Canadians six times more likely to say climate change has negative impact on their health rather than positive: Nanos survey


Christy Somos

CTVNews.ca Writer
Saturday, November 6, 2021 

TORONTO -- Canadians are six times more likely to report that climate change has a negative or somewhat negative impact on their day-to-day health rather than a positive impact, according to a new survey from Nanos Research.

The poll, conducted by Nanos Research and sponsored by CTV News, found that 41 per cent of Canadians surveyed would say climate change negatively or somewhat negatively impacts their health and 44 per cent of those surveyed said it has no impact on their health.

Of those surveyed, six per cent said climate change has a positive or somewhat positive impact on their day-to-day health, while nine per cent of those surveyed were unsure.

Nanos reported that residents in B.C. were most likely to report climate change has some sort of negative or somewhat negative impact on their health at 57 per cent.

The Prairies reported the highest percentage of survey respondents who said climate change has no impact on their day-to-day health at 48.9 per cent.

Women surveyed were more likely to report a negative or somewhat negative impact on their health at 45.5 per cent compared to men at 36 per cent. However, men were more likely to report that climate change had no impact on their day-to-day health at 50 per cent compared to women at 38.6 per cent.

Younger people between the ages of 18 to 34 were most likely to report climate change has a negative or somewhat negative impact on their health at 43.8 per cent compared to survey respondents aged 35 to 54 at 39 per cent and those 55 plus at 40.5 per cent.

By contrast, survey respondents aged 35 to 54 were more likely to report climate change having no impact on their day-to-day health at 46.8 per cent compared to 43.4 per cent of respondents aged 18 to 34 and 42.7 per cent of respondents aged 55 plus.

WILL RISING GAS AND FUEL PRICES AFFECT WINTER SPENDING?

The new poll also asked survey respondents if, in light of rising gas and fuel prices, they would be cutting back on spending on other necessities, or would their spending be about the same this winter.

Just under 30 per cent of respondents said they would have to cut back on spending on other necessities, with the Prairies reporting the highest percentage of survey respondents who said they would cut back at 42.3 per cent, followed by the Atlantic region at 35.2 per cent and B.C. at 28.2 per cent. Quebec was the lowest at 21.3 per cent

More than 60 per cent of respondents said their spending on necessities would be about the same this winter, the highest of which were found in Quebec at 72.5 per cent, followed by B.C. at 65.4 per cent.

Only 50.2 per cent of those surveyed in the Prairies said their spending on necessities would be about the same this winter.


Women were more likely to say they would cut back on spending this winter at 30.4 per cent compared to men at 28.2 per cent.

Men were more likely than women to say their spending would be around the same this winter at 65.4 per cent compared to 60.2 per cent for women.

Those 55 years and older were the least likely to report they would cut their spending this winter at 21.7 per cent compared to 38.4 per cent of respondents aged 18 to 34 and 30.7 per cent of those aged 35 to 54.

Approximately 70 per cent of respondents aged 55 and up said their spending would remain about the same this winter in light of rising gas and fuel prices, compared to 60. 6 per cent of respondents aged 35 to 54 and 54.8 per cent of those aged 18 to 34.

INTEREST IN OWNING AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE

The Nanos poll also asked survey respondents about their interest in owning an electric vehicle.

More than 60 per cent of those survey said they were interested or somewhat interested in owning an electric vehicle, while 4.5 per cent were unsure.

Just under 20 per cent of respondents said they were not interested in owning an electric vehicle and 10.9 per cent were somewhat not interested.

Respondents living in B.C. were most likely to say they were interested in owning an electric vehicle at 47.1 per cent, followed by Quebec at 33.2 per cent and Ontario at 31.5 per cent. In the Atlantic region, 26 per cent of those surveyed said they were interested in owning an electric vehicle but only 16.6 of respondents in the Prairies reported they were interested.

Men were more likely to report being interested in owning an electric vehicle at 32.5 per cent compared women at 29.2 per cent. Respondents aged 18 to 34 were the age group most likely to be interested at 45.1 per cent, following by those aged 35 to 54 at 29.4 per cent and those 55 and older at 22.2 per cent.

The Prairies had the highest level of respondents not interested in owning an electric vehicle at 33.5 per cent, followed by Ontario at 19.3 per cent.

Men were more likely to report being not interested in owning an electric vehicle at 20.8 per cent compared to women at 18.6 per cent. Those 55 and up were more likely to say they weren’t interested at 22.5 per cent compared to 20.5 per cent of 35 to 54 year-olds and 14.6 per cent respondents aged 18 to 34.

SUPPORT FOR CANADA’S FOREIGN AID TO HELP DEVELOPING COUNTRIES CURB EMISSIONS

The new Nanos poll also asked respondents if they support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose or oppose increasing Canadian foreign aid to help developing countries reduce their carbon emissions.

The majority of those surveyed said they support or somewhat support increasing Canada’s foreign aid at 60.7 per cent. By contrast, 12.7 per cent of those surveyed said they somewhat oppose and 20.4 per cent said they oppose increasing Canada’s foreign aid to developing countries to help reduce their carbon emissions, and 6.2 per cent of those surveyed said they were unsure.

Respondents in Ontario were most likely to support increasing Canada’s foreign aid at 31.5 per cent, followed by those in B.C. at 31.2 per cent and the Atlantic region at 31.3 per cent. Just 17.4 percent of respondents in the Prairies support increasing foreign aid.

Women were more likely to support increasing Canada’s foreign aid at 31.6 per cent compared to men at 24.5 per cent. Those 55 plus were the age group with the highest support for increasing foreign aid at 31.9 per cent compared to 25.5 per cent of respondents aged 35 to 54 and 26.1 per cent of the 18 to 34 age group.

The highest percentage of those who opposed increasing Canada’s foreign aid to help developing countries reduce their carbon emissions were in the Prairies at 32.4 per cent, followed by Ontario at 24.1 per cent opposed.

