repair it, built two dykes to filter sediment out of the water and by Aug. 9 the breach was sealed.

It said it would provide local residents with baskets of basic goods to mitigate the impact of the leak on waterways.

The company’s website does not include any information on the tailings dam leak.

Catoca, a joint venture of Russian state-controlled diamond producer Alrosa and Angolan state diamond company Endiama, is one of the biggest diamond mines in the world and Angola’s top diamond producer, responsible for around 75% of national output.

Alrosa, which holds 41% of Catoca, declined to comment. Endiama, which also has a 41% stake in Catoca, did not respond to a request for comment.

(By Helen Reid, Hereward Holland and Polina Devitt; Editing by Barbara Lewis)

Catoca Diamond Mine, Angola - NASA Earth Observatory

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/8928

In terms of surface area, the Catoca kimberlite pipe in Angola is the fourth-largest diamond-rich rock formation on Earth. The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image of the Catoca diamond mine on June 21, 2001. In this false-color image, vegetation appears bright green, water appears dark blue, and bare ground appears beige-gray.

Catoca diamond mine - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catoca_diamond_mine

• Overview
• Production
• Geology

The Catoca diamond mine is the fourth largest diamond mine in the world, and is located in Angola. The mine is owned by a consortium of international mining interests, including Endiama (the state mining company of Angola) (32.8% ownership), Alrosa of Russia (32.8%), Odebrecht of Brazil (16.4%), and the Diamond Finance CY BV Group (16.8%). The mine is located on a kimberlite pipe.

AUSTRALIA

Blair Athol coal mine life extended by 10 years

TILL 2031 AT LEAST!!!

THAT'S 30 TONNES

Cecilia Jamasmie | August 23, 2021 | 

TerraCom has established a portfolio of coal mines in Queensland, Australia. (Image courtesy of TerraCom.)

Australian coal producer TerraCom (ASX: TER) said on Monday it had extended the life of its Blair Athol coal mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin by about 10 years, following a reserves update.


As of June 30, 2021, the mine’s marketable reserves totalled 19.5 tonnes, TerraComm said. Based on a two-million-tonne sales profile, the company estimates that Blair Athol will run for another decade, giving the mine 14 years of operation under its ownership.

TerraCom acquired Blair Athol in 2016 from Rio Tinto for only A$1 (about 72 US cents at today’s rates), at a time when coal prices were hitting historic lows and top miners decided to offload their coal assets.


LIFE EXTENSION OF CENTRAL QUEENSLAND’S COAL MINE FOLLOWS A RESERVES UPDATE THAT ADDED 19.5 TONNES

The company, which reopened the mine the following year, was forced to defend the authenticity of the operation’s coal in April, denying allegations that it was involved in a coal sampling probe.

The investigation and subsequent 2020 court case centred on allegations that lab testing, and certification company ALS had helped TerraCom to falsify its coal quality results to increase the output’s worth.

Blair Athol’s life extension comes amid soaring thermal coal prices and record-low asset values, which are creating a complex situation for Australian coal producers.

It also follows recent announcements by the biggest banks in Australia, the world’s biggest coal exporter, committing to phase out exposure to thermal coal by 2030.

Some producers, including BHP, are mulling their exit from the market. Others, such as China’s Yancoal, Australia’s top independent exporter of thermal coal, have chosen to keep production rates and focus on coal quality.

TerraCom has opted for extending the mine life through low-cost planning and productivity improvements.

Blair Athol generates 3 million tonnes of high-quality thermal coal a year for exports into Asian markets.

 

Belgian nuclear phase out an 'irreversible loss', PM told

23 August 2021

An open letter to the prime minister of Belgium, Alexander De Croo, has called for the country's anti-nuclear policies to be re-evaluated and for Belgium's nuclear facilities and skills to be positively applied in an effort to avert climate change. Writing in the major newspaper La Libre, a group of young engineers called Horizon 238 appealed to De Croo: "Our country is about to make a decision that will irreversibly shape its energy landscape for decades to come, and which will undoubtedly become one of the most significant chapters of your government's legacy."

The Doel plant (Image: Electrabel)

"The government's decision to phase out nuclear energy - the largest source of low-carbon energy in Belgium - and to finance new fossil gas power plants," they said, is "paradoxical and counterproductive" given that Belgium is still 80% reliant on fossil fuels. "This decision would only reinforce the predominance of fossil fuels in the Belgian energy landscape."

"Let there be no mistake," wrote Horizon 238, "every new gas power plant subsidised on Belgian soil is an admitted act of pollution over several decades. The plants built in 2025 will remain in the energy landscape beyond 2050, the target date for carbon neutrality."

Instead of this course of action, Horizon 238 said, "Our wish, Mr Prime Minister, is that the political choices made 18 years ago be re-evaluated. We ask you to reconsider the nuclear phase-out. Because it is a low-carbon energy source, nuclear energy must be part of the energy transition roadmap."

