Don't just blame climate change for weather disasters
AFP - Friday


As a pioneer in so-called attribution science -- establishing a link between extreme weather and climate change -- Friederike Otto is adamant that the rising toll of heatwaves and hurricanes cannot be explained by global warming alone.

AFP spoke to Otto, a physicist at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College London, ahead of the release of a major UN climate report on climate change impacts and how humanity can adapt to them.

Q. Is 'natural disaster' a contradiction in terms?

To talk about natural disasters the way that we usually do is not very helpful because it turns the attention away from the agency that we have as humans.

You have to search very hard to find climate disasters that are purely natural. Even without climate change, if humans are involved, such disasters occur for the most part when vulnerability and exposure meet extreme weather events. Global warming just makes it worse.

Q. Can you give an example?

Last year there were major floods in western Germany which led to lots of lost lives, damaged property.

Yes, climate change made the rainfall more intense. But even without global warming there would have been a huge, heavy rainfall event. And it would have landed in a densely populated geography where the rivers flood very easily and the water has nowhere to go.

Q. Has attribution science led to blaming disasters just on climate change?

When we started to do attribution, everyone -– we, the media –- were excited to finally have an answer to the question: what is the role of climate change in these disasters? It was a breakthrough to be able to say an individual event was made, say, 10 times more likely.

But if we ignore vulnerability, then we also ignore to a large degree what we can actually do to cope with and protect ourselves from climate change.

Q. How do we assess responsibility for a natural disaster?

The goal... is not so much to pinpoint fault or blame, but to understand the causes. The next step is to ask: what do we need to change? Who has the agency to do that? Then you can ask about responsibility.

We know now that building mansions on the beach or cliffs of Malibu is probably a stupid idea. It is deliberately exposing oneself to risk.

A 1,000-year-old city built on what has now become a flood plain is different. But we still have to adapt: educate people not to build there anymore, build in a way -– on stilts, for example -- that can withstand floods. We also need better flood forecasting.

Q. Is it also an equity issue?

It's the vulnerable in society who suffer the greatest loss and damages. They live in houses that can't withstand natural hazards; they live in floodplains; they can't afford insurance. And it's not just Global North vs Global South. Who's still suffering today from the consequences of Hurricane Katrina, that devastated New Orleans in 2005? It's not the rich and white. It's the poor, and people of colour.

Q. What is 'maladaptation', and where does that fit in?

Just blaming climate for disasters can lead to maladaptation. If you think of climate disasters purely as a physical problem, you're likely to favour a technical solution, like building a dam. That may result in less flooding in a small part of a city but have bad consequences along the rest of the river.

If the measure you put in place to adapt makes things worse in the long run or for the majority of people, that's maladaptation. Adaptation also means education, governance, and so on. But investing in those things is harder, and it can take decades to see results.

Q. Have disasters been incorrectly blamed on climate change?

The drought and famine in Madagascar. Climate change is really not playing a role there. The population is extremely dependent on rain-fed agriculture, but the rains are just naturally not terribly reliable.

And there's a very high rate of poverty. Outside disaster assistance has been very short-term. Lots of things that have gone really wrong on the vulnerability side. But climate change is not really a driver.

Q. The UN identified Madagascar at the world's first climate-driven famine

Even without doing an attribution study, just from everything that we knew before from IPCC reports, it should have been clear that climate change is not the only, and not even a major driver of the drought in southern Madagascar.

I can see why they do that -– to raise funds and so on. But it's just not helpful to say, "everything is tickety-boo and then the big, bad climate change monster comes and eats us all". That's not how it works.

mh/klm/spm

Quebec Court of Appeal upholds majority of federal Indigenous child welfare law


MONTREAL — The Quebec Court of Appeal has upheld the majority of a federal law that gives Indigenous governments more control over child welfare.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

In a 219-page unanimous decision rendered Thursday, the five-member appeals court panel said that most of Bill C-92 — which recognizes that Indigenous Peoples have an inherent right to self-government, including over child welfare — is constitutional.

The court said elements of the law that allow Indigenous groups to create their own child welfare legislation, subject to national standards, are also constitutional. It struck down, however, a framework giving those laws the force of federal law and allowing them to override provincial legislation.

