Brampton Mayor cleared by integrity commissioner following dispute over Tamil Genocide Day

 26 January 2022

Brampton’s integrity commissioner has cleared Mayor Patrick Brown’s behaviour, noting that he did not break any codes, following a dispute over Tamil Genocide Day.

Responding to a resident who criticised the memorial day as recognising only “one ethnic group”, Brown questioned if he had worked with or spoken with the Sri Lankan government “due to a perceived similarity in the language used”.

Following Brown’s remarks, he received complaints alleging that he “acted falsely and discriminatorily and exceeded his jurisdiction by stating that there was a genocide of the Tamil people.”

However, there has been increasing willingness to acknowledge the Tamil genocide with both the province of Ontario and city of Palermo, Italy, recognising the genocide. The passage of Ontario’s Bill 104 last year introduced “Tamil Genocide Education Week” which marked the 7-days leading up to May 18, commemorating the Mullivaikkal massacre.

Whilst official figures vary an estimated 169,000 Tamil civilians were killed during the final phase of the armed conflict with roughly 17,000 killed in the final weeks alone.

Read more here: How many Tamils were killed in 2009?

Whilst the commission stated that Brown’s conduct “fell short of the standard recommended” they maintain that he did not violate the rules and maintained that they would not investigate whether he exceeded his jurisdiction as Mayor in recognising the Tamil genocide.

Brown has been a steadfast ally of the Tamil community and has regularly denounced efforts by the Sri Lankan government to eradicate genocide memorials and commemorations.

Brown’s statement comes amidst an increasing crackdown on Tamil voices in Sri Lanka with the British Foreign Office reporting that "security forces increased their surveillance and intimidation of human rights activists and their use of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, with a number of arbitrary arrests". In March, the Sri Lankan government issued a wide-reaching proscription on hundreds of Tamil individuals and organisations under the auspices of counter-terrorism, a move that has been widely condemned by human rights campaigners.

In June 2021, Dr Chris Smith provided evidence of Sri Lanka intelligence operations to a British tribunal noting that:

“Both within Sri Lanka and further afield, intelligence gathering is now at the heart of security policy and posture”. He added that the Sri Lankan state spends a lot of time monitoring and infiltrating groups and that Colombo “remains extremely focused on diaspora activities and will likely remain so in the future.”

‘As an Eelam Tamil, I feel the pain of the Aboriginal community who faced genocide’ – Eelam Tamils stand with First Nations during Invasion Day protests

 

‘As an Eelam Tamil, I feel the pain of the Aboriginal community who faced genocide’ – Eelam Tamils stand with First Nations during Invasion Day protests

 26 January 2022

Marking the invasion of the First Nation communities in Australia in 1788, Eelam Tamils marched in solidarity with Aboriginal communities to commemorate the genocidal abuse suffered and continuing abuses by Australia’s government.

The Guardian notes that the total death toll from recorded massacres in Victoria is 1,186. The total death toll from frontier violence remains unknown but the University of Newcastle has identified 311 massacre sites in Australia from 1788 to 1930.

Massacre sites remain scattered across numerous states including Victoria: Murdering Flats, Chimney Pots, Murdering Gully, Fighting Hills, Aire River, Snowy River, Mount Eccles, Mount Napier, and many more.

Speaking to the Guardian Sydney City councillor Yvonne Weldon maintained the need to commemorate this violence:

“Not out of a guilt, but to right the wrongs of the past, not to continue to be in our present,” she said. “If we don’t, we will never truly create an all-embracing future.”

“What took place was genocide, irreversible trauma,” she said.

“Poisons, not just in our waterholes but others had in their hands, that later became placed in ours. The trauma and the introductions of new ways of living hasn’t been healthy for all ... as the world’s oldest living culture ... despite these traumas and shifts in our way of living, we are still here, still practising, still inclusive.”

Whilst protests were scaled back due to concerns due to concerns over a spike in Omicron cases, there were demonstrations in Sydney chanting “too many coppers, not enough justice” and holding signs which read, “it started with invasion and massacres – It continues with deaths in custody”.

