Indian heatwaves threaten maternal and baby health

Soaring temperatures can lead to more preterm and stillbirths. But experts say awareness of the risk of heat during pregnancy is low, with more research needed into impacts on the world's most vulnerable women.

In the final weeks of her pregnancy, Babita Baswal says that when heat gets too intense, she gets dizzy and sick

The heatwave that swept across South Asia in April could not have come at a worse time for Babita Baswal. At nine months pregnant, the 32-year-old struggled with nausea and fatigue, as temperatures in Delhi soared to highs of 49 degrees Celsius (120 Fahrenheit).

After a particularly violent bout of vomiting, Baswal checked herself in to Safdarjung Hospital, where she was diagnosed with extreme dehydration.

Dr. Ana, an obstetrician at the hospital who focuses on high-risk pregnancies, says that in recent weeks, many of the pregnant women in the maternity unit have been facing similar issues. She asked for her last name to be withheld as she was not authorized to speak on behalf of the hospital. 

"Most of them are dehydrated, they're sweating, they're tachycardic," she says, a reference to how they have a heart rate of over 100 beats per minute. "But they don't complain because in our scenario it's such a common thing."

Heatwaves in India are indeed a common occurrence, but this year the staggering temperatures came earlier than usual, hitting record-breaking highs well before summer. Northwest and central India experienced their hottest April in 122 years, according to the Indian Meteorological Department.

The unusual weather is "consistent with what we expect in a changing climate," World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in a statement in May.

With climate change exacerbating extreme heat in many parts of the world, experts warn that the impact on maternal and neonatal health could be devastating.

"We do see a lot of cases of oligohydramnios — that is decreased [amniotic] fluid around the baby — preterm births, higher incidence of women going into preterm labor, in the summer months," says Dr. Karishma Thariani, a specialist in high-risk obstetrics who works as a consultant at Indian maternal health non-profit ARMMAN. "And summer months in India are becoming worse."

Mothers at the maternity unit at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi at the height of the heatwave in May

Heatwaves threaten unborn children

Meta-analysis of 70 studies into the effects of heatwaves on pregnant women found that for every 1-degree Celsius temperature rise, the risk of both premature and stillbirths rose by 5%. One Australian study reviewed found a 46% increase in stillbirths during heatwaves, and most found a link between heat exposure during pregnancy and low birth weight.

"Temperature rises with global warming could have major implications for child health," the review, led by the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (WRHI) in South Africa, concludes. It adds that "the public also appears largely unaware of the risks of heat exposure during pregnancy."

Most of the studies were done in high-income countries. But the review says pregnant women in low- and middle-income countries could be at particular risk — in part because poorer women are less able to shield from high temperatures and may have to keep working "beyond their heat tolerance limits," even in late pregnancy. 

"The effects of temperature are going to be really different in different populations in different settings," said Dr. Darshnika Pemi Lakhoo, a researcher at WRHI. "Even in the same city, there's going to be different ways that people experience temperature."

In India, women with low socio-economic status "have absolutely no access to air-conditioners or coolers — or sometimes even fans in the house, because the electricity is irregular," says Thariani.

When temperatures soar, keeping cool and hydrated can depend on having

 resources and the luxury of slowing down

A recent report found that 323 million people lack access to cooling across India. Baswal, who was given the all-clear after an ultrasound and advised to stay hydrated, is among the lucky few to have air-conditioning at home. But in recent weeks, surging power demand during the heatwave has led to power cuts for two to three hours each day. Each time, the temperature creeps up and "at that time I start to feel dizzy, I start vomiting," she says.

Infants at risk as temperatures soar

Heatwaves aren't just dangerous to unborn babies — higher temperatures can put newborns at risk, too. A study of neonatal intensive care unit admissions in a hospital with no air-conditioning during a 2010 heatwave in Ahmedabad found that each degree the temperature climbed above 42 C was associated with a 43% increase in admissions.

Dr. Ana says the heat has left many of the women at Safdarjung Hospital unable to breastfeed: "If the woman is not hydrated, how can she feed the baby? She won't lactate properly."

