UK
Innes FitzGerald: The teenager turns down championships for the planet

Layla Nelson

February 1, 2023

Innes Fitzgerald of Great Britain competing in the U20 Women’s 4000m during the SPAR European Cross Country Championships at Piemonte-La Mandria Park in Turin, Italy.

At 16, athlete Innes FitzGerald refuses to be left behind.

The promising long-distance runner turned down participation in the Cross Country World Championships.

your justification? The competition takes place in Australia, thousands of miles from her home in Devon. Innes says she can’t justify flying in a climate crisis.

“I had to do something. I had to do something just to make people aware of the problem,” she says.

“I just thought I had to do something,” Innes tells BBC Newsbeat.

“So when I had the opportunity to go to Australia, I thought, well, now I should say something.”

She wrote a letter to British Athletics, first published in Athletics Weekly, where she wrote that travel fills her with “deep concern”.

“I would never feel comfortable knowing that people could lose their livelihoods, homes and loved ones as a result,” her letter reads.

“The least I can do is express my solidarity with those suffering on the front lines of climate change.

“It wasn’t easy making a decision, but little compares to the sadness I would feel if I accepted the flight.”

‘It’s an emergency’

British Athletics’ response was muted – the organization declined to comment when approached by BBC Newsbeat and Innes says she only received a brief reply herself.

However, others have praised Innes for showing leadership on climate action. Now the teenager hopes that other athletes will follow her example.

“I hope more athletes start questioning their decisions,” says Innes.

“Obviously I don’t expect everyone to behave like me, but I think just doing small things that they think they might be able to do.

“And more high profile athletes that have such a large media platform should use it and speak out about the issues.”

Innes’ election highlights a problem in global competitive sport: Is there a way to be less travel-intensive?

The World Cup in Qatar had promised to be the first carbon-neutral tournament, but there were an estimated 500 daily flights in and out of the capital, Doha, casting doubt on those ambitions.

And Nottingham Forest had to defend themselves after being flown to and from Blackpool for a game in January – 20 minutes each way.

For Innes, she appreciates that sport is a global event, but for now, she limits herself to only competing in the UK and Europe.

She finished fourth at the U20 European Women’s Cross Country Championships in December – she took the train to Italy to compete – and she is aware that her choices could impact her future career.

“It’s really difficult because you can only do a limited number of competitions with the same people in your home country,” she says.

“Even now I think I’ve let go of something, I may have let down my younger self a little bit.

“But I think the climate situation is an emergency – you have to act as if it’s an emergency.”

A return flight in economy class from London to Sydney generates around 2,484 kg of CO2 per passenger, just from burning the fuel. However, CO2 emitted at high altitude has an increased effect – by a factor of 2.7 – which would correspond to 6,707 kg of CO2.

There is no doubt that Innes’ decision not to fly to Australia has already sparked debate and raised awareness of the relationship between sport and climate change.

For athletes who train so hard and already give up so much for their sport, missing out on a world championship is not to be underestimated.

The bigger picture, and literally the bigger problem, is the sport’s enormous environmental and geographic footprint. Sport is now more than ever and is becoming increasingly global, making emissions ever higher.

The World Cross Country Championships actually buck this trend. It used to be an annual event, but since 2010 it has been held every two years, effectively halving emissions.

However, until there is real progress on global warming, maybe there is room for Inne’s beloved sport and everyone else to follow her example and make more sacrifices.

This must be led by the federations and governing bodies of all sports, not left to young athletes alone to take a stand, show leadership and make sacrifices.

“The choices I make now may not be the choices I make in the future,” says Innes.

She’s open that she might choose to fly in the future, especially if it becomes more eco-friendly, but right now her heart is telling her not to travel and she listens.

“It’s going to be tough,” she says. “But I am ready to accept this challenge.”

Rare earth minerals could help in climate change fight, but mining raises environmental concerns: expert

Tue, January 31, 2023

A worker at the Nechalacho rare earth mine in the Northwest Territories. The Vital Metals rare earth processing plant in Saskatoon will process rare earth elements from the Nechalacho mine.

 (Bill Braden/Vital Metals Ltd., Cheetah Resources Corp. - image credit)

While rare earth minerals are now being touted as a key part of efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, there are environmental concerns in extracting these minerals from the ground, says an expert in environmental considerations around mining.

Demand is growing for rare earth elements — a group of metals and minerals that includes lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt and copper that are used in batteries for everything from vehicles to smartphones.

Rare earth elements are being prioritized for investments in exploration, production and processing as part of Canada's critical minerals strategy, which was announced last month.

Some of Canada's experience in mining things like gold or potash is now being used to hunt for rare earth minerals, and Saskatchewan is playing a role through the Vital Metals rare earth processing plant in Saskatoon, which is expected to begin production in the next couple of months.

The plant will process rare earth elements from the Nechalacho rare earth mine in the Northwest Territories before shipping the refined product to another facility in Norway.

But Isabelle Demers, the Quebec-based Canada Research Chair in Integration of Environment in the Mine Life Cycle, says while Canada has the technology to mine these minerals, it's different than mining something like gold.

"We definitely need to produce more of these minerals, and ideally we want to produce them in a responsible manner," Demers said in an interview with CBC Saskatchewan's Morning Edition.

"They are very important because up to now they have been mined mostly in China and other countries, and demand was quite low compared to the upcoming demand to produce all those batteries to meet the commitments for climate change adaptation."

Besides the environmental footprint of the mine itself and the waste it produces, there are concerns elements like lithium or strontium could be released into the environment.

"Those [are] rare earths that are already locked into rock, and once exposed to the atmosphere … they could change form and go into a soluble form and into the environment," Demers said.

"Those are elements that we have not seen as much with base-metal mining or gold mining."

Plant draws on Sask.'s mining expertise: manager

At the Saskatoon Vital Metals processing plant, general manager Vincent Laniece said equipment is being assembled and the facility should be up and running in a couple of months.

The plant processes metals and minerals extracted at the Nechalacho mine into a concentrate.

That product will then be shipped to another facility in Norway for the next step, where the rare earth elements will be separated.

Laniece said while the materials are mined in the Northwest Territories, Saskatoon was chosen for the plant site because of the mining expertise in the province, a knowledgeable workforce and supports like reliable transportation systems.

Theresa Kliem/CBC

"We do have all the facilities in Saskatoon for disposing of the waste, for getting the proper contractors for building the plant, and for maintaining the plant," he said.