Belgium's nuclear phase out is based on legislation passed in 2003 that prohibited the building of new reactors and the service lives of existing ones to 40 years. This has already been reconsidered once, in 2007, when a commission set up by the government concluded the closures would double the price of electricity and harm energy security. After a further report in 2009, the government prolonged the lives of some reactors so that the mandated shutdowns would not begin until 2025. Since March 2018, Belgium's policy has been to subsidise new gas power plants via capacity payments to directly replace most of the lost nuclear generation.

Belgium's coalition federal government, led by De Croo, signed an agreement on 30 September 2020 reaffirming its policy to phase out nuclear power in the country by 2025. Under the plan, Doel 3 and Tihange 2 will be shut down in 2022 and 2023, respectively. The newer Doel 4 and Tihange 3 will be shut down by 2025. However, the agreement also called for a report on Belgium's security of electricity supply and the impact on electricity prices of the nuclear phase-out and the planned implementation of a capacity market. If the report - to be completed by November this year - shows potential supply problems, the government would review plans to allow for the retention of 2 GWe of nuclear generation capacity. This could pave the way for a lifetime extension of Doel 4 and Tihange 3.

Horizon 238 said the closures would "result in the irreversible loss of an invaluable asset in the fight against climate change" and instead nuclear technology should be leveraged towards the task of mitigating carbon dioxide emissions that cause climate change.

"Belgium has the luxury of cutting-edge expertise in nuclear power acquired through 60 years of innovation, construction and operation," the letter states. "Our country has the opportunity to use this expertise to prepare its future more serenely. Today, the Myrrha [accelerator-driven research reactor] project developed at the Belgian nuclear research centre, is a research pioneer for recycling nuclear waste. In the near future, Belgian nuclear engineering could be at the forefront of the hydrogen economy and of the deep decarbonisation of industrial sectors that are difficult to electrify, leveraging new, more versatile and more sustainable nuclear technologies."

The letter concludes: "Because it is a low-carbon energy source, nuclear energy must be part of the energy transition roadmap. A ten-year extension of the most recent nuclear reactors goes beyond a reduction of our CO2 emissions. It is the prerequisite for maintaining the Belgian expertise necessary to benefit from technological revolutions that the nuclear sector still has to offer. Given today’s profoundly different context, the nuclear phase-out law passed in 2003 must be reviewed."

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

WATER IS LIFE

Thousands of household wells go dry amid California drought: 'Without water, you're nothing'

Priscella Vega Los Angeles Times (TNS)


MADERA COUNTY, Calif. — Fourteen years ago, Heriberto Sevilla came across a ranch on the outskirts of Madera set among fields of stalk grass and bright wildflowers. Pepper trees dotted the meadow, and children played in the natural lakes created by heavy rains.

It was the perfect place to raise a big family. So the 51-year-old native of Chilapa, Mexico, bought it and made sure the property included a functioning well.

On spring days, free time was spent lounging in the backyard. Heriberto taught his daughters how to ride horses. They helped him feed the chickens and sheep. Goats kept the area tidy, munching on grass. When fruit in the trees was ripe, he proudly showed his children how to harvest their bounty. And in the winter, his wife Sandra prepared a homemade birria for holiday festivities from their goats.

But then a darkness came over the little Eden the Sevillas had created.

Amid two years of relentless drought, the well's output slowly tapered off. The family was forced to buy gallons of precious water from the grocery store to take showers, clean dishes and cook. They borrowed water from their neighbor to irrigate their almond and peach trees and feed their goats, sheep, chickens and horses.

"Without water, you're nothing," Heriberto said. "Family is the most important thing. Plants are beautiful, and my animals help me relax. But what can we do?"

The Sevillas are just one of thousands households across the San Joaquin Valley whose wells have gone dry amid increasingly hot temperatures and drought. Every year, a new town in this verdant agricultural region seems to be pushed over the brink by water scarcity — like East Porterville, an unincorporated community in Tulare County, in 2014, and, most recently, Teviston, a census-designated place in the same county.

But these issues have plagued rural towns and unincorporated areas here for decades. And in the era of the coronavirus, these inequities have become magnified in an area that already had some of the highest poverty rates in the state.

"Drought is part of our life," said Susana De Anda, co-founder and executive director of the Community Water Center, a nonprofit environmental justice organization based in the valley. "We need to ensure we invest in drought-resilient infrastructure. ... We can't wait until wells go dry. That's a disservice."

Even those who can afford to pay upfront for new wells must join waiting lists as drilling companies await the back-ordered equipment they need to build and install them. Local officials provide jugs and gallons of water, and local organizations offer aid if resources aren't already tapped out.

