In Brampton, young newcomer workers stand up for their rights: ‘there is strength in numbers’
UDAY RANA

PUBLISHED YESTERDAY
Gagandeep Sidhu, a truck driver based in Brampton, had a bad experience with an employer refusing to pay wages due.

RAMONA LEITAO/THE GLOBE AND MAIL


Gagandeep Sidhu was at the end of his rope in June. With $50 left in his bank account and his employer refusing to pay the $5,549 in wages they owed him, the 24-year-old had nowhere to turn. “I was completely broken,” the dump-truck driver said.

That’s when Mr. Sidhu saw a Facebook post that caught his attention. The post, written in Punjabi, his first language, promised to help students and workers to recover withheld wages from their employers.

In India and Canada’s international student recruiting machine, opportunity turns into grief and exploitation

The post was published by the Naujawan Support Network (NSN), a Brampton, Ont.-based collective of Punjabi-Canadian activists. The group, named after the Punjabi and Urdu word for “youth,” supports young newcomers trying to uphold their rights against exploitative employers.

The group, which began with roughly a dozen core members, now helps advocate for young workers who fall between the cracks in Brampton. Most are newcomers working their way toward becoming permanent residents. While establishing their new lives in Canada, some find they have no choice but to work below minimum wage and get paid under the table. Others are too scared to confront their employers when things go wrong. NSN stands up for those who find their backs against the wall.

Simran Dhunna, 25, one of NSN’s earliest members, says employers withholding pay from international students and temporary workers is surprisingly common. When NSN first launched its social-media accounts, the group received a flood of complaints from workers – hearing about everything from a trucking company that was forcing its employees to drive damaged trucks to a food-business owner who refused to pay a worker his earned wages. In the months since, NSN has attracted hundreds of members and supporters across Brampton and beyond, establishing an online chat network of more than 250 people.

Feeling helpless about his situation, Mr. Sidhu was one of those who turned to NSN for support. “The first thing they did was to tell me not to fear anything. And I needed to hear that,” he said. Mr. Sidhu, like many others involved with NSN’s efforts, is in Canada on a work permit. He was worried speaking out could cause his employer to retaliate, which might hinder his application for permanent residency. NSN members reassured him that Canadian law protects his right to protest.

Members of the Naujawan Support Network and their supporters gather at James William Hewson Park in Brampton, Ont., for a rally to stop exploitation of workers, on Oct. 2.TIJANA MARTIN/THE GLOBE AND MAIL

NSN is currently involved in several active campaigns supporting immigrant workers, including Mr. Sidhu. He still has yet to see the money he says he’s owed, but has joined NSN as a core member to help those in similar situations. “I have to keep fighting for others like me, who think they are powerless,” he said. “I want to tell them that there is strength in numbers.”

The first step NSN takes against an employer is to send them a letter. “That is a way of putting them on notice. If an employer pays up after the first letter, we back off. There is no beef with someone who does right by their worker,” Ms. Dhunna said.

When an employer refuses to pay, NSN launches a protest. In early October, they supported truck driver Gurmukhjeet Singh, who protested outside his former employer’s home after filing a claim in labour court when the employer did not pay his wages for the month of June, 2020. He won a payment order in March this year, but the employer filed an appeal to the Canada Industrial Relations Board. “Court appeals can take years – I had to do more than that,” he said.

Ontario’s Minister of Labour, Monte McNaughton, said last month the government wants to regulate temporary help agencies, noting inspections have shown many such agencies in Ontario are illegally paying workers below minimum wage and denying other basic employment rights. The provincial government has proposed legislation that would require temp agencies to obtain a licence to operate after being properly vetted.

Newcomers, including work-permit holders, are often taken advantage of and suffer mistreatment at the workplace because they are not yet permanent residents or citizens, Mr. Sidhu said. Many of the businesses NSN targets are owned by fellow South Asians – the group tries to appeal to their sense of community in not-so-subtly reminding them of their obligations.

“Our community places a huge value on the concept of izzat – or honour,” Mr. Singh said. “No matter how stubborn an employer is, they don’t want to be disgraced in the eyes of their neighbours. That is why we put up posters in their neighbourhoods, write about them on social media and carry out marches outside their homes.”

But such tactics have led to accusations that NSN is carrying out a form of vigilante justice. NSN founding member Ms. Dhunna insists the group isn’t looking to replace proper legal channels, but only provide much-needed support to vulnerable workers. They’re careful to vet workers’ complaints, and also give employers the chance to respond, she added.

“We meet with them in person and assess the hard evidence,” she said. “If we are not convinced that there is a case or if we feel someone has an axe to grind, we turn them away.”

Members of the Naujawan Support Network gather at James William Hewson Park in Brampton for a rally to stop the exploitation of workers on Oct. 2.

TIJANA MARTIN/THE GLOBE AND MAIL

Sara Slinn, associate dean at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, said things are particularly precarious for independent contractors. They don’t have the same rights as employees and have few options other than filing an expensive lawsuit against the employer. “In those cases, social pressure has the prospect of getting them paid more quickly than the formal process, which can be very costly and difficult,” she said. NSN claims they have managed to get more than $45,000 in wages for their members, either directly or indirectly through their campaigns.

Some NSN members, such as truck driver Amandeep Virk, have had success in working with the group to pressure their employers to do the right thing. Mr. Virk, 31, was owed $3,054 by his former employer. “I had given up all hope. I even missed the window in which I could have filed a [legal] case, because I didn’t know how to file a claim,” he said.

In June, Mr. Virk showed up to an NSN protest in support of fellow truck driver Mr. Sidhu. He spoke at the rally, sharing his own story. The video of his speech went viral, even reaching his employer.

“He asked me if I am planning a protest against him. I said we were, but we were planning to give him fair warning first,” Mr. Virk said. “He was quiet for a moment, then told me to collect my cheque in a few days. When I got to the place, he told me not to come inside – he didn’t want the other employees to see him handing me my cheque out of pressure.”

