Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Continued record-breaking ocean temperatures seen again in 2022

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INSTITUTE OF ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

People and the ocean 

IMAGE: THE OCEANS ARE HOME TO MILLIONS OF EARTH'S PLANTS AND ANIMALS. PEOPLE TRAVEL ON THE OCEAN AND RELY ON THE RESOURCES IT CONTAINS. view more 

CREDIT: LIJING CHENG

A continued record-breaking ocean temperature with increasing in stratification and changes in water salinity pattern give insight into what the future holds amidst a perpetually heating climate.

The state of our oceans can measure the world’s health, and judging by the updated oceanic observations from 24 scientists across 16 institutes worldwide, we need a doctor. The three key indicators of climate change include continued historical record-breaking temperatures, all-time high levels of ocean salinity-contrast, and increased ocean stratification (separation of the water into layers) with no signs of slowing down. These indicators are leading scientists to quickly address and forecast future components of climate change to better prepare the public for an extreme climate future ahead.

Results were recently published where a new record of 0-2000m ocean heat content (OHC) was set and recorded in 2022, with an addition of approximately ~10 Zetta joules (ZJ) of heat into the ocean than 2021. A Zetta joule is a joule (unit to measure “work” or “heat”) with 21 zeros behind it.

The results were published on 11 January 2023 in Advances in Atmospheric Science. It summarizes two international datasets: from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and from the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), that analyze observations of ocean heat content and their impact dating from the 1950s. “Both IAP and NCEI data show a consistent message that upper 2000m ocean heat content hits a record high value in 2022”, said Tim Boyer, a senior researcher from NCEI/NOAA.

10 ZJ of heat is equal to ~100 times world electricity generation in 2021 (28466 TWH), ~325 times China’ 2021 electricity production (8537 TWH), ~634 times United States’ 2021 electricity production (4381 TWH). 10 ZJ of heat can also boil 700 million 1.5L kettle for every second in the past year.

“Global warming continues and is manifested in record ocean heat, and also in continued extremes of salinity. The latter highlight that salty areas get saltier, and fresh areas get fresher and so there is a continuing increase in intensity of the hydrological cycle” said Lijing Cheng, lead author and researcher for the IAP/CAS.

What's not hard to grasp is how that amount of heat going into the oceans have serious consequences, and actually comes much quicker than one would hope. The increasing saltiness and therefore stratification of the oceans can alter how heat, carbon, and oxygen are exchanged between the ocean and the atmosphere above it. This is a factor that can cause ocean deoxygenation, or loss of oxygen, within the water. Deoxygenation itself is a nightmare for not only marine life and ecosystems but also for humans and our terrestrial ecosystems.

Reducing oceanic diversity and displacing important species can wreak havoc on fishing-dependent communities and their economies, and this can have a ripple effect on the way most people are able to interact with their environment.

Some places are already seeing the impacts of a rapidly warming ocean, and they're not exactly as expected.

“Some places are experiencing more droughts, which lead to an increased risk of wildfires, and other places are experiencing massive floods from heavy rainfall, often supported by increased evaporation from warm oceans. This contributes to changes in the hydrologic cycle and emphasizes the interactive role that oceans play.” said Kevin Trenberth, third author of the paper and researcher at both the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the University of Auckland. An increase in water temperatures and salinity directly contributes to water layering instead of mixing, and this is just part of what throws off the delicate balance between our oceans and the atmosphere.

“In the future, the group will focus on understanding the changes of the earth’s major cycles and improve the future projections of earth’s heat, water and carbon changes. This is the basis for human[s] to prepare for the future changes and risks” said John Abraham, Professor of University of St. Thomas, the second author of this study.

Continued tracking of these changes will give scientists an idea of what can be done preemptively to prepare for higher temperatures, extreme weather, and all other consequences that come along with warming oceans and an impacted hydrologic cycle.

“The oceans are absorbing most of the heating from human carbon emissions,” said paper author Michael Mann, Professor of University of Pennsylvania. “Until we reach net zero emissions, that heating will continue, and we’ll continue to break ocean heat content records, as we did this year. Better awareness and understanding of the oceans are a basis for the actions to combat climate change.”

