Over 2,000 health facilities shuttered in Afghanistan: Red Cross

YOU CAN'T BOMB THE TALIBAN INTO THE STONE AGE 

THEY ARE ALREADY THERE

Issued on: 30/09/2021 - 

Alexander Matheou said Afghanistan's health system is on the brink of collapse Hoshang Hashimi AFP

Kabul (AFP)

Afghanistan's health system is on the verge of collapse, a top Red Cross official warned Thursday, saying more than 2,000 health facilities had been shuttered across the conflict-ravaged country.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned that a dire lack of funding was pushing Afghanistan's health system to the brink.

"People might agree to work without salaries for a few more weeks," Alexander Matheou, IFRC's Asia Pacific director, told a press conference in Kabul.

"But once medicines run out totally, if you can't switch on the lights, if you've got nothing to offer somebody who comes to your clinic, then they'll shut the doors."

Devastated by more than four decades of war, the Afghan economy has all but ground to a halt since the Taliban's takeover last month, amid sanctions and a cutoff in foreign aid.

This has taken a particularly heavy toll on the health sector, which was primarily run by NGOs with internal funding before the Taliban came to power.

"Over 2,000 health facilities have closed," Matheou told AFP at the end of a four-day visit to Afghanistan.

More than 20,000 health workers in the country were no longer working, or were working without being paid, he said.

More than 7,000 of them were women.

- Vaccines will expire -

The World Health Organization warned last week that less than a fifth of the country's health facilities remained fully functional, with two-thirds having run out of essential medicines.

This could have dire consequences, including for the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a country where only around one percent of people have received a vaccine, more than one million doses are waiting to be distributed.

They will expire by the end of the year, Matheou said.

The Afghan Red Crescent, which has been working in Afghanistan for decades including in Taliban-held areas during the insurgency, is part of the IFRC network and runs 140 primary health clinics across the country.

Afghanistan has been hit by a range of crises, from drought to mass displacement BULENT KILIC AFP

Those clinics, which have served around one million people since the start of the year, all remain fully functional and saw a surge of activity as other health facilities began closing down, Matheou said.

It comes on top of a wide range of crises stalking Afghanistan, from drought driving severe food shortages to mass displacement.

The United Nations has said more than 18 million Afghans, over half the population, is in dire need of aid, while a third are at risk of famine.

The international community has pledged $1.2 billion in humanitarian aid, but it takes time for the funds to flow.

The Geneva-based IFRC appealed Thursday for 36 million Swiss francs ($38.5 million, 33 million euros) to deliver emergency relief and recovery assistance to more than half a million people in the provinces worst affected by severe drought and displacement.

© 2021 AFP

PELE BUILDS GAIA AN ISLAND

Lava from Canaries eruption covers huge area at sea

Issued on: 30/09/2021 - 

The lava flow from the Cumbre Vieja volcano pours into the Atlantic Ocean 

Sunsets Sweden AFP

Isla de La Palma (España) (AFP)

Lava from the erupting volcano on La Palma in the Canary Islands that began cascading into the ocean 36 hours ago has already covered more than 25 acres at sea, experts said Thursday.

Since it began on September 19, the dramatic eruption has forced thousands out of their homes, while lava has destroyed hundreds of houses, businesses and huge swathes of banana plantations.

The volcano spewed out rivers of lava that slowly crept towards the sea, eventually pouring into the Atlantic Ocean late on Tuesday in a flow which has not stopped.

"Estimates suggest it has already covered more than 10 hectares (25 acres)" at sea, David Calvo of the Canaries' volcanology institute Involcan told AFP, saying experts would carry out a more accurate assessment with drones in the coming hours.

Since then, the rivers of molten rock have not stopped cascading into the sea, creating a growing lava delta in what Calvo described as "a phase of stability".

"The lava is continuing to flow like a waterfall and a lava delta is forming at the base of the cliff, extending southwards," the Pevolca volcanic emergency committee said late Wednesday.


As the white-hot lava poured into the sea, it sent plumes of acid fumes into the air that experts said could irritate the skin  BURN IT MORE LIKE

Sunsets Sweden AFP

As the white-hot lava poured into the sea, it sent plumes of acid fumes into the air that experts said could irritate the skin, eyes and respiratory tracts, possibly causing breathing difficulties.

But fears it could affect the local population were quickly allayed as strong winds dispersed the vapours over the sea.

A spokesman for Spain's AEMET weather service on Thursday said the wind would continue to disperse the gases.

A map locating where lava from the Cumbre Vieja volcano has reached the sea on the Canary Island of La Palma Tupac 

POINTU AFP

There will be "strong northeasterly winds on Thursday and Friday... that will disperse the volcanic emissions towards the sea," Ruben del Campo told AFP.

"So there will be no problem with air quality in populated areas, except in those closest to the eruption point."

- Disaster zone -

Even so, some 300 residents in the nearby town of Tazacorte have been told to stay at home to avoid any chance of inhaling the gases and a 3.5-kilometre (two-mile) exclusion zone remained in place, which also extends two nautical miles out to sea.

"Until we know that these areas are not at risk, these measures will be maintained," Pevolca's Ruben Fernandez said on Wednesday evening.

La Palma has been declared a natural disaster zone, with the lava scorching its way across 476 hectares (1,176 acres) of land, the local government said on Twitter.

It has so far destroyed 855 buildings, an increase of more than 200 in just over 24 hours, the EU's Copernicus observation programme said on Twitter.

The eruption of La Cumbre Vieja has forced some 6,000 people to flee their homes but so far, nobody has been injured or killed.

