Have you been labelled at work by your gender, age or ethnicity? Here's how those labels can delegitimize you


Claudine Mangen, 

RBC Professor in Responsible Organizations and Associate Professor, 

Concordia University
Wed, January 25, 2023 

Women who are seen as assertive can often be negatively labelled at work. 

Have you or a colleague ever been negatively labelled at work, whether it’s based on your gender, age, race or ethnicity? Labels can often be mundane because we use them spontaneously on an everyday basis. But they can also be far from innocuous. Labels convey value judgments and serve to control the behaviour of the people they’re applied to.

My explanations of labelling draw on research, including my own. I head a research program on gender inequalities and organizational leadership at Concordia University. My research is concerned with everyday practices like labelling, how they arise and what they do.

Differing expectations

To understand labels, we have to look at how we interact with the world around us. We make sense of this world by using mental shortcuts that enable us to save our mental resources. Shortcuts draw on categories; one of the most salient categories is gender.

We instantaneously and spontaneously categorize people around us in gender categories, relying on information accumulated throughout our lives. Categories of course go beyond gender and also include race, age, ethnicity and so on.

When we assign a person to the woman category, we are inclined to see her in a caregiving role rather than an agentic role like a leader. 

As we assign people to gender categories, we evaluate them in their roles, notably whether these roles are consistent with their gender category. During this evaluation process, we draw on social norms about women and men, who they are and what they do. Today’s social norms continue to view men and women differently: women are expected to act communally and care for others; men are expected to be agentic and assert themselves.

As a result, when we assign a person to the woman category, we are inclined to see her in a caregiving role rather than an agentic role like a leader. Our beliefs are gender-biased: if she had been a man, we would have attributed a different role to her.

When we see others behave in ways that deviate from the roles associated with their gender categories, we often draw on labels that designate this deviance. For instance, suppose we see a woman who is assertive. Since we categorized her as a woman, we expect her to be caregiving; we see her assertive behaviour as a deviance from this caregiving behaviour. We might then draw on a label that identifies and designates this deviance.

Labels matter

Women leaders I interviewed told me how they have been labelled “bitch.” The names of interview participants I cite below have been changed to protect their anonymity.

For instance, Leslie explained: “Women are still perceived as the ones who should be softer, caretaking; everything is just from the heart, and doting and nurturing.”

When we see others behave in ways that deviate from the roles associated with their gender categories, we often draw on labels that designate this deviance. 

When women do not meet expectations around caretaking, they are penalized for their deviance. Leslie pointed out: “When you don’t fill that role, and people expect you to fill that role going back to expectations, you’re seen as a tough, sorry to say it, bitch.”

Tina argued that men do not have similar caretaking expectations: “We all know a guy who’s tough — he’s assertive, he’s confident. A woman who’s tough, she’s a bitch.”

Labels have consequences for those who are labelled. When labels are used to designate behaviour that deviates from an expectation, they can delegitimize and undermine people.

Consider again the women leaders I interviewed. Labels that emphasize their gender obscure their other identities and roles. In other words, the labels suggest that their identities as women and leaders are incompatible.

The interview participants reacted in three ways to their labelling. They accepted it and made efforts to be seen as nice. They also rejected it, questioning the person who did the labelling. Finally, they sometimes ignored it. Either way, they spent time and energy dealing with labels that went to the core of who they are.

There are many other labels that we often use, many of which do the same thing as the “bitch” label that I illustrated. We do not question labels because they often seem so mundane and spontaneous. Therein, however, lies the danger of labels: they constitute a way of putting people down and delegitimizing them.

We should observe ourselves and question why we use the labels we do. What are our expectations of the people we label? If they don’t meet our expectations, rather than blaming them through a label, perhaps we should question our expectations.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. 

It was written by: Claudine Mangen, Concordia University.

Claudine Mangen receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

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Niagara advocate pushing region to declare emergency on mental health, homelessness

Wed, January 25, 2023 

After four years of trying in vain, an advocate from Niagara is hoping to convince regional council to declare homelessness, mental health and addiction public emergencies.

“I think I’m gonna see a lot of changed hearts and a lot of changed minds,” Steven Soos told The Lake Report.