"If everything goes well and the demand is very strong … there is a very good opportunity that we will expand."

Once up and running the facility is expected to employ 50 to 60 people.

Demers believes the precautions now in place and expertise in Canada mean that when it comes to mining for rare earth elements, we have a better idea of what the impacts will be, and there are already efforts to mitigate them.

"So I believe that we're going to be able to reduce these impacts right from the start and not afterwards, like we did several years ago with the gold mine tailings and all that."

The rare earth elements are needed as society transitions where energy comes from, said Demers.

"What I hope is that we do it responsibly … that we will prevent or mitigate most impacts and minimize those impacts both on the environment, and also on the communities, and that all this development will be done in the most optimal way for everyone," she said.

GM to help Lithium Americas develop Nevada's Thacker Pass mine
By Ernest Scheyder

The GM logo in Detroit, Michigan, U.S.

Jan 31 (Reuters) - General Motors Co (GM.N) will invest $650 million in Lithium Americas Corp (LAC.TO) and help it develop Nevada's Thacker Pass lithium mining project, which holds enough of the battery metal to build 1 million electric vehicles annually.

The deal, announced Tuesday, is the latest by an automaker to lock up supply of the key metal as industry rushes to go green. It gives Lithium Americas a major partner as it tries to develop North America's largest lithium mine, which is mired in a long-running court case.

Shares of Lithium Americas rose more than 14% to close Monday at $25.23. Shares of GM, which on Tuesday unveiled a robust earnings forecast for the year, rose 8.4%.

In a speech to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, Senator Joe Manchin called the GM investment in Lithium Americas "exciting" and a "tangible result" of the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed last year.

Lithium Americas aims to extract lithium at Thacker Pass from a large clay deposit, something that has never been done before at commercial scale. The investment marks the second in as many years by the auto giant into novel lithium processes. GM signed a supply deal in 2021 with Controlled Thermal Resources Ltd, which is trying to filter lithium from geothermal brines in California.

GM would supplant China's Ganfeng Lithium (002460.SZ) to become Lithium Americas' largest shareholder. GM has also agreed to buy all the lithium from Thacker Pass when it opens in 2026 - roughly 40,000 tonnes per year.

The deal was in the works for nearly a year and came after rival U.S. lithium companies ioneer Ltd (INR.AX) signd a deal to supply Ford Motor Co (F.N) and Piedmont Lithium Inc (PLL.O) inked a pact to supply Tesla Inc (TSLA.O).

"We wanted the right and holistic parter, rather than a bunch of offtake agreements," Jon Evans, the Lithium Americas chief executive, said in an interview. "It was worth it to wait."

Under the agreement, GM will buy $650 million of shares in Lithium Americas in two equal parts, with the first tranche coming only if Lithium Americas prevails in a court case. A U.S. judge this month said she would rule "in the next couple of months" in the case, which centers on whether former U.S. President Donald Trump erred when he approved the mine just before leaving office in 2021. Evans said the chances of the company losing the case and its permits are "extremely low."

The second tranche of funding would come after Lithium Americas completes a long-planned split, expected later this year, of its North and South American operations.

Lithium Americas raised its budget for the first phase of the Thacker Pass project to $2.27 billion, up from $1.06 billion, reflecting changes to its production plans.

The company plans to build several processing facilities at the site, including a plant to produce 3,000 tonnes per day of sulfuric acid, used to extract lithium from the clay.

Lithium Americas has applied for a loan from the U.S. Department of Energy, which Evans expects to fund a "major component" of the remaining project cost.

Lithium Americas has the support of one Native American tribe, but several other tribes and environmental groups worry it would harm wildlife and water supplies. "If I were GM, I would be asking some hard questions about how the company can remedy the issues at Thacker Pass," said John Hadder of Great Basin Resource Watch, a plaintiff in the court case.

Reporting by Ernest Scheyder in Houston; additional reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri, Mark Porter and David Gregorio

Huge new North American lithium mine closer to reality with GM investment in Lithium Americas

Peter Harris

January 31, 2023



Lithium Americas Corp. LAC-T has completed a $650 million financing and supply agreement with General Motors Co., paving the way for the Canadian lithium developer to build the Thacker Pass lithium mine in Nevada.

The equity financing is subject to Vancouver-based Lithium Americas receiving legal approval to construct the mine.

Once it goes into production in 2026, Thacker is expected to be the largest lithium mine in the U.S., and it should help tremendously to meet North American lithium needs.

The deal also underscores that the big global automakers are increasingly taking stakes in mining companies to ensure access to battery metals in an industry dominated by China.

Under the terms of the agreement, GM GM-N will become the largest shareholder in Lithium Americas and will also be entitled to supply of lithium carbonate to be mined in the first phase of the mine.

Read Also: Snow Lake Lithium expects its all-electric mine to produce enough lithium to power 5 million electric vehicles in North America

As part of their respective critical minerals strategies, the United States and Canada are attempting to break away from their dependence on Chinese-controlled lithium.

While lithium supply deals between miners and automakers like Tesla are commonplace, more and more automakers are investing directly in miners to accelerate lithium projects.

GM in October acquired a $69 million equity interest in Queensland Pacific Metals, an Australian cobalt and nickel developer. Stellantis NV acquired a $52 million equity stake in Australian lithium producer Vulcan Energy Resources in June.

Under President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, US consumers can receive subsidies of up to $7,500 for the purchase of electric cars assembled in North America. These subsidies motivate automakers like GM to source battery metals from North America. Canada is under pressure to increase Biden’s subsidies and all eyes will be on the upcoming federal budget.

Lithium Americas is set to receive an initial $320 million infusion from GM after a U.S. district court at Thacker Pass made a decision expected later this year.

The balance of the financing will be released after Lithium America separates its operations in the United States and Argentina.

The Argentine business is important to the company, but politically it has caused tension in North America as Chinese company Ganfeng Lithium is a 46.7% joint venture partner in its Cauchari-Olaroz lithium project. Ganfeng, one of China’s largest lithium producers, has invested in the Canadian company since 2017. Ganfeng is also a major shareholder in Lithium Americas, with a stake of around 11 percent.

Assembly of First Nations CEO Janice Ciavaglia resigns

Tue, January 31, 2023 

The CEO of the Assembly of First Nations oversees the non-political arm of the national advocacy organization, known as the secretariat. (Ka’nhehsí:io Deer/CBC - image credit)

The CEO of the Assembly of First Nations is resigning, according to an email seen by CBC News, another blow to the national organization that has been hounded by allegations of a toxic workplace.