Does experiencing racism contribute to depression during pregnancy?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

WILEY

In a recent study published in The Journal of Advanced Nursing that included pregnant Black women from multiple US states, feeling upset by experiences of racism in the 12 months prior to delivery was associated with significantly higher odds of depression during pregnancy.

In the study that analyzed survey questions answered by 7,328 women, 11.4% of respondents reported feeling upset due to experiences of racism, and 11.4% reported experiencing depression during pregnancy. After adjusting for confounding factors, respondents who reported feeling upset due to the experience of racism had over two-fold higher odds of experiencing depression during pregnancy compared with respondents who did not report feeling upset due to the experience of racism.

“Our findings reinforce the importance of respectful maternity care, given the mental health impacts of experiences of racism during the perinatal period,” the authors wrote. “Racism is a powerful structural determinant of health with roots in a historical system of oppression that persists today in health care practices and policies. Perinatal health care providers, in collaboration with public health and other health disciplines, are ideally positioned to address inequities in maternal and child health that are rooted in racism.”

URL upon publication: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jan.15519

 

Additional Information

NOTE: The information contained in this release is protected by copyright. Please include journal attribution in all coverage. For more information or to obtain a PDF of any study, please contact: Sara Henning-Stout, newsroom@wiley.com.

About the Journal
The Journal of Advanced Nursing (JAN) is a world-leading international peer reviewed journal. JAN targets readers who are committed to advancing practice and professional development on the basis of new knowledge and evidence. 

About Wiley
Wiley is one of the world’s largest publishers and a global leader in scientific research and career-connected education. Founded in 1807, Wiley enables discovery, powers education, and shapes workforces. Through its industry-leading content, digital platforms, and knowledge networks, the company delivers on its timeless mission to unlock human potential. Visit us at Wiley.com. Follow us on FacebookTwitterLinkedIn and Instagram.

Does proximity to protest sites affect people’s political attitudes?


Peer-Reviewed Publication

WILEY

Urban protests that involve occupying public spaces can be effective for conveying protesters’ messages and gaining wider support, but it’s thought that they may backfire if they severely disrupt the everyday lives of non-participants. A study published in The British Journal of Sociology found that after the Occupy Central Movement in Hong Kong, residents living near the occupied areas not only maintained their support for the pro-democracy camp but also became more liberal compared with faraway residents.

The authors of the study note that this phenomenon can be explained by the “on-site” effect, which suggests that direct exposure to protestors’ solidarity and the repressive actions of authorities arouse bystanders’ sympathy for the protestors and support for their political cause. 

The effect appears to be long-lasting, as evidenced by local election results after the protest. 

“As shown by our evidence, when a protest is perceived as legitimate, people are willing to tolerate temporary inconvenience caused by the disruptions, suggesting that people’s political preferences are not always determined by their self-interests,” said corresponding author Duoduo Xu, PhD, of The University of Hong Kong. “Findings from this study may help us to understand the profound influence that the Occupy Central Movement brought to Hong Kong’s people and its political landscape and the reason for broader public support for the pro-democracy camp in recent years.”

URL upon publication: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-4446.12988

 

Additional Information

NOTE: The information contained in this release is protected by copyright. Please include journal attribution in all coverage. For more information or to obtain a PDF of any study, please contact: Sara Henning-Stout, newsroom@wiley.com.

About the Journal
The British Journal of Sociology is a leading international sociological journal published on behalf of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). With a focus on the social and democratic sociological questions of our times, this renowned journal leads the debate on key methodological and theoretical questions and controversies in contemporary sociology. Founded in 1895 by Beatrice and Sidney Webb, the LSE is one of the largest colleges within the University of London and has an outstanding reputation for academic excellence nationally and internationally.

About Wiley
Wiley is one of the world’s largest publishers and a global leader in scientific research and career-connected education. Founded in 1807, Wiley enables discovery, powers education, and shapes workforces. Through its industry-leading content, digital platforms, and knowledge networks, the company delivers on its timeless mission to unlock human potential. Visit us at Wiley.com. Follow us on FacebookTwitterLinkedIn and Instagram.

