Scientists find oxygen levels explain ancient extinction slowdown

by Josie Garthwaite, Stanford University

Brachiopod and crinoid fossils from the Late Ordovician, about 445 million years ago. 

Credit: Seth Finnegan

Not long after the dawn of complex animal life, tens of millions of years before the first of the "Big Five" mass extinctions, a rash of die-offs struck the world's oceans. Then, for reasons that scientists have debated for at least 40 years, extinctions slowed down.

A new Stanford University study shows rising oxygen levels may explain why global extinction rates slowed down throughout the Phanerozoic Eon, which began 541 million years ago. The results, published Oct. 4 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, point to 40 percent of present atmospheric oxygen levels as a key threshold beyond which viable ocean habitat expands and the global extinction rate sharply falls.

"There's a whole set of high-magnitude extinctions earlier in the history of animal life, and then they taper off until there's just these huge mass extinctions. And there's never been an explanation for why we have all those high-magnitude extinctions early on," said senior study author Erik Sperling, an assistant professor of geological sciences at Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth).

The new study reveals that even five degrees of warming—extreme for our current climate but common in Earth's deep past—would be more than enough to trigger mass die-offs early in the Phanerozoic. The research shows this is because, in a low oxygen world, marine animals were already on the razor's edge of their ability to breathe and maintain their body temperatures. The finding has implications for understanding the fate of ocean creatures in today's warming world.

Virtual oceans

The authors used computer models of Earth's climate to simulate seawater temperatures and the amount of oxygen that would be dissolved in the ocean as atmospheric carbon dioxide and oxygen fluctuated throughout the Phanerozoic. They paired these simulations with mathematical models of interactions between animal physiology and local environments, then estimated the proportion of marine animal types that would be lost with every 5 degrees Celsius of ocean warming, as would be expected from roughly every fourfold increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Such warming events are extreme but not infrequent throughout Earth history.

The approach allowed the authors to effectively populate virtual oceans with realistic organisms, then crank up the heat to see who would survive. "These are fully three-dimensional models with the physics of the water circulating around the continents in different configurations and all the biogeochemistry," Sperling said. "That's a huge computational advance."

Twin threats

The results are consistent with a series of major extinction events during the first 50 to 100 million years of the Phanerozoic being a direct consequence of low oxygen levels and physiological responses to heat. "We don't need to invoke something outside of climatic change to explain these anomalously severe extinction rates and anomalously common mass extinctions early in the animal fossil record," said lead study author Richard Stockey, a Stanford Ph.D. student in geological sciences.

The need, rather, is to consider how oxygen scarcity hindered the ability of animals to cope with heat. That's because as oceans warm, their oxygen content declines while animals' need for oxygen grows. This is particularly true for cold-blooded species that rely on the external environment to regulate body temperature and metabolism. "The way we looked at things puts oxygen change and temperature change in a common currency and evaluates them at once," Sperling said. "We're treating fossils as ancient living organisms and thinking about how they feed, live and breathe—how they get through a day."

The researchers found several additional factors that influenced the proportion of species that died out during warmer periods over the past 541 million years, including the configuration of Earth's continents, the efficiency of carbon cycling between ocean and atmosphere and the state of the climate at the start of a given warming event. However, "atmospheric oxygen is the dominant predictor of extinction vulnerability," the authors write. "Changes in atmospheric oxygen were likely much more important than those other factors," Stockey said.

The study reinforces previous findings from Sperling's group that underline oxygen and temperature as interlocking keys to understanding extinction and survival patterns in ancient oceans. "The geological and paleontological record is telling us over and over that it is the combination of oxygen and temperature change that are the big killers for marine animals," Sperling said.

