Why one Harvard scientist believes alien technology may be sitting on the ocean floor

Matthew Rozsa - Yesterday - Salon

UFOs Getty Images/KTSDesign/SCIENCEPHOTOLIBRARY

In 2019, a cigar-shaped object known as 'Oumuamua was spotted zipping through the inner solar system and, peculiarly, speeding up while making its exit, seemingly in defiance of the physics of a quotidian asteroid. There are plenty of mundane hypotheses about why 'Oumuamua sped up — outgassing, or the expulsion of previously trapped gas, is among the most popular. Yet Harvard astronomy professor Dr. Avi Loeb has penned numerous papers and a book arguing that it could have been caused by a light sail spacecraft — one driven by a form of interstellar propulsion — created by an alien civilization.

Now, Loeb has a new provocative hypothesis, one that relates to a mysterious meteoroid that became known to Earth-dwellers several years before 'Oumuamua. Given a decisively less memorable name, CNEOS 2014-01-08, it is believed to have been only two feet long when it crashed into Earth at over 100,000 mph in 2014, after which it exploded into tiny fragments that landed in the South Pacific Ocean. Astronomers believe it may very well be the first human-observed interstellar object of its size to strike Earth — and, for that reason, CNEOS 2014-01-08 has piqued the attention of the astronomy community.

Loeb is also going the extra mile: he is leading a $1.5 million expedition to retrieve pieces of CNEOS 2014-01-08. As a scientist, Loeb is keeping an open mind to all possibilities — including that CNEOS 2014-01-08 could contain extraterrestrial technology.

Related

NASA is assembling a team to figure out what UFOs are

"The first interstellar meteor CNEOS 2014-01-08 is a rare outlier for two reasons," Loeb told Salon in writing when asked about the alien technology hypothesis. The first reason relates to its impressive speed: "By tracing its trajectory back in time, we know that [CNEOS 2014-01-08] was moving faster than 60 kilometers per second outside the solar system. This is faster than ninety-five percent of all stars in the vicinity of the Sun."

Loeb added that, in addition to this, "from the light curve of the fireball [CNEOS 2014-01-08] created in the lower atmosphere of the Earth, we calculated that it had material strength tougher than all other 272 objects" in the catalogue kept by NASA to keep tabs on near-earth objects. "Its material strength was twice tougher than an iron meteorite."


Related video: 

Did Scientists Just Discover Alien Tracks On The Ocean Floor? 

| Unveiled


Siegel argued that there are more credible hypotheses, such as that "this is an object that came from our solar system that, with a poorly measured impact velocity, simply came from our solar system like everything else that hits Earth from space."

These odd traits set CNEOS 2014-01-08 apart from its more quotidian meteoroid kin, which typically originate in our own solar system. Indeed, much debris still remains from the violent early days of our solar system, when it formed out of the gaseous remnant of the protoplanetary nebula that preceded our solar system. The asteroid belt contains a particular dense (by space standards) agglomeration of some of the "leftover" stuff that never formed into planets; or, which was sloughed off of our solar system's existing planets in violent collisions, and remained floating in the void. Random meteoroids of this nature strike Earth constantly: scientists estimate between 10 million and 1 billion kilograms of meteorites hit Earth every year, most of them tiny micrometeorites. An interstellar meteorite, particularly a large one with odd properties, would be a novel find.

Loeb's hypothesis is not without its critics. Dr. Ethan Siegel, an astrophysicist and science writer who has been critical of Loeb's work in the past, told Salon that he believes Loeb's hypothesis is a "travesty" that diminishes the work of other astronomers.

"The alien technology hypothesis is so far-fetched that there is no scientific reason to consider this as anything other than someone with no evidence crying wolf when there is no wolf that we have ever seen before," Siegel told Salon. "Saying that it is alien technology, to me, is an absolute travesty for the hundreds upon hundreds of legitimate solar system scientists who are doing excellent work studying what actually exists."

Siegel argued that there are more credible hypotheses, such as that "this is an object that came from our solar system that, with a poorly measured impact velocity, simply came from our solar system like everything else that hits Earth from space"; or, that "this is one of many, many, many interstellar objects that we know need to be out there that pass through our solar system, and this one happened to strike Earth and it, again, would be a naturally occurring small object."

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Dr. Steve Desch, an astrophysics professor at Arizona State University, suggested to Salon by email that regardless of what CNEOS 2014-01-08 is made of, very little material would survive the collision with Earth's atmosphere — perhaps mere "grams" of matter. Desch cited the work of Marc Fries, a NASA scientist, in determining this. Desch also argued that "all evidence points to this being an iron meteorite, part of a population of natural objects ejected by stellar systems."


"The ideal scenario is that in addition to tiny fragments, we would find a piece of an advanced technological device, like the hundredth version of the iPhone," Loeb told Salon.

