Saturday, February 18, 2023

THATS WHAT THE TEMPLE MOUNT IS IN JERUSALEM

Abrahamic Family House ‘changes all the rules’ of interfaith understanding

The mosque, church and synagogue complex is a shining monument to tolerance.

An aerial night view rendering of the Abrahamic Family House, including a mosque, from left, church and synagogue, on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi. Image courtesy of Adjaye Associates

February 17, 2023

Knox Thames

(RNS) — On Thursday, Feb. 16, the United Arab Emirates officially opened the Abrahamic Family House, consisting of a mosque, church and synagogue that face one another on the same square in Abu Dhabi. Beside each one stands a tall pillar illuminating an Islamic crescent, Christian cross and a Jewish menorah, respectively, shining a hopeful light for interfaith tolerance and understanding. Something good is happening in the desert — but will it make a lasting difference?

The road to Thursday’s opening began with Pope Francis’ February 2019 trip to the UAE, where he met with the grand imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb, leader of the oldest Islamic educational institute in the world. Their meeting ended with their signing of the Document on Human Fraternity, which set ambitious goals to foster interfaith understanding.

Four years later, Muslims, Christians and Jews gathered to inaugurate the three worship centers, each representing one of the three Abrahamic faiths, and a representative from each faith provided inaugural remarks.

The president of the center, Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, spoke of a “new landmark” in the country, built within sight of the six-year-old Louvre Abu Dhabi. The three worship sites, he said, stand for hope “for peaceful coexistence and understanding.”

The president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, noting that “fear is the outcome of a lack of knowledge,” referred to the center as a “beacon of mutual understanding.” The cardinal said that believers do not need to walk away from their deeply held beliefs to befriend others and to visit their houses of worship. “Without renouncing different spiritual resources,” he said, “each has a command to live with brothers and sisters whatever their religion.”

Lastly, the chief rabbi of the United Kingdom, Ephraim Mirvis, referred to the moment as “historic,” seeing the “children of Abraham gathered … to build a new world.” He challenged the audience to “recognize the part of the divine in every person” so we can “shape a new world built from loving kindness.”

But what made a remarkable event even more so was how it represented the reestablishment of Jewish life in the UAE, restoring Judaism to its historic place in Middle Eastern life. No purpose-built synagogue has arisen in the region since 1931, but here was the UAE government, which paid for the construction of all three houses, erecting a synagogue in its national capital. Bruce Lustig, rabbi emeritus at Washington D.C.’s Hebrew Congregation, who was involved in the project, told me the new building “changes all the rules.”

But while the center is novel, the UAE has been promoting tolerance for several years. The Abrahamic Family House joins other initiatives, including a special ministry of tolerance, and hosts the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace. The UAE has also demonstrated a commitment to promoting tolerance outside its borders, supporting UNESCO’s effort to reconstruct a historic mosque and two nearby churches in Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, after they were destroyed by ISIS.

Some have questioned the sincerity of these types of efforts, seeing them as a way to distract from the region’s rough politics or deficits when it comes to democracy. But such work can simultaneously reflect a country’s interests and values. The UAE’s leadership has also focused on countering ISIS’ ideology and the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Abrahamic Family House can be seen as a positive flipside to these darker battles.

The Emirates also has a long tradition of tolerance, with Dubai, Abu Dhabi and other port cities historically serving as an opening to the world. Two hundred different nationalities now make their homes and do business in the UAE and generally enjoy freedom of worship. “We remain committed to harnessing the power of mutual respect, understanding and diversity to achieve shared progress,” UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said on Thursday.

Soon a new Hindu temple will open in Abu Dhabi, further diversifying the religious landscape. But with the proliferation of good things, observers have questioned how far the tolerance initiative will expand. Will the welcoming spirit include converts from Islam, nonbelievers and other communities persecuted in nearby countries, such as Baháʼís and Ahmadis? Do the overlapping initiatives reinforce each other, or duplicate or dilute the overall impact? With all the world’s challenges, can the new complex foster an environment respectful of different beliefs?