Men were more likely to be opposed to increasing foreign aid at 26.3 per cent compared to women at 14.6 per cent. Those aged 18 to 34 had the highest opposition to increasing foreign aid at 23.6 per cent compared to respondents aged 35 to 54 at 22.4 per cent and those 55 plus at 16.3 per cent.

METHODOLOGY

Nanos conducted an RDD dual frame (land- and cell lines) hybrid telephone and online random survey of 1,026 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between Oct. 31 and Nov. 3, as part of an omnibus survey. Participants were randomly recruited by telephone using live agents and administered a survey online. The sample included both land- and cell-lines across Canada. The results were statistically checked and weighted by age and gender using the latest census information and the sample is geographically stratified to be representative of Canada. Individuals randomly called using random digit dialling with a maximum of five call backs.

The margin of error for this survey is ±3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Charts may not add up to 100 due to rounding.



Thick smoke from wildfires blankets the area as people use paddleboards on Okanagan Lake, in Lake Country, B.C., on Friday, Aug. 13, 2021. (THE CANADIAN PRESS / Darryl Dyck)

'Only the beginning': Increase in wildfires heavily linked to climate change, study finds

Anthony Vasquez-Peddie

CTVNews.ca writer
Saturday, November 6, 2021 

TORONTO -- A new study strengthens the case that climate change has been the main cause of the growing amount of land destroyed by wildfires over the past two decades in the western U.S., and one researcher says the trend is likely to worsen in the years to come.

"I am afraid that the record fire seasons in recent years are only the beginning of what will come due to climate change, and our society is not prepared for the rapid increase of weather contributing to wildfires in the American West," Rong Fu, study co-author and University of California, Los Angeles, professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences, said in a news release.

The increasing destructiveness of wildfires is shown by U.S. Geological Survey data. Between 1984 to 2000, the average burned area across 11 western states was nearly seven thousand square kilometres per year. For the next 17 years, through 2018, the average burned area was approximately 13.5 thousand square kilometres per year.

In 2020, according to a U.S. National Interagency Coordination Center report, the amount of land burned by wildfires in the American West reached 35.6 thousand square kilometres -- an area larger than the state of Maryland.

By comparison, British Columbia had its worst wildfire season in history in 2018, during which about 13.5 thousand square kilometres of land was burned. That broke the previous record set a year earlier, when approximately 12.2 thousand square kilometres of land was scorched.

The next two years were well below average, but during a challenging season in 2021, between April 1 and Sept. 30, wildfires in British Columbia burned about 8.7 thousand square kilometres of land.

The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, tackles the question of what has caused this massive increase in destruction, and whether it is indeed climate change or simply changing weather patterns.

The researchers applied artificial intelligence to climate and fire data in order to determine the impact of climate change, among other factors, on vapour pressure deficit (VPD), which is the key climate variable of wildfire risk.

VPD is the difference between the amount of moisture in the air and how much moisture the air can hold when saturated. When the VPD is higher than the present amount of moisture, the air can draw additional moisture from soil and plants. Large wildfire-burned areas tend to have high VPD levels.

The study found that the 68 per cent of the increase in VPD across the western U.S. between 1979 and 2020 was likely due to climate change. The rest was likely caused by naturally occurring changes in weather patterns.

"And our estimates of the human-induced influence on the increase in fire weather risk are likely to be conservative," Fu said.

Fu said she expects wildfires to become more intense and more frequent in the western U.S. as time goes on.

"Our results suggest that the western United States appears to have passed a critical threshold, that human-induced warming is now more responsible for the increase of vapour pressure deficit than natural variations in atmospheric circulation," Fu said. "Our analysis shows this change has occurred since the beginning of the 21st century, much earlier than we anticipated."



Seen from South Lake Tahoe, Calif., flames from the Caldor Fire leap along a hillside above Christmas Valley on Aug. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Nikki Haley goes after AIPAC for hosting lawmakers who support Iran deal

At RJC confab, Trump’s UN envoy says that in making bipartisanship raison d’être, pro-Israel lobby losing site of policies it supports; claims two-state solution unrealistic

By JACOB MAGID 6 November 2021

Former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley addresses the Republican Jewish Coalition annual conference on November 6, 2021. (Republican Jewish Coalition)

LAS VEGAS — Former United States president Donald Trump’s onetime envoy to the United Nations Nikki Halley tore into the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC on Saturday for hosting politicians who support the Iran nuclear deal.

“There’s one thing I don’t get about AIPAC, and I’m not saying anything to you that I haven’t said to their leadership,” she began in her speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership conference in Las Vegas.

“Why do they invite politicians to their conference who strongly support the Iran nuclear deal?” she continued as the conservative crowd applauded. “Stop rewarding bad behavior. It only gets you more bad behavior.”

The comments represented rare criticism against one of the most prominent organizations in Washington by a rising star in the Republican party and possible candidate for president in 2024.

A spokesman for AIPAC declined to comment on Haley’s remarks.

The DC lobby has long worked to cultivate ties with lawmakers in both parties, leveraging them to bolster the US-Israel relationship. Presidential candidates from both parties long saw AIPAC’s annual policy conference as a necessary campaign stop on their way to the White House.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference in Washington, DC, on March 5, 2018. (AIPAC screenshot)

But as Israel has become a more divisive issue in Washington, particularly following the Trump and Netanyahu governments, a growing number of Democrats have preferred to distance themselves from the pro-Israel lobby. US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the group and met with its leaders on the campaign trail last year, but some other candidates refused to do the same.

Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum called AIPAC a “hate group” after the lobby published ads against her.

But Haley’s comments and the applause they received from the RJC crowd indicate that willingness to distance from AIPAC is growing in the Republican party as well.

“Bipartisanship is important,” Haley told RJC. “But if you make bipartisanship your whole reason for existence, then you lose sight of the policies you’re fighting for in the first place.

“If a politician supports the disastrous Iran deal, opposes moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, and is embraced by antisemites who support the BDS movement, then a pro-Israel group should have absolutely nothing to do with him or her,” she added.

The Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which trades international sanctions relief for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program, was signed in 2015 by then-US president Barack Obama. Three years ago, Trump pulled out of the agreement following encouragement from the Israeli government.

US President Donald Trump signs a document reinstating sanctions against Iran after announcing the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 8, 2018. (AFP/Saul Loeb)

The deal was roundly opposed by Republicans, and while a handful of Democrats expressed reservations at the time, the latter party’s opposition to Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA was effectively unanimous.

A decision by AIPAC to avoid hosting supporters of the nuclear deal to its conferences would likely leave it without any Democrats to invite.

The ex-Trump ambassador also went after the dovish J Street lobby, saying its chairman Jeremy Ben Ami has given Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a “great big hug” when he speaks at the UN. “Supposedly they claim to be a pro-Israel organization? I will never understand that.”

J Street spokesman Logan Bayroff told the Times of Israel afterward that “it’s unsurprising that a right-wing politician like Nikki Haley would be confused and threatened by the impact of J Street. Trump apologists like her simply can’t accept the fact that the overwhelming majority of American Jews support diplomacy and pro-Israel, pro-peace policies that aim to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not exacerbate it.”

“While Nikki Haley spends her time lauding the destructive actions of her former boss, we’ll stay focused on representing the goals and values of the majority of our community,” he added.

But Haley used much of her speech to tout her record at the UN, where she gained rockstar status among the pro-Israel establishment over her full-throttled defense of the Jewish state.

She also took the opportunity to offer some “friendly observations for the new Israeli government to consider.”

Firstly, she warned the Israeli government against trusting the Biden administration to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, as pledged by the US president.

Members of the liberal Mideast policy group J Street meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at his headquarters in Ramallah, on October 17, 2018. (Courtesy)

“If Israel makes the grave decision that its security depends on removing that threat, it should not wait for an American green light that might never come,” Haley said.

Both former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and current premier Naftali Bennett privately agreed to a policy of “no surprises” with the Biden administration vis-à-vis Iran, an Israeli official confirmed to The Times of Israel earlier this year, though the former has attacked the latter for doing so more recently.

On the Palestinians, Haley cautioned “please remember who you are dealing with.”

She lambasted the Biden administration for renewing humanitarian aid to the Palestinians “and promoting a two-state solution.”

“Look, we can all have a nice academic debate about the merits of an independent Palestinian state. In theory, it could be a good thing. Lord knows the Palestinian people have suffered too much,” Haley said.

“But let’s be real. There is no universe today under which the corrupt Palestinian Authority can run a state. There isn’t,” she asserted, adding that Hamas in Gaza is even worse.

Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center) hosts CUFI president John Hagee (left) and former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerualem, on June 14, 2021. (Nikki Haley/Twitter)

The former envoy went on to assert that there is “far more support” in Israel for a two-state solution than there is among Palestinians.

Recent polling indicates otherwise.

A July 2021 poll from the Israel Democracy Institute found that 40 percent of Israelis support a two-state solution. A June 2021 poll from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that 39% of Palestinians support the proposal.

Other surveys from recent months and years have produced similar results.

A joint survey carried out in October 2020 by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) in Ramallah and the Evens Program in Mediation and Conflict Management at Tel Aviv University found that 43% of Palestinians support a two-state solution and 44% of Israelis support the formula.

Haley argued that the peace plan proposed by Trump “was the most comprehensive and realistic approach to ending the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians.”

Trump officials called the proposal, which envisioned Israel annexing all of its West Bank settlements, maintaining permanent security control beyond the Green Line, while offering the Palestinians a sub-sovereign, non-contiguous state, a “realistic two-state solution.” The Palestinians rejected it out of hand.

Closing her speech, Haley declared that the 2022 midterm elections will be about several key domestic issues for Republicans, “And yes, they are also about standing strong for our best ally in the Middle East.”

 

Huge protest hits Glasgow streets as part of global climate rallies

Climate activists attend a protest organised by the COP26 Coalition in Glasgow, Scotland. AP

Gulf Today Report

Tens of thousands of protesters braved rain and wind in Glasgow on Saturday as part of worldwide demonstrations against what campaigners says is a failure of crunch UN climate talks to act fast enough to tame global warming.

Dozens of events are planned worldwide to demand cuts in fossil fuel use and immediate help for communities already affected by climate change, particularly in poorer countries.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 people demonstrated on Saturday in Australia's biggest cities of Sydney and Melbourne to protest against the government's climate policies and the strategies it offered at a UN climate summit in Glasgow.

Climate activists take part in a protest through the streets of London. AP

Sydney's first legal protest after a months-long COVID-19 lockdown saw about 1,000 people march in support of global action day for climate justice, a worldwide movement mobilised during the COP26 meeting.

"We're all out here to show that we want more from our government," said Georgia, one of the protesters.

In Glasgow, organisers and police said they ultimately expected up to 50,000 people to parade through the streets of the Scottish city.

Demonstrators began gathering on Saturday morning in a park near the COP26 summit venue, chanting: "Our world is under attack, stand up fight back!"

"I think a lot of politicians are scared of the power of this movement," said a 22-year-old Norwegian protester who gave her name as Jenny.

Parents and Children from around the world call on leaders to end financing for fossil fuels in Glasgow. AP

Delegates from nearly 200 countries are in Glasgow to hammer out how to meet the Paris Agreement goals of limiting temperature rises to between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius.

At the halfway stage of the COP26 negotiations, some countries have upgraded their existing pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while there have been separate deals on phasing out coal, ending foreign fossil fuel funding, and slashing methane.

A week of government speeches and pledges at the two-week gathering in Glasgow brought promises to phase out coal, slash emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane and cut deforestation.

Australia, however, has rejected the global methane pledge and campaigners and pressure groups have not been impressed by the commitments of other world leaders.

People participate in a rally during a global day of action on climate change in Sydney.

"The COP 26 agreements were happening and it's not turning out the best for Australia at the moment," added Georgia, the Sydney protester, who gave only one name.