Speaking to the Tamil Guardian, Renuga Inpakumar from Tamil Refugee Council said:

“Being someone who is a part of the Eelam Tamil community and who has also faced cultural genocide from the Sri Lankan government with the help of the Australian Government I stood in the streets chanting and feeling the pain of the Aboriginal community around me but also realising that resistance should be felt all around the Eelam Tamil diaspora to draw awareness that genocide is real and has an effect on all”

Japan to help with Bill Gates' next-gen nuclear power project


American billionaire Bill Gates is the co-founder of TerraPower 

(AFP/Evan Vucci) (Evan Vucci)

Thu, January 27, 2022

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said Thursday it will work with Japan's atomic energy agency to provide technical assistance to a US start-up run by Bill Gates that is building a next-generation nuclear reactor in Wyoming.

American billionaire Gates is the founder and chair of TerraPower, which plans to build its plant in the US state by 2028 using a new technology called Natrium, touted as a "carbon-free, reliable energy solution".

The Japanese industrial conglomerate said it had agreed to cooperate with TerraPower on the sodium-cooled fast reactor project along with the government agency.

"As part of this cutting-edge nuclear project, MHI will join discussions to explore the opportunities to provide technical support and participate in the development of the next-generation sodium fast reactor in the US," it said.

"MHI will also bring back expertise and knowledge obtained through this partnership to contribute to the advancement of nuclear innovation in Japan," the company added, calling nuclear power "an essential part of the energy mix for reaching net-zero carbon emission".

US President Joe Biden aims to halve the United States' 2005 greenhouse gas emission levels by the end of this decade, and Japan is targeting carbon neutrality by 2050.

But nuclear power remains controversial in Japan after the devastating meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant, which was triggered by a huge earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

All of the country's nuclear power stations were taken offline after the disaster, with only a handful restarted since.

TerraPower's Natrium project in Wyoming has an estimated cost of $4 billion and is half-financed by the US Department of Energy.

The World Nuclear Association says fast neutron reactors like TerraPower's "offer the prospect of vastly more efficient use of uranium resources" and can help reduce the production of long-lived nuclear waste.

The Japanese government has previously been involved in research efforts for the technology, notably by building two experimental fast neutron reactors from the 1970s to the 1990s.

Former Microsoft boss Gates has been president of TerraPower since it was founded in 2006. The company's headquarters are in the US state of Washington.

etb/kaf/axn

Fukushima nuclear disaster: Japanese youth sue over cancer diagnoses

Thu., January 27, 2022


Supporters of the six young plaintiffs staged a rally outside the Tokyo court on Thursday

Six young Japanese people are suing the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant after developing thyroid cancer in the years following the 2011 nuclear disaster.

The plaintiffs, aged between six and 16 at the time of the disaster, say they got cancer from radiation exposure.

All of them underwent surgery to remove parts or all of their thyroid glands, their lawyer said.

However, they may struggle to prove that the radiation led to their cancer.

Their lawsuit is seeking $5.4m (£4m) in compensation from the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco).

A Tepco spokesman said the company was aware of the case filing and would address it once they had seen the details of the complaint.

The Fukushima nuclear disaster occurred on March 11, 2011 when a massive earthquake off north-east Japan triggered a tsunami which led to a nuclear meltdown.

What happened at Fukushima 10 years ago?

Nuclear bosses cleared over Fukushima disaster

It was the worst nuclear power incident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, but has been considered vastly less damaging to local people because far lower quantities of radioactive iodine were released.

However, long-term effects of the radiation remain a matter of debate.

A UN experts panel concluded last year that the disaster had not led to any direct health problems for the population. And a World Health Organization report from 2013 said the disaster would not cause any observable increase in cancer rates in the region.

But in 2018, the Japanese government announced that one worker had died after exposure to radiation and agreed that his family should be compensated.

However, the plaintiffs in this new case say it's probable the cancer was caused by exposure. None of the plaintiffs - now aged between 17 and 27 - had any family history of thyroid cancer.

"Some plaintiffs have had difficulties advancing to higher education and finding jobs, and have even given up on their dreams for the future," lawyer Kenichi Ido told AFP news agency.

The case has attracted significant national interest. Despite the official readings, many people who were evacuated from Fukushima remain wary of the area. and have declined to return to their homes more than a decade after the disaster.

Experts Say Nuclear Energy as Climate Solution Is Total 'Fiction'

"The reality is nuclear is neither clean, safe, or smart; but a very complex technology with the potential to cause significant harm."

