‘Who is talking about climate change now?’ What the Ukraine war means for global heating

Sam Meredith - Yesterday 

CNBC

Six months from the end of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the global energy picture has changed dramatically

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has put a planned energy transition at a crossroads.
The upshot facing policymakers is that the shift away from fossil fuels is vital to avoid a cataclysmic climate scenario.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that instead of countries "hitting the brakes" on the decarbonization of the global economy in the wake of Russia's invasion, "now is the time to put the pedal to the metal towards a renewable energy future."


© Provided by CNBC

A group of Ukrainian women demonstrate to call for further action against Russia near the headquarters of the EU Commission in Brussels, Belgium.

LONDON — Reflecting on energy markets just over one month into Russia's onslaught in Ukraine, Saudi Arabia's top energy official said: "Look at what is happening today, who is talking about climate change now?"

Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman's comments in late March were effectively a rerun of his address to attendees at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in November last year when he claimed the world could slash greenhouse gas emissions without swearing off hydrocarbons.

Summarizing his views on energy security and the climate crisis, Abdulaziz told CNBC that the world's top oil exporter would not shy away from fossil fuel production. "We are pro producing oil and gas, and — hallelujah — pro using coal."

Russian President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine is now on the cusp of entering its fourth month, amplifying concern about what the conflict means for food, energy and global climate goals.

The G-7 has warned Russia's invasion has resulted in "one of the most severe food and energy crises in recent history," threatening those most vulnerable worldwide.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said the Kremlin's assault on Ukraine will likely have major implications for global heating targets, particularly as many countries turn to coal or imports of liquefied natural gas as alternative sources to Russian energy.

Guterres described this short-sighted rush to fossil fuels as "madness," before warning that humanity's "addiction to fossil fuels is mutually assured destruction."

Six months from the end of COP26, where negotiators left the U.K. with a sense of incremental progress, the global energy picture has changed dramatically.

In short, Russia's invasion has put a planned energy transition at a crossroads. The upshot facing policymakers is that the shift away from fossil fuels is vital to avoid a cataclysmic climate scenario.

The U.N. chief has said that instead of countries "hitting the brakes" on the decarbonization of the global economy in the wake of Russia's invasion, "now is the time to put the pedal to the metal towards a renewable energy future."
Energy security vs. energy transition

Putin's invasion of Ukraine has thrust the issue of energy security back toward the top of the political agenda. Indeed, one of the most pressing challenges facing European leaders today is how to sever their dependence on Russian energy while accelerating the fight against the climate crisis.

Complicating this challenge, however, is the fact that many European countries are acutely reliant on Russian oil and gas.


© Provided by CNBC

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly called for the EU to stop funding Russia's invasion by imposing an immediate import ban on Russian oil and gas.

Speaking to CNBC from Kyiv, Ukraine's top climate scientist Svitlana Krakovska made clear that survival — not energy security — had been the top priority for people living in the country.

"From my side, since I am still here in Ukraine and I see everything here from the very beginning, I would say that our first security is the security of life," Krakovska said. She has previously told CNBC that the primary driver of the climate emergency and the root cause of Russia's war both stem from humanity's fossil fuel dependency.

"The more we continue our dependency on these fossil fuels and the more we postpone [climate] action, the less secure we are," Krakovska said.

The burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas, is the chief driver of the climate crisis and researchers have repeatedly stressed that limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius will soon be beyond reach without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors.

This temperature limit is recognized as a crucial global target because beyond this level, so-called tipping points become more likely. Tipping points are thresholds at which small changes can lead to dramatic shifts in Earth's entire life support system.

The world's governments agreed in the 2015 Paris climate accord to limit global heating to well below 2 degrees Celsius and pursue efforts to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. For the latter, the International Energy Agency has warned that no new oil and gas projects are possible.

Krakovska, who heads the applied climatology laboratory at Ukraine's Hydrometeorological Institute, said that while it was currently difficult to assess the climate impact of Russia's invasion, there were already clear examples of environmental destruction.

For instance, Krakovska said she had observed with some concern the large swathes of wildfires burning unchecked in Siberia, noting that Russian military units that would usually fight these fires have been relocated to the Ukrainian frontline.


© Provided by CNBC

Wildfires have been left burning unchecked in Siberia, Russia. This aerial picture was taken on July 27, 2021 showing smoke rising from a forest fire.

Wildfires in Siberia last month were found to be more than twice the size when compared to the same period in 2021, environmental group Greenpeace told CNBC, citing satellite data. In what is becoming an annual occurrence of climate breakdown, the burning of trees in Siberia unlocks extreme carbon pollution while melting methane-rich permafrost.

"This war actually causes so many devastating consequences and it just exacerbates the climate crisis," Krakovska said. She reiterated the Ukrainian government's call for the EU to stop funding Russia's invasion by imposing an immediate import ban on Russian oil and gas.
Why aren't we talking about demand?

To some, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the resulting energy crisis should be seen as a harbinger of how countries think about their oil use.

"We can respond so much quicker on the demand side than we can on the supply side — and we are not hearing enough about that," Michael Lazarus, director of the U.S. office for the Stockholm Environment Institute, a non-profit research firm, told CNBC via video call.

In late March, the IEA published a 10-point plan to reduce oil demand, recommending policies such as reducing speed limits on highways by at least 10 kilometers per hour, working from home as much as three days per week when possible and car-free Sundays for cities.

