U.S. Congress to consider two new bills on artificial intelligence

Reuters

June 9, 2023

AI Artificial Intelligence words are seen in this illustration taken, May 4, 2023. 

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/


WASHINGTON, June 8 (Reuters) - U.S. senators on Thursday introduced two separate bipartisan artificial intelligence bills on Thursday amid growing interest in addressing issues surrounding the technology.

One would require the U.S. government to be transparent when using AI to interact with people and another would establish an office to determine if the United States is remaining competitive in the latest technologies.

Lawmakers are beginning to consider what new rules might be needed because of the rise of AI. The technology made headlines earlier this year when ChatGPT, an AI program that can answer questions in written form, became generally available.

Senators Gary Peters, a Democrat who chairs the Homeland Security committee, introduced a bill along with Senators Mike Braun and James Lankford, both Republicans, which would require U.S. government agencies to tell people when the agency is using AI to interact with them.

The bill also requires agencies to create a way for people to appeal any decisions made by AI.

"The federal government needs to be proactive and transparent with AI utilization and ensure that decisions aren't being made without humans in the driver's seat," said Braun in a statement.

Senators Michael Bennet and Mark Warner, both Democrats, introduced a measure along with Republican Senator Todd Young that would establish an Office of Global Competition Analysis that would seek to ensure that the United States stayed in the front of the pack in developing artificial intelligence.

"We cannot afford to lose our competitive edge in strategic technologies like semiconductors, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence to competitors like China," Bennet said.

Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he had scheduled three briefings for senators on artificial intelligence, including the first classified briefing on the topic so lawmakers can be educated on the issue. read more

The briefings include a general overview on AI, examining how to achieve American leadership on AI and a classified session on defense and intelligence issues and implications.

Reporting by Diane Bartz; additional reporting by David Shepardson Editing by Alistair Bell

Small Shops Boom As Cuban Private Sector Takes Hold

By Leticia PINEDA

June 8, 2023

After six decades of state-owned commerce, in August 2021 Cuban government allowed small businesses

Like mushrooms after the rain, small stores are springing up all over Havana, many run from homes or garages as the private sector finally gains a foothold in communist Cuba.

Small businesses, only authorized in 2021, are mounting a challenge to companies run by the one-party state which are emptier every day as Cuba battles a shortage of foreign currency and sky-high inflation amidst its worst economic crisis in 30 years.

From garages, porches or small rented shops, Cubans sell anything from beers and sweets, meat, dairy and groceries that are becoming increasingly difficult to find elsewhere.

"If you need something you can't find (in the state-run stores), they have it! They have the things you need," client Maria Leonor, 73, told AFP as she emerged from one of the new private outlets.


In a private store, a kilogram of milk powder sells forabout 2,000 pesos (some $16) -- just less than half the average monthly salary

After six decades of exclusively state-owned commerce, in August 2021 the government approved a law approving small and medium enterprises.

The sea change came as Cuba reeled from the after-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, which flattened its critical tourism industry, and the tightening of US sanctions.

At the neighborhood store "El Bodegon 21," a colorful array of products are arranged prettily on wooden shelves -- a stark contrast to the monotony of indistinguishable cans and empty refrigerators in grey-hued state shops.

For customers like Leonor, these new stores offer a chance to find products, like yogurt, missing from the official market.

An added benefit: Cubans can buy at the private stores with the local peso while government stores require payment in foreign currency, which is hard to come by.

But the downside, prices are "quite high," said Leonor.

A kilogram of milk powder sells in a small private store for about 2,000 pesos (some $16) -- just less than half the average monthly salary.

Before, it was only available on the black market, long absent from government shops or the "bodegas," outlets where Cubans have access to a limited selection of subsidized products through ration books.


About 22 percent of Cuba's small enterprises are in construction, 19 percent in gastronomy and tourism and 12 in industrial food production

In May 2022, US President Joe Biden had pledged to "increase support for independent Cuban entrepreneurs" and help the private sector grow.

A year later, last month, hundreds of Cuban tradespeople sent the American leader a letter urging him to follow through on this promise.