A protestor gestures during an anti-nuclear demonstration on October 1, 2016 

in Siouville-Hague, northwestern France. 

(Photo: Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)

JESSICA CORBETT

COMMONDREAMS

January 25, 2022


As global scientists continue to warn of the urgent need to keep fossil fuels in the ground, a quartet of European and U.S. experts on Tuesday made a comprehensive case for why nuclear power should be not be considered a solution to the climate crisis.

"The central message, repeated again and again, that a new generation of nuclear will be clean, safe, smart and cheap, is fiction."

While the experts recognize in their joint statement that "the climate is running hot," they push back forcefully against those who argue nuclear could be a "partial response to the threat of global heating."

With four signatories—Paul Dorfman, former secretary of the U.K. government's Committee Examining Radiation Risks of Internal Emitters; Greg Jaczko, former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Bernard Laponche, former director general of France's energy management agency; and Wolfgang Renneberg, former head of the reactor safety, radiation protection, and nuclear waste at Germany's environmental ministry—the statement comes as a direct challenge to a nuclear industry trying to bill itself as a reliable part of the world's transition to a more sustainable energy system.

"As key experts who have worked on the frontline of the nuclear issue," their statement explains, "we consider it our collective responsibility to comment on the main issue: Whether nuclear could play a significant role as a strategy against climate change."

"The central message, repeated again and again, that a new generation of nuclear will be clean, safe, smart and cheap, is fiction," according to Dorfman, Jaczko, Laponche, and Renneberg. "The reality is nuclear is neither clean, safe, or smart; but a very complex technology with the potential to cause significant harm."

"Nuclear isn't cheap, but extremely costly," the statement adds. "Perhaps most importantly nuclear is just not part of any feasible strategy that could counter climate change. To make a relevant contribution to global power generation, up to more than ten thousand new reactors would be required, depending on reactor design."

Given concerns about economic viability, nuclear accidents, and dangerous waste, the former regulatory leaders conclude that nuclear energy is not only "too costly and risky" but also "too unwieldy and complex" to be a feasible strategy to combat the climate emergency.

Progressive climate groups and other critics have long warned against nuclear energy, dubbing it a "false solution" like gas and carbon capture technology, but policymakers around the globe continue to pursue it. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, there are 439 operational nuclear reactors worldwide and another 52 under construction.

In the United States, lawmakers who support climate action are divided on the issue. When running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who now chairs the Senate Budget Committee—advocated for phasing out U.S. nuclear power.

A campaign spokesperson for Sanders told The Washington Post in 2019 that the senator "believes that solar, wind, geothermal power, and energy efficiency are proven and more cost-effective than nuclear—even without tax incentives—and that the toxic waste byproducts of nuclear plants are not worth the risks of the technology's benefit. Especially in light of lessons learned from Japan's Fukushima meltdown, we must ask why the federal government invests billions into federal subsidies for the nuclear industry."

Despite such risks, nuclear provisions are included in the U.S. House-approved Build Back Better Act, a sweeping package that is backed by President Joe Biden but has stalled in the Senate due to a pair of corporate-backed right-wing Democrats.

Last year, hundreds of progressive groups urged top Democrats working on the package to "reject gas and other false climate solutions" such as nuclear power, asserting that "as we look to combat the climate emergency, it is crucial that we invest in solutions that support a just energy future."

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.

Could nuclear power help B.C. reach its climate change goals? SFU research makes the case

By Simon Little & Ted Chernecki Global News
Posted January 26, 2022 8:10 pm

 A new study by researchers at Simon Fraser University says B.C. needs to re-think its rejection of nuclear power, if it's to reach its goal of zero emissions by 2050. Ted Chernecki reports.

New research out of Simon Fraser University is suggesting that British Columbia may need to look at nuclear power as a part of its electricity mix if it aims to meet its goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Recent modelling from the university’s School of Sustainable Energy Engineering found that meeting the province’s climate change goals will require a near complete electrification of energy use.

B.C.’s current energy mix, for everything from transport to industry to home use, is roughly 80 per cent fossil fuel and 20 per cent electric, according to Taco Niet, associate professor of professional practice with the program.