Naiomi Metallic, a law professor at Dalhousie University who specializes in Indigenous and constitutional law, said the appeals court ruling doesn't necessarily mean provinces will be able overrule Indigenous child welfare laws.

"Provincial governments have a significant role to play if they want to argue that any part of their law should trump an Indigenous law," she said in an interview Friday. "The tenor is that Indigenous laws will be paramount in the vast majority of cases and it will be very hard for a province to argue otherwise."

Metallic, who described the decision as "remarkable" and "courageous," said she was pleased to see the way the court emphasized the history of residential schools and decades of underfunding of Indigenous child welfare.

"The Indian residential school system gradually morphed into the child welfare system, that is clearly acknowledged in the decision, and what it has done is it has fractured families, it has fractured people's identities and it's also denied Indigenous people's ability to govern in this area," she said.

"That's a really important part of the decision, too — the recognition that Indigenous people controlling this area is really key to their well-being. You cannot separate them.


Quebec had challenged the federal law, arguing that provincial governments have jurisdiction over child welfare and that by affirming in law that Indigenous peoples have an inherent right to self-government, Ottawa was unilaterally creating a new level of government.

In a joint statement, the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador and the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission said they were pleased to see the court uphold the right to self-government.

"The judgment of the Court of Appeal of Quebec confirms what we have argued for a long time before many commissions and inquiries," said Ghislain Picard, chief of the assembly.

"By virtue of the right to self-government, we are in the best position to ensure the wellness of our people and more particularly, our children."

The office of Quebec's attorney general said Friday it was still studying the decision.

Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu told reporters Thursday that the federal government would review the decision before responding.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2022.

———

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Jacob Serebrin, The Canadian Press

AS FAST AS THEY DITCHED O'TOOLE
Tories ditch Erin O'Toole's carbon pricing plan

After briefly trying to appeal to climate-concerned voters, the Conservative Party of Canada is ditching its carbon pricing plan, a move Canada’s environment minister says “proves they have no credibility in the fight against climate change.”

In the run-up to the last election, former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole introduced both a climate plan and a carbon price. But after roughly 13 years of convincing party supporters carbon pricing is a “terrible idea,” the decision alienated voters, said Kathryn Harrison, a professor of political science at the University of British Columbia.

Conservative interim leader MP Candice Bergen ditched the party’s pledge to put a price on carbon at a caucus meeting on Wednesday, according to the Toronto Star. The Star’s sources say the issue needs to be debated at the leadership race.

“It’s not surprising that the Conservative Party isn’t putting forward strong solutions to climate change when many of their members don’t believe in it,” the NDP’s environment and climate change critic Laurel Collins said in a statement to Canada’s National Observer.

Harrison said she is not surprised by the announcement.

“The message that the Conservatives were on board with carbon pricing, I think, was exaggerated all along,” she said.

Although the party said it intended to keep the industrial pricing schedule up to $50/tonne, increases beyond that were tied to trading partners like the U.S. and the European Union.

“Fifty dollars a tonne is not a threat to the Canadian oil industry and arguably helps their reputation, so that was no big surprise,” said Harrison.

The Conservatives’ plan proposed carbon pricing that would start at $20/tonne and increase to no higher than $50/tonne — while the Liberal government pledged to increase the price to $170/tonne by 2030.

It called for the tax to be paid when Canadians buy fuel and then deposited into “personal low-carbon savings accounts'' for “green purchases” like a transit pass or energy-efficient retrofits, but Harrison points out details were scarce and that it was “really a gimmick.”

In a statement to Canada’s National Observer, Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault said the Conservatives’ proposed carbon tax meant “the more you burned, the more you would earn — which made no sense.”

“Putting a price on pollution is a central part of our plan to cut carbon emissions and support our economy, with the majority of families receiving more money back than they pay,” reads Guilbeault’s statement.

In 2019, a report by the Parliamentary Budget Officer found 80 per cent of households will get more from the climate change tax rebate than they are paying in carbon tax, while the wealthiest 20 per cent will pay slightly more than they receive.

Despite this, a recent study co-authored by Harrison found many Canadians don’t understand rebates very well and most underestimate how much money they are getting back.

The study revealed partisan divides. Conservative voters were more likely to report they were paying more in taxes than they were getting back, even when shown the opposite was true.

