50 years later, Skylab remembered as major force in space exploration

By Stefano Coledan


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This is an artist's rendering of Skylab in 1973. 

Image courtesy of NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. May 25 (UPI) Fifty years ago, on May 25, 1973, three NASA astronauts were launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to spend a month aboard Skylab, America's first space station. Their first order of business was to rescue it.

"Houston, Skylab 2 [here], we fix anything," mission commander Pete Conrad said enthusiastically, to ground controllers as a Saturn 1B carried his Apollo capsule and two other astronauts, Joseph Kerwin and Paul Weitz, to rendezvous with the newly orbiting Skylab.


Their mission was to spend 28 days aboard the 100-ton space station. But even before docking with the new orbital base, they had vital tasks to carry out.

The first order of business was emergency repairs on Skylab's exterior. The three astronauts had been training for a total of only 10 days to perform that unexpected and risky part of their mission.

Such a short time was unheard of in all of NASA's history.

Disaster strikes

The first mission started on time, on May 14, 1973, when a modified Saturn V rocket had taken the space laboratory, without a crew on its way toward Earth orbit. Even though everything seemed normal, disaster already had struck.

Aerodynamic forces ripped off one of Skylab's twin solar panels, most of the laboratory's meteoroid shield and the thermal insulation beneath it.

Engineers on the ground realized the magnitude of the problem only when Skylab's onboard sensors showed that environmental temperatures had shot up beyond tolerable limits.

It didn't take long before some space agency's managers implied that Skylab was finished, a useless piece of space junk. Instead, it turned out to be one of those moments when NASA showed it could overcome seemingly insurmountable setbacks.

On that first day of their mission, Conrad brought his capsule as close as possible to Skylab for a close-up inspection. Missing solar panel aside, dislodging its debris, which prevented the other from deploying, would require more complex work than anybody could imagine.

Docking with Skylab proved to be more challenging than expected. It took Conrad several tries and troubleshooting before parking his capsule for good. For their first day in space, the Skylab 2 crew had been through enough.


Resuming work

A good night sleep was enough for the crew to resume work. It was May 26. Conrad and Weitz floated outside their spacecraft, making sure to avoid debris and sharp edges, eventually installing a so-called parasol, a specially designed blanket to protect the workshop's outer skin.

It took patience, time, and improvisation, but it worked. Within the first hour, inside temperatures had dropped about 50 to 60 degrees F, NASA reported.

Next came the missing solar panel. When it was ripped off during launch, debris, wiring, tubing and metal straps became stuck against the opposite solar wing, still flush against Skylab's body.

Everybody knew that it must deploy for that mission and the next two to succeed -- and for the $2.6 billion program (almost $18 billion in today's dollars) to be successful.

Skylab 2 would last 28 days; Skylab 3, 59 days; and Skylab 4, 84 days.

It took more extra time, strenuous physical effort and a pair of humble shears to finish the job successfully. Never-before-heard curses -- not in TV transmissions from space -- slipped out as the astronauts gasped for air.

In essence, $75,000 worth of orange foil saved the day, the rest of their Skylab 2 mission, the other two Skylab missions and whole program.

It took until May 29 before Conrad Kerwin and Weitz could start the assigned work on the original schedule.

Evolution of spaceflight

"Skylab was the next logical step in the evolution of spaceflight," Alan Bean, commander of the second crew to live on the station, said several years after the program ended. As Apollo 12 lunar module pilot, he became the fourth man to walk on the moon.

"Its most important contributions, still essential to the space program today, were what it taught about behavior in space and reactions to prolonged weightlessness," Bean said of Skylab.

''We didn't know how important exercise was to staying fit in orbit. We thought we knew. But then one test is worth 1,000 experts' opinions.''

On May 29, the crew finally could turn on lights, water, air conditioning and filters, and the toilets. Moreover, temperatures had fallen around 80 degrees, so all three men gathered in the station's bottom section, around the dining room table, and had a real breakfast.

Then came blood tests to check their heart and muscle conditions for scientists on the ground to study the effects of their extended time in virtual weightlessness.

Next, they moved on to activities that could be done only in space.

Using onboard telescopes in the airless (vacuum) of space they could create artificial eclipses to observe the sun over much longer intervals than on Earth. That's when the solar atmosphere, the corona, becomes visible in all its splendor.

Lessons learned

The lessons learned from the Skylab missions, multitudes of achievements, and tangible experience in most scientific and technical disciplines paved the way for the future of robotic and human exploration of space -- not to mention the concrete progress in everyday life.

Studies on the astronauts' health, psychological and interactive behavior and other, innumerable facets were fundamental for construction and development of the International Space Station -- and for current studies to plan human and robotic missions flying faster and farther into the solar system.