Still, no one has definitively cracked the mystery of CNEOS 2014-01-08, and if nothing else, this is one mystery that Loeb seems determined to solve. The Harvard scientist explained to Salon that the upcoming expedition "will have a sled equipped with a magnet that will scoop the ocean floor in search of the fragments from the meteor explosions, about a hundred miles off the coast of Papua New Guinea." Loeb says that it will use machinery which has already been designed, and that he already has received donations of half a million dollars toward the project, with another million being necessary for the expedition to start.

"The ideal scenario is that in addition to tiny fragments, we would find a piece of an advanced technological device, like the hundredth version of the iPhone," Loeb told Salon. "I would love to press a button on such an object."


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The Pentagon should release dozens of UFO videos

Marik von Rennenkampff, Opinion Contributor -The Hill -  Yesterday 

The Pentagon has at least two dozen, and likely far more, UFO videos in its possession. Despite public commitments to transparency, officials refuse to release any of the footage. But the government’s rationale – that disclosure would jeopardize sensitive “sources and methods” – likely holds no water with many of the videos.


The Pentagon should release dozens of UFO videos© Provided by The Hill

In March 2019, amid increasing military encounters with objects appearing to exhibit highly advanced flight characteristics, the Navy instituted a standardized UFO reporting mechanism. Despite heavy redactions, these reports show that fighter pilots are frequently left stunned by such incidents.

Importantly, the Navy’s new reporting procedures allow aviators and intelligence officers to submit video footage and other sensor data. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Navy confirmed that 24 videos are associated with 19 UFO reports, spanning June through December 2019.

If the Pentagon continued receiving 20 UFO videos every six months, it would have well over 100 videos in its possession by now. Of course, increased awareness of the new reporting mechanism and reduced stigma likely resulted in aviators submitting far more UFO footage. Moreover, with 24 videos accompanying 19 reports, it appears that aircrews are unlikely to submit a UFO report without including corroborating data.

As noted by a former director of national intelligence, the government also possesses UFO data – such as “images and videos” – recorded by satellites.

Of course, the public release of satellite data and radar displays could jeopardize sensitive platforms and capabilities. But many, if not most, of the UFO videos in the government’s possession were likely recorded by infrared targeting pods.

Infrared video technology is not inherently sensitive. At the same time, footage from targeting pods is widely available. Most importantly, three famous UFO videos – all recorded with the Navy’s primary infrared targeting pod – are unclassified (and were never classified in the first place).

These facts make it impossible for the government to claim that the release of UFO footage recorded by such platforms (not to mention cell phones) would compromise sensitive technology or intelligence collection capabilities.

Importantly, since targeting pods are fighter pilots’ technological “eyes” in the sky, such videos likely account for a significant proportion of the UFO data held by the Pentagon.

At the same time, the government has no evidence “to indicate any [UFOs] are part of a foreign collection program or indicative of a major technological advancement by a potential adversary.” Therefore, the Pentagon cannot plausibly claim that its UFO videos can be classified as sensitive “foreign government information.”

For its part, Congress does not appear concerned that UFOs are part of a foreign intelligence effort. According to draft legislation approved unanimously by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, a muscular new UFO office must immediately stop investigating any object determined to be “man-made” and turn its analytic attention to another case. If lawmakers are truly concerned that some UFOs are adversarial surveillance platforms, they would not direct a powerful new office to stop investigating as soon as an object is determined to be of human origin.

Of equal importance, officials are confident that none of the 143 unexplained encounters described in a landmark UFO report involve secret American technology. Therefore, the Pentagon cannot withhold UFO videos under the pretext that aviators may have inadvertently captured footage of sensitive U.S. “weapons systems.”

With Congress demanding answers and government officials admitting their own impatience with the slow pace of progress, the public release of non-sensitive UFO videos could quickly resolve several cases. For instance, it took the government “several years” to determine that two UFO videos showed a common camera artifact. Mick West, a prominent UFO skeptic, identified the artifact in a matter of days.

At the same time, verifiable, repeatable geometrical analyses of one of the most well-known UFO videos showed that the object’s flight path matches eyewitness descriptions. This implies that the UFO demonstrated highly anomalous flight characteristics, including controlled flight without any apparent wings, control surfaces or means of propulsion. Perhaps most intriguingly, the analyses indicate that the object thwarted a Navy fighter jet’s attempt to sneak up behind it.

Ultimately, the parameters (approved by a senior intelligence official) under which the government classifies UFO data are at stark odds with that same official’s public promise to declassify information that does not reveal sensitive “sources and methods.”

With infrared targeting pod footage – including three well-known, unclassified UFO videos – widely available in the public domain, the government’s “sources and methods” claim does not hold water. The Pentagon must abide by its emphatic commitments to transparency and release all such UFO footage.

Marik von Rennenkampff served as an analyst with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, as well as an Obama administration appointee at the U.S. Department of Defense. Follow him on Twitter @MvonRen.