La Cumbre Vieja lies about 15 kilometres (nine miles) west of the airport as the crow flies, although the lava has only spilt down the western side of the volcano.

© 2021 AFP

Volcano on Big Island of Hawaii began erupting quickly, scientists say


Officials said Kilauea volcano began erupting at 3:20 p.m.

Sept. 30 (UPI) -- A volcano on Hawaii's Big Island started erupting on Wednesday afternoon, officials said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said in an advisory that Kilauea volcano began erupting at 3:20 p.m., when officials with the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory detected a glow in Halemaumau crater in the summit of Kilauea, indicating an eruption was in progress.

"Webcam imagery shows fissures at the base of Halemaumaua crater generating lava flows on the surface of the lava lake that was active until May 2021," the advisory said.

The volcano sits within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Island of Hawaii.

Officials said the primary issue for safety is the high levels of volcanic gas emitting from the mountain, which could "have far-reaching effects down-wind."

The eruption follows the USGS HVO observing increased earthquake activity and changes in the pattern of ground deformation at the mountain's summit.

Ken Hon, HVO scientist-in-charge, told Hawaii News Now that the eruption had a "very rapid onset" and was completely confined to Halemaumaua crater.

"Lava is basically flooding the bottom of Halemaumaua at this time but there is no real high fountaining that can be seen outside of the caldera," Hon said.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park said thousands of people have descended on the park to watch the eruption.

"Viewing lava at the summit of Kilauea is awe-inspiring. During this COVID-19 pandemic, we ask the public to recreate responsibly, maintain social distance and to wear a mask," Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Superintendent Rhonda Loh said in a statement.

The eruption at Kilauea volcano comes a few short months after the last eruption there ceased in May. 

Photo courtesy of USGS Volcanoes/Twitter

The USGS HVO has elevated the alert level for Kilauea from Watch, meaning the volcano is exhibiting heightened unrest with increased potential of eruption, to Warning as a hazardous eruption is underway.

Officials also lifted its aviation color code from Orange to Red.

The eruption comes four months after the previous eruption at Kilauea, which began in December, ended in May.

In May 2018, thousands of residents in the Puna community of Hawaii Island were urged to evacuate due to a Kilauea eruption.

Photo courtesy of USGS Volcanoes/Twitter

Officials said Kilauea volcano began erupting at 3:20 p.m. Wednesday. 

Photo courtesy of USGS Volcanos/

Lava from La Palma eruption finally reaches the Atlantic


LOS LLANOS DE ARIDANE, Canary Islands (AP) — A bright red river of lava from the volcano on Spain’s La Palma island finally tumbled over a cliff and into the Atlantic Ocean, setting off huge plumes of steam and possibly toxic gases that forced local residents outside the evacuation zone to remain indoors on Wednesday.

Provided by The Canadian Press

The immediate area had been evacuated for several days as authorities waited for the lava that began erupting Sept. 19 to traverse the 6 1/2 kilometers (four miles) to the island's edge. On the way down from the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge, the lava flows have engulfed at least 656 buildings, mostly homes and farm buildings, in its unstoppable march to the sea.

The meeting of molten rock and sea water finally came at 11 p.m. on Tuesday. By daybreak, a widening promontory of newborn land could be seen forming under plumes of steam rising high into the area.

Even though initial air quality reading showed no danger in the area, experts had warned that the arrival of the lava at the ocean would likely produce small explosions and release toxic gases that could damage lungs. Authorities established a security perimeter of 3 1/2 kilometers (about two miles) and asked residents in the wider area to remain indoors with windows shut to avoid breathing in any gases.

No deaths or serious injuries have been reported from the island’s first eruption in 50 years, thanks to the prompt evacuations of over 6,000 people after the ground cracked open following weeks of tremors.

The flattening of the terrain as it approached the coast had slowed down the flow of the lava, causing it to widen out and do more damage to villages and farms. The local economy is largely based on agriculture, above all the cultivation of the Canary plantain.

Just before it poured down a cliff into the sea at a local point known as Los Guirres, the lava rolled over the coastal highway, cutting off the last road in the area that connects the island to several villages.

“We hope that the channel to the sea that has opened stops the lava flow, which widened to reach 600 meters (2,000 feet) at one point, from continuing to grow, because that has caused tremendous damage,” Ángel Víctor Torres, president of the Canary Islands regional government, told Cope radio.

Torres said his government is working to house those who have lost their dwellings. Authorities have plans to purchase over 100 currently unoccupied homes. Torres cited one village, Todoque, home to 1,400 people, which was wiped out.

La Palma, home to about 85,000 people, is part of the volcanic Canary Islands, an archipelago off northwest Africa. The island is roughly 35 kilometers (22 miles) long and 20 kilometers (12 miles) wide at its broadest point.

Cleaning crews swept up ash in the island’s capital, Santa Cruz, while more small earthquakes that have rumbled under the volcano for weeks were registered by geologists.

Favorable weather conditions allowed the first flight in five days to land at airport on La Palma, an important tourist destination along with its neighboring Canary islands, despite a huge ash cloud that Spain’s National Geographic Institute said reached up to seven kilometers (nearly 4 1/2 miles) high.

Laura Garcés, the director of Spain's air navigation authority ENAIRE, said she doesn't foresee any major problems for other airports on the archipelago because of the ash.

While the red tongue of lava lolled off the coast, the two open vents of the volcano continued to belch up more magma from below.

Experts say it's impossible too early to determine how long the eruption will last. Previous eruptions in the archipelago have lasted weeks, even months.