In all, three crews were launched, each in turn setting a record for longest human space flight at the time. The Skylab program totaled 513 man-days in orbit, conducted thousands of experiments in many different disciplines and even viewed the rather disappointing comet Kohoutek from Skylab III, NASA said.

Skylab was an instrumental way to study and learn about the world. And it provided something more in the way it ended. The space shuttle had yet to start flying when Skylab came down in flames on July 12, 1979, over the Indian Ocean and western Australia, more than five years after the last crew returned to Earth.


The results from three Skylab missions gave NASA, the engineering and scientific communities, as well as commercial, industrial and research organizations and institutions a multitude of scientific disciplines.

Now, there were new ways of analyzing, studying and learning from technical and scientific achievements.

Meet the Canadian scientist (sort of) spending a year on Mars

Lucie AUBOURG
Fri, May 26, 2023 

A portion of Mars Dune Alpha is seen at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas

Living on Mars wasn't exactly a childhood dream for Canadian biologist Kelly Haston, though she'll soon spend a year preparing for just that.

"We are just going to pretend that we're there," the 52-year-old told AFP, summing up her participation in an exercise simulating a long stay on the Red Planet.

At the end of June, she will be one of the four volunteers stepping into a Martian habitat in Houston, Texas that will be their home for the next 12 months.

"It still sometimes seems a bit unreal to me," she laughs.

For NASA, which has carefully selected the participants, these long-term experiments make it possible to evaluate the behavior of a crew in an isolated and confined environment, ahead of a real mission in future.

Participants will face equipment failures and water limitations, the space agency has warned -- as well as some "surprises," according to Haston.

Their communications with the outside world will suffer from the delays that exist between Earth and Mars -- up to 20 minutes one-way, depending on the planets' positions -- and 40 minutes two ways.

"I'm very excited about this, but I'm also realistic for what the challenge is," says the research scientist, whose status as a permanent resident of the United States made her eligible for the program.

The habitat, dubbed Mars Dune Alpha, is a 3D printed 1,700 square-foot (160 square-meter) facility, complete with bedrooms, a gym, common areas, and a vertical farm to grow food.

"It's actually surprisingly spacious feeling when you go inside it," said Haston, who visited last year before her participation was confirmed.

"And we do have an outdoor area as well where we will mimic spacewalks or Mars walks."

This area, which is separated by an airlock, is filled with red sand, though it is still covered rather than being open air.

The crew will have to don their suits to do "spacewalks" -- "probably one of the things that I'm looking forward to the most," says Haston, a registered member of the Mohawk Nation.

- 'Close knit' -

Haston wasted no time in filling out her application when her partner told her about the opportunity.

"It's aligned with many of my goals in life to explore different avenues of research and science, and then also to be a test subject, and to give to a study that will hopefully further space exploration."

The four members of the mission -- herself, an engineer, an emergency doctor and a nurse -- did not know each other before the selection process, but have since met.

"We really are close-knit already," says Haston, who has been named commander of the group, adding she looks forward to seeing these relationships grow even stronger.

They might be simulating an important exploratory mission for humanity, but how the housemates get along as they share mundane chores including cleaning and meal preparation will be crucial.

A month of training is planned in Houston before entering the habitat.

A teammate could leave in case of injury or medical emergency.

But a whole series of procedures have been drawn up for situations that can be handled by the crew themselves -- including on how to tell them about a family problem that has arisen outside.

- Isolation -

What worries the Canadian most is how she will manage being away from family. She'll only be able to keep in regular touch through email, and only rarely via videos, but never live.

She'll miss being outside and getting to see mountains and the sea, she says.

To cope, she plans to draw on her past experiences, such as a research expedition in Africa where she studied the genetic characteristics of frogs around Lake Victoria.

She spent several months sleeping in cars and tents, with four people, without reliable cell phone coverage.

Feelings of isolation "are things that I think feel very familiar to me."

A specialist in the field of developing stem cell treatments for certain diseases, she has worked in recent years for start ups in California, where she also studied.

This mission is the first of a series of three planned by NASA, grouped under the title CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog).

A year-long mission simulating life on Mars took place in 2015-2016 in a habitat in Hawaii, but although NASA participated in it, it was not at the helm.

Under its Artemis program, America plans to send humans back to the Moon in order to learn how to live there long-term to help prepare a trip to Mars, sometime towards the end of the 2030s.

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Rocket Lab successfully launches 2 NASA weather-tracking satellites


Rocket Lab launched an Electron two-stage rocket into space late Thursday from New Zealand. 

File Photo courtesy of Rocket Lab

May 26 (UPI) -- Rocket Lab successfully launched a second batch of NASA weather-tracking satellites into space from New Zealand late Thursday after the mission had suffered repeated weather delays earlier in the week.