Utah Woman Says Family Got a UFO Fly By While Camping

At first the other campers didn't believe them...

• DIANA LOGAN
• AUG 31, 2022

The current willingness of the U.S. Government to report on and explore the UFO phenomenon has brought a lot of people out of the woodwork. Once upon a time, it was the policy of the U.S. Government to “discredit” any reports of UFO sightings, no matter how credible. This was a Cold War psy-op, and led to respectable people denying their own experiences because they’d been told it was impossible. Now that folks aren't afraid of being labeled "kooks", it is clear that lots of people having been seeing these objects for a long, long time.

It must be a great relief for families like this one to come and say, “Yeah, this happened and we have no idea what it was.”

WATCH VIDEO HERE

This family was camping near Boulder Mountain, Utah many years ago. The woman was returning to her campsite with her father and a few friends when they saw a giant, orange-red ball appear in the sky. In a flash, it went from one side of the horizon to another, far faster than any shooting star might travel

Their father, an engineer and very “logical” man, said at once that he thought it was a UFO. When they got back to camp, they told their companions and the rest of their family what they saw, but no one believed them.

However, that was not the end of the story! Later that night, the entire camp saw the exact same UFO coming back across the sky with the same behavior, only in the opposite direction. After that, everyone in the family believed the story, for they had seen it with their own eyes. 

Alberta's Lt.-Gov. says she's willing to toss Smith's sovereignty act if unconstitutional

Lisa Johnson -  Edmonton Journal

Alberta’s lieutenant-governor says she’s willing to refuse to sign into law UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith’s promised sovereignty act if it’s deemed unconstitutional.


Alberta Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani, left, and Premier Jason Kenney gathered with Indigenous leaders in the Reconciliation Garden on the Alberta legislature grounds on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022, to mark the first official Alberta Day

At an inaugural Alberta Day event on the provincial legislature grounds Thursday, Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani told reporters she would wait to weigh in until independent legal experts could examine the bill, but as the Queen’s vice-regal representative in Alberta she considers her constitutional role the most important part of her job.

“We are a constitutional monarchy, and this is where we do checks and balances. I’m what I would call a ‘constitutional fire extinguisher.’ We don’t have to use it a lot, but sometimes we do have to use it,” Lakhani said.

Smith has promised, if elected premier, to pass an Alberta sovereignty act that would allow Alberta to opt out of federal legislation, regulatory decisions and court rulings that legislators believe go against Alberta’s interests. Critics have warned it would create a potential constitutional crisis, undermine the rule of law, and scare off investors.

Lakhani said it will depend on the bill and the advice she receives on its legality.

“I think we will try and cross that bridge when we get to it, if we get to it,” she said.

She referenced Lt.-Gov. John Bowen, who in 1937 refused to give royal assent to three bills that had been passed by the legislature. In retaliation, Social Credit premier William Aberhart closed the vice-regal residence. Ultimately, the Supreme Court of Canada declared the laws were beyond Alberta’s power to be enacted.

Lakhani said she hopes she would be prepared for potential backlash from those who see her role as ceremonial.

“This is why I live in my own house,” Lakhani said.

Born and raised in Uganda, where the country’s entire Asian minority population was expelled in 1972, Lakhani said her experience has led her to feel very strongly that the rule of law and democracy must be guarded and respected.

“Those are very, very important things for a prosperous nation,” she said.

Smith, in a debate in July, defended her plan, suggesting it was about “putting Ottawa on notice.”

On Thursday, Smith campaign spokesman Matthew Altheim said that Smith has said repeatedly that she will work with caucus to ensure the sovereignty act “is drafted in accordance with sound constitutional language and principles.”

Fellow UCP leadership candidate Brian Jean reacted on Twitter to Lakhani’s comments, saying he is “extremely uncomfortable with the lieutenant-governor getting political,” and calling on Smith to produce the text of the proposed legislation before UCP members vote on a new leader.


The UCP is set to choose its new leader Oct. 6, but the legislature is not scheduled to be in session until Oct. 31. Normally, the government does not publicly release the wording of a bill until it’s tabled in the house.
‘Happy birthday Alberta’

Lakhani, Premier Jason Kenney, Culture Minister Ron Orr and Cree elder Bert Auger marked Sept. 1 as the day Alberta officially became a province in 1905 with a ceremony Thursday.

Kenney said it’s worth celebrating the province as “a unique place with a unique culture, history and geography, (that) is also proudly part of the great Canadian federation.”

Orr also took the opportunity to air grievances with Ottawa, noting the government wanted to mark the day in part because the Fair Deal panel suggested it “affirm Alberta’s cultural, economic and political uniqueness.”

“A family compact of the Laurentian elites have always skewed the deal in their favour,” said Orr, before adding “happy birthday Alberta — that’s what today is all about.”