“We don’t know when this will be over,” volcano scientist Stavros Meletlidis of Spain’s National Geographic Institute told state broadcaster TVE. “Volcanos are not friends of statistics.”

___ Joseph Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain.

Daniel Roca And Joseph Wilson, The Associated Press

#DECRIMINALIZEDRUGS

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo plans to open 'fix rooms' for drug users

Issued on: 30/09/2021 -

French prime minister Jean Castex has given the green light for the creation of new centres in Paris where people can take drugs under medical supervision.

SELFLESSNESS

Petito’s dad: Give same attention to all missing people
By MICHAEL R. SISAK

1 of 13

Nichole Schmidt, mother of Gabby Petito, whose death on a cross-country trip has sparked a manhunt for her boyfriend Brian Laundrie, holds back tears during a news conference, Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021, in Bohemia, N.Y. Schmidt, along with Petito's father and two stepparents, were recently tattooed in memory of their child with the words, "Let it be." (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

NEW YORK (AP) — The family of slain traveler Gabby Petito on Tuesday implored the public and news media to put the same energy into helping find other missing people as they did Petito, a 22-year-old woman who vanished on a cross-country trip with her boyfriend.

Petito’s parents and stepparents spoke to reporters at a news conference in Bohemia, New York — showing off fresh tattoos based on her designs and mantra “Let it be” — as authorities in Florida continued searching for her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, who is a person of interest in her disappearance and remains unaccounted for.

A lawyer for Petito’s family, Richard Stafford, renewed calls for Laundrie to turn himself in and criticized his parents for what he said was a lack of cooperation in the search that turned up Petito’s remains. The Laundries released a statement Monday saying they weren’t helping him flee.

“The Laundries did not help us find Gabby, they sure are not going to help us find Brian,” Stafford said. “For Brian, we’re asking you to turn yourself in to the FBI or the nearest law 

Petito’s body was discovered Sept. 18 in a remote area in northwestern Wyoming. A memorial service was held Sunday on Long Island, where Laundrie and Petito grew up before moving to Florida in recent years. Her family announced it was starting a foundation to support people searching for missing loved ones.



Petito’s case has led to renewed calls for people to pay greater attention to cases involving missing Indigenous women and other people of color, with some commentators describing the intense coverage of her disappearance as “missing white woman syndrome.”

Joseph Petito thanked the news media and social media for spotlighting his daughter’s disappearance, but he said all missing persons deserved the same attention.

“I want to ask everyone to help all the people that are missing and need help. It’s on all of you, everyone that’s in this room to do that,” he said, pointing to reporters and cameras in front of him. “And if you don’t do that for other people that are missing, that’s a shame, because it’s not just Gabby that deserves it.”

The search for Laundrie is also generating a frenzy, with TV personalities like Duane Chapman — known as Dog the Bounty Hunter — and longtime “America’s Most Wanted” host John Walsh working to track him down.

Stafford said Petito’s family welcomed everybody’s help in finding Laundrie and encouraged people with information on his whereabouts to contact the FBI or local police.

Petito was reported missing Sept. 11 by her parents after she didn’t respond to calls and texts for several days while she and Laundrie visited parks in the West.

Her death has been ruled a homicide, but authorities in Wyoming haven’t disclosed how she died pending further autopsy results. Petito’s stepfather, Jim Schmidt, said Wyoming authorities still had possession of her remains.

Petito and Laundrie posted online about their trip in a white Ford Transit van converted into a camper. They got into a physical altercation Aug. 12 in Moab, Utah, that led to a police stop, which ended with police deciding to separate the quarreling couple for the night. No charges were filed, and no serious injuries were reported.

Investigators have been searching for Laundrie in Florida, and searched his parents’ home in North Port, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of Sarasota.

Last week, federal officials in Wyoming charged Laundrie with unauthorized use of a debit card, alleging he used a Capital One Bank card and someone’s personal identification number to make unauthorized withdrawals or charges worth more than $1,000 during the period in which Petito went missing. They did not say who the card belonged to.

Joseph Petito said the Gabby Petito Foundation is in the formative stages and will seek to fill in any gaps that exist in the work of finding missing people. He said they would work with organizations that helped them, like the AWARE Foundation and We Help The Missing.

“We need positive stuff to come from the tragedy that happened,” Joseph Petito said. “We can’t let her name be taken in vain.”

___

Follow Michael Sisak on Twitter at twitter.com/mikesisak

How humans and squirrels team up to collect tree seeds—and save the planet

Human gatherers of tree seeds are letting beady-eyed, bushy-tailed subcontractors take the lead

MUTUAL AID NOT OUTSOURCING

By Peter Kuitenbrouwer

September 15, 2021


American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) with a pine cone snack (NK Sanford/Alamy)

The forest’s location is secret. Chris McGee, tree seed collector, will permit only disclosure of the nearest town: Dornoch, Ont., 175 km northwest of Toronto. On a clear morning before most have awoken, McGee arrives in the plantation. Rows of red pine trees stand as silent sentinels. A red squirrel high in their branches emits what the naturalist Charles G.D. Roberts described in this magazine in 1930 as “a shrill chr-r-r-r of virulent disapproval.” McGee smiles. He sees the squirrel as an ally and a friend.

McGee steps over stone fences that date back to before tree-planting converted this field to forest. Pine resin stains his hat brim and tars the mouth of his pail. McGee’s trained ear hears (though a carpet of needles cushions its impact) the plop as each cone cut by a squirrel falls to earth. The rodents “squirrel away,” if you please, the cones in hiding places—which McGee has come here to find.