READ MORE: Saskatchewan Indigenous companies to explore SMR investments

Bringing it up to nearly 100 per cent would require doubling or tripling current electrical production, he said.

“We’d need another 20 Site C Dams,” Niet said.

“We are lucky right now that we have the hydro system that we do and that we can build the Site C, which will give us a little bit of a surplus for the next few years, but then building out the rest of the system and addressing the bigger challenge that’s coming really needs to be dealt with.”

Renewables such as wind and solar alone won’t be able to do the job, Niet argued, suggesting the province may need to look to look at nuclear power in the form of small modular reactors (SMRs) as a part of the solution.

Advocates say SMRs are safer than conventional reactors, cheaper to build and operate and can be built with a much smaller physical footprint.

And while the up-front costs of nuclear power remain higher than renewables, Niet said they are not as far apart as they appear once the costs of storage or transmission for renewable power are included.

“I don’t think we can choose one solution and say we’re just going to do wind, we’re just going to do solar, we’re just going to do efficiency. We need to have that suite of solutions.”

Ontario, home to 18 of Canada’s 19 nuclear power plants, is currently looking at buying an American-designed SMR as a replacement reactor.

READ MORE: Ontario’s Darlington nuclear plant to receive first new reactor in decades

But other major jurisdictions are moving in the other direction. Germany, for example, has nearly completed a long-term move to decommission its nuclear plants.

M.V. Ramana, a professor with UBC’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, says nuclear power is simply too expensive to be an effective solution to B.C.’s climate problems.

Nuclear power costs on average $160 per kilowatt hour compared to just $30 or so and dropping for renewables like wind and solar.

“Given that this discussion is happening in the context of climate change, I think what you would end up is a lot of money invested without a corresponding reduction in emissions, he said.

SFU study finds ‘no adverse effects’ on B.C.’s coast from Fukushima radioactivity – Mar 9, 2018

Using small reactors, he said, would actually make the projects even more expensive because of their high cost to build and operate compared to the smaller amount of power they would generate.

Beyond the economics, he argued actually getting an SMR in place in time to meet B.C.’s climate goals is unrealistic. SMRs have been in the proposal stage 20 years in the U.S., he said, but not a single one has been built.

“People have been talking about these small modular reactors for decades,” he said. “These are all paper designs, far away from reality.”

Those issues, he said, are above and beyond the well-known concerns around nuclear power ranging from safety risks to the disposal of radioactive waste.

READ MORE: Cameco aims to be the fuel supplier of choice for small modular reactors

“How do we accelerate (the construction of renewable power) is where the conversation should be, rather than going down dead ends like nuclear power,” he said.

Adding nuclear power to B.C.’s electricity mix would no doubt be controversial, and would likely require legislative changes. The province’s Clean Energy Act specifically states it seeks to achieve its goals without the use of nuclear power.

But the federal government is bullish on small modular reactors, and in 2020 launched an SMR action plan aimed at building and deploying demonstration reactors to showcase the technology.

In the short term, Niet says it’s a conversation the public needs to have.

“Society’s sort of perception of things and understanding how big of a problem (climate change) is has shifted this year,” he said.

“I think that’s an opportunity for the government and researchers like me to actually start moving the conversation forward.”

Opinion: Public health doctors must be held accountable for reopening schools with unsafe ventilation, says group of health experts, scientists

Michael Levy, Michel Camus, and others

Published Monday, January 24, 2022

Students rush into an elementary school on Tuesday, January 18, 2022. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

As Yogi Berra the legendary baseball catcher put it, “it's déjà vu all over again”.

Quebec's decision to reopen schools on Jan. 17 has many experts and parents shaking their heads in disbelief. It defies scientific logic as COVID-19 hospital, ICU admissions and deaths have hit record highs, while critical issues such as school ventilation and effective masking strategies are neglected or belittled.

This coincided incongruously with Health Minister Christian Dubé telling us “We are almost at the point of no return”, that the stage 4 "délestage" may no longer be enough and that we should see more critical surgeries cancelled, something unthinkable just a few weeks ago.

To make matters worse, the situation in Quebec hospitals is now the most critical than in all G7 countries.

Most agree that kids need to go to school, but schools must be foremost safe and sanitary.

Children do not live in isolation. If they get sick, they may well transmit the virus to other family members, to the community and eventually to the most vulnerable.