India already struggles with high levels of child malnutrition, responsible for an estimated two-thirds of deaths among children under five. The impacts of rising temperatures on health have long been a concern for researchers, who warn that heatwaves will exacerbate food and water shortages and facilitate the spread of infectious diseases. 

Vulnerable groups, including pregnant women and children, will be most at risk. Dengue, for example, which has the highest fatality rates among children, has spread to new regions in recent years because of climate change.

Research, advocacy and policy change

Lakhoo believes there is a need for more research into the direct impact of heat exposure on maternal and neonatal health.

"That's something that's not been explored nearly as well as the indirect impacts," she says. Low- and middle-income countries are particularly "underrepresented in research."

Patients and family members wait in the heat outside the department of

 obstetrics and gynecology at Safdarjung Hospital

Thariani agrees. This is "the first time somebody's asking my opinion on a topic like this," she says of the DW interview.

ARMMAN trains healthcare workers to monitor patients for symptoms of heatstroke and counsel them on the importance of staying hydrated. But Thariani says the government must do more to spread the message about the dangers of heat exposure during pregnancy.

Quantifying direct outcomes can help to push for better policy measures, as well as strengthen existing healthcare systems, Lakhoo says.

"Climate change is going to be the biggest threat to health in our century," she says. "So, it is really important that we are able to do research in this field that can translate into practice to improve people's outcomes."

Data gathered by WRHI will be used to pilot a district health surveillance system in South Africa, which will act as an early warning system for healthcare providers during high temperatures. "If we know, for example, that there are going to be four or five extra preterm births when the temperature is at a certain level, then we can use that to assist in preparing healthcare systems for that extra burden," Lakhoo explains.

"Working in this field, it's not just about research at all," she adds. "It really is about being an advocate."

Edited by: Ruby Russell 

PROFITEERING

Investors cash in on food commodities as the poor go hungry

As food prices rose and war broke out in Ukraine, investors looking for a sure bet flocked into food commodities. The trend could be pushing prices up even further, with live-or-die consequences for the world's poor.

The war in Ukraine has had a huge impact on food prices around the globe

Rising consumer prices are aggravating food shortages around the globe, and investors looking to make a buck off food commodities could be making matters worse.

Food prices have risen sharply after the coronavirus pandemic disrupted global supply chains, causing shortages around the world. The price of food spiked even higher following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Both countries are major global suppliers of agricultural commodities, like wheat and sunflower oil.

"In Uganda, wheat and fuel prices have skyrocketed, making everyday goods like bread almost unaffordable to an ordinary citizen," Anna Slattery, external affairs manager at The Hunger Project, a nonprofit that works to end world hunger, told DW.

"In Malawi, our teams are reporting that the prices of maize grain, soybeans and cooking oil have increased significantly, over 50% in some places. The increase in prices is making it difficult for people to access these vital food items." 

An appetite for commodities

Investors trying to make money off the high demand for food and other commodities could be putting even more pressure on prices.

After the war broke out in February, commodity-linked "exchange-traded funds (ETFs)," a type of investment fund open to the public, saw a huge uptick in activity: By April, investors had pumped $1.2 billion (€1.12 billion) into two major agricultural ETFs, compared to just $197 million for the whole of 2021, Lighthouse Reports, an investigative journalism NGO, found out.

According to the news website The Wire, the Paris milling wheat market, the benchmark for Europe, has also seen a significant increase in the share of speculators — that is, investors whose primary aim is to turn a profit — buying up its wheat futures contracts. That's in place of commercial traders or hedgers, i.e. market players who have an interest in buying the commodity itself, for example to secure a wheat supply for a bread factory. 

Activity at the Chicago Board of Trade, one of the world's leading futures exchanges, also reflects this trend. A recent study by the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn found that the share of speculators in hard wheat and maize had risen with the price of the commodities, and that it had gone up sharply since the end of 2020. The researchers also found that the volatility of futures prices had increased significantly since the end of 2021, a sign of market irregularities that can lead to excessive speculation.