In an email sent to all secretariat staff on Monday, the AFN's vice-president of operations and administration Jonathan Thompson said Janice Ciavaglia has tendered her resignation effective March 10.

The AFN executive, which is composed of regional chiefs and the national chief, will discuss the process to hire a new CEO and someone in the interim, the email said.

The email did not say why Ciavaglia resigned. An email sent to her AFN address bounced back saying she does not currently have access to emails.

AFN communications officer Kelly Reid said, "We have no comment," when asked about the resignation.

Ciavaglia filed complaint against national chief

The CEO is the top administrative official who oversees the AFN's non-political arm, known as the secretariat, which has more than 170 employees who focus on policy work. The AFN advocates for more than 600 First Nations.

Ciavaglia, a teacher by training, joined the AFN as director of education before the executive committee hired her as CEO in 2020 during Perry Bellegarde's last term as national chief.

She helped the organization navigate new federal Indigenous child welfare legislation, the response to the pandemic, and a proposed $20-billion settlement of a class-action lawsuit over the underfunding of on-reserve child and family services.

EdCan Network

In 2021, Ciavaglia was named as one of Canada's top 40 leaders under the age of 40 for making positive change for First Nations.

Ciavaglia is also one of five complainants who filed workplace misconduct complaints against National Chief RoseAnne Archibald, which are all under investigation.

The complaints allege Archibald exhibited "paranoia" against Ciavaglia, who the national chief has accused of collusion, according to a July 4 briefing note from the law firm Stockwoods Barristers.

Archibald called the complaints a "smear campaign" designed to undermine her leadership.

Murray Sinclair no longer working with AFN as mediator

Archibald's acting chief of staff Joyce Hunter filed a complaint against Ciavaglia, members of the AFN executive committee and the four other staffers accusing Archibald of misconduct.

The executive didn't order an investigation into that complaint. The investigation into the five against Archibald is ongoing.

AFN chiefs were told in December Archibald hadn't made herself available for an interview with investigators despite their repeated requests to sit down with her between August and then.

Archibald also faced an external investigation in 2020 during her role as Ontario regional chief. The investigator found the allegations "credible," but the investigation was dropped since none of the complainants wanted to file official complaints. Archibald maintained those allegations were reprisal for her allegations of financial improprieties at the AFN.

Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press

Aaron Detlor, Archibald's legal counsel, said he had no information about Ciavaglia's resignation. When asked if he's concerned Ciavaglia could take legal action against the national chief, he said the AFN needs fewer lawyers.

"We're hoping, generally speaking, that less lawyers, less litigation means better results," he said.

After Archibald survived an attempted ouster as national chief, she announced in December 2022 that the AFN was hiring Murray Sinclair, former chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as a mediator to help with conflict resolution.

CBC News has learned Sinclair has temporarily stepped away from professional commitments to manage a health issue.

Ciavaglia's departure comes as the AFN seeks to fill multiple senior positions within the secretariat, including directors of economic development, communications and human resources.

Justin Trudeau stands by appointee Amira Elghawaby, says she will continue fight against Islamophobia

Mon, January 30, 2023 

Amira Elghawaby is a human rights advocate and was just appointed as the representative to combat Islamophobia. (Simon Gohier/CBC - image credit)

The Quebec government is calling on the federal government to withdraw its support of Amira Elghawaby, the new representative to combat Islamophobia, only four days after she was first appointed.

This comes a day after her attendance at the sixth commemoration of the deadly mosque attack in Quebec City, honouring the six men who were killed in 2017 when a gunman opened fire just before 8 p.m. in the Islamic Cultural Centre in the Sainte-Foy neighbourhood.

Since her appointment on Thursday, the journalist and human rights activist has been pressured to clarify her position on Quebec's secularism law.

In 2019 she wrote a column for the Ottawa Citizen where she denounced the "anti-muslim sentiment" that surrounded the adoption of Bill 21 — which bans public servants from wearing religious symbols such as hijabs.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reiterated his support for Elghawaby on Monday.

WATCH | Elghawaby wrote op-ed piece criticizing Quebec's secularism law:

Trudeau said that over the years, she has had the opportunity to consider the impacts of various pieces of legislature on the community — part of what makes her role important. He said Elghawaby was appointed because she knows the Muslim community well and can share their concerns.

"She is there to speak for the community with the community and build bridges," said Trudeau.

"Her job now is to make sure that she is helping the government and helping everyone move forward in the fight against Islamophobia."

Shaheen Ashraf, a board member of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, says Muslim women and women of colour in leadership often face increased scrutiny and criticism.

She herself was "thrilled" by the appointment and said it's unfair to base an evaluation of Elghawaby on one editorial.

"There is no freedom of speech if these things can happen. [If] you're asked to resign just because of some comments you made against the Quebec government many years ago," said Ashraf.

She noted that many Muslim women naturally have strong feelings toward Bill 21 because it directly affects their ability to work in the public sector.

Courtesy of Quebec City

Jean-François Roberge, CAQ minister responsible for the French language, said Elghawaby has not properly apologized for her comments about Quebec. She "seems to be overcome by an anti-Quebec sentiment," said Roberge.

"All she did was try to justify her hateful comments. That doesn't fly. She must resign and if she doesn't, the government must remove her immediately."

In an interview with CBC's Quebec AM, Elghawaby said she has nothing to apologize for.

"The article in question actually provides the context in it," said Elghawaby.

"It was never meant to suggest that my opinion is that the majority of Quebecers are Islamophobic. I don't believe so. I was merely analyzing the polling numbers … [an] opinion piece is meant to cause people to think, to talk, to reflect."

WATCH | NDP leader says it's time to get to work fighting Islamophobia:

Elghawaby was present for the evening ceremony at the mosque alongside Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and the minister of housing and diversity and inclusion, Ahmed Hussen.

Premier François Legault did not attend.

Boufeldja Benabdallah, co-founder and former president of the mosque, thanked politicians for their presence while pointing to the premier's absence at a ceremony which included reflections on the problem of Islamophobia.

"We have just one thing to ask of you," said Benabdallah, referring to Genevieve Guilbault, CAQ deputy premier. "Talk to Mr. Francois Legault and tell him: 'You have to come.'"