The energy agency said imposing measures such as these would help to reduce the price pain being felt by global consumers, lessen the economic damage, shrink Russia's hydrocarbon revenues and help move oil demand toward a more sustainable pathway.

"Even though some efforts are behaviorally or culturally challenging, whether it is changing speed limits or changing the temperature of our houses, these things can happen and what we have seen is the motion of public support," Lazarus said.

"People want to do something. People want to contribute, and this reduces costs and vulnerabilities for households to invest in energy efficiency and conservation and it helps free up resources for the rest of the world to address this moment" Lazarus said. "This is really the moment for dramatic efforts on the demand side."

What about the cost?

In early April, the world's leading climate scientists warned that the fight to keep global heating under 1.5 degrees Celsius had reached "now or never" territory.

The U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reaffirmed that to keep rising global temperatures under this key threshold, emissions from warming gases must be halved by the end of the decade.

"We have here a contradiction," Jose Manuel Barroso, chairman of Goldman Sachs International and former president of the European Commission, said at a May 10 event entitled: "The Conflict in Ukraine and Europe's Clean Energy Transition."

"While in the medium and long-term everybody agrees that the less dependent on fossil fuels the better. The point is how costly it will be — and so I think there is a risk of backlash. I will even say that there is a risk of having the climate agenda as collateral damage from this war in Ukraine," Barroso said.

The IPCC is unequivocal on the so-called "cost" of the global fight to secure a livable future: It's not nearly as expensive as we may think.

"Without taking into account the economic benefits of reduced adaptation costs or avoided climate impacts, global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would be just a few percentage points lower in 2050 if we take the actions necessary to limit warming to 2°C (3.6°F) or below, compared to maintaining current policies," IPCC Working Group III Co-Chair Priyadarshi Shukla said on April 4.

— CNBC's Lucy Handley contributed to this report.

GOP directs culture war fury toward green investing trend

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Republicans are coming out swinging against Wall Street's growing efforts to consider factors like long-term environmental risk in investment decisions, the latest indication that the GOP is willing to damage its relationship with big business to score culture war points.



Many are targeting a concept known as ESG — which stands for environmental, social and governance — a sustainable investment trend sweeping the financial world. Red state officials deride it as politically correct and woke and are trying to stop investors who contract with states from adopting it on any level.

For right-wing activists who previously brought criticisms of critical race theory (CRT), diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and social emotional learning (SEL) to the forefront, it's the latest acronym-based source of outrage to find a home at rallies, in conservative media and in legislatures.

ESG has yet to take hold as mainstream political messaging, but backlash against it is gaining steam. Last week, former Vice President Mike Pence attacked the concept during a speech in Houston. And on Wednesday, the same day he said on Twitter he planned to vote Republican, Elon Musk attacked it after Tesla lost its place on the S&P 500′s ESG Index. He called it a scam “weaponized by phony social justice warriors.”

The concept calls on investors to consider criteria such as environmental risk, pay equity or how transparent companies are in their accounting practices. Aided by recently proposed disclosure requirements and analysis from ratings agencies, they have adopted the principles to such an extent that those who use them control $16.6 trillion in investments held in the U.S.

In response, Republicans — historically known for supporting fewer regulations — are in many places attempting to impose new rules on investors. Their efforts reflect how members of the party are willing to distance themselves from big business to push back against those they see as ideological foes.

“I don’t think we’re the party of big business anymore. We’re the party of people — more specifically, we’re the party of working people. And the problem that we have is with big banks and corporations right now trying to dictate how we’re going to live our lives,” West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore said.

Opponents criticize ESG as politicized and a potentially costly diversion from purely financial investment principles, while advocates say considering the criteria more accurately accounts for risk and promises steadier returns.

“We focus on sustainability not because we’re environmentalists, but because we are capitalists and fiduciaries to our clients,” Larry Fink, CEO of investment firm BlackRock and a leading proponent, told clients in a letter this year.

But Moore and others including Utah’s Republican state treasurer Marlo Oaks argue favoring green investment over fossil fuels denies key industries access to the financial system and capital. They have targeted S&P Global Ratings for appending ESG scores to their traditional state credit ratings. They worry that without changes, their scores could make borrowing for projects like schools or roads costlier.

In an April letter, Oaks demanded S&P retract analysis that rated Utah as “moderately negative” in terms of environmental risk due to “long-term challenges regarding water supply, which could remain a constraint for its economy ... given pervasive drought conditions in the western U.S.”

The letter was co-signed by the governor, legislative leaders and the state’s congressional delegation, including Sen. Mitt Romney, whose former firm Bain Capital calls ESG factors “strategic, fact-based and diligence-driven.” It said ratings system “attempts to legitimize a dubious and unproven exercise” and attacks the "unreliability and inherently political nature of ESG factors in investment decisions.”

Though he likened ESG to critical race theory, Oaks said he was mostly concerned with capital markets and what he called attempts by fossil fuel opponents to manipulate them by pressuring investors to pick businesses with high ESG scores.

“DEI, CRT, SEL. It can be hard to keep up with the acronyms,” he wrote on an economics blog last month, “but there’s a relatively new one you need to know: ESG.”

Investors making carbon neutral or net zero criteria common were, in effect, Oaks said, limiting access to capital for oil and gas businesses, hurting their returns and potentially contributing to gas price spikes.

In more than a dozen red states, officials dispute the idea that the energy transition underway could make fossil fuel-related investments riskier in the long term. They argue employing asset managers with a preference for green investments uses state funds to further agendas out of sync with constituents.