“[The Conservatives] are adopting policies that speak on behalf of their core voters, about a third of Canadians who oppose carbon pricing,” said Harrison. “It seems to be part and parcel with the party's emerging response to the trucker blockades and anti-vax sentiment that they are returning to their base.”

Harrison said there is a serious question of whether the party is limiting its reach with these recent choices.

Conservative MPs — including ex-party leader Andrew Scheer, Garnett Genuis, Melissa Lantsman, and Martin Shields — have voiced support for the trucker convoy, which is on its 12 consecutive day occupying Ottawa’s downtown.

And it’s no secret the party is divided on climate change. At the 2021 Conservative Party convention, 54 per cent of voting delegates voted against a motion that would include the phrases, “We recognize that climate change is real,'' and “The Conservative Party is willing to act” in the party’s policy.

On Thursday, former MP Lisa Raitt, Jim Dinning (FORMER ALBERTA PC MINISTER OF FINANCE)  and Ken Boessenkool launched Conservatives for Clean Growth, a group of Conservative Party activists, advisers and members who will work with any leadership candidate to “develop a credible climate, energy and economic plan.”

“This new initiative, led by long-time, high-profile Conservatives, is fighting for the future of their party,” said Harrison, who finds it “quite sad” the party won’t embrace carbon pricing.

“One would expect ideological Conservatives committed to markets and economic efficiency to embrace [it],” she said. For more than a decade, the Conservative Party has misled voters and argued vehemently against carbon pricing, claiming it does not work despite a body of research that proves the opposite, said Harrison.

Because this policy should, in theory, appeal to the party’s market-driven values, Harrison doesn't think the Conservatives’ aversion is really about the carbon price: “It's about protecting the status quo and the fossil fuel industry,” she said.

MP Adam Chambers declined to comment because caucus meetings are confidential and it would compromise the party’s “ability to have open, transparent and honest discussions with each other.”

Nearly 30 Conservative MPs, including Bergen, declined or did not respond to Canada’s National Observer’s requests for comment.

Natasha Bulowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

Birds with bigger brains may cope with climate crisis better, study suggests

By Katie Hunt, CNN - Frida
© Adobe Stock


Thousands of birds die each spring and fall when they collide with Chicago's skyscrapers, which lie on a major migration path between Canada and Latin America.

But the birds don't die in vain. Since the 1970s, many of them have been collected from the street and cataloged by the city's Field Museum. This unique and detailed set of data has been a scientific windfall, revealing that North American migratory birds appear to be shrinking in response to climate change.

A new study of this data has highlighted an important nuance in this trend: Birds that have bigger brains, relative to their body size, are not shrinking as much as their smaller-brained counterparts.

The study is the first to identify a potential link between cognition and animal response to human-made climate change, according to the researchers from Washington University in St. Louis.

"As temperatures warm, body sizes are decreasing," said Justin Baldwin, a doctoral student at Washington University and author of the study that published this week in the journal Ecology Letters, in a news release. "But larger-brained species are declining less strongly than small-brained species."

Relative brain size is often considered an indicator of behavioral flexibility in birds, according to the research. The idea is controversial when it's applied to some other animals, Baldwin said, but it works for birds.

"Relative brain size correlates with increased learning ability, increased memory, longer lifespans and more stable population dynamics," Baldwin said.

"In this case, a bigger-brained species of bird might be able to reduce its exposure to warming temperatures by seeking out microhabitats with cooler temperatures, for example," he said.

The researchers analyzed information from 70,000 birds that died when they collided with buildings in Chicago between 1978 and 2016. They added brain volume measurements and life-span data for 49 of the 52 species in the database.

Birds that had big brains, relative to their bodies such as the song sparrow and other New World sparrows, had body-size reductions that were only about one-third of those observed for birds with smaller brains, the study found. Wood warblers (Parulidae) tended to have smaller brains and tended to shrink more.

"The authors from that amazing study shared their raw data ... which allowed us to add to it and discover more," Baldwin said via email.
Shape-shifters

It's not known exactly why birds are shrinking in size. Larger body size helps animals in cold places stay warm, while a smaller body retains less heat.