A sure bet

The ZEF report warned that more speculation could see prices decoupling from fundamentals, like supply and demand for example. It pointed to similar trends leading up to the global food crisis that emerged in 2008.

In April, analysts at investment bank JPMorgan Chase suggested that commodities prices could surge as much as 40% as traders pile in, creating an attractive return for investors.

Traders tend to move away from riskier investments, like tech stocks and cryptocurrencies, in times of economic uncertainty, favoring safer bets, like food and other hard commodities, like oil and fertilizer. Food commodities, like wheat, corn and rice, can also be adversely affected by market uncertainty.

"The more uncertainty in the market, the more demand for risk trading exists," Lukas Kornher, economist and ZEF project manager, told DW. "That is why we see the influx of speculative traders in the market."

It will take a huge effort by the international community to curb hunger in many parts of the world

Excessive trading

"[Speculative traders] basically try to jump on a bandwagon of increasing prices," said Kornher. "And then they start trading with each other instead of meeting the hedging demand of commercial producers or traders."

The price of the commodity can then become disconnected from its physical supply and demand.

Excessive speculative activity in commodities markets is "a double-edged sword," Dirk Bathe, press officer at World Vision Germany, a humanitarian aid group, said.

"On the one hand, speculation on scarce commodities can lead to drastically rising prices," he told DW. "On the other hand, this market functions like an early warning system," giving businesses and policymakers time to react.

Millions more pushed into poverty

The current price inflation and record-high prices at the commodities futures markets signal an expected scarcity within a couple of months, according to Kornher, who said the world was likely "on its way" to a food crisis.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)'s food price index was up 36% in April compared with the same month a year before, after hitting an all-time high in March. The World Bank's Agricultural Price Index also hit an all-time nominal high in the first quarter of the year, up 25% over a year ago. According to a World Bank analysis, for every one percentage point increase in food prices, 10 million more people are pushed into extreme poverty.

Experts have called for measures to protect food systems against speculation. Banks and investment funds could abstain from food speculation as part of their environmental, social and governance (ESG) policy, for example. They've also warned against countries responding to high food prices by turning to protectionist policies.

"We need to make sure that countries don't take export restrictions, don't take export bans that will only exacerbate the food insecurity we're seeing today," Arancha Gonzalez, trade expert and the former foreign minister of Spain, told DW. "This is what we learned in 2008."

Opinion: A healthy planet for all starts with an end to fossil fuels

If leaders at the Stockholm +50 summit want to make good on its theme of a "healthy planet for the prosperity of all," they need to swap fossil fuels for clean energy, says Bhavreen Kandhari.

Research show as many as one third of children in Delhi have damaged lungs

Fifty years ago, when scientific consensus on man-made pollution was just forming, the world came together to set out a bold ambition to preserve the environment and the wellbeing of all people. It became the Stockholm Declaration. But unfortunately, it has failed to deliver.

My 18-year-old twin daughters have grown up with pollution. They are strong, athletic national basketball players, yet by the time they reached their teens they had the lungs of lifetime smokers. They cough, sniffle and have a high susceptibility to respiratory infections just because we live where we do. In Delhi — the most polluted capital in the world.

So as I attend the UN's Stockholm +50 summit, I am angry and disappointed. Inaction has cost my daughters their fundamental right to a healthy life. And their experience is far from unique. In Delhi, every third child has damaged lungs. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nine out of 10 people globally breathe toxic air, and Harvard University research says the burning of fossil fuels causes one in five premature deaths.


No other capital in the world has the levels of air pollution that hang over Delhi

What would you do if someone was poisoning your child? I would spring up and kill that person. Yet, our children are absorbing poisonous fumes with every breath, and we're not doing anything about it.
Renewables are the solution, fossil fuels the past

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently set out five critical actions needed to catch the "lifeline" offered by renewable energy sources. They include treating renewables like an essential and global public good, shifting subsidies from fossil fuels to renewables, and tripling investment in renewables to $4.2 trillion (€3.9 trillion) by 2030. That's small compared to the $5.9 trillion spent subsidizing coal, oil and gas in 2020 and the health care costs incurred from their pollution.