UAE Minister of Tolerance Sheikh Nahyan said the center is the Emirates’ attempt to answer these questions.

Knox Thames. Courtesy photo

Such change will not happen overnight. The Abrahamic Family House will be a significant milestone if the center becomes a vibrant place for faiths to interact and fellowship. But a milestone is not an endpoint; rather, it marks progress toward a destination. With its opening, the Abrahamic Family House is now a visible landmark in the Middle East for this journey.

(Knox Thames is the former State Department special advisor for religious minorities in the Middle East and South/Central Asia. Follow him on Twitter @KnoxThames. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

AMERICAN CULT

Spencer W. Kimball diaries shine a light behind the scenes of modern Mormonism

This week’s release of the former LDS president’s diaries offers a peek behind the curtain of the 1978 priesthood/temple revelation and Kimball’s relations with Mormon leaders.

February 17, 2023

Jana Riess

A guest column by Benjamin E. Park

(RNS) — Spencer W. Kimball, despite being ordained an apostle just shy of his 50th birthday in 1943, never expected to live long enough to be president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Much of his adult life was filled with health problems, including a series of heart attacks and a malignancy of the throat and vocal cords. Whenever he spoke in General Conference, he wore a miniature microphone attached to his cheek so his raspy words would be carried to television and radio audiences. Yet the man known for his work ethic and dogged determination persisted and presided over the global faith from 1973 until 1985, one of the most consequential decades in Mormon history.

Even before his voice problems, Kimball knew the power of the pen in expressing his thoughts. He started his first journal when he was 10 years old and compiled over 34 volumes of diaries as an adult. It is a personal papers collection rarely matched in Mormon history, an eyewitness account of the church’s rapid evolution from a regional denomination to a global faith. And on Wednesday, Feb. 15, the church announced it had digitized the entire corpus and made it available to researchers.

The church has been increasingly open about its 19th-century collections, as embodied in the award-winning Joseph Smith Papers Project. Other notable initiatives include the Eliza R. Snow discourses, the Emmeline B. Wells diaries and the assorted documents related to the Relief Society’s first 50 years.

Yet similar archival projects have not addressed the 20th century. Even accessing the physical collections in the Church History Library is much more restricted for documents after 1900. This has resulted in histories of the modern church being more sporadic and less grounded in primary sources, at least when covering the institution’s leaders. (There are a few exceptions: Individual access predicated on familial relationships has resulted in important biographies of influential leaders like J. Reuben Clark and David O. McKay.)

The release of Spencer W. Kimball’s diaries and correspondence — a collection that covers roughly 10 linear feet of archival space and resulted in more than 28,000 digital images — is therefore a crucial and necessary addition.

President Kimball's journals in many cases function as a scrapbook, including newspaper clippings and other memorabilia. Here, he has included visas from his well-traveled passport of the early 1960s. ©2023 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.

President Spencer W. Kimball’s journals in many cases function as a scrapbook, including newspaper clippings and other memorabilia. Here, he has included visas from his well-traveled passport of the early 1960s. ©2023 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.

When Kimball surprisingly succeeded the younger and more energetic Harold B. Lee as the church’s head prophet, seer and revelator in 1973, few expected him to bring much reform.

“The new president is not likely to change Mormon views on the family or race,” posited Time magazine. But America’s then-raging culture wars made uncomfortable discussions on both topics unavoidable. Protesters, both within and without the faith, picketed the church over a policy that restricted Black men and women from priesthood and temple rites; they also alleged the faith’s patriarchal structure relegated women to second-class members. Kimball could not help but react to the changing times.

As it turned out, the soft-spoken prophet would be forever remembered for deciding, in 1978, to revoke the racial restriction, a move that was celebrated across the globe. And yet during these same years he presided over a retrenchment on gender roles, including backing an anti-Equal Rights Amendment that dragged the church into the Religious Right’s new political coalition — in which it still remains today.