“The red squirrels—those are my workers,” says McGee, who by day is a recruiter in the aerospace industry. “Those are my buddies. I can’t get up an 80-foot pine tree to get those cones. You have to train the eye to see the caches. They are masters of hiding.”

Seed collector Chris McGee out prospecting different types of trees in anticipation for seed picking in the fall on June 25, 2021. (Photo by Carlos Osorio)

To mitigate climate change, the Trudeau Liberals pledged in 2019 to plant two billion trees in a decade. Trees sequester carbon and thus cool the planet. Enacting this campaign promise will require many tree planters. But tree planters need seedlings, and seedlings grow from seeds. Toiling in anonymity are the resupply forces of reforestation campaigns, the tree seed collectors, and their frequent partners, the red squirrels.

“We are the first link in the chain,” says McGee, one of the province’s independent, certified tree seed collectors. The collectors supply seed to tree nurseries to grow seedlings. The seedlings then go to tree planters. McGee notes of seed buyers: “If they don’t get good seed, what are they going to do?” But now, with hotter summers and farmers clearing woodlots, McGee and others warn that seed collection is increasingly difficult.

Chris and his brother Colin are fourth-­generation collectors. Trees produce seed on cycles of up to five years; the brothers succeed because they know where and when to look. Like the squirrels, they are ruthless about keeping secrets. On forms he submits with seeds for payment, Chris leaves blank the space labelled “UTM/GPS coordinates,” and indicates only the nearest town.

MORE: The sense of urgency around climate change is trending up

The McGees’ late uncle Bob, who loved to dole out nicknames, included the squirrels as family and called all squirrels “Sid.” The name stuck. “I am hoping Sid has them down at the end,” McGee says as he walks deeper into the forest. “He has his favourite spot. It’s like an Easter egg hunt. The little kid in us comes out.” (Canadian researchers in a 1987 paper called squirrels “detrimental to forestry” but hard to control. How should one gather tree seed? “Collecting cones already harvested by squirrels is probably the most practical approach.”)

Collectors have other tricks. For red and silver maple, they set out during spring in the still air of dawn or dusk, spread tarps under a tree, climb a ladder and bang the branches with a pole. For pea-sized tamarack cones, in August they ascend ladders in mosquito-infested swamps. Collectors check seeds for viability, too; for example, they “float” acorns in water. An acorn that floats is infertile. Collectors also scout forests every year in spring and summer to assess tree flowers and gauge future seed crops.

The job pays poorly and is getting harder. A hotter climate means some years pine cones open and disperse their seeds before the squirrels can cut them, notes Mark McDermid, seed and stock coordinator at the non-profit Forests Ontario. Southern Ontario counts fewer forests, too, laments Paul Richardson, owner of Pineneedle Farms tree nursery in Pontypool, Ont., northeast of Toronto.

RELATED: Have Guelph’s delightful ‘fairy doors’ become a forest plague?

One spring day, Richardson bought 20 litres of silver maple keys from McGee and planted them the same day. “Without seed pickers,” he says, “our industry ends.” Asked about Trudeau’s tree-planting promise, he says, “Two billion trees—it’s a lot.” Adds McGee: “It’s cool to say, ‘Let’s plant two billion trees.’ But the collectors are aging.”

McGee often collects seeds for Forests Ontario, which, with its partners, has planted over 34 million trees across Canada since 2008 and owns about 205 million seeds in cold storage. In his car on the day he visits the pine plantation, McGee carries a Forests Ontario purchase order for seven hectolitres of red pine cones, at $225 per hectolitre (a tight fit in a large potato sack). It’s not much: after five hours, he nets one bucket of cones, worth $40.

Climate change has buffeted the seed collectors’ workplace, bringing on invasive insects, ticks, drought, volatile weather. Tree planting can mitigate these threats. While McGee applauds the ambition of Trudeau’s planting target, he says the PM “probably doesn’t understand the challenging nature of collecting the kind of seed that they are going to need.”

The viability of tree-planting pledges relies on adequate compensation for seed collectors. In this regard we can learn from McGee, who is scrupulous about rewarding his own furry, four-legged subcontractors. Along with buckets and burlap bags to transport cones, McGee carries bags of peanuts, sunflower seeds and “floated” acorns—not viable as seeds but still tasty to a squirrel. He replaces the cones he takes with other food. “I would never rob from them,” he says. “They are doing all the work.”

THE MOMENT
I ran away from the Kamloops Residential School. This is where I hid.


On his 16th birthday, Ron Ignace's residential school allowed him go into town unsupervised. He didn't go back, instead hiding in his aunt and uncle's house. 'That was the best damn decision I ever made in my life.'


By Ron Ignace

September 29, 2021

Once a welcome shelter, the house where Ignace’s aunt and uncle let him stay has fallen into ruin

 (Ron Ignace)

I was born in a rural community. We’d be out riding horses, picking berries, working in the garden. We had about three generations living together. I was taken away and placed in residential school at eight or nine years old. When I walked through the front doors, it freaked me out, and I gave a primal scream like no other, knowing that my old life, I would never see again. And that’s what happened. Life in residential school was horrific—strappings from priests, every excuse they got. I wound up in the hospital with rickets because of the diet.

On your 16th birthday, the school allowed you to go into town unsupervised. I went and ran across my aunt and uncle. I spent the day with them and was really happy. At the end of the day, they said, “We’ll give you a ride back.” As we started driving back, I told my uncle, “Keep on—don’t stop.” So I went to their house and hid. Anybody that would come over, no matter who it was, I would run and hide. I stayed for two months, until the school year ended in June. That was the best damn decision I ever made in my life.