The Electron two-stage rocket named Coming To A Storm Near You was topped with a pair of shoebox-sized satellites and launched at 11:46 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula along the archipelago nation's east coast.





The satellites were deployed into low-Earth orbit within an hour of the launch and will create for NASA a constellation of tropical cyclone monitoring satellites that is known by the acronym TROPICS, meaning Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats.

NASA said they were now working on signal acquisition from the newly deployed orbitals.

"It is not unexpected for CubeSats to take some time to establish communications," it said in a statement. "We will provide confirmation when signal is acquired."





Rocket Lab launched and deployed the first pair of CubeSats for NASA earlier this month, and it has attempted to get the second batch into space since early this week but have been hampered by weather.

The launch had been pushed to late Thursday after its attempt less than 24 hours earlier was called off as liftoff preparations were underway.

Rocket Lab said it was its 37th Electron mission.

According to NASA, the satellites will provide data on temperature, precipitation, water vapor and clouds by measuring microwave frequencies. The information is expected to shed light on storm formation and intensification -- information to help scientists better understand how high-impact storms function, which could lead to better modeling and predictions.

D.C. man fights to keep giant 'Transformers' statues outside his home

May 26 (UPI) -- A Washington, D.C., man is fighting to keep the giant Transformers statues outside his home -- and he's involved actors from the franchise in his efforts.

Newton Howard, a renowned brain scientist, commissioned an artist to create the massive statues of Autobots Bumblebee and Optimus Prime from old car parts in January 2021, and the installation of the two Transformers sculptures quickly received complaints from neighbors.

Howard's neighbors in Georgetown complained the statues don't match the neighborhoods aesthetic and represent a safety hazard due to drawing in a steady stream of visitors seeking photos with the Autobots.

The statues were a subject of discussion at the District's monthly Public Safety Committee meeting, which was held virtually on Thursday. Howard brought along actors Peter Cullen and Dan Gilvezan to speak in favor of the artworks. Cullen has voiced Optimus Prime in numerous animated and live-action Transformers projects, and Gilvezan voiced Bumblebee in the original 1984-87 Transformers animated series.

"I understand that some people think these statues don't fit the character of the neighborhood, that they stand out like a sore thumb," Gilvezan told the committee. "First I resent being compared to a sore thumb. A healthy well-functioning thumb -- maybe. But a sore thumb -- never."

The Public Safety Committee ruled in favor of the neighbors, saying the statues should be removed, but Howard said he will continue to fight to keep the Autobots in place. He said he is prepared to take the case to court.

D.C. Panel Calls On Man To Boot Down Giant Transformers On Sidewalk


Ben Blanchet

HUFFPOST
Fri, May 26, 2023 

Some Washington, D.C., residents aren’t fans of a pair of Transformers statues meeting their eyes in their Georgetown neighborhood. And they may get their wish after a D.C. panel called on the owner Thursday to remove the robots from the sidewalk.

Dr. Newton Howard, a billionaire neuroscientist at Georgetown University, owns the sculptures and placed them outside his home over two years ago. A statue of Optimus Prime overlooks the street below while Bumblebee and another Transformer greet visitors on the ground.

The statues have reportedly brought tourists, children and fans of the iconic franchise to the street, and several visitors who spoke to Washington’s News4 appeared to delight in their presence.

But complaints to several area groups show neighbors haven’t all enjoyed seeing the Transformers roll out onto their block.

“It is clear that ‘transformer robot’ structures sitting on planters are clearly inconsistent with the goal to preserve the historic nature of Georgetown,” read a 2021 letter from six of Howard’s neighbors, according to WUSA9.

“We are not naive and understand why people stop and look at the ‘Transformers.’ They need to be, however, in a location suitable to safe vehicular and pedestrian traffic and where residents will not share an unnecessary burden by their presence,” wrote Catherine Emmerson on behalf of a citizens’ group on the Georgetown street in March of this year.

The complaints were enough to spark D.C.’s Public Space Committee, a government body that decides on the use of public space for matters like sidewalk cafes, to decide Thursday that the bots should be removed from the sidewalk, WUSA9 reported.

A separate, three-person federal board ― which reportedly approved the statues’ six-month installment back in 2021 ― called last month for Howard to remove the bots.

Workers stop to admire and photograph Bumblebee outside the entrance of Howard's home in the Georgetown neighborhood in 2021.

Workers stop to admire and photograph Bumblebee outside the entrance of Howard's home in the Georgetown neighborhood in 2021.

D.C. Shadow Sen. Paul Strauss, an attorney representing Howard, argued at the Thursday meeting that the bots don’t “endanger” the public, according to DCist/WAMU.

“The allegations that they are contributing to a traffic or dangerous activity is just laughable,” he said.