In statehouses, anti-green investing efforts are backed by conservative groups such as the American Legislative Exchange Council and the Heartland Institute, a think-tank skeptical of scientific consensus on human-caused climate change that has backed bills that either divest state funds from financial institutions that use ESG or forbid them from using it to score businesses or individuals.

In Texas, West Virginia and Kentucky, lawmakers have passed bills requiring state funds limit transactions with companies that shun fossil fuels. Wyoming considered banning “social credit scores” that evaluate businesses using criteria that differ from accounting and other financial metrics, like ESG

After conservative talk show host Glenn Beck visited the Idaho Statehouse and referred to ESG as critical race theory “on steroids,” the Legislature passed a law in March prohibiting investment of state funds in companies that prioritize commitments to ESG over returns.

The American Legislative Exchange Council recently published model policy that would subject banks managing state pensions to new regulations limiting investments driven by what it calls “social, political and ideological” goals.

Though the policy doesn't mention it outright, Jonathan Williams, the group's chief economist, said ESG's mainstreaming amid broader trends of political correctness was a driving force. He said his research shows that incorporating factors beyond traditional financial metrics can lower the rate of return for already underfunded state pensions.

Sustainable investing advocates deny that charge and say considering the risks and realities of climate change amounts to responsible investing.

West Virginia and Arkansas recently divested their pension funds from BlackRock in response to the asset manager adding businesses with smaller carbon footprints to its portfolios. Moore, West Virginia's treasurer, hopes more will follow.

Though it's drawing enthusiasm, the green investment discourse differs from recurring debates over gender and sexuality or how history is taught. Both proponents and detractors acknowledged they’re surprised pensions, credit ratings and investment decisions have become campaign rally fodder.

Last month at the Utah state party’s convention, thousands of Republicans roared when Sen. Mike Lee described green investment in similar terms to critical race theory — another acronym-based foil: “Between CRT and ESG and MSNBC, we get way too much B.S.,” Lee said.

Bryan McGannon, a lobbyist with US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, said opponents were wrong in framing sustainable investing trends as political. If states refuse to reckon with how the future will likely rely less on fossil fuels and limit how environmental risk can be considered, he said, they're making decisions with incomplete information.

“If a state’s not considering those risks, it may be a signal to an investor that this might not be a wise government to be putting our money with," McGannon said. "Investors use a huge swath of information, and ESG is a piece of that mosaic.”

___

Associated Press writers Stan Choe in New York and Lindsay Whitehurst in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.

Sam Metz, The Associated Press

GEORGIA IS A GOP STATE

Hyundai announces $5.5B electric vehicle plant in Georgia

ELLABELL, Ga. (AP) — Hyundai Motor Group officials confirmed Friday the company will spend $5.5 billion on a huge electric vehicle plant near Savannah that will employ thousands — a deal Georgia’s governor called the largest economic development project in the state’s history.

Hyundai Motor Group CEO Jaehoon Chang made the announcement with Gov. Brian Kemp at the site of the future factory in Bryan County, where state and local officials purchased a flat, sprawling tract for $61 million last year in hopes of luring a major manufacturer.

Hyundai said it plans to employ at least 8,100 workers at the Georgia plant, where it will assemble electric vehicles as well as vehicle batteries. State and company officials expect an additional $1 billion in investment from suppliers to the factory.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A year after the state of Georgia and local government partners spent $61 million to buy a sprawling tract of land for future industrial development, Gov. Brian Kemp planned to travel to the site Friday for what his office would only describe as a “special economic development announcement.”

All signs pointed to Hyundai Motor Group building a massive auto plant at the site outside Savannah. President Joe Biden is visiting South Korea and his schedule included a weekend event with the company's chairman to discuss “Hyundai’s decision to invest in a new electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facility” in the area, according to the White House.

Expected to cost $7 billion and employ up to 8,500 workers, according to two Georgia officials familiar with the plans, the plant would rank among the largest development deals ever in Georgia. The officials were not authorized to discuss the project publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The announcement comes five days before Kemp faces a contested Republican primary election against former U.S. Sen. David Perdue. It also coincides with Biden's visit to South Korea, where Hyundai is headquartered.

State and local officials purchased the 2,200-acre (890-hectare) site a year ago in Bryan County, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) inland from Savannah. The land sits adjacent to Interstate 16 that links Savannah and Macon, not far from its intersection with Interstate 95 that spans the eastern seaboard. It's also near to the Port of Savannah, the fourth-busiest U.S. seaport.

Bryan County and neighboring Chatham County, which includes Savannah, each chipped in $9 million toward the $61 million purchase price.

Hyundai Motor Group sells cars under the Hyundai and Kia brands. The South Korean automaker already operates two American assembly plants in Montgomery, Alabama, and in West Point, Georgia.

It would be the second huge electric vehicle plant announced in Georgia in less than a year. Rivian Automotive announced in December plans for a $5 billion electric truck plant east of Atlanta that's expected to employ about 7,500 workers.

In his primary campaign against Kemp, Perdue has attacked the Rivian deal and its promises of $1.5 billion in incentives and tax breaks by Georgia and local governments. Perdue says the deal transfers money to liberal financiers and the state failed to consulted with local residents who fear the plant threatens their rural quality of life.

___

Amy reported from Atlanta and Madhani reported from Washington.

Russ Bynum, The Associated Press

Rainforest Trees Have Been Dying at Faster Rate Since 1980s

Simona Kitanovska, Zenger News - Yesterday 

Tropical trees in Australia's rainforests have been dying at double the previous rate since the 1980s, seemingly because of climate impacts, according to the findings of a long-term international study published Thursday in the Nature journal.


