U.S. healthcare workers face rising levels of burnout

By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay Reporter

Physicians, nurses, clinical staff and non-clinical support workers in health care all are experiencing substantial levels of burnout, according to a report published recently in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. 

Photo by HalcyonMarine/Pixbay


Cafeteria workers. Receptionists. Pharmacists. Janitors. Administrators. Physical therapists.

Much has been made of burnout among doctors and nurses, but a new survey has found high rates of work fatigue in nearly every type of job associated with healthcare.

Physicians, nurses, clinical staff and non-clinical support workers in healthcare all are experiencing substantial levels of burnout, according to a report published recently in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

For example, the percentage reporting burnout was very similar between nurses (56%), clinical staff (54%), doctors (47%) and non-clinical staff (46%).

Staffing shortage in healthcare affecting more Americans

"Every member of the healthcare team is really critical to patient outcomes and patient experiences of care," said lead researcher Dr. Lisa Rotenstein, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "It's just really important for us to remember that as we are trying to optimize both patient outcomes and experiences for our workforce."

For this study, Rotenstein and her colleagues surveyed workers at 206 large healthcare organizations between April and December 2020, at the height of the pandemic.

The participants included more than 15,000 physicians and 11,000 nurses.

But researchers also surveyed more than 5,000 clinical staff such as pharmacists, nurse assistants, therapists and social workers, as well as more than 11,000 non-clinical staff including housekeeping, administrators, lab technicians and food service workers.

In addition to high levels of burnout, the researchers also found that many workers intended to leave their jobs within two years -- nurses (41%), clinical and non-clinical staff (32%) and doctors (24%).

Substantial numbers also reported work overload, including 47% of nurses and clinical staff, 44% of non-clinical staff and 37% of doctors.

Little improvement after 2020

Even though the survey was conducted during the height of the pandemic, Rotenstein suspects that things haven't improved for healthcare workers in the subsequent years.

"Some of the stresses have persisted as we have moved into a new phase of the pandemic," Rotenstein said. "There are staffing shortages. There are patients who have delayed care because of the COVID pandemic, and so now we're seeing an increase in demand for healthcare. Oftentimes, healthcare workers are being asked to do more with less."

One shouldn't overlook that the pandemic extended well past 2020, adds Dr. Joe Betancourt, a primary care physician and president of The Commonwealth Fund.

"We had the hard work of the next couple of surges after that," Betancourt said. "As I reflect on that time, we were tired then and burned out, then we thought we had gotten through it -- and then we had the next surge, and then another surge. Over time, that really amplified the burnout."

A recent HealthDay/Harris Poll showed that burnout continues to be a factor in healthcare. The survey reported in February that two-thirds of doctors and nurses said they are experiencing moderate to severe burnout at work.

Cost-cutting in healthcare has led to tremendous pressure among workers at all levels, said Dr. Atul Grover, executive director of the Association of American Medical Colleges' Research and Action Institute.

"Healthcare is a very labor-intensive endeavor. Over half the costs in health systems are attributable to labor," Grover said. "If you're asking us to remove costs out of the healthcare system, you're essentially asking us to figure out either how to pay people less or get rid of people. I think that is kind of impossible, at least right now."

People seeking care these days also tend to be sicker and require more treatment, attention and paperwork, Grover added.

"We have done biomedically a very good job at improving the care of chronically ill patients, whether that is renal disease, diabetes, pulmonary disease, cancers," Grover said. "But that means that patients have multiple medical problems. They present much, much sicker in every setting."

Administrative staff have to coordinate complex care coverage with insurance companies. Nurses and doctors have more data to file into electronic health records. Support staff have to work harder to meet the basic needs of sicker patients.

Asking all these workers to do more with less can't help but affect patient care, Rotenstein said.

"We know from existing studies that burnout is associated with lower quality of care in some circumstances and then additionally with medical errors," Rotenstein said.

"The whole reason we did this study is that every member of the healthcare team impacts a patient's journey, whether that is the person at the front desk checking in the patient or seeing when the next available appointment is, to the social worker who's working with the patient or home health aides who are interacting with patients on a daily basis," Rotenstein added.

"All of those roles are critical for high quality healthcare, and so we would expect these types of workplace experiences and stress to ultimately have an impact on care delivery and, importantly, also the availability of care," she added.

Toll on empathy

Burnout also can take a toll on one of the most important emotional aspects of healthcare -- the empathy that workers have for the sick, Grover said.

"If the clinicians and counselors and even the people in food service in their health system are really stressed and unhappy, it's that much more difficult to be empathetic," Grover said.

Health systems have been trying to manage burnout through a "cottage industry" of wellness offerings, Betancourt said -- gift certificates, yoga classes, meditation groups.

"What I hear from a lot of my peers is, it's not about needing those perks," Betancourt said. "I don't have time or the energy to do those things, even if I wanted to."

Instead, attention needs to be given to developing and increasing the workforce rather than cutting it back, as well as streamlining the paperwork and approvals needed to provide care, Betancourt said.

For example, electronic health record companies could be asked to tweak their systems in ways that make it easier to enter data, through artificial intelligence and voice-to-speech recognition, Grover said.

"What can we be asking of these electronic health record companies that get billions of dollars a year from the U.S. healthcare system? What can they do to make programmatic changes and use AI to help improve and ease the burden on clinicians?" Grover said.