For other workers such as Mr. Sidhu, however, the fight continues. His former employer has sent legal notices to him and other members of the NSN, claiming defamation. But, bolstered by the group’s support, his resolve remains strong.

“It may take longer than I had thought, but I will win,” he said firmly. “I know I will win, because I am not alone.”

New Zealand’s bold housing law may be a fit for Canada

GARY MASON

NATIONAL AFFAIRS COLUMNIST

GLOBE AND MAIL

Residential houses in Wellington, New Zealand on July 1, 2017. New Zealand is a country where the cost of housing has, in recent years, become detached from reality.

DAVID GRAY/REUTERS

Canada’s housing crisis resembles the world’s climate emergency in one central way: most are in favour of finding a solution as long as it doesn’t inconvenience them.

When it comes to housing, that often includes efforts by local governments to densify single-family neighbourhoods. Many who live in them, especially in cities where average house prices are obscene like Toronto and Vancouver, have no problem with multifamily dwellings – but just not in their backyard.

And local councils have long been acquiescing to this vocal minority at the expense of those desperately seeking a place to live.

New Zealand is another country where the cost of housing has, in recent years, become detached from reality. The culprit? Supply, of course. Like it is in this country, housing is often difficult to get built. The approval process is so complex and cumbersome it acts as a deterrent. Then there is NIMBYism on top of it.

There is no such thing as a panacea to our housing woes. But New Zealand has at least put forward an idea whose time may have come in this country as well.

The national government has effectively outlawed detached single-family home zoning in the country’s five largest cities. The legislation allows people to build three homes, three storeys tall, on 50 per cent of their property without consent of municipal authorities. Plans must meet certain requirements.

One analysis predicts the measure will result in as many as 75,000 new homes over eight years.

See what the national government has done here? It has taken decision-making on housing out of the hands of local governments – which are too often beholden to special interest groups and the loudest voices in the room – and given power to the people. Now when certain groups get angry that multifamily housing is “destroying the character of our neighbourhood,” local governments that previously caved to such cries of outrage can say: “Don’t look at us.”

In this regard I can’t help but think of a densification proposal recently featured in The Globe and Mail. An application by a Toronto developer to take two large, single-family lots in the city’s Deer Park neighbourhood and convert them into a 12-unit condo building has been mired in controversy and delay. After three years of trying, the project is no closer to getting approved. Why? Neighbourhood opposition.

New Zealand’s legislation would take care of that.

There is something else about what that country has done that is unique: the housing legislation was the result of a collaborative effort by the government and main Opposition party. This is important because it ensures the law doesn’t become a political football, undermining its effectiveness in the process.

Of course, in Canada, this type of legislation would be the domain of the provinces, not Ottawa. It would be no less significant if the partnership we witnessed in New Zealand occurred here. In most provinces, however, that’s difficult to imagine.

However, there is one potential downside to the New Zealand model: the effect on land prices.

“How do you prevent a land rush?” asks Andy Yan, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University, in a conversation with me. “By that I mean a sudden, sharp increase in prices caused by speculators trying to get a piece of the action.”

“We already saw this happen in Vancouver when the Cambie Street corridor was zoned for multifamily homes. Suddenly, those old single-family homes that were going to be torn down shot up in value. Those properties were being flipped two or three times before the actual developer got their hands on it.”

And whatever a developer pays for the property is reflected in the cost of the housing that gets put up. Townhomes along the Cambie and Oak St. corridors in Vancouver that have been built in recent years are all starting around $1.7-million to $1.8 million – and rapidly ascending from there.

So yes, New Zealand-type legislation in cities like Toronto and Vancouver might help get a lot more homes built, but it’s not likely to do much for affordability.

“Sometimes the consequences of multifamily home legislation are unintended,” said Mr. Yan. “It can drive up cost. It can hard wire unaffordability into the whole concept. I think it’s just something you really need to study.”

It’s certainly one factor to weigh against the benefits of a lot more housing. Maybe the biggest take away from New Zealand, however, is a national government having the guts to do something unpopular in the name of the common good.

It’s betting those who might oppose the new law won’t find many allies.

France's nuclear sector prepared to build new EPR reactors - EDF


Publishing date: Nov 08, 2021 •

PARIS — France’s nuclear industry is prepared to construct additional third-generation EPR nuclear reactors within agreed costs and timelines should the government decide to do so, an official of state-owned utility EDF said on Monday.

“The nuclear industry is transforming and will stand ready,” Alain Tranzer, a senior engineer in charge of the EDF’s nuclear quality management.

Tranzer spoke to journalists as French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to announce the construction of up to six new pressurized-water reactors within the coming weeks.

French media in October reported that the impact of Europe’s gas crisis in energy prices, and the knock-on effect on household spending power six months out from France’s next presidential election, has accelerated Paris’s decision to commit to EPR technology.

The construction of new-generation nuclear reactors could also enable France to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 at a “manageable” cost, according to a report by RTE, the French electricity network operator, in late October.

RTE also said that achieving future carbon neutral goals without nuclear reactors would require a scale up of renewables faster than the most dynamic electric mixes in Europe.

France’s capacities to build up new nuclear power plants have been called into question as the construction of what should become France’s first third-generation reactor in Flamanville, Normandy, has faced a series of setbacks, delaying its launch by some ten years as costs exploded.

Speaking to journalists about potential future EPR projects, Tranzer emphasized that there would be “enough wiggle room in terms of costs and scheduling for the first reactor (…) to be sure that we will be able to deliver what has been said, and then (there will be) a learning curve on the reactors that follow.”