Before the proposal can make it to council, it will first be reviewed by the region’s public health committee Feb. 14, he said.

When his proposal last came to the region in fall 2021 it was dismissed, though it received endorsements from 11 of Niagara’s 12 lower-tier municipalities.

The region formally acknowledged the issues raised by Soos, but stopped short of declaring a state of emergency.

Soos self-identifies as Metis and traces his ancestry back to his grandfather.

He sees the region’s “watered-down response” to the triple threat crisis as another broken promise to Indigenous people.

According to Statistics Canada, 12 per cent of First Nations people living off reserve have experienced homelessness.

Statistics Canada also estimates the rate of suicide in Indigenous groups is three times that of non-Indigenous groups.

The rate of alcohol-related deaths in Aboriginal communities is also twice that of the the general population, according to research by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.

Soos believes if council passes his motion, the region will be able to get a “co-ordinated response” from the province.

He said the region can drum up additional support and funding for the crisis by “using the same legislation” used to respond to COVID-19.

Long-term, he wants the federal government to conduct a national study on the emergency of mental health.

Evan Loree, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Lake Report

'We need action, not annual empty words': Bell Let's Talk campaign ads are 'awful', only for 'shock value', critics say

While the Bell Let's Talk campaign has raised millions, many want more mental health action -- without the branding

Elianna Lev
Wed, January 25, 2023 

Wasting time in smartphone. Millennial generation mental health. Life in metaverse, not in real world. Conceptual of bad condition of broken hearted, sadness, loneliness or depress woman. 

(Oleg Breslavtsev via Getty Images)

Trigger warning: The content and commercials featured in this article may be disturbing to some readers.

If you or a loved one is struggling, visit talksuicide.ca. You can also call Talk Suicide Canada toll free at 1-833-456-4566. Québec residents can call 1 866 APPELLE (277-3553).

Bell Canada’s annual mental health campaign day, Let’s Talk, is receiving criticism in its 13th year. While many across the country took to their social media to promote or take part in the day, including major corporations and facilities like the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Ottawa Senators, Toronto’s CAMH hospital, the Toronto Film Festival and Calgary Police, some Canadian viewers and experts are sharing a different view

This year, the campaign's television advertisements and billboards have struck a nerve. Some feel the grave subject matter, which addresses issues like suicide and anxiety, is sensationalizing the topic, as well as has the potential to negatively trigger people with mental health issues.

Others point out that more needs to be done for mental health in the country, where it can often be complicated, convoluted and expensive to access the right services.

Others were critical of the corporations intention. Some put a spotlight on Bell Media's employment practices and recent controversy over the firing of anchor Lisa LaFlamme.

I Take metal health very seriously. However, I will not support #BellLetsTalkDay after the fiasco with Lisa Laflamme and the layoffs last year. Bell caused mental health issues

— halifax man (@sdpuddicombe) January 25, 2023

The Let's Talk campaign first launched in 2010, with the intention of creating a dialogue around mental health issues. It has raised tens of millions of dollars towards funding more than 1,400 community grants and various mental health programs and research. According to the Let's Talk website, one third of Canadians say they've taken action related to mental health since Let's Talk first beg

FEMICIDE
I covered murder-suicides, and learned how journalists were vulnerable to trauma

Norma Hilton, Global Journalism Fellow, University of Toronto
Wed, January 25, 2023 

Researching and reporting on traumatic events can affect journalists' mental health. (Shutterstock)

It never really dawned on me how vulnerable journalists were to trauma until I took a job as an investigative reporter. I spent most of 2021 and 2022 verifying, analyzing and writing stories about murder-suicides.

Every morning, I would make myself a cup of coffee in my New York City apartment, then sit down at my desk to pore over cases of murder-suicides — a total of 1,500 a year in the United States at the time.

I was consumed by my work. I was going through every news story about a specific murder-suicide, checking the accuracy of facts like the spelling of names, ages of the perpetrators and their victims and details of where the events occurred and how the murder-suicides were carried out.

In one case, I spent a month working out the number of children killed by their parents in various parts of the country. When relatives I hadn’t seen in four years came to visit, I spent most of their trip elsewhere, interviewing with experts on gun and domestic violence.