Rachel Watts/CBC

Guilbault took to the podium and said Legault wished he could be there.

On Monday, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet requested an "urgent meeting" with Elghawaby, saying her actions were "more divisive than unifying."

The Liberal opposition critic for immigration, francization and integration, Monsef Derraji, agreed that it is not good to starting a new mandate with the declaration that Quebec has an issue with Islamophobia.

The Parti Québécois is not calling for Elghawaby's resignation, but Joël Arseneau, the Parti Québécois transportation critic, says they are questioning Trudeau's decision.

"She's made several declarations showing prejudice against Quebec society and we don't think it's a good start for someone who wants to bring people together," said Arseneau.

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, spokesperson for Quebec Solidaire, said it's important to fight against racism in an inclusive way and the statements Elghawaby made were "hurtful to Quebecers."

"That being said, the Legault government has done nothing — nothing in four-and-a-half years — to fight Islamophobia so I think they should look at themselves and make a little more effort to work against Islamophobia because it's not an issue on which they are very credible," said Nadeau-Dubois.

Nature Conservancy of Canada purchases land for protection in southern Alberta

Tue, January 31, 2023 

The Nature Conservancy of Canada said the property will become part of the 130-square kilometres of private conservation lands known as the Waterton Park Front, 

(Nature Conservancy of Canada - image credit)

A property that includes fescue grasslands, forests and wetlands near Waterton Lakes National Park in southern Alberta has been purchased by the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

The organization said Tuesday that the 2.5-square-kilometre property between the national park and Twin Butte, Alta., is its newest conservation site.

"Waterton Lakes National Park is renowned for its incredible wildlife, but these species rely on an area much larger than the park itself throughout the year," Tom Lynch-Staunton, regional vice-president for the Nature Conservancy of Canada, said in a statement.

"By conserving this property, we are ensuring it will continue to offer habitat and safe movement routes for these incredible animals."

The Nature Conservancy of Canada said the property will become part of the 130-square kilometres of private conservation lands known as the Waterton Park Front, which is now about 75 per cent conserved.

"This property is just another piece of that larger puzzle," said Sean Feagan, an Alberta spokesman for Nature Conservancy of Canada.

"It's a victory for nature."

Land conservation in the area, he said, is important because it features a unique and relatively intact ecosystem that provides a corridor for wildlife such as grizzly bears and elk.

"It's where the grasslands butt up right against the mountains," said Feagan. "There's not a ton of foothills, so it's a unique part of the province geographically and geologically.

"So, you get a mixture of grasslands species and montane species living together."

He said mammals such as elk, deer and moose congregate in the areas outside of the national park in the winter to forage grasses such as fescue, which has high nutritional value.

"It's a really important winter foodstuff for these animals," he said.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada said the protected area will continue to be used for cattle grazing while being managed in a way that allows nature to thrive.

Difficulty measuring methane slows plan to slash emissions

Tue, January 31, 2023 


NEW YORK (AP) — The doors of a metal box slide open, and a drone rises over a gas well in Pennsylvania. Its mission: To find leaks of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, so that energy companies can plug the leaks and reduce the emissions that pollute the air.

The drone is among an array of instruments whose purpose is to detect leaks of methane, which scientists say causes roughly 30% of manmade global warming. Along with satellites, ground sensors and planes armed with infrared cameras, drones are part of the backbone of a new federal policy to compel energy companies to record and slash their methane emissions.

The problem is, no one knows when — or even whether — that will be possible. Technology that might allow for precise methane measurements is still being developed. Under the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act, enacted into law last year, companies must start producing precise measurements of their methane emissions next year and face fines if they exceed permissible levels. Yet if no one knows how much methane an energy company has emitted, it's unclear that any fines could be justified.

“They don’t measure the methane because the capability hasn’t been there,” Drew Shindell, a professor of earth science at Duke University, said of regulators. “It’s challenging to really go measure all these methane sources.”

Even energy companies that have begun developing systems to reduce their methane emissions are likely years away from being able to make comprehensive calculations Most of them are measuring leaks for only a fraction of their operations.

Satellites, which help connect emissions to a single source, aren't widely enough available. Ground-based sensors and drones require vast amounts of money and time to widely distribute.

On top of all that, any agreement on what equipment would be acceptable to measure methane and how it should be used requires a rigorous process involving industry, government and environmental scientists.

“We need to develop these standards, and this can take years, so the process is slow,” said Thomas Lauvaux, a climate scientist at University of Reims in France.

Despite the obstacles, climate scientists and environmentalists say they still welcome the administration's effort, under the Inflation Reduction Act, to slash methane emissions. Even if the timeline outlined in the law's methane reduction program is unrealistic, they say, it's likely to prod companies to accelerate their efforts to reduce leaks.

“The fact that there are these rules and now a pricing regime for methane for the first time is a huge benefit for dealing with the oil and gas sector that we just haven’t had the tools to do until now,” said Deborah Gordon, senior principal at the Rocky Mountain Institute, which seeks to accelerate a transition to clean energy.

Under the new law, the EPA can fine companies $900 per ton of methane starting in 2024, rising to $1,500 in 2026. For companies with significant leaks, the costs could be substantial. Kayrros, a satellite analytics firm, observed a Texas natural gas compressor station that released about 2,000 tons of methane over eight days in 2020. That leak would trigger fines of of $1.8 million if it occurred in 2024 or $3 million in 2026.

Most energy companies don’t measure their actual methane emissions. Instead, they produce estimates based on how much methane they say typically escapes from their equipment.

Scientists have found that those estimates vastly understate the problem. Using data from satellites and aerial surveys, they concluded in peer-reviewed studies that nations and companies are emitting double or triple as much methane as they're reporting.

“The past three years have been the fastest-growing years on record in terms of methane emissions, which is kind of scary,” said Daniel Jacob, a leading climate scientist at Harvard University. “It’s absolutely critical because ultimately, from the standpoint of evading climate change, you want to stop methane from increasing and you want it to start decreasing.”

And while scientists count it as progress that energy companies will eventually have to accurately measure emissions of the destructive gas, it seems doubtful that this can be achieved within a year, after which the government could fine companies for emitting too much methane.

“We need many more satellites before we can even pretend that we are tracking,” Lauvaux said.

The companies that are now gathering emission measurements from planes, drones, ground sensors or infrared cameras on satellites face a significant obstacle: Those efforts are sporadic and cover only a sliver of the vast oil and gas industry.