I later came back to my village. The family I had left behind, many of them had died. Many had left the community. Our home was dilapidated. The once-thriving agricultural economy was no longer there. Residential school led to the destruction of our community—not only to the person, but to the community, to the family and to our nation.

This story was told to Michael Fraiman by Ron Ignace, who is a former chief of the Skeetchestn Indian Band and was recently appointed federal commissioner of Indigenous languages

The PPC got more than 800,000 votes, and that should worry all of us

Pam Palmater: The election result is yet another sign that Canada is becoming fertile ground for far-right groups

OPINION
By Pam Palmater

September 21, 2021

(Lars Hagberg/CP)

Pamela Palmater is a Mi’kmaw lawyer and the chair in Indigenous governance at Ryerson University.

The Liberals held a snap election in the middle of a pandemic, rolling the dice to gain a majority government, and they lost. Although the votes are still being counted, 320 of the 338 seats have been confirmed, and while the Liberals held on to their minority government status, they look to only gain one additional seat. At an approximate cost of $610 million dollars—which does not include the costs borne by Canadians to travel to their voting station or arrange child care while they stood in line for hours—this election, by any measure, cost far more than it was worth. However, the results did reveal a growing threat to public safety that has been largely unaddressed—the rise of far-right groups who have used the stress and uncertainty of the pandemic to gain support.


READ: The revenge of Maxime Bernier

While most political analysts were focused on whether the Liberals would hold on to their minority government, something else was happening throughout election night: the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) popular vote count continued to rise. In fact, they more than doubled the votes for the Green Party. In 2019, the PPC had almost 300,000 votes. But this election, at last count, the current total is more than 800,000—more than double that of two years ago. While none of the candidates in the PPC—not even leader Maxime Bernier—has won a seat, the party has been able rally the angry anti-maskers and those opposed to pandemic health measures under their far-right umbrella. A closer look at some of those who’ve joined the party include those who were rejected by the Conservative party or gained some degree of notoriety from racist rhetoric, or are opposed to pandemic health protections. And almost a million Canadians support them.

Although the rise of far-right populist rhetoric and groups is not unique to Canada, the federal government has been largely silent about the public safety risk it poses to Canadians—especially Black, Indigenous, and racialized people and women. Hate crimes have increased by 37 per cent in the last year and the proliferation of online hate groups in Canada is of particular concern. According to recent international studies, Canadians are among the most active in online right-wing extremism, which includes spreading racist, white supremacist and misogynistic views, and plotting acts of violence. While the United States has received the bulk of media attention for the rise in far-right ideology and violence in their country, the disturbing fact is, that Canada produces more far-right online content per web user than any other country. The violent inclinations, and ability to wield social media to recruit and radicalize younger Canadians, must be understood more broadly than the current lens of trying to address individual hate crimes: this is a group mentality.


READ: Same old balance in Parliament, same old question: Whither the NDP?

The PPC platform contained just the right combination of commitments to speak to those with far-right ideologies, anti-Indigenous views, pandemic gripes and pro-gun attitudes, including their promises to maximize freedom of expression (allow more hate speech); cut funding to universities if they silence those espousing hateful views; cut funding for CBC; cut funding for foreign aide; and lower the number of immigrants and stop the flow of refugees into Canada.

Beneath the surface of these promises are deeply embedded racist views against non-white people which would be bolstered by their plan to repeal multiculturalism laws and cut funding for multiculturalism with a view to forcing integration into Canadian society and culture. This together with the party’s promise to end the ban on military style weapons, is a recipe for disaster that appears to be gaining traction in Canada. While some may see individual incidents of Proud Boys and other white supremacist groups as one-off incidents, we know they are part of a larger phenomenon that is loosely rallying around the PPC. This Liberal minority government must look beyond the politics of the vote count and the fact that neither Bernier nor any of his candidates won any seats and consider carefully at what 800,000 votes for the PPC means in terms of far-right organizing and to public safety in the future.

Beyond, Impossible join crowded plant-based chicken market

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

September 27, 2021

1 of 7

Nathan Foot, R&D chef at Impossible Foods, takes its new meatless nuggets out of a deep fryer in the company’s test kitchen on Sept. 21, 2021 in Redwood City, Calif. The plant-based nuggets taste are designed to taste like chicken. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods found success with realistic plant-based burgers. Now, they’re hoping to replicate that in the fast-growing but crowded market for plant-based chicken nuggets.

Beyond Meat said Monday that its new tenders, made from fava beans, will go on sale in U.S. groceries in October. Walmart, Jewel-Osco and Harris Teeter will be among the first to offer them.

Impossible Foods began selling its soy-based nuggets this month at Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons and other groceries. They’ll be in 10,000 stores by later this year.

The rival startups, both based in California, helped redefine what plant-based burgers could be. Beyond burgers were the first to be sold in grocery aisles next to conventional meat in 2016; Impossible burgers joined them a few years later.

But this time, Beyond and Impossible will be stacked in freezers already bursting with plant-based chicken options. More than 50 brands of plant-based nuggets, tenders and cutlets are already on sale in U.S. stores, according to the Good Food Institute, which tracks plant-based brands.

Some, like Morningstar Farms and Quorn, have been making plant-based meat for decades. But Beyond and Impossible have also spawned a host of imitators making realistic products marketed to omnivores, not just vegans and vegetarians. Fifteen percent of those 50 brands were new to the U.S. market in 2020, like Nuggs, from New York startup Simulate, and California’s Daring Foods.