International and Canadian studies have documented transmission by children.

What Quebec Premier François Legault proposes falls far short of the Ontario plan to go full out with the widespread installation of air purifiers/exchangers in every classroom, every school cafeteria, and every gym as well as providing N-95 masks to teachers among other protective measures.

The Legault government justified its inaction through the inaccurate pretenses that there "is no problem with school ventilation", that "SARS-Cov-2 is transmitted only marginally via aerosols", that "there is no significant transmission from schools to the community", that "rapid tests were too unreliable."

The real problem is that similar fallacious arguments are still being used by Quebec leaders and public health officials today as they were since the beginning of the pandemic despite all scientific evidence to the contrary.
Quebec’s advice on booster shots ‘doesn't make a whole lot of sense,’ public health experts say

What is particularly galling is the persistent infantilization of the population by using simplistic and specious statements unsupported by scientific data, coupled with a paternalistic attitude toward the "inept" masses.

Having to fend for themselves, some school boards felt compelled to purchase air purifiers as a stop-gap measure. Caught off guard, Quebec public health officials falsely claimed that air purifiers "could be dangerous" if the devices were improperly installed or maintained.

Contrary to the claims from Quebec’s ministry of health experts that HEPA portable air purifiers have not been demonstrated effective to prevent airborne disease transmission, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends their use, especially in high-risk areas, as does the Canadian Public Health Agency.

Indeed, two recent studies from NASA and the CDC found HEPA-equipped purification systems extremely effective in capturing viral size particles and do in fact reduce the COVID-19 spread in schools.

Quebec's answer is that air exchangers are better than air purifiers since they remove stale air and replace it with outside air which is true in many situations, but they are more costly and complex to install, whereas air purifiers can be installed professionally the same day.

However, effective risk mitigation strategies especially in times of imminent danger require immediate action.


So, why did Quebec not offer the air exchanger option last year to all school boards? Why were English-language school boards left out on their own to purchase air purifiers and denied any public health guidance? How are the $432 million in federal money bestowed to improve school air quality being used?

Belatedly, Quebec is now distributing carbon dioxide (CO2) readers to 70 per cent of schools. Such monitors can indicate when opening windows (an unrealistic option on cold winter days) or evacuating a room is indicated to reduce the risk of airborne SARS-Cov-2 transmission, but they do not prevent the underlying cause of viral transmission as they do not purify nor refresh the air in a room.

The best anti-COVID strategy is to invest massively in air exchangers and air cleaners. Currently, only 500 air exchangers are available for the whole province, a drop in the ocean of 48,000 classrooms.

After decades of neglect, Quebec’s inadequate school ventilation systems are a major health issue in the present pandemic.

We cannot wait years for the direly needed repairs. To blunt the COVID-19 pandemic, air exchangers and HEPA ventilators are the required short-term solution. Quebec knows that a majority of schools are not complying with the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) air filtration/exchange standards for schools to reduce airborne SARS-Cov-2.

Recently, media outlets reported on the loss of confidence toward Dr. Horacio Arruda, alleging he lacked autonomy from his political leaders and merely served as a cover for them. The arrival of Dr. Luc Boileau as the new interim public health director signified a potential hope for science-driven policies.

Unfortunately, his first decision on the job was to give the green light to reopen the schools on Jan. 17.

Boileau repeated the same trope that flies in the face of scientific consensus, that “there is no evidence that schools amplify COVID-19 transmission to the community,” sweeping aside international and Canadian studies which say otherwise. He dismissed Quebec's own data, which showed a disproportionate increase in outbreaks in elementary schools from September to December 2021. Only very recently, on Jan. 19, did he reluctantly understate that opening schools may induce "a little bit" more transmission.

Dr. Boileau is already giving us an uneasy feeling of déjà vu.

As Quebec's leaders and public health officials depart blatantly from science and precautionary principles, an increasingly skeptical media has been reaching out to doctors and scientists working in the health field and in academia to obtain more reliable and trustworthy information.

We do not hold the same high expectations from politicians as we do for doctors working in the public health field. These medical professionals hold enormous responsibilities, and their conduct must be exemplary.