Bhavreen Kandhari of Warrior Moms India

The WHO strengthened its air quality guidelines in September 2021, based on the latest science showing how best to protect human health. Meeting those guidelines would save 80% of lives lost from breathing PM2.5 — which are the fumes emitted from burning coal, oil, gas and wood.

The benefits of moving as quickly as possible to end new fossil fuels and follow the WHO's air quality guidelines will lead to cleaner air and greater public health as well as improving our chances of reaching net-zero emissions before 2050.
The far-reaching impacts of extreme heat

We're already suffering from the climate crisis. India's recent torturous heat wave of 49°C (120 degrees Fahrenheit) and above caused laborers to fall sick and lose income, and the government to cut harvest prospects and ban wheat exports.

Yet, absurdly, we are still chopping down the forests and trees that store carbon, clean the air, and provide shade, shelter and food. In India, for example, deforestation started in April in the Hasdeo Aranya Forest for an opencast coal mine.

Over the past weeks, India and Pakistan have been hit by extreme heat made 30 times more likely by climate change

How will people survive if the recent heat becomes the norm? How will manufacturing plants, farms, power grids and global supply chains run if people are too sick and it's too hot to work?

These are the questions leaders must tackle if they really want to achieve a healthy planet for the prosperity of all.

In some ways, much has changed in 50 years. The science on pollution, climate change and health is now vast and irrefutable, the solutions are readily available, and people around the world are rising up and calling for a healthier, cleaner way of living.

Yet, we are still poisoning our children. It's time for urgent action.

Bhavreen Kandhari is co-founder of Warrior Moms India which is part of the Parents For Future environmental movement.

This year's Stockholm+50 conference refers to the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, the first major international meeting on global environmental issues. It started the dialogue between industrialized and developing countries on the link between economic growth and pollution, helped to establish the concept of sustainable development and led to the foundation of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

IN PICTURES: INDIA SWELTERS AS SEVERE HEAT WAVE SWEEPS REGION
Skyrocketing temperatures sweep country
A girl uses sunglasses, a mask, a long cloth and an umbrella to protect herself from the sun on her way to school in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. In April, northwest and central India recorded average maximum temperatures of 35.9 and 37.78 Celsius (96.6 and 100 Fahrenheit) respectively, the highest since the Indian Meteorological Department began keeping records 122 years ago.
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Egyptian antiques seized from New York's Met in Louvre probe


Thu, June 2, 2022, 


New York prosecutors have seized five Egyptian antiques from the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of an international trafficking investigation involving the former head of Paris's Louvre Museum.

The artifacts -- which include a group of painted linen fragments, dated between 250 and 450 BC, depicting a scene from the Book of Exodus -- are worth more than $3 million, according to the Manhattan district attorney's office.

A New York state judge ordered their confiscation on May 19, a court document shows.

"The pieces were seized pursuant to the warrant," a spokesperson for the district attorney told AFP on Thursday.


He added that they are "related" to the investigation in Paris in which Jean-Luc Martinez, who ran the Louvre from 2013 to 2021, was charged last week with complicity in fraud and "concealing the origin of criminally obtained works by false endorsement."

The fraud is thought to involve several other art experts, according to French investigative weekly Canard Enchaine.

The five pieces seized from the Met were purchased by the famous museum between 2013 and 2015, according to The Art Newspaper, which first reported the news.

When contacted by AFP, a Met spokesperson referred to a previous statement in which the museum said it was "a victim of an international criminal organization."

In 2019, the museum returned the gilded sarcophagus of the priest Nedjemankh to Egypt after New York prosecutors determined it had been stolen during the revolts against ex-president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

The Met had purchased the coffin in 2017 and later said it had been a victim of false statements and fake documentation.

French investigators are also seeking to establish whether pieces looted during the Arab Spring protests were acquired by the Louvre's branch in Abu Dhabi.