Some stories were gruesome and graphic, like the case of José Valdivia in California who killed his ex-wife and children the day after she filed for a restraining order before turning the weapon on himself. That was one which hit me especially hard; I was living alone, and each time I would see a child with their parent, I would try to figure out what could possibly trigger such an awful event.

Covering Violence by Roger Simpson and William Coté is one of the few guides for journalists reporting on traumatic events. (Columbia University Press)

Trying to understand why a parent would take the life of their own child was important. But I felt as if I was trying to justify these heinous acts, and I didn’t want to make them acceptable.

Journalists are trained to be objective and neutral, so we’re able to report on events, no matter how disturbing, without emotional involvement.

But staying detached was impossible.

Journalism stress

Stress has detrimental effects on the body. I had frequent migraines and I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t silence my thoughts and quiet the chaos in my head. I began feeling claustrophobic in unfamiliar surroundings, and jumped at sudden loud noises. I felt unsafe and anxious.

My feelings made no sense to me because I had neither witnessed a crime nor reported on one directly, and yet I was deeply affected, physically and emotionally.

My experience was just one example among the soaring incidence of stress among journalists. Covering wars, diseases and deaths is stressful, and this is compounded by increasingly demanding workloads and uncertain job security.

Experienced trauma

The Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma looked at the mental health of more than 1,200 journalists in late 2021. More than two-thirds suffered from anxiety, 46 per cent reported depression, and 15 per cent said they had experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) over the past four years.

Anna Mortimer is an ex-journalist who founded The Mind Field, a group that provides therapy to journalists and humanitarian workers remotely around the world.

“A journalist may not identify the problem as quickly and might feel more ashamed displaying it than someone who was a bystander for other reasons,” Mortimer says. “I think journalists expect to be less vulnerable, less affected, but that is not the case. Just because you are a witness and not a participant, it doesn’t mean you will not carry it with you forever.”

The health issues reported to The Mind Field therapists include insomnia, nightmares, flashbacks, general anxiety and more obviously physical symptoms like headaches or gastric problems. Many journalists also turn to coping strategies like excessive drinking or a reliance on drugs.

Vicarious exposure

The clinical definition of trauma has evolved, as the events that cause it have become more complex. Research shows that journalists can be “adversely affected by emotional stressors and that most journalists are exposed to potentially traumatic events at least once in their career.”

“If you are exposed to visually troubling images in your line of work, that’s now considered sufficient stress to cause post-traumatic stress disorder”, says Anthony Feinstein, professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto and a leading expert on the trauma faced by journalists.

Journalists whose work places them in danger are at higher risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder. 

He adds: “You are not directly being threatened, but the imagery in front of you can be very disturbing. So, you still witness it vicariously.”

Some factors can heighten a journalist’s vulnerability and increase their risk for developing PTSD. In a 2017 study, researchers working with journalists in Europe found the risk soars if a journalist is physically or verbally attacked or injured while on the job.

Unexplained workplace changes, inconsistent leadership styles and conflicts with supervisors exacerbate the problem. What’s more, journalists who try to shield their emotions through coping mechanisms like denial, behavioural disengagement and self-distraction have reported more severe PTSD symptoms.

The problem is exacerbated by journalism’s rapidly expanding boundaries. Journalists now frequently work with user-generated content, including violent images and video material transmitted to newsrooms from sources on the ground. Frequent exposure to disturbing content — like from the war in Ukraine or political unrest in the U.S. — presents new challenges for journalists, Feinstein says.

“The majority of journalists will never develop PTSD or depression,” he says. “However, the minority who do is quite a significant one and quite higher than what you would see in the general population. And that point is very important.”

Music has been my greatest comfort and something I turn to every day. Opening up to my friends and family about my mental state, even when it’s uncomfortable, has helped me immensely.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. 

It was written by: Norma Hilton, University of Toronto.