Public health doctors must be held accountable to the same quality and ethical standards as those working in the clinical field who can face severe consequences should they fail in their duty to provide quality care to their patients according to the best available medical standards.

Never has this been so true as it is now.

Michael Levy, M.P.H. (Master’s in Public Health), environmental health specialist and epidemiologist

Michel Camus, Ph.D., environmental health epidemiologist (retired)

Nancy Delagrave, physicist, scientific coordinator of Covid-Stop

Stéphane Bilodeau, eng., Ph.D., FIC, Indoor Air Quality Task Force Coordinator, World Health Network

Nimâ Machouf, Ph.D., epidemiologist, consultant in infectious diseases, lecturer at Université de Montréal’s School of Public Health

Pierre-Jules Tremblay, eng.

Donald Vinh, M.D., infectious disease specialist and medical microbiologist

Marie Jobin, PhD, organisational psychology

Steeve Tremblay, occupational health and safety consultant

Enbridge and Lehigh Cement agree to advance a CO2 storage solution in Alberta

January 26, 20226:50 AM CNW

CALGARY, AB – Enbridge Inc. (Enbridge) (TSX: ENB) (NYSE: ENB) and Lehigh Cement, a division of Lehigh Hanson Materials Limited (Lehigh), are pleased to announce a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on a carbon solution for Lehigh’s cement manufacturing facility in Edmonton, Alberta.

Lehigh is developing North America’s first full-scale carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) solution for the cement industry at its Edmonton plant, with the goal of capturing approximately 780,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually. Captured emissions would be transported via pipeline and permanently sequestered by Enbridge. Subject to the award of carbon sequestration rights and regulatory approvals, the project could be in service as early as 2025.

With the support of Lehigh and Capital Power Corporation (Capital Power) with their local facilities, Enbridge will be applying to develop an open-access carbon hub in the Wabamun area, west of Edmonton, Alberta, through the Government of Alberta’s Request for Full Project Proposals process.

Combined, the emissions from Capital Power and Lehigh’s planned carbon capture projects represent an opportunity to avoid nearly 4 million tonnes of atmospheric CO2 emissions. Once built, the Open Access Wabamun Carbon Hub will be among the largest integrated CCUS projects in the world.

“At Lehigh Hanson, we believe that carbon capture and storage technology will play a key role in transforming the cement industry and building a more sustainable future,” said Joerg Nixdorf, President of Lehigh Hanson’s Canada Region. “We are excited about taking the next steps in our ambitious journey to achieving carbon neutrality across the cement and concrete value chain.

“Having a carbon hub solution in place by 2025 is essential for the successful implementation of the CCUS project at our Edmonton cement plant,” Nixdorf added.

“Lehigh Cement’s pioneering CCUS project is an exciting addition to our proposed Open Access Wabamun Carbon Hub, which is poised to support the decarbonization of multiple industries, including power generation, oil and gas, and now cement,” said Colin Gruending, Enbridge Executive Vice President and President, Liquids Pipelines. “This collaboration demonstrates our focus on local, cost-effective, customer-focused carbon transportation and storage solutions that drive scale and competitiveness while minimizing infrastructure footprint to protect land, water and the environment.”

“We applaud Lehigh and Enbridge in advancing plans for definitive climate action in Canada with this full chain CCUS initiative and we are proud to be a part of the carbon capture development at Lehigh’s Edmonton cement plant,” said Mark Demchuk, National Director, Strategy & Stakeholder Relations at the International CCS Knowledge Centre. “Collaborative CCUS solutions like this are a vital enabler of large-scale emissions reductions, across multiple industries, including cement production.”

“The Cement Association of Canada (CAC) welcomes the announcement of an MOU between Lehigh Hanson and Enbridge for Lehigh’s Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage project in Edmonton, Alberta. This is another positive step forward in the development of Lehigh Hanson’s CCUS project, supporting an end-to-end solution for carbon capture and permanent storage,” said Michael McSweeney, CAC President/CEO. “These types of partnerships on critical technologies like CCUS are how we will win the fight against climate change and demonstrate to Canadians and the world how our hard to abate industry will reach its net-zero ambition. We are so pleased to see this CCUS project moving forward.”

Visualizing Carbon Storage in Earth’s Ecosystems

on January 25, 2022
By Sponsored Content
Article/Editing:

Dorothy Neufeld
Graphics/Design:

Miranda Smith
The following content is sponsored by the Carbon Streaming Corporation.