On Saturday, the government is hosting events and concerts in Calgary and at the legislature in Edmonton.

lijohnson@postmedia.com

twitter.com/reportrix

AN INTERNATIONAL BID PLANNED TO MAKE OIL FIELDS UNESCO SITES


A Polish academic says Fairbank Oil Fields and the Oil Museum of Canada are “monuments of history” and should be part of an international bid for UNESCO World Heritage designation.

Dr. Boguslaw Szmygin from Lublin University of Technology in Bobkra, Poland, encouraged Canada to join with Poland and other countries around the world to put forward a serial designation of early oil sites for world heritage.

Szmygin was in Lambton County for an international oil heritage conference Thursday and Friday. He visited Oil Springs Saturday to see the national historic site first hand. The International Committee for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage (TICCIH) organized the conference drawing delegates from Poland, Scotland, Spain, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Canada. TICCIH advises on UNESCO world heritage designations. The Oil Museum of Canada, operated by the Lambton County, and the Fairbanks Oil Fields unsuccessfully applied to Canada’s Tentative List to be considered for a world heritage designation in 2017. They will be applying again, but Szmygin hopes it can be a joint application of all those countries involved with the early development of the oil industry.

He called the Oil Museum of Canada and the Fairbanks Oil Fields “a living package from the past.”

Szmygin’s country is no stranger to oil development. Bobkra had its first extraction of oil in 1854, four years before the first commercial oil strike in Oil Springs in 1858. There is a museum in Bobkra to commemorate the oil and gas industry, as well as 60 oil wells, some of which are still in use in Poland, near the Ukrainian border.

Szmygin feels there is support for the world heritage designation at the local level in Lambton County, but the problem might be at the federal government level. “Oil was so important,” he said but now has a negative connotation due to global warming.

He called the Fairbanks Oil Fields and the Oil Museum of Canada “monuments of history.” The discovery of oil in Oil Springs led to the development of Lambton County with the construction of roads, rail and farm drainage.

Pat McGee of Fairbanks Oil who is the chair of the steering committee for TICCIH, said there are many who never heard of Oil Springs and its contribution to the oil industry. She called the conference a huge boon to raise the international profile of the community and the effort to get world heritage designation.

McGee said the next step is to determine what is the best course of action moving forward. The summary report will be prepared about the conference and it will be shared internationally.

Blake Ellis, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Independent

'Salad-bar' extremism on the rise in Canada, report says

CBC/Radio-Canada - 

Extremists in Canada are increasingly cherry-picking aspects of various violent ideologies to form their own belief system, in a phenomenon known as "salad-bar extremism," a new report has found.


Extremist groups in Alberta, such as the Proud Boys, have diminished after being added to Canada's list of terrorist entities

.© Nathan Howard/Getty Images

"This "salad bar' extremism, originally used to describe an emerging phenomenon in the U.S., is now present in Canada," a report released Thursday by the Organization for the Prevention of Violence (OPV) reads.

Hate, Extremism, and Terrorism In Alberta, Canada, and Beyond measures the shift in activity between 2019 to 2022.

Mike King, director of research at the OPV, said that in the past, there were many distinct ideologies, listing examples such as white supremacy, anti-government extremism and left-wing extremism and extreme misogyny.

"Now we're seeing more and more blurred planes between these ideologies where people are kind of picking and choosing portions of the same ideologies, and putting them together and almost kind of having a tailored extremist ideology of their own," he said.

It's been three years since the OPV – a non-government organization formed to prevent radicalization and challenge extremist views – published its first report about hate-motivated violence, extremism and terrorism in Alberta.

Since then, researchers say much has changed due to the broad social repercussions from events such as the pandemic, protests against public health measures, tense elections in the United States, and the backlash to racial justice movements.

"The structure and landscape of [ideologically motivated violence extremism] actors continues its shift from group-based tactics to lone-actor and small-cell activity, particularly within the realm of xenophobic extremism," the report reads

Part of the reason for the shift, King hypothesized, is that that some of the patriot and militia groups such as The Three Percenters and Proud Boys have been added to Canada's list of terrorist entities.

The designation makes it easier to charge and arrest individuals supporting the group financially and stop finances flowing to the group, King said.

Proud Boys chapters in Alberta have folded or been dissolved since the Capitol riots in the U.S, the report indicates. The report described the Proud Boys as "a traditionalist, neo-fascist chauvinist organization loosely tied to white power."

The report is based on unprecedented access to interviews with members of the RCMP, municipal policing agencies, provincial and federal justice agencies, public safety officials, community leaders, and frontline practitioners, John McCoy, OPV executive director, wrote in an email.

He added that the OPV runs a program called Evolve, where staff work directly with individuals and families looking to disengage from violent extremism. Psychologists and mentors who work with Evolve also contributed to the report.

An increasing number of people gravitating toward forms of extremism have some form of mental health issues, King said.

That creates new challenges, said King.