Read more:

Fergal Keane: hopes that BBC reporter’s courage will help remove stigma of PTSD in journalists

Violent news: Psychological trauma a new risk in digital age

First Nations say Alberta's oilsands mine security reform unlikely to fix problems

A dump truck works near the Syncrude oil sands extraction facility near the city of Fort McMurray, Alberta 

Jason Franson
Bob Weber
The Canadian Press


EDMONTON -

Alberta is preparing to change how it ensures oilsands companies are able to pay for the mammoth job of cleaning up their operations, but critics fear a year of consultations hasn't been enough to avoid repeating past mistakes.

"There's no signal to me from this government that they are going to hold industry accountable for clean-up costs," said Melody Lepine of the Mikisew Cree First Nation, one of the Indigenous groups consulted.

Official estimates price that cleanup at $33 billion while internal estimates from the Alberta Energy Regulator put it closer to $130 billion. Even at the lower figure, industry has only put up about four per cent of the money required, a percentage that is shrinking as the liability grows.

After two highly critical reports from the province's auditor general, Alberta's United Conservative government began considering reforms to the Mine Financial Security Program in January 2022 through a series of meetings with industry and area First Nations.

Consultation ended this month. No public hearings were held and no public input was sought.

"We anticipate completing the review of this program in 2023, with implementation of any changes, if necessary, beginning in 2024," Alberta Environment and Protected Areas spokesman Jason Penner wrote in an email.

The provincial government did not address concerns raised by the First Nations in response to queries from The Canadian Press.

After attending all the meetings, four First Nations submitted a document to the government, obtained by The Canadian Press, that suggests they fear meaningful reform is not forthcoming.

"(The Athabasca Region First Nations') overall assessment is that the review was often perfunctory, especially in the initial phase, and that (Alberta Energy Regulator) and (Alberta Environment and Parks) staff were often defensive and less than forthcoming," it said.

The document outlines a series of concerns with the direction First Nations fear the government is going.

"It is a lot of the same concerns the (auditor general had)," said Martin Olszynski, a University of Calgary resource law professor who worked as a consultant to the groups.

The document said the program is not designed for an increasingly low-carbon world. Mine closures are slated to coincide with worldwide net-zero targets, meaning oil demand — and its price — are likely to start falling just as that money is needed for cleanups.

University of Alberta energy economist Andrew Leach was also hired as a consultant to the First Nations. He concluded the assumptions used in the government's modelling of the industry's future were unconvincing and simplistic.

"The models provided to me … provide a false and dangerous sense of security," he wrote.

Leach said the government's direction will work if oil prices remain stable or increase. If they don't, Alberta — and its taxpayers — risk having to cover a vast liability left stranded.

"Within the bounds of current scenarios examined by major energy analysts, there are several scenarios under which existing oilsands projects cease to be viable," Leach wrote.

Companies still are not required to release projected clean-up costs, the document said.

Although companies are required to return their operations to "equivalent land usage," the First Nations say they have not been consulted on what that means.

The document said the regulator consistently overvalues oilsands assets, a calculation used to gauge how much companies must set aside. It points to one case where an oilsands asset that was sold for $5.5 billion was valued by the regulator at $37 billion.

The First Nations say the integrity of the process was undermined when, midway through the process, the government changed the rules on how companies guarantee they will pay for cleanup.

The Alberta Energy Regulator now accepts a type of demand bond issued by an insurance company instead of cash reserves or a line of credit. A spokesman for the regulator said some companies are using such bonds, but information on how many, who they are or the size of the bonds is "confidential."

Thomas Schneider, associate professor of accounting at Toronto Metropolitan University, said accepting an insurance policy instead of requiring companies to set resources aside will allow producers to delay reserving the billions of dollars the cleanup will take even as some mines approach end of life.

"As these liabilities grow and grow and grow … (industry) is trying to figure out as many ways as they can to delay the timing that they have to tie up capital."

As well, documents released under freedom-of-information legislation suggest the government has considered accepting bonds from so-called captive insurance companies, which are wholly owned by oilsands companies.

The government hired consultants to study whether such bonds put taxpayers at risk. In a heavily redacted report, Marsh consulting said the bonds themselves weren't inherently riskier than lines of credit.

But Marsh warned that it wasn't possible to make a reliable estimate of risk from captive insurance companies, a corporate structure enabled by legislation passed in 2022.

