Australia’s spy agency predicted the climate crisis 40 years ago – and fretted about coal exports

A composite image showing former Australian PM Malcolm Fraser and pioneering scientist 

Graeme Pearman Composite: Getty/Supplied


In a taste of things to come, a secret Office of National Assessment report worried the ‘carbon dioxide problem’ would hurt the nation’s coal industry


Graham Readfearn
THE GUARDIAN
Sat 27 Nov 2021 
The report was stamped CONFIDENTIAL twice on each page, with the customary warning it should “not be released to any other government except Britain, Canada, NZ and US”.

About 40 years ago this week, the spooks at Australia’s intelligence agency, the Office of National Assessments (ONA), delivered the 17-page report to prime minister Malcolm Fraser.

The subject? “Fossil Fuels and the Greenhouse Effect”.

Michael Cook, the agency’s director general, wrote in an introduction how his team had looked at the implications of rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere “with special reference to Australia as a producer and exporter of coal”.

Cook wrote: “Scientists now agree that if such emissions continue it will some time in the next century lead to a discernible ‘greenhouse effect’ whereby the Earth’s atmosphere becomes measurably warmer with related climatic changes.”

Graeme Pearman, a former CSIRO scientist who was doing work to measure CO2 in the early 1970s. Photograph: Supplied

The agency had several warnings for the Fraser government, but central to the concerns was the potential for the country’s coal exports to be affected.

Those concerns from high levels of government show that from the beginning, the country was seeing the climate change issue through the prism of its fossil fuels.

There were “potentially adverse implications” for the “security of Australia’s export markets for coal beyond the end of the century”.


'What could I have done?' The scientist who predicted the bushfire emergency four decades ago

About 16 years after the ONA report, the Howard government signed the Kyoto protocol to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

John Howard, who was treasurer when the ONA report was released, later refused to ratify that Kyoto deal, saying it would damage the country’s industries, including coal.

ONA was predicting in 1981 that tensions were likely. Sooner or later the “carbon dioxide problem” would “arouse public concerns and so engage the attention of governments”.
Advertisement

If there wasn’t cost-effective technology “to reduce the carbon dioxide problem” by the end of that century, then concerns could “culminate in pressure for action to restrict fossil fuel usage”.

There was no “anti-fossil fuel lobby” yet that could be compared to “anti-nuclear groups” but some environmental organisations were starting to express concern.

Public attention was only going to increase as more scientific results were published “and are sensationalised by the press and others”.

But in a concluding sentence that could be commenting on the Morrison government’s current defence of fossil fuels from a distance of four decades, the report says: “Australia could well find its export market particularly vulnerable to international policies aimed at limiting the use of coal.”

Dr Robert Glasser, head of the climate and security policy centre at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said: “It’s the job of intelligence agencies to anticipate these long-term threats and then alert the government.

“In that respect, they were doing their job.”

Former Australian prime minister John Howard refused to ratify the Kyoto deal. Photograph: Mark Baker/REUTERS

The existence of the ONA report – sent to Fraser on 25 November 1981 – is still not widely known.

Scientists working on the issue at the time said they had never seen it until the Guardian sent them a copy. Australia’s longest-serving science minister, Barry Jones, who took up his ministerial role in 1983, also said he had no recall of it.

Glasser says those who have followed the science over decades might not be surprised that Australia’s intelligence was exercised by climate change 40 years ago.

“The science has been clear in terms of a general direction ever since the 1970s – a decade before this report. But we now know the impacts.”

But he says despite the country’s intelligence agency first engaging with the issue 40 years ago, Australia is still “way behind” on the security risks being posed by climate change.

“We are failing to assess the climate and security risks generally, not just in Australia where we can see these simultaneous record-setting compounding events, but even in the region it’s a major security issue.”

Download original document

One of the first people outside government to see the document was likely Prof Clive Hamilton, who says he was handed it by a “senior public servant” while he was researching his 2007 book Scorcher on the “dirty politics of climate change”.

“The document was amazingly prescient and remains accurate in its essentials,” said Hamilton

“It was one of those extraordinary things a researcher occasionally stumbles upon. Almost no one seemed aware of the report. It was just gathering dust on a shelf somewhere.”

As well as forecasting problems for the country’s coal industry, the ONA report included qualified forecasts of the potential impacts on the climate.

The area where cyclones could hit could extend as the tropics expand. Sea levels could rise, plants might grow quicker and the polar regions would warm much faster.

There would be global winners and losers, the report said. Canada’s wheat-growing belt could grow, gaining area from the USA as the climate shifted. A loss of permafrost in the USSR and Canada could deliver more agricultural land (permafrost is now melting, with concerns about the release of large amounts of greenhouse gases that could further raise temperatures).

If CO2 levels doubled in the atmosphere, then the ONA thought this could cause between 2C and 3C of warming. That estimate – from 40 years ago – is within the range of the UN’s latest assessment.
Emerging science

But the science and the concerns among Australia’s top scientists had been building well before the ONA report dropped on Fraser’s desk.

Some of the data in the report was drawn from the work of Dr Graeme Pearman and colleagues at CSIRO. Pearman is a pioneering climate scientist who started working on the issue in the early 70s and remembers speaking to ONA staff at the time.

‘I knew they were aware of the issues’: Graeme Pearman in Melbourne last week. Photograph: Darrian Traynor


“I knew they were aware of the issues but I didn’t know how they would play that game,” says Pearman, who is now aged 80 but who saw the report for the first time this week.

“The report does reflect pretty well the state of our scientific understanding at that time. Where it perhaps falls down is that there seems to be no real attempt to evaluate the risks associated with what may unfold.”

The CSIRO had started measuring CO2 levels in the air using instruments in a wheat field in Rutherglen, Victoria, in 1971.

The following year, Pearman and colleagues had put air-sampling equipment on planes – some commercial and some government-owned. More than 3,500 samples were taken.

Pearman was curious about CO2 measurements that had been taken continually since 1958 in Hawaii by pioneering climate scientist Charles David Keeling, of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California.

To Pearman’s amazement, the amounts of CO2 in the air above the wheat field and from the aircraft instruments were almost identical to Keeling’s findings from Hawaii

In 1974, Pearman took the Australian air samples in six steel flasks across the world, visiting Keeling’s laboratory in California as well as other scientists doing CO2 measurements in Sweden, Canada, American Samoa and New Zealand.

In 1976, the Australian Academy of Science published a Report of a Committee on Climatic Change that mostly dealt with natural variations in the climate.

But that report included a chapter on “man’s impact on climate”. All past climate changes had been due to natural events “on an astronomic or global scale,” the report said. But then came this sentence: “Human activities are now developing in ways that could have an appreciable effect on the climate within decades.”

Graeme Pearman with a book about climate change that he edited in 1988. 

Photograph: Darrian Traynor
Advertisement

Four years later, and one year before the ONA report, Pearman edited a book – Carbon Dioxide and Climate: Australian Research that summarised the work going on in Australia. How were the levels of CO2 changing? What could this mean for rainfall? How would plants respond?