Healthcare systems also can be doing a better job tracking work overload and burnout among all staffers, Rotenstein said.

"We have an instrument to measure work overload, and it may be beneficial for organizations to start measuring that actually upstream of burnout and intent to leave, because once you're at the point of burnout or intent to leave, in some ways it's a little late," Rotenstein said.

"There's an opportunity to measure work overload and then to modulate workload for employees in all role types," she added. "And I'll underscore that that's particularly important in a time of healthcare staffing shortages, where certain individuals may be picking up the work of others. That is a really, I would say, important and tangible opportunity."

More information

The Office of the U.S. Surgeon General has more about health worker burnout.

Copyright © 2023 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

THE COVER UP IS OVER CELIBACY

Maryland AG report alleges 'depraved' child sexual abuse in Archdiocese of Baltimore

By Sheri Walsh

The Maryland Attorney General's Office has released a report, detailing its investigation into the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The report alleges 156 clergy members abused more than 600 victims over six decades. 

Photo courtesy of Farragutful/Wikimedia

April 5 (UPI) -- The Maryland Attorney General's Office has released its 456-page report into the Archdiocese of Baltimore, alleging decades of "horrific and repeated" church sex abuse involving hundreds of children.

The redacted report, released Wednesday, claims 156 Catholic clergy members, seminarians, deacons, teachers, and other employees abused at least 600 children over a period of six decades.

"From the 1940s through 2002, over a hundred priests and other archdiocese personnel engaged in horrific and repeated abuse of the most vulnerable children in their communities while archdiocese leadership looked the other way," the report reads. "Time and again, members of the church's hierarchy resolutely refused to acknowledge allegations of child sexual abuse for as long as possible."

In 2018, the attorney general's office opened an email and telephone hotline for people to report clergy abuse. Since then, it has received more than 300 reports from victims, relatives, and witnesses, as well as "hundreds of thousands of documents" including treatment reports and personnel records.

The results of the four-year investigation were first revealed in a November court filing to make the report public.

"As shown in the report, both boys and girls were abused, with ages ranging from preschool through young adulthood," former Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosch said in November.

On Wednesday, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown met with survivors before releasing the report.

"Today certainly in Maryland is a day of reckoning and a day of accounting," Brown told reporters. "This is a full accounting. There are details of repeated torturous, terrorizing, depraved abuse."

"What was consistent throughout the stories was the absolute authority and power these abusive priests and the church leadership held over survivors, their families and their communities," Brown added.

"They told their victims the abuse was God's will. Some threatened that the victim or the victim's family would go to hell if they told anyone. They attempted to normalize sexual behavior as roughhousing," the report said.

While the attorney general promised to leave the abuse hotline and email open to other survivors, many of those named in the report have died or the statute of limitations has passed.

"While it may be too late for the survivors to see criminal justice served, we hope that exposing the archdiocese's transgressions to the fullest extent possible will bring some measure of accountability and perhaps encourage others to come forward," Brown said. "But for an insurmountable legal obstacle, we will do everything we can to bring those abusers and those who enabled them to justice."

On Wednesday, the Archbishop of Baltimore Rev. William E. Lori issued an apology.

"My letter to you about this painful subject can only begin with a heartfelt apology. I offer this as my imperfect attempt," the Lori wrote.

"I want to express my gratitude to the victim-survivors who have come forward. Your courage has led to change. That change has made the church a safer place for young people," he said.

"To the victim-survivors, their families and all the faithful of the archdiocese: I see the pain and destruction that was perpetuated by representatives of the church and perpetuated by the failures that allowed this evil to fester, and I am deeply sorry."

Ousted Disney exec told DeSantis 'you're right' in fight with media giant

Alexandra Canal
·Senior Reporter
Wed, April 5, 2023 

Ousted Disney (DIS) executive Ike Perlmutter, who was let go as the company began its first round of mass layoffs last week, told Florida Governor Ron DeSantis he was "right" in his ongoing battle with the media giant.

In a new interview with The Wall Street Journal, 80-year-old Perlmutter, who served as chairman of Marvel Entertainment, said he told the governor last year: "Ron, you’re right. Disney doesn’t have the right to get involved with politics, and you know, I’m the largest individual shareholder."

Perlmutter, who owns a reported 30 million shares of the company, equating to roughly $3 billion, said he warned executives, "Don’t get involved in politics. You’re going to get hurt. It’s a no-win situation."

Isaac "Ike" Perlmutter, an Israeli-American billionaire, and the CEO of Marvel, walks down the steps of Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Md., Monday, Feb. 6, 2017. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Perlmutter's comments come after CEO Bob Iger defended the company's actions during its annual meeting of shareholders on Monday.

"A company has a right to freedom of speech just like individuals do," Iger said, adding DeSantis' policies are "anti-business" and "anti-Florida" as the politician looks to strip Disney of its self-governing powers.

The fight stems from what has largely been seen as a politically-targeted response over the Disney's reaction to the so-called "Don't Say Gay" law, which forbids instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade. In 2022, then-CEO Bob Chapek denounced it at the company's annual shareholder meeting after initially deciding not to speak publicly on the matter.

In response, DeSantis signed a bill into law that allows him to take control of the company's long-standing special tax district, formerly known as Reedy Creek.