"To complete the assessment for a captive insurance company would be challenging as each captive could be differently capitalized," the report says. "Thus, it would be difficult to assess the inherent likelihood of default without making very broad assumptions."

The regulator does not currently accept bonds from captive insurance companies.

Mark Cameron of Pathways Alliance, an association of Canada's six largest oilsands producers, said the group is waiting for the government's decision on reforms.

"The Pathways Alliance appreciates the opportunities provided by Alberta Environment and Protected Areas to engage with and hear from Indigenous communities," he said in an email.

The stakes, said Lepine, could not be higher. Taxpayers have billions of dollars on the line, but First Nations have even more.

"We got nowhere else to go. It's been our home for thousands of years," she said.

"But if it becomes a toxic wasteland, will we be forced to leave? I don't know."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 26, 2023.

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ALBERTA

Advancing hydrogen use in transportation


Photo 160742721 © Julien Viry | Dreamstime.com

By rdnewsNOW staff
Jan 25, 2023 | 

Alberta’s government says it is seeking input on developing hydrogen fuelling stations to help support future low-emission transportation needs.

The government says Alberta is currently the largest hydrogen producer in Canada and research suggests that the province can produce some of the lowest-cost clean hydrogen in the world. The growing use of hydrogen fuel electric vehicles and hydrogen-diesel dual combustion vehicles is also said to provide an opportunity to reduce emissions in Alberta’s transportation sector while supporting the province’s growing hydrogen economy.

Alberta Energy says it is seeking expressions of interest to help the government gauge the potential for a provincial network of hydrogen fuelling stations owned and operated by the private sector.

“Alberta has the potential to be a global hydrogen leader. To help make that reality, we need to have the infrastructure in place to support its use. Hydrogen fuelling stations could power heavy-duty commercial vehicles, help reduce emissions and support future adoption in other mobility sectors. We are a province driven by innovation, and I look forward to reviewing the proposals,” says Pete Guthrie, Minister of Energy.

“This represents an important initial step forward on the road to a lower-emission future. I’m looking forward to seeing the input we receive from stakeholders and potential partners in this innovative enterprise. Once again, Alberta is leading the way in this cutting-edge opportunity,” adds Dale Nally, Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction.

Officials say the expression of interest is focused on the heavy-duty transportation sectors because they are the most likely to be early adopters of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. Industry will be asked to provide information including potential locations, capital and operating costs, delivery and storage, and safety considerations. In addition, the expression of interest is expected to gather information to assess the potential for the infrastructure to be used for general commercial and personal use of Albertans.

“As the largest producer of hydrogen in Canada, Alberta is uniquely positioned to be a leader in the hydrogen economy. Hydrogen fuelling stations could present many advantages to the heavy-duty transportation sector such as rapid refuelling, longer travel distances and the ability to support heavy payloads. This paves the way for more jobs and economic growth in Alberta and across Canada,” says Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors.

In 2021, the government says Alberta released its Hydrogen Roadmap, which outlines the province’s vision to deploy Alberta-produced hydrogen across domestic and global markets. Transportation was identified as a major market to integrate clean hydrogen. To help ensure this market grows in the future, officials say a reliable fuelling network that meets the needs of Albertans and industry is required.

More information on the expression of interest and Alberta’s Hydrogen Roadmap is available at alberta.ca.

NEED TO ADD WIND

New high-efficiency diesel plant opens in N.W.T. community

Wed, January 25, 2023


ŁUTSEL K'E — A new high-efficiency diesel power plant has opened in Lutsel K'e in the Northwest Territories.

It's expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 100 tonnes every year and allow for the future addition of renewable energy.

The new plant replaces an aging one and is on a different site outside of the community to reduce noise for residents.

The federal government contributed more than $8.7 million to the project with total costs estimated to be around $14.9 million.

Lutsel K'e is on the east arm of Great Slave Lake and is one of many communities in the North that are reliant on diesel for power.

The Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation installed a 35-kilowatt solar array in 2014 and has been exploring other renewable energy options.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2023.

Imperial Oil gives OK to $720M renewable diesel project near Edmonton

Amanda Stephenson, BNNBloomberg/The Canadian Press

CALGARY — Imperial Oil Ltd. is going ahead with a $720-million project to build a renewable diesel facility at its Strathcona refinery near Edmonton.