The newly released sources shed further light on these important moments. Because the journals are scrapbook-style and include numerous newspaper clippings, they also provide insight on what Kimball and other LDS leaders were reading and responding to.

Most of the journal entries are brief, bordering on curt, and often bland. They are also inconsistent: He has no entries for the days surrounding his appointment as an apostle, for instance. Yet there are plenty of moments where he fleshes out entire scenes, like when the Quorum of the Twelve gathered after Lee’s death to reorganize the First Presidency. The soon-to-be prophet played the organ while they sang “Come, Let Us Anew,” and then delivered remarks that began, “I had hoped this day would never come because of my limitation.” The anecdote fleshes out stories of Kimball’s humility.

The entries also add important details to other events. For instance, after releasing the statement announcing the end of the racial restriction, it records how “the telephone started to ring and rang continuously the balance of the afternoon,” as both members and non-members “called from around the world to learn if what they had heard on the radio and TV was true.” (Sadly, similar details do not seem to be included in the months leading up to the momentous decision.)

At times there are intriguing comments concerning other church leaders. One eagle-eyed sleuth already discovered a passage that adds details to the character of Russell M. Nelson, current president of the church. According to the diary, Nelson approached Kimball in early February 1979 asking the prophet to write a foreword for a forthcoming book about Nelson’s life.

Or rather, as a later diary entry made clear, to approve a foreword Nelson had already written that would appear under Kimball’s name. The foreword spoke of Nelson’s “perfect family,” “sweet Spirituality,” and “skill as a surgeon,” and noted that “long will his children and their posterity honor this great man.”

Kimball apparently approved the foreword, though there is a bracketed quip in his diary that it was “a fulsome foreword for a man to write about himself!!”* (Historians for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stated Friday that this comment was added later by Kimball’s son Edward Kimball, and not Spencer W. Kimball himself.)

Readers will notice that certain passages in the diaries, especially those that deal with temple matters or confessions from average Saints, are blanked out. This is in keeping with the church’s policy to censor material it deems sacred or confidential.

Currently, in order to access the digital images, researchers must sign in through a free Church account. The explanation given is that the collection contains copyrighted material, like newspaper clippings, which make full public access impossible. Transcribing all the non-copyrighted material and making it available on its own in a more accessible fashion, like with their other digital projects, would take major work. I hope the church does it, however. This is a collection worthy of wide engagement.

The Kimball diaries are a landmark release for the field of Mormon history. May it lead to many more.

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that the bracketed aside about the “fulsome foreword” was written by Spencer W. Kimball. Today, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints added an explanation in this revised blog post, noting that the final years of Kimball’s diaries were compiled by his secretary, D. Arthur Haycock. Kimball’s son, Edward Kimball, also went through and added his own comments, which are identified by brackets. The aside about the “fulsome forward” was therefore written by Edward Kimball, not Spencer W. Kimball.

Historian Benjamin E. Park. Courtesy photo

Benjamin E. Park is an associate professor of history at Sam Houston State University and co-editor of “Mormon Studies Review.” His books include “Kingdom of Nauvoo: The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier,” which won the Mormon History Association’s Best Book Award, and “DNA Mormon: Perspectives on the Legacy of Historian D. Michael Quinn,” an edited volume released by Signature Books in December 2022. His next book, “American Zion: A New History of Mormonism,” will appear with W. W. Norton/Liveright in January 2024.

Related content on LDS history:

Polygamy, politics and frontier justice: Why Nauvoo still matters

Can a forgotten Mormon leader teach us something about Donald Trump today?

UN Convenes Decisive “Final” Talks on High Seas Treaty

PUBLISHED FEB 17, 2023 6:31 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

The future of the world’s oceans will be at stake starting Monday when UN member states meet for ostensibly the final round of negotiations that will decide the fate of a treaty aimed at protecting the world’s oceans. After failure to conclude a legally binding agreement on the High Seas Treaty in August, negotiations resume in New York from February 20 to March 3 with NGOs warning that without a strong treaty, it will be practically impossible to protect the world’s oceans by 2030.