© Alexander Schenkin/Zenger

Northeast Australia’s relict tropical rainforests, one of the oldest and most isolated rainforests in the world. Tree death rates have markedly increased across species in northeast Australia's tropical rainforests, threatening the critical climate mitigation and other functions of these ecosystems.

This research has found the death rates of tropical trees have doubled in the last 35 years, as global warming increases the drying power of the atmosphere.

Deterioration of such forests reduces biomass and carbon storage, making it increasingly difficult to keep global peak temperatures well below the target 2°C (35.6°F), as required by the Paris Agreement.

Today's study, led by researchers from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and Oxford University, and French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), has used uniquely long data records from across Australia's rainforests.

It finds average tree death rates in these forests have doubled over the past four decades. Researchers found trees are living around half as long, which is a pattern consistent across species and sites across the region. And the impacts can be seen as far back as the 1980s, according to the team.

Dr. David Bauman, a tropical forest ecologist at Smithsonian, Oxford and IRD, and lead author of the study, maintains, "It was a shock to detect such a marked increase in tree mortality, let alone a trend consistent across the diversity of species and sites we studied. A sustained doubling of mortality risk would imply the carbon stored in trees returns twice as fast to the atmosphere."

Dr. Sean McMahon, senior research scientist at Smithsonian and senior author of the study, points out, "Many decades of data are needed to detect long-term changes in long-lived organisms, and the signal of a change can be overwhelmed by the noise of many processes."

Bauman and McMahon emphasize, "One remarkable result from this study is that, not only do we detect an increase in mortality, but this increase seems to have started in the 1980s, indicating the Earth's natural systems may have been responding to changing climate for decades."

In this aerial image, a section of the Amazon rainforest that has been decimated by wildfires on August 25, 2019, in the Candeias do Jamari region near Porto Velho, Brazil. Victor Moriyama/Getty Images

Oxford Professor Yadvinder Malhi, a study co-author, points out, "In recent years the effects of climate change on the corals of the Great Barrier Reef have become well known.

"Our work shows if you look shoreward from the Reef, Australia's famous rainforests are also changing rapidly. Moreover, the likely driving factor we identify, the increasing drying power of the atmosphere caused by global warming, suggests similar increases in tree death rates may be occurring across the world's tropical forests. If that is the case, tropical forests may soon become carbon sources, and the challenge of limiting global warming well below 2°C becomes both more urgent and more difficult."

Susan Laurance, professor of tropical ecology at James Cook University, adds, "Long-term datasets like this one are very rare and very important for studying forest changes in response to climate change. This is because rainforest trees can have such long lives and also that tree death is not always immediate."

Recent studies in Amazonia have also suggested tropical tree death rates are increasing, thus weakening the carbon sink. But the reason is unclear.

Intact tropical rainforests are major stores of carbon and until now have been "carbon sinks," acting as moderate brakes on the rate of climate change by absorbing around 12 percent of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions.

Newly-planted palm oil trees are seen growing on the site of a destroyed tropical rainforest in Kuala Cenaku, Riau Province, on Sumatra Island, Indonesia, on November 21, 2007. 

Dimas Ardian/Getty Images

Examining the climate ranges of the tree species showing the highest death rates, the team suggests the main climate driver is the increasing drying power of the atmosphere. As the atmosphere warms, it draws more moisture from plants, resulting in increased water stress in trees and ultimately increased risk of death.

When the researchers crunched the numbers, it further showed the loss of biomass from this mortality increase over the past decades has not been offset by biomass gains from tree growth and recruitment of new trees. This implies the mortality increase has translated into a net decrease in the potential of these forests to offset carbon emissions.

The research team included colleagues from Oxford University, James Cook University (Australia), and other institutions (UK, France, USA, Peru).

This story was provided to Newsweek by Zenger News.

After string of adventures, ancient gold ring back in Greece



ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A more than 3,000-year-old gold signet ring that was stolen from an Aegean island in World War II, crossed the Atlantic, was bought by a Nobel Prize-winning Hungarian scientist and ended up in a Swedish museum has found its way back to Greece.

It was the latest in a series of coups by Greek authorities seeking the return of works plundered from the antiquities-rich country — even though an initial effort by the Swedish museum to return the ring apparently fell between the cracks of 1970s bureaucracy.

The Greek culture ministry said Friday that the gold Mycenaean-era work from Rhodes, decorated with two facing sphinxes, was willingly returned by Swedish officials who provided full assistance with documenting the artifact and its provenance.

Greek experts confirmed the identification, and the piece was handed over in Stockholm by Vidar Helgesen, executive director of the Nobel Foundation, to which the ring had been bequeathed by the Hungarian biophysicist.

The foundation, which presents annual awards for outstanding achievement in several fields, had given it to the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm.

Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni thanked the Nobel Foundation and Swedish authorities for the repatriation, saying it “shows their respect for modern Greece and our constant efforts to fight the illegal trafficking of cultural goods.”

The ring, which would have been a status symbol for a local nobleman in the 3rd millennium B.C., was discovered in 1927 by Italian archaeologists in a Mycenaean grave near the ancient city of Ialysos on Rhodes. The southeastern Aegean island belonged to Italy until it was incorporated in Greece after WWII.