Bird wingspans may have increased to compensate for smaller bodies that produce less energy for the incredibly long distances traveled during migration, researchers have also found.

Similarly, other research has found that some animals are developing larger beaks, legs and ears that allow them to better regulate body temperature as the planet gets hotter. While most of the morphological changes have been in birds, bats and shrews have also been affected. Climate change has even altered human bodies.

However, downsizing comes at a potential cost for a bird, with an increased risk of falling prey to predators or making it harder to compete for resources with other bird species, said study coauthor Carlos Botero, assistant professor of biology at Washington University, in the statement.

It's in this context that having a larger brain may offer alternatives that are not available to small-brained species, he said.

"One of the first things that jumps out to me from these findings is that we can already see that climate change is having a disproportionate effect on species that have less capacity to deal with environmental change through their behavior," Botero said.

"This doesn't mean that climate change is not affecting brainy birds ... or that brainy birds are going to do just fine. What our findings suggest is that climate change can have a much stronger effect on the less-brainy birds."


© Adobe StockA Blackburnian warbler, pictured here, was another of the species of smaller-brained birds that were more strongly affected by climate change.


© Bilgin S. Sasmaz/Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesSince the 1970s, migratory birds that died after colliding with Chicago buildings have been collected and cataloged by the Field Museum. The data set is showing how birds are affected by climate change.

Smithsonian to show 120 orange statues of female scientists

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Smithsonian will commemorate Women's History Month in March by displaying 120 life-size neon orange statues depicting women who have excelled in the fields of science and technology.

The 3D-printed statues will be displayed in the Smithsonian Gardens and in select museums in the Smithsonian network from March 5-27. A statement announcing the display called it “the largest collection of statues of women ever assembled together.”

The statues will depict women who have excelled in STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and math. These range from Jessica Esquivel, one of only 150 Black women with a PhD in physics in the country, to Karina Popovich, a college student who produced over 82,000 pieces of 3D-printed PPE for healthcare workers in the early days of the pandemic.

Each statue will feature a QR code that links to the personal story of the depicted woman. The statues have been previously displayed in Dallas, and a handful of them were in New York's Central Park Zoo.

Ellen Stofan, the Smithsonian’s under secretary for science and research, said in a statement that the exhibit, “provides the perfect opportunity for us to show that women have successfully thrived in STEM for decades, while also illustrating the innumerable role models young women can find in every field,

Forget Indiana Jones! Some of the most important archaeological discoveries in history are more fascinating than fiction. Here are 20 incredible finds that continue to inspire a sense of wonder and sometimes even outlandish theories. Who knows when the next major discovery will be made!

The women being honored were chosen by Lyda Hill Philanthropies and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They include: MIT astrophysicist Kelly Korreck; wildlife biologist Kristine Inman; microbiologist Dorothy Tovar; mathematics professor Minerva Cordero and U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team physician Monica Rho.

The display, entitled “#IfThenSheCan — The Exhibit” will feature the Smithsonian's oldest museum, the Arts + Industries Building — which only reopened last year after being closed to the public since 2004. During the opening weekend, all 120 statues will be displayed there and the Smithsonian Castle and the adjacent Enid A. Haupt Garden. After the opening weekend, the statues will be dispersed to different Smithsonian museums across the National Mall.

“These women are changing the world, and providing inspiration for the generation that will follow them,” said AIB Director Rachel Goslins in a statement.

___

This story corrects the name of the exhibit and clarifies the reopening timeline of AIB.

Ashraf Khalil , The Associated Press

With a pandemic stunting a student-led divestment movement, Ryerson holds firm on $8.9-million investment in fossil fuels

University of Toronto, Harvard, University of Guelph, and Simon Fraser University have one thing in common: they have all committed to total divestment of fossil fuels.

But Ryerson University, which holds $8.9 million (or five per cent of its total endowment) in fossil fuels is absent from the list. Ryerson is widely referred to as X University since announcing plans to change its name due to Egerton Ryerson’s role in creating Canada’s residential school system.

The university has no plans to divest, and now, with a pandemic restricting student organizing, actions and recruitment, there is little pressure on the administration to do so, says Evelyn Austin, former U of T student activist and co-ordinator for Divest Canada Coalition.