Earlier on Monday, DeSantis asked Florida's inspector general to look into a last minute agreement signed by the previous Reedy Creek board that essentially renders the new oversight committee, appointed by DeSantis, powerless.

Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger attends the European premiere of "The Lion King" in London, Britain July 14, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

The company is looking to slash $5.5 billion in costs. More job cuts will hit the media giant later this month and right before the summer to reach the previously announced 7,000-job target, Iger said in an internal memo obtained by Yahoo Finance.

In addition to the layoffs announced in February, Disney also disclosed plans to restructure the organization into three core business segments: Disney Entertainment, ESPN, and Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.

At the time, Iger said the new strategic organization, "will result in a more cost-effective coordinated and streamlined approach to our operations."

Perlmutter told The Journal he's convinced he was fired because he pushed for more aggressive cost-cutting: "I have no doubt that my termination was based on fundamental differences in business between my thinking and Disney leadership, because I care about return on investment."

Perlmutter said he repeatedly expressed concerns over the company's excessive spending, particularly around its Marvel film productions.

"All they talk about is box office, box office," Perlmutter said. "I care about the bottom line. I don’t care how big the box office is. Only people in Hollywood talk about box office."

Overall, Perlmutter said his firing was "merely a convenient excuse to get rid of a longtime executive who dared to challenge the company’s way of doing business."

The former executive's concerns echoed those of activist Nelson Peltz, who staged a highly publicized proxy battle with Disney in an effort to push for additional cost cuts, operational adjustments, a post-Iger successor, and a reinstatement of the company's dividend.

Peltz officially ended his fight in February after the company announced its restructuring plans.

"My experience with any major corporation, when they’re having problems and they don’t have the free cash or whatever it is, usually people like Nelson Peltz know how to put it back on track," Perlmutter said.

"I learned one thing about creative people my whole life: You cannot give them an open credit card.…They’re doing this for 30 years, why would they change?"

BULLSHIT! IT'S SUBSCRIBER BASED
NPR protests as Twitter calls it 'state-affiliated media'

LIKE CKUA

The Canadian Press
Wed, April 5, 2023 



NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter has labeled National Public Radio as “state-affiliated media” on the social media site, a move some worried Wednesday could undermine public confidence in the news organization.

NPR said it was disturbed to see the description added to all of the tweets that it sends out, with John Lansing, its president and CEO, calling it “unacceptable for Twitter to label us this way.”

It was unclear why Twitter made the move. Twitter's owner, Elon Musk, quoted a

definition of state-affiliated media in the company's guidelines as “outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.”

“Seems accurate,” Musk tweeted in a reply to NPR.

NPR does receive U.S. government funding through grants from federal agencies and departments, along with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The company said it accounts for less than 1% of NPR’s annual operating budget. But until Wednesday, the same Twitter guidelines said that “state-financed media organizations with editorial independence, like the BBC in the UK or NPR in the United States, are not defined as state-affiliated media for the purposes of this policy.”

NPR has now been removed from that sentence on Twitter's website.

Asked for comment, Twitter’s press office responded with an automated poop emoji.

The move came just days after Twitter stripped The New York Times of its verification check mark.

“NPR and our member stations are supported by millions of listeners who depend on us for the independent, fact-based journalism we provide,” Lansing said. “NPR stands for freedom of speech and holding the powerful accountable.”

The literary organization PEN America, in calling for Twitter to reverse the move, underlined that NPR “assiduously maintains editorial independence.”

Liz Woolery, PEN America’s digital policy leader, said Twitter's decision was “a dangerous move that could further undermine public confidence in reliable news sources.”

David Bauder, The Associated Press

These young Calgarians say they'll push back against unhealthy obsession with work


CBC
Wed, April 5, 2023 

More than 200 youth attended the Calgary Central Library on Friday night, discussing, among other subjects, their views on the changing economy and what it might mean for them. (Submitted by Ricardo Calala - image credit)

Janira Moncayo landed three part-time jobs in fine arts when she graduated from university — and she took them all.

Anxious about making it in a tough field, she threw herself into work, regularly filing 56 hours a week. But it was too much. Her stress levels skyrocketed and she would frequently end her days crying from the pressure.

"All of my time was dedicated to working," said the 23-year-old, who came from Ecuador in 2018 to attend the Alberta University of the Arts.

Now she's joined others of her generation in pushing back against what she sees as an unhealthy obsession with work. She adopted a new philosophy and is now just working one job.

"I would like to live in a place where you can feel comfortable and not work yourself to death to try to prove something or even try to make a living."

She sounded poised and sure of her choice at CBC Calgary's Young Calgary launch, a partnership with the Calgary Public Library designed to hear from more young adults in the news.

"So right now, I'm trying to really ground myself to figure out, is this thing that I'm doing actually making me feel good?"

Natalie Melara

Researchers and labour insiders have been tracking this generational shift in perspective across North America.

Janet Lane, a director of the Canada West Foundation, says young adults in Calgary are no different. Many say they'll put more emphasis on work-life balance and are demanding changes in local worksites already.

With an ongoing labour shortage among some professions in the province, they have some power — but that's not unlimited, she said.

Last Friday, more than 200 young adults came out to Calgary's Central Library to take part in the mixer. They shared their thoughts with journalists on everything from dating in this city to where teens hang out and their dreams for their work life.