“The potential significance of a CO2-induced climatic change is large,” wrote Pearman, but so too were the uncertainties. A lot more work needed to be done.

Pretty ordinary or prescient?

“It is fascinating and remarkable to read how this was being viewed [by the intelligence agency] only 10 years after we started our CO2 and climate work at CSIRO,” says Pearman.

Australia’s longest-serving science minister from 1983 to 1990, Barry Jones, could not recall ever seeing the ONA report, but he wasn’t particularly impressed.


Australia was ready to act on climate 25 years ago, so what happened next?

“I think it’s pretty ordinary,” says Jones, whose latest book is called What Is to be Done: Political Engagement and Saving the Planet.

“They imposed on themselves a very narrow terms of reference,” he said, and was puzzled why the report mentions other greenhouse gases but ignored methane.

Prof Ian Lowe was lecturing students on the future of energy supply at Griffith University in the early 1980s. He also hadn’t seen the ONA report before.

A Queensland coal-fired power station during construction, circa 1980. Australia has been worried about climate change’s implications for fossil fuels for decades. Photograph: Peter Righteous/Alamy

“It’s stamped confidential top to bottom. I was surprised how accurate it was though,” he said.

“The spy agency thought it was important enough to draw it to the attention of our political leadership largely because of what they saw as the commerce implications for the Australian export markets for coal.

“But what’s politically interesting is there was absolutely no response to this warning, even though the expansion of fossil fuels was tragically compromised.”

Author and academic Dr Jeremy Walker, of UTS in Sydney, is researching the history of climate science and energy policy. He’s been reviewing the ONA report as part of a wider project.

“What’s interesting to me is that this was being considered at the highest levels of government, but the security issue is being interpreted in terms of the profitability of the fossil fuel industry. The fossil fuel industry is central to the government’s response – then and now.”

Magnus Carlsen embraces chaos in gripping draw with Ian Nepomniachtchi

Carlsen admits that a blunder almost cost him the game

Draw leaves the 14-game match between the pair level at 1-1


Magnus Carlsen (left) had one particularly dicey moment against Ian Nepomniachtchi, but rode it out. Photograph: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images

Sean Ingle at the Dubai Exhibition Centre
@seaningle
Sat 27 Nov 2021

Magnus Carlsen diced with danger in an entertaining second game of the world chess championships in Dubai before recovering to secure a 58-move draw. It leaves his 14-game match with Ian Nepomniachtchi level at 1-1 going into Sunday’s third encounter.

It was a seesawing struggle, with Carlsen surprising his opponent early before missing a move that left him considerably worse off. However, his Russian opponent failed to find his wave through the thicket of variations and the game ended with a handshake, and a long post-mortem, as the players tried to fathom what happened. “The game was crazy, I had no idea what was going on,” said Nepomniachtchi. “During the game I thought: ‘We both are playing not so well’. But now I start thinking it was just very interesting and very chaotic.”

Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi draw in Game 2 of World Chess Championship – as it happened

Carlsen, who has held the world title since 2013, signalled his fighting intentions by playing the rare move, Ne5, on move eight. It sacrificed a pawn but also meant his opponent was on new ground in a tricky position. Understandably, he was soon behind on the clock. Not only was he playing the Norwegian but also his computer preparation.

“It was a really nice idea, not the most popular, and I had a lot of trouble,” admitted Nepomniachtchi. However, he was able to weave his way through the complications without too much damage and, when Carlsen made a mistake with 20. Rb1, he was left staring at a worse position where he was rook for bishop down.

“At some point I blundered because I didn’t intend to sacrifice quite as much material as I actually did,” admitted Carlsen, who looked visibly the more tired. “After that, I was trying to hang in there, not to lose. The position was very, very interesting.”

But with Carlsen on the ropes, Nepo then gave up a pawn for little compensation and the position became a theoretical draw. “The games have been a bit atypical for both of us,” added the Norwegian. “They are not following any specific pattern. It’s just a fight.”

Nepomniachtchi carefully considers a move.

 Photograph: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images

The result means there have now been 16 draws in a row in world championship games played at classical time controls, dating back five years to game 11 of Carlsen’s match against Sergey Karjakin in November 2016.

That is partly down to the time controls, which currently give players two hours for their first 40 moves and another hour for their next 20. Carlsen has long lobbied for shorter games in his world title matches, arguing that with less time to think there will be even more drama. But for now, at least, the Fide president, Arkady Dvorkovich, is sitting on the fence.

“It’s an interesting dilemma,” he told the Observer. “We started experimenting with shorter controls of 45 minutes at the women’s world team championship and it was very dynamic and exciting. But when it comes to controls for classical chess, we will see.

“On the one hand, it’s exciting to watch shorter games,” he added. “On the other hand when talking about the best players, I would prefer just a few mistakes – while in shorter games you have many.”

A Chess Player Almost Won A Chess Game

By Oliver Roeder
Filed under Chess

NOV. 27, 2021

On the eighth move, Magnus Carlsen ventures a rare play: knight to e5.

ILLUSTRATION BY FIVETHIRTYEIGHT

This article is part of our 2021 World Chess Championship series.

The auditorium in Dubai hosting the 2021 World Chess Championship is reminiscent of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Each features a grand, darkened room with a glowing diorama, filled with motionless drama. And in both, a squid and a whale remain deadlocked in their boxes, caught in the middle of a grueling battle.

Magnus Carlsen of Norway, the longtime world No. 1, is defending his title against challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia, the world No. 5. On Saturday, the two played a roller coaster of a draw in 58 moves over 4.5 hours. They split the point, and the best-of-14 match sits level, 1-1. It has been more than five years since anyone won a regulation game in the World Chess Championship.

Here’s how the computer has seen the ebbs and flows of the games thus far this year:

Carlsen commanded the white pieces in the glass box on Saturday, moving first, with a cream-colored blazer to match. Before the game, the chesserati buzzed, wondering just how he would begin. In the 2018 world championship, Carlsen displayed a fun little pattern across his white games, opening with pawns to d4, c4, e4, d4, c4 and e4, which I assume sounds cool if you play it on a piano.

As it happened, Carlsen played d4 and for the second game in a row sacrificed a pawn to gain an early attacking initiative — perhaps counter to expectations against his famously aggressive Russian opponent. The players entered the Catalan opening. The Catalan is a “clash of concepts,” as explained by former world champion Viswanathan Anand on the official match broadcast: Which is more valuable, black’s extra pawn or white’s budding attack and bishop controlling the board’s longest diagonal?

Two moves later, Carlsen rode his knight into enemy territory, onto the e5 square — a rare, sharp move. When Nepomniachtchi responded, the position they had created had never before appeared on the tournament boards of top-level grandmasters. Shortly thereafter, Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi both walked away to take a brief rest, leaving the novel chess position sitting alone on a table in the box, like a still life in a museum display.