Several of the individuals charged in the case -- including Roben Dib, owner of a gallery in Hamburg and who is currently in custody -- were involved in the sarcophagus's sale to the Met, according to a 2019 report by the Manhattan district attorney.

The Book of Exodus painting is valued at $1.6 million. Also among the five works is a painted portrait of a woman dated from between the years AD 54 to 68 worth $1.2 million.

pdh/bfm

SPIRIT ANIMAL

Rare albino Galapagos giant tortoise born in Swiss zoo

Agence France-Presse - Agence France-Presse
June 4, 2022 | 

A unique albinos Galapagos giant tortoise baby is seen at the Tropicarium of Servion in Switzerland
AFP / Fabrice Coffrini

GENEVA, Switzerland — Visitors to a Swiss zoo caught a glimpse of a rare albino Galapagos giant tortoise born in May.

The baby tortoise may be a unique sight to behold with fair skin and red eyes. It weighs around 50 grams (1.7 ounces), and fits in the palm of one's hand.

Albinism is a genetic condition that results in little or no production of the pigment melanin, which determines the colour of the skin, hair and eyes. In animals, it can be accompanied by loss of sight and hearing.

The condition has never been observed in the tortoise species whose skin and shell are usually black, both in captivity and the wild.

"We are blessed by the gods," said Philippe Morel, owner of Tropiquarium zoo in Servion village, western Switzerland.

He said the creature was of "incredible zoological interest" as a small group of schoolchildren marvelled at the baby in front of a glass window.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the Galapagos giant tortoises, which can live up to 200 years, as endangered. Around 23,000 tortoises are believed to live on the archipelago.

The park's owner said he believed the albino tortoise's lifespan would be limited to a few weeks in the wild but is hopeful the creature, whose sex is still unknown, will live a long life. "It's crazy how much it climbs," Morel said.

"It's more active than the other," said his son, Thomas Morel, who is in charge of the animals at the zoo, while showing another tortoise — the usual black — born in early May.

The birth is also exceptional because the tortoises have difficulty reproducing due to their size — they can reach up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds). The rate of successful births is only around two percent.

So far there have been new tortoise arrivals in only three zoos worldwide, including two in Switzerland.

Billie Jean King Receives France’s Legion of Honor Award

Tennis legend and LGBTQ rights activist Billie Jean King received France’s highest civilian honor, the Legion of Honor

.Associated Press

Published 3 June 2022

Image via AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias

PARIS (AP) — Tennis legend and LGBTQ rights activist Billie Jean King received France’s highest civilian honor, the Legion of Honor, on Friday.

King, who is in France as the French Open concludes, received the award in recognition of her contributions to women’s sports, gender equality and the rights of LGBTQ people in athletics. She took part in a short ceremony at the presidential Elysee Palace at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron.

The 78-year-old was back on the main clay court at the Paris tennis complex that hosts the French Open for a ceremony celebrating the 50th anniversary of winning the 1972 tournament title.

The year before, King risked her career to help start the Virginia Slims Tour for professional women players. It led to the creation of the Women’s Tennis Association in 1973 as the organizing body for women’s professional tennis.

Out tennis legend Billie Jean King receives France’s Legion of Honor award

The tennis legend was honored with France's highest medal.

By Nic Austin Friday, June 3, 2022

LGBTQ NATION     

Tennis legend Billie Jean King participating as the Grand Marshal of the 2018 New York City Pride Parade.Photo: Shutterstock

Tennis legend and LGBTQ rights activist Billie Jean King received France’s highest civilian honor, the Legion of Honor, on Friday.

King, who is attending the French Open, received the award in recognition of her contributions to women’s sports, gender equality, and the rights of LGBTQ people in athletics. She was a part of a short ceremony at the presidential Elysee Palace where French President Emmanuel Macron was in attendance.

Related: Billie Jean King’s ex-husband will no longer get credit for her 6 Wimbledon singles wins

King returned to the main clay court at the Paris tennis complex that hosts the French Open for a ceremony celebrating the 50th anniversary of winning the 1972 tournament title.