The Ministry of Culture and Sports said the ring was stolen from a museum on Rhodes during the war — with hundreds of other pieces of jewelry and coins that remain missing — and surfaced in the United States.

It was bought to the U.S. during the 1950s or 1960s by Georg von Békésy, a biophysicist and art collector whose collection was donated to the Nobel Foundation after his 1972 death and from there distributed to several museums.

The Nobel Foundation's Helgesen said there was no doubt where the ring belonged.

“To us, it was obvious that the ring should be returned," he said. "This artifact is of very great cultural-historical value for Greece.”

The Stockholm museum had initially identified the ring from Ialysos in 1975 and contacted Greek authorities, the ministry said.

“But it remained in Stockholm for reasons that are not clear from existing archives,” Friday's statement said. The artwork will now be displayed in a museum on Rhodes.

The Associated Press

TWO THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN COMING FOR 60 YEARS

Breakthrough in Fusion Energy as Fundamental Law Revised: 'Very Good News'

Ed Browne -
Newsweek


Physicists at a European nuclear fusion lab have worked out a way to obtain more energy from fusion reactors than previously thought possible, surpassing a limit that existing reactors had been adhering to.

Nuclear fusion is the process by which two atoms join together, producing a heavier element from two lighter ones. When this happens, energy is released.

Nuclear fusion happens all the time inside the sun, where hydrogen atoms combine under intense heat and pressure to form helium atoms. This releases even more energy which keeps the whole process going.

The idea of nuclear fusion power here on Earth is essentially to recreate this process, using the heat given off by the reaction to turn water into steam which can then power a turbine generator.

Recreating fusion on Earth has been one of the biggest challenges in modern science and promises a future of clean, easily sustainable power. Every so often scientists make little breakthroughs in research, though a reactor has yet to prove viable for electricity generation.

At the forefront of fusion research are machines called tokamaks, which heat hydrogen gas to extremely high temperatures to create a hydrogen plasma—a gas where electrons are stripped away from their atoms—in which fusion can occur.

The purpose of tokamaks is to keep this plasma flowing in a circle so that the fusion reaction can keep going. Two other things also need to be carefully controlled: temperature and the density of the fuel.

This week, scientists at the European research group École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have found a way to significantly increase the limits of this hydrogen fuel density—known as the Greenwald limit—beyond what was previously considered possible. It means that reactors should be able to produce even more energy.

"Since the early days of fusion, we've known that if you try to increase the fuel density, at some point there would be what we call a 'disruption'—basically you totally lose the confinement [of the plasma], and plasma goes wherever," said Paolo Ricci, a professor at the Swiss Plasma Center, in an EPFL press release. "So in the eighties, people were trying to come up with some kind of law that could predict the maximum density of hydrogen that you can put inside a tokamak."

An EPFL team decided to revisit this limit, using supercomputers to model the fusion plasma. They found that the more fuel was added in, the cooler the plasma got. This meant the flow was more easily disrupted.

Using what they learned, Ricci and colleagues managed to work out a new equation for a new fuel limit inside a tokamak that was higher than before. Inside Europe's ITER tokamak, the limit can actually be nearly doubled.

The step forward means it will be possible to add more fuel density without limiting the output, Ricci said, adding: "And that is very good news."

Among those hoping for a nuclear fusion future is Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who was asked for his thoughts on the future of nuclear power in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) threat on Reddit on Wednesday.

He wrote: "There is nuclear fission. If it can solve the cost, safety and waste concerns it can make a massive contribution to solving climate change. I am biased because I have been investing over a billion in this starting over a decade ago.

"Also promising is nuclear fusion. It is less clear if we will succeed but it has less safety and waste issues if it works.

"So I am hopeful nuclear will improve and be a huge help for climate."

Related Articles
Engineers Make Fusion Breakthrough by Shooting Projectile at 14,500 MPH
'Quantum Charging' Electric Cars Could Be As Fast As Pumping Gas
Scientists Baffled As Particle Experiment Threatens 'Fundamental' Theory

Take Note, Men: New Male Contraceptives Are on the Way

Manasee Wagh - 
Popular Mechanics

© Chitraporn Nakorn - Getty Images

One hormone-based, transdermal gel may be one of the earliest options on the market.

Research is well underway for multiple male contraceptive methods, including a topical gel, a pill, and an injection.

A transdermal gel could be developed for market in as little as ten years.

Other products will take longer, but birth control methods like a non-hormonal pill for men show promise in animal models.

Men usually rely on just two options to take control of their reproductive ability. The only male-specific contraceptive options available for generations have been condoms or the more invasive option—vasectomies.

But those limits may expand in as little as 10 years, as male contraceptive research over the past few decades has been building toward multiple lines of contraceptive methods, including pills, injections, and perhaps most promising of all, a simple gel that men can apply to their shoulders once a day. And over the past two years, human trials for a hormone contraceptive gel have proven so far to be an easy and effective solution for men, with few and minor side effects, according to new research in the journal Andrology.

In the recent trial, nearly 100 monogamous heterosexual couples recruited from all over the world tried out the gel in question: Combined Nestorone/Testosterone gel.

Each man who started the gel therapy—a metered pump dispensed exactly the right amount, a little more than 2 milliliters, to be rubbed on their upper arm or shoulder daily—registered lowering sperm counts within weeks. Once the count was less than 1 million sperm per milliliter, as opposed to the normal level of millions of sperm, the woman in the couple stopped her own contraceptive method. For a year, the couples relied only on the male side of contraception to avoid pregnancy. At the end of one year, the man stopped using the gel, and his sperm count bounced back to normal levels in about 16 weeks.