EV transition will benefit most US vehicle owners, but lowest-income Americans could get left behind

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Graphic

More than 90% of vehicle-owning households in the United States would see a reduction in the percentage of income spent on transportation energy—the gasoline or electricity that powers their cars, SUVs and pickups—if they switched to electric vehicles.

And more than 90% of households that replace gas-powered vehicles with EVs would also reduce the amount of climate-warming greenhouse gases they generate, according to a new University of Michigan study.

However, more than half of the lowest-income U.S. households (an estimated 8.3 million households) would continue to experience high transportation energy burdens, defined in this study as spending more than 4% of household income on filling the tank or charging up.

"Our results confirm the potential for widespread benefits from EV adoption," said study corresponding author Joshua Newell, an urban geographer at the U-M Center for Sustainable Systems, part of the School for Environment and Sustainability.

"However, EV ownership in the U.S. has thus far been dominated by households with higher incomes and education levels, leaving the most vulnerable populations behind. Policy interventions are needed to increase EV accessibility so that all Americans can benefit from the EV transition."

The new study is scheduled for publication Jan. 11 in Environmental Research Letters, an IOP Publishing journal. It is the first study to consider the spatial variation of both EV energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions across the country.

It's also the first study to examine EV energy costs through the lens of distributive justice by calculating the EV energy burden (percentage of income spent on EV charging) for the entire United States. Distributive justice concerns the fair distribution of benefits and burdens.

EVs currently account for about 1% of the cars, SUVs and pickups on American roads. If all those vehicles were replaced with new EVs, the transportation energy burdens and associated greenhouse gas emissions would vary widely from place to place, according to the new study.

Reductions in both transportation energy burden and GHG emissions would be especially pronounced on the West Coast and in parts of the Northeast, due largely to cleaner energy grids and lower electricity prices.

Households in some locations could reduce their annual transportation-energy costs by $600 or more, and cut their annual carbon footprint by more than 4.1 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents, by buying a new E

But lower-income households in other parts of the country wouldn't fare as well, Newell said.

Very high EV transportation energy burdens, ranging from 10% to 64%, would persist for the lowest-income households and would be concentrated in the Midwest and in the two states with the highest electricity prices: Hawaii and Alaska.

Eight percent of U.S. households (an estimated 9.6 million households) would see low savings in both transportation energy burden and greenhouse gas emissions by choosing an EV. "Both low" households are scattered across the country, with about half of them in Midwest states, including Michigan.

Factors that contribute to those low EV savings include cold winter temperatures that impact battery performance, electrical grids that rely largely on fossil fuels, or electricity prices that are higher relative to gasoline prices.

According to the study, the lowest-income households would continue to experience the highest transportation energy burdens. Essentially all households with incomes of less than 30% of the local median would experience moderate or high EV energy burdens.

"We identified disparities that will require targeted policies to promote energy justice in lower-income communities—including the subsidizing of charging infrastructure—as well as strategies to reduce electricity costs and increase the availability of low-carbon transportation modes such as public transit, bicycling and car sharing," said study lead author Jesse Vega-Perkins, who did the work for a master's thesis at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability.

"Our analysis indicates that future grid decarbonization, current and future fuel prices, and charging accessibility will impact the extent to which EV benefits will be realized, including lowering transportation energy burdens for low-income households," said study senior author Greg Keoleian, director of U-M's Center for Sustainable Systems.

The study used a geospatial model to evaluate three factors associated with the EV transition: transportation energy burden, fuel costs (meaning the cost of gasoline or the electricity needed to charge an EV) and greenhouse gas emissions.

The analysis does not include vehicle purchase cost. Total cost of ownership of EVs is the focus of a current study by the Center for Sustainable Systems.

The researchers calculated transportation energy burdens and lifetime greenhouse gas emissions of new battery-electric and internal-combustion vehicles at the census tract level. Then they compared the energy burdens of the new vehicles to the energy burdens of the current on-road vehicle stock. Finally, they compared the spatial variation and extent of energy burdens and greenhouse gas emissions for EVs and internal-combustion vehicles across the U.S.