"Is the response primarily a psychosocial intervention, or is it more a national security response or is it a bit of both? And I think that can be quite complicated because you definitely don't want to be securitizing what is essentially a mental health issue," he said.

"But you also don't want to be medicalizing what is a security issue. So, there's a fine line there, and I think you really need a lot of experts there to help with the assessment of these cases."

JUMPED OR PUSHED
Lukoil chairman dies after falling from a Moscow hospital window

Anna Chernova - CNN

The chairman of Russian oil and gas giant Lukoil has died after falling out of the window of a hospital in Moscow, according to Russian state media.

“The man fell out of the sixth-floor window and died as a result of his injuries,” a source told TASS.

Lukoil confirmed the death of its chairman on Thursday in a statement published on its website.

Ravil Maganov “passed away following a severe illness,” Lukoil said, making no mention of a fall. “Maganov immensely contributed to the development of not only the company, but of the entire Russian oil and gas sector.”

Lukoil, Russia’s second biggest oil and gas company, made headlines in March when it called “for the soonest termination of the armed conflict” in Ukraine.

Related video: Russian Oil Exec Who Criticized Ukraine Invasion Dies After Falling From Hospital Window
Duration 1:31
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“We express our sincere empathy for all victims, who are affected by this tragedy,” the company’s board of directors said in a statement to shareholders, staff and customers at the time. “We strongly support a lasting ceasefire and a settlement of problems through serious negotiations and diplomacy.”

The firm produces more than 2% of the world’s crude oil and employs over 100,000 people.

RIA Novosti quoted a law enforcement source Thursday as saying Maganov “most likely committed suicide.”

“Investigating authorities are working on the spot to establish the causes of the incident,” the source told RIA.

At least five prominent Russian businessmen have reportedly died by suicide since late January, according to previous CNN reporting.

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2021 saw record-high greenhouse gases, sea levels and ocean heat, new report shows

Last year saw record levels of major greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, released into the Earth's atmosphere, according to an international climate report.

2021 saw record-high greenhouse gases, sea levels and ocean heat, new report shows   Duration 1:10  View on Watch

The annual State of the Climate report, published Wednesday in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society and led by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information, also found that global sea level and ocean heat reached record highs in 2021.

"The data presented in this report are clear -- we continue to see more compelling scientific evidence that climate change has global impacts and shows no sign of slowing," NOAA administrator Rick Spinrad said in a statement. "With many communities hit with 1,000-year floods, exceptional drought and historic heat this year, it shows that the climate crisis is not a future threat but something we must address today as we work to build a Climate-Ready Nation -- and world -- that is resilient to climate-driven extremes."MORE: Eco-anxiety among teenagers is growing

Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are the "most significant driver of observed climate change since the mid-20th century," according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, warming the climate as they build up in the atmosphere.

In 2021, the global annual average atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration was 414.7 parts per million (ppm) -- 2.3 ppm greater than the amounts measured in 2020, according to the latest State of the Climate report. That marks the highest amount measured since 1958 -- the start of the instrumental record -- and in at least the last million years, based on paleoclimatic records, the report found. It was also the fifth-highest growth rate in the modern record.


The lignite-fired power plant of Jaenschwalde is pictured behind sun flowers, July 28, 2022, in Doebbrick, Germany. The Jaenschwalde power plant is going to be powered off in 2028 as part of the german coal phase-out.© Florian Gaertner/Photothek via Getty Images

Two other major greenhouse gases -- methane and nitrous oxide -- also saw record concentrations last year, according to the report. The annual increase in methane was the highest in the modern record, and the growth rate of nitrous oxide the third-highest, it found.

Last year was the fifth- or sixth-warmest on record, depending on the dataset referenced, with the last seven years (2015-2021) the seven warmest years on record, according to the report.MORE: Millions of people in Midwest to experience 'extreme heat belt' by 2053: Report

Global ocean heat content, measured from the ocean's surface to a depth of more than 6,000 feet, saw record levels in 2021, "indicative of steadily increasing heat in Earth's system," according to the report. Meanwhile, the global sea surface temperature cooled compared to 2019 and 2020, due to the ongoing La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific, though it was higher than the 1991-2020 average, the report found.

For the 10th year in a row, the global average sea level rose about 4.9 mm to a new record high, according to the report. The level was about 97 mm higher than the average recorded in 1993, when satellite measurements began, the report stated.


A view of Hulhulmale Island, which is connected to the capital Male to prevent the sea level increase, in Male, Maldives, which is one of the countries most threatened by the sea level increase due to global warming, June 28, 2022.© Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Both global ocean heat content and global average sea level saw "year-on-year increases substantially exceeding their trend rates of recent decades," the report stated.