In areas of today's oceans that have low oxygen levels, including deeper waters of the continental margin off the California coast, any further drop in oxygen or change in temperature may be catastrophic for organisms that are already pushing the limits of their aerobic capacity. "Those are some of the places that are potentially in the gravest danger as climate change drives further ocean warming and deoxygenation," Sperling said. "For the first hundred million years or so of animal evolution, almost the entire ocean was like that."Researchers find oxygen spike coincided with ancient global extinction

More information: Richard G. Stockey et al, Decreasing Phanerozoic extinction intensity as a consequence of Earth surface oxygenation and metazoan ecophysiology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2101900118

Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 

Provided by Stanford University 

Brookfield among bidders for $15 billion stake in Saudi Aramco pipeline

One of the global energy giant's largest divestments

Bloomberg News
Dinesh Nair and Ben Bartenstein
Publishing date:Oct 05, 2021 

Saudi Aramco is seeking more than US$15 billion for the gas pipeline stake in one of the largest divestments by the energy giant, sources said. 

PHOTO BY REUTERS/MAXIM SHEMETOV/FILE PHOTO

Apollo Global Management Inc. and Brookfield Asset Management Inc. are among parties that made first-round bids for a potential multibillion-dollar stake in Saudi Aramco’s natural gas pipeline network, according to people familiar with the matter.

BlackRock Inc., EIG Global Energy Partners LLC and Global Infrastructure Partners also submitted non-binding offers for the asset late last week, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private.

Aramco is seeking more than $15 billion for the gas pipeline stake in one of the largest divestments by the energy giant, the people said. The state-owned company will inform suitors whether they made it to the next round of bidding in the coming days, according to the people.

No final decisions have been made and Aramco could still decide to retain the asset, the people said. Other contenders could also emerge for the stake, with some of the bidders likely to join forces given the size of the asset, the people said.

Representatives for Aramco, BlackRock, Brookfield, EIG and GIP declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Apollo didn’t immediately provide comment.

The world’s largest oil company is planning to raise tens of billions of dollars by selling more stakes in its businesses as it seeks to maintain a US$75 billion annual dividend, a key source of funding for Saudi Arabia’s government. A group of investors led by EIG Global agreed to invest US$12.4 billion in Aramco’s oil pipelines in June, in one of the largest infrastructure transactions this year.

A deal involving the gas pipeline could be structured in a similar way to the oil pipeline transaction, where investors bought a minority stake in a new Aramco subsidiary with leasing rights over the assets, people with knowledge of the matter have said.

Aramco’s Master Gas System is a network of pipelines connecting its production with processing sites throughout the kingdom. The infrastructure has a capacity of about 9.6 billion cubic feet of gas per day, according to Aramco’s annual report.

Bloomberg.com

'We just gave'r': Inside the Totten Mine rescue from a kilometre below the earth


BY LIAM CASEY, THE CANADIAN PRESS
POSTED OCT 5, 2021 

The Totten Mine in Sudbury, ON where 39 miners were trapped underground for over 24 hours. CREDIT: VALE

Danny Taillefer and Jason Leger were in the middle of a first aid refresher course when the phone rang.

Shawn Rideout, the chief rescue officer with Ontario Mine Rescue, was on the other end. There were 39 miners stuck underground at Totten Mine near Sudbury, Ont., after the mine shaft was compromised, he said.

There was another way out: climbing a complex warren of ladders at the Vale-owned mine from about a kilometre underground.

Taillefer and Leger – mine rescue officers with the non-profit who were based in Timmins, Ont.– were told they were needed for a complicated mission, and instructed to bring several hundred kilograms of rope and other gear. Not long after the call on Monday last week, they got in a truck and motored to the mine in Worthington, Ont.

The operation that ensued turned into what Taillefer and Leger called the most stressful event of their lives.

“You just couldn’t control the tears coming out,” Taillefer told The Canadian Press when recalling some of the most intense moments of the mission. “You just walk away, wipe your eyes, get it together and then get back at it.”

Ontario Mine Rescue had been in touch with Vale’s emergency response team since Sunday, Sept. 26, when the workers became stuck underground.

A scoop bucket had dislodged and tumbled down part of the mine shaft, causing major damage, Vale said. The repairs could take weeks, said Ted Hanley, vice-president with Ontario Mine Rescue.

A secondary escape route, required by law in Ontario, would be the miners’ way out.

RELATED: 39 trapped miners now safe after rescue out of mine near Sudbury

Taillefer and Leger arrived at the mine around 4:30 p.m. Monday. By that point, part of the 60-person rescue team was already about 564 metres underground, where four miners were in a refuge room.