Transportation accounts for the largest portion of the greenhouse gases emitted in the United States, with direct emissions from passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks comprising roughly 16% of U.S. emissions. Electrification is seen as the primary pathway to reducing those emissions.

The study was supported by funding from the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability.

Study: Mapping electric vehicle impacts: Greenhouse gas emissions, fuel costs, and energy justice in the United States (DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/aca4e6) (available when embargo lifts)

New biography of famous paleontologist Mary Anning unearthed from University of Bristol archives

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL

Fig 1 

IMAGE: STATUE OF MARY ANNING view more 

CREDIT: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

A short biography of pioneering scientist Mary Anning, written in the final ten years of her life, has been made public for the very first time.

Penned by George Roberts (1804–1860), who ran a private school opposite Anning’s fossil shop in Lyme Regis, and preserved in the Special Collections of the University of Bristol Library, the work has been published by Dr Michael Taylor of National Museums Scotland and University of Leicester and Professor Michael Benton of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences.

Mary Anning (1799–1847) of Lyme Regis has been the subject of recent books and films, such as Tracy Chevalier’s Remarkable Creatures, and Ammonite, in which she was portrayed by Kate Winslet, because of her importance in the early days of palaeontology. She collected some of the first marine reptiles – ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs – from the Jurassic period of the Dorset coast. Noted professors relied on her work to provide insights into the life of the past.

Mary Anning has become an icon of the often-forgotten contributions of women to science, and the campaign to get children, especially girls, interested in geology. But, in her day, she was a curiosity, another poor person in the Regency seaside resort of Lyme Regis.

“When the Library sent me a copy of the four-page manuscript, I found that it was based partly on a passage in Roberts’s history of Lyme Regis,” said Dr Taylor. “Roberts wrote books like ‘The Beauties of Lyme Regis’ for tourists, and he collected interesting pieces of information. We were able to confirm Anning expert Hugh Torrens’s suggestion that it was by Roberts, by identifying Roberts’s handwriting, and comparing the corrections and even a mistake with a particular date which Roberts had handwritten into his own copy of his history. So, it wasn’t just someone else copying from his book. It looks as if it was written as a dictionary entry or a section for a future book.”

“This memoir is valuable,” said Prof Benton. “One or two visitors to Lyme Regis mentioned Mary Anning and her little fossil shop, and she was obviously widely known to natural scientists in London, Bristol, Oxford, and Cambridge. But normally they would not enquire into her life in any detail. Admittedly though, when she died at the relatively young age of 48, she had obituaries in various papers and scientific journals.”

Dr Taylor said: “These short obituaries were often copied from one written by George Roberts. George Roberts lived in Lyme Regis and met her many times. He describes how she was struck by lightning as a baby, and then how at the age of about ten she began collecting fossils, and how she sold her first find, an ammonite to a passing lady in the street for half a crown.”

There are further details of her discoveries of fossil reptiles, including the first ichthyosaur fossil studied by scientists. It was described by Sir Everard Home in 1818. Mary Anning was granted a government annuity of £25 per year in 1836 thanks to an intervention by Fellows of the Geological Society of London, and she died of breast cancer in 1847.

“We dated the manuscript as written some time in 1837–47,” added Dr Taylor, “because there is an ‘1837’ watermark in the paper, and Anning was described as a ‘living worthy’. Later,  Roberts took the manuscript, deleted mention of Anning as alive, and added information on her death to make it into an obituary, presumably just after she died. But it seems never to have been published at its full length.”

Prof Benton concluded: “We are very pleased that we are able to publish the document in full.

“In the paper, we show detailed photographs of all four pages of the document, as well as our reading of the various versions and modifications. George Roberts was the locally-based author who reported the news from Lyme Regis to various newspapers and wrote his own books, so it makes complete sense that he would have written about Mary Anning as a well-known celebrity of the town.”

Paper:

The life of Mary Anning, fossil collector of Lyme Regis: a contemporary biographical memoir by George Roberts’ by Michael A. Taylor and Michael J. Benton in Journal of the Geological Society.