Most men in the study experienced little to no side effects when they used the gel properly, and those effects were minor and similar to side effects some women taking hormonal pills may experience, such as weight gain, acne, lowered libido and slight mood changes.

Researchers say the therapy worked because none of the couples became pregnant, and sperm counts stayed low while the men continued using the gel for the trial year. Men were monitored frequently for sperm count and overall health. Some of these couples chose to start families after they finished using the gel, and they have gotten pregnant. Researchers are now close to recruiting 350 couples out of the 420-couple goal, in order to expand their data set.

Christina Wang of the Lundquist Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is involved in the gel development and trials and said she has seen men’s interest in family planning rise over the decades. “We feel that the man is more open in sharing an interest in family planning,” she tells Popular Mechanics. “I think the time has come, but we have to deliver the product, right?” It takes time to ensure a new drug is safe, so contraceptive development can’t be rushed, she says.

Male contraception research is sponsored by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in collaboration with the Population Council, which developed the Nestorone. NIH provides the overall funding.

How does the gel work?

Nestorone/Testosterone gel is a combination of two hormones, a progestin and testosterone. The latter is known as the male hormone, because it is responsible not only for male reproductive function, including sperm production, but also for general good health in males. It affects bone mass, fat distribution, muscle mass and strength, and the production of red blood cells, according to the NIH.

When a person takes a dose of progestins, the resulting rise in the body’s progestin level shuts down the reproductive cycle before it begins. Adding back some testosterone maintains healthy levels in the body, as well as sex drive. For similar reasons, female hormonal contraceptives contain a progestin hormone and some estrogen, the “female” hormone that impacts health in myriad ways.

An oral version of testosterone has been tested, but because it adversely affects the liver, it’s not an attractive option. Plus, ingested testosterone breaks down too quickly and has to be taken multiple times a day, so it’s not very practical, Diana Blithe, program chief of the NIH Contraceptive Development Program (CDP) tells Popular Mechanics. A transdermal application, in which the body absorbs the hormones slowly through the skin, is easier to use and has shown to have fewer, if any, side effects.
A non-hormonal male contraceptive in the works

Debra Wolgemuth, a professor of genetics and development at the Columbia University Medical Center and associate director for research at the Institute of Human Nutrition, has been interested in gaining genetic control over sperm development for decades. That’s because from her view, it’s easier to work on sperm cells than eggs, she tells Popular Mechanics, because millions of new sperm are made each day. Females are born with about a million egg cells, but only about 300 to 400 eggs in a human female potentially can lead to pregnancy.

A second way researchers in Wolgemuth’s lab found to stop sperm production is through a pharmacological antagonist—a drug compound that inhibits a necessary chemical process in the body. In this case, the process the research team wants to prevent is spermatogensis, or the creation of new sperm cells.

Researchers like Wolgemuth and Sanny Chung, an associate research scientist in the Wolgemuth Lab, are looking for a drug that would prevent the body from using retinoic acid, a critical compound from vitamin A that’s necessary for sperm production.

Chung is testing possible drug compounds in mice. In a 2011 study published in Endocrinology, a drug compound successfully interfered with the signaling pathway of mouse cell receptors that are designed to pick up and use retinoic acid, making the mice sterile. At the same time, they experienced no bad side effects, Chung says.

Even though it was shown to work well in mice, future drug development steps will take time, Wolgemuth says. Since their mouse model studies began, the team has been able to lower the drug dose and still find it effective.

Hormonal treatments for women, like the pill, are blamed for side effects like weight gain, acne, and mood changes, to name a few. The same occurs to some extent in male hormone trials like the gel.

Blithe warns against thinking that a non-hormonal solution equals no side-effects. “I don't think anything that one takes systemically can be guaranteed to not have side effects. So we don't know… till we get into humans, but it's an exciting pathway. And I really think it’s going to work,” Blithe adds.
A Short History of Contraceptives

Condoms may date from the Bronze Age, with the first written mention of animal bladders and later, animal skins being used for protection against disease (but not necessarily pregnancy) during intercourse, according to an article in the Indian Journal of Urology. The modern condom was introduced in the mid-1800s, when inventor Charles Goodyear, of the Goodyear tire, introduced rubber vulcanization, whereby natural rubber and sulfur are combined under heat to create a durable, elastic material. By 1860, condoms were produced on a large scale, and were the earliest form of the latex condom we know today.

For women, a scientific and reliable method for prevention of pregnancy came much later. It wasn’t until around 1960 that “the pill” became the first well-known oral contraceptive method. It developed further, with several varieties of hormone combinations produced by different drug companies. Today, the pill is still exclusively a female method to prevent pregnancy, but women can also choose from several different methods, including the pill, the patch, the vaginal ring, the sponge, the injection, the intrauterine implant (IUD) and the diaphragm.

REVIVE NUKE PLANTS INSTEAD
Europe admits it'll have to burn more coal as it tries to wean itself off Russian energy

Anmar Frangoul - Yesterday 

CNBC

A document outlining the European Commission's aims for the REPowerEU plan was published on Wednesday.

It highlighted the importance of energy savings, the diversification of energy imports and speeding up what it called "Europe's clean energy transition."

The EU's desire to wean itself off Russian hydrocarbons means it will need to find oil and gas from other parts of the world to plug supply gaps.


© Provided by CNBC

A wind turbine and coal in Lower Saxony, Germany. The EU's desire to wean itself off Russian hydrocarbons means it will need to find fossil fuels from other parts of the world to plug supply gaps.