Submitted by Ricardo Calala

In Calgary, they'll enter a workforce in transition, not just as governments and investors prioritize clean energy over oil and gas, but also as artificial intelligence shifts what jobs humans are required to fill.

Many looked anxious as they talked about an economy that is defined by its booms and its busts. Others mentioned how the oil and gas industry doesn't align with many of their environmental values, causing them to look at different fields.

But the biggest theme at the library that night was that work shouldn't consume one's life. A few seemed driven to succeed no matter what, but most said mental health should come first. There are non-negotiables, they said, that were neglected by past generations of workers. They said they're not going to do the same.

At the mixer, CBC Calgary invited attendees to write about the kind of work life they dream about.

"A healthy one," wrote one participant.

"A successful career while still having time for my family," wrote another.

"Work my own schedule."

Joel Dryden/CBC

That's exactly what Lane heard when, in 2022, the Canada West Foundation released a report that tracked trends among the province's youth. The organization ran focus groups for young people and surveyed 2,000 young adults online.

"They don't want to have the job be the only thing that drives them," Lane said. "They want to be able to enjoy life beyond the doors of the office or the factory or the hospital or wherever they work."

Most gen-Zers around the globe share that view, and should it not be met, they're willing to move on — McKinsey & Company found that 77 per cent of gen-Z respondents in the U.S. said they were looking for a new job, almost double the rate of other respondents.

Perhaps this generation will change as they grow older and take up the jobs familiar to past generations of workers. But given the massive changes on the horizon coming to Alberta's economy, Lane sees another possible outcome. They might actually create at least some of the change they're looking for.

"The economic situation, that is in flux, means we just don't know if there is going to be a recession and, if so, how deep," she said. "But this generation, unlike generations before, is actually in the driver's seat to some extent. Because there are choices."

Hybrid work ramps up as employers push in-office time over work from home

Over 40% of U.S. employees work hybrid schedules while fully-remote perks decline

Kerry Hannon
·Senior Columnist
Wed, April 5, 2023 

Remy Reya, deputy chief of staff at Compass Pro Bono, splits his work week between his studio apartment, or a local coffee shop, and the Washington, D.C., office where he typically works three days a week.

While his company mandates the in-person days, it works for him.

“Because I am hybrid, though, I have to work a little harder to connect with colleagues,” Reya told Yahoo Finance. “Carving out space to develop camaraderie with my teammates that helps us work better together is almost always easier to do in person.”

Many workers, like Reya, are part of the shift in the post-pandemic world of work where hybrid and remote arrangements have swapped places in terms of prevalence.

In February, 41% of workers with jobs that can be done remotely have a hybrid schedule, up from 35% in January 2022, according to a new Pew Research Center survey conducted of 5,188 U.S. adults working part or full time. At the same time, 35% remain fully remote, down from 43% a little over a year ago.

The reversal reflects how more employers are requiring more office time to foster in-person collaboration, even though many workers would prefer to spend fewer days away from home.

“Since late 2022, we are seeing more companies, both large and small, moving from hiring remote to making jobs hybrid,” Gwenn Rosener, partner, and co-founder of FlexProfessionals, a recruiting and staffing firm for the Boston and Washington, D.C., areas, told Yahoo Finance. “Positions that are 100% remote are becoming more elusive.”

(Credit: Pew Research Center)
‘Trying to reestablish internal cultures’

Among hybrid workers who are not self-employed, 63% say their employer requires them to work in person a certain number of days per week or month, Pew found.

Similarly, in early 2022, 56% of the job searches Rosener’s company supported were for fully remote jobs. Since the beginning of 2023, that number has dropped to 39%, she said.

Remote jobs are also becoming less attractive pay-wise, another nudge from employers to more in-person time. Payscale’s recent 2023 Compensation Best Practices Report found that about a quarter of employers surveyed pay employees who don’t come into an office less than those who do for the same position.

The impetus for the rise of hybrid: Flexprofessional’s clients are “trying to reestablish internal cultures and work processes that have eroded over the past several years of heavily remote work,” Rosener said. “Second, they feel that training and mentoring are more effective and efficient in-person, and for some types of jobs, that nothing beats in-person collaboration.”

For instance, a study co-authored by Jonathan Levav of Stanford Graduate School of Business and Melanie Brucks of Columbia Business School found that in-person teams generated more ideas than remote teams working on the same problem.

A study co-authored by Jonathan Levav of Stanford Graduate School of Business and Melanie Brucks of Columbia Business School found that in-person teams generated more ideas than remote teams working on the same problem. (Getty Creative)

In a laboratory experiment administered at Stanford, half the teams worked alongside each other in person and half worked virtually. The in-person teams spawned 15% to 20% more ideas than their on-line teams, according to the researchers. In another experiment that tapped 1,490 engineers at a multinational corporation, in-person teams also popped up with more original ideas.

A potential reason online meetings produce a dearth of good ideas: “Videoconferencing hampers idea generation because it focuses communicators on a screen, which prompts a narrower cognitive focus,” the researchers concluded. “As virtual communicators narrow their visual scope to the shared environment of a screen, their cognitive focus narrows in turn. This narrowed focus constrains the associative process underlying idea generation.”

‘A major competitive advantage’

Still, unlike Reya, some candidates have been slow to accept the shift, and some have walked away from jobs requiring any in-office time, Rosener said. “For those who are open to hybrid arrangements, most are looking for at least three days remote.”