Melbourne's protest was smaller than Sydney's, with just a few hundred people turning out for a rally that featured a giant koala bear emitting plumes of smoke, and protesters dressed as skeletons on bikes.

Several smaller events were held elsewhere in Australia.

Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg was among thousands of young campaigners who marched in Glasgow on Friday, demanding urgent action.

 

In Trumpland parallel reality, election was stolen and racism was long ago

A sign outside Monroe, Georgia, shows support for Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. Photograph: Jesse Pratt López/The Guardian

Monroe county, Georgia, where Donald Trump won 74% of the vote, is home to views on everything from education to vaccines that are untethered from facts

Timothy Prattin Monroe, Georgia
Sun 7 Nov 2021 

It’s a gray afternoon, promising rain and with temperatures in the 50s, people have taken their jackets out of the closet.

The streets of downtown Monroe, Georgia, a town of about 14,000 residents 45 miles due east of Atlanta, are quiet for a Saturday. It’s the county seat of Walton county and a monument honoring Confederate veterans stands tall outside the county courthouse. The soldier carved from granite looks across Broad Street to the town’s police station and is flanked to the south by the Walton Tribune’s office and a district office for representative Jody Hice.

Hice, a Republican and former pastor and talkshow host, has announced his candidacy for Georgia’s next secretary of state and is one of three candidates for statewide offices in next year’s national elections who have received Donald Trump’s endorsement. Unsurprisingly, 74% of Walton county’s residents voted for Trump last November.
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And, although Monroe had the opportunity on 2 November to vote for Democrat Emilio Kelly as the town’s first Black mayor in its 200 years of history, residents three days before election day wanted to talk about what one man called the “disastrous” state of affairs they see in the US. (Kelly would go on to lose.)

A year on from an election Trump lost, they believe they’re living in a country where Joe Biden was not legitimately elected, the government is paying people not to work and the state is contaminating children’s minds in public schools, while violating the rights of parents by insisting on teaching about racism that “happened a long time ago”. Some are pretty sure Covid was created in a lab, that “natural” immunity works fine and that vaccines could make you sicker.

The situation is so dire that the current administration has “possibly damaged our country permanently”, said Patrick Graham, owner of the Tribune and author of a recent editorial titled, “Y’all Biden Folks Proud Yet?”

None of the Trump supporters picking up pizza or visiting candle and antique stores downtown believed the presidential vote tallies announced a year ago were accurate. They pointed to the allegations made prominent in Trump’s failed lawsuits across the country and in Georgia.

“With everyone screaming, ‘Let’s Go Brandon’, there’s no way in the world he had 81m votes,” said Mark Kramer, a 68-year-old retiree who moved from nearby Lawrenceville a year ago.

A couple of blocks south, Mike, a 53-year-old, self-described “good ol’ country boy” who didn’t want his last name known, had stopped at a gas station before heading home to watch the Atlanta Braves in the World Series. He believes the 2020 election was “fixed”.

“I’m not a conspiracy person … but the more thought I put into it … not in the state of Georgia, I don’t believe it happened,” he said, referring to Biden winning the popular vote.

Mike, 53, doesn’t believe Biden won the 2020 election. ‘Not in the state of Georgia,’ he said. 

Photograph: Jesse Pratt López/The Guardian

“I don’t want to go so far as to say it was stolen, but ballots were trashed and a lot of things went wrong – including here in Georgia,” said a 54-year-old legal assistant at an Atlanta corporate law firm who was walking her dog Henry in the late afternoon drizzle.

About half the people the Guardian spoke to in Monroe had been vaccinated, a figure in line with Georgia as a whole, consistently in the bottom of national rankings for vaccination rates. Graham, the Tribune editor, expressed concern over the “government forcing an experimental chemical into people’s bodies to keep them employed … If we keep going in this direction, it’s going to erode our freedoms.”

“I don’t care for masks or vaccines,” said Jason Mealer, a 38-year-old McDonald’s employee. “We had Ebola here and that was deadly. Why do something about it now? I say, just live your life.”

Jason Mealer, 38, said, ‘Trump was doing fine until they kicked him out.’ 

Photograph: Jesse Pratt López/The Guardian

Retiree Mark Kramer said “there’s no ingredients you can read” in Covid vaccines, and that they are “poison – they’ll cause you more disease than anything else”. No one in his family had been vaccinated, he added, pointing to a restaurant nearby where they were waiting for him. Kramer didn’t want his picture taken; his son-in-law standing nearby explained their objections: “You have BLM, antifa – you have no idea what they might do” if a photograph were to appear online.

The personal impacts of global or macroeconomic forces were also on people’s minds in downtown Monroe, without much interest in the global or macro sides of the equation. High gas prices, bottled supply chains, short staffing – consensus was, they are all due to the current administration.

“I went to Ihop and their schedule had changed to 7am to 4pm due to staff shortages,” said Holland. “People in my own town are staying at home instead of working,” she said. “Biden is paying people to stay home.”

The notion that radical changes have taken place in how students from kindergarten through grade 12 are taught about race and racism in US history – tagged as CRT or critical race theory – is not absent among Trump supporters in Monroe, where most Black and white residents live in separate parts of town to this day. CRT is an academic discipline that examines the ways in which racism operates in US laws and society. It is not taught in Georgia schools.

“I don’t agree with what’s being taught in schools,” said Holland. “Parents should have a say, and teaching kids that white people are racist is the wrong thing. It’s almost like they want to recreate history,” she said.

“Bringing in CRT is not what teaching is all about,” she said. “Preparing for college, for the real world, is what it’s about. Not about race, or anything else.”

A monument ‘to our Confederate dead’ has looked over downtown Monroe since 1907. Photograph: Jesse Pratt López/The Guardian

But race – and racism – is woven into Monroe’s history.

A few miles from where Holland spoke, in 1946, a mob of several dozen white people shot and lynched two Black couples, by Moore’s Ford Bridge, which crosses the Appalachee River.