Expert observers admired Carlsen’s attacking chances but knew they wouldn’t come easy. “The position is dangerous and complicated, but it’s not one where white can immediately attack,” said Fabiano Caruana, the American No. 1, on Chess.com’s livestream. “It’s more long-term pressure.”

Despite the complexity, Carlsen appeared comfortable, likely well within his pregame preparation. He played quickly and opened a large time advantage — perhaps counter to expectations against the famously fast Nepomniachtchi.

But the clash of concepts eventually favored the pawn rather than the position, and the long-term investment never paid off. Nepomniachtchi defended and counterattacked with great precision. Around the 20th move, Carlsen sacrificed even more material, trading his rook for Nepomniachtchi’s knight to forestall a Russian equine invasion. On his 24th move, by this point heavily favored by the computer, Nepomniachtchi faced the position below:

The computer suggested the moves pawn-to-g6 or queen-to-e7, or taking the pawn on a4. Instead, Nepomniachtchi moved his pawn to c3, evidently a mistake, allowing Carlsen to reclaim some of his material deficit in the moves that followed. The game simplified (relatively!) after that — the position was roughly level for some 30 moves as pieces quickly left the board. The squid and the whale — I remain agnostic as to who is which — agreed to a draw with a rook and two pawns each.

“I thought I was doing well,” Carlsen said after the game, before admitting that he had simply overlooked the knight invasion that gave him so much trouble.

Nepomniachtchi also recalled the moment: “I thought, ‘Wow, suddenly it’s getting very nice for black.’”

But in the end, another day, another draw, another deadlocked diorama. “In general it was a very puzzling game,” Nepomniachtchi added. “It was very interesting and very chaotic.”

Game 3 begins Sunday at 7:30 a.m. Eastern. We’ll be covering the entire match here and on Twitter, and we’re excited to be puzzled as we stare into the glass box.

For even more writing on chess and other games, check out Roeder’s new book, “Seven Games: A Human History,” available in January.

Oliver Roeder was a senior writer for FiveThirtyEight. @ollie

El Salvador Bitcoin City: ‘Absurd Political Stunt by a Delusional Dictator’, Says Steve Hanke

By Jeffrey Gogo27 November 2021, 11:30 GMT+0000
Updated by Ryan James27 November 2021, 11:20 GMT+0000

Steve Hanke questioned the wisdom of funding the construction of a Bitcoin city in a country of abject poverty and inadequate social amenities.

Amidst the criticism, President Bukele revealed that the country added another 100 bitcoins to its growing stash.

Gold analyst Dan Popescu said El Salvador fits perfectly with the definition of a "banana republic governed by an authoritarian regime."

The Trust Project is an international consortium of news organizations building standards of transparency.



El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele announced on Nov. 20 that he plans to build a city that runs entirely on bitcoin. The city will be constructed at the base of Conchagua volcano in the country’s south-east.

El Salvador, a poor country in Central America, recently became the first nation-state to use bitcoin (BTC) as an official currency, alongside the U.S. dollar. While the global bitcoin community is excited about the development, the project has not been a runaway success.
Sponsored

Hanke, a professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University, questioned the wisdom of funding the construction of a crypto city in a country with searing poverty and inadequate social amenities, according to a tweet posted on Nov. 26.

“Dictator Bukele has announced plans to build a Bitcoin city…this is an absurd political stunt by a delusional dictator. Why doesn’t [he] focus on what Salvadorans actually need, like access to healthcare?” quipped the popular bitcoin skeptic.
‘Casino finance’

As part of the Bitcoin city funding plan, El Salvador is expected to issue $1 billion in bonds backed by the cryptocurrency in 2022. Half of the money raised will be used to buy BTC, and the remainder will go toward energy and bitcoin mining infrastructure.

Hanke criticized the plan sharply. He said:

This type of casino finance is bound to put Bukele in very hot water with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The IMF previously raised concern with El Salvador using bitcoin as legal tender. The financial institution cautioned that plans by the country to buy more of the digital asset required “very careful analysis” of the implications for its financial stability.

But as the price of bitcoin declined to multi-week lows of around $55,000 this week, President Bukele revealed on Nov. 26 that the country added another 100 bitcoins to its growing stash.

El Salvador “bought the dip”, he says, referring to a practice in financial investment of buying an asset after it drops in price, believing that to be a bargain.

In an earlier tweet, Hanke ranted about El Salvador’s falling dollar-denominated bonds, suggesting that Bukele intended to “replace” these with bitcoin bonds.

“But, a bitcoin bond would offer lower yields despite carrying greater risk. Looks like Bukele is trying to invent a new financial arithmetic,” he opined.

‘Banana republic’

While the economist routinely throws shade at bitcoin and crypto in general, he is not the only one to rail at Bukele’s Bitcoin city plans.

Gold analyst Dan Popescu said El Salvador fits perfectly with the definition of a “banana republic governed by an authoritarian regime.” Popescu took issue with the presence of foreign cryptocurrency firms in the Latin American country.

He alleged “economic exploitation” as foreign bitcoin entities “conspire with local corrupt government officials.” El Salvador is working with Blockstream, a crypto and blockchain tech firm based in Canada, in its $1 billion bitcoin bond raise.

According to Bukele, the Bitcoin city will take on the sign of the cryptocurrency in shape and will be powered by geothermal energy from the Conchagua volcano. Apart from value added tax of 10%, residents of that city will not pay any other taxes.

WALES

‘Hostile Conservative govt:’ Plaid Cymru members green light co-operation deal with Labour

“In the face of the pandemic and a hostile Conservative government in Westminster – a government determined to do everything it can to undermine our long-contested national institutions – it is in our nation’s interests for the two parties to work together for Wales.”

 by Joe Mellor
2021-11-28 09:06


Members of Wales’ nationalist party Plaid Cymru have voted to pass the Senedd co-operation deal with Welsh Labour.

On Saturday, the last day of the party’s annual conference, 94% of members decided in favour of the three-year deal.

The wide-ranging deal covers 46 policy areas including providing free school meals for all primary school children, the establishment of a free-at-point-of-need national care system and building a north-south railway.

It does not amount to a coalition, meaning Plaid will not enter government, and party leader Adam Price has assured members and supporters the party will remain in opposition.

Following the vote, Mr Price said: “The co-operation agreement will bring immediate, tangible and long-term benefit for the people of Wales.

“From feeding our children to caring for our elderly, this is a nation-building programme for Government which will change the lives of thousands of people the length and breadth of our country for the better.”

Self-government

He added: “Almost a quarter of a century ago, people in Wales voted for self-government for Wales, with a promise of a new type of politics. They placed their trust in a new democracy with an instruction to work differently – inclusively and co-operatively.

“In the face of the pandemic and a hostile Conservative government in Westminster – a government determined to do everything it can to undermine our long-contested national institutions – it is in our nation’s interests for the two parties to work together for Wales.”