Peter Cullen and Dan Gilvezan ― voice actors of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, respectively, in the original “Transformers” series ― also joined the meeting to back Howard’s pleas to keep the statues put.

“Now, I understand some people think that these statues don’t fit the character of the neighborhood, that they stand out like a sore thumb. Well, first, I resent being compared to a sore thumb,” Gilvezan said. “A healthy, well-functioning thumb, maybe, but a sore thumb?”

“The Mandalorian” star Emily Swallow, who was born in D.C. and plays The Armorer in the “Star Wars” series, also testified in support of Howard.


Strauss, in an interview with DCist/WAMU, responded to the committee’s decision and assured that the fight for the Autobots is “not over yet.”

“Obviously there’s a variety of legal options but we want to get a better sense of whether reapplying with certain modifications may make some sense,” he said.

“At the end of the day, this should be a decision made by D.C. residents, not federal appointees,” Strauss added. “Dr. Howard’s front porch does not involve a federal interest.”

More than meets the eye: Georgetown vs. giant Transformers statues

A brain scientist vows to fight to keep Optimus Prime and Bumblebee outside his home after a board says they have to go

April 8, 2023

Newton Howard stands outside his home with two Transformer statues. 

(Courtesy of Newton Howard )

If you’ve ever played with a Transformers toy, you know it starts out in one form and turns into another. Robots take shape from trucks, jets and dinosaurs.

To hear Newton Howard tell it, that concept of transformation, of humans and machines creating new possibilities together, is what compelled him to commission two giant Transformers statues and place them in front of his Georgetown home.

It’s also why, he said, he plans to fight to keep them there.

“We are transformers. We change things as humans,” said Howard, a brain and cognitive scientist who teaches at Georgetown University and whose work involves using technology to try to cure neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. He said the idea that people hold the power to transform the things around them contains “extraordinary value,” especially for children, and children often come to see the statues.

‘Bumblebee! Bumblebee!’: A 4-year-old got an epic surprise, and the strangers who gave it to him got something, too

Since putting the towering figures outside his rowhouse about two years ago, the father of four has seen children stop and marvel at the car parts within them, pose for photos alongside them and even leave flowers for them.

He has also seen grown-ups complain that the statues don’t fit in with the aesthetics of the historic block of multimillion-dollar homes, could be a safety hazard and draw people to the street in disruptive ways.

The statues depict Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. In the cartoon series and movies, those two characters are heroes. They fight to save humanity. But in Georgetown, in recent days, this was made clear: Some humans want them gone.

The Old Georgetown Board, a panel of architects that reviews projects in the historic district, voted unanimously Thursday to deny Howard’s request to keep the statues standing outside his home.

Howard said he learned about the vote only when he started receiving messages from friends who saw media coverage about the decision. An article in DCist quotes board Chair H. Alan Brangman as saying, “We hope that these statues will disappear in the not-too-distant future.”

Neighbors annoyed with one another’s outdoor decorating decisions are nothing new. Many of us can think of displays our neighbors have put outside that we would have preferred they kept inside. But when it comes to the conflict surrounding the giant Transformers, as the famous catchphrase for the franchise goes, there is “more than meets the eye.” The issue goes beyond aesthetics and artistic taste.

The Old Georgetown Board’s decision is just the latest development in a conflict in which lawyers have been hired, paperwork has been filed, and questions have been raised about historic preservation and personal freedom.

Before I go on, I should admit that I am a fan of Transformers. My older son has been obsessed with the toys and cartoons since he was a toddler, and I have grown to appreciate them through him. But even if I couldn’t rattle off the names of a dozen characters, I would sill think that Optimus Prime and Bumblebee should be allowed to remain standing in Georgetown. To quote Optimus Prime: “Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.”

If what people choose to display outside their home is not offensive, dangerous or blocking access to the sidewalk, they shouldn’t be forced to dismantle it. And Howard’s display is none of those things. The statues stand on platforms that once held flowerpots and, he said, he hired an engineering firm to secure the statues in place and pays two security services to monitor them around-the-clock. If someone tries to climb on either of the statues, a real person will issue a warning through a speaker to stop.

Optimus Prime and Bumblebee don’t pose a public threat. That’s one reason they should be allowed to remain standing. Another: They bring joy to people.

In the days since the board’s decision, Howard has received messages from strangers expressing support for him and the robots. He shared some with me. They have come from parents, local business owners and Georgetown residents who don’t want to see the robots removed. In one message, a cancer survivor described purposely making an effort to pass the Transformers on the way home, “because they make me happy and I smile every time I walk by.”

“I have received so many beautiful messages,” Howard said. He described them as countering the “disappointing” words of his neighbors, which he characterized as aimed at keeping people out of the neighborhood. “The people that want this to be removed are people that are showing no grace, no openness, no inclusion, no invitation to others. It’s an awful message. It’s contrary to what I believe.”