The gruesome act of violence led a 17-year-old Martin Luther King Jr to write a letter to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and President Harry Truman ordered the FBI to investigate. No one was found guilty. In an ongoing lawsuit, the 11th circuit US court of appeals ruled in March of last year that grand jury records from the case must remain sealed, keeping all of us from potentially learning what happened that day, and who was responsible.

Two Black couples were lynched at Moore’s Ford Bridge, outside Monroe, Georgia, in 1946.

 Photograph: Jesse Pratt López/The Guardian


The Moore’s Ford lynching persists not just in the courts, and the memories of many; only two months ago, Monroe’s current mayor, John Howard, presented a statement to the town’s city council publicly acknowledging it for the first time. One Black city council member refused to sign the statement, calling it a political stunt aimed at currying favor among the town’s Black voters in Howard’s bid for re-election.

Should schools in Monroe teach children about the lynching at Moore’s Ford? If so, how? “That sort of history – though it was ghastly – should be taught,” said Jeff Blackstone, a 58-year-old who owns a company that installs hotel TV systems. “But – we have all learned from our mistakes. Although there are still some outliers who go back to the horrid ways of previous years, that should not be tolerated. And I … don’t agree with what the government is trying to do with our lives – like CRT – trying to teach us societal views.”

Jeff Blackstone, 58, thinks ‘we need to move beyond Black, white and brown.’ Photograph: Jesse Pratt López/The Guardian

“I think we need to move beyond Black, white and brown,” Blackstone said. “I hire and fire people and don’t judge by their color, but what they can do to help me.”

James “Trae” Welborn III, associate professor of history at Georgia College & State University, says racism and its expression has changed over time.

“Racism now takes seemingly benign forms – talk of personal liberties, colorblindness … The idea is that racism is people running around in white hoods, burning white crosses. So you say, ‘I wouldn’t do that,’ and anything that falls short of that isn’t racism.”

Welborn also pointed to the idea that racism happened a long time ago, the shared urgency among Trump supporters to “deny and marginalize the issue of race and racism, in favor of ‘the beacon of liberty and freedom’ narrative in American history”. A civil war historian, Welborn sees parallels between the views and rhetoric of Trump supporters and those of the Confederacy. “There’s even similar language – the threats of violence: ‘Come to the Capitol and give ’em what for,’” he said.

Meanwhile, in the present, many Trump supporters in Georgia are following Garland Favorito and his organization, VoterGA, which has two lawsuits in state courts tied to last year’s elections. Favorito’s organization is 15 years old and works on election integrity – a term which was then used in public discourse in reference to issues such as how to employ audit methods that could truly verify elections results, and now is mostly used to underline any supposed evidence that Trump won. Until last year, VoterGA was primarily supported by progressive Democrats. Now, Favorito receives social media followers, and donations, from thousands of Trump supporters, in Georgia and elsewhere.

As for last year’s election, he said, “the truth is, nobody knows who won. The secretary of state [in Georgia] can tell you he knows, but he has no idea.” This is because, he said, allegations of ballot stuffing have not been satisfactorily investigated by the state and a “forensic analysis” of election system servers in the state’s 159 counties has not been performed. The problem is that “nobody wants to get to the truth”.

Democrat Emilio Kelly ran to unseat the incumbent mayor in Monroe – in a bid to become the town’s first Black mayor in its 200-year history. Photograph: Jesse Pratt López/The Guardian

Asked about the process followed in Arizona, where a group called Cyber Ninjas took months to review election materials from the state’s largest county – and still concluded that Joe Biden won – Favorito said that the group’s work was never really completed, because the state didn’t supply them with everything they sought to examine. This means “we will never know who won in Arizona”, he said.

Asked if it concerns him that many of the Trump supporters supporting his work in Georgia are the same people who hold positions such as the vaccine being “poison”, he said, “No, it doesn’t concern me to speak truth … Trump supporters have just as much a right to say Trump won as the secretary of state says Biden won, because we don’t know the truth.”

‘No one knew they existed’: wild heirs of lost British honeybee found at Blenheim

The ‘ecotype’, thought to have been wiped out by disease and invasive species, is thriving in the estate’s ancient woodlands

Bee conservationist Filipe Salbany handles the Blenheim bees without protective kit as they are ‘extremely relaxed’. Photograph: Filipe Salbany


Donna Ferguson
Sun 7 Nov 2021 06.15 GMT

Thousands of rare forest honeybees that appear to be the last wild descendants of Britain’s native honeybee population have been discovered in the ancient woodlands of Blenheim Palace.

The newly discovered subspecies, or ecotype, of honeybee is smaller, furrier and darker than the honeybees found in managed beehives, and is believed to be related to the indigenous wild honeybees that foraged the English countryside for centuries. Until now, it was presumed all these bees had been completely wiped out by disease and competition from imported species.

While feral honeybee colonies – usually created by swarms of non-native bees that have left a nearby managed hive – are occasionally found in the UK, there was no evidence that self-sustaining colonies of native, tree-nesting honeybees still existed in England, and no record of the wild subspecies living in Blenheim.

Filipe Salbany, a bee conservationist who found 50 colonies of the rare honeybees in Blenheim’s 400-acre estate, said: “These bees are quite unique in that they live in nests in very small cavities, as bees have for millions of years, and they have the ability to live with disease. They have had no treatment for the varroa mite – yet they’re not dying off.”

The varroa mite, a parasite that feeds on and attacks honeybees, arrived in Britain in 1992 and decimated the UK’s population. Salbany believes the bees he has found have evolved to survive. “We are not seeing the deaths we would expect to see with varroa.”

Filipe Salbany with a swarm of wild bees. He has found 50 colonies to date and thinks they have evolved to ensure their survival. 

Photograph: Paul Sharkey Photography

Unusually, the bees swarm with multiple queens – up to nine in some cases – to ensure the colony’s survival, and have been recorded foraging for honeydew on the treetops in temperatures as low as 4C. Most bees will stop flying at 12C. “A wild bee that has adapted to the environment is called an ecotype, and this bee could be a very precious ecotype – the first wild bee that is completely adapted to living in the oak forest.”