In 1971, King risked her career to start the Virginia Slims Tour for professional women players. It led to the creation of the Women’s Tennis Association in 1973 as the organizing body for women’s professional tennis.

King has continued since then to be a champion of women, especially transgender women. It wasn’t that long ago that she showed her support for transgender athletes playing with members of their gender.

Back in 2020, King was one of 174 other female athletes who signed an amicus brief in support of transgender girls and women playing sports as their gender identity.

“As women and LGBTQ+ athletes,” says their brief, they “submit that all youth deserve an equal opportunity to participate in sports alongside their peers. Such equal opportunity benefits the entire sports community.”

The brief was filed in Hecox v. Little, a lawsuit brought against the state of Idaho, which passed a law this year banning transgender girls and women from competing in school sports as girls and women.

The law also allows for female student-athletes gender to be “challenged” and requires the athlete to undergo medical exams to “prove” it. A doctor, the law says, will have to examine the athlete’s genitalia, hormones, and DNA and make a determination of their gender, something that Democrats pointed out is not recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Boise State University athlete Lindsay Hecox, who is transgender, and the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit against Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) to overturn the law.

“There is no place in any sport for discrimination of any kind. I am proud to support all transgender athletes who simply want the access and opportunity to compete in the sport they love,” wrote King. “The global athletic community grows stronger when we welcome and champion all athletes – including LGBTQI+ athletes.”

Play halted during French Open semi-final as protester ties herself to the net before being carried away by security

 Comment

Tony MoganFriday 3 Jun 2022

The Protestor tied herself to the net before being escorted away (Picture: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier)

The French Open semi-final between Marin Cilic and Casper Ruud was temporarily halted after a protester tied herself to the net during play.

A female protester with a message reading ‘We have 1028 days left’ printed on her T-shirt made her way onto Court Philippe Chatrier midway through the third set on Friday evening.

The woman knelt next to the post and appeared to fasten a cable tie around her neck to the net.

Play was suspended with both players temporarily leaving the court while security freed the woman before carrying her away.

The delay in play lasted for 15 minutes before the contest resumed.

The protester attached herself to the net (Picture: AP)

The organisation Dernière Rénovation appears to have claimed responsibility for the protest.

A tweet from the group claims ’22-year-old Alizée’ entered the court in order to ‘draw attention to the climate emergency’.

The protester was acting on behalf of activist group Dernière Rénovation (Picture: Getty)

Norway’s Ruud went onto secure victory in the contest, recovering from dropping the opening set to set up a final against Rafael Nadal which will be played on Sunday.

Similar incidents took place during the Premier League football season this year with a protester tying himself to the goal post in a fixture between Everton and Newcastle United.

Saudi Arabia: Pioneering female car mechanics flout gender stereotypes

Only four years ago, women in Saudi Arabia were banned from driving. But now, a handful of pioneering women have gone from behind the wheel to under the hood, taking on jobs as trainee mechanics and challenging gender stereotypes in the still deeply conservative country.

 

Carbon dioxide peak for 2022 more than 50% higher than pre-industrial levels

by NOAA Headquarters

The Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii is a benchmark site for measuring carbon dioxide, 

or CO2. NOAA and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography make independent 

measurements from this station on the slopes of Mauna Loa volcano. Credit: NOAA

Carbon dioxide measured at NOAA's Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory peaked for 2022 at 421 parts per million in May, pushing the atmosphere further into territory not seen for millions of years, scientists from NOAA and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego announced today.

NOAA's measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) at the mountaintop observatory on Hawaii's Big Island averaged 420.99 parts per million (ppm), an increase of 1.8 ppm over 2021. Scientists at Scripps, which maintains an independent record, calculated a monthly average of 420.78 ppm.

"The science is irrefutable: humans are altering our climate in ways that our economy and our infrastructure must adapt to," said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. "We can see the impacts of climate change around us every day. The relentless increase of carbon dioxide measured at Mauna Loa is a stark reminder that we need to take urgent, serious steps to become a more Climate Ready Nation."