The team was setting up a series of ropes to go deeper – 960 metres down – where 35 other miners waited, passing the time watching videos on their phones using the mine’s Wi-Fi system.

The rescuers believed able-bodiedminers could climb out without much trouble, harnessed to ropes like mountain climbers. But it was clear four miners in the group farthest below the surface would need significant help, Hanley said.

It took about a day to set up the ropes that would help the miners climb out, the rescuers said. Not long after midnight on Tuesday, the workers gradually began their journey up.

“We just gave’r,” Taillefer, 39, said.

The miners closest to the surface climbed out first, in about three hours. Below them, groups of three miners set out with one rescuer above them and one below.

Meanwhile, Taillefer and other rescuers devised a plan for the final four.

“They had been down there for well over 40 hours at that point, they were all exhausted, and some of these guys just physically couldn’t climb a ladder due to old injuries or ailments,” said Taillefer.

With no electricity and only light from their headlamps, the rescuers used the rope system – and a lot of muscle – to pull three of the final four up about 61 metres.

It became clear they needed a better way, Taillefer said.

The crew then employed an AZTEK pulley system, which helped offset the weight of the miners, he said. A single system wasn’t long enough so the rescuers used two, giving them a mechanical advantage that made 10 kilograms feel like one, Taillefer explained.

“It was slow, but it was working extremely well,” he said.

Leger said the double pulley system made a significant difference. “It was a big change and made things go a lot faster,” said the 49-year-old.

The operation was nonetheless exhausting. It would take three minutes to raise a miner up a six-metre ladder, Taillefer said.

“Then we’d rest for 15 minutes,” he said, adding that he’d lie down and try to sleep.

The rescue crew would then reset the pulley system, and start all over again with the next ladder.

“Our very last guy took us probably about eight or nine hours to get them up 30 of the 67 landings,” he said.

The miners weren’t hurt when the mine shaft was compromised and it was up to the rescue crew to ensure they stayed uninjured – that responsibility eventually took a toll, the rescuers said.

“There were times where the stress would just boil over and you would just start to cry for really no good reason at all,” Taillefer said.

For Leger, it was the first time he “felt physical stress turn into mental stress.”

But both said they took inspiration from the miners.

“A lot of these people had kids around the same age as ours and it was really important for us to get them home,” Taillefer said.

The last phase of the operation proved the most daunting.

At about 564 metres underground, the final four miners and the rescuers faced a 122-metre stretch of ladder, at an angle of 78 degrees, with “small landings that you could just sort of scooch over to rest your bum on,” Taillefer said.

The crew set up a two-rope system that three miners clipped into and climbed up, but the last miner was unable to scale that stretch.

The rescuers then set up a winch, placed the final miner in a basket and hauled him up as Taillefer climbed the ladder beside him.

Two hours later, near the top of that section, cold groundwater pouring through fissures in the rock hit the group.

“It was like somebody had a fire hose wide open on you,” Taillefer said.

Wet, cold and exhausted, the group returned to the AZTEK pulley system for a final 61 metres to get to an elevator that took them to the surface, Taillefer said.

It was shortly after 4 a.m. on Wednesday when the final miner and seven rescuers got to that point.

“You would have thought there was 100 people down there screaming, laughing and crying,” Taillefer said of the celebration that broke out.

“And there wasn’t as much as a Band-Aid on anybody,” Leger said.

Worker shortage or shift in work? Hamilton businesses struggle to hire, retain staff during pandemic

AP
By Alessia Passafiume

The Hamilton Spectator
Wed., Oct. 6, 2021

For the last while, Bettina Schormann has closed the James Street restaurant she co-owns one day a week.

Not because the demand isn’t there at Earth to Table Bread Bar, but because her overworked staff need a break.

During the fourth wave of the pandemic, Schormann, like others, has been experiencing a worker shortage, even with a raise for new hires working in the kitchen.

Between potential employees not showing up for interviews or new hires quitting after one shift, it’s been hard on the business, she said.

“There’s usually a stack of resumes to pull from, and now we don’t have that,” she said.