Discussions began in 2007 about the need to create new treaties protecting biodiversity and after a decade of discussion, the UN convened in 2017 the first of what was planned to be four sessions to develop the treaty. The member states have agreed that the goal is to conserve and sustainably use ocean biodiversity, and while coming very close to agreement in August 2022, the fifth session still failed to adopt a treaty.

“We’re closer to the finish line than we’ve ever been before but … we still need a little more time,” Rena Lee of Singapore, president of the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, said at the close of the session last year. Sticking points were said to center around fair access to marine resources for all and how to establish and maintain the proposed marine protected areas on the high seas.

A broad range of international organizations, including Greenpeace International and WWF, have warned that failure to agree on a binding treaty will jeopardize the 30×30 target that was agreed at COP15 in Montreal in December last year. They believe that it is critical for countries to finalize the agreement in order to secure two-thirds of ocean water masses that are largely unprotected and overexploited.

The 30×30 framework commits countries to protect and conserve at least 30 percent of the ocean and ensure 30 percent of degraded areas are under restoration by 2030 with a High Seas Treaty creating a process for establishing marine protected area networks in areas beyond national jurisdiction, a development that is critical for meeting the global targets.

According to the PEW Charitable Trusts, currently, more than 20 organizations regulate different aspects of human activities—such as shipping, fishing, and seabed mining—on the high seas with little coordination among them. At the upcoming meeting, officials from the trust said that countries are expected to finalize a legal framework to establish a network of marine protected areas (MPAs) on the high seas, and to conduct environmental impact assessments in these ocean areas.

“The oceans support all life on earth. Their fate will be decided at these negotiations. The science is clear. Protecting 30 percent of the oceans by 2030 is the absolute minimum necessary to avert catastrophe. It was encouraging to see all governments adopt the 30×30 target last year, but lofty targets mean nothing without action,” said Laura Meller, Oceans Campaigner and Polar Advisor, Greenpeace Nordic.

Although global high seas, or waters beyond national jurisdiction, comprise nearly two-thirds of the ocean’s mass, only roughly one percent of the huge swathe of the planet is protected albeit with little effective management in place.

“For most people, the high seas are out of sight, out of mind. But the ocean is a dynamic mosaic of habitats, and the high seas play an important role in the healthy functioning of the whole marine system,” said Pepe Clarke, Oceans Practice Leader at WWF International.

A strong treaty is seen as essential in fully protecting ocean sanctuaries across the high seas, free from activities like destructive fishing and deep-sea mining with the Conference of the Parties created by the treaty taking decisions on all potentially damaging activities, including fishing.

“Overfishing and illegal fishing, habitat destruction, plastic and noise pollution as well as climate change impacts are all rife in the high seas. Heavily subsidized, industrial fishers seek to exploit and profit from ocean resources that, by law, belong to everyone. It’s a tragedy of the commons,” noted Jessica Battle, WWF Senior Global Ocean Governance and Policy Expert.

Stakeholders believe that a legally binding High Seas Treaty would help to break down the current silos between isolated management bodies and result in less cumulative impacts and better cooperation across the ocean resources.

Why is a love poem full of sex in the Bible? Readers have been struggling with the Song of Songs for 2,000 years

The famous biblical book alludes to God only once. Historically, though, most interpreters have argued the poem’s about love between the divine and his people.

Figuring out what to do with the 'Song of Songs' has preoccupied people reading the Bible for centuries. ('Song of Songs' illustrated by Florence Kingsford/Southern Methodist University/Wikimedia Commons)

February 14, 2023

Jonathan Kaplan

(The Conversation) — Many Americans have heard the expression “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine” – in fact, a quick Google search turns up myriad websites offering wedding bands inscribed with the much-loved line. Search Etsy for Valentine’s Day gifts, and you’ll see jewelry, T-shirts and coffee mugs printed with the phrase. But perhaps not all of the quotation’s admirers know that its origins lie in a biblical text: the Song of Songs, which has created difficulties for readers for 2,000 years.