Mr Price had addressed the conference on Friday saying the agreement, if passed, would be “a down-payment on independence” – the party’s main goal.

Discussions between the two parties were announced in September, months after Labour won 30 of the 60 seats in the Welsh Parliament, allowing it to remain in government but without a majority.

Plaid Cymru gained an extra seat in the election, bringing its total to 13, but dropped to third behind the Conservatives.

A deal was reached by the parties’ executive committees on November 21, which also proposed expanding the Welsh parliament, rent controls, and local tourism taxes, as well as a pledge to move the net zero target from 2050 to 2035.

Related: Mark Drakeford secures ‘radical programme’ for Wales containing many Corbyn policies

Coronavirus: Omicron cases found in four European countries, South Africa says it’s being ‘punished’

South Africa said the decision of several nations to ban flights from the country was ‘akin to punishing it for its advanced genomic sequencing’.

Scroll Staff

Travellers arriving at London's Heathrow airport will now have to take RT-PCR tests upon arrival. | Tolga Akmen/AFP

Cases of the Omicron strain of the coronavirus were reported in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and the Czech Republic a day after it was declared a variant of concern by the World Health Organization, The Guardian reported on Saturday.

The B.1.1.529 or the Omicron variant was first discovered in South Africa on November 24 with cases gradually occurring in Botswana, Israel, and Hong Kong. The virus variant has some concerning mutations, according to the World Health Organization, that suggest an increased risk of reinfection.

On Saturday, two cases of the Omicron variant were detected in the United Kingdom and Germany each, while one patient in Italy and another in Czech were infected with the new strain, The Guardian reported.

The two Omicron cases in the United Kingdom were connected to travel to southern Africa, British Health Minister Sajid Javid said, according to Al Jazeera. The country has now asked all travellers to take an RT-PCR test once they arrive in the United Kingdom.

Currently, the country has banned travellers from ten countries. The nations are South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Angola.

Meanwhile, Germany had isolated two of its citizens who were infected with the Omicron variant. However, the health ministry has not yet revealed where the citizens had travelled to.

The Italian government has also isolated the person infected with the variant. They had travelled to Mozambique, the country’s National Health Institute said, according to Al Jazeera.

Apart from European nations, no Omicron cases were detected in other countries till Sunday morning. However, countries such as Australia and India have called for rigorous testing of travellers from South Africa at the airport.

On Saturday, health officials in Sydney started urgent testing at the airport after two travellers on a flight from southern Africa tested positive for the coronavirus, Reuters reported.

Being punished, says South Africa

South Africa on Saturday said it was being “punished” for detecting the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, AFP reported. The country’s foreign ministry, in a statement, called out the countries that have banned flights from South Africa.

It said that the decision to ban flights from southern Africa “is akin to punishing South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and the ability to detect new variants quicker”.

“Excellent science should be applauded and not punished,” the foreign ministry said.

Currently, along with the United Kingdom, Germany, France Italy, Singapore and Israel have banned flights from South Africa. The United States will ban most travellers from eight countries of southern Africa from November 29.

Hong Kong confirms two cases of virulent new COVID-19 variant, one of which travelled from Canada

Global authorities around the world have already reacted with alarm Friday to the new coronavirus variant, dubbed Omicron, detected in South Africa


Stephanie Nebehay
Publishing date:Nov 26, 2021 • 

People leave the Regal Airport Hotel at Chek Lap Kok airport in Hong Kong on November 26, 2021, where a new Covid-19 variant deemed a 'major threat' was detected in a traveller from South Africa and who has since passed it on to a local man whilst in quarantine. 

PHOTO BY PETER PARKS / AFP
Article content

Two cases of the new COVID-19 strain raising alarm in parts of southern Africa and unnerving financial markets worldwide have been found in travellers in compulsory quarantine in Hong Kong.

A traveller from South Africa was found to have the variant — B.1.1.529, dubbed Omicron — while the other case was identified in a person who had travelled from Canada and was quarantined in the hotel room opposite his, the Hong Kong government said late Thursday. The traveller from South Africa used a mask with a valve that doesn’t filter exhaled air and may have transmitted the virus to his neighbour when the hotel room door was open, a health department spokesperson said Friday.

Twelve people who were staying in rooms close to the two Hong Kong cases are now undergoing compulsory 14-day quarantines at a government facility, according to the statement out Thursday.

Global authorities around the world have already reacted with alarm Friday to the new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa. The EU and Britain were among the first to tighten border controls as researchers seek to determine whether the mutation was vaccine-resistant

Canada is now closing its borders to all foreigners who have recently been to southern Africa. The ban and new testing and quarantine requirements for Canadians returning home applies to people who have been to South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini in the last two weeks.

The United States will restrict entry to travellers from eight southern African nations, President Joe Biden said on Friday. The policy does not ban flights or apply to U.S. citizens and lawful U.S. permanent residents, a Biden administration official said.

The U.S. restrictions will be effective Monday and apply to South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday classified the B.1.1.529 variant detected in South Africa as a SARS-CoV-2 “variant of concern,” saying it may spread more quickly than other forms.

Preliminary evidence suggested there is an increased risk of reinfection and there had been a “detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology,” it said in a statement after a closed meeting of independent experts who reviewed the data.

“This variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning. Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant, as compared to other (variants of concern), it said.

Omicron is the fifth variant to carry such a designation.

“This variant has been detected at faster rates than previous surges in infection, suggesting that this variant may have a growth advantage,” the WHO said.

Current PCR tests continue to successfully detect the variant, it said.

Earlier, the WHO cautioned countries against hastily imposing travel restrictions linked to the variant of COVID-19, saying they should take a “risk-based and scientific approach.”

The head of the UN World Tourism Organization called for a quick decision.

“It depends on WHO recommendations, but my recommendation will be to take decisions today, not after one week, because if it continues to spread as we are expecting then it will be late and will make no sense to apply restrictions,” organization chief Zurab Pololikashvili told Reuters.

One South African scientist expert labelled London’s ban a symptom of “vaccine apartheid,” though European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the EU also aimed to halt air travel from the region and several other countries toughened curbs, including India, Japan and Israel.

“It is now important that all of us in Europe act very swiftly, decisively and united,” von der Leyen said, calling for EU citizens to get vaccinated and improve their protection with booster jabs. “All air travel to these countries should be suspended until we have a clearer understanding about the danger posed by this new variant.”

The new cases of the new variant may also prompt Hong Kong to further tighten what is already one of the toughest quarantine regimes in the world, with travellers from some places isolated in hotels for up to 21 days.

The city is one of the few places in the world that’s yet to have a recorded community outbreak of delta, the contagious variant first detected in India that has now become the dominant virus strain worldwide. The mutation has forced some countries who were able to keep COVID-19 out through quarantines and border curbs in 2020 to abandon that approach, instead pivoting to treating the virus as endemic.

David Hui, a professor of respiratory medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a member of the city’s COVID advisory panel, told local radio Friday that Hong Kong should ban all returnees from Africa because of the variant, according to thestandard.hk.