The project, first announced in August 2021, is expected to produce 20,000 barrels per day of renewable diesel once it is complete.

That will make it the largest facility of its kind in Canada, upon its expected completion in 2025, and one of the largest renewable diesel complexes in North America.

"We would consider ourselves world-class. When you look around the world, there are not many (renewable diesel) plants at 20,000 barrels per day or higher," said Jon Wetmore, Imperial's vice-president for downstream, in an interview Thursday.

Renewable diesel is the term given to a biomass-based fuel that is chemically equivalent to petroleum diesel. This means it can be transported directly in petroleum pipelines or sold at retail stations without any infrastructure modifications or fuel blending.

Renewable diesel can be made from vegetable oil, animal fats, used cooking oil or even algae. In Imperial's case, the Strathcona refinery facility will use locally sourced vegetable oils — such as canola, soybean and sunflower.

Imperial will also be partnering with Pennsylvania-based Air Products — which is building a hydrogen facility near Edmonton — to supply hydrogen via pipeline to the Strathcona refinery. The low-carbon hydrogen will also be used in the production of the renewable diesel.

As a non-fossil fuel-based product, the renewable diesel produced at the Imperial facility is expected to reduce annual greenhouse emissions by about three million tonnes compared to conventional fuels, the company said.

A significant portion of the production from the Strathcona renewable diesel facility will be sent to British Columbia to support the province’s plan to lower carbon emissions, and the company also plans to use renewable diesel in its own operations as part of its emission reduction plans.

The facility's construction will create about 600 direct construction jobs, Imperial said.

"A big day for Alberta, for Canada, and above all for workers with this new step forward from Imperial Oil," federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said on Twitter.

"This investment will create and support jobs, lower emissions, and help ensure Canada’s economic prosperity."

The news was also praised by clean energy think-tank the Pembina Institute, which called it a "positive announcement."

Pembina, as well as other environmental organizations, has been critical of the Canadian oilsands industry over the last year for what the think-tank believes is the industry's failure to move quickly on decarbonization plans during a period of high commodity prices and record profits for oil companies.

Imperial, for example, reported its 2022 third-quarter profit more than doubled compared with a year ago, totalling $2.03 billion — an impressive figure that's been used as ammunition by critics who believe the company, and others like it, can afford to invest more into environmental initiatives.

Imperial is also a member of the Pathways Alliance, a consortium of oil and gas companies that have committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from operations by 2050. Among that group's proposals is a massive carbon capture and storage network in northern Alberta, though a final investment decision for that project has not yet been made.

Jan Gorski, the Pembina Institute's oil and gas program director, said in order to thrive in a net-zero world, Canadian energy companies need to diversify away from fossil fuels, while at the same time reducing the carbon footprint of their oil and gas production methods.

The renewable diesel announcement, Gorski said, falls into that first category.

"It's a perfect example of that," Gorski said. "But we’re still waiting to see investments in reducing emissions from their existing operations."

Wetmore said from Imperial's perspective, renewable diesel is just one piece within a "layered" emissions reduction challenge.

“Decarbonization is such a diverse set of issues that there is no one item here that is a silver bullet that can be done quickly and easily," he said. "If that was the case, the oil industry would have already moved on to the very, quick urgent projects that we could drive home very quickly.

"(Renewable diesel) can be implemented sooner than things like carbon capture, and some of the technologies that are not quite ready."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 26, 2023.

Companies in this story: (TSX:IMO)

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

Canada invests in clean energy initiative converting agricultural waste into diesel fuel

Author of the article: James Bonnell
Published Jan 26, 2023 • 

(L-R) Cibele Halmenschlager, Hanan El-Sayed, Andrea Kent, Francis Drouin, Dr. Arno De Klerk, and Dr. Walter Dixon pose at the University of Alberta lab. 

Photo by James Bonnell.

On Jan. 24, 2023, Parliamentary Secretary to the federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Francis Drouin, visited the University of Alberta to tour the Greenfield Global laboratory and learn more about their clean fuel, agricultural waste reclamation project.