Also known as the Song of Solomon or Canticle of Canticles, the Song of Songs stands out in the Bible because of its extensive and candid sexual content. It is a work of sensual lyric poetry that portrays scenes of actual and imagined trysts between the poem’s female protagonist and her lover.

Graphic descriptions of both male and female bodies pervade the work and are certainly titillating, even bordering on pornographic. Sensual metaphors such as “grazing among the lilies” and “drinking … from the juice of my pomegranates” suggest sexual practices that are anything but vanilla.

It’s not just the emphasis on sex that makes the text unusual. The Song of Songs is the only work in the Bible that focuses exclusively on human-to-human love, not human-to-divine – at least on the surface level of the poem.

Ancient Jews and Christians were troubled by the inclusion of such a graphic love poem in the biblical canon and came up with their own ways to remedy the dilemma.

Barely a mention of God

The Bible includes other references to sex – including graphic depictions of sexual violence. And other books certainly contain depictions of human love, such as that of the patriarch Jacob, who labored for 14 years to win his wife Rachel in the Book of Genesis.

But when other biblical books talk about love and marriage, they primarily use this language to depict God’s relationship with people – specifically, the people of Israel, who have a special covenant with him according to the Torah. In contrast, the Song of Songs may possibly allude to Israel’s God only once, in chapter eight.

A painting of a woman wearing glittering jewels and a crown against a dark background.

‘The Song of Songs,’ by 19th-century painter Gustave Moreau.
Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

Yet ancient interpreters of the Song of Songs did not interpret this poetic work as a depiction of human-to-human love. In fact, while researching my book about early rabbinic interpretation of the Song of Songs, I noticed that no such interpretations – Jewish or Christian – survive from before the modern era.

Instead, the earlier commentators “reread” the Song of Songs exclusively as a portrayal of divine-to-human love, God’s relationship with a beloved individual or community.

Covenant with the divine

Other scholars and I have argued that the earliest interpretations of the Song of Songs appear in late first-century works, such as allusions in the Book of Revelation – the final book in the New Testament, which describes prophetic visions of Jesus’ second coming – and 4 Ezra, another apocalyptic work included in some versions of the Bible.

In the first few centuries, rabbis began to interpret the Song of Songs as part of their commentaries on the Pentateuch, the first section of the Hebrew Bible. The Pentateuch describes the creation of the world and includes stories about the Israelites’ ancestors and their epic journey from Egypt to Israel. Over the course of several books, the Pentateuch shows them fleeing slavery, receiving revelation from God at Mt. Sinai, wandering in the desert for 40 years and finally entering the promised land.

These early rabbis envisioned that narrative as an extended, intimate story about God’s relationship with the people of Israel. And although they shied away from the more erotic dimensions of the Song of Songs, they used its language to depict God’s relationship with the people of Israel as more than a simple contractual arrangement. In my 2015 book, “My Perfect One,” I argued that the earliest rabbis characterized these bonds as deeply affectionate and marked by profound emotional commitment. For instance, in one passage, they interpret Song of Songs 2:6 – “His left hand was under my head, and his right hand embraced me” – as describing God’s embrace of Israel at Mt. Sinai.

A lover’s yearning

In a similar fashion, Christian scholars avoided the carnal dimensions of this poetic work. Rather than seeing the Song of Songs as a statement of God’s love for Israel, early Christians understood it as an allegory of Christ’s love for his “bride,” the church.

A piece of wood inscribed with text from the Song of Songs in Egypt around 580-640 A.D.
Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Other allegorical readings have also emerged throughout history. Origen, for instance, a third-century Christian writer, proposed that the Song of Songs could be interpreted as the soul’s yearning for God. Similar to other interpreters, Origen associated the soul with the female protagonist, and the divine with her male “beloved.”