South African Health Minister Joe Phaahla said on Friday that preliminary studies suggest a new COVID-19 variant detected in his country may be more transmissible, but the decision of other countries to impose travel restrictions is “unjustified.”

Phaahla told a media briefing that South Africa was acting with transparency, and that travel bans contravened the norms and standards of the WHO.

The WHO said it would take weeks to determine how effective vaccines were against the variant , which was first identified this week.

The news pummeled global stocks and oil amid fears about what new bans would do to the global travel industry and already shaky economies across southern Africa.

The variant has a spike protein that is dramatically different to the one in the original coronavirus that vaccines are based on, the UK Health Security Agency said, raising fears about how current vaccines will fare.

“As scientists have described, (this is) the most significant variant they’ve encountered to date,” British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Sky News.

WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told a UN briefing that it would take several weeks to determine the variant ‘s transmissibility and the effectiveness of vaccines, noting that 100 sequences of it had been reported so far.

In this file photo taken on November 01, 2021 passengers walk with their luggage upon their arrival at Ben Gurion Airport near Lod, as Israel reopens to tourists vaccinated against COVID-19. PHOTO BY JACK GUEZ / AFP

South African sport began to shut down on Friday, with the imposition of travel bans forcing international rugby teams and golfers to scramble to leave.

Belgium identified Europe’s first case, adding to those in Botswana, Israel and Hong Kong. Denmark has sequenced all COVID-19 cases and found no sign of the new mutation, Danish health authorities said on Thursday.

Israel imposed a travel ban covering most of Africa.

“We are currently on the verge of a state of emergency , ” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement. “Our main principle is to act fast, strong and now.”

One epidemiologist in Hong Kong said it may be too late to tighten travel curbs.

“Most likely this virus is already in other places,” said Ben Cowling of the University of Hong Kong.

European states had already been expanding booster vaccinations and tightening curbs as the continent battles a fourth COVID-19 wave, with many reporting record daily rises in cases.

Discovery of the new variant comes as Europe and the United States enter winter, with more people gathering indoors in the run-up to Christmas, providing a breeding ground for infection.

Italy imposed an entry ban on people who have visited southern African states in the last 14 days, while France suspended flights from southern Africa and Bahrain and Croatia will ban arrivals from some countries.

India issued an advisory to all states to test and screen international travelers from South Africa and other “at risk” countries, while Japan tightened border controls.

The coronavirus has swept the world in the two years since it was first identified in central China, infecting almost 260 million people and killing 5.4 million.

Omicron: How Dangerous Is The B.1.1.529 Variant Found In South Africa?

On Nov 26, 2021
By Adam Vaughan

A new variant of SARS-CoV-2, known first as B.1.1.529 and now named omicron, has an unusually high number of mutations and appears to have triggered a recent surge in cases in South Africa.

When was omicron first identified?

It was first detected on 23 November in South Africa using samples taken between 14 and 16 November. Joe Phaahla, South Africa’s health minister, said on 25 November that he believes the variant is behind an exponential daily rise in covid-19 cases across the country in recent days. The same day, the UK Health Security Agency (HSA) designated it a variant under investigation, triggering travel restrictions for people travelling to the UK from South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia. The World Health Organization had listed B.1.1.529 as a variant under monitoring, but its Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution decided on 26 November to class it as a variant of concern. The WHO has now named it omicron after the Greek letter.

What is happening in South Africa?

National daily cases have gone from 274 on 11 November to 1000 a fortnight later. While the rate of growth has been fast, absolute numbers are still relatively low compared with the UK, which saw 50,000 cases on 26 November. More than 80 per cent of South Africa’s cases are currently in the country’s Gauteng province. All of the 77 cases sequenced in the province between 12 and 20 November were identified as being caused by the variant. The estimated reproduction number, the average number of people that an individual is likely to infect, is almost 2 in Gauteng compared with nearly 1.5 nationally.

What do B.1.1.529’s mutations tell us?

The variant has a “very unusual constellation of mutations”, says Sharon Peacock at the University of Cambridge. There are more than 30 mutations in the spike protein, the part of the virus that interacts with human cells. Other mutations may help the virus bypass our immune systems, make it more transmissible and less susceptible to treatments, according to the HSA. But the body notes that “this has not been proven”.

What the mutations mean is currently theoretical and based on experience of past mutations of SARS-CoV-2 rather than lab tests. Wendy Barclay at Imperial College London says “we don’t really know” if it will reduce the effectiveness of vaccines. Nonetheless, she adds that, in theory, the number of changes across the antigenic sites on the variant’s spike means the effectiveness of antibodies produced by covid-19 vaccines would be compromised.

Mutations on a part of the virus known as the furin cleavage site are similar to those seen in the alpha and delta variants, which could help the variant spread more easily. Barclay says “it’s very biologically plausible” that B.1.1.529 has greater transmissibility than delta.

The mutations also mean that the new variant is likely to be more resistant to antibody treatments such as those developed by Regeneron, which have been shown to save lives. “That is really a cause for concern,” says Barclay. One small bright spot is that, to date, there are no signs that the variant causes more severe disease.

How far has it spread?

Genomic sequencing has found the variant in South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong. There are also reported cases in Israel, apparently originating from a traveller from Malawi, and in Belgium, from someone who had travelled from Egypt. UK health secretary Sajid Javid said it is “highly likely” that the variant has spread to other countries. As of 27 November, two cases had been detected in the UK, where about a fifth of positive cases are sent for genomic sequencing. Even in countries with low levels of sequencing, it may be possible to get early warning signs, because the variant is linked to a mutation called S-gene dropout, which is picked up by PCR tests, says Jeffrey Barrett at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Hinxton, UK.

How have other places responded?

The UK and EU have both imposed restrictions on people travelling from countries in southern Africa, with Javid saying the variant is of “huge international concern”. Prime minister Boris Johnson announced further travel restrictions on 27 November.

Is it a given that this will outcompete the delta variant?

We don’t know. “We don’t have definitive evidence at the moment that this is more transmissible, but there are hints there that it may be,” says Peacock, pointing to the growth in South Africa and the higher R number in Gauteng. Some earlier variants have failed to get a toehold in certain countries because of the competition from other variants: beta hasn’t become established in the UK, for example, while alpha spread from Europe but never reached high levels in South Africa. “If this variant is not as transmissible as delta that would be good news for sure,” says Barrett.

What can I do?

All the usual measures of social distancing, handwashing, mask-wearing, getting vaccinated and having a booster shot still apply. The emergence of such a potentially worrying variant is, however, a reminder of the risk of uneven vaccination rates globally – only 24 per cent of people are fully vaccinated in South Africa.

How much do we really know about this variant?