CO2 pollution is generated by burning fossil fuels for transportation and electrical generation, by cement manufacturing, deforestation, agriculture and many other practices. Along with other greenhouse gases, CO2 traps heat radiating from the planet's surface that would otherwise escape into space, causing the planet's atmosphere to warm steadily, which unleashes a cascade of weather impacts, including episodes of extreme heat, drought and wildfire activity, as well as heavier precipitation, flooding and tropical storm activity.

Impacts to the world's oceans from greenhouse gas pollution include increasing sea surface temperatures, rising sea levels, and an increased absorption of carbon, which makes sea water more acidic, leads to ocean deoxygenation, and makes it more difficult for some marine organisms to survive.

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, CO2 levels were consistently around 280 ppm for almost 6,000 years of human civilization. Since then, humans have generated an estimated 1.5 trillion tons of CO2 pollution, much of which will continue to warm the atmosphere for thousands of years.

CO2 levels are now comparable to the Pliocene Climatic Optimum, between 4.1 and 4.5 million years ago, when they were close to, or above 400 ppm. During that time, sea levels were between 5 and 25 meters higher than today —high enough to drown many of the world's largest modern cities. Temperatures then averaged 7 degrees Fahrenheit higher than in pre-industrial times, and studies indicate that large forests occupied today's Arctic tundra.

Mauna Loa ideally located to monitor global pollution

NOAA's observatory, situated high on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano, is the global benchmark location for monitoring atmospheric CO2. At an elevation of 11,141 feet above sea level, the observatory samples air undisturbed by the influence of local pollution or vegetation, and produces measurements that represent the average state of the atmosphere in the northern hemisphere.

Charles David Keeling, a scientist with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, initiated on-site measurements of CO2 at NOAA's weather station on Mauna Loa in 1958. Keeling was the first to recognize that CO2 levels in the Northern Hemisphere fell during the growing season, and rose as plants died back in the fall, and he documented these CO2 fluctuations in a record that came to be known as the Keeling Curve. He was also the first to recognize that, despite the seasonal fluctuation, CO2 levels were rising every year.

NOAA began measurements in 1974, and the two research institutions have made complementary, independent observations ever since. Keeling's son, geochemist Ralph Keeling, runs the Scripps program at Mauna Loa.

"It's depressing that we've lacked the collective will power to slow the relentless rise in CO2," said Keeling. "Fossil-fuel use may no longer be accelerating, but we are still racing at top speed towards a global catastrophe."

The Mauna Loa data, together with measurements from sampling stations around the world, are incorporated by NOAA's Global Monitoring Laboratory into the Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network, a foundational research dataset for international climate scientists and a benchmark for policymakers attempting to address the causes and impacts of climate change.

Despite decades of negotiation, the global community has been unable to significantly slow, let alone reverse, annual increases in atmospheric CO2 levels.

"Carbon dioxide is at levels our species has never experienced before—this is not new," said Pieter Tans, senior scientist with the Global Monitoring Laboratory. "We have known about this for half a century, and have failed to do anything meaningful about it. What's it going to take for us to wake up?

Coronavirus response barely slows rising carbon dioxide

More information: To visualize how sea level rise may affect your community, visit NOAA's sea level rise viewer, at: coast.noaa.gov/slr/

Provided by NOAA Headquarters 

French diplomats strike over plan for their 'extinction'

Issued on: 02/06/2022 

French diplomats staged a one-day strike Thursday to protest a plan by President Emmanuel Macron to strip foreign envoys of their distinct status, a move they say will weaken Paris's influence abroad.

 

Angry French diplomats drop discretion to strike over reform

By ELAINE GANLEY

June 2, 2022

1 of 6

A usher looks through the key hole at the French foreign ministry in Paris, Friday March 4, 2016 during international ministerial discussions about Syria. Members of the French diplomatic corps, a mostly invisible force that guides the nation's conduct of international affairs, are dropping their traditional reserve to go on strike Thursday, angered by a planned reform they fear will hurt their careers and France's standing in the world. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon, File)

PARIS (AP) — Members of the French diplomatic corps dropped their traditional reserve on Thursday to go on a rare strike, angered by a planned reform they worry will hurt their careers and France’s standing in the world. It was the second such strike in nearly 20 years.