"We're so inundated," said Marliez Diaz, water sustainability manager at Self-Help Enterprises, a nonprofit organization that provides emergency services such as water storage tanks and filtration systems across the valley. In 2020, 121 temporary water tanks of 2,500 gallons were installed, 92 new water wells were constructed and 3,033 households received bottled water, according to an annual report.

The drought parched the natural landscape Heriberto once reveled in.

Plants withered, and the spacious backyard is now all dirt. Arianna, their 5-year-old daughter, gets coated with dust when she pretends to cook in her cottage playhouse. A patch of yellowing grass remains, a reminder of better days when Heriberto's beloved horse grazed near his hammock. He sold his companion months ago to preserve water. He will sell more of his furry friends in the coming weeks.

"Too many people don't appreciate water," Sandra said, "until this happens to you."

On a recent weekday morning, a thin flow of water trickled from a faucet into a dirty bowl as she washed dishes. Sandra hunched forward to meticulously scrub it with a worn sponge, then poured the soapy water onto another plate.

Every so often, she allowed herself to get a bit more water.

Heriberto lived in the city of Madera when he first arrived in California in 1994. He picked tomatoes, onions and garlic for years until he found his way south in Santa Ana and met Sandra, who became his wife. The two rented a room and survived off of Heriberto's earnings as a landscaper. But city life wasn't for them.

This time, he returned with Sandra to an unincorporated area of Madera, where he found the place he'd finally get to call his own.

The first inkling of drought for the Sevillas happened in 2019 when the water pressure from their well dropped. Heriberto thought the pump's motor might need to be replaced, or that maybe a tube broke. He asked five people familiar with wells for a diagnostic, and they all told him he was running out of water.


Sandra scaled back on how often she mopped their home's tile floors. She lugged bags of soiled clothes to stuffy laundromats. If she dried her hands with a paper towel, she smoothed it out and reused it to wipe down the microwave and kitchen counters.

Showers were unpredictable. They'd sometimes have enough water to get wet and soap up, but then have to wait in the tub, covered in bubbles, hoping the water would resume. Most of the time it didn't.

Her daughters "would get mad," Sandra said. "The good thing is our neighbor helped us a lot."

As the situation worsened, Sandra brainstormed a new routine. At dawn, she eked whatever little water drizzled out of the well into 5-gallon plastic buckets. She topped it off with her neighbor's water. Each family member would shower with their allotted bucket. Whatever was left was used to flush the toilet. Single-use plastic water bottles were reserved for washing hands.

The shift in life harked back to Sandra's and Heriberto's childhoods in Mexico, but it came as an unwelcome shock to their four daughters and son.

Emilee Sevilla, 21, learned how to scale back her hourlong showers to 15 minutes. She cut down on the products she uses on her hair and face and no longer lets the water run while she prepares to shave her legs, turning on the shower only when she's actively using it, even now that they've received help.


"I'm only 21 and this is what I have to deal with," she said. "At one point I'm going to have certain struggles when I grow up, and I guess in a way it's mentally preparing me for the future."

In October, while her parents were on a trip to Mexico, Emilee stayed behind with her younger brother because of school and work. She was certain there would be no water issues with fewer people in the house.

As she prepared to shower before a work shift, however, only foam oozed out of the shower head. Shutting the well pump off and on didn't work. She grabbed two water bottles from the refrigerator and washed her face in the bathroom sink.

Over a choppy phone call, she told her parents what happened.

Henry Shillings, a longtime resident who has paid attention to the water discussions in the region, saw Emilee walking in and out of her home. He knew exactly what had happened. His mother had sold her property to Heriberto, and he reckoned that the well had come to the end of its life. He learned their well water flow had dropped to 20 gallons per minute — hardly any pressure compared with his 65 gallons per minute.

Without hesitating, he connected a hose to his well that was long enough to reach the Sevillas' home. "We're neighbors," he said. "That's what neighbors do. We help each other if we can."

Two weeks ago, the Sevillas reached a temporary solution with a 2,500-gallon water tank in their backyard.

Hours after they received their temporary water tank, Sandra and Heriberto took a moment of rest in their backyard. A cool breeze wafted past them, tickling their tree's leaves on a sweltering afternoon. They sat in silence and watched Arianna sit inside her cottage playhouse. Duke, their German shepherd, lay at their feet.


The tank meant they'd have one year of guaranteed clean, precious water, a reprieve from buying a new well, which are as expensive as a brand-new Ford Mustang.

Because they understood this gift, their drought routine would not change. Sandra left the two buckets in the tub — Arianna enjoyed her showers that way.

"Thank God we're going to have this help," Sandra said as she sipped cold water.

Soon they would start visiting banks in hopes of qualifying for a loan to pay for a new well. But in this fleeting moment, in the face of a drought that is only expected to get worse, life felt normal again.

©2021 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. 

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