A page from the manuscript which includes details of Mary Anning being struck by lightning as a baby


CREDIT

Special Collections, University of Bristol

Notes to Editors

The memoir (DM Ref SCUBL DM1186/5/1) is in the collection of books and manuscripts in the history of geology made by Joan M. Eyles (1907–1986) and Victor A. Eyles (1895–1978) and donated by Joan Eyles to the University of Bristol Library.

Landscaping for drought: We’re doing it wrong


Trees’ tolerance, watered down

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - RIVERSIDE

Ibsen sampling 

IMAGE: STUDY LEAD PETER IBSEN OBTAINING LEAF SAMPLES FOR THE STUDY. view more 

CREDIT: PETER IBSEN/UCR

Despite recent, torrential rains, most of Southern California remains in a drought. Accordingly, many residents plant trees prized for drought tolerance, but a new UC Riverside-led study shows that these trees lose this tolerance once they’re watered.

One goal of the study was to understand how artificial irrigation affects the trees’ carbon and water use. To find out, the researchers examined 30 species of trees spread across Southern California’s urban areas from the coast to the desert. They then compared those trees with the same species growing wild. 

“We found that, particularly as you move toward the desert regions, the same species of urban trees use much more water than their natural counterparts, even trees considered drought tolerant,” said study lead and former UC Riverside botany graduate student Peter Ibsen, currently with the U.S. Geological Survey.

This and other key findings from the study are now documented in the journal Biology Letters, published by the Royal Society.  

To obtain their findings, the researchers enlisted the help of trained community scientists to locate some of the most common Southern California street trees, ensure these specimens were healthy, and that the area at the base of the tree was at least 65% irrigated. 

Included in the study were such familiar species as eucalyptus, tree ficus, crepe myrtle, sweetgum, live oak, jacaranda, sycamore and Brazilian pepper trees, but not palms. Though palms are closely identified with California, botanists do not consider them trees.

Drought tolerant trees often restrict their water use to protect themselves from drying out when temperatures rise. However, with the exception of ficus, the irrigated trees all increased their water intake. 

“Generally, they’re not conserving it,” Ibsen said. “Given the extra water, they will use it all.”

As part of the study, researchers drilled into the core of the trees to measure the density of the wood, sampled leaves to measure their thickness and other physical properties, and measured the amount of pressure it takes to move water through the tree. 

Trees with denser wood typically grow slower and move less water through their stems. The wood is less dense if there is more water going through, at least in natural environments. 

“In urban areas, that relationship between wood density and water use falls apart,” Ibsen said, finding that even urban trees with dense wood were moving high amounts of water through their stems.

Trees in the study were also found to pull carbon from the atmosphere at different, and generally higher rates than their wild relatives. With more carbon, they also have a higher capacity for doing photosynthesis, and growing more leaves.

In these and other ways, urban trees are so unique in their behaviors that they can be classified as having their own distinct ecology. “Urban forests are different than anything else on the planet, even though all the species are found elsewhere on the planet,” Ibsen said. 

It is unclear whether overwatered trees can regain their ability to thrive in drought conditions if the water is removed. Also unclear is the specific amount of water people ought to give their trees in order to for them to thrive and retain their best attributes. Both issues are areas the researchers will be studying, going forward. 

For now, Ibsen recommends that gardeners interested in conserving water refrain from planting their drought tolerant tree on an irrigated lawn. “If you’re buying a tree that’s meant to be drought tolerant, let it tolerate a drought,” he said.

Jacaranda tree, frequently planted in Southern California for its beauty as well as its drought tolerance.

CREDIT

Photo: Jules Verne Times Two / julesvernex2.com

Disclaimer: AAAS and Eu

Tory voters losing faith in Brexit benefits, poll finds


Dominic Penna
Sun, January 8, 2023 

Brexit - iStockphoto

Conservative voters are losing faith in Brexit with many now believing that the costs outweigh the benefits, a new poll has shown.

Scepticism among Tory supporters towards Britain's departure from the EU is now greater than support for how it is going, as senior backbenchers urged the Government to do more to deliver on the opportunities of leaving the trade bloc.

The findings of a new poll by Opinium, which surveyed 2,000 representative voters on behalf of the campaigning group Best for Britain, found some 33 per cent of those planning to vote Conservative at the next election believed Brexit had created more problems than it solved.