The Old Georgetown Board had previously denied his request for the statues, but after Howard secured them to his home, he sent another request. Howard said the matter now will be considered by the Public Space Committee at a hearing that is scheduled for April 27. If the statues are ultimately ordered removed, he plans to take legal action, he said.

“I already called my lawyer and said, ‘Do whatever it takes,’” Howard said. He said he has spent nearly $100,000 fighting the issue and, while he doesn’t want to lose thousands more to it, he is prepared to. “It’s even worse if I’m able to spend that money and I don’t spend it and allow somebody to win with a message of bigotry: You are not welcome in my

'Patrol' film exposes Nicaragua forest threat from beef industry


Andrew MARSZAL
Fri, May 26, 2023 

Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega has intensified his crackdown on dissent

Surrounded by fallen trees and languid cows, illegal cattle rancher Chacalin surveys a clearing deep inside one of Nicaragua's largest remaining protected rainforests.

"When I came here, I knew it was a reserve. I just stole the land. I didn't pay for it," he says calmly, staring away from the camera.

"If they take me out of here they can take me off the land, but I don't lose money. That's how we operate."

Beginning in 2016, and over several years, filmmakers Camilo de Castro and Brad Allgood visited the Indio-Maiz Biological Reserve for a documentary about the threats of deforestation and indigenous rights violations.

The roughly 1,000-square-mile (2,600 sq km) tropical rainforest bordering Costa Rica is a biodiversity haven, and the sacred home of the indigenous Rama people, but despite legal protections, it has seen a rapid influx of illegal settlers.

After violent protests erupted in the Central American nation in 2018 -- in part triggered by fury over the government's failure to tackle a massive fire in the reserve lit by an illegal settler -- investigative journalist de Castro had to flee his home country.

In his absence, the situation in Indio-Maiz has only worsened, and President Daniel Ortega's intensifying crackdown on dissent has made it too dangerous for the filmmakers to return.

This February, de Castro was one of 94 dissidents stripped of their citizenship -- along with his mother Gioconda Belli, a prominent writer -- and he now lives in exile in Costa Rica.

Relying on Nicaraguans within the country to send updates and images via the encrypted Signal app, the directors are now premiering "Patrol" at the Mountainfilm documentary festival in Colorado, hoping to draw attention to the situation from afar.

"This is probably the last independent documentary that's gonna come out on Nicaragua in who knows how long," said de Castro.

"The government basically has put up a wall around the country so that people inside can't hear anything coming from outside, and can't share information about what's really happening in the country."

- 'Colonization' -

The documentary follows indigenous Rama and Afro-descendent Kriols as they patrol their lands via canoe and on foot through dense, treacherous jungle, avoiding blood-sucking ticks and predatory jaguars.

It chronicles their encounters with ever-swelling ranks of newly arrived illegal settlers. Many are in the pocket of wealthy cattle ranchers living outside the reserve, and are paid to clear the land before the cows arrive.

During the filming, an indigenous patrol encounters a large, sophisticated ranch that has sprung up in the rainforest, and leaders report it to police and Nicaraguan government officials.

But they are told they must pay up if they want police to investigate, while a meeting with a minister fails to materialize.

While rampant deforestation is not unique to Nicaragua, Allgood said the situation is different from places like the sprawling Amazon, because Indio-Maiz is a "small area" where "it would not be difficult to put up a barrier to prevent people from going in."

The government is "turning a blind eye -- it's in plain sight, but nobody pays attention."

Meanwhile, the land conflict has spilled into violence. Nicaragua has recently seen a string of murders of indigenous people by settlers, many of which go unpunished.

"There's a lot of racism involved," said de Castro. "I would say we're filming the last stage of 500 years of colonization in Nicaragua."

- 'Uphold the law' -

Ninety percent of deforestation in the region is driven by illegal cattle ranching, according to Christopher Jordan, Latin American director for conservation group Re:wild.

"Government corruption allows them to steal and deforest the land without consequences," he says in the film.

Beef is one of impoverished Nicaragua's largest exports. This tiny country, the size of Mississippi, is the United States' sixth-biggest global supplier.

Since 2015, a US law requiring beef to carry a "country-of-origin" label has been dropped, meaning consumers rarely know if their burgers or steaks come from animals reared on Indigenous forest lands.

While many importing companies claim to check the origin of their beef back to its original farm, de Castro and Allgood say this is not possible in Nicaragua, where the traceability process is too opaque.

"We talk about oil, we talk about mining... but the food industry is still not something that's getting enough attention," said de Castro.

"What we want is for consumers to be more wary, to ask questions when they buy beef at the supermarket."

As for the Nicaragua government?

"What we need is political will, to really make them make an example of some of these illegal cattle ranchers and throw them in jail," he said.