They’re all trying to grab a slice of the plant-based market, which is still dwarfed by the conventional meat market but growing fast. U.S. sales of frozen, plant-based chicken tenders and nuggets jumped 29% to $112 million in the 52 weeks ending Aug. 28, according to Nielsen IQ. Sales of conventional frozen tenders and nuggets rose 17% to $1.1 billion in the same period.






Globally, retail sales of meat substitutes are expected to grow 2% to 4.6 million metric tons between 2021 and 2022, according to the market research firm Euromonitor. Processed animal meat sales are expected to stay flat in the same period, at 18.9 million metric tons.

Tom Rees, an industry manager with Euromonitor, said plant-based meat sales were already growing before the coronavirus hit. In Euromonitor surveys, nearly a quarter of consumers worldwide say they are limiting meat intake for health reasons.

But the pandemic gave plant-based meat a boost as consumers looked for new things to cook at home. Rees said meat shortages and coronavirus outbreaks at meat production facilities also made consumers think twice about the animal meat market.

Meat or no meat, breaded nuggets aren’t exactly a health food. One serving of Beyond’s chicken tenders have 12 grams of fat, 450 milligrams of sodium, 11 grams of protein and 210 calories. Impossible’s nuggets have 10 grams of fat, 320 milligrams of sodium, 10 grams of protein and 200 calories. By comparison, a similar size serving of Pilgrim’s chicken nuggets contains 14 grams of fat, 10 grams of protein, 460 milligrams of sodium and 220 calories.

Impossible Foods Vice President of Product Innovation Celeste Holz-Schietinger said it was important to start with plant-based burgers because beef production is a bigger contributor to climate change. But Impossible spent the past year developing the plant-based tenders as part of a goal is to replace all animal agriculture with more sustainable alternatives by 2035.

Beyond Meat has been experimenting with chicken for even longer. The El Segundo, California-based company launched chicken strips in 2012. But it pulled them from the market in 2019, citing the need to devote more manufacturing capacity to its burgers.

Unlike the new fava bean-based tenders, Beyond’s burgers are made with pea protein. Beyond President and CEO Ethan Brown said the company has spent more than a decade researching various protein sources and their attributes and doesn’t want to limit itself to just one.

Dariush Ajami, Beyond’s chief innovation officer, said mimicking the fibrous texture and fat distribution in chicken was the biggest challenge with the new tenders. The company is still far from perfecting a plant-based chicken breast or a marbled steak, but has 200 scientists and engineers working on it, he said.

“The goal is to reduce that gap between our product and animal meat,” he said.

There’s also a price gap. Beyond Meat’s suggested retail price for an 8-ounce package is $4.99, while Impossible’s 13.5-ounce package costs $7.99. Tyson Foods sells a 2-pound bag of chicken nuggets at Walmart for $5.76.

But it’s clear many people are eager to try plant-based foods. In July, Panda Express quickly sold out of Beyond Meat orange chicken in a trial run at locations in Los Angeles and New York. Panda Express says it’s exploring a wider rollout of the product, which was specially developed for the brand.

Jasmine Alkire recently tried Beyond Meat orange chicken at a Panda Express in Los Angeles. Alkire became a vegetarian seven years ago, but the Beyond chicken tasted similar to the orange chicken she grew up eating.

“It was flavorful and didn’t have a weird aftertaste or off-putting texture,” she said.

For now, Beyond Meat has several advantages. It has partnerships with big brands like KFC and McDonald’s and has already opened its first manufacturing plant in China, where Impossible’s products aren’t yet sold.

Impossible is still waiting for regulatory approval to sell its burgers in Europe and China because they contain genetically modified ingredients. But Impossible’s chicken doesn’t contain those same ingredients. Both companies plan to sell their chicken overseas.

Impossible is confident that consumers will gravitate to its nuggets. In company taste tests, it found that most consumers preferred its product to actual chicken.

“It’s better for you, its better for the environment and it tastes better than the animal,” said Impossible Foods President Dennis Woodside. “So we think that’s a pretty strong value proposition.”

Other brands insist they’ll defend their turf. Morningstar Farms, the current plant-based poultry sales leader in the U.S., launched a separate brand called Incogmeato in 2019 with products that closely replicate meat.

Sara Young, the general manager of plant-based proteins at Kellogg Co., which owns Morningstar, said the brand has the biggest product portfolio and the highest repeat-buyer rate in the plant-based category.

“We’ve been at this for a long time,” she said.

___

Terence Chea contributed from Redwood City, California.

 

Coral Microbiome (Bacteria, Fungi and Viruses) Is Key to Surviving Climate Change

By PENN STATE UNIVERSITY SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

The study site in Puerto Morelos, Mexico (Caribbean Sea), where the researchers collected Siderastrea radians. Credit: Sergio Guendulain-García

Researchers tease apart contributions of symbiotic bacteria and algae to corals’ heat tolerance and identify genes involved in stress response.

The microbiomes of corals — which comprise bacteria, fungi and viruses — play an important role in the ability of corals to tolerate rising ocean temperatures, according to new research led by Penn State. The team also identified several genes within certain corals and the symbiotic photosynthetic algae that live inside their tissues that may play a role in their response to heat stress. The findings could inform current coral reef conservation efforts, for example, by highlighting the potential benefits of amending coral reefs with microbes found to bolster corals’ heat-stress responses.

“Prolonged exposure to heat can cause ‘bleaching’ in which photosymbionts (symbiotic algae) are jettisoned from the coral animal, causing the animal to die,” said Monica Medina, professor of biology, Penn State. “We found that when some corals become heat stressed, their microbiomes can protect them from bleaching. In addition, we can now pinpoint specific genes in coral animals and their photosymbionts that may be involved in this thermal stress response.”