The new buzzword during the pandemic seems to be “worker shortage.”

For the hospitality industry, the shortage looks like a lack of employees applying for positions or folks switching industries completely.

In Hamilton, some businesses closed their doors — both temporarily and for good — citing this shortage as at least one reason behind the decision.

Last month, Suzanne Keast, co-owner of the now-closed Cat ‘N’ Fiddle Pub, was struggling to hire new staff in preparation for a busy fall season.

With some potential employees not showing up for their scheduled interviews, it was “frustrating,” she told The Spectator.

At the time, she said she didn’t expect the labour shortage to improve any time soon, and other businesses are now reporting the same issues.

Hamilton Meat Pie Co. said in an email to The Spectator that it has temporarily closed its Westdale location due to staffing shortages.

According to a recent report from the Business Development Bank of Canada, 61 per cent of employers had to increase their own hours or their employees’ hours as a result of the labour shortage. In addition, 49 per cent of business owners have had to postpone or have been unable to deliver orders.

The question is: Should this trend be defined as a worker shortage, or is it something else?

Viktor Cicman, the senior consultant of projects and data at Workforce Planning Hamilton, isn’t too quick to jump on the “worker shortage” explanation for what is happening in the labour market. “It’s a bit more complicated,” he said.

A worker shortage is typically defined as a situation where there are low unemployment rates and no one to fill open positions, Cicman said, and that isn’t what’s happening here. It seems instead of a worker shortage, Hamilton is seeing more of a work shift.

The most hard-hit industries are those not categorized as “high skill,” he said, including manufacturing, warehousing and transportation. On the other hand, high-skill job sectors are actually growing in the city, like scientific and technical services, programming, finance and insurance.

Part of the problem is employers aren’t necessarily enticing folks to return to the workforce with higher wages, benefits, child care and growth opportunities, he said.

Without these perks, workers may decide it’s not worth it and look to higher-paying industries or use this time to re-skill, Cicman said.

What isn’t a factor causing the so-called labour shortage is federal government support, he said, referencing the Canada Recovery Benefit, which is set to expire before the end of October. “We’re still in a pandemic and these supports are needed. They’re almost public safety measures,” said Cicman.

When you do the math, the support given is less than minimum wage, he added.

The president of the Hamilton and District Labour Council, Anthony Marco, echoed some of Cicman’s reasoning for the shortage, citing a problem with minimum wage, a shift in jobs needed during the pandemic and safety concerns around front-line positions.

For hospitality workers, it can be fear of violence, verbal assault and abuse for asking folks to show their proof-of-vaccination certificates, said Marco. “Workers just don’t want to face that.”

Marco said workers may also wish to leave minimum-wage jobs to look for better employment, especially when minimum wage doesn’t match up with the cost of living in the city.

The Hamilton and District Labour Council is calling for a $16.45 per hour living wage, but also notes $19 is more representative of the cost of living in the city. Ontario’s minimum wage, in comparison, is $14.35 per hour.

And it’s evident that workers can be enticed with higher pay, even if that means working remotely for a company abroad.

Keanin Loomis, the president and CEO of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, said some local talent is being scooped up by American- or Toronto-based companies, especially with architects and folks in the legal industry, as the pandemic has changed attitudes around remote work.

A slowed immigration system may also be to blame, said Loomis. “We’re certainly not letting in as many people as we used to (pre-pandemic),” and those folks could help fill in the gaps.

THE FASCINATING PHYSICS BEHIND BOWLING IS A FUN SCIENCE LESSON
by Matthew Hart
Oct 6 2021 •

Usually when an amateur bowler toes the line in front of a lane and ten pins, they’re not thinking about much else besides hurling their ball so it hits its target head on. But the physics of the game—as professionals know—is as complex as the rules are simple. In a new video, YouTuber and science educator Derek Muller gives us insight into the spins, speeds, and angles of the game. And you’ll probably never look at bowling the same way.
Laughing Squid picked up on Muller’s new video, which he recently posted to his YouTube channel, Veritasium. For those unfamiliar, Muller is popular for taking deep scientific looks into random, interesting questions about the world. The YouTuber has, for example, found answers to the questions “Is dust mostly skin?” and “Why do scorpions glow under UV light?”