"Once they throw a few of them in jail, people will think twice about going in. That's what we want. We want the government to uphold the law."

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Brazil: UN regional group has endorsed Amazon city to host 2025 climate conference

Associated Press

yesterday

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaks during a news conference after attending the Group of Seven nations' summit in Hiroshima, western Japan, Monday, May 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s government announced Friday that a U.N. Latin America regional group has endorsed a Brazilian city in the Amazon region to host the 2025 U.N. climate change conference, though the world body has not yet publicly confirmed the venue.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva initially said Brazil will hold the conference, known as COP 30, in the city of Belem, state of Para, in the heart of the Brazilian rainforest, reflecting his intention to bring attention to the Amazon.

A statement from the Brazilian government later clarified that the region’s support was merely a step in the selection process. The “support for the Brazilian candidacy demonstrates the region’s confidence in Brazil’s capacity to advance the agenda in the fight against climate change,” the statement read.

The latest U.N. climate conference was hosted by Egypt in Sharm el-Sheikh, and this year’s will take place in Dubai.

The U.N. has not yet announced the 2024 venue, let alone the 2025 one, but the locations tend to rotate among regions, and the Brazilian government statement Friday indicated that a Latin American working group was choosing the 2025 venue, and had endorsed Belem. The final decision won’t be made until COP 29 next year.

“It will be a honor for Brazil to welcome representatives from all over the world in a state in our Amazon,” Lula said in a video posted on his social media channels. “I went to COPs in Egypt, in Paris, in Copenhagen, and all people talk about is the Amazon. So I said, ‘Why don’t we go there so you see what the Amazon is like?’”

Brazil’s foreign minister, Mauro Vieira, says in the video that the decision was made at the U.N. on May 18. The U.N. has yet to confirm the venue.

Brazil’s announcement comes in a week that Lula’s administration’s environmental governance has faced headwinds from Brazil’s congress. Lawmakers by a large majority approved a measure that eroded the environment ministry’s authority over construction in forested and coastal areas, as well as other development.

Also this week, the congress is debating whether the state-run oil giant should be allowed to drill off the coast in the Amazon states of Amapa and Para.

Brazilian Amazon city of Belem to host COP30 in 2025: Lula

AFP
Fri, May 26, 2023,

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, pictured on May 25, 2023, has promised to eradicate illegal deforestation in the Amazon by 2030

The city of Belem on the edge of the Brazilian Amazon has been chosen to host the COP30 round of global climate talks in 2025, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced Friday.

"I am convinced that it will be a great event... the world will love the people of the state of Para" of which Belem is the capital, the president said in a video posted on social media.

"I already participated in this conference (Conference of the Parties or COP) in Egypt, in France, and everyone was talking about the Amazon. So I said: 'Why not hold the conference there, so you know where the Amazon is?'" Lula said about his offer to host the annual talks.

Brazil had been chosen to host the COP in 2019, but withdrew its offer shortly after the election of Lula's far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro -- a climate change skeptic accused of dismantling environmental protections during his term.

Lula, who assumed his third term as head of Brazil in January, has promised to eradicate illegal deforestation in the Amazon by 2030.

mel/app/ltl/mlr/bfm

Amazon scientists simulate how warming may impact jungle

Orlando JUNIOR with Eugenia LOGIURATTO in Rio de Janeiro
Fri, May 26, 2023 

Not far from this area northwest of Manaus, Brazil, scientists are conducting tests on the Amazon rainforest to determine the impact of global warming

Deep in the Amazon, an experiment unfolds that may allow a peek into the future to see what will happen to the world's largest rainforest when carbon dioxide levels rise.

It is a simulation to see how the lungs of the world will endure global warming.

The AmazonFACE project, co-financed by Brazil and the United Kingdom, is "an open-air laboratory that will allow us to understand how the rainforest will behave in future climate change scenarios," says Carlos Quesada, one of the project coordinators.

Quesada stands at the foot of a soaring metal tower that protrudes through the rainforest canopy at a site 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Manaus in northwest Brazil.

Sixteen other towers arranged in a circle around it will "pump" CO2 into the ring, replicating levels that may happen with global warming.

"How will the rainforest react to the rising temperature, the reduction in water availability, in a world with more carbon in the atmosphere?" asks Quesada, a researcher at an Amazon research institute that is part of the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology.

- 'Window to the future' -

The technology known as FACE (Free Air CO2 Enrichment) has already been used to study the impact on forests in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, but never in a tropical rainforest.

By 2024, there will be six "carbon rings" pumping CO2 -- one of the causes of global warming -- at a concentration 40 percent to 50 percent higher than today.

Over a decade, researchers will analyze the processes occurring in leaves, roots, soil, water and nutrient cycles.