Most of our knowledge is from the Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa, and the South African government, both of which have been praised by researchers for acting fast to share information on the variant. But there is more that we don’t know than we do. Tulio de Oliveira at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, said yesterday that the full significance of the variant’s mutations “remain uncertain.” Peacock adds: “It’s important to stress how much we don’t know this new variant.“

How vaccine makers plan to address the new COVID-19 omicron variant


November 27, 2021
NPR
DUSTIN JONESTwitter

A gas station attendant stands next to a newspaper headline in Pretoria, South Africa, on Saturday. The new omicron variant has spread from South Africa to parts of Europe, and as far as Hong Kong.

Denis Farrell/AP

A new strain of COVID-19 first discovered in South Africa was declared a variant of concern by the World Health Organization on Friday. Here's how the pharmaceutical industry plans to address the latest coronavirus curve ball.

Vaccine makers are already pivoting their efforts to combat the new variant: testing higher doses of booster shots, designing new boosters that anticipate strain mutations, and developing omicron-specific boosters.

In a statement sent to NPR, Moderna said it has been working on a comprehensive strategy to predict variants of concern since the beginning of 2021. One approach is to double the current booster from 50 to 100 micrograms. Secondly, the vaccine maker has been studying two booster vaccines that are designed to anticipate mutations like those found in the omicron variant. The company also said it will ramp up efforts to make a booster candidate that specifically targets omicron.

"From the beginning, we have said that as we seek to defeat the pandemic, it is imperative that we are proactive as the virus evolves," said Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel. "The mutations in the Omicron variant are concerning and for several days, we have been moving as fast as possible to execute our strategy to address this variant."


The omicron variant spreads across Europe as new travel bans take effect

Pfizer and BioNTech told Reuters that it expects more data about the omicron variant to be collected within two weeks. That information will help determine whether or not they need to modify their current vaccine. Pfizer and BioNTech said that a vaccine tailored for the omicron variant, if needed, could be ready to ship in approximately 100 days.

Johnson & Johnson said in a statement sent to NPR that it too is already testing its vaccine's efficacy against the new variant.

The omicron variant was first reported to the WHO on Nov. 24, the WHO said. Preliminary evidence indicates the variant poses an increased risk for reinfection due to the large number of mutations. Until recently, cases across South Africa have predominantly been from the delta variant, an earlier strain that has pushed health care systems to the max since early summer. But omicron infections have been on the rise in recent weeks, the WHO reported.

More concerning, omicron cases have emerged across the globe. Al Jazeera reported that cases have been confirmed in the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Israel and Hong Kong.

News of the rapidly spreading variant led to a new set of air travel restrictions from South Africa and seven other countries, implemented by President Joe Biden, that go into effect Monday. The president made the announcement the day after Thanksgiving, one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

Unlike last year, when millions of people traveled against the advice of health experts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and chief medical advisor to the president, Dr. Anthony Fauci, more or less condoned Thanksgiving get-togethers for vaccinated Americans. And, according to an American Automobile Association travel forecast, over 53 million people were expected to travel for Thanksgiving — an 18% jump compared to last year — including more than 4 million by air.

As of Friday, the CDC said that no cases of the omicron variant had been identified in the United States. However, Fauci said on Saturday that he would not be surprised if the variant is already here.

"We have not detected it yet, but when you have a virus that is showing this degree of transmissibility and you're already having travel-related cases that they've noted in Israel and Belgium and other places ... it almost invariably is ultimately going to go essentially all over," he said in an interview on the Today show.

As Americans prepare to transition from one busy holiday to the next, the CDC is predicting that coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths will increase over the next four weeks. More than 776,000 people in the U.S. have died of COVID-19 to date, according to Johns Hopkins University's tracker, and the country is projected to surpass 800,000 deaths by Christmas.

PRO LIFE USA
Murder Is A Leading Cause Of Death In Pregnancy In The US

“We have shouted it out for years, but no one is really paying attention," one expert said.

Dan Vergano BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on November 24, 2021

Kali9 / Getty Images

A woman in Houston who showed an ultrasound to her boyfriend, a mother of five who was carrying a sixth child, and a pregnant woman coming home from a baby shower were all recent victims of homicide, a top cause of death for pregnant people in the US.

Pregnant people are more than twice as likely to be murdered during pregnancy and immediately after giving birth than to die from any other cause, according to a nationwide death certificate study. Homicide far exceeds obstetric causes of death during pregnancy, such as hemorrhage, hypertension, or infection.

Nationwide, there were around 10,000 homicides reported last year, according to FBI statistics, and only 1 in 5 victims were female. But pregnant women face a risk of being murdered 16% higher than women the same age who are not pregnant, the recently released Obstetrics & Gynecology journal study concludes. (The paper focused on people identified as female based on their death certificate.)

This new nationwide analysis was enabled by a change in how death certificates are recorded. As of 2017, certificates in all states now have a checkbox for “pregnancy.”

Investigators looked at all deaths among women ages 10 to 44 held in a federal database from 2018 and 2019. They found 273 homicides of pregnant women, which make up almost 6% of all murdered women in the US. Most of them were shot at home; guns were involved in 7 out of 10 such homicides, an increase from past decades.

“It is surprising to many people,” said study author Veronica Gillispie-Bell, medical director of the Louisiana Perinatal Quality Collaborative. An earlier finding that homicide was a leading cause of death for pregnant people in her state, followed by overdoses and car crashes, led the study’s team to look nationwide. “We wanted to see if pregnancy, in and of itself, was a more dangerous time, and it was.”

Though it is well understood by victims of domestic violence, the danger that pregnant people face — often from their partners — receives little public notice.

"We have shouted it out for years, but no one is really paying attention," Jacquelyn Campbell, an intimate partner violence researcher at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, told BuzzFeed News. "We have to do a better job of assessing the lethal risks to pregnant women."

According to the study, homicide rates were particularly high among pregnant women 24 and younger, and for pregnant Black women, who were three times more at risk than their white counterparts. That mirrors the overall risk of dying during pregnancy from all causes, including obstetric ones, which is about 2.5 times higher for Black people, pointing to an overall lack of access to healthcare and, in turn, screening for domestic violence. The racial gap in US wealth also plays a role, as studies have found a link between poverty and intimate partner violence.

“All of this means we need to look beyond the hospital for what is really a risk to women,” Gillispie-Bell said. Simply screening for domestic violence doesn’t help if there aren’t resources to assist with jobs, housing, and other reasons that people stay in dangerous relationships.

The homicide finding mirrors two decades of past reports, Campbell said, and it’s still likely a conservative estimate because death records are often incomplete. Part of the reason that the murder statistic is relatively unknown, she added, lies in the way that maternal deaths are reported in the US. Medical causes such as hemorrhage are considered "related" to pregnancy, while homicide, overdose, and suicide, other leading causes of death in pregnant people, are merely "associated" with pregnancy in federal statistics.

Causes of death that are “related” and “associated” with pregnancy are reported separately, and medical boards tend to focus on the former, believing they can be solved by medical professionals.