That jibes with Pew’s findings. Almost 3 in 5 of all hybrid workers said they work from home three or more days in a typical week.

But getting to that schedule can be fraught. When employers like Amazon announce that they want them back in the office it’s a point of contention. The majority of organizations (51%) surveyed by Payscale have been “experiencing resistance by their workers when asked to return” to traditional or even hybrid offices.

Amazon's top human-resources executive reportedly dismissed an internal petition signed by more than 30,000 employees over the company's return-to-office policy. Apple is tracking employee attendance and has warned staff who don't work from the office at least three days a week about possible repercussions, according to a report by AppleInsider.

In February, 41% of workers with jobs that can be done remotely have a hybrid schedule, up from 35% in January 2022, according to the Pew Research Center.

“Companies that offer truly remote work, however, which is around 11% of those surveyed by Payscale, will still have a major competitive advantage this year in attracting and retaining talent,” Amy Stewart, associate director of content and editorial at PayScale, previously told Yahoo Finance.

This is why. A good portion of hybrid workers want more home time.

Just over a third of those currently working from home most of the time would like to do it all the time, if they had the choice, the Pew survey found. And among those who are working from home some of the time, half say they’d like to do so all or most of the time.

That’s probably why fully remote work is not going back into the bottle, an accommodation that continues to be much more common than before the pandemic, especially among workers.

“Among those with jobs that can be done from home, 35% are now working from home all the time,” Kim Parker, Pew Research Center’s director of social trends research, told Yahoo Finance. “That’s down from the height of the pandemic lockdowns, but still exponentially higher than the 7% who did so in pre-pandemic days.”
‘I am more productive at home’

That includes Beth Ferrentino, a material program manager for Raytheon Technologies, who lives in Mont Vernon, N.H., and works fully remote from her home. The arrangement enables her to be available for her kids in the mornings and afternoons, echoing many remote workers.

Seven in 10 of those who work from home at least some of the time reported that the largest upside is how the arrangement helps to balance their work and personal lives, according to the Pew survey. Fifty-six percent say it helps them get their work done and meet deadlines.

“It gives me flexibility,” Ferrentino told Yahoo Finance. “I find that I am more productive at home than in the office with a quiet workspace and few distractions.”

Pew Research Center

And despite concerns among employers over connectedness, Ferrentino fosters her professional relationships with coworkers via Teams messaging and Zoom meetings.

“We try to get together in person every quarter which helps build an in-person presence as well,” she said.

That echoes Pew’s findings, which show that remote workers are extremely or very satisfied with their relationships with coworkers at the same rates as those with hybrid or traditional in-office schedules. Still, 53% of folks who work from home at least some of the time say the arrangement does ding their ability to feel connected with co-workers.

“Work from the office can be more punctuated with conversation, but I've always appreciated the reminder that we're not meant to work nine hours straight in isolation every day,” Reya said. “Connecting with colleagues and managers in those unplanned moments can have benefits for our work, too, because many of those ‘side conversations’ have led to valuable insights about our shared work. Even though it can feel unnatural on Zoom, I try to make space for those moments when I'm working remotely, too.”

Kerry is a Senior Reporter and Columnist at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @kerryhannon.

BLUE, GREEN OR PINK

States and companies compete for billions to make hydrogen

The Canadian Press
Wed, April 5, 2023



As fossil fuel emissions continue warming Earth’s atmosphere, the Biden administration is turning to hydrogen as an energy source for vehicles, manufacturing and generating electricity.

It's offering $8 billion to entice the nation’s industries, engineers and planners to figure out how to produce and deliver clean hydrogen. States and businesses are making final pitches Friday as they compete for a new program that will create regional networks, or “hubs,” of hydrogen producers, consumers and infrastructure. The aim is to accelerate the availability and use of the colorless, odorless gas that already powers some vehicles and trains.

How can enough hydrogen be produced to meet demand — in ways that don’t worsen global warming? And how can it be moved efficiently to where users can get it? Such questions will be tackled by the hubs.

Nearly every state has joined at least one proposed hub and many are working together, hoping to reap the economic development and jobs they would bring. The governors of Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma came up with the “HALO Hydrogen Hub” to compete for funding, for example.

Big fossil fuel companies like Chevron and EQT Corporation, renewable energy developers such as Obsidian, and researchers in university and government labs are involved, too.

But only a select few will receive billions in federal funding. Here are some questions and answers about the initiative:

————

Q. What is a hydrogen hub?

A. The bipartisan infrastructure law signed by President Joe Biden last year included $8 billion for a program to establish six to 10 regional “hydrogen hubs” around the nation. A hub is meant to be a network of companies that produce clean hydrogen and of the industries that use it — heavy transportation, for example — and infrastructure such as pipelines and refueling stations. States and companies have teamed up to create hub proposals. Their final applications are due Friday at the U.S. Department of Energy, which is expected to start awarding money later this year.

Q. Why hydrogen?

Hydrogen can be made in ways that yield little if any planet-warming greenhouse gases. The Energy Department says hydrogen, once produced, can generate power in a fuel cell, emitting only water vapor and warm air. The department says the hubs will produce “clean” hydrogen, although its definition includes hydrogen produced with natural gas. Gas companies have talked about mixing hydrogen at low concentrations with methane for delivery to homes and businesses.