Instead, Ryerson has taken an environmental, social and governance (ESG) approach, school administrators told Canada’s National Observer via email. The school’s investments are handled by Fiera Capital Corporation, the university’s endowment fund manager, which uses ESG to evaluate environmental and social harm of investments.

Critics of the ESG model, including Austin, argue that ethical considerations of ESG are insufficient to combat the climate crisis. The model has no regulated, measured standards, she said. ESG ratings simply compare companies within sectors, for example measuring the impact of Suncor’s operations to say, BP oil.

Ryerson reportedly invests in Suncor, which operates in the tar sands and Chemical Valley, says Fossil Free Ryerson, the university’s most recent divestment organization, according to The Eyeopener. Ryerson did not answer questions from Canada’s National Observer about specific holdings.

Divest Canada considers ESG a false solution: “You just have to be not the worst fossil fuel company to be given a decent rating,” Austin says.

Austin also criticizes the depoliticization effect of ESG, where fossil fuel investments become a numbers game. For example, a university may pledge to lower greenhouse gas emissions of a portfolio by 10 per cent, as the University of Guelph did before committing to total divestment. Student divestment movements push for a bolder target of total divestment from fossil fuels.

Ryerson president Mohamed Lachemi told the Eyeopener the university currently has no tangible plans to divest, adding many universities with divestment plans “have multiple investment managers with committees who actively make decisions about asset mix strategies.” Ryerson, meanwhile, has a single fund manager handling its endowment, and the university “does not engage in active investment decision-making,” a spokesperson told Canada’s National Observer.

Both Lachemi and chief financial officer Joanna McKee, who oversees Ryerson’s financial planning, reporting, and investing, declined to be interviewed directly for this story.

However, Ryerson’s administration told Canada’s National Observer that Fiera Capital joined the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, which shifts responsibility of climate-driven investing to the asset manager, in this case, Fiera Capital.

Ryerson has made some shifts to monetarily address climate change. Since 2019, its investments in fossil fuel have shrunk by seven per cent, compared to the now inactive student group Fossil Free Ryerson’s initial campaign number of Ryerson’s $17.5 million in fossil fuel investments.

Ryerson also says it will be joining the University Network for Investor Engagement, a climate-aligned portfolio engagement program for universities. The website supports an ESG and reform approach to sustainability rather than divestment.

But critics argue ethical fossil fuel reduction of endowments cannot be reached through ESG reforms, particularly for public universities. Former divestment movements have targeted tobacco companies and South African apartheid. Like prior movements, fossil fuel divestment contends internal reforms are moving too slowly to confront the climate crisis and environmental racism.

The urgency to divest has only come after years of student-led campaigns. U of T’s divestment movement, for example, campaigned for nearly a decade before it succeeded.

Ryerson’s most recent divestment movement, Fossil Free Ryerson, was active until last spring. Canada’s National Observer reached out to MJ Wright, lead organizer for Fossil Free Ryerson, but he graduated and could no longer comment on the story.

Austin says the pandemic has severely hampered student movements. Campus closures have exacerbated student isolation and decreased student activity, causing a fissure in the institutional memory of student-led divestment movements.

Student pressure is still working to some degree, as evidenced by the pending name change and other structural shifts to combat colonialism.

But Austin asserts it is hypocritical for Ryerson University to decolonize its namesake and still invest in fossil fuels.

“These companies continue to be responsible for so much colonial violence in so-called Canada, and across the world,” she says.

| Corrections policy Updates and corrections February 11, 2022, 07:24 pm This article has been updated to clarify remarks made by Ryerson president Mohamed Lachemi to the Eyeopener and to correctly attribute those comments. Lachemi told the news outlet Ryerson does not regularly engage in active investment decision-making.

Matteo Cimellaro / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada's National Observer, Canada's National Observer

CANADA

Indigenous athletes among those aiming for medals at Beijing Olympics

There are five Indigenous athletes with Canadian connections that are chasing glory at the Beijing Olympics.

The Games, which officially began on Friday, Feb. 4 and continues until Feb. 20.

On Monday Jan. 31, Snowboard Canada officials announced that Liam Gill, a member of Liidlii Kue First Nation in the Northwest Territories, would be competing in Beijing. Gill had previously been named as an alternate for the Canadian squad and was not expecting to go to China for the Olympics. But he found himself packing his bags and heading to Beijing after one of his teammates in the halfpipe competition was forced to withdraw due to a recent injury incurred during training.