The EPA hasn’t yet released details on how companies should measure methane emissions. And the task of sorting out the details falls on an EPA staff that was depleted under the Trump administration.

Methane, the main ingredient in natural gas, has been shown to produce roughly 80 times the climate-warming power of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. The gas is released from pipelines, storage tanks and energy facilities. It also wafts from landfills and the cattle industry. Scientists say a substantial reduction in the emissions is among the changes that could make the swiftest impact on climate change.

Though oil and gas companies have equipment to capture methane leaks, it's not widely deployed. Even the most advanced such equipment is often improperly installed or maintained and is prone to failure.

“If we can collectively get our act together over the next eight years and dramatically slash methane emissions around the planet, we still have a chance as a society to get our arms around the larger climate problem and avoid the worst impacts,” said Riley Duren, CEO of Carbon Mapper, a nonprofit that analyzes emissions data from satellites and flights.

In recent years, climate scientists and companies have found and fixed methane leaks using infrared cameras on airplanes or satellites. In a series of flights over California and other states since 2016, Carbon Mapper detected 8,000 methane plumes and published its findings on a public portal. When Carbon Mapper alerted the facilities to the problem, Duren said, roughly half the leaks were fixed.

“It’s still a patchwork quilt,” he said of the nation’s ability to measure methane emissions. “It’s not comprehensive and continuous, but it’s becoming more expansive.”

Aided by philanthropic donations, Carbon Mapper hopes to launch a network of satellites that would share data publicly. It would start this year with two philanthropy-funded satellites that can detect roughly 200 methane plumes each day. (Planes can typically find 10 to 20 a day.)

“The goal is to expand to many more satellites, but that’s contingent on securing the capital to do that,” Duren said.

The company has suggested that government help would be needed to operate at the scale necessary to combat climate change.

A handful of orbiting satellites can detect methane plumes and pinpoint the source of the leak within about 100 feet (30 meters). Most are privately owned by companies such as GHGSat, which sells data to energy companies. Using that data, scientists at a satellite data firm or energy company can try to pinpoint leaks and, based on the image and wind speed at the time, estimate how much methane was emitted.

Yet there are limitations to the technology. Infrared cameras use the sun’s rays, so they can’t detect methane at night or on cloudy days. And they provide only a snapshot in time. So it can be hard to determine how much methane escaped before a leak was detected.

With GHGSat’s six orbiting satellites, the company can produce images of a site once every three to five days. The company plans to have 10 of them in orbit by year's end, after which it could observe each site roughly once a day.

“The biggest challenge for us is to scale faster, to offer the service to more people in more places around the world more often,” said Stephane Germaine, president of GHGSat. “How do we respond to that in a way that is commercially viable, short of a government standing up and spending billions of dollars to deploy this kind of system?”

Drones produced by American Robotics, like the one in Pennsylvania, have found unlit flares emitting methane. These drones can make several trips each day to check oil wells or storage tanks. But they’re not widely deployed. American Robotics expects to have 30 drone systems deployed by year's end, said Reese Mozer, the company's CEO.

“There’s more demand for our systems than we have the capacity to serve right now,” Mozer said.

Exxon Mobil has been using airplanes equipped with infrared cameras to find methane leaks for several years. But data from aerial flights is imperfect. A plane may fly over an oil production site for two or three seconds, perhaps six times a year.

“The problem with quantification is, you don’t know what happens when the plane’s not there," said Matt Kolesar, Exxon’s chief environmental scientist. "What was going on right before that airplane, and what was going on right after that airplane? And so that’s where industry has always struggled to say, ‘Do I assume it happens until I go look again? Do I assume it goes away?’ ”

Exxon is installing around-the-clock methane detectors in the Permian Basin, the nation's most productive oil and gas field, comprising large chunks of Texas and New Mexico. It's installed the sensors in 14 sites; its goal is to deploy sensors at 700 sites by 2025. But just 15% of the oil and gas Exxon produces comes from the Permian Basin. So most of Exxon’s sites won’t receive the sensors soon.

“It requires an awful lot of additional capacity, both continuous coverage and covering a much larger portion of the facilities,” said Shindell, the Duke professor.

Thousands of sites of methane leaks, he said, might exist in areas like the Permian Basin.

“There are just tons of lines that gather from wells and then compressor stations that move the gas along and then storage tanks and just one thing after another, so getting a sense of that really is a big endeavor,” Shindell said. “Even the best companies are not doing that. So it requires building this whole new system to improve understanding.”

The EPA is still in the early stages of implementing the climate law. The agency plans to propose a rule this year that would change emissions reporting rules to ensure that reporting and calculation of fines are based on empirical data, said Khanya Brann, an EPA spokeswoman.

The EPA has also proposed allowing energy companies to use a broader range of technologies to detect methane leaks than what’s now allowed. This could make it easier for varying types of companies to comply.

The American Petroleum Institute, which represents the oil and gas industry, wants companies to have the flexibility to use a variety of technologies. The API doesn't track how much of the industry already uses methane monitors, drones, aerial flights or satellite data to find and measure emissions, said Cole Ramsey, a vice president of the institute.

“This is a process that’s going to take some time,” Ramsey said.

The challenges don’t end with adding satellites and sensors. Any measurement system created by scientists must withstand legal challenges. If a company is accused of emitting methane, it could dispute the accuracy of the satellite images or the way scientists calculated how much leaked.

“The minute we release a policy," Lauvaux said, “they’re going to jump at it with 50 lawyers and look at any loopholes, gaps, mistakes, unclear sentences.”

Even so, climate scientists and environmentalists generally say they're hopeful that even if the system is imperfect, the eventual fines for improperly emitting methane would cause the offending companies to take the steps necessary to reduce emissions.

“That’s the great thing about the methane fee: There’s actually a benefit to stopping it quickly because there’s a financial reward for not leaking,” said Gordon, of the Rocky Mountain Institute.

“I think the problems are way smaller than the opportunity to finally, finally deal directly with a greenhouse gas — and especially a very powerful greenhouse gas that has never been on the agenda."

Cathy Bussewitz, The Associated Press

CANADA

Pension funds post the largest investment losses since the financial crisis in 2008

Naomi Oliver
January 31, 2023



In 2022, Canadian defined benefit pension plans collectively suffered their biggest losses since the 2008 financial crisis, and despite a partial recovery, saw an average 10.3 percent RY-T decline in assets in the final months of the year, according to a Royal Bank of Canada survey.