Some consider hydrogen “clean” only if made through electrolysis — splitting water molecules using renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, which also is carbon free, as well as nuclear power. But some oil and gas companies say they can use fossil fuels as feedstocks if they capture the carbon dioxide and keep it out of the atmosphere.

Environmental groups say hydrogen presents its own pollution and climate risks. When emitted into the atmosphere, it boosts volumes of methane and other greenhouse gases, underscoring the need to avoid leaks from hydrogen systems – an issue the hubs should consider, said Nichole Saunders, staff attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund.

Q. Who are the finalists?

The Energy Department asked for detailed plans and received 79. In December, the department encouraged 33 of those with hub proposals to submit a final application, although ones that were discouraged can still apply. The department hasn’t identified the applicants because of sensitive negotiations over where to put the hubs.

The environmental nonprofit Clean Air Task Force has monitored the process and identified 23 finalists on an online map. The Associated Press contacted those groups and received responses from most, confirming that they were encouraged by the DOE to apply by Friday and sharing details of their plans. Among them are energy producers — fossil fuels as well as renewable developers — plus states, universities, national laboratories, utilities and companies that plan to use the hydrogen.

More than 60 public and private entities in the Midwest want a hub in their region, for example. The Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen says it would be an “ideal fit,” partly because many large industrial sectors there, including steel, ammonia and refining, rely on “dirty hydrogen consumption” to fuel their operations.

Q. What are they proposing?

A. At least eight plan to source their hydrogen from fossil fuels and produce it using natural gas, in keeping with a provision in the law that at least two hubs should be in areas with the nation's most abundant gas supplies.

The Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub is a partnership involving the state of West Virginia and EQT, the nation's largest natural gas producer, among others. They say their region has enormous gas resources and could produce hydrogen from methane using heat, steam and pressure while capturing the carbon dioxide it would generate.

At least eight other proposals would generate hydrogen from water through electrolysis, primarily using renewable sources such as wind and solar, although some would power the process with nuclear energy. They are concentrated in coastal and Upper Midwestern states. California has a renewables-only plan to use hydrogen to decarbonize transportation, ports and power plants, with its Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems. Washington and Oregon also want to use renewables to produce hydrogen to use for heavy-duty transportation, aviation, maritime and agriculture. The Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association says it’s planning projects in those two states, plus Montana.

The Great Lakes Clean Hydrogen Coalition would produce hydrogen at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Oak Harbor, Ohio, through electrolysis and transport it by pipeline and truck for the region’s steelmaking, aviation and glass manufacturing industries.

Some hubs would use both natural gas with carbon capture techniques and renewables, like the HyVelocity proposal in the Gulf region. That hub includes Chevron, Air Liquide, University of Texas, GTI Energy and the Center for Houston’s Future. They say a hub makes sense there because the Texas Gulf Coast already produces 3.5 million metric tons of hydrogen annually, or one-third of all U.S. hydrogen production.

Q. Why is this important?

The United States can't meet its climate goals relying on a vast buildout of renewables and electrification alone, said Emily Kent, the U.S. director for zero-carbon fuels at the Clean Air Task Force.

But clean hydrogen plays an important role in decarbonizing sectors of the economy that are nearly impossible to electrify, she added. That includes long-haul trucking, marine shipping and aviation, heavy industries including iron and steelmaking, and the existing production and use of hydrogen.

Yet, the United States makes very little hydrogen. Currently it's produced using natural gas to be used for refining petroleum and producing ammonia for fertilizer.

Joseph Majkut, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said the hubs, along with the tax credits offered for hydrogen production, are the way the U.S. is going to commit significant public spending to jumpstart the industry.

The country wants to make the electric grid carbon-free by 2035, and reach net zero economy-wide by 2050 so the greenhouse gases produced are no more than the amount removed from the atmosphere. The U.S. Department of Energy says hydrogen has great potential for providing power and heat.

“We’ve been producing and using hydrogen for a long time," Kent said. "We have not been producing it in these ways, with these technologies, and we have not been using it in a lot of these sectors.”

___

On Twitter follow Jennifer McDermott at www.twitter.com/JenMcDermottAP and John Flesher at www.twitter.com/JohnFlesher.

___

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Jennifer Mcdermott And John Flesher, The Associated Press

BLUE: NATURAL GAS

GREEN: WIND OR SOLAR

PINK: NUCLEAR

JOE MANCHIN BE DAMNED

Court throws out gas pipeline's West Virginia water permit

Angie Rosser, who leads the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, praised "the common sense reflected in the court’s decision.”

The Canadian Press
Tue, April 4, 2023

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A company building a long-delayed natural gas pipeline has lost a key water permit after a federal appeals court ruled that West Virginia didn't adequately assess the impact of building the Mountain Valley Pipeline across streams and wetlands.

Siding with environmental groups, the court said Monday the state Department of Environmental Protection’s justifications for its 2021 water quality certification were “deficient,” the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.

The 303-mile (487-kilometer) pipeline across rugged mountainsides in West Virginia and Virginia — which is mostly finished — would transport natural gas drilled from the Utica and Marcellus shale formations in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Legal battles have delayed completion for years, as environmental groups say construction has led to violations of regulations meant to control erosion and sedimentation.