The European Commission has fleshed out details of a plan to ramp up the EU's renewable energy capacity and reduce its reliance on Russian fossil fuels, at the same time acknowledging that existing coal facilities may have to be used for "longer than initially expected."

A document outlining the Commission's aims for the REPowerEU plan was published on Wednesday, highlighting the importance of energy savings, the diversification of energy imports and speeding up what it called "Europe's clean energy transition."

In total, it envisages extra investment of 210 billion euros ($220.87 billion) between 2022 and 2027. When it comes to renewables' share in the EU's energy mix, the Commission has proposed that the current target of 40% by 2030 should be increased to 45%.

The Commission's proposals came on the same day the governments of Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium said they would aim for a combined target of at least 65 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030. By the middle of the century, they are aiming for 150 GW of capacity.

On the fossil fuel front, the situation is a challenging one. Russia was the biggest supplier of both petroleum oils and natural gas to the EU last year, according to Eurostat.

The EU's desire to wean itself off Russian hydrocarbons following the latter's invasion of Ukraine means it will need to find oil and gas from other parts of the world to plug supply gaps.

The Commission said as much as 1.5 to 2 billion euros of investment would be needed to secure oil supply. To import enough liquefied natural gas and pipeline gas from other sources, an estimated 10 billion euros will be needed by 2030.

All the above comes at a time when the EU has said it wants to be carbon neutral by 2050. In the medium term, it wants net greenhouse gas emissions to be cut by at least 55% by 2030, which the EU calls its "Fit for 55" plan.

The Commission said REPowerEU could not work without what it called "a fast implementation of all Fit for 55 proposals and higher targets for renewables and energy efficiency."

In this new reality, gas consumption in the EU would "reduce at a faster pace, limiting the role of gas as a transitional fuel," the Commission said.

"However, shifting away from Russian fossil fuels will also require targeted investments for security of supply in gas infrastructure and very limited changes to oil infrastructure alongside large-scale investments in the electricity grid and an EU-wide hydrogen backbone," it added.

"In parallel, some of the existing coal capacities might also be used longer than initially expected, with a role for nuclear power and domestic gas resources too," the Commission said.

During a press conference on Wednesday the EU's climate chief, Frans Timmermans, admitted that using less natural gas in a transitional phase would mean "you might use coal a bit longer — that has a negative impact on your emissions."

"But if at the same time, as we propose, you rapidly speed up the introduction of renewables — solar, wind, biomethane — you then have the opposite movement," he said.

Timmermans, who is the European Commission's executive vice president for the European Green Deal, went on to stress the importance of finding a middle ground.

"If we can actually do what I say — reduce our energy consumption in combination with a speedier introduction of renewables — we will bring down our emissions even quicker than before," he said.

"And then, of course we will have slightly higher emissions if people stick a bit longer to coal, but we need to strike the balance so that, on balance, we do not increase our emissions — we hopefully even decrease them more."

Coal has a substantial effect on the environment, with Greenpeace describing it as "the dirtiest, most polluting way of producing energy."

Elsewhere, the U.S. Energy Information Administration lists a range of emissions from coal combustion, including carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulates and nitrogen oxides.

The European Commission announcement drew criticism from a number of environmental organizations.

"These plans are supposed to fast-track the clean energy transition — but the European Commission's latest strategy gives with one hand and takes with the other," Eilidh Robb, an anti-fossil fuels campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe, said.

"So-called REPowerEU contains useful and necessary strides towards renewable solutions but it simultaneously enables almost 50 fossil fuel infrastructure projects and expansions," Robb said.

Carbon removal technologies to get $3.5B federal investment



NEW YORK (AP) — The federal government is investing in machines that suck giant amounts of carbon dioxide out of the air in the hopes of reducing damage from climate change.

The Department of Energy said Thursday it will release $3.5 billion to groups developing direct air capture and other technologies that remove carbon dioxide, which when released into the atmosphere causes global warming.

Climate scientists say humans have already allowed too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to prevent dangerous rises in global temperatures. They say on top of curbing emissions we must also remove carbon dioxide from the air that's already been released.

“This past month we saw the highest levels of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere in history, underscoring the fact that our efforts to tackle climate change will be inconsequential if we don’t act now to manage the greenhouse gas emissions that are currently putting public health and our environment at risk,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in a statement.

Companies such as Carbon Engineering and Climeworks are building direct air capture facilities that use giant fans to suck carbon dioxide out of the air and store it underground, or capture it to make synthetic fuel, soft drinks or concrete. But the facilities built so far remove just a tiny fraction of the carbon dioxide that scientists say is necessary to make a difference.

Developers are hoping the investment can help boost an industry that will need to scale up.

“If you want to reduce long-run climate risks, we will need to take CO2 out of the air,” said David Keith, professor of environmental science and engineering at Harvard and founder of Carbon Engineering, which designed a plant that captures carbon dioxide and turns it into synthetic fuel. “The best way to figure out what these methods cost and what their environmental impacts might be is to actually go build hardware that can stand up to public scrutiny.”

Carbon Engineering is working with Oxy Low Carbon Ventures and 1PointFive to develop a facility in the Permian Basin which would capture 1 million tons of CO2 annually.

The DOE money will support four large-scale regional direct air capture hubs that will include a network of carbon dioxide removal projects that each have the capacity to remove 1 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. Those projects will prioritize community engagement and environmental justice, the DOE said.