“I was glad to witness the hard work of the researchers at the University of Alberta,” said Francis Drouin. “The collaboration between academia, industry and farm organizations is a driving force to advance renewable fuels while at the same time solving the issue of farm waste. I’m glad to see the Department of Agriculture and Agriculture-Food contributed an initial investment of $2 million to get this project started. The benefits will be good news for farmers.”

Greenfield Global received funding of nearly $2 million under the Agricultural Clean Technology (ACT) program to develop new clean technologies that convert agricultural waste into renewable diesel fuel. Greenfield is collaborating closely with scientists from the University of Alberta on this project.

The Jan. 24 tour began with an overview of the project, followed by a review of fuel samples and a demonstration of the conversion process.

Hanan El-Sayed, Senior Process Engineer with Greenfield Global shows a sample of the diesel fuel to Francis Drouin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. 

Photo by James Bonnell.

“For decades Greenfield has been at the forefront of biofuels production in Canada and as we continue to improve our products we’re also looking more into research and development,” said Andrea Kent, VP Industry and Government Affairs, Greenfield Global. “Today’s announcement is so exciting because this project with Greenfield and the University of Alberta is looking at waste to renewable fuel.”

“This project is able to take agricultural waste that would otherwise be destined for a landfill and end up being garbage — and we’re able to use the expertise that’s coming from the University of Alberta, and the track record and ability to deliver that Greenfield brings to the table, to work towards renewable diesel, and eventually get all the way to renewable, sustainable aviation fuel.”

Through this process, agricultural waste is distilled into a renewable and clean fuel that emits mitigated greenhouse gas emissions and has a reduced environmental impact.

Cibele Halmenschlager, Laboratory Manager at the University of Alberta explains the conversion process to Parliamentary Secretary Francis Drouin. 

Photo by James Bonnell.

“It’s a bookend approach to attacking carbon emissions,” explained Kent. “On one side of it you have this agricultural waste or byproduct that is going to be destined for a landfill, and that is going to release methane gas, a really predominate greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. And on the other end you have the fuel portion of it, which is going to reduce the carbon intensity of the fuels that we use today.”

Greenfield Global representatives say that the conversion process produces synthetic diesel fuel that has a greater than a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, as compared to traditional fossil fuels.

In the current phase of the project, Greenfield has been using livestock manure as their feedstock waste product, but the company says that any waste product could be used to produce the same clean fuel.

“Our process is agnostic, so we don’t depend on just one waste type, we are flexible to use any other types of feedstock,” said Hanan El-Sayed, Senior Process Engineer with Greenfield Global. “For example forest residues, municipal solid waste, separated organics, or sewage sludge even. That’s really what is unique about the process.”

The Greenfield project is part of an investment of over $15.2 million under the ACT program to support the adoption of clean technologies for 47 projects throughout Canada.

The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, announced the program in May 2022, stating, “The fight against climate change aims to not only reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, but also to help producers innovate and adopt more sustainable agricultural practices. New investments in the Agricultural Clean Technology Program will support their acquisition of energy-efficient equipment to increase their agricultural productivity and net profits, while improving food security in Canada.”

“I think when you look at how the future of energy is going to look, it is going to have a myriad of technologies, it is going to have a variety of fuels,” concluded Kent. “There is nothing overnight, there is no one solution or technology that is going to get us the economy and protect the environment at the same time. But what I think is the ideal, and what this project is striving for is really having that flexibility built in at the onset. So it can be applied to a variety of wastes depending on commodity cycles, depending on weather formation, or other needs that are coming from agriculture, while also providing a technology pathway that is reliable and still ends up up in that reliable, low-carbon fuel.”

jbonnell@postmedia.com

Advising others on crucial life choices ‘immoral’ says Cambridge philosopher

Story by Matthew Weaver •The Guardian

Giving friends and relations advice about crucial life choices such as whether to take a new job or start a family is immoral, according to a new paper by a Cambridge philosopher.



Dr Farbod Akhlaghi, a moral philosopher at Christ’s College, argues that everyone has a right to “self authorship”, so must make decisions about transformative experiences for themselves.