EDF’s latest schedule for Flamanville, confirmed by Tranzer on Monday, provides for the activation of the new reactor by the end of 2022. Tranzer added that some defective weldings which had shattered EDF’s most recent timeline had now been fixed. (Reporting by Benjamin Mallet, Writing by Matthieu Protard and Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

CANADA'S PUBLIC PENSION 
CPPIB makes big investments in technology companies

DAVID MILSTEAD

GLOBE AND MAIL

INSTITUTIONAL INVESTMENT REPORTER

PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 8, 2021

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is part of a six-member investment group that will pay US$12-billion to buy publicly traded computer-security company McAfee Corp.

CARLO ALLEGRI/REUTERS

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is making two technology bets as part of multibillion-dollar deals announced Monday.

CPPIB is part of a six-member investment group that will pay US$12-billion to buy publicly traded computer-security company McAfee Corp. MCFE-Q -0.16%decrease

, known for its pioneering virus-protection software. CPPIB’s share of the company is undisclosed.

Separately, CPPIB and three partners, including Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, are selling British satellite company Inmarsat PLC to a California-based competitor Viasat Inc. for US$4-billion, with US$3.15-billion of the price coming in Nasdaq-traded Viasat shares. CPPIB and Teachers each own 25 per cent of Inmarsat, which will give them each a little less than 10 per cent of the combined public company.

The two deals have strong consumer-tech components. While Viasat has a commercial and government division, it also provides broadband and voice-over-internet services to consumers and, like Inmarsat, has a business providing in-flight internet and entertainment to airline passengers. McAfee in July shed its Enterprise division to become a pure-play consumer cybersecurity company.

In a joint statement on Inmarsat, CPPIB, Teachers and partners Warburg Pincus LLC and Apax Partners LLP said the combined company will have US$4.1-billion in revenue and 19 satellites, with 10 more on the way. The deal allows Viasat to diversify geographically, as nearly all of its revenue comes from the United States, and will allow the combined company the scale to grow faster.

CPPIB strikes multibillion-dollar deal to buy marine terminal operator Ports America

CPPIB sees large gain in Informatica as firm goes public

CPPIB, Teachers and the Inmarsat partners bought the satellite company in December, 2019, for US$6.5-billion, with CPPIB making a US$900-million commitment at the time. In the deal announced Monday, Viasat is also taking on US$3.4-billion in Inmarsat debt, bringing its total value to US$7.3-billion.

Reuters Breakingviews columnist Ed Cropley pointed out that Inmarsat’s 2021 profit is estimated to be below 2018 levels, “and the gradual recovery in air passenger traffic probably means more sedate growth forecasts” than the consortium expected. “Viasat is paying a higher multiple than the consortium did in 2019, despite the bleaker outlook,” he said.

Share of Viasat, which also released above-expectations earnings Monday, sunk in early trading.

McAfee was founded nearly 35 years ago by computer programmer John McAfee, who left the company in 1994 and later became infamous for his drug use, sexual exploits, alleged tax evasion and his suicide last summer at the age of 75.

Intel bought McAfee Corp. in 2011. In 2017, it partnered with buyout firm TPG to carve it out separately, and it went public in 2020. McAfee sold its Enterprise business to private-equity firm Symphony Technology this year.

The buying group, which also includes Advent International Corp., Permira Advisers LLC, Crosspoint Capital Partners, GIC Private Ltd. and a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, is paying a premium of about 22.6 per cent over McAfee’s closing share price of $21.21 on Nov. 4, the last trading day prior to media reports of a potential sale of McAfee.

The group will take on US$2-billion of McAfee debt, making the total transaction value US$14-billion

In an e-mailed statement, Geoff McKay, CPPIB’s head of North American direct private equity, said McAfee’s brand “has become synonymous with security. Coupled with the company’s strong financial profile and scalable business model, we see further potential to build on this brand, which is well suited to our long-term investment strategy.”

THIRD WORLD USA

Infrastructure bill includes $15B to fix dangerous lead water pipes

By Sandy West, Missouri Independent

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, D.C., in June about the agency's efforts to provide clean drinking water across the United States through improvements to lead service pipes. 

File Photo by Sarah Silbiger/UPI | License Photo


Nov. 9 (UPI) -- No one knows exactly how many lead pipes deliver water to homes, schools and businesses throughout America -- or even where they all are.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates at least 6 million lead service lines exist. Environmental groups say it's probably many more.

What is known is that with every pot of boiling sweet potatoes, bottle of reconstituted baby formula or sip of tap water delivered through lead pipes, millions of Americans risk ingesting lead, a powerful neurotoxin long known to cause irreversible organ and cognitive damage in children and adults.

"As a starting point, we don't even fully know the extent of all this, even though because of situations like Flint and other places, we know it's real," said Joseph Kane, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who focuses on infrastructure.

Now, he and other experts say, the nation can finally start to make a dent in the problem. The bipartisan infrastructure bill that Congress approved Friday calls for allocating $15 billion for lead pipe remediation. An additional $9 billion to help with lead reduction in disadvantaged communities and $970 million for rural water and waste-water programs, including lead remediation, are still on the table as part of the pending reconciliation spending bill to fund President Joe Biden's social and climate agenda.

While some say the infrastructure bill is not enough -- industry experts and environmental advocates estimate the actual cost of fully replacing lead pipes could be $60 billion -- others believe the infrastructure package will bring significant change.

"Is this better than nothing? Absolutely, 100%," said Scott Berry, director of policy and government affairs at the U.S. Water Alliance, a nonprofit focused on sustainable water policies. "This is going to be transformative for some communities."

The lead-poisoned water in Flint, Mich., elevated the issue of lead pipes to national attention in 2015. But some places, such as Houston's Fifth Ward neighborhood that is saddled with other environmental hazards amid aging homes, are just beginning to track the plumbing contamination.

Lead service lines were banned nationwide in 1986, but fixing this largely underground problem has been taking longer than community and environmental advocates would like.

Earlier this month, before the infrastructure bill passed, the EPA ordered the city of Benton Harbor, Mich., to take "immediate action" to improve its drinking water system after several years of inaction on high lead levels. Illinois recently established a 50-year timeline to replace all lead service lines, including in Chicago, which has the most of any U.S. city with an estimated 400,000 lines.