“I expect the impacts on health and land use in communities will be an important consideration,” said Roger Aines, energy program chief scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, noting that facilities would use land in communities and would run on renewable energy, which would mean placing solar panels or wind turbines around them.

“The time is right for this,” Aines said. “And the only way to really know whether we’re going to like this kind of approach is to try it out.”

Cathy Bussewitz, The Associated Press

THE REALITY IS THAT CCS IS NOT GREEN NOR CLEAN IT IS GOING TO BE USED TO FRACK OLD DRY WELLS SUCH AS IN THE BAKAN SHIELD IN SASKATCHEWAN
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-myth-of-carbon-capture-and-storage.html

ALSO SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=CCS

Joy Drop: Landmark U.S. soccer pay equity deal may be turning point for other federations

Shireen Ahmed - 
cbc.ca

Friends, as we dash towards the weekend I am happy to bring you some wonderful news. When the United States women's national soccer team reached a settlement with the USA governing body of Soccer (USSF) in February, it was contingent upon a collective bargaining agreement.


© Aaron Doster/The Associated Press

U.S. national men's and women's soccer team players will now receive equal prize money.

This week, it was completed. Both the men's and women's teams will be paid equally. Cindy Parlow-Cone is USSF's president and spoke highly of the different groups working to make it happen.

"I think the real turning point was when we finally were all in the same room sitting at the same table, working together and collaborating to reach this goal," she said.

This is important and creates a precedent for federations to pay their women's teams what they deserve. What is more joyous than celebrating and properly remunerating women athletes?

Working in a collaborative effort is essential and I am proud to say that a collaboration very dear to my own heart celebrated a milestone this week. The Burn It All Down podcast celebrated its 250th episode. As a co-creator and co-host, I am incredibly proud of this incredible project and overjoyed at the five years we have laboured and discussed sports and the important intersections. This team of incredible academics/journalists/creatives has taught me so much.

Dancing is something I enjoy. Be it in the car with my kids, in my kitchen, or at a wedding, it is fun and that's why I had so much fun when seeing this brilliant tweet by Nina Alston of Florida about her 88-year-old mother. Alston's mom was grooving to Jackson's All For You. Alston shared a video of her mother dancing to it over Twitter and tagged Jackson. What is even better is that of course, Miss Jackson replied.

In Canada, May is Asian Heritage Month. Simon Fraser University offered a great post about what to read, what to listen to and what to watch to increase knowledge from Asian Canadian authors and creatives. I found a wonderful article from writer Samantha Lui for ELLE magazine called Why Asian Heritage Month is About More Than Representation. Lui explores why this month matters and why education and cultural sharing is essential for anti-racism in society.

Although this is from last year, CBC music's Melody Lau offered a great list of 30 Asian artists to discover during Asian heritage month. The idea is not only to enjoy their music and respect their culture but to appreciate them all year round.

The New York Times offered a list of popular snack items to sample inspired by Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) month as it is known in the USA. Taking these ideas is always a tasty way to approach anti-racism and understanding.

In addition to food, what better way to celebrate Asian Heritage Month than at the Juno Awards? Host and Marvel superhero Simu Liu danced with Canadian performer Tesher to Jalebi Baby, a song that boosted into stardom via TikTok last year. The number was a hit and fans were raving about it online.

I hope your weekend is as sweet as jalebi, ras malai (my favourite), red bean buns or any other wonderful sweets.

Indigenous Cast Revealed For Marvel Origin Story Series ‘Echo’



Corey Atad - 5h ago

ET Canada
© Photos courtesy Marvel/Disney+

Marvel's next big series is under production and the Indigenous cast has been revealed.

The show, titled "Echo", centres on the character Maya Lopez, who made her MCU debut in the 2021 series "Hawkeye", played by Alaqua Cox.

In "Hawkeye", Lopez is a deaf gang leader who wanted vengeance on Ronin, aka Clint Barton.

The new series tells the origin story of Lopez's transformation into the superhero Echo, following her to her hometown as her actions back in New York catch up with her.

Facing her past, Lopez must reconnect with her Native American roots and embrace her community in order to become who she was truly meant to be.

Joining Cox in the series are "Wild Indian" star Chaske Spencer, "Reservation Dogs" actor Zahn McClarnon and Canadian Indigenous stars Tantoo Cardinal, Devery Jacobs, Cody Lightning and Grahame Greene.

The series will be directed by Sydney Freeland and Catriona McKenzie.

"Echo" is expected to premiere on Disney+ in 2023.

Entangled North Atlantic right whale spotted in the Gulf of St. Lawrence


The Canadian Press

TODAY


GASPÉ, Que. — Fisheries and Oceans Canada is searching for an endangered North Atlantic right whale that was spotted Thursday entangled in some kind of gear east of Gaspé, Que.

The whale is a 14-year-old female known as Sundog.

Federal officials say marine mammal rescue agencies are on standby, though a disentanglement mission won't be attempted unless sea conditions are favourable.

It remains unclear what kind of gear needs to be cut away or where it came from

Second minke whale spotted in Montreal area, marine mammal group says

There are about 336 North Atlantic right whales in existence, and many spend their summers feeding in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Fifteen calves were observed earlier this year in waters off the United States.

The first right whale spotted entering Canadian waters this season was seen on May 4 by the crew aboard a surveillance aircraft as it flew over the gulf, north of Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Que.

The sighting triggered a 15-day fishing closure in specific fishing grids in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2022.

The Canadian Press