On Monday, Feb. 7 Alexandra Loutitt came to our attention earning a medal with the Canadian mixed ski jumping squad. While she didn't self-identify as Indigenous in her Olympic bio, the Gwich'in Tribal Council came out and claimed her as one of their own through her father Sandy Loutitt.

Besides Gill and Loutitt, the other Indigenous participants at the Olympics are Jocelyne Larocque, Jamie Lee Rattray and Abby Roque.

Though she is a member of Wahnapitae First Nation in northern Ontario, Roque was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., and will represent the United States in Beijing.

Since Canada and the United States are the two perennial powerhouses in women’s hockey, there’s a strong possibility Roque and the rest of the American squad will meet Larocque and Rattray, who are both Métis, and their Canadian teammates in the gold-medal match.

A closer look at Gill, Larocque, Rattray, Roque and Loutitt follows:

​LIAM GILL

Gill, who is 18, is considered a future star on the Canadian snowboarding team. But now he’s about to perform on the world’s biggest sporting stage.

Gill, who lives in Calgary, was forced to quickly pack his bags for Beijing after it was announced a two-time Olympian, Derek Livingston, would be unable to perform at the Games because of a recent lower-body injury.

Gill will be taking Livingston’s spot in the men’s halfpipe competition. Besides being the lone Indigenous member on the Canadian snowboarding squad, he is also the second youngest member of the team.

Another Calgary resident, Brooke D’Hondt, who is 16, is the youngest.

Gill previously represented Canada at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games, which were staged in Lausanne, Switzerland.

At those Games he participated in all three of snowboarding’s freestyle events, placing eighth in the Big Air competition, 11th in the Slopestyle and 13th in the Halfpipe competition.

​JOCELYNE LAROCQUE

Larocque, a 33-year-old who plays defence, is one of the veterans on the Canadian women’s hockey squad. She has been a member of the national squad since 2008.

And Larocque’s resume already includes a pair of Olympic medals.

She was a member of the Canadian squad that captured the gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics staged in Sochi, Russia.

Larocque made history at those Games, becoming the first Indigenous woman to suit up for the Canadian women’s hockey club at an Olympics.

And then, four years later, she helped her squad win the silver medal at the PyeongChang Games. Canada was edged by the U.S. in a shootout in the gold-medal contest.

Larocque, who is from Ste. Anne, Man., has also earned eight medals (two gold, five silver and one bronze) at world women’s championships.

Larocque also had a stellar four-season playing career at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. She served as the captain of the team during her senior year.

​JAMIE LEE RATTRAY

Rattray, who was born in Kanata, Ont., is a 29-year-old forward.

Though she made her first appearance with the national senior women’s team in 2014, she will make her Olympic debut in Beijing.

That’s because she didn’t crack the final Canadian roster for the 2018 PyeongChang Games.

Rattray, however, does have a handful of medals from world championships.

She was a member of the Canadian team that captured back-to-back silver medals at the 2015 and ’16 global tournaments.

Rattray also won a bronze medal at the 2019 tourney. And she was a member of the gold-medal winning side at the 2021 championships, held this past August in Calgary.

Rattray spent her collegiate years starring for New York-based Clarkson University, from 2010-14.

She has also excelled off the ice as she helped Canada win the bronze medal at the 2017 world women’s ball hockey championships.

​ABBY ROQUE

Roque, who has lived in the United States her entire life, will make her Olympic debut in Beijing.

The 24-year-old is a forward with the American squad.

Her Indigenous ancestry is through her father Jim, who is both a Canadian and American citizen.

Jim Roque is currently working as a scout for the National Hockey League’s Toronto Maple Leafs.

Born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., Roque was a force during her collegiate years, 2016 through 2020, at Wisconsin University. During her final season at Wisconsin, she racked up a whopping 58 points, including 26 goals, in 36 contests.

For her efforts, Roque was one of three finalists that year for the Patty Kaizmaier Memorial Award. This trophy is annually presented to the top female collegiate players in the U.S.