After the Flint water crisis, officials with Greater Cincinnati Water Works developed a plan to remove lead pipes; the city provided financial assistance to property owners for their share of the project. When fewer owners than expected signed up, city leaders agreed to cover the full cost, said Jeff Swertfeger, superintendent of water quality. Officials hoped to complete the project in 15 years -- until the bill passed.

"That will allow us to do it more quickly," Swertfeger said, if his city gets some of the money.

The EPA said in 2012 that there is no safe level of lead exposure. However, rules governing allowable levels in drinking water have been largely unchanged since 1991, said Adrienne Katner, an associate professor of environmental and occupational health at Louisiana State University.

Katner said when blood lead levels fell following bans on lead in paint and gas, many Americans -- including medical professionals -- thought the problem of lead poisoning was largely solved. She said that mindset has continued to this day.

"But the lead story isn't over," Katner said. "Because we've created cities that are pretty much hazardous waste sites now because of the amount of lead we put in the environment."

A report issued is July by the Natural Resources Defense Council found people in Missouri and Kansas risk lead exposure from drinking water at greater rates than almost any other state.

Missouri has the sixth most lead service lines of any state, putting it above the far more populous Texas. Only Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, New York and New Jersey have more lead pipes than Missouri.

Lead-based paint and lead-contaminated dust continue to be primary sources of lead exposure, but the reality is that lead in water poisons children and adults at troubling rates. The EPA estimates that, for the general public, drinking water can account for 20% or more of lead exposure. Infants who drink reconstituted formula can receive up to 60% of their lead exposure from the water.

"Lead pipes are unpredictable," said Tom Neltner, chemicals policy director at the Environmental Defense Fund, a science-based environmental advocacy organization. "One day they can be low and later really high. It may be flow, water chemistry, temperature or something else. That is what makes them particularly hard to manage safely -- and why replacing them is so important."

Lead accumulates in the body over time. It is known to cause organ damage and reduce impulse control, IQ and cognitive abilities in children. It can cause fertility issues. For those who are calcium-deficient while pregnant, it can leach from the bones and cross the placental barrier, exposing the fetus to lead. In adults, it can cause liver damage and cardiovascular disease.

While lead-contaminated water can affect all populations, low-income and minority communities are hit the hardest, Katner said. Many of those communities exist in older, more industrialized and more polluted areas in any given city, where residents are less likely to have the financial resources or political clout to get lead pipes removed.

"There are many communities of color, Black and brown communities specifically, that because of policies that have resulted in segregation and environmental racism, are cumulatively disadvantaged," said Grace Tee Lewis, a senior health scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund.

Houston's Fifth Ward, in the shadow of downtown Houston's gleaming office towers and expensive condos, is faced with numerous environmental and health challenges. Within its borders sit three Superfund sites, chemical plants, metal recyclers and cement plants. Two cancer clusters have been identified there.

The Rev. James Caldwell formed the nonprofit Coalition of Community Organizations to help residents there tackle health, environmental, economic and social issues. In 2019, the Houston Health Department gave Caldwell's group a map identifying homes and businesses with potential lead-based paint contamination. Because those homes were likely built before 1978, the year lead paint was banned nationally, and aging infrastructure was already an issue, it seemed possible that lead service lines were delivering water to the area, too.

"We don't know if we have people in our community bathing in lead water, drinking lead water, pouring the water in their plants, on their food -- and they don't know," Caldwell said. "That's a problem."

The Coalition of Community Organizations created a working group of residents and experts to sample water, soil and dust for multiple particulates -- including lead -- from homes throughout the Fifth Ward. Leanne Fawkes, a doctoral candidate at Texas A&M University's School of Public Health who is working on the project, said so far about 30% of water samples collected from 200 homes show elevated lead levels.

"I would just like more Houstonians to be aware that this was happening in their back yard," she said.

The city's Public Works department has been conducting a separate public survey to help determine locations throughout the city to target for water testing, said city spokeswoman Erin Jones.

The Environmental Defense Fund's Neltner said it's imperative to raise awareness nationwide that these pipes and plumbing fixtures pose dangerous health concerns. Removing them will not eliminate the risk of lead-contaminated drinking water, but what potentially remains will be more easily managed with proper mitigation, he said.

Now that the infrastructure bill is approved, he said, the priority must be on ensuring low-income communities, where residents have the fewest resources to participate in fixing the problem, have access to the funds.

"If you're drinking water through a lead straw, while that might be safe right this moment, the next moment it's not," Neltner said. "People need to be confident that their water is safe."

This story was originally published by Kaiser Health News, a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

The Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com. Follow Missouri Independent on Facebook and Twitter.

THIRD WORLD USA
US food banks struggle to feed hungry amid surging prices


1 of 7

A volunteer packs onions in the warehouse of the Alameda County Community Food Bank in Oakland, Calif., on Nov. 5, 2021. U.S. food banks dealing with increased demand from families sidelined by the pandemic now face a new challenge – surging food prices and supply chain issues. As holidays approach, some food banks worry they won't have enough turkeys, stuffing and cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Residents picking up free groceries in Oakland said they're grateful for the extra help as the price of dairy, meat and fuel has shot up. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — U.S. food banks already dealing with increased demand from families sidelined by the pandemic now face a new challenge — surging food prices and supply chain issues walloping the nation.

The higher costs and limited availability mean some families may get smaller servings or substitutions for staples such as peanut butter, which costs nearly double what it did a year ago. As holidays approach, some food banks worry they won’t have enough stuffing and cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“What happens when food prices go up is food insecurity for those who are experiencing it just gets worse,” said Katie Fitzgerald, chief operating officer of Feeding America, a nonprofit organization that coordinates the efforts of more than 200 food banks across the country.