The results of DNA samples taken from the bees are expected within the next three to four weeks, but Salbany is confident it will show the bees are descendants of an ancient native species. “I think the majority of the genetics are going to be of an old English bee, of something that was here many, many years ago.”

His preliminary analysis of the wings of the honeybees strongly suggests they are related to indigenous honeybees that once lived in Britain. “They are not from the imported stocks of bees that people bring in. The wings are smaller and their veins are very distinct.”

The wild bees have been discovered in the 400-acre estate around Blenheim Palace. Photograph: Blenheim Estate

The bees’ cubital index, a method for differentiating breeds of honeybees, also confirmed they are “more of an indigenous bee” than anything else, he said, but their adaptations have made them unique and peculiar, and they have very little banding. “Supposedly, wild tree-nesting honeybees which can sustain themselves do not exist, so nobody knows what type of wild, self-sustaining honeybee is actually left in the UK.”

One of the nests he found was at least 200 years old and he estimates that the bees have been living on the Blenheim estate, which dates back to the middle ages, for “quite a few” centuries. Unusually, they have built their nests in tree cavities a quarter of the size of a normal beehive, 15 to 20 metres off the ground, and despite several ecological surveys over the years, “nobody knew they existed”. The entrances to the nests typically have a diameter of less than 5cm.

There are no managed beehives on the estate, which Salbany thinks has played a critical role in the wild bees’ survival, while imported bees from hives nearby are likely to have been deterred from flying to Blenheim to forage by the landscape. “It’s a closed environment, in terms of bee access, because there are damp and humid valleys which form physical barriers.”

The woodlands, which Salbany describes as a paradise of biodiversity, are not open to visitors and no planting or gardening takes place there. “There’s very little human interaction.”

The wild bees seem able to live in balance with the environment and in harmony, not only with each other but with wasps and bumblebees that live in the forest. “For the 50 honeybee colonies that we have found, we probably have 500 empty sites for them to swarm into. They do not populate every single site: they’ve reached an equilibrium with their environment.”


Honeybees use social distancing when mites threaten hives – study

Remarkably, he found two colonies of wild bees living within five metres of each other, in a single tree – right next to a wasps’ nest. “That is quite unique.” He thinks wasps don’t try to rob the bees because the bees build their nests very high up the trees and make their entrances so small: “There’s enough forage for the wasps in the forest not to go and bother the honeybees.”

As a result, the bees are extremely relaxed and he does not need to wear any protective equipment around them. “I can put my hand in the nest. They are very calm.” Their honey, he said, tastes “incredibly pure”. It is very floral as the bees like to feed on dandelions, blackthorn and sunflowers. “The smell of it is just extraordinary.”

He now suspects there may be other colonies of wild, tree-nesting bees in the UK that have not yet been discovered: another reason, he says, that “we need to protect our ancient woodlands. Because that’s where we are likely to find these bees.”

In total, about 800,000 wild bees have been discovered. Salbany hopes the news will have wide-ranging implications for Britain’s large, imported population of managed honeybees, which can “decimate the countryside” for native pollinators when they forage. “This species could be used as stock for beekeepers.”

Dr Rob Stoneman, a director at the Wildlife Trust, said the discovery of the wild bees was “extraordinary” and demonstrated the value of the UK’s ancient woodlands. “These kinds of stories give us hope and motivation to create a wilder future.”

What’s the buzz?


Wild honeybees are resistant to the varroa mite, a deadly parasite for other bees


They can forage in temperatures as low as 4C


They’re happy to live near wasps and other honeybee colonies


They nest in trees 15 to 20 metres off the ground


They live in colonies eight to 10 times smaller than managed beehives


They have multiple queens to ensure the colony survives, and the fittest queen rules


They’re smaller, darker and furrier than imported honeybees, with smaller wings and more distinct veins.

Argentina Pride March Hails Progress, Calls For More Rights Laws


By AFP News
11/06/21
Thousands of people on Saturday celebrated the progress made in Argentina by LGBTQ and women's rights groups with hours of music and marches in downtown Buenos Aires.

Revelers take part in the 30th Pride Parade in Buenos Aires, Argentina 

Photo: AFP / ALEJANDRO PAGNI

The demonstration had a festive atmosphere, but the head of the state anti-discrimination office, Ornella Infante, told reporters: "We celebrate the victories obtained, but we also demand Congress deal with" trans rights and anti-discrimination bills that have been proposed.

The square in front of Congress and the historic Plaza de Mayo were packed with activists for the 30th Pride march.

People danced in the streets, musicians performed, and people in elaborate costumes held a parade of floats to celebrate a wide range of identities at Argentina's 30th Pride 

Photo: AFP / ALEJANDRO PAGNI

People danced in the streets, musicians performed, and people in elaborate costumes held a parade of floats to celebrate a wide range of identities.

"We ask for the law as historical reparation. We have elderly women who have been persecuted. They have not been able to study or access health care," Mary Robles, 60, a leader of the Association of Transsexual and Transgender Transvestites of Argentina (ATTTA), told AFP.

Marchers in Argentina's 30th Pride parade also demanded Congress pass trans rights and anti-discrimination bills 

Photo: AFP / ALEJANDRO PAGNI

"They are 30 years of struggles, resistance, achievements such as the equal marriage law and gender identity law," said Marcela Romero, another ATTTA leader.

People at the march also carried signs that read "Missing Teruel," referring to Tehuel de la Torre, a 22-year-old trans man who disappeared in March when he left home for a job interview.

Marchers demanded more information on his whereabouts.

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez also took part in the march, writing on Twitter, "The LGBTI+ flag flies all over the country with great reasons to celebrate. A collective that has our commitment to continue working for a more just, free and equal society."

His government also set up a truck from the health ministry to give out Covid-19 vaccines to marchers. Argentina has recorded 5.2 million cases of the coronavirus with more than 116,000 deaths.