Pension assets suffered sharp losses in the first two quarters of 2022 before starting to recover in the second half of the year. In the most recent quarter, pension assets returned 3.8 percent, as measured by the RBC Investor and Treasury Services All Plan Universe, which serves as the benchmark for performance.

Pension plan investors have been hit by unusually volatile markets, fueled by high inflation and soaring interest rates, as both stocks and bonds suffered losses rather than offsetting each other as has often been the case in previous market downturns. And while the plans delivered positive returns through the end of the year, they face many of the same burdens in 2023.

“Over the next few months, plan sponsors will need to be vigilant for risk factors such as the economic impact of central bank actions, ongoing geopolitical tensions and ongoing efforts to contain the outbreak of the COVID virus in certain emerging markets,” Niki Zaphiratos, managing director for asset owners at RBC I&TS, said in a press release.

Read Also: One of Canada's largest pension funds is abandoning crypto investment plans

Canada’s pension plan bond portfolios posted median losses of 16.8 percent in 2022 – the largest annual decline in more than 30 years – and also underperformed the benchmark FTSE Canada Bond Index. The losses were driven by central banks’ drastic moves to tame inflation by raising interest rates, with longer-duration bonds, which are most sensitive to inflation, accounting for some of the largest declines.

For pension plans, however, there was a silver lining from rapid rate hikes that led to a reduction in future liabilities. As a result, more pension plans ended 2022 in surplus, meaning their assets exceeded their liabilities. And higher fixed income yields could also give pension plan managers more opportunities to reduce risk appetite in their portfolios in the coming year.

Stocks also suffered, rather than acting as a counterbalance to falling bond prices. According to RBC I&TS, foreign stocks returned 9.7 percent in the fourth quarter but ended the year down 11.3 percent. And Canadian stocks returned 6.3 percent in the final quarter of the year, bringing their annual loss to a comparatively modest 3.6 percent. In general, value stocks outperformed riskier growth stocks during the quarter.

The last time pension wealth fell this sharply was in 2008, when Canada’s defined benefit pension wealth posted a median loss of 15.9 percent.

Defined benefit plans pay fixed benefits for as long as a beneficiary lives, based on their contributions and years of service.

Source: www.theglobeandmail.com

Ontario court rules encampments can stay if there’s a shortage of shelter beds

ROBYN DOOLITTLE

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

PUBLISHED JANUARY 29, 2023

An encampment for unhoused people at Allan Gardens in Toronto on Oct. 21, 2022.CHRIS DONOVAN/THE GLOBE AND MAIL

In a precedent-setting decision that will have implications across the province, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has denied a municipality’s request to remove a homeless encampment on the basis that doing so – when there is no adequate indoor space – would violate the residents’ Charter rights.

The ruling, which was released Friday in a case involving the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, falls in line with a growing body of case law in British Columbia that has found denying a person the ability to set up shelter outside when space is not available inside infringes on their right to life, liberty, and security of the person.

“Just as the British Columbia cases have found … I conclude that the ability to provide adequate shelter for oneself is a necessity of life that falls within the right to life protected by section 7 of the Charter,” wrote Justice Michael J. Valente.

As a result, he found that the Region of Waterloo could not rely on a bylaw that it said prevented people from erecting temporary shelters on municipal land, when the number of homeless persons exceeded the number of available shelter beds.

However, Justice Valente also praised the region’s efforts to address the needs of its homeless population, and left the door open to it coming back to the court if in the future it is able to show evidence that there is appropriate shelter space.

In a statement released after the ruling, Region of Waterloo Chair Karen Redman said they are considering next steps: “Our commitment to supporting those experiencing homelessness continues, as we work to implement innovative and person-centred solutions, including our interim housing solutions and the development of a plan to end chronic homelessness.”

A key aspect of Justice Valente’s decision dealt with the idea of what it means for a bed to be “available.”

Shannon Down, who along with co-counsel Ashley Schuitema represented 16 members of the encampment in the proceedings, explained that the court found that the bed must be truly “accessible.” It’s not simply a matter of an open space on a spreadsheet. For example, she said, if a person is dependent on drugs, but a shelter doesn’t allow substance use, then is that an actual option?

Similar questions come up with people who are asked to abandon beloved pets in order to access a bed. Or with couples who may be forced to split up for the night.

Sean Simpell, one of the encampment residents, told the court what it would be like for him to be displaced: “It is my greatest fear. This encampment may seem like garbage to some people, but to the people living there, it’s everything.”

Ms. Down, who is the executive director with the Waterloo Region Community Legal Services, said she thought the testimony of expert witness Andrea Sereda was particularly convincing for Justice Valente.

Dr. Sereda, who is lead physician for the health outreach program at London InterCommunity Health Centre, spoke to the harms of dismantling encampments as well as the positive health and social benefits of allowing them when there is no other appropriate housing.

“What we find in London is that when encampments are torn down, health care teams lose track of those people,” she told The Globe and Mail. “If I diagnose someone with diabetes and I try to follow up a week later, I can’t find them. … When people are constantly moved, you can never get ahead of their health issues. It’s always putting out fires.”

There are other considerations as well: the mental-health impact of being displaced and othered, the loss of community connections, the loss of possessions and an increased risk of overdose.

Dr. Sereda said those who talk about the harms within encampments – the Region of Waterloo cited concerns about alcohol and drugs, physical violence, and the presence of barbecues and propane tanks creating a potential fire hazard – are missing the point.

“We need to address the underlying poverty, scarcity of need, food deprivation and lack of warmth – those are the problems people who live outside are trying to resolve.”

Sharon Crowe, a lawyer involved in continuing litigation against the City of Hamilton’s response to encampments, said she expects Friday’s decision to be very influential – even though some of the contextual nuances of the Waterloo case are not exactly the same. For example, in Hamilton, some of the encampments in question are in public parks.

Friday’s decision concerned a congregation of tents in a one-half-acre gravel parking lot in the City of Kitchener, which is within the Region of Waterloo. The property, which was not being used by the municipality, is surrounded by a transit station, a plaza, a rail corridor and a soup kitchen. These locational differences could shift the legal analysis.

Still, Ms. Crowe said there are many analogous factors, particularly with respect to the lack of accessible alternatives and the impact of displacements.