Orbicella faveolata, Puerto Morelos, Mexico (Caribbean Sea). Credit: Monica Medina, Penn State

Viridiana Avila-Magaña, former student at Penn State and currently a postdoctoral fellow at Colorado University Boulder, noted, “Previous studies on the molecular mechanisms underlying corals’ heat-stress tolerance have tended to focus on just the animal or the photosymbiont, but we now know that the entire holobiont — the coral animal, photosymbiont and microbiome — is involved in the stress response.”

In their study, which published today (September 30, 2021) in Nature Communications, the researchers focused on three species of coral — the mountainous star coral (Orbicella faveolata), the knobby brain coral (Pseudodiploria clivosa) and the shallow water starlet coral (Siderastrea radians) — which are known to differ in their sensitivities to heat stress. Collected near Puerto Morelos, Mexico, each coral species harbors a unique set of photosymbionts and microbiomes. The team’s goal was to investigate the varying metabolic contributions of each of the holobiont members to the corals’ overall stress tolerance and to identify differences in gene-expression patterns related to these metabolic activities.

Siderastrea radians, Puerto Morelos, Mexico (Caribbean Sea). Credit: Monica Medina, Penn State

Medina explained that metabolism is the process of converting food into energy. For corals, she said, this process is heavily driven by the photosymbionts, which, through photosynthesis, provide the coral animals with at least 90% of their energy requirements. But, until now, the contributions of the microbiomes were not well understood.

“We know that heat stress resulting from climate change can disrupt coral metabolism and result in bleaching,” said Medina. “Therefore, it is important to understand the different contributions of the holobiont members and how these metabolic activities change in response heat stress.”

The researchers performed a controlled heat-stress experiment in which they maintained the three coral species in a tank for nine days at 93˚F (34 ˚C), which is 11 degrees (6 ˚C) warmer than the average temperature normally experienced by these corals. The scientists sequenced the RNA of the coral holobionts — including the coral animals, the photosymbionts and the members of the microbiomes — after the nine-day period and a control group not exposed to the heat stress, with a goal of detecting changes in gene expression that affect the heat-stress response of the holobiont. Specifically, they used the gene expression data to estimate the metabolic activities of each of the holobiont members.

Next, the team used a type of phylogenetic ANOVA technique, called the Expression Variance and Evolution Model, to examine changes in gene expression related to heat stress that have occurred over evolutionary time.

“In collaboration with professor Rori Rohlfs from San Francisco State University, who is a coauthor in this study, we developed a method based on a phylogenetic ANOVA that allowed us to track genes that have already diverged in expression across species in response to any given stimuli — in our case heat stress,” said Viridiana Avila-Magaña. “This approach becomes particularly relevant for coral reef research given the recent debates on adaptive potential of different coral holobionts under the threats of climate change. With this approach in mind, we were able to understand why different corals have unique physiological responses to heat stress, and how the evolution of gene expression shaped their different susceptibilities.”

Avila-Magaña explained that corals have experienced episodes of elevated temperatures through evolutionary time and understanding how gene expression has evolved in response to those events can inform corals’ responses to present-day and future warming events.

“Our goal with this research was to determine if there have been lineage-specific innovations to heat stress in corals and their algal photosymbionts, as well as whether all members, including bacterial communities, differentially contribute to holobiont robustness,” she said.

The gene-expression data revealed that the three coral holobionts did, indeed, differ in their responses and metabolic capabilities under high temperature stress. The team also found that the members of each holobiont had unique responses that influenced the holobiont’s overall ability to cope with thermal stress.

“We have uncovered more genes associated with a thermal stress response in coral holobionts than previous studies, and we also show that changes in the expression of these genes arose over evolutionary time,” said Medina.

Interestingly, the scientists concluded that the greater thermal tolerance observed in some coral holobionts, such as the starlet coral, may be due, in part, to a higher number and diversity of thermally tolerant microbes in their microbiomes, which provides redundancy in key metabolic pathways that are protective against heat stress.

“We found that some corals harbor a stable and diverse microbiome translating to a vast array of metabolic capabilities that we have shown remain active during the thermal challenge,” said Avila-Magaña. “By contrast, we found that less thermally tolerant species had reduced bacterial activity and diversity.”

Medina noted that the results stress the importance of comparative approaches across a wide range of species to better understand the diverse responses of corals to increasing sea surface temperatures.

Medina and Avila-Magaña said, “Corals have been highly impacted by climate change, and the methods we developed in our study represent an excellent tool for scientists trying to understand the adaptive potential of populations and species.”

Reference: “Elucidating gene expression adaptation of phylogenetically divergent coral holobionts under heat stress” by Viridiana Avila-Magaña, Bishoy Kamel, Michael DeSalvo, Kelly Gómez-Campo, Susana Enríquez, Hiroaki Kitano, Rori V. Rohlfs, Roberto Iglesias-Prieto and Mónica Medina, 30 September 2021, Nature Communications.
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25950-4

Other authors on the paper include Susana Enríquez, professor, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; Bishoy Kamel, research assistant professor of biology, University of New Mexico and the Joint Genome Institute, Michael DeSalvo, University of California Merced; Roberto Iglesias-Prieto, professor of biology, Penn State; Kelly Gómez-Campo, graduate student in biology, Penn State; Hiroaki Kitano, professor, Systems Biology Institute Japan; and Rori Rohlfs, assistant professor of biology, San Francisco State University.

The National Science Foundation and the Joint Genome Institute (Department of Energy) supported this research.