About 100 diplomats dropped the veil of invisibility that often defines their work to demonstrate in full view of the imposing Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the home base for the foreign service. In overseas posts, ranging from Tokyo to the Middle East and Washington, numerous diplomats, including some ambassadors, honored the day-long strike.

They want President Emmanuel Macron to scrap a plan to merge career diplomats with a larger body of civil servants, starting in January, or at least hold a dialogue.

The plan, announced by Macron in an April decree, will reportedly affect about 800 diplomats. Opponents claim that’s just the beginning.

“We risk the disappearance of our professional diplomacy,” a group of 500 diplomats, wrote in a commentary published last week in Le Monde newspaper. “Today, (diplomatic) agents ... are convinced it is the very existence of the ministry that is now being put into question.”

The planned change comes amid the war in Ukraine and complex negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, and while France holds the European Union’s rotating presidency.

Newly-appointed Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, herself a career diplomat, has not commented. However, she will meet Tuesday with unions and representatives of the protest movement for an initial “listening” session, the ministry said.

Demonstrators held a large banner reading “Professional Diplomats on Strike” during the protest across from the ministry, known as the Quai d’Orsay for its location by the River Seine.

“To say that diplomacy is in danger, that word may be too strong,” said Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, a former ambassador to China, Japan and Britain, who was taking part in the public protest near the ministry. But, he added, “diplomacy will be weakened,” at a time when those skills are especially needed.

“To become an ambassador, before getting to the top of the ladder, it is necessary to actually tick some boxes,” said another demonstrating diplomat, identifying himself only as Benjamin. “And this reform supports the idea that there is no need for such skills.” Like others not yet at the top rung, he declined to give his full name.

The government reform is meant to modernize and diversify France’s diplomatic corps, created in the 16th century, and to bring down the walls of what some in the government see as an elite institution turned in on itself.

It will put diplomats into a large pool from all branches of public service, encouraging switches to other ministries and forcing personnel to compete with outsiders for prized diplomatic posts.

Diplomats contend their job requires specialization and expertise acquired over years in posts around the world — and has no room for amateurs.

“Today, I am on strike,” Deputy Ambassador to the United States Aurelie Bonal tweeted. “Diplomats negotiate, talk, compromise. They generally do not go on strike.”

Bonal raised yet another worry that protesting diplomats contend the change could generate: cronyism. “Without a diplomatic corps, it will be much easier for the (government) to appoint friends at all levels of diplomatic jobs,” she tweeted.

Dominique de Villepin, a former prime minister and foreign minister known for an eloquent 2003 speech at the United Nations in which he declared French opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, labeled the pending reform in a tweet last month “A historic fault.”

For France, the loss of diplomats’ separate status in the civil service means “a loss of independence, a loss of competence, a loss of memory that will weigh heavily on the years ahead,” Villepin tweeted.

Even before Macron’s decree, frustration had festered in the Foreign Ministry’s halls over cuts in funding, personnel and outsourcing. The group commentary in Le Monde deplored “decades of marginalization of the ministry’s role within the (French) state” as well as “a vertiginous reduction” in personnel — down by 30% in 10 years, the diplomats claim. Funding, they said, is but 0.7% of the state budget.

The Twitter hashtag, #diplo2metier, shows a number of ambassadors around the world joining in or supporting Thursday’s strike.

“I will be on strike ... to protest the reform of the diplomatic corps and the continued reduction of means for our diplomacy,“ French Ambassador to Kuwait Claire Le Flecher tweeted on her personal account.

Bonal, the deputy ambassador to the United States, said the job of diplomat is more than “gorging on Ferreros in touristic countries. The truth is we also visit morgues & jails; we work very late hours, not always in safe countries,” she tweeted. “It’s a vocation, not a 3-year experience.”

Bonal said she was among those who went on the first such strike in 2003, a protest over budget cuts.

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Nicolas Garriga in Paris contributed.