“The facts behind the Kitchener-Waterloo case are not unique to that region,” she said. “A big driving factor behind encampments is we’re in the middle of an affordable-housing crisis. Add onto that, many municipalities don’t have enough shelter beds to meet demands and they aren’t truly accessible for all the reasons outlined in the [Superior Court] decision.”

In fact, Ms. Down said Justice Valente’s ruling could impact cities outside of Ontario as well. Although other provinces are not bound by decisions from provincial courts in Ontario and British Columbia, the judgments would be considered “persuasive,” said Ms. Down.

“I think this is particularly true with Charter cases, because it applies across the country,” she said. “The decision is going to be a powerful tool for people who are arguing on behalf of those who are living in encampments.”

Julia Riddle, a lawyer at Arvay Finlay in Vancouver who was involved in a recent encampment case in that province said they are pleased to see that Ontario courts are finally catching up to what’s been happening in British Columbia. The lawyer identifies as non-binary and goes by they.

“I think one of the things I definitely didn’t understand before working in this area is the level of trauma that people experiencing homelessness deal with from being forced to move. Those of us who are housed have probably moved and lost our mind a little bit. If you’re homeless that’s magnified by a factor of thousands,” they said.

“The tremendous uncertainly of not knowing what’s going to happen next in your life, it really limits people from being able to do anything to change other factors in their lives.”

Toronto vulnerable to legal challenge after precedent-setting encampment ruling


Tue, January 31, 2023 



Experts say Ontario cities that move to evict homeless encampments can expect to see a wave of legal challenges after a precedent-setting ruling.

For the first time in the province, a judge in Kitchener, Ont., ruled last week that there is a constitutional right to shelter outside when there are no accessible and available indoor spaces.

Estair Van Wagner, an associate professor at York University's Osgoode Hall Law School, says Toronto is "extremely vulnerable" to a legal challenge in light of that decision.

She says Ontario courts have until now been slow to follow the lead of courts in British Columbia, where judges have recognized that before a city can carry out an eviction, shelter spaces must be accessible given the varied needs of people experiencing homelessness.

Kaitlin Schwan, the executive director of a national housing and homelessness network, says the case is a critical first step for Ontario to recognize that the human rights of unhoused people supersedes some bylaw enforcement.

But she also calls it a complicated victory for encampment residents and their allies, since the ruling does not place any obligations on municipalities to provide shelter or housing.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 31, 2023.

The Canadian Press

Why bash the elite?

Pakistan’s plight isn’t solely because its elite are corrupt; their values and worldview have failed.

Pervez Hoodbhoy 

Published January 28, 2023

ELITE-BASHING is Pakistan’s newest sport. As the country stares into the default abyss, the ubiquitous phrase — ‘elite state capture’ — putati­vely explains all that has gone awry. Fat-cats are blamed for stealing public resources, conspicuous consumption, and dollar flight. But this super-sim­p­lified, sophomoric reasoning misses the real point.

Doesn’t every country have its ultra-rich? Are they less greedy, avaricious, exploitative, and degenerate? Wealth and privilege in America, Europe, China, Russia, and India are still more concentrated than here. But mafias and silovikis notwithstanding, their knowledge-based economies keep soaring and their spacecraft are circling the moon and Mars.

Our elite versus theirs — something truly sets us apart. Beaming a spotlight onto this is useful because it reveals actual differences between societies; every elite mirrors what lies below.

Look at Pakistan’s home-grown elite. Like the common man, they spit on the law. Last week, when Britain’s prime minister was hauled up for not wearing a seatbelt, he meekly apologised and paid the fine. Compare: an anti-terrorism court judge reportedly had two patrolling officers suspended for preventing his travel on the thickly fogged-up Sialkot Motorway. Or, when an MPA’s SUV zipped through a red light and crushed a policeman in Quetta, the MPA’s political might ended the matter after the family was paid token compensation.

Pakistan’s plight isn’t solely because its elite are corrupt; their values and worldview have failed.

As in some African countries, Pakistan is home to the world’s richest politicians, real-estate tycoons, and generals. Symbiotically bound together, on Fridays they love being seen in a state of unctuous piety. Donning a prayer cap and dressed in starchy white shalwar-kameez, one by one they step out from their shiny new SUVs and into a DHA mosque.

In cultured societies, elites take delight in scientific and academic matters. They endow universities with chairs and professorships. Institutions bearing their names immortalise the donor. Named after J.R.D. Tata, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research is the proud flagship of Indian science. But you can fruitlessly scour all of Pakistan for someone who will donate for science or the arts. As for music: famed Pakistani ghazal singers like the late Mehdi Hasan and Ghulam Ali received more appreciation in India than Pakistan. Philanthropy in Pakistan means donating to madressahs, mosques, and hospitals.

Instead of blasting away with a shotgun, let’s understand that all rich people are not rich for the same reasons. Some are rich because of brain power and hard work. Others are rich because they are thugs, land grabbers, manipulators, and rent-seekers.

Forbes (2023) identifies the five richest Ameri­cans: Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Elon Musk (Tesla), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Larry Ellison (Oracle), and Mark Zuckerberg (Meta). Their creations have alt­ered your lifestyle and mine. While rich Ind­i­ans are not highly innovative, they too are quite technological. Forbes identifies the five richest as Gau­tam Adani (power generation), Mukesh Amb­ani (pet­rochemicals), Shiv Nadar (IT), Cyrus Poon­awalla (vaccines), and Radhakishan Damani (retail).

No wealthy Pakistani with businesses in the country has made it to the Forbes list but reportedly the five richest are: Mian Mansha, Sadruddin Hashwani, Asif Ali Zardari, Malik Riaz and Habibullah Khan. How they made their billions is not for me to know. But what exportables have they produced? Will Pakistan forever rely on bedlinen, underwear, and footballs to earn dollars?

As forex reserves dwindle, one hears the dictum “import less and export more”. This is a no-brainer that macroeconomic jugglery cannot fix; between PDM and PTI’s approaches, the choice is of Tweedledum versus Tweedledee.

Sociologists from the time of Max Weber have established that wealth production correlates directly with values, culture, and worldview. Clearly, significant change in Pakistan has to be generational — a culture of honest hard work, high-level skills, or a law-abiding citizenry cannot be created with a finger-snap.

What kind of attitudinal, cultural, and ideological changes are needed?