Veritasium


In this new video, Muller takes a (very) close look at the physics that underpin bowling. Throughout the video, the YouTuber shows everything from how people make bowling balls to how to throw the perfect strike. Double hint: find yourself a ball with a low moment of inertia and aim just to the right or left of the headpin.

Speaking of which, Muller shows in the video that the ideal angle at which to hit a standard arrangement of pins is at six degrees. In other words, if you’re throwing a bowling ball straight down the line, it’s at zero degrees. To throw it at an angle of six degrees, you need to find a way to attack the pins “head on,” but from a little to the side. This is where “hooking” the ball comes in for pros.
Veritasium

Muller covers just about everything else from the world of bowling physics, including a lot about oils. It turns out that the game of bowling as most of us know it wouldn’t be possible without a lot of oil-coated onto lane wood. In fact, without the oil coating, the game would be far more difficult; especially if people still played with today’s relatively “spiky” balls. Although even with perfect conditions, and Albert Einstein as a coach, luck would still play a big part in outcomes.

GIVE IT UP ‘ONE MORE TIME’ FOR THESE MUSICAL TESLA COILS
by Rotem Rusak
Oct 5 2021 •


Tesla coils love to make music. We’ve heard them play all kinds of songs, from Daft Punk’s “Around the World” to Toto’s “Africa.” But now they’re back…one more time. In a video we first spotted on Laughing Squid, a musical quartet of Tesla coils performs Daft Punk’s “One More Time.” And boy, do sparks fly.

When things behave in ways we don’t expect them to, the results are always a lot of fun. Especially if the results please the ear and eye. But these musical Tesla coils take it to the next level. They put on an incredible show. It’s something right out of our best nostalgic dreams. These Tesla coils know how to rock and roll. Their special effects are out of this world. Though the music they make wows, we can’t deny the show of purple lightning isn’t what makes this extra special.

The coils use their buzzing tones to make the song come to life. This harmonious marvel is made possible by Franzoli Electronics. The channel shares:

Welcome to Franzoli Electronics channel, where a hobby and passion for music, science and electronics, is taken very seriously, becoming a priority over everything in my life.

That passion has undoubtedly paid off here.

Franzoli Electronics

The video’s description further explains how these musical Tesla coils operate:
For those who did not understand what is going on this video, here’s a brief explanation: The main loud music really comes from the tesla coil sparks. They are literally playing the music due to the programmed phase, pulse width and firing frequency! So, there are no speakers, no audio / video special effects. It looks even better in person and sounds almost the same, just louder than people expect!

The fact that Franzoli Electronics uses no speakers and no added special effects astounds. The video is up there with cool sequences from the best movies, but you could actually experience this performance in real life. Are these coils going on tour soon? We hope so

.

Global Stagflation Reminiscent Of The 1970s Is Forming, And It’s Bad News: National Bank

OCTOBER 6, 2021

Dust off the disco ball and rolled up dollar bills, because the 1970s are back. At least the signs of 70s-style stagflation are forming, according to one of Canada’s Big Six banks. National Bank of Canada (NBC) chief economist Stéfane Marion warned clients of the rising risk of global stagflation. Rising oil prices, soaring food costs, and slow economic growth are all surfacing. This growing issue threatens to undermine the global recovery.
What Is Stagflation?

Stagflation is high inflation during a recession, when it typically shouldn’t be seen. In a healthy scenario, inflation is the result of rising productivity and a tight job market. It’s viewed as a side effect of too much success. During stagflation, inflation rises with high unemployment and slow growth. It’s often the result of lower confidence in a currency.

It might be obvious why this is an issue, but let’s just spell it out for everyone. Rising inflation for essential goods means diverting spending from other areas of spending. Diverted cash diverts revenues for certain companies, which can further slow growth.