This compared with 22 per cent who said it had solved more problems, while one-third (32 per cent) said leaving the EU had neither created nor solved more problems or opportunities and the remaining 13 per cent said they did not know.

The main concern of the Tory voters currently disillusioned with Brexit was problems around the Northern Ireland border, cited by 39 per cent of respondents.

Friction has continued amid the ongoing stalemate between the Government and Brussels around the Protocol, which Unionists fear is driving a wedge between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

This was followed by anxiety around costly red tape affecting trade with other countries (36 per cent) and it being more difficult to work abroad without freedom of movement (33 per cent).

Among the public as a whole, meanwhile, 57 per cent said Brexit was causing more problems than it was solving.
Party needs to do more, say 'Spartans'

Two of the Brexit "Spartan" Tories who voted against Theresa May’s Brexit deal on all three occasions said their party was yet to do enough to convince the public of the merits of leaving Brussels.

Sir John Redwood, the MP for Wokingham who served as the head of Margaret Thatcher’s Downing Street policy unit, told The Telegraph it was “deeply disappointing that the obvious Brexit wins haven’t been achieved”.

“It’s entirely what you’d expect because the Government has wanted to bring forward the Brexit wins but has been systematically blocked and upended by the anti-Brexit establishment," he said.

“We don’t yet control our borders, or control the small boats in the way that was intended. We haven’t sorted out fishing and that was going to be one of the big wins. We have remained wedded to an austerity model of economics, based on the Maastricht criteria. We are letting [voters] down and we need to show that they were right to vote for Brexit.”

Craig Mackinlay, the MP for South Thanet, said: “I’m not surprised to hear that because we have been far too timid in using the freedom of Brexit to actually deliver Brexit dividends. So that is the fault of our own administration.

“We should by now have been using the freedoms that we have.”

One Eurosceptic Tory backbencher said they were “very sorry” that Jacob Rees-Mogg no longer held the post of Brexit opportunities minister and said their colleagues “still feel like we’re fighting battles with the Government” over the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill and tackling Brussels bureaucracy.
'We dare not open this Pandora's Box'

Tobias Ellwood, the Tory chairman of the defence select committee, told The Telegraph: "We are happy to ditch a PM to course-correct our economic plans, and even revisit the Integrated Review to update our tested defence posture. So why not exhibit the courage to upgrade our Brexit model that’s now costing us 4 per cent of GDP a year?

"No one is calling for another referendum, but as this poll confirms, more of the electorate is saying this isn’t the 'Brexit' they voted for. Yet it still remains such a taboo subject in Westminster, and specifically within our membership that we dare not open this Pandora's Box."

Naomi Smith, the chief executive of Best for Britain, a pro-EU campaign group, said: “Our polling clearly shows voters across the political spectrum now realise Brexit has made the UK poorer, less competitive and less attractive for businesses.

“Those claiming to represent voters must stop insulting our intelligence and start advocating closer ties with Europe.”

The Government wants to revise or repeal almost 4,000 "retained" EU laws, that were transposed into UK law when Brexit took legal effect, by the end of this year.

But Rishi Sunak has noted ministers can push back decisions on a specific EU law until June 2026, leading to concern that some rules may be in place for longer.

In his first major domestic speech on Wednesday, Mr Sunak said Britain was “seizing the opportunities of Brexit to ensure our regulatory system is agile and pro-innovation”.

Jeremy Hunt, his Chancellor, unveiled new proposals last month which are designed to tear up “overbearing” EU legislation, ranging from investment funds to pensions, in a move he hopes will boost the financial services industry.
EPA to award $100M to boost environmental justice programs


Tue, January 10, 2023



WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday it is awarding $100 million in competitive grants for projects that advance environmental justice in communities disproportionately affected by industrial pollution and other hazards.

The funding, established through the 2022 climate and health law signed by President Joe Biden, marks the largest environmental justice grants the agency has ever offered. The projects are among the first from an expected $3 billion in block grants targeting underserved communities authorized under the new law.