ALEXANDRA LOUTITT

Alexandra Loutitt has jumped her way into the record books.

The 18-year-old, who is a member Nihtat Gwich'in based in Inuvik, was not a household name when she arrived at the Beijing Olympics.

But Canadians from coast-to-coast-to-coast have been learning more about her story now that she’s an Olympic medallist.

Loutitt, who was born and raised in Calgary, is a member of the Canadian mixed ski jumping squad that captured the bronze medal in Beijing on Monday, Feb. 7.

Loutitt’s teammates in Beijing were Abigail Strate, Matthew Soukup and Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes. This year’s Games marked the first time for the mixed-gender ski jumping competition.

Loutitt and her teammates, however, won the first ski jumping medal for Canada in any discipline since the Winter Games were launched in 1924.

Windspeaker.com
By Sam Laskaris, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com, Windspeaker.com

Former Jamaican bobsledders excited to cheer on team after 24-year absence

Jayme Doll - Thursday

They first captured hearts in Calgary at the 1988 Winter Olympics as the underdogs with fierce dedication and drive to conquer what may have seemed like an impossible dream.

The Jamaican four-man bobsled team is back at the Olympics for the first time in 24 years.

Read more:
Jamaica’s 4-man bobsled team makes Olympics for 1st time in over 20 years

"You bring that Jamaican flare to the games and that makes it a pretty cool event," said Devon Harris, a member of the 1988 debut team.

"I just encourage them to enjoy the moment. It's one of those rare moments very few of us actually get to experience in life," he said from his home just outside New York City.

Harris said he's been texting with some of his former teammates, admitting while it's been a long time since he sat in a sled, there's always excitement when the Olympic season rolls around.

Video: Jamaican bobsled team needs coach to help get them to 2018 Winter Olympics

This is the first time in almost 20 years that Calgary's Lacelles Brown won't be competing at a winter Olympic Games in bobsled.

Brown has represented Jamaica and Canada. He said he'll be watching both teams closely and is very proud Jamaica is back on the track.

"It's about time. I think Jamaica has some really good athletes and putting it together and getting them back on track, it's nice to see," said Brown.

"If the Jamaican boys finish in the top 10, that's an accomplishment... I'm just being realistic. If the Canadian boys finish in the top five, I know they can medal. No pressure on them but I want them to medal," said Brown.

Jamaica's historic run in Calgary as the first-ever bobsled team from the island nation to compete has become iconic. Despite a horrible crash that flipped them upside down soaring down the track, they became heroes at the Games for pushing on.

"As we went over, I remember thinking: 'Wow, we are over. How embarrassing,' that was my thought... It didn't feel as bad as it looked," recalled Harris.

"If you can imagine failing in front of the entire world and totally embarrassed your country, and here are those people offering that emotional support, it means a lot. It still means a lot," said Harris, who said he holds a very special place for Calgarians in his heart.

The legacy and has stuck with the team through the decades.

Harris said it's been only recently he's really understood the impact his original team made on the world.

"This thing was way bigger than just four guys from Jamaica trying to bobsled. It was saying to people all over the world who had dreams that they thought maybe scary or ridiculous, it gave them permission to go and pursue those dreams."

"They'll never be an '88 team," Harris added. "I think we were special in just the way we embraced the challenge. It was hard. It had never been done before. We put the shoulder to the wheels and went."

Largest comet ever observed bumps Hale-Bopp from pedestal

Stephanie Pappas - Friday

Live Science

The Bernardinelli-Bernstein comet, identified in 2021, is officially the biggest comet ever observed.

The new record, reported on the preprint website arXiv and now accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics Letters, bumps the Hale-Bopp comet from the top spot. Hale-Bopp was discovered in 1995 and became visible to the naked eye in 1996; it was about 46 miles (74 kilometers) across. Bernardinelli-Bernstein, also known as comet 2014 UN271, has now been calculated to be about 85 miles (137 km) across.

The Bernardinelli-Bernstein comet is named after its discoverers, University of Pennsylvania cosmologist Gary Bernstein and University of Washington postdoctoral scholar Pedro Bernardinelli, who first spotted the comet in the Dark Energy Survey dataset. The images showing the comet date back to 2014, which is why that year is in the comet's official scientific designation. Bernardinelli and Berstein noticed the tiny dot moving as they studied images from subsequent years.