Among other things, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the West Virginia agency didn’t adequately address the project’s history of water quality violations. It also said the agency used the wrong standards to support the decision that in-stream activities would meet state water quality regulations. The permit is required under the federal Clean Water Act.

The court noted at least 46 water quality violations and assessed civil penalties totaling roughly $569,000.

Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC, the joint venture behind the project, is still aiming for a late 2023 in-service date. Spokesperson Natalie Cox said construction will proceed and the company would work with the state environmental agency "on a path forward to completing this critical infrastructure project safely and responsibly.”

Angie Rosser, who leads the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, praised "the common sense reflected in the court’s decision.”

“MVP has already gone too far in damaging West Virginia’s water resources, particularly in some of our most valuable mountain headwater systems,” Rosser said in a statement.

Department of Environmental Protection spokesperson Terry Fletcher said the agency was reviewing the decision and declined comment.

Sen. Joe Manchin released a statement Tuesday saying the ruling would further delay the pipeline.

“It is infuriating to see the same 4th Circuit Court panel deal yet another setback for the Mountain Valley Pipeline project and once again side with activists who seem hell-bent on killing any fossil energy that will make our country energy independent and secure,” he said.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court signed off on Virginia’s water quality certification for the pipeline last week.

The Associated Press

Passionate about your neighbourhood? Organizers of Jane's Walks are looking for you

CBC
Wed, April 5, 2023 

A Jane's Walk focused on some of the murals in Calgary in 2018.

 (Submitted by Amani Khatu - image credit)

From a tour of shooting locations used by HBO's The Last of Us, to an urban wildlife exploration of Weaselhead Flats, to a literary journey discovering the novelists, poets and publishers who've lived in Elbow Park.

Jane's Walks are volunteer-led walking tours, offering people an opportunity to explore their community through a new lens.

The annual walks are named after Jane Jacobs, an urbanist and activist who encouraged people to get out into their neighbourhoods.

The walks are held globally each May, with organizers in Calgary hoping to get back to full offerings after scaling back in recent years due to the pandemic.

"We are hoping to have around 40 walks, but [in] one year we had like 82," said Awani Khatu, community activator at the Federation of Calgary Communities, in an interview on the Calgary Eyeopener.

"We want to get that momentum back. We want to get people. Even if you're in the suburbs, we definitely want you hosting a walk as well. This isn't just restricted to people in the inner core."

The group is putting out a call for more walk leaders — people passionate about an aspect of the city they're willing to tell others about.

Bob Chartier started his walk of Calgary's Music Mile in Inglewood about seven years ago. It runs along Ninth Avenue S.E. from the King Eddy to The Blues Can, including stops at the National Music Centre, the CKUA radio station and the Ironwood.

He finishes off the tour with his own song about the Music Mile.

"The Jane's Walk idea is the coolest thing in the world. It says that everywhere you go that neighbourhoods are interesting.… You just need some great stories and just say, 'Come on a walk with me through this neighbourhood and I'll tell you why I like it,'" he said.

Submitted by Awani Khatu

Chartier is a later-comer singer-songwriter and musician, and he's spent time getting to know people up and down the avenue. So he says he speaks from the heart.

"It's not a scripted walk with me," he said.

"I think what people get out of it is not only a classic urban walk, but they get introduced to the notion that, 'Hey, this is an arts district that was made from the ground up."

How to lead a walk

Khatu says a great conversation, not a scripted lecture, is exactly what they're looking for, whether you're interested in art, architecture or even dogs.

"It can be like a walking tour with all the neighborhood four-legged friends and you go to the local dog park. So it can really be on anything that you want," she said.

"The great thing about being on your feet is that you get to pause whenever you need to pause. And if there's a detour, like take it, you know, go and explore. It's about the journey, not the destination."

Submitted by Awani Khatu

Some other walks scheduled for the May 5-7 event are focused on gardens, astrophysics and neighbourhood history.

Walk leaders just need to submit a form on the federation's website, providing a walk summary, accessibility considerations and a short bio.

The deadline to apply is April 22, although Khatu says that may be extended.

"If you want to have fun, this is for you."

EDMONTON JANES WALK: Jane's Walk YEG – Walk Together. (wordpress.com)

PDF 

https://www.buurtwijs.nl/sites/default/files/buurtwijs/bestanden/jane_jacobs_the_death_and_life_of_great_american.pdf

THE DEATH AND LIFE OFGREAT AMERICAN CITIES - Buurtwijs 

THE DEATH. AND LIFE. OF GREAT. AMERICAN CITIES. •. Jane Jacobs. VINTAGE BOOKS ... through he gn.ee of the great American I»nking system, which.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Jacobs

Jane Jacobs - Wikipedia 

Jane Jacobs OC OOnt (née Butzner; 4 May 1916 – 25 April 2006) was a US-Canadian journalist, author, theorist, and activist who influenced urban studies, ...

https://centerforthelivingcity.org/janejacobs

Jane Jacobs — The Center for the Living City 

Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was an urbanist and activist whose writings championed a fresh, community-based approach to city building. She had no formal training as ...

https://www.pps.org/article/jjacobs-2

Jane Jacobs - Project for Public Spaces 

Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was an urban writer and activist who championed new, community-based approaches to planning for over 40 years.

https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/programs/housing/jacobs-jane-1916-2006

Social Welfare History Project Jacobs, Jane — 1916 – 2006 

Oct 17, 2022 ... Jane Jacobs: An American-Canadian Journalist, Author, and Activist Known For Her Influence on · Urban Studies and Cities.

https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/urban-designer-series-jane-jacobs/92116

Urban Designer Series: Jane Jacobs. | Smart Cities Dive 

She was a writer and an activist. As a concerned citizen she was able to see the negative and devastating impacts modern planning was having on communities and ...