Among other highlights, the report found that tropical cyclone activity was "well above average" in 2021, with 97 named tropical storms during the Northern and Southern Hemisphere storm seasons compared to the 1991-2020 average of 87. Last year's storm season saw Hurricane Ida, a category 4 cyclone that was the costliest U.S. disaster last year and the fifth most expensive hurricane on record since 1980, with $75 billion in damage, the report noted.MORE: Extreme Weather Photos 2022

The climate report, now in its 32nd issuance, is based on contributions from more than 530 scientists in over 60 countries.

"The 2021 AMS State of the Climate provides the latest synthesis of scientific understanding of the climate system and the impact people are having on it," American Meteorological Society associate executive director Paul Higgins said in a statement. "If we take it seriously and use it wisely, it can help us thrive on a planet that is increasingly small in comparison to the impact of our activities."

2021's climate extremes show global warming has 'no sign of slowing'

Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY - TODAY

A new federal summary of the globe's climate last year takes bits and pieces of grim news from the past 18 months and rolls it into a sobering report on the world's warming climate.

Long-term warming trends continue worldwide, even when interrupted by temporary cooler weather phenomena, such as the lingering La Nina in the Pacific, concluded the 2021 "State of the Climate" report released Wednesday.

"The data presented in this report are clear – we continue to see more compelling scientific evidence that climate change has global impacts and shows no sign of slowing,” said Rick Spinrad, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The report is prepared by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, with contributions from scientists around the world.

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Given the floods, drought and historic heat that have continued this year, Spinrad said the "climate crisis is not a future threat but something we must address today."

He and Paul Higgins, associate director of the American Meteorological Society, said the world should use the report to become more resilient against climate extremes.


A cyclist bikes past the setting sun at Papago Park during a heatwave where temperatures hit 115-degrees Tuesday, June 15, 2021, in Phoenix.© Ross D. Franklin, AP

"If we take it seriously and use it wisely, it can help us thrive on a planet that is increasingly small in comparison to the impact of our activities," Higgins said.

The news, however, wasn't all bad. The La Nina lowered sea surface temperatures in the Pacific and helped suppress other global temperatures. Also, the South Pole saw its coldest winter on record, despite warmer temperatures elsewhere on Antarctica.

Here are some of the report's biggest takeaways:
Global average temperatures and sea levels keep rising

The Earth's warming trend continued, and for the 10th consecutive year global mean sea level set a new record high.
Scientific analyses showed global surface temperatures were about .5 degrees above the 1991-2020 average.
The last seven years have been the warmest since recordkeeping began in the mid- to late-1800s, according to the meteorological society.
Sea levels were 3.8 inches above the 1993 average, a two-tenths of an inch increase over 2020. Federal scientists say every inch of sea level rise increases the risk of high tide flooding days in cities along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

Is the globe prepared? Extreme heat waves may be our new normal, thanks to climate change.

Some nations saw dramatic impacts

Temperature extremes set many new record highs, but also a few record lows.
China and New Zealand saw their warmest years on record.
In Kyoto, Japan, one of its native cherry tree species' full bloom dates were the earliest on record, dating back to 801.
Europe saw its second-hottest summer on record, setting a new high temperature of 119.8 degrees in Sicily on Aug. 11, 2021.
In Spain, set a new record low in January, when the temperature at Clot del Tuc de la Llança in the Pyrenees dropped to minus 29.4 degrees.

Learn more about earlier bloom dates: Festivals forced to adapt as climate change disrupts historic weather patterns

Polar regions suffered

Glaciers around the world continued melting for the 34th year in a row, while the temperature of permafrost in many areas reached record high levels.
in June 2021, Canada's Northwest Territories set an all-time high of 103.8 degrees, the highest temperature ever recorded north of the 60th parallel.
A station on the Greenland Ice Sheet recorded the first rainfall since recordkeeping began 33 years ago. It used to be too cold at the top of the ice sheet for it to rain. Scientists say warming conditions there are melting more of the ice sheet, adding to higher sea levels.

 
Weather extremes reigned

Some areas experienced new levels of drought, while others saw record rainfall. Experts say both reflect the warming climate.
Nearly a third of the world's land areas saw drought conditions in August 2021, a new record high.
East Africa saw the lowest-ever rainfall along the equator, the third failed rainy season in a row, threatening food security for more than 20 million people.
In Zhengzhou, China, 7.9 inches of rain fell in a single hour on July 20, the highest one-hour rainfall ever reported for the mainland. Scientists say warmer air holds more water and contributes to extreme rainfall.
In October in Rossiglione, Italy, 29.2 inches of rain fell in just 12 hours, a new European record.

USA TODAY investigates: How a summer of extreme weather reveals a stunning shift in the way rain falls in America.
Greenhouse gas emissions kept climbing

The big two greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide and methane – rose to new record highs. Climate scientists say reducing emissions is critical to prevent further warming.

Carbon dioxide reached an average annual concentration of 414.7 parts per million, up 2.6 parts per million over 2020. That's the fifth-highest growth rate since monitoring began in 1958.
Methane continued its upward trend upward with an increase of 18 parts per billion, the biggest increase since measurements began.
Nitrous oxide also hit 334.3 parts per billion, the third highest level since 2001.