A general explanation for the higher homicide risk that pregnant people face at this time is that their relationships face heightened stress, which might exacerbate an already dangerous situation. “Nobody who works in intimate partner violence will be surprised by this finding,” said Penn State’s Penelope Morrison, an assistant professor of biobehavioral health. However, she added, specific risk factors for homicide during pregnancy beyond a history of intimate partner violence aren’t well established.

“Sadly, we cannot hear from the women what happened,” she said.

The US homicide rate rose by 30% in 2020, which has experts worried about the trend for pregnant people in the pandemic.

“We expect that domestic violence has only gotten worse during the pandemic, with people more confined,” Gillispie-Bell said. “We expect we will see this has only gotten worse.”


MORE ON THIS
Domestic Violence Survivors Are Turning To Social Media After Gabby Petito’s Death To Support Each Other And Pass On The Warning Signs Nicole Fallert · Oct. 21, 2021
A Man Who Killed His Girlfriend And Five Members Of Her Family Was Angry He Wasn't Invited To A Party, Police Said Stephanie K. Baer · May 11, 2021
Angelina Jolie Has Advice For Anyone Experiencing Abus e larryfitzmaurice · Dec. 8, 2020
Photos Show The Devastating Long-Term Effects Of Domestic Assault Kate Bubacz · Nov. 28, 2020


Dan Vergano is a science reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Washington, DC.
Contact Dan Vergano at dan.vergano@buzzfeed.com.

Got a confidential tip? Submit it here.

New Zealand politician cycles to hospital while in labour for second time: ‘Genuinely wasn’t planning to’

This was the second time the Green Party politician cycled to a hospital to give birth

Maroosha Muzaffar

Julie Anne Genter rides a bicycle to hospital while in labour in Wellington, New Zealand on 28 November 2021

(Julie Anne Genter/Facebook via Reuters)

A New Zealand politician cycled to hospital while in labour and delivered her baby an hour later.

Member of Parliament Julie Anne Genter announced the “big news” on her social media pages on Saturday, saying that “at 3.04am this morning we welcomed the newest member of our family”.

“I genuinely wasn’t planning to cycle in labour, but it did end up happening,” Ms Genter added. “So glad we didn’t walk,” she told New Zealand-based media network Stuff.

She gave birth at Wellington Hospital, according to local media reports.

“My contractions weren’t that bad when we left at 2am to go to the hospital — though they were 2-3 min apart and picking up in intensity by the time we arrived 10 minutes later,” the 41-year-old Green Party politician said on social media on Saturday.

“Feeling blessed to have had excellent care and support from a great team, in what turned out to be a very fast (and happily uncomplicated) birth,” Ms Genter wrote.

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson​ commented on her post on Facebook. “So happy for you all. Aunty Marama can’t wait to hug (when it’s very safe so not for a while) congratulations everyone!!”

Several other women commended her on social media. One user called her a “superwoman”.

“You’re awesome Julie Anne!” wrote another person.

This is the second time the MP has cycled to the hospital during labour. She had made headlines in August 2018 when she cycled “because there was insufficient space in the car.”

“This is it, wish us luck! (My partner and I cycled because there wasn’t enough room in the car for the support crew... but it also put me in the best possible mood!),” she had written in a post in 2018 before delivering her first born.

Ms Genter had then said that her journey was “mostly downhill” and that she used an electric bike. “Probably should have cycled more in the last few weeks to get the labour going!” she quipped.

Ms Genter is an outspoken cycling advocate. Her Twitter bio reads: “I’m into lively streets, real food, and bicycles.”

File: New Zealand politician Julie Anne Genter cycled to the hospital to deliver her second child. She cycled while in labour in 2018 as well

(Getty Images)

A New Photo Exhibition Challenges Assumptions About Native Americans

"The whole goal with Indigenous Photograph is to show that there's not one way to be Native.”

Kate Bubacz BuzzFeed News Photo Director
Posted on November 23, 2021

Kapulei Flore
Pelekane Beach below Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site on the Island of Hawai'i, March 13, 2021.

Unity about anything is rare these days in the United States, but there is a remarkable show of consensus among Native American people about what issues are most important to them. A survey of more than 6,000 Native citizens from over 400 tribes around the country was conducted by the nonprofit IllumiNative. The results, which were published in October 2020, are now visualized in an online exhibition, The Indigenous Futures Storytelling Project, that highlights mental health, violence against women, loss of language and cultural practices, protection of the land, and care for older adults.

"It was one of the craziest things, no matter how we slice the data, whether it's looking at geography, age, gender, the same five or so priorities kept coming up in the same way for all of these groups," said Leah Salgado, the chief impact officer of IllumiNative.

They partnered with Indigenous Photograph, a collective of primarily Native American photographers, to curate and commission photos that would bring these issues to life in a meaningful way. Ultimately, eight projects were selected for inclusion, with at least one per subject.

"The whole goal with Indigenous Photograph is to show that there's not one way to be Native. This project was another way that we were able to do that," said Tailyr Irvine, one of the cofounders of Indigenous Photograph who helped with the curation. "It was intentional to include work from as many different parts of the country as we could."

The broad inclusion within the online show helps visualize these issues more cohesively and serves to connect otherwise distant tribes. Some of the issues, such as violence against women and mental health, are of national social importance, although they particularly impact Native American people. Despite the heaviness of the topic, Irvine sidesteps the usual narrative that is associated with missing women by including a project of hers on boxing that provides a welcome solution-oriented approach that is apparent throughout the exhibition. Another example would be Kalen Goodluck's images of seedkeeping, which show how the past directly affects the future.


Kalen Goodluck



Santiago Romero of Cochiti Pueblo collects red amaranth seeds by sifting the seeds and gently blowing the debris away, revealing the precious grain at the Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute’s new seed bank in Española, New Mexico, on Oct. 7, 2021.


Alejandra Rubio
Yavapai-Apache Elder with her daughter-in-law at home in Cottonwood, Arizona, Oct. 10, 2021.

While Native Americans make up just under 3% of the overall US population according to recent census data, there has been growing awareness over the past several years of the present challenges they face — and how those challenges are often intertwined with the wider population.

The coronavirus pandemic hit reservations particularly hard, and highlighted a stark disparity as residents often lack access to healthcare or running water. Land recognition has become a more commonplace practice, and the Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that a significant portion of Oklahoma was actually Native American land, upending long-standing legal assumptions. Native Americans also played a crucial role in swing states during the 2020 election, including Arizona and Wisconsin. Despite this, Native Americans are often overlooked in data collection, making it hard to track trends.

"I think a lot of people have had a misconception that Native people are too small a population to make any difference, or that we're a politically unengaged group, and the Indigenous Futures exhibition is in direct contradiction to all of these negative narratives that people have about Native people [have] about the democratic process," Salgado said.

She pointed out that Illuminative was able to reach such a large range of people by working with local researchers and organizers to overcome common obstacles, such as lack of access to broadband internet or regular mail services. They intend to conduct regular surveys in the coming years to counteract the dearth of representation.