"We will have more accurate projections on how the Amazon rainforest can help combat climate change with its ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Also, it will help us understand how the rainforest will be impacted by these changes," says David Lapola, a researcher at the University of Campinas, who coordinates the project with Quesada.

The carbon increase in the atmosphere may lead to creation of grassy plains, or savanna, where Amazon rainforest once flourished, with vegetation better adapted to higher temperatures and longer droughts.

But CO2 could also "fertilize" the forest and make it temporarily more resistant to these changes.

"This is a positive scenario, at least for a short time, a period for us to get to zero emission policies, to keep temperature increases to only 1.5 degrees Centigrade," Quesada says.

The project "is a window to the future. You open the window and look at what might be happening 30 years ahead," he says.

The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) urged ambitious action to counter global warming again this year.

According to its latest March report, global warming will surpass 1.5 degrees Celsius in the decades after 2030, leading to irreversible loss of ecosystems.

Coinciding with global warming is the impact of human-caused deforestation in the Amazon.

A landmark 2018 study by scientists Thomas Lovejoy and Carlos Nobre found that the Amazon is hurtling toward a tipping point where savannas begin to replace rainforest.

They said that would happen with deforestation of 20 to 25 percent of Amazon territory. Currently, deforestation stands at 15 percent.

- UK-Brazil cooperation -

AmazonFACE, coordinated by University of Campinas and the Brazilian Ministry of Science, has the support of the Foreign Office and the British Meteorological Service (MET office).

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly visited the facilities this week and announced a new contribution of 2 million pounds (US$2.4 million) to the project, which since 2021 has already received 7.3 million pounds from the United Kingdom.

Brazil, for its part, has invested 32 million reais (US$6.4 million).

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WHO backs farmers to grow food instead of tobacco

Agnès PEDRERO
Fri, May 26, 2023 

Ahead of World No Tobacco Day on Wednesday, the WHO said it had teamed up with other United Nations agencies to support farmers wishing to convert from growing tobacco to growing food

The World Health Organization said Friday it was helping a growing number of farmers turn away from tobacco to help strengthen food security, particularly in Africa.

Ahead of World No Tobacco Day on Wednesday, the WHO said it had teamed up with other United Nations agencies to support farmers wishing to convert from growing tobacco to growing food.

The scheme's pilot in Kenya has proved successful and now the UN wants to export it to other countries and continents.

"A record of 349 million people face acute food insecurity and that is up from 135 million in 2019," Ruediger Krech, the WHO's director for health promotion, told reporters in Geneva.


"Then we have 124 countries which grow tobacco as a cash crop, covering an estimated 3.2 million hectares of land. Approximately 200,000 hectares of land are cleared every year for tobacco crop growing."

Beyond its effects on the health of smokers and farmers, tobacco growing poses a problem for food security, according to the WHO.

The UN health agency is concerned that tobacco companies are gaining an increasing foothold in Africa, with a rise of nearly 20 percent in tobacco plantations across the continent since 2005.

"It is often said that tobacco farming would be so important for economic growth. This is a myth that we urgently need to dispel," said Krech.

He said it only accounts for more than one percent of gross domestic product in five countries: Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and North Macedonia.

"So the profits go to the global tobacco companies."

- Dependency 'trap' -

The WHO accuses the tobacco industry of trapping farmers in a "cycle of dependency", giving them little control over product prices and quality.

"They're trapped. They need to repay the debt before they can discontinue the work for big tobacco," said Krech.

Three UN agencies -- the WHO, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme -- have set up a credit programme to help farmers pay off their tobacco industry debts and change their crop.

The scheme was launched in Migori county in southwest Kenya, where 2,040 farmers have been helped in the first year.

"We were really positively surprised to see so much interest," said Krech.

"But they saw that this is a viable alternative," making triple the profits.

"They have already shifted to growing high iron beans. This moving away from growing also meant that children can go to school instead of growing tobacco.

"Mind you, 1.3 million children are working in tobacco fields."

Krech said the concept had been proven in the first year and it hopes to have around 5,000 farmers on board -- 4,000 in Kenya and 1,000 in Zambia -- by the end of the next season.

"From there, we will move to other countries in Asia and South America, because that's where the big tobacco growth still takes place," he said.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement: "Tobacco is responsible for eight million deaths a year, yet governments across the world spend millions supporting tobacco farms.

"By choosing to grow food instead of tobacco, we prioritise health, preserve ecosystems, and strengthen food security for all."

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Two US climate activists arrested for attack on Degas sculpture

AFP
Fri, May 26, 2023

Timothy Martin (L) and Joanna Smith (R) have been arrested for an attack on a Degas sculpture at the National Gallery of Art

Two climate activists were taken into custody on Friday for an attack last month on a sculpture by the French artist Edgar Degas at the National Gallery of Art, US officials said.