Listen to rainfall trends: What if you could hear climate change? Listen to music based on a century of rainfall data

Dinah Voyles Pulver covers climate and environment issues for USA TODAY. She can be reached at dpulver@gannett.com or at @dinahvp on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2021's climate extremes show global warming has 'no sign of slowing'

Congress of Aboriginal Peoples’ urgent message to environment ministers: include the grassroots

Yesterday 

“Canada, at all levels, must recognize that we are experiencing a human-caused climate crisis, and that Indigenous Peoples, low-income persons, women, and youth are the most impacted,” Chief Elmer St. Pierre said in a press release before addressing a meeting of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment.

“The response from governments must be proactive, swift, and transformative to engage all aspects of society.”

To learn from the mistakes of the past, we also need to consult our Elders, he added.

The annual meeting, this year held in Carcross/Tagish First Nation in Yukon, focused on plastic waste, air quality and climate change. Provincial and territorial ministers were in attendance, along with federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and Indigenous leaders from the Assembly of First Nations, Métis National Council, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and more.

St. Pierre’s message to the room “was that we need to be able to work with our communities; they have a lot to say,” Jim Devoe, executive director of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP), told Canada’s National Observer.

CAP’s mandate is to advocate for non-status and off-reserve Indigenous Peoples, including those affected by the climate crisis.

For Indigenous Peoples living in urban communities — like East Vancouver, for example — the impacts of the climate crisis are staggering, says Devoe.

Related video: National Centre for Indigenous Excellence looks set to close if Government fails to step-in   Duration 4:49  View on Watch

But the crisis also affects Indigenous Peoples in rural areas who are forced to move to urban centres because of the way climate change and biodiversity loss have impacted their home communities.

“If you’re from a rural centre, as I am, and there’s a shortage of jobs … people have no choice but to leave rural towns for urban centres,” said Devoe, whose home community in Nova Scotia has fisheries that are often overused and overexploited.

“People who leave their communities to go to urban centres to find better opportunities aren’t always finding better opportunities.”

The goal of the national chief has always been to advocate for the grassroots and to centre their voices on issues of climate change, Devoe adds.

“If we don’t have the voice of our communities, we aren’t well-informed,” he said.

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

Old-growth forests remain at ‘immediate risk’ despite B.C. government promises, report finds

Yesterday 

B.C.’s old-growth forests are still in jeopardy despite the province’s pledge to work with Indigenous nations to temporarily ban logging in specific areas, a new report by Stand.earth finds.

More than 55,000 hectares of B.C.’s proposed old-growth deferrals are still at “extreme risk” of being logged, Stand.earth’s spatial analysis revealed. Satellite imagery analysis shows some deferrals have already been destroyed or are in the process of being clear-cut.

“The bottom line is that the province is not actually stopping the logging industry from harvesting old-growth over the short term,” Angeline Robertson, author of the report, said at a Zoom press conference on Tuesday.

Last November, the provincial government acknowledged 2.6 million hectares — 226 times the area of Vancouver — of old-growth forest are at high risk of irreversible diversity loss and must be deferred from logging while First Nations and the province develop a new approach for forest management.

However, some First Nations do not support the proposed deferrals, B.C.’s Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development Katrine Conroy told Canada’s National Observer in an emailed statement.

“Government has always been clear that we will respect their decisions and will not be imposing deferrals unilaterally. Logging will proceed on their territories,” Conroy’s statement reads.

The province hasn’t offered First Nations compensation for deferring logging on their territories, which leaves communities to either forgo a critical revenue stream or protect the forests at great economic cost.

Released Aug. 30, the report overlays the 2.6 million hectares of proposed deferrals with active and pending cutting permits issued to the forestry and oil and gas sectors to determine which areas are at immediate risk.

Similar to Stand.earth’s analysis, the province previously said roughly 50,000 hectares of proposed deferrals overlap with previously approved cutting permits and that “many forestry companies have indicated to the Province that they will not proceed with harvesting these areas while discussions with First Nations are ongoing.”

This has not been the experience of some First Nations. In the Stand.earth press release, Chief James Hobart of Spuzzum First Nation said the province assured his Nation last summer there would be no logging activity in their forests.

“But when our community members witnessed loaded logging trucks coming down Spuzzum Main, we were told compliance was voluntary,” Hobart said.

The province says deferrals have been implemented on 1.7 million hectares of old-growth, but Stand.earth noted the government didn’t specify whether those deferrals are protecting areas that would have otherwise been logged. The province also didn’t disclose what type of old-growth is encompassed in the deferrals. Steep slope forests at high elevation have less value to the forestry industry, whereas big-treed valley bottoms and easily accessible old-growth are highly sought after, the report said.