Food banks that expanded to meet unprecedented demand brought on by the pandemic won’t be able to absorb forever food costs that are two to three times what they used to be, she said,

Supply chain disruptions, lower inventory and labor shortages have all contributed to increased costs for charities on which tens of millions of people in the U.S. rely on for nutrition. Donated food is more expensive to move because transportation costs are up, and bottlenecks at factories and ports make it difficult to get goods of all kinds.

If a food bank has to swap out for smaller sizes of canned tuna or make substitutions in order to stretch their dollars, Fitzgerald said, it’s like adding “insult to injury” to a family reeling from uncertainty.

In the prohibitively expensive San Francisco Bay Area, the Alameda County Community Food Bank in Oakland is spending an extra $60,000 a month on food. Combined with increased demand, it is now shelling out $1 million a month to distribute 4.5 million pounds (2 million kilograms) of food, said Michael Altfest, the Oakland food bank’s director of community engagement.

Pre-pandemic, it was spending a quarter of the money for 2.5 million pounds (1.2 million kilograms) of food.

The cost of canned green beans and peaches is up nearly 9% for them, Altfest said; canned tuna and frozen tilapia up more than 6%; and a case of 5-pound frozen chickens for holiday tables is up 13%. The price for dry oatmeal has climbed 17%.

On Wednesdays, hundreds of people line up outside a church in east Oakland for its weekly food giveaway. Shiloh Mercy House feeds about 300 families on those days, far less than the 1,100 families it was nourishing at the height of the pandemic, said Jason Bautista, the charity’s event manager. But he’s still seeing new people every week.

“And a lot of people are just saying they can’t afford food,” he said. “I mean they have the money to buy certain things, but it’s just not stretching.”

Families can also use a community market Shiloh opened in May. Refrigerators contain cartons of milk and eggs while sacks of hamburger buns and crusty baguettes sit on shelves.

Oakland resident Sonia Lujan-Perez, 45, picked up chicken, celery, onions bread and and potatoes — enough to supplement a Thanksgiving meal for herself, 3-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son. The state of California pays her to care for daughter Melanie, who has special needs, but it’s not enough with monthly rent at $2,200 and the cost of milk, citrus, spinach and chicken so high.

“That is wonderful for me because I will save a lot of money,” she said, adding that the holiday season is rough with Christmas toys for the children.

It’s unclear to what extent other concurrent government aid, including an expanded free school lunch program in California and an increase in benefits for people in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, will offset rising food prices. An analysis by the Urban Institute think tank in Washington, D.C. found that while most households are expected to receive sufficient maximum benefits for groceries, a gap still exists in 21 percent of U.S. rural and urban counties.

Bryan Nichols, vice president of sales for Transnational Foods Inc., which delivers to more than 100 food banks associated with Feeding America, said canned foods from Asia— such as fruit cocktail, pears and mandarin oranges— have been stuck overseas because of a lack of shipping container space.

Issues in supply seem to be improving and prices stabilizing, but he expects costs to stay high after so many people got out of the shipping business during the pandemic. “An average container coming from Asia prior to COVID would cost about $4,000. Today, that same container is about $18,000,” he said.

At the Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado in Colorado Springs, CEO Lynne Telford says the cost for a truckload of peanut butter —40,000 pounds (18,100 kilograms)_has soared 80% from June 2019 to $51,000 in August. Mac and cheese is up 19% from a year ago and the wholesale cost of ground beef has increased 5% in three months. They’re spending more money to buy food to make up for waning donations and there’s less to choose from.

The upcoming holidays worry her. For one thing, the donation cost to buy a frozen turkey has increased from $10 to $15 per bird.

“The other thing is that we’re not getting enough holiday food, like stuffing and cranberry sauce. So we’re having to supplement with other kinds of food, which you know, makes us sad,” said Telford, whose food bank fed more than 200,000 people last year, distributing 25 million pounds (11.3 million kilograms) of food.

Alameda County Community Food Bank says it is set for Thanksgiving, with cases of canned cranberry and boxes of mashed potatoes among items stacked in its expanded warehouse. Food resourcing director Wilken Louie ordered eight truckloads of frozen 5-pound chickens —which translates into more than 60,000 birds— to give away free, as well as half-turkeys available at cost.

For that, Martha Hasal is grateful.

“It’s going to be an expensive Thanksgiving, turkey is not going to cost like the way it was,” said Hasal as she loaded up on on cauliflower and onions on behalf of the Bay Area American Indian Council. “And they’re not giving out turkey. So thank God they’re giving out the chicken.”

——

AP reporters Terence Chea in Oakland and Ashraf Khalil in Washington contributed to this story.

Loss of glaciers will hurt tourism, power supplies and more



This combination of satellite images provided by Planet Labs Inc. shows glaciers at Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in 2016, left and 2021. With many glaciers rapidly melting because of climate change, countries around the world are facing trouble from the disappearance of the ice sheets. (Planet Labs Inc. via AP)

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — From the southern border of Germany to the highest peaks in Africa, glaciers around the world have served as moneymaking tourist attractions, natural climate records for scientists and beacons of beliefs for indigenous groups.

With many glaciers rapidly melting because of climate change, the disappearance of the ice sheets is sure to deal a blow to countries and communities that have relied on them for generations — to make electricity, to draw visitors and to uphold ancient spiritual traditions.

The ice masses that formed over millennia from compacted snow have been melting since around the time of the Industrial Revolution, a process that has accelerated in recent years.

The retreat can be seen in Africa, on the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the jagged peaks of the Rwenzori Mountains jut into the sky above a green jungle. The peaks once held more than 40 glaciers, but fewer than half of them remained by 2005, and the melting continues. Experts believe the last of the mountains’ glaciers could disappear within 20 years.

The disappearance means trouble for land-locked Uganda, which gets nearly half of its power from hydroelectricity, including the power plants that rely on steady water flow from the Rwenzori glaciers.

“That hydroelectric power runs much better on more regular flows than it does peak and troughs,” said Richard Taylor, a professor of hydrogeology at the University College in London.