At that time, the comet was too distant for researchers to get a good gauge on its size, though they could tell it was likely quite large. The comet hails from the Oort Cloud, a cloud of chunks of ice and rock hovering at the edge of the solar system. Its orbit takes it as far as a light-year from the sun — and takes 5.5 million years to complete.

The comet is currently winging its way toward the interior of the solar system. It will get closest to Earth in 2031, though not too close for comfort: The comet will remain just outside Saturn's orbit, Live Science reported.

The new research was led by Emmanuel Lellouch, an astronomer at the Observatoire de Paris, and used data from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array in South America, taken in August 2021 when the comet was 19.6 AUs away. (An AU is the distance between the Earth and the sun and translates to about 93 million miles, or 150 million kilometers.) Researchers studied the microwave radiation coming off the comet's bulk. From these reflected light wavelengths, the team could infer the comet's size. This is the longest distance at which this type of measurement has been done before, the researchers wrote in their new paper.

It's exciting to get a measurement while the comet is still so distant, the researchers added, because Bernardinelli-Bernstein will likely shrink significantly by the time it gets closer to Earth. As the comet gets closer to the sun, its tail of dust and gas will expand, and its main body will melt and shrink.

The comet will not be visible to the naked eye, as Hale-Bopp was at its closest approach, but scientists expect to learn a lot about Oort Cloud objects from the visitor. Large telescopes like the Atacama Array will allow scientists to learn more about the chemical composition of the comet as it passes, Lellouch and his colleagues wrote. They should also know more soon about the comet's temperature, spin and shape.

Originally published on Live Science.

Ottawa launches long-awaited competition for armed military drones

 The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The federal government has officially launched a competition for the purchase of armed drones after nearly two decades of delays and discussion around whether Canada should buy the controversial weapons.

A formal request for proposals was released Friday to the two companies shortlisted to bid on the $5-billion contract, which could see the Canadian Armed Forces launch a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles in the next few years.

A formal contract is not expected for another year or two, while the first drone isn’t scheduled for delivery until at least 2025, with the last to arrive in the early 2030s.

The request does not say how many vehicles the government plans to buy, and instead leaves it up to the two companies to say how their bids will satisfy the military’s needs while benefiting the Canadian economy.

It does reveal the aircraft will be based at 14 Wing Greenwood in Nova Scotia and 19 Wing Comox in British Columbia, while the main control centre will be in the Ottawa area. Yellowknife is also identified as a forward operating location.

The drone force will include around 240 air force members, with 55 in Greenwood, 25 in Comox and 160 in Ottawa.

While delivery is still years away, the fact the military has reached even this point represents a major step forward after almost 20 years of work to identify and buy a fleet of UAVs to conduct surveillance over Canadian territory and support missions abroad.

Aside from purchasing a small number of temporary, unarmed drones for the war in Afghanistan — all of which have since been retired — the military has never been able to make much progress on a permanent fleet.

That was despite drones taking on an increasingly important role in militaries around the world. A report in the Royal Canadian Air Force Journal in late 2015 said 76 foreign militaries were using drones and another 50 were developing them.

One major reason: no federal government had authorized adding drones as a permanent fixture within the military in the same vein as fighter-jet or helicopter squadrons until the Liberal government included them in its 2017 defence policy.

The government and military say the unmanned aircraft will be used for surveillance and intelligence gathering as well as delivering pinpoint strikes from the air on enemy forces in places where the use of force has been approved.

Some have previously criticized the decision to buy armed drones given concerns about their potential use in Canada and numerous reports of airstrikes by other nations, particularly the United States and Russia, causing unintended damage and civilian casualties.

The government has also said little about the scenarios in which force might be used, including whether drones could be deployed for assassinations. Officials have suggested they would be used in the same way as conventional weapons such as fighter jets and artillery.

"While the (drones) will be a medium-altitude long-endurance system with a precision strike capability, it will only be armed when necessary for the assigned task," the Defence Department said Friday.

"At all times, employment of precision strike capability will adhere to the Law of Armed Conflict, as well as any other applicable domestic or international laws. Use of force will be applied following rules of engagement applicable to the CAF."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2022.
Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press