RIGHT CLICK TO OPEN LARGER IN NEW TAB

Visualizing Carbon Storage in Earth’s Ecosystems

Each year, the world’s forests absorb roughly 15.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2).

To put it in perspective, that’s around three times the annual CO2 emissions of the U.S. or about 40% of global CO2 emissions. For this reason, forests serve as a vital tool in regulating the global temperature and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

In this graphic sponsored by Carbon Streaming Corporation, we look at the Earth’s natural carbon sinks, and break down their carbon storage.
Carbon Storage by Ecosystem

Forests contain several carbon sinks, from living biomass such as roots and leaves to soil. In fact, soil contains nearly twice as much carbon than the atmosphere, plant, and animal life combined.
Soil: 2,500 gigatonnes (Gt)
Atmosphere: 800 Gt
Plant & animal life: 560 Gt

The soil type, vegetation, and climate all affect how carbon is stored. For example, colder and wetter climates promote the most effective carbon storage in soil.
Global Carbon Storage* (Tonnes of carbon per hectare)VegetationSoilWetlands 43 643
Boreal forests 64 344
Temperate grasslands 7 236
Tundra 6 127
Tropical forests 120 123
Tropical savannas 29 117
Temperate forests 57 96
Croplands 2 80
Deserts and semideserts 2 42

*Average stored carbon in tonnes per hectare at a ground depth of one meter
Source: IPCC

Wetlands are substantial reservoirs of carbon. Despite occupying only 5-8% of the Earth’s land surface, they hold between 20 to 30% of all estimated organic soil carbon.
Risks to Natural Carbon Sinks

Around 8.1 billion tonnes of CO2 leaks back into the atmosphere each year.

Over the last 20 years, the world has lost about 10% of its tree cover, or 411 million hectares (Mha). The main causes behind this are forestry (119 Mha), commodity-driven deforestation (103 Mha), and wildfires (89 Mha). What’s more, research suggests that Amazon rainforests emit more carbon than they absorb due to record levels of fires, many of which are deliberately set to clear for commodity production.

With the increasing frequency of wildfires and deforestation, the world’s forests are at risk of releasing carbon. Protecting and preserving these biomes is critical to the Earth’s carbon balance and mitigating climate change.
Carbon Credits Provide a Solution

Given the risk of losing critical carbon sinks, carbon credits play an important role in preserving these ecosystems.

Carbon credits can help finance projects that reduce or remove GHG emissions from the atmosphere. From improved forest management to reforestation, there are a number of different types of carbon projects across wetlands, grasslands, and various forests:
Reforestation and Afforestation
Avoided Deforestation
Natural forest management
Wetland restoration

For instance, a carbon credit project may preserve endangered tropical lowland peat swamp forests spanning thousands of hectares, such as the Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve Project in Indonesia, one of the projects that Carbon Streaming has a carbon credit stream.

Through this project, forests are prevented from being converted into palm oil plantations to reduce and avoid 130 million tonnes of GHG emissions during the 30 years of the project.

Another example would be the Cerrado Biome Project in Brazil, another carbon offset project where Carbon Streaming has a stream agreement. This project is protecting and preserving native forests and grasslands from being converted to commercial agriculture.

Importantly, these projects would not be economically viable without the sale of carbon credits. 

Protecting Stored Carbon

To prevent further loss of stored carbon, government policies, NGO-led initiatives, and the financing of carbon offset projects are gaining momentum. Taken together, they offer the critical intervention needed to preserve the earth’s carbon vaults.

Human Rights Watch staffer hacked with Pegasus spyware

A digital forensic analysis determined phones belonging Lama Fakih, HRW’s crisis and conflict director, were hacked between April and August 2021.

A view of the Israeli cyber company NSO Group branch in the Arava Desert 

is pictured Nov. 11, 2021 in Sapir, Israel. - Amir Levy/Getty Images

Al-Monitor Staff
January 26, 2022

A top staffer for Human Rights Watch was allegedly hacked with spyware developed by Israeli cyberfirm NSO Group.

Lama Fakih, a dual US-Lebanese citizen, was targeted with NSO’s controversial Pegasus spying tool five times between April and August 2021, the New York-based rights group said.