The program will be overseen by EPA's new office of environmental justice and external civil rights, which EPA Administrator Michael Regan created last year. The office includes more than 200 staff members at EPA headquarters and in 10 U.S. regions.

“Since day one, President Biden pledged to prioritize environmental justice and equity for all, and EPA is at the heart of delivering on that mission,” Regan said.

The funding announced Tuesday "is a key step that will help build strong partnerships with communities across the country and move us closer to realizing a more just and equitable future for all,” Regan said.

Grant applications are due April 10, with projects expected to begin as soon as October, EPA said.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat who co-chairs the Senate’s environmental justice caucus, said the grants will “help deliver results for environmental justice communities that have been ignored for too long,'' including Chicago's South Side and an industrial area in Louisiana often nicknamed “Cancer Alley.” The region includes dozens of chemical plants, refineries, fertilizer plants and other industrial sites that have long polluted air and water and caused health problems to nearby residents.

Access to clean air and clean water is more than an environmental issue, Duckworth said: "It’s a matter of health and safety, systemic racism and persistent discrimination against those in low-income communities. Every American deserves access to clean air and water — no matter their ZIP code, the color of their skin or the size of their paycheck.''

The EPA said it will provide $30 million in direct grants to community-based nonprofit organizations and partners, with $5 million reserved for small community-based groups with five or fewer full-time employees.

The program also will provide $70 million in funding to states, local governments and federally recognized tribes.

The EPA awarded $53.4 million in grants in November to enhance air quality monitoring near chemical plants, refineries and other industrial sites. The grants were funded by the climate law and a coronavirus relief plan approved by Congress in 2021.

Matthew Daly, The Associated Press
OBSCENE STATISM
Greek trial of volunteer migrant rescuers to resume Friday

Tue, January 10, 2023 



MYTILENE, Greece (AP) — Two dozen Greek and foreign aid workers and volunteers who participated in migrant rescue operations on an eastern Greek island have gone on trial in a smuggling-related case that’s been widely criticized by human rights groups.

The 24 defendants deny all the charges, saying they did nothing more than help rescue people whose lives were in danger. The trial in the town of Mytilene on Lesbos began Tuesday and was adjourned until Friday.

The aid workers include prominent Syrian human rights worker Sarah Mardini, a refugee herself and competitive swimmer whose sister Yusra Mardini was part of the refugee swimming team at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021. The sisters’ story was made into a Netflix movie.

Mardini, who was not present for Tuesday’s hearing, and fellow volunteer Sean Binder spent more than three months in jail in Lesbos after their 2018 arrest on misdemeanor charges including espionage, forgery and unlawful use of radio frequencies.

The case was initially set to go ahead in 2021 but was postponed over procedural issues. The two are also under investigation for felonies, but no such charges have yet been brought.

“What is on trial today is human rights. That is the fundamental problem,” Binder said outside court before Tuesday’s hearing.

“We are desperate to go to trial because what we did was legal,” Binder said. “And we need the judge to acknowledge that we need to get through this, because until then, there is a shadow of doubt, not over me alone, but over anybody who does search and rescue.”

Defense lawyers filed objections Tuesday on procedural issues regarding the way the prosecution has been handled, said Cleo Papapantoleon, one of the lawyers, adding that the court could rule on the objections when it reconvenes on Friday.

“We’ve spent the entire morning giving reason after reason, irrefutable reasons why this trial could not continue. Because the prosecution has made mistake after mistake, they’ve violated our human rights, they’ve made procedural errors,” Binder said after the adjournment.

“All we’re asking for, all our lawyers have demanded, is that the rule of law is respected, that Greek laws are respected. We want the rule of law. And now we’ll find out on Friday whether we get the rule of law or the rule of flaws,” he added.

Human rights group Amnesty International has described the case against the aid workers as “farcical” and called on Greek authorities to drop the charges.

“Sarah and Sean did what any of us should do if we were in their position. Helping people at risk of drowning in one of the deadliest sea routes in Europe and assisting them on the shoreline is not a crime,” Nils Muiznieks, director of Amnesty’s European Regional Office, said in a statement ahead of Tuesday's hearing.