First, stop force-feeding nonsense to our schoolchildren. What goes under “education” is actually religious and propagandistic indoctrination. The result is mass stupidity and Somalia-level learning outcomes. Don’t blame the government alone — all of society is at fault. With a handful of exceptions, our universities are trash; half of fully tenured professors are fit only for driving taxis. In such intellectual deserts, students demand only grades and degrees. Most vice chancellors, deans and chairpersons would, at best, count among the semi-educated elsewhere.

Second, stop blaming the world for Pakistan’s problems. You cannot hate the West and, in the same breath, supplicate it for bailouts or apply for immigration. We are authors of our own misfortune.

Without Pakistan’s help, the Taliban monster and terrorism wouldn’t have existed. It’s true we were misused by Americans in warring with the Soviet Union. But didn’t we milk the American cow until its udders ran dry of dollars?

Who created the vast countrywide network of jihadist organisations aimed at installing fanatical forces in Kabul and liberating Kashmir? But for FATF, Hafiz Saeed would still be strutting around Pakistan instead of cooling his heels in prison.

Climate change, of course, is not our fault. Others spew CO2, but impoverished Sindhi and Baloch peasants pay the price. Pretending to speak for them, our predatory political elite celebrate an anticipated bonanza. Their diplomatic blitzkrieg at COP-27 procured billion-dollar pledges from a guilt-ridden West. But who will benefit from climate reparations?

Before, during, and after the floods, thousands of luxury SUVs were imported. While the UK government has a car pool of 45 for all ministries and departments, Sindh alone has around 25,000 official vehicles with generous petrol quotas.

Third, stop being a security state. Pakistan is chronically unable to live peacefully with its neighbours as well as with itself. This is unsurprising. In the 1990s, the federal national curriculum required sixth class children to know about “India’s evil designs against Pakistan” and “to make speeches on jihad and shahadat”. Why the murderous TTP is so attractive to large swathes of Pakistanis is not hard to see.

Note how quiet the LoC is these days and the unusually low level of vitriol from Indian leaders. From their point of view: why spoil the fun? Just wait and watch as the unforgiving, amoral law of gravity asserts itself. Pakistan doesn’t need an external enemy for collapse; its civil and military elites have hollowed out their own house.

The writer is an Islamabad-based physicist and writer.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2023

Topsy-Turvy Land

These are not ordinary times; they are truly terrible times.

Rafia Zakaria 

Published February 1, 2023 



In one of the books I read as a child, some naughty children ended up in a place called Topsy-Turvy Land. The place, as the name suggests, was one where everything was the opposite of the way it should be: humans walked on their heads, cars had wheels on top, windows did not open and doors did not shut. The children stumbled along, making mistake after mistake relying on norms and conventions to which they were accustomed. They were glad when the ordeal ended … it had been intended as a punishment.

Pakistani children, and even Pakistani adults for that matter, would likely fare much better than the youngsters in the story. The past three years have seen just about every established truth and assumption questioned.

As I began to write this, the country’s currency was in a free fall, breaking records of low value against the US dollar. Even though the rupee had begun to pick up somewhat on Tuesday, on the back of remittances and exports proceeds according to some analysts, the larger economic picture is looking bleaker than ever and one wonders how much more the currency will depreciate in the days ahead.

A few days ago, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar took to Pakistani television channels to tell Pakistanis that there would be a Rs35 price hike on petroleum products. The same government that wanted pats on the back for averting the threat of default earlier told people about the increase in prices a whole two days before the expected announcement. Long lines for petrol could be seen everywhere in the country because people had been warned that this was just the first phase of these hikes, and that oil prices were set to increase even further when the new value of the country’s currency has to be used to compute prices. Perhaps some of you will be reading this article while parked in one of these interminable lines for petrol.

These are not ordinary times; they are truly terrible times.

The people in the lines for petrol are still better off than those who have no money to try. Quite recently, Dawn reported on the seven million jobs that have been lost in the country’s textile sector. This is a ghastly number when one considers the fact that there are towns and cities in the country whose entire economy depends on the textile industry. The closure of mills, including some without prospects of reopening in the near future, spells catastrophe for these places and the people who live in them and earn from the textiles sector. Given that one breadwinner in Pakistan supports a family of at least four or five people if not more, means that approximately 35m would have been affected by the closure of the mills. It is distressing to think how the auxiliary businesses that rely on the mills would also be affected.

As representatives of the textile industry told this newspaper, the current government “does not have any policy to end the various crises affecting textile producers and exporters”. Clearly, it is not prioritising the industry. The delay in opening letters of credit means that imported material cannot be procured on time and that means the mills won’t run. The reason this is particularly troublesome is that this industry actually generates foreign currency (which the country desperately needs) from its exports.

The current political set-up provides little hope for those who would like a return to some semblance of stability. The blame game between the current government and the previous dispensation, which was dramatically removed after its mysterious machinations had grown tedious and would have been boring (if the stakes were not so incredibly high), continues to mar the atmosphere. What both sides have in common is a lack of any real solutions; the fact is the country’s rulers past and present have partied too long and too often, high on the hog of earlier debts, all of which are now becoming due with terrifying urgency. Eventually, there will be elections, but any interference from other institutions would mean that the results will want legitimacy or permanence.

Pakistanis are accustomed to power outages but the recent outage that hit the country not too long ago is ample proof of the fact that the government quite literally cannot keep the lights on, or keep the gas flowing or even provide water, which in Karachi at least is in the hands of a huge mafia.

This price hike in the price of petrol will certainly make the provision of electricity and other basic commodities next to impossible. A sweltering summer awaits Pakistanis. The vagaries of climate change and glacial melt predict another year of floods and hunger. Where the rains once provided respite they now bring only more misery and destroy all that lies in the paths of rivers. Those who own these lands are too busy holding on to their power in the present to worry about what is to come.

These are not ordinary times; they are truly terrible times. It is difficult not to wonder whether the particular dynamics of wealth, poverty and inequality in the country is what makes this level of incompetence possible. The poor are silent because their existence has been reduced to a constant battle for mere survival. The rich remain smug and happy, continuing on with their shadis and mehndis where rivers of food and drink are wasted on a daily basis. The middle class writes articles such as this one, accursed with the unwanted gift of knowing that things are not about to get better, that a country whose wealthy pay no taxes, whose politicians are so deeply addicted to grift and where it is nearly impossible to discern the truth is not going to stop being Topsy-Turvy Land anytime soon.

The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy.

rafia.zakaria@gmail.com
Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2023