One of the most well-known periods of global stagflation was the early 1970s. Oil trade restrictions resulted in rising energy costs, which trickled into most goods. This made already elevated inflation even worse, especially for food. Since this was during a recession, it exacerbated the difficulty of unemployment. Keep this in mind when reading the tale from NBC.
Early Signs Of Stagflation Have Begun To Appear

The bank sees some signs of stagflation beginning to appear in the economy. Like in the 1970s, it’s starting with a shock to energy prices. A shortage, and rising carbon permit costs in OECD countries are causing a price squeeze. This can hurt emerging economies, slowing global trade.

All while the pandemic recession is still raging on, with elevated unemployment. NBC said, “the risks of a stagflation scenario are increasing.”

“This confluence of factors is looking more and more like a supply shock reminiscent of the early 1970s, when soaring production costs idled industrial capacity and lowered potential GDP for many quarters,” he said.
Rising Global Food Prices May Slow Global Economic Growth

Global food prices are rising at an unusually fast rate these days, and it’s not a base effect. The United Nations Food Price Index (FFPI) shows the basket price of food is up 30% year to date, from it’s 2020 average. NBC found this is the largest increase over the last 47 years of data. It’s the highest level of growth since the 1970s, which is that period again.

 


“As if this were not already bad news for inflation, we now have to contend with soaring food costs,” he said.

Food is one of the largest components of household expenses in emerging economies. Heck, it’s a big expense in advanced economies as well. As food prices rise, capital will be diverted into essentials. Emerging markets are about 60% of global GDP, estimates the economist.


As inflation kills emerging market consumption, it will drag global trade. “Clouds are forming over global economic growth forecasts for 2022,” he said.

Apple takes a stand on the environment—the wrong one

Apple likes to tout its environmental record. So why is it trying to kill clean-energy laws?



THE MACALOPE
By The Macalope OCT 6, 2021 

According to several reports, Apple is trying to have its environmental cake and eat it, too.

Eat it in a super truck that’s rolling coal. With a totally unnecessary coal-powered fork.

Why a coal-powered fork?! You could just use a regular fork, Apple! You don’t need a coal-powered one that lifts the cake to your arrrgh whatever.

Popular Information has called out “Bad Apple”. (Tip o’ the antlers to Tay Bass.)

Normally the Macalope might take issue with calling out Apple here when there are plenty of other companies involved, but in this case, it’s appropriate because of Apple’s consistent PR push on its environmental record.

The crux of the argument is that while Apple makes a big deal of that record (“If you’ve owned your AirPods for more than six months, they’re 90 percent biodegradable earwax by weight now!”), it’s also a member of the Business Roundtable, an organization that is about to launch a “massive lobbying blitz” in an effort to kill the Clean Energy Standard, a provision designed to decarbonize the electric grid by 2035. The reason—you guessed it, a tax increase that the Business Roundtable says is “bad for workers and the economy.”

What’s weird is that Apple signed a letter in August calling on Congress to pass the Clean Energy Standard. The Macalope encourages you to go to the piece and read the two competing quotes, one from the letter Apple signed and the other from the Business Roundtable that Apple is a member of because they could not be more starkly in contrast if one was set in Papyrus and the other in Helvetica.

Maybe you’re saying “But Apple’s just one of the hundreds of members of this organization. I never return those proxy statements from my mutual fund company. I don’t attend meetings of the homeowners association. I haven’t seen my children in weeks, I don’t even know where they are.

 Maybe likewise Apple has no idea what’s going on at the Business Roundtable!”

Well, that’s possible. But, you see, Tim Cook is on the board of the Business Roundtable. And he seems like a pretty thorough guy. You and I might sleep through a Zoom meeting, but Tim? Not likely.

Maybe now you’re saying “Well, if they’re meeting via Zoom, maybe Tim’s been on mute. Maybe he’s shy and doesn’t want to speak up. LOOK, I JUST WANT TO ENJOY MY IPHONE.”

The Macalope gets that, but as far as Tim Cook’s influence on the Business Roundtable, the horny one don’t know if you’ve noticed this or not, but Cook’s the CEO of the biggest company in the history of money. You’d think he’d have more sway than, say, the CEO of Land O’Lakes, who is also on the board.