Of its 45 million people, 35 million have received at least one vaccine, and 26 million are fully vaccinated.

GIG ECONOMY WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS
Battle The Algorithms: China's Delivery Riders On The Edge


By Beiyi Seow and Yuanhao Zhang
11/07/21 AT 1:35 AM

Handing over a piping hot meal at exactly the time promised, Chinese food delivery driver Zhuang Zhenhua triumphantly tapped his job as complete through the Meituan app -- and was immediately fined half of his earnings.

A glitch meant it inaccurately registered him as being late and he incurred an automatic penalty -- one of many ways, he said, delivery firms exploit millions of workers even as the sector booms.

Authorities have launched a crackdown demanding firms including Meituan and Alibaba's Ele.me ensure basic labour protections such as proper compensation, insurance, as well as tackling algorithms that effectively encourage dangerous driving.

Chinese authorities have launched a crackdown, demanding delivery firms ensure basic labour protections Photo: AFP / Jade GAO

But more than a dozen drivers told AFP there has been little change on the ground.

Often the only way to complete orders on time is to "go really fast... speed past red lights, drive on the wrong side of the road," Zhuang said.

"At the beginning, (the app allocated) 40 to 50 minutes to complete an order -- now for an order within a distance of two kilometres, with the same distance and time as before, we are given 30 minutes," he explained.

China's competitive app-based services have expanded into nearly every aspect of modern life, from groceries to meal deliveries Photo: AFP / Jade GAO

The coronavirus pandemic and resulting lockdowns sent demand for meal delivery services soaring: the sector is now worth 664 billion yuan ($100 billion), according to a report from the China Hospitality Association.

The nation's competitive app-based services have expanded into nearly every aspect of modern life, with digital-savvy consumers used to instantaneous service and fast delivery due to a ready flow of cheap labour.

But after years of unrestricted growth, China's Big Tech is coming under fire from Beijing with Tencent, Didi and Meituan all targeted over anti-monopoly rules.

China's gig economy now accounts for almost one quarter of its workforce

 Photo: AFP / Jade GAO

Earlier this year, Alibaba was fined a record $2.8 billion after an investigation found it had abused its dominant market position.

There is mounting public concern over the amount of data handled by popular apps, including food delivery platforms, and Chinese authorities have directed the cyberspace watchdog to look at how algorithms are used by tech conglomerates.

Food delivery driver Zhuang Zhenhua looks for a restaurant to pick up food at a food mall in Beijing 

Photo: AFP / Jade GAO

Shortened delivery times have also caused more accidents in recent years, amid promises of swift service.

Globally, the sector is facing scrutiny over its treatment of predominantly freelance workers, who endure low pay, few employee rights, and are often hired through agencies to avoid providing benefits.

China's gig economy now accounts for almost one quarter of its workforce -- 200 million people are in "flexible employment", according to government figures.

Globally, the food delivery sector is facing scrutiny over its treatment of predominantly freelance workers, who endure low pay and get few employee rights 

Photo: AFP / Jade GAO

The plight of food delivery and truck drivers caught public attention after little compensation was offered to the family of one courier who died delivering meals for Ele.me in Beijing, and a second set himself on fire in a dispute with the firm over pay.

Despite being hailed as an essential service, particularly at the height of the pandemic, drivers earn just 7,700 yuan a month on average.

Zhuang said many feel they are putting their lives at risk because of algorithms used by apps to determine the route and travel time allowed before drivers incur a "late delivery" penalty.

Another rider, who gave his surname as Liu, told AFP that the allocated delivery time included the period it took for the food to be prepared, something beyond his control but that could impact his pay.

"If there are delays, riders take the blame," the 40-year-old said, adding that the system made it hard to reject orders from slow merchants.

"It's useless to complain," said rider Chen Mingqiang, 50

Meituan, which has more than 628 million users, said it calculates the time needed for a journey in four ways and allocates the longest from those options and includes a buffer.

In a written statement, the firm insisted such decisions were made "considering rider safety as the first priority, and also to satisfy consumers' needs" and that drivers could contest unfair fines.

Last month, after China's cyberspace regulator outlined plans for tighter controls on tech companies, Meituan said it would optimise its "algorithm strategy" and roll out greater allowances to help couriers avoid dangerous work conditions.

Kendra Schaefer, at Beijing-based consultancy Trivium, said a lack of transparency on how platforms were coded to determine driver requirements and compensation was a serious issue.

"An algorithm is intended to maximise efficiency, unfortunately as we're finding as society modernises, algorithms maximise efficiency at the expense of humans," she said.

"Everybody wants drivers to get treated better but nobody wants to pay for it."

The sector relies heavily on migrant workers -- who are often low-skilled and have come to cities from rural provinces in the hope of making money.

For many, there are few employment alternatives.

Zhuang conceded: "If I had the choice, I definitely wouldn't work as a delivery driver. It's a dangerous job, with high risk."

High-profile Breakthrough Cases Trigger Vaccine Misinformation


By Claire SAVAGE
11/06/21

The problem is persistent: a fully vaccinated public figure catches Covid-19, and social media sites are soon flooded with claims that this proves the shots do not work.

From White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and American comedian Chris Rock testing positive to former secretary of state Colin Powell dying of Covid-19 complications, prominent cases have triggered a deluge of inaccurate information online.

So-called breakthrough cases are expected and do not mean the vaccines are ineffective, US health authorities say. But claims that the shots are failing can erode trust and slow uptake efforts, which remain crucial as younger children become eligible for the shots.

"Any time there is a breakthrough case, people who feel very concerned about the efficacy of vaccines see it as yet another reason to reinforce the doubt that's already in their mind," said Andy Carvin, managing editor at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, describing the problem as a "weaponization of doubt."

Psaki announced on Sunday that she had Covid-19, crediting the vaccine for the mildness of her illness. But she was described as "living proof that the vaccine is ineffective" by a Twitter user with more than 12,000 followers -- one of a number of people who made such claims on social media.