A continent away, on the southern edge of Germany’s border with Austria, only half a square kilometer (124 acres) of ice remains on five glaciers combined. Experts estimate that is 88% less than the amount of ice that existed around 1850, and that the remaining glaciers will melt in 10 to 15 years.

That spells bad news for the regional tourism industry that relies on the glaciers, said Christoph Mayer, a senior scientist in the geodesy and glaciology group at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Munich.

“At the moment, tourist agencies can advertise, ‘You can visit some kind of the highest mountains in Germany with glaciers. You can walk on the glaciers,’” Mayer said. “People living around these regions really live from tourism ... there will be an impact on them if they lose these glaciers.”

The same issue faces Tanzania, where experts estimate that Mt. Kilimanjaro — the highest mountain in Africa and one of the country’s main tourism attractions — has lost about 90% of its glacial ice to melting and to sublimation, a process in which solid ice transitions directly to vapor without becoming a liquid first. Travel and tourism accounted for 10.7% of the country’s GDP in 2019.

This combination of satellite images provided by Planet Labs Inc. shows the Humboldt glacier in Venezuela in 2010, left, and 2021. With many glaciers rapidly melting because of climate change, countries around the world are facing trouble from the disappearance of the ice sheets.

 (Planet Labs Inc. via AP)

There are intangible losses for many indigenous communities that reside within sight of glaciers as well, said Rainer Prinz, a glaciologist at the University of Innsbruck in Austria.

In the history of the local populations, “the ice in the mountains is the seat of god. It has a very spiritual meaning,” he said, discussing communities near Mt. Kilimanjaro. “Losing the glaciers there would also impact spiritual life, I think.”

The layers of ice that make up a glacier can be tens of thousands of years old and contain year-by-year information about past climate conditions, including atmospheric composition, temperature variations and types of vegetation that were present. Researchers take long tube-like ice cores from glaciers to “read” these layers.

During a 2010 research trip to the Carstensz glacier in Indonesia’s western Papua province, oceanographer Dwi Raden Susanto was excited to be part of a team that took a core sample from the remote glaciers. But once the sample was taken, Susanto said, scientists quickly realized the rapid decline of the ice allowed them to get records dating back only to the 1960s.

“It is sad because it’s not only a loss of local or national heritage for Indonesia, but this is also the loss of climate heritage for the world,” Susanto said.

As glaciers vanish, experts say, local ecosystems will begin to change as well— something already being studied at the Humboldt Glacier in Venezuela, which could disappear within the next two decades.

Experts warn that the fate of smaller glaciers offers a warning for larger glaciers.

For example, while many of the world’s smaller glaciers no longer serve as the main freshwater source for countries, some larger glaciers still do, including in Peru, which lost nearly 30% of its glacier mass between 2000 and 2016, said Lauren Vargo, a research fellow at the Antarctic Research Centre in Wellington, New Zealand.

“Those communities are much more dependent on glaciers for having water for their communities,” she said.

Increased melt will also lead to rising seas and changes in weather patterns — something that is bound to affect society on a global level, Mayer said.

“The disappearance of these small glaciers is really a warning sign of what is coming in the future,” he said. It “should make you aware that something is going on, which is not just peanuts.”

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

REST IN POWER

Family ‘heartbroken’ following death of founding SDLP figure Austin Currie, a key figure in NI’s civil rights movement

Austin Currie, one of the founding members of the SDLP, has died at age 82.

THE NORTHERN IRELAND  

SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC & LABOUR PARTY

By The Newsroom
Tuesday, 9th November 2021, 9:13 pm

Mr Currie, who was a key figure at the beginning of Northern Ireland’s civil rights movement, died at his home in Derrymullen, Co Kildare.

His family have said they are heartbroken at his death.

Mr Currie died in his sleep at his home in Derrymullen, Co Kildare, on Tuesday. He had recently celebrated his 82nd birthday

John Hume and Austin Currie talking at an SDLP Conference in Newcastle in 1980. 

Photo: Pacemaker

A family statement said: “The Currie family is heartbroken to announce the death of Austin Currie.

“Austin was married to Annita for 53 years. They were a formidable team whose love for each other and their family saw them through some of the worst times in Northern Ireland’s recent history.

“He is survived by his children Estelle, Caitriona, Dualta, Austin and Emer, their partners and 13 grandchildren.”

Mr Currie was born in Co Tyrone, the eldest of 11 children.

Austin Currie during The Funeral of Seamus Mallon at St James Church in Mullaghbrack, Co Armagh in 2020. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press

His decision to squat at a council house in Caledon in June 1968 is widely seen as the beginning of the civil rights movement.

He was one of the founding members of the SDLP along with John Hume and Gerry Fitt.

In 1989, he won a seat in Dublin West for Fine Gael and pursued a career as TD and minister until he retired in 2002.

The family statement continued: “Our Daddy was wise, brave and loving and we thank him for the values that he lived by and instilled in us.

Austin Currie addresses the crowd.

“He was our guiding star who put the principles of peace, social justice and equality first.

“From Edendork in county Tyrone to the bog of Allen, Daddy was most at home with his beloved Annita and his family, surrounded by newspapers and grandchildren.

“We will miss him deeply.”

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said Mr Currie was a “titan” of the civil rights movement.

A Social Democratic and Labour Party press conference at the Tribine offices in Smithfield. (l-r) Austin Currie MP, Gerry Fitt MP, John Hume MP, Ivan Cooper MP and Paddy O'Hanlon. Behind them is Edward McGrady (left) and Paddy Devlin MP.

He added: “His housing protest in Caledon in 1968 was one of the key sparks for the civil rights campaign that followed and he spoke for a generation of young nationalists when he refused to allow his constituents to be treated as second class citizens anymore.

“His radical activism led him to join together with other young leaders and together they formed our party on the principles of a shared society where everyone got a fair shot at life, something so many of their contemporaries had been denied.