Another Christian approach to the Song of Songs was that the poem described God’s loving relationship with Jesus’ mother, Mary.

These diverse interpretations may also have influenced medieval Jewish mystics. In Judaism, the divine presence or “Shekinah” is often thought of as feminine – an idea that became important to these mystics, who relied on the Song of Songs to describe the Shekinah.

Reading the poem today

In the modern period, even more understandings of the poem have emerged, including some about human-to-human love. For instance, feminist readings have highlighted the female character’s power, autonomy and sensuality. Conservative Christians, meanwhile, often approach the poem as an ideal expression of acceptable love between a husband and wife.

From the first few centuries up to today, these many meanings highlight readers’ creativity – and the evocative power of the Song of Songs’ poetic language.

(Jonathan Kaplan, Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism, The University of Texas at Austin. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

FOR MY INTERPRETATION OF LIBER 1075 (SONG OF SONGS)

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PASSOVER SONG

Project for California's First Zero-Emission, Electric Short-Run Ferry

California's first short-run electric ferry — Angel Island is set to become in 2024 California's first electric short-run ferry

(Angel Island-Tiburon Ferry Company)

PUBLISHED FEB 14, 2023 8:00 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

A new project expects to become the first to operate a zero-emission, electric propulsion short-route ferry in California starting in 2024. In addition to demonstrating the potential for converting existing vessels to electric propulsion, the project is in line with California’s tough new emission regulations that begin phasing in this year and include not only large commercial ships in port but also harbor craft and other small vessels ranging from tugs to ferries and fishing boats.

The vessel in this project is a 65-foot tourist craft, the Angel Island, operating in San Francisco Bay. The vessel which is the largest in the Angel Island-Tiburon Ferry Company fleet can carry up to 400 passengers. The vessel operates regular service from the city of Tiburon on the bay to Angel Island. It is also available for charters and runs sunset tourist cruises on the bay.

"We are very excited that the Angel Island will be the first of the short-run ferries in California to be 100 percent zero-emission, as our company continues supporting the natural environment of the Bay and our beautiful state park," said Captain Maggie McDonogh, fourth-generation owner and operator of the Angel Island ferry. "Getting adequate electricity to our ferry terminal is an essential part of this plan.”

California’s Pacific Gas and Electric Company is partnering in the project to bolster electricity transmission to the ferry terminal and support the installation of charging infrastructure. The electrification project also represents an important milestone for PG&E's Electric Vehicle Fleet Program, expanding the program's support of transportation electrification to include the marine sector.

"The Angel Island ferry is an important part of California history and Bay Area tourism, carrying hundreds of thousands of visitors to Angel Island State Park for nearly a half-century. We are excited to support and collaborate on its conversion to an electric propulsion vessel," said Lydia Krefta, PG&E's Director for Clean Energy Transportation.

California-based Green Yachts has been selected to transform the Angel Island into an electric propulsion vessel. The company highlights the importance of having a sufficient electrical supply for fast charging between ferry runs noting that the ferry requires 30 kWh to go one mile. “The increased energy requirement per mile shows the significant challenge associated with electrifying the marine sector," said Graham Balch, Managing Broker of Green Yachts.

As part of the 2030 clean energy goals outlined in PG&E's Climate Strategy Report, the company is aiming to proactively prepare the grid for 12,000 GWh of EV-related electric load and improve processes to enable rapid, safe EV energization and interconnection. It is also working to enable 2 million EVs to participate in vehicle-grid integration applications.

A year ago, in March 2022, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved updates to its Commercial Harbor Craft Regulation that it said is designed to reduce diesel soot and nitrogen oxides emission from commercial harbor craft including tugboats and ferries. The new regulations which are starting this year expand the coverage, requiring zero-emission options where feasible, and cleaner combustion Tier 3 and 4 engines on all other vessels. In addition, they will require the use of diesel particulate filters. The rules are the strictest in the nation expanding to the broadest range of harbor crafts.