In a new paper for philosophy journal Analysis, he argues that this right to “revelatory autonomy” is violated even by well-meaning advice from friends and family about crucial life decisions.

Akhlaghi argues that it is impossible to know if a friend’s life will benefit from a transformative experience – such as new job, the birth of a child or a university course – until after the event. And that it is for them to find out.

Crucially, he argues, it is only by making these choices independently that we can know ourselves.

In the paper, entitled Transformative experience and the right to revelatory autonomy, Akhlaghi writes: “It is not the value of making a choice as such but, rather, that of autonomously making choices to learn what our core preferences and values will become. For autonomously making transformative choices when facing them, deciding for ourselves to learn who we will become, gives us a degree of self-authorship.”

The paper says this right creates a correlative “moral duty in others not to interfere in the autonomous self-making” of their friends.

Akhlaghi argues it is only justifiable to interfere in someone else’s transformative choice by competing moral considerations such as if harm is likely to be done others.

Commenting on the paper he said: “The ability to see that the person we’ve become is the product of decisions that we made for ourselves is very import.

“There are lots of different reasons why we might seek to intervene – some selfish, others well-meaning – but whatever our motivation, we can cause significant harm, including to the people we love most.”

He argues that even those who accept the right to revelatory autonomy in others risk violating this right if they attempt to advise friends on a particular course of action.

Akhlaghi says: “Offering reasons, arguments or evidence as if one is in a privileged position with respect to what the other person’s experience would be like for them disrespects their moral right to revelatory autonomy.”

Akhlaghi suggests that the more likely a choice is to affect someone’s ‘core identity and values’, the stronger the moral reasons required for interfering in their decisions. So advising a friend on whether to eat a cheeseburger or not is easier to justify than advising them on whether to go to university, he writes.

I got laid off from Amazon. The lack of transparency about why certain people were let go made the whole process extremely robotic.

Story by sdelouya@insider.com (Samantha Delouya) •


Amazon recently announced a layoff of 18,000 employees. 

Amazon laid off a total of 18,000 employees over the past couple of months, more than expected based on reports.

 
The final round of layoffs came on January 18. Insider spoke with a recruiter who was part of those layoffs.

 
She said the process felt "extremely robotic" and wished the company had been more transparent about its plans.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with a former Amazon employee laid off on January 18 as part of the company's 18,000-person job cut. She spoke on condition of anonymity to protect her career, but Insider has verified her identity and former employment. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

It sucked to find out I was laid off over email. I know it was probably timed to go out to everyone at the same time, but it was a very generic email, which didn't feel great.

The first email came early in the morning on January 18, saying something along the lines of "layoffs are coming, we're here to support you," and then an hour later, I got the email confirming they eliminated my position.

For the past year, I've worked as a technical recruiter at Amazon Web Services, and I loved it so much. It's just devastating to have gotten laid off. When you find a team that is so supportive, it's really hard not to take it personally when these kinds of things happen. I thought I was doing well, and I had pretty high numbers for what I was doing.

After receiving the initial email informing me that I was laid off, I heard from my organization's higher-ups and later from HR. It felt extremely robotic.

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This whole process has been extremely frustrating because of the lack of transparency we were provided. I know Amazon is a giant company, and I know the logistics of a more personalized approach would have been a nightmare, but on the other hand, we are human beings. This is our livelihood.

I expected more job cuts ever since our CEO, Andrew Jassy, put out a statement 2 weeks ago that more layoffs were coming on the 18th.

It was terrifying. All of us were on edge for 2 weeks, but I was in denial. I thought I was safe.

Although I worked in recruiting and Amazon had been on a hiring freeze since November, we had projects that we were working on, and we were keeping busy.

Most of the time I worked at Amazon, it didn't feel like a giant corporation. I'm sure everyone says they were on the best team, but I truly believe I was on one of the healthiest teams I've ever experienced.

I'm just speculating, but I wonder if the higher-ups would have even told us that layoffs were coming if it hadn't been leaked first. It felt like they weren't going to tell us until the day before.

Over those 2 weeks after the story about additional layoffs leaked, there was no clarity from management. I didn't know if it would be random, performance-based, or based on tenure. The lack of transparency made it feel like I was just a line item instead of a human being.