 

Massive Extinction of Species in the Late Cretaceous Was Not Caused by Extreme Volcanism

By UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA SEPTEMBER 28, 2021

The Zumaia cliffs are characterized by an exceptional section of strata that reveals the geological history of the Earth in the period of 115-50 million years ago (Ma). Credit: University of Barcelona / IUCA – University of Zaragoza

A study published in the journal Geology rules out that extreme volcanic episodes had any influence on the massive extinction of species in the late Cretaceous. The results confirm the hypothesis that it was a giant meteorite impact that caused the great biological crisis that ended up with the non-avian dinosaur lineages and other marine and terrestrial organisms 66 million years ago.

The study was carried out by the researcher Sietske Batenburg, from the Faculty of Earth Sciences of the University of Barcelona, and the experts Vicente Gilabert, Ignacio Arenillas and José Antonio Arz, from the University Research Institute on Environmental Sciences of Aragon (IUCA-University of Zaragoza).

K/Pg boundary: the great extinction of the Cretaceous in Zumaia coasts

The scenario of this study was the Zumaia cliffs (Basque Country), which have an exceptional section of strata that reveals the geological history of the Earth in the period of 115-50 million years ago (Ma). In this environment, the team analyzed sediments and rocks that are rich in microfossils that were deposited between 66.4 and 65.4 Ma, a time interval that includes the known Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary (K/Pg). Dated in 66 Ma, the K/Pg boundary divides the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras and it coincides with one of the five large extinctions of the planet.

This study analyzed the climate changes that occurred just before and after the massive extinction marked by the K/Pg boundary, as well as its potential relation to this large biological crisis. For the first time, researchers examined whether this climate change coincides on the time scale with its potential causes: the Deccan massive volcanism (India) — one of the most violent volcanic episodes in the geological history of the planet — and the orbital variations of the Earth.

The experts Sietske Batenburg, from the Faculty of Earth Sciences of the University of Barcelona, and ¡Vicente Gilabert, from the University Research Institute on Environmental Sciences of Aragon (IUCA-University of Zaragoza). Credit: University of Barcelona / IUCA – University of Zaragoza

“The particularity of the Zumaia outcrops lies in that two types of sediments accumulated there — some richer in clay and others richer in carbonate — that we can now identify as strata or marl and limestone that alternate with each other to form rhythms,” notes the researcher Sietske Batenburg, from the Department of Earth and Ocean Dynamics of the UB. “This strong rhythmicity in sedimentation is related to cyclical variations in the orientation and inclination of the Earth axis in the rotation movement, as well as in the translational movement around the Sun”.

These astronomic configurations — the known Milankovitch cycles, which repeat every 405,000, 100,000, 41,000, and 21,000 years — regulate the amount of solar radiation they receive, modulate the global temperature of our planet and condition the type of sediment that reaches the oceans. “Thanks to these periodicities identified in the Zumaia sediments, we have been able to determine the most precise dating of the climatic episodes that took place around the time when the last dinosaurs lived,” says PhD student Vicente Gilabert, from the Department of Earth Sciences at UZ, who will present his thesis defense by the end of this year.

Planktonic foraminifera: revealing the climate of the past

Carbon-13 isotopic analysis on the rocks in combination with the study of planktonic foraminifera — microfossils used as high-precision biostratigraphic indicators — has made it possible to reconstruct the paleoclimate and chronology of that time in the Zumaia sediments. More than 90% of the Cretaceous planktonic foraminiferal species from Zumaia became extinct 66 Ma ago, coinciding with a big disruption in the carbon cycle and an accumulation of impact glass spherules originating from the asteroid that hit Chicxulub, in the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico).

In addition, the conclusions of the study reveal the existence of three intense climatic warming events — known as hyperthermal events — that are not related to the Chicxulub impact. The first, known as LMWE and prior to the K/Pg boundary, has been dated to between 66.25 and 66.10 Ma. The other two events, after the mass extinction, are called Dan-C2 (between 65.8 and 65.7 Ma) and LC29n (between 65.48 and 65.41 Ma).

In the last decade, there has been intense debate over whether the hyperthermal events mentioned above were caused by an increased Deccan volcanic activity, which emitted large amounts of gases into the atmosphere. “Our results indicate that all these events are in sync with extreme orbital configurations of the Earth known as eccentricity maxima. Only the LMWE, which produced an estimated global warming of 2-5°C, appears to be temporally related to a Deccan eruptive episode, suggesting that it was caused by a combination of the effects of volcanism and the latest Cretaceous eccentricity maximum”, the experts add.

Earth’s orbital variations around the Sun

The global climate changes that occurred in the late Cretaceous and early Palaeogene — between 250,000 years before and 200,000 years after the K/Pg boundary — were due to eccentricity maxima of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun.

However, the orbital eccentricity that influenced climate changes before and after the K/Pg boundary is not related to the late Cretaceous mass extinction of species. The climatic changes caused by the eccentricity maxima and augmented by the Deccan volcanism occurred gradually at a scale of hundreds of thousands of years.

“These data would confirm that the extinction was caused by something completely external to the Earth system: the impact of an asteroid that occurred 100,000 years after this late Cretaceous climate change (the LMWE),” the research team says. “Furthermore, the last 100,000 years before the K/Pg boundary are characterized by high environmental stability with no obvious perturbations, and the large mass extinction of species occurred instantaneously on the geological timescale,” they conclude.

Reference: “Contribution of orbital forcing and Deccan volcanism to global climatic and biotic changes across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary at Zumaia, Spain” by Vicente Gilabert, Sietske J. Batenburg, Ignacio Arenillas and José A. Arz, 30 August 2021, Geology.
DOI: 10.1130/G49214.1