“Each time we lose a political giant like Austin we lose a piece of our history.

“While moments like this bring us great sadness, it also gives us the opportunity to celebrate the man and the huge contribution he made to politics in both the North and South of our island.”

Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin described Austin Currie as a “peacemaker”.

Mr Martin tweeted: “Saddened to hear of the death of Austin Currie, one of the founding fathers of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland.

Austin Currie, centre, in protest mode.

“He did so much for people, as a peacemaker and in politics, serving in the Dail and as Minister of State with distinction.

“My sympathies to his family.”

Irish Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has described Austin Currie as one of the “outstanding politicians of his generation”.

Mr Varadkar said: “I am deeply saddened to hear of the death of Austin Currie, and extend my sympathies to his family.

“A pioneer of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland, Austin was one of the outstanding politicians of his generation, highlighting discrimination against nationalists in issues like housing with a famous sit-in protest at Caledon.

“He helped to organise one of the first civil rights marches in Northern Ireland, and went on to co-found the Social Democratic & Labour Party with John Hume and Gerry Fitt.”

He added: “Austin moved his political career south of the border in the 1980s and became a Fine Gael TD in Dublin West, the constituency which I am currently honoured to represent alongside his daughter, Senator Emer Currie.

“He served as a minister for children’s affairs in the Rainbow Coalition under Taoiseach John Bruton, before retiring from politics in 2002.

“I knew Austin as a brave, courageous and principled man. He was blessed with extensive political insight and boundless humanity.

“Above all, he cared most about bringing peace to this island by peaceful means, something he worked towards throughout his political career, and was vehemently opposed to political violence.”

Civil rights activist Austin Currie dies aged 82
Updated / Wednesday, 10 Nov 2021 

Austin Currie was a founding member of the SDLP in the 1970s

President President Michael D Higgins has led tributes to former Northern Ireland civil rights activist and Fine Gael TD Austin Currie, who has died aged 82.

President Higgins said Ireland has lost a "dedicated, sincere and very committed politician".

"His outstanding service to the people of this country as an advocate and politician will stand as his proud legacy. It was pleasure and privilege to have worked with him as a colleague in politics," President Higgins said.

"He will be remembered as a public representative who gave outstanding service to people of the island of Ireland over so many decades."

Mr Currie was also a founding member of the SDLP in the early 1970s.

He had a long political career and was one of the few elected to parliament on both sides of the border. He moved to Dublin in the 1980s and joined Fine Gael, running for president in 1990.

Mr Currie served as a minister of state in the rainbow coalition a few years later.

He is survived by his wife Annita and their five children, including their daughter Senator Emer Currie.

In a statement issued this evening, the Currie family said they were "heartbroken" by his death.

Born in Coalisland, Co Tyrone, he became the youngest MP elected to the parliament at Stormont at the age of 24 when he took a seat for the Nationalist party in East Tyrone.

Four years later in 1968, he was one of a group that occupied a house which had been allocated by the council to a young unmarried woman who was the secretary to a local Unionist politician.

It came at a time when there were 250 people on the housing waiting list and many Catholic families were living in overcrowded conditions.

Austin Currie was a Stormont MP from 1964 until 1972 and became a TD in 1989

 (Pic: RTÉ Stills Library)

In 1970, Mr Currie was one of the founding members of the SDLP with John Hume, Ivan Cooper, Gerry Fitt, Paddy Devlin and Paddy O'Hanlon. He went on to serve as the Minister for Housing in Northern Ireland's first powersharing executive in 1974.

He contested Westminster elections in Fermanagh-South Tyrone in 1979 and 1986 and was elected to represent that constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1982.

In 1989, he moved south after winning a seat in Dublin West in that year's General Election. In 1990, he was Fine Gael's candidate for the President. He came third behind Fianna Fáil's Brian Lenihan and winner Mary Robinson.

During the Fine Gael-led rainbow coalition government from 1994 to 1997 he was minister of state at the Departments of Education, Justice and Health.

He lost his Dáil seat at the 2002 General Election and retired from electoral politics.

The Currie family said: "After a long and eventful life, he died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Derrymullen, Co Kildare. He had just celebrated his 82nd birthday.

"Austin was married to Annita for 53 years. They were a formidable team whose love for each other and their family saw them through some of the worst times in Northern Ireland's recent history.

"Austin, who was born in Co Tyrone, was the eldest of eleven children. His decision to squat a council house in Caledon in June 1968 is widely seen as the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.

Read more
Currie highlights importance of civil rights movement

"One of the founding members of the SDLP along with John Hume and Gerry Fitt, Austin played a key role in the politics of that era.

"In 1989, he won a seat in Dublin West for Fine Gael and pursued a successful career as TD and minister until retirement in 2002.

"Our Daddy was wise, brave and loving and we thank him for the values that he lived by and instilled in us. He was our guiding star who put the principles of peace, social justice and equality first.

"From Edendork in county Tyrone to the bog of Allen, Daddy was most at home with his beloved Annita and his family, surrounded by newspapers and grandchildren. We will miss him deeply."

Austin Currie (2nd L) alongside John Hume, Paddy O'Hanlon and Bernadette Devlin

 at a protest outside Downing Street in 1971 

SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood has paid tribute to Mr Currie, describing him as a "titan of the civil rights movement".

He added: "His housing protest in Caledon in 1968 was one of the key sparks for the civil rights campaign that followed and he spoke for a generation of young nationalists when he refused to allow his constituents to be treated as second class citizens anymore.

"Each time we lose a political giant like Austin we lose a piece of our history. While moments like this bring us great sadness, it also gives us the opportunity to celebrate the man and the huge contribution he made to politics in both the North and South of our island.

"It's because of brave men and women like Austin who saw the way their community was being treated and refused to be silenced, that we all enjoy the freedoms and privileges we have today."