IDG

Unless she’s bribing the other board members with butter in which case he doesn’t. Because who’s going to turn down butter? Jim Fitterling, CEO of Dow?! Not likely! Guy’s got a stick a day habit! (Disclaimer: the Macalope has no idea what Jim Fitterling’s butter habits are.)


This revelation is also awkward in light of Apple VP for Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives Lisa Jackson recently being named one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women.

If an organization Apple sits on the board of manages to kill a bill with an important environmental provision and Apple really does support the provision, you have to wonder what kind of influence Apple is exerting on that organization. Either it’s not trying or it’s not being effective. Those are the only two options. If Apple doesn’t agree with the organization’s stance, then it should walk away from it.

“But I can change the organization from inside!”

Theoretically! But you’re literally not!

It doesn’t even matter if you don’t agree with this provision. As a forest dweller who breathes oxygen and likes to keep his head above water, the Macalope does. But one thing we should all be able to agree on is that if Apple actually cares about the environment then it should be consistent about it if it wants to take credit. Speaking out of both sides of its mouth is not okay and it’s not going unnoticed.

In addition to being a mythical beast, the Macalope is not an employee of Macworld. As a result, the Macalope is always free to criticize any media organization. Even ours.

Apple takes a stand on the environment—the wrong one | Macworld

Vancouver Island slides west, tremors could signal tectonic shifting



A map pinpoints unfelt tremors online at pnsn.org (Pacific Northwest Seismic Record)

More than 2,000 recent tiny tremors a reminder to be earthquake ready on Vancouver Island

CHRISTINE VAN REEUWYK
Oct. 5, 2021

More than 2,000 tiny tremors recorded in the south Island and Puget Sound area may mean a small move to the west for Vancouver Island.

It’s too soon to tell, but likely they’re an indicator of “episodic tremor and slip,” said John Cassidy, an earthquake seismologist with Natural Resources Canada. His research involves all aspects of earthquake hazard studies to help mitigate the impact of future earthquakes in Canada.

It’s not uncommon for the little bursts to happen with hundreds of tremors but the episodic tremor and slip (ETS) events happen about every 14 months and include a little tectonic movement. Puget Sound is on track for an ETS, with the last in October 2020. Southern Vancouver Island had one in February.

READ ALSO: The day the Island shook: Vancouver Island rocked by earthquake 75 years ago

ETSs were discovered a decade ago, through global positioning data, Cassidy said when researchers noted that at the same time as a large number of tremors, the plate beneath the region shifts a few millimetres – the thickness of five dimes – to the west over the course of a week or two.

“It’s really tiny and it’s really slow but it’s remarkable we can see this with our instruments,” Cassidy said.

Typically, Vancouver Island is slowly moving east.

Within the week researchers should have confirmation if this is an ETS event.

“At this point, it looks like one, it has all the characteristics, but we’ll be looking for this subtle slip,” Cassidy said.

Questions remain about the events themselves – for example, the cause and where the energy is coming from – but they serve as solid reminders about life on the coast, Cassidy said.

READ ALSO: CREST telecoms look to find a post-seismic facility in Greater Victoria

This is an active subduction zone. Residents should be ready.

“It’s easy to forget about earthquakes and what to do, so just practising that on a regular basis is good,” Cassidy said. The Great B.C. ShakeOut (shakeoutbc.ca), held the third Thursday in October each year, is geared to exactly that.

Damaging earthquakes occur every decade or so and magnitude nine earthquakes happen offshore four to six centuries apart, Cassidy said. The last known was Jan. 26, 1700. That date comes from written records of a tsunami that hit Japan at the time. Researchers derived the time and place of the original earthquake from wave heights and arrival times noted in Japan. Local Indigenous oral traditions also describe exactly what would be expected in one of those earthquakes – on a winter’s night, before settlers arrived.

“They happened before, they’ll happen again,” Cassidy noted.

He suggests the Capital Regional District’s website, crd.bc.ca/prepare-yourself, for resources across Greater Victoria and practical, simple advice that can make a difference after an earthquake.

Black Press Media also produced a resource guide for local residents. It is available online at vicnews.com under e-editions.

READ ALSO: Are you ready for the ‘Big One?’