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/25/books/jane-jacobs-urban-activist-is-dead-at-89.html

Jane Jacobs, Urban Activist, Is Dead at 89 - The New York Times 

Apr 25, 2006 ... Jane Jacobs, the writer and thinker who brought penetrating eyes and ingenious insight to the sidewalk ballet of her own Greenwich Village ...

https://www.thoughtco.com/jane-jacobs-biography-4154171

Jane Jacobs: New Urbanist Who Transformed City Planning 

Aug 14, 2019 ... American and Canadian writer and activist Jane Jacobs transformed the field of urban planning with her writing about American cities and her ...

https://www.archdaily.com/tag/jane-jacobs

Jane Jacobs | Tag - ArchDaily 

It has been over fifty years since Jane Jacobs' book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, revolutionized discourse on urban planning, and her words ...

https://womanisrational.uchicago.edu/2022/02/02/jane-jacobs

Jane Jacobs | Woman is a Rational Animal 

Feb 2, 2022 ... Jane Jacobs was an urban theorist and writer, born in 1916 and died in 2006, who thought about the way that urban organization impacts city ...

Head of Canadian Museum of History looks to move past a tumultuous few years

The Canadian Press
Tue, April 4, 2023 



GATINEAU, Que. — Caroline Dromaguet first started working at the Canadian Museum of History as a summer guide, where as a student she fell in love with the world of museums.

Over the years she saw the exhibits change, with her life experience changing, too.

The museum is where she got her first "grown-up job," and 25 years later, she has climbed to the top.

In December she was appointed president and CEO of the Canadian Museum of History Corp., a federal Crown corporation responsible for both the history museum in Gatineau, Que., and the Canadian War Museum on the Ottawa side of the river, after serving as interim CEO for two years.

"I just feel extremely lucky," Dromaguet said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press, describing her appointment as "quite unexpected."

Her predecessor, Mark O'Neill, resigned in 2021 following allegations of workplace harassment. He had been on medical leave since the summer of 2020, when an independent investigation was launched.

Dromaguet, the first French-speaking woman to hold the position, is now tasked with reforming the museum's policies following years of turmoil, and upholding the commitment to further advance truth and reconciliation.

A public report released two years ago showed the corporation's structure "primarily focused on control" where employees "did not feel a sense of community at the organizational level."

The workplace assessment report, commissioned by the corporation, said the culture didn't enable innovation. Employees described poor behaviour including bullying, blame, suspicion, maliciousness and fear-driven leadership.

The COVID-19 pandemic arrived during this tumultuous period, and Dromaguet said remote work further weakened communication and in-person connection among employees.

"We needed to establish a sense of trust among ourselves and our organization," she said.

Citing privacy laws, Dromaguet declined to provide details of the harassment allegations, how many people were ultimately disciplined, or any possible severance payouts.

"Like everyone I have read (about) it on our public platforms. I personally can't speak to that period. I was here at that time, but the findings are there and are publicly available," she said, also declining to answer whether she witnessed or experienced harassment herself.

She was willing to speak to the corporation's approach to addressing bad behaviour since then.

"That's something we were all responsible for," said Dromaguet, adding that the corporation has defined its workplace values, one of six recommendations from the April 2021 workforce assessment report.

"Acting with integrity is one of those values, and I firmly believe in that and nobody should get a free pass when it comes to (bad behaviour)."

All six recommendations are being implemented, Dromaguet said. They include stabilizing the leadership team; offering leadership development, coaching and training; establishing a sense of trust; defining desired culture; and addressing barriers to diversity and inclusion.

Human resources also renewed its harassment and violence in the workplace policy.

The organization is working to repatriate objects to First Nations and other Indigenous Peoples, and will soon release its results of a three-year plan that focused on Indigenous relations, adopting new policies and building relationships with First Nations.

"I want to think that the needle is moving, but I don't want to take everything for granted. I think we are moving in the right direction, but it's an ongoing work," Dromaguet said.

She said contributing to a cultural transformation has taken a lot of collaboration and listening on her part. She also credits a new "employee experience journey" program for driving further change.

"It's a lot of work. Change is hard. But I'm really inspired to see that engagement from staff and it's looking bright."

While the workplace assessment report notes improvements, Dromaguet said she has learned that workplace culture is as important as the culture displayed within the museum walls.

Standing in the Canadian Museum of History's Haida Gwaii Salon, she pointed to her favourite installment: Alex Janvier's Morning Star, seven floors up.

Completed in just three months in 1993 with the help of his son Dean, the painting illustrates the Denesuline artist's perspective on the history of the land we inhabit and expresses hope for mutual respect.

"It really tells the beautiful story of humans cohabitating and living together," Dromaguet said.

"I find it inspirational in terms of our work, and our journey towards reconciliation. It's just a nice inspiration and reminder for me."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 4, 2023.

Mickey Djuric, The Canadian Press