Taoiseach Micheál Martin paid tribute to Mr Currie, saying he was "one of the founding fathers of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland".

Tánaiste and Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar described him as "one of the outstanding politicians of his generation".

Mr Varadkar added: "I knew Austin as a brave, courageous, and principled man. He was blessed with extensive political insight and boundless humanity.

"Above all, he cared most about bringing peace to this island by peaceful means, something he worked towards throughout his political career, and was vehemently opposed to political violence.

"My thoughts are today with his family, and his extensive circle of friends and acquaintances."

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said he was "a man of extraordinary generosity & conviction, he campaigned for social justice, equality and peace all his life, North and South. Sincere condolences to his family".

Chair of the John and Pat Hume Foundation Dr Seán Farren said Mr Austin was a "true giant of civil rights and constitutional politics".

"He was a courageous leader who dedicated his political life to non-violent peaceful change.

"He was a pioneer in the movement for civil rights. His decision to lead a sit-in at a house in Caledon to highlight discrimination in housing allocation by Dungannon Council was a key moment in the movement's campaign to achieve fairness and civil rights for all."

US Meat producers group vows to meet Paris Agreement climate goals in 2020s
By UPI Staff

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is pictured at COP26 on November 1 in Glasgow, Scotland.

 Photo by Kiara Worth/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 9 (UPI) -- The North American Meat Institute, a nonprofit industry trade group, announced on Tuesday that all of its members have committed to meeting emissions goals set out in the Paris climate agreement by the end of the 2020s.

The institute, which represents about 95% of U.S. meat producers, said it will help members reach the goals and they will be authenticated by independent experts.

The emissions goals are in line with the Paris Agreement's central tenet of restricting climate change to below 1.5 degrees Celsius of preindustrial levels.

The institute announced the goals with a broader sustainability framework called the Protein PACT, short for People, Animals, and Climate of Tomorrow, which is a partnership of 12 U.S. agricultural groups.

"Our comprehensive sustainability framework will drive momentum and generate technical support for meat packers and processors of all sizes to establish independently approved science-based targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while producing the leading source of safe, high-quality protein in Americans' diets, sustaining healthy animals and a thriving workforce along the way," NAMI President Julie Anna Potts said in a statement.

NAMI said the emissions goals will be approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative.

The institute also outlined other targets, including animal care, feeding needy American families and cutting workplace injuries in half.

"By 2025, 100% of Meat Institute members who handle animals will pass third-party audits for animal care during transportation and handling and all members will require all suppliers to implement mandatory employee training and follow species-specific standards for animal care," the institute said in a statement.

Meat plants have faced problems with COVID-19 outbreaks since the start of the pandemic.

Consumers are gravitating toward veganism as a lifestyle choice -- a trend that's expected to rise along with the global meat substitute market. Animal and environmental welfare are top contributing factors.

Though reports show that the global food system is responsible for nearly a quarter of all greenhouse gases, governments at COP26 haven't announced plans to reduce meat production yet.

New Zealand's APEC host Ardern calls for 'bold' climate action


New Zealand's APEC host Ardern calls for 'bold' climate actionThe summit was originally slated to be held in Auckland but is being held online for a second time due to Covid-19 after Malaysia hosted virtually in 2020 (AFP/Handout)More

Tue, November 9, 2021


Pacific Rim trade and foreign ministers agreed to push for a freeze on fossil fuel subsidies at a virtual summit Wednesday but host Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand said more "bold" action on climate change was needed.

Ministers from the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group met online to discuss their Covid-19 response ahead of a meeting of national leaders on Saturday including US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

New Zealand Trade Minister Damien O'Connor said highlights included a plan to voluntarily freeze fossil fuel subsidies and commitments to liberalise tariffs on vaccines and other pandemic medical supplies.

Ardern hailed the move on fossil fuel subsidies, saying it had the potential to divert billions of dollars from a heavily polluting sector into green technology.

But as APEC leaders face pressure for meaningful action on climate change amid COP26 talks in Glasgow, Ardern said it did not go far enough.

"Do we need to be more ambitious than this? Absolutely," she said.

"We would of course like to see a world where there are no fossil fuel subsidies in our economies, that's long been a position of New Zealand, which we will continue to advocate."

She added: "If the world is not ready to take bold action on climate change, then the world must be ready for the disastrous results of climate change."

The issue was highlighted at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, where the heads of 91 major global companies called for the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies.

- Protectionism 'rejected' -

O'Connor said there was overarching agreement on the need to avoid erecting trade barriers in response to the challenges thrown up by the pandemic.

"It is free, fair and open trade that will help economies move forward out of this pandemic... we need openness to drive global growth, indeed it is trade that presents the solution to our challenges," he said.

"Some 81 million jobs have been lost across the region due to Covid-19 and the impact on supply chains has been significant, but APEC members have rejected protectionism during this crisis."

APEC's 21 member economies collectively account for almost 40 percent of the world's population and around 60 percent of the global economy.

The summit was originally due to be held in Auckland but is being held online for a second time due to Covid-19 after Malaysia hosted virtually in 2020.

It allowed Ardern to call an unprecedented early leaders' meeting in July, which carried out much of the heavy lifting on agreements surrounding international trade in vaccines and medical equipment.

When APEC leaders meet again early Saturday New Zealand time, topics will include how to reopen borders without spreading the virus, ensuring an equitable pandemic recovery and moving toward a carbon-free economy.

Debate on the virtual sidelines of the summit will be dominated by bids from China and Taiwan to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership -- a huge 11-nation free trade pact.

Beijing, which lays claim to Taiwan, would oppose any recognition of the island nation while Australia is unwilling to allow China into the grouping amid a festering trade dispute.

The United States will also be keen to use the event to reaffirm its commitment to trade in the Indo-Pacific after years of protectionist policies under former president Donald Trump.

Washington has offered to host APEC in 2023 after Thailand takes its turn next year, although the US bid is yet to be confirmed.

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