Similar allegations followed the Powell family's October announcement that the retired four-star general died from complications caused by Covid-19, even though he had a type of cancer that experts say undermines the efficacy of the shots.

Positive tests for Kavanaugh and Rock this year also gave rise to accusations that the shots are not effective.

Addressing the issue of misinformation stemming from breakthrough cases is increasingly important, because as more people get vaccinated, more cases -- including severe ones -- will occur in the vaccinated population, said Devon Greyson, public health researcher at The University of British Columbia.

"Vaccination is an amazing technology, but it isn't a magic forcefield," Greyson said.

Prominent Covid-19 breakthrough cases have triggered a deluge of inaccurate information online Photo: GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Michael M. Santiago

Yotam Ophir, health and science misinformation expert at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, said that health communicators need to better set public expectations about the realities of the vaccines, both in terms of their benefits and their limits.

The other issue is that "humans have a tendency to pay a lot of attention to vivid cases. We don't really know how to think in numbers and statistics, we usually think in stories and good narratives," he said.

What is not covered by the news is "all the people who got vaccinated and stayed healthy," Ophir said.

Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation specialist at the Wilson Center, said false claims following Powell's death were "especially disappointing," because a lack of nuance in the media allowed misinformation to bloom.

"A lot of the coverage that I saw, even from some of the most trusted news outlets in our country... didn't include information about Secretary Powell's cancer status," she said.

Carvin said the necessity of context in news coverage is at odds with the breakneck speed and need for brevity in the current media environment.

Deciding which breakthrough cases merit coverage -- thus possibly inciting a misinformation storm -- "very much becomes a media ethics question," he said, adding that "journalists and media in general has to think creatively about how we go presenting it."

Ophir called for policy-level changes to address health misinformation, saying that "we are basically at the mercy of private corporations like Facebook and Twitter" to manage the problem.

"What we're doing right now is putting out fires," he said. "That's a losing battle. What we will need to do eventually is to find a more systematic solution."

Climate crisis could give nuclear energy a second wind
Nuclear reactors that are operational and under construction worldwide, as of March 2021

 (AFP/John SAEKI)

Catherine HOURS
Sat, November 6, 2021

For more than two decades, promoters and purveyors of nuclear energy felt shunned at UN climate change conferences.

At the COP26 summit underway in Glasgow, however, they have been welcomed with open arms, the UN's top nuclear regulator told AFP.

The spectre of Chernobyl and Fukushima, along with the enduring problem of nuclear waste, kept energy generated by splitting atoms on the sidelines, even if that energy was virtually carbon free.

But as the climate crisis deepens and the need to transition away from fossil fuels becomes urgent, attitudes may be shifting.

"Nuclear energy is part of the solution to global warming, there's no way around it," said Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in an interview.

It already accounts for a quarter of "clean" -- that is, carbon-free -- energy worldwide, and Grossi said this COP is the first where it has "had a seat at the table".

"The winds are changing."

To have even a 50/50 chance of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels -- the threshold for dangerous tipping points that could trigger runaway warming -- global greenhouse emissions must be slashed by almost half within a decade, scientists say.

But things are still moving in the wrong direction: a report on Thursday said emissions in 2021 are approaching record levels.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned they could hit new heights by 2023.

That is helping refocus attention on nuclear.

"At the 2015 COP in Paris, nuclear wasn't welcome," said Callum Thomas, head of a recruitment firm for the nuclear industry, who was spotted at COP26 sporting a T-shirt saying "Let's Talk Nuclear".

"There was a belief it was not needed. Now many countries are looking at the feasibility, especially with the rise in gas prices."

- 'Never stops' -

From the time he took the IAEA's helm nearly two years ago, Grossi, an Argentine diplomat, has been a tireless advocate for the industry.

At his first COP in Madrid he "went in spite of the general assumption that nuclear would not be welcome".

On the contrary in Glasgow, where nearly 200 countries are still trying to put flesh on the bone of the 2015 Paris Agreement, he said "nuclear is not only welcome, but is generating a lot of interest".

Grossi argues that the technology can not only speed the transition away from fossil fuels, but also power research on technologies needed for adapting to climate impacts, from finding drought-resistant crops to eradicating mosquitos.

He acknowledges that it carries serious risks.

The meltdown of three reactors at Japan's Fukushima power plant in 2011 following an earthquake and a tsunami profoundly shook confidence in nuclear.

The industry also has yet to find a way to dispose of nuclear waste, which remains highly radioactive for thousands of years.

But Grossi said these issues are not disqualifying, arguing that statistically the technology has fewer negative consequences than many other forms of energy.

It could also be a complement to renewables.

"Nuclear energy goes on and on for the entire year, it never stops," he said.

Even so, with prolonged construction times, many argue that it is too late to build enough nuclear capacity to effectively join the battle against global warming.

But Grossi said he thinks part of the answer lies in keeping existing reactors up and running.

- 100-year-old reactors? -

Many power plants designed to run for 40 years are now licensed for 60 years under strict national safety standards supervised by the IAEA, he said.

"What could be more efficient than a facility that you build that gives you energy for close to 100 years?" he said.

He acknowledged that plants running that long might be a "bit of a provocation".

"But it still might be possible."

In their projections on how to limit the rise in global temperatures and satisfy a growing global demand for energy at the same time, the IEA takes all non-carbon sources on board.

The UN's climate science advisory panel, the IPCC, has also given a place to nuclear in its models, even as it says that its deployment "could be limited by social preferences."

Indeed, attitudes towards nuclear power vary sharply across nations.

While New Zealand and Germany are opposed, India is in discussions with French energy giant EDF to build what would be the largest nuclear power plant in the world.

Meanwhile, both Canada and the United States are developing so-called "small modular reactors", although only Russia has put into operation a floating reactor using this technology.

Price is also not the barrier it used to be, said Grossi.

"Countries see in smaller units a very interesting alternative, which is not in the range of billions but of hundreds of millions," he said. "When it comes to energy projects, this is quite affordable."

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