“The forests that actually require the province to defer logging are still at immediate risk of being lost, meanwhile, the province consistently tries to look good by reporting deferrals in areas that aren't actually at risk of being logged… This is all just tall talk,” said Robertson.

As a previous Stand.earth report found, a handful of private companies present the bulk of the threat to these forests.

Canfor alone represents a bigger risk to old-growth forests than all 127 First Nations-owned logging companies combined, according to that report. West Fraser and Sinclar Group are the second- and third-biggest threats, respectively, and TransCanada ranks fourth thanks to its clear-cutting to make way for the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Line and the Coastal GasLink project.

“While the provincial officials promote their supposed achievements, we are watching more old-growth be destroyed forever,” Kukpi7 Judy Wilson, secretary-treasurer of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, said at the press conference.

Conroy’s statement said only 0.3 per cent of the 2.6 million hectares of proposed deferrals have been harvested since engagements with First Nations began last November.

This destruction affects nations, the environment and future generations for decades to come, said Wilson.

“Old-growth logging has caused floods, mudslides and destruction of our land in our territories, and it has made wildfires worse. These disasters disproportionately impact First Nations, who have been forced to evacuate,” she said.

“It's very important for those ancient forest canopies to remain intact because of the ecological value they have,” Wilson added, emphasizing the role forests play in mitigating the climate crisis.

Back in 2020, the province promised to implement 14 recommendations from an independent old-growth strategic review. Stand.earth says that to date, none of the recommendations have come to fruition.

The province disagreed, saying that it fulfilled recommendation five by releasing the findings and analysis of the independent Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel, including detailed maps of old growth across B.C. based on the latest information available.

At the press conference, Hobart said the province needs to follow through and commit to the 14 recommendations, the most straightforward of which is to temporarily ban logging in the most rare and at-risk old-growth forests.

“You can make excuses or you can make a difference about this. But you can't do both,” Hobart said at the press conference.

With the B.C. NDP’s leadership race underway, he wonders whether the next premier will deliver on old-growth promises or stand by and let industry have its way.

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

What Democrats' Staggering Alaska Win Means for The Midterms

Darragh Roche - 12h ago


Democrat Mary Peltola wins Alaska special election.

 Above, Peltola leaves a voting booth while early voting, Aug. 12, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska.© AP

Democrats scored a significant victory in the special election to fill Alaska's at-large congressional district on Wednesday, as Mary Peltola defeated former Governor Sarah Palin.

Peltola triumphed in an election conducted using Alaska's new ranked choice voting system that allows voters to rank their preferred candidates.

Republican candidate Nick Begich III came in third of the three candidates and after his voters' second preferences were counted, Peltola emerged victorious.

Though Alaska's system is unusual and was approved by voters only in 2020, the result will be seen as a good sign for Democrats heading into crucial midterm elections in November.

A deep red state, Alaska appears to be an unusual place for Democrats to score a victory as President Joe Biden's approval rating remains in negative territory.

Peltola's success could indicate broader political trends, with the Democrat tweeting that she believed "the broad coalition we're building has the real chance of building the momentum we need to win in November."

As poll tracker FiveThirtyEight pointed out in an article on August 24, Democrats have performed well in special elections and may even have exceeded expectations, possibly pointing to a "better-than-expected" midterm for the party.

Democrat Pat Ryan defeated Republican Marc Molinaro in a special election in New York's 19th district on August 23 in a surprise victory for Democrats. Ryan had made abortion a central issue of his campaign.

FiveThirtyEight pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization that overturned the landmark decision in Roe v. Wade and found that abortion is not constitutionally protected.

"There have been four first-past-the-post special House elections since that decision, and Democrats have outperformed their expected margins in those elections by an average of nine points," the poll tracker said.

It remains to be seen how abortion will impact the midterm elections and whether it will be decisive in deciding control of the House, however.

The outcome of Alaska's special House election can now be added to those recent Democratic successes, though it remains to be seen if this trend will carry into the November midterms.

Peltola is seeking a full term in Congress on November 8 and will compete against Palin, Begich and Libertarian candidate Chris Bye in another ranked choice election.

Though Palin's recent defeat has raised questions about Republicans' ability to take back the House, the GOP is still favored to retake the chamber, according to FiveThirtyEight and the University of Virginia (UVA) Center for Politics' Crystal Ball forecast.

The outlook is better for Democrats in the Senate, with FiveThirtyEight rating them as slightly favored to win. That's an improvement, as Republicans were previously favored to take the Senate in FiveThirtyEight's analysis as recently as July 25.

UVA's Crystal Ball forecast shifted two key Senate races (Arizona and Pennsylvania) from toss-up to leans Democratic on Wednesday in another positive sign for President Biden's party.

However, the sitting president's party normally performs poorly in midterm elections and Democrats were expected to face a tough fight this November.

The final results will determine whether Alaska's special election was a sign of positive change for Biden's party.