Fakih, who is HRW’s crisis and conflict director and head of the group’s Beirut office, was notified by Apple in November that state-sponsored attackers may be targeting her personal iPhone. HRW’s digital forensic analysis then determined that Fakih’s current and old phones had been infected with Pegasus.

The rights group said Fakih’s phones were targeted in so-called “zero-click” attacks, which install the spyware without requiring the owner to click on a malicious link. HRW’s findings were confirmed by Amnesty International’s Security Lab.

NSO Group is best known for its Pegasus software, which cyber experts say can be used to remotely access a phone’s contents, camera and microphone. The Israeli firm has pushed back on reports that its hacking technologies have been used to commit human rights abuses and says it licenses Pegasus to governments that are fighting terrorism and other crime.

Fakih’s work involves documenting rights abuses in countries including Syria, Myanmar, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Afghanistan and the United States. HRW said her work might have attracted the attention of foreign governments that are suspected NSO clients.

“Governments are using NSO Group’s spyware to monitor and silence human rights defenders, journalists and others who expose abuse,” Deborah Brown, HRW’s senior digital rights researcher and advocate, said in a statement.

“That it has been allowed to operate with impunity in the face of overwhelming evidence of abuse not only undermines efforts by journalists and human rights groups to hold powerful actors to account, but also puts the people they are trying to protect in grave danger,” Brown said.

NSO Group told HRW that it is “not aware of any active customer using [its] technology against a Human Rights Watch staff member” but that the firm would assess whether an investigation is warranted.

The Human Rights Watch report is the latest scandal to embroil NSO, which was thrust into the spotlight in July when an investigation revealed that the company’s military-grade spyware had been used to successfully hack the smartphones of journalists, politicians, activists, heads of state and business leaders around the world.

Using a leaked list of more than 50,000 phone numbers, journalists at 17 media outlets identified over 1,000 people across more than 50 countries who were selected as potential targets by NSO Group’s clients. The phone numbers of the ruler of Dubai’s daughter and his ex-wife, French President Emmanuel Macron and the fiancee of slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi were reportedly included in the list.

The HRW report came a day after NSO’s former chair, Asher Levy, said he had stepped down from his position, but denied his departure was linked to the recent controversies.

In November, the US Department of Commerce added the Israeli spyware firm to its economic blacklist. The next month, reports emerged that the phones of at least nine State Department employees based in Uganda or whose work focused on the East African country were hacked with NSO’s software.

Earlier this month, a digital forensic investigation found the cell phones of dozens of El Salvador-based journalists and activists were targeted with Pegasus. The hacks reportedly occurred when Salvadoran news organizations were covering sensitive issues involving President Nayib Bukele's administration.

B.C. old-growth activists block entrance to Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal

'Save Old Growth' protestors blocked Highway 1 near the Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal calling for an end to old-growth logging in B.C.

Charlie Carey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
about 22 hours ago

Highway 1 near Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal was blocked by protestors calling for an end to old-growth logging in B.C.Save Old Growth/Twitter

Protestors with “Save Old Growth” blocked part of the Highway 1 near Horseshoe Bay Wednesday morning, coming together to demand an end to old growth logging in the province.

The demonstration comes as part of a weeks long campaign by the group, who have currently had 30 members arrested so far.

Starting at around 7:30 a.m., protestors blocked all lanes of Highway 1 westbound towards the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal for about an hour.

The group began actions earlier this month, with their demands for old growth logging to be stopped by Jan. 9 going unheard. Expecting arrests, the group said it may use superglue in its efforts to block traffic.

“The campaign will continue to be blocked multiple times per week, and the frequency and scale of actions will escalate until all old growth logging is stopped. The government has an option to fulfill its election promises or send nonviolent people on the motorways to jail,” Save Old Growth wrote in a statement.

Organizer Zain Haq said the B.C. government is “destroying the country, this is our last resort.”

“We are scared of sitting down on the road, but will keep doing it until the government throws us in prison or keeps their own promise to save old growth. Premier Horgan is destroying his own legacy,” Haq said.

Translink had earlier advised customers that bus 257 has a detour in place, riding along Marine Drive from Park Royal to Horseshoe Bay. Normal service has since resumed.