READ ALSO: More than 150 tremors hit Vancouver Island in last 24 hours

c.vanreeuwyk@blackpress.ca

Mining giant eyes transition to copper from coal

Teck sees a brighter future in copper than in steelmaking coal
By Nelson Bennett | October 6, 2021

One of Teck’s metallurgical coal mines near Sparwood BC. The company may be seeking a buyer for its steelmaking coal interests as it increases its investments in copper mining | Submitted

Metallurgical coal prices are at all-time highs, providing companies like Teck Resources (TSX:TECK.B, NYSE:TECK) – the world’s second-largest producer of steelmaking coal – with a potential big windfall.

And with the long-term demand for steel expected to grow significantly over the next few decades – driven largely by global decarbonization efforts – there is perhaps no better time to be in the met-coal business.

So why would Teck be considering getting out of the metallurgical coal mining business?

Bloomberg recently reported that Teck is considering divesting itself of its steelmaking coal portfolio – estimated to be worth $8 billion.

In a recent investor and analyst presentation, Teck CEO Don Lindsay said he wouldn’t comment on speculation about the company’s plans, but went on to explain why it might make sense for Teck to either divest its met-coal assets altogether or at least shrink its coal portfolio in comparison to its growing copper portfolio.

“Conversations about the composition of our portfolio and the role of carbon in our portfolio are not new, nor are they news. We’ve been quite public that we were looking to reduce the proportion of coal in our portfolio over time.”

That strategy is part of Teck’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050 and reducing its emissions intensity 33% by 2030. It may also have something to do with the growing reluctance of environmental, social and governance-minded investors to commit capital to anything that has the word “coal” in it and the difficulty in getting new projects approved.

Teck is going all-in on copper. It plans to double its copper production by 2023, when its new QB2 mine in Chile goes into production. The expected increase in demand for, and value of, copper is being driven by energy transition initiatives, especially in the electric car market.

“They are definitely focused on copper, and copper is very important, but arguably met-coal is just as important for the energy transition,” Anthony Knutson, metallurgical coal analyst for Wood Mackenzie, told BIV News.

The energy transition will also require a lot of steel, as well as the metallurgical coal that is a critical component in making it.

Though there are lower-carbon alternatives proposed for making steel – hydrogen being one of them – analysts expect it will be decades before those alternatives will replace steelmaking coal in blast furnaces, especially in places like China and India.

“Hydrogen won’t become the dominant reducing agent for decades,” Knutson said. “Our base case has met-coal growing, as India and other regions, including Southeast Asia, urbanize.

“We looked at some accelerated energy transitions for a 2.0 scenario, which is a two-degrees rise in temperature, and met-coal is required. We still need it.”

Meanwhile, in the short term, if Teck is seriously considering its coal assets, now would be a good time to put its mines up for sale, because met-coal is suddenly a very hot commodity.

Met-coal prices have gone through the roof, in part due to China’s ban on Australian coal imports. Seaborne met-coal is generally selling for around US$400 per tonne and US$570 per tonne in China.

That’s more than double what the prices were a year ago, and US$100 per tonne above the record high of US$300 per tonne in 2008.

But while long-term fundamentals for met-coal are good, Teck points to the difficulties producers face in getting new mines permitted and financed. Asked about new met-coal mines in the pipeline around the world, Lindsay said there aren’t many.

“There isn’t much being announced, other than projects being turned down in both Australia and Canada and elsewhere in the market,” he said.

In early August, federal Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson rejected the Grassy Mountain met-coal mine an Australian company hoped to develop in Alberta. The year before that, Wilkinson determined that a planned Teck expansion for its Fording coal mine would need to undergo a full federal environmental review. The company had not expected the project to be subjected to a full environmental review, because it is an expansion of an existing mine operation.

Despite being used for different purposes, the mere association met-coal has with thermal coal (burned to produce power) has tainted it in the minds of some investors and insurers, Knutson said, even though it will be critical for making the steel that will be needed for electric cars, wind turbines and transmission lines.

He can therefore understand why a company like Teck might consider getting out of the met-coal business, and with prices where they are now, it would be a good time to try to find a buyer. •

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