“This trial reveals how the Greek authorities will go to extreme lengths to deter humanitarian assistance and discourage migrants and refugees from seeking safety on the country’s shores, something which we see in a number of European countries,” he said. “It is farcical that this trial is even taking place.”

Greece, which saw around a million migrants and refugees cross to its shores from nearby Turkey at the height of the refugee crisis in 2015, has clamped down on migration, erecting a fence along much of its land border with Turkey and increasing sea patrols near its islands.

Greek officials say they have a strict but fair migration policy. They also deny, despite increasing evidence to the contrary, conducting illegal summary deportations of people arriving on Greek territory without allowing them to apply for asylum, a procedure known as “pushbacks.”

___

Becatoros contributed from Athens, Greece.

___

Follow AP's coverage of global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

Panagiotis Balaskas And Elena Becatoros, The Associated Press


Long delayed trial of migrant rescuers resumes in Greece


By AFP
Published January 10, 2023

Syrian swimmer Sarah Mardini at the premiere of the Netflix film 'The Swimmers' - Copyright AFP Wakil KOHSAR

A trial in Greece of 24 humanitarian workers accused of espionage, including Syrian swimmer Sarah Mardini who inspired a Netflix film, resumed Tuesday after more than a year.

The trial began in November 2021 but was swiftly adjourned. The suspects are also being probed for human trafficking, money laundering, fraud and the unlawful use of radio frequencies.

Mardini, who has lived in exile in Germany since 2015, was arrested in 2018 while volunteering for a Lesbos-based search and rescue organisation, where they assisted people in distress at sea.

“I was arrested because I was handing over water and blankets and translating for the refugees arriving every night on the shoreline,” she had said in a TED interview.

Rights monitors slammed the slow proceedings and said the case was politically motivated.

Wies de Graeve from Amnesty International, who is an observer at the trial, said the delay was a ploy to prevent NGOs involved in rescue operations from working in Greece.

Pieter Wittenberg, a Dutch accused, said the charges of spying and money laundering would not hold up, adding that the case was politically motivated.

Mardini was not present in court as the Greek authorities did not permit her to return, her lawyer Zacharias Kesses said.

Mardini fled Syria in 2015 during the civil war with her sister, Olympic swimmer Yusra Mardini.

She spent more than three months in jail in Lesbos following her arrest and was released after her attorneys raised 5,000 euros ($5,370) in bond.

The case was initially set to go ahead in 2021 but was postponed over procedural issues.

The Mardini sisters are the main characters of The Swimmers, a Netflix film based on their story.


Tigray forces begin handing over heavy weapons to Ethiopian army

Dawit Endeshaw
Tue, January 10, 2023 



By Dawit Endeshaw

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Tigray forces, who fought a two-year war against Ethiopia's federal government, began handing over heavy weaponry to the national army as part of an African Union-led peace process on Tuesday.

The demobilisation of Tigray forces is seen as central to the Nov. 2 ceasefire agreement, alongside the restoration of services, resumption of humanitarian aid and withdrawal of Eritrean troops, who fought alongside Ethiopia's army but were not party to the truce.

The conflict created famine-like conditions for hundreds of thousands of Tigray's population, killed thousands and displaced millions across northern Ethiopia.

The handover in the town of Agulae, around 30 km (18 miles) northeast of the regional capital Mekelle, was overseen by a monitoring team comprising members of the two sides and a regional body, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

At the ceremony, Tigray Defence Forces (TDF) representative Mulugeta Gebrechristos said the start of the disarmament would play a major role in restoring peace.

"We are operating with the belief that if we are to have peace, all things that open the door for provocation must not be there. Peace is vital for us all," Mulugeta said in a speech broadcast on Tigrai TV.

"We are all (part of) one Ethiopia. Both us and the TDF have moved from our respective defensive positions in peace, understanding and love," said Aleme Tadesse, a representative of the Ethiopian army.

Eritrean soldiers pulled out of several major towns in Tigray late last month but have not left Tigrayan territory, according to residents. Eritrea has declined to comment on whether troops will leave.

(Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw; Writing by Hereward Holland; Editing by Aaron Ross and Bill Berkrot)