Amazon Funds Seaweed Farming at Offshore Wind Farm to Test CO2 Capture

seaweed farming around offshore wind turbines — Project funded by Amazon will use plots around wind turbines to grow seaweed and test its ability to sequester CO2 (North Sea Farm 1)

PUBLISHED FEB 16, 2023 5:50 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

Internet giant Amazon is providing $1.6 million in funding for the development of the world’s first commercial-scale seaweed farm, which will be located between the turbines in an offshore wind farm in the Netherlands. Part of a larger effort by Dutch authorities to make better use of the sea space within the wind farm lease areas, this project is designed to test and improve methods of seaweed farming, while researching the potential of seaweed to sequester carbon.

Know as North Sea Farm 1, the project is managed by a consortium of scientific researchers and partners from the seaweed industry, led by the non-profit organization North Sea Farmers. Amazon’s grant will provide the investment required to construct a 10-hectare seaweed farm, which is expected to produce at least 6,000kg of fresh seaweed in its first year. They expect it will become operational by the end of 2023.

The funding will also support North Sea Farmers in analyzing and improving the farm’s production capabilities. Researchers from the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Deltares, and Silvestrum Climate Associates, working alongside seaweed extract manufacturers Algaia and maritime contractor Van Oord, will set up the farm and explore the potential of seaweed farms to remove carbon from the atmosphere. The researchers will use the information from the trial site to model the impacts of large-scale seaweed farming.

"Like trees, as seaweed grows it absorbs carbon from the atmosphere, and it can be used to create biodegradable packaging, as well as food and fashion products,” explains Roeland Donker, Country Manager, Amazon Netherlands. "Seaweed could be a key tool in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, yet it’s currently farmed at a relatively small scale in Europe.”

By locating the farm in previously empty space between turbines, the project can expand seaweed cultivation in the otherwise heavily used North Sea and increase the productivity of the area around the wind turbines. Other projects that are planned at other wind farms include the installation of floating solar panels to further supplement the productivity of the sites.

North Sea Farmers has championed the seaweed sector in Europe since 2014. According to the non-profit organization, if seaweed farming were to expand to occupy the entire space occupied by wind farms, expected to be approximately 1 million hectares by 2040, it could reduce millions of tons of CO2 annually. The group believes that the finding from the current study will help play a role in scaling the seaweed farming industry.

SpaceX Suspends Plan for Rig-Based Offshore Launch Platforms

Ensco 8501 drill rig on a calm day — Ensco 8501, one of two rigs purchased and recently resold by SpaceX (Valaris)

PUBLISHED FEB 16, 2023 7:42 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

Commercial space launch company SpaceX has suspended its plans to convert two offshore drill rigs into floating launch pads for its new Starship rocket system, a top executive told reporters last week.

SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell told media at a press conference that the two rigs were "not the right platform" for conducting space launch operations at sea, though she left the door open to future sea-based launch options once the system is in service.

The concept of sea launch has been used successfully before, and it makes commercial sense for some applications. Orbital launch trajectories are affected by location, and a sea-based launch allows the operator to pick the site to maximize efficiency and payload. The space company Sea Launch used a secondhand MODU to launch Ukrainian-built Zenit rockets for 15 years.

In 2020, SpaceX decided to follow suit, and it bought the ultradeepwater rigs Ensco 8500 and Ensco 8501 from Valaris. Renamed Phobos and Deimos, they were relocated to the port of Brownsville, where its Starship test facility is located.

That plan has been canceled, and the two rigs have been sold to new owners. Instead, SpaceX will focus on rocket development for now.

"We really need to fly this vehicle to understand it, to get to know this machine, and then we’ll figure out how we’re going to launch it," Shotwell said.

SpaceX's Starship is a reusable, stainless-clad super-heavy orbital launch vehicle designed for long-range missions, including aspirations for travel to Mars. The 15th prototype completed the first Starship high-altitude test in May 2021, and SpaceX filed paperwork for its first orbital trajectory test flight last month.