The exhibition is intended to be used as a starting resource, as the organizers hope that the issues will become outdated over time. They encourage people from all backgrounds to familiarize themselves with not only these issues, but the creative approaches being taken to solve them and to counteract the often negative narratives around Native Americans.

"The fun part about this work is that it's so expressive and I think it makes it different and interesting, and it makes people want to read more and want to look into more," Irvine said.


Tailyr Irvine
Lee Looking Calf helps his daughter Dustilee, 7, put on her boxing gloves at the Blackfeet boxing gym on Oct. 12, 2019. Lee said he wants his daughter to learn the sport not only for self-defense but to give her the confidence to become an unapologetically strong woman.


Eli Farinango
"I grew up by a river. I would sit on the hill that overlooked the river and watch the water flow. The dogs ran freely, the cows ate the grass, and 8-year-old me came to dream here," photographer Eli Farinango said. This photo was taken at Monocacy Creek in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 14, 2021.

MORE ON THIS
15 Contemporary Indigenous Photographers Whose Work You Should Know 

Pia Peterson · Nov. 25, 2020

These Photos Capture The Native American History That's All Over The US

Kate Bubacz · July 25, 2021



Kate Bubacz is the Photo Director for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.
Contact Kate Bubacz at kate.bubacz@buzzfeed.com.

Reviving Ojibwe spiritual traditions, one pet at a time
By GIOVANNA DELL'ORTO


1 of 11

Leech Lake Legacy volunteers Cindy Ojczyk, left, and Engress Clark unload a kennel with some of the kittens that were abandoned in Cass Lake, Minn., Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. Fifteen kittens were found in a plastic tote left in the local Walmart parking lot and were brought to the Legacy's clinic. For a decade, the nonprofit has been bringing veterinary services and taking away surrendered animals on the Leech Lake Reservation. (AP Photo/Jack Rendulich)


CASS LAKE, Minnesota (AP) — Animal neglect used to be such a problem on the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota, with basic services like sterilization out of reach for many due to poverty and remoteness, that packs of stray dogs would sometimes bring traffic to a halt on the main highway.

Today, strays are rare. Kids are helping their elders in animal rescues, pet food and supplies are routinely distributed in the community and the first veterinary clinic in the main town, Cass Lake, is one final permit away from breaking ground.

It’s all thanks to a yearslong and increasingly organized push by several community members to improve animal welfare that is deeply rooted in cultural and spiritual values regarding the Ojibwe people’s relationship with all living creatures.

“It helps animals, but it brings people up too,” said Rick Haaland, who has been leading the efforts among his fellow Ojibwe as community outreach manager with the Leech Lake tribal police. “Our pets are the ones who walk with us.”

Animals are central to Ojibwe beliefs and sacred origin stories.

According to one, which by tradition may be told only once snow blankets the northland, the Creator asked the original man and his wolf to travel the earth together, and on their journey they became as close as brothers. Their task completed, the Creator told them to go on separate paths, even though they both would be “feared, respected and misunderstood” by the people later joining them on earth.

Since dogs are the wolf’s relatives, the story teaches, they should be brothers to today’s Native people, honored though separate.

So things like promoting pet care and bringing much-needed vet services to the reservation nestled among forests and lakes reinforce the Creator’s intentions for harmony between humans and animals — a value that some say faded over the years.

“Traditionally we were told to be grateful to animals. Cats and dogs have chosen to be with us and comfort us. But as we were assimilated, and went into deep poverty, our stories weren’t told. People forgot we need to care for them,” said Elaine Fleming, who started rescuing animals 10 years ago after holding a ceremony for them with prayers, singing and drums.

Now, “We’re taking back our culture,” added Fleming, a Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe elder and teacher at Leech Lake Tribal College.

Nearly 40% of Leech Lake’s population lives in poverty, making it hard to afford routine spaying and neutering, let alone emergency care that can run up to hundreds of dollars per surgery.

That meant that all too often, injured animals would die or be abandoned, as would litters of puppies and kittens nobody could afford to care for.

Things started to turn around about a decade ago, when the Twin Cities-based nonprofit Leech Lake Legacy began taking in surrendered animals — more than 9,000 to date — for adoption elsewhere and regularly bringing a visiting mobile clinic to the reservation for low-cost vet services.

The pandemic has dealt a setback as care, especially spaying and neutering, was shut down for several months in 2020, according to Leech Lake Legacy founder Jenny Fitzer, and now it’s a scramble to get back on track.

“I can’t imagine when we’ll be able to catch up,” she said, adding that more than 400 animals are on her waitlist and might not get fixed for a year.

But a game changer for Leech Lake will be the permanent veterinary clinic, which Haaland hopes to start construction on before the winter deep freeze and could open its doors in the spring, supported by national animal welfare organizations as well as local fundraising. A veterinarian living right on the reservation would not only take care of routine sterilizations but also treat emergencies — currently it costs $500 just to get a doctor to come into Cass Lake after hours, according to Haaland.

He envisions having informational screenings playing in the waiting room, building on awareness programs the community is already doing on best practices like leashing and kenneling to keep pets from harm.

“I don’t think people don’t care,” said Haaland, who owns three dogs and a cat. “It’s education. That’s our way out of this.”

Rick Haaland of Bena, Minn., poses for a portrait on Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. Haaland is the Community Outreach Manager for the Leech Lake Tribal Police. He and his fellow Ojibwe community members have been leading efforts to care for animals, something centrally important to Native American spiritual beliefs and traditions. (AP Photo/Jack Rendulich)

In the meantime, Haaland has been rescuing abandoned pets and driving injured animals to far-flung veterinaries, putting some 27,000 miles in just a year on a new van he acquired thanks to a grant from the Humane Society’s Pets for Life program. At $115,000 this year, the grant has also allowed him to work on animal care full-time.

Pets for Life’s national director, Rachel Thompson, said the communities it serves from Louisiana to Alaska face the same challenge: structural inequalities that perpetuate poverty also put animal care out of reach.

At the end of a recent day spent rescuing a cat, two kittens and two 10-week-old golden-haired puppies, Haaland pulled up pictures on his phone of a pit bull stuck with hundreds of porcupine quills that required months of surgeries and treatment, donated by a veterinarian college. Fights with porcupines can kill dogs that are not properly housed, leashed and trained.

The yard where Haaland found the pit bull had garbage strewn all over, so Haaland offered the owners help cleaning up before returning the dog. When he arrived one early morning with other tribal members, the family had already done most of the work.

“They wanted to do better,” he said. “We are a proud people, with a chance to rise above the trauma of the past.”

Erik Redix, a scholar of Ojibwe history and member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe, said that “animals have spirits, just like us,” and their neglect is both an affront to the spiritual imperative of treating all living beings well and a symptom of broader social distress in impoverished Native lands.

So animal care revivals like the one in Leech Lake also signify a revitalization for Ojibwe society, he added — “to get us back to where it should be.”

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through The Conversation U.S. The AP is solely responsible for this content.