Timothy Martin, 53, turned himself in to the authorities in North Carolina while Joanna Smith, also 53, surrendered in Washington, the US Attorney's Office said.

Martin and Smith are charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and injury to a National Gallery of Art exhibit, the US Attorney said in a statement.

Martin and Smith were accused in an indictment of smearing paint on the Plexiglas case and base of Edgar Degas' "La petite danseuse de quatorze ans" ("Little Dancer, Age Fourteen") on display at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.


The April attack was claimed by a group called "Declare Emergency," which the US Attorney said has also blocked roadways in the Washington area to draw attention to climate concerns.

The US Attorney said the attack caused approximately $2,400 in damage and the exhibit had to be removed from public display for 10 days.

Martin and Smith face up to five years in prison for each offence and a fine of up to $250,000.

Environmental activists, mainly in Europe, have carried out attacks on a number of works of art recently to seek more public awareness about global warming.

They have glued their hands to a painting by Goya in Madrid, thrown tomato soup on Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" in London and smeared mashed potatoes on a masterpiece by Claude Monet in Potsdam, near Berlin.

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Erdogan is 'family' in Turkey's conservative heartland

Anne-Sophie LABADIE
Fri, May 26, 2023 

Bayburt voters roared into life for Erdogan in the first round of Turkey's presidential election

Old Fiat cars and yellow tulips dot the eastern Turkish town of Bayburt, the heart of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ultra-loyal conservative base that is ready to extend his two-decade rule to 2028.

Betraying a serene calm hanging over the picturesque province of the same name, Bayburt voters roared into life for Erdogan in the first round of Turkey's presidential election on May 14.

Almost 80 percent of the electors there plumped for Erdogan, his highest vote share in a single province, helping him win 49.5 percent of the national ballot and become a strong favourite in Sunday's runoff vote.

"Getting to know the heart of Bayburt is getting to know Turkey," said Orhan Ates, a newly elected MP for Erdogan's ruling Islamic-rooted AKP party in the parallel parliamentary vote.

"Are you ready to re-elect our president?" he asks passers-by, greeting men holding Islamic prayer beads with a knowing nod.

A 47-year-old eye doctor, Ates holds impromptu appointments with patients in the street, issuing a prescription on a crumpled piece of paper to one man wearing worn-out shoes.

"I started as a shoe shiner, I became a medicine professor. People see themselves in me, like we see ourselves in Erdogan," whose family originates from neighbouring Rize province, Ates told AFP.

Erdogan "talks to everyone, not just to the elites", he said.

- 'Big family' -

"We're a big family here and Erdogan is a part of it. He's as solid as our castle," said provincial AKP official Haci Ali Polat, referring to a centuries-old fortress towering over the town.

Residents who spoke to AFP said they stayed faithful to Erdogan because he repelled attacks by foreign powers, just as Bayburt fought Russian invaders in the 19th century.

"We are nationalist and conservative and we love Erdogan," enthused Bedirhan Bayen, a 26-year-old university graduate speaking from his father's shop.

"What people want is a strong leader," he said, admitting he would have liked a "new face" but judging secular opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu as "weak".

Muhammed Emre Teymur works in the construction industry -- a sector that enjoyed an unprecedented boom under Erdogan -- and refuses to see Turkey's raging economic crisis as a reason to abandon the president.

"Erdogan has produced his own ships, his own weapons, his own planes," said the 19-year-old, who earns 10,000 lira ($500) a month.

"You don't vote for a 'cucumber' due to the price of onions," he added, using a pejorative term to refer to Erdogan's secular challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

- Favours in return? -

Nestled between the Black Sea and Mount Palandoken, Bayburt is Turkey's least economically productive province and its smallest by population, only counting 84,200 inhabitants.

But it was once a stopping point on the ancient Silk Road that channelled trade between Asia and Europe, an era of prosperity many locals yearn to recover.

Bayen pointed to Erdogan's unabashed Islamic-rooted policies, subsidies for farmers and the construction of dams that have helped agriculture.

"There's a whole system in place and no one wants to lose it," he told AFP.

"It would be brilliant if he (Erdogan) rewarded us in return, if he built a factory for us, offered us job opportunities," added Yusuf Yolcu, a man in his 50s who works in insurance.

Speaking from his clothes workshop, Bulent Hacihasanoglu said some people in small villages were too frightened to vote differently "for fear of being blacklisted".

Hacihasanoglu still openly backs Kilicdaroglu and his promise to "return to the parliamentary regime", which Erdogan ended after a 2017 constitutional referendum that granted the president sweeping powers.

But Yolcu insisted the people of Bayburt have always been loyal, arguing that "no incident" happened in the province during a 1980 military coup and major anti-government protests in 2013 that rocked Turkey.

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