They asked him for non-immigrant visas to permit them to travel and acquire supplies, to allow access to payment platforms like PayPal, the right to set up US bank accounts, and the reopening of US tourist travel to Cuba.

Omar Bouso, 27, is among those trying to make a living under the new rules that have given rise to some 7,800 private SMEs in almost two years.

He lost his work in a restaurant that closed during the pandemic, then opened a Hawaiian fast-food restaurant with two friends, which they run from a private home.

"We found a niche in the market to do something different," he told AFP.

Entrepreneurs like Bouso get their goods from private import companies that did not exist until recently.

According to a recent UN report, about 22 percent of Cuban small enterprises are in construction, 19 percent in gastronomy and tourist accommodation, 12 percent in industrial food production and under three percent in trade.

Inflation, which the government estimates will reach 39 percent in 2023 but analysts say will surpass 100 percent, hits the public and private sectors alike.

Economy Minister Alejandro Gil recently sought to clear the government of blame for high prices.


Inflation is officially estimated to reach 39 percent in 2023, but analysts say it will surpass 100 percent

In a parliamentary session, he pointed the finger at the private sector, saying: "We are not expecting of anyone to work at a loss, but it is not possible to make a fivefold profit so fast."

Gil also defended state-owned companies, which he said "are not making a profit and pay minimum salaries so as not to increase prices to the population."

The state sector continues to carry the economy and employ almost two-thirds of workers, according to a regional UN commission.

Oniel Diaz, founder of private business consultancy Auge, said many of Cuba's problems can be addressed with responsible regulation, but stressed that the very purpose of small business will always be to "generate wealth."

PHOTOS: Yamil LAGE

© Agence France-Presse

Mount Everest: Deadly season puts focus on record climbing permits


Joel Guinto - BBC News
Thu, June 8, 2023 

Everest expeditions often end in tragedy or triumph

Just before reaching the summit of Mount Everest, Australian engineer Jason Kennison told his mum in a FaceTime call that he would see her when he got back.

He was fulfilling a lifelong dream to stand on top of the world and raise funds for his favoured charity, Spinal Cord Injuries Australia.

But that static-filled video call was the last time Gill Kennison would see her son alive. As the 40-year-old descended from the summit, he caught high-altitude sickness and died.

Mr Kennison is among 12 confirmed fatalities from the spring climbing season, one of the deadliest in recent years. It has just concluded but five mountaineers remain missing. The deaths already exceed the 11 lives lost in 2019, when overcrowding on the picturesque yet treacherous terrain was highlighted by a viral photo of one long queue to the summit.

This year's victims succumbed to the perennial risks of climbing Everest - three Sherpas died in a serac or ice fall, and the others fell ill like Mr Kennison.

But the high number has renewed scrutiny on overcrowding after a record number of climbing permits were issued in Nepal, and deepened concerns about the impacts of climate change on the mountain.

Traffic jams

Locals in Nepal - the most popular jump-off point for climbers - attributed the unprecedented 900 permits to pent-up travel demand from the pandemic.

Having so many people puts pressure on "traffic jams" on the climbing route, Garrett Madison of US-based Madison Mountaineering company told Reuters news agency.

Lines form when mountaineers need to catch a window of favourable weather to reach the summit. They need to avoid jet streams or narrow bands of strong wind in the upper atmosphere. Queues can also be held up by inexperienced and unprepared climbers.

Extremely thin air on peaks higher than 8,000m (26,000 ft) makes it difficult to breathe and climbers often use oxygen canisters to survive, but logjams put pressure on supplies.

The peak season for Everest climbers has just concluded

High altitudes can cause the body to produce excess fluid and cause swelling in the lungs and brain. This can lead to fatigue, breathlessness, and loss of co-ordination.

Adrian Ballinger of US-based Alpenglow Expeditions, which leads climbers from the China side, said some companies from the Nepal side have been taking climbers to Everest even if they do not have enough experience to navigate the death zone.

Everest expeditions are a major source of income for Nepal, whose government is often criticised by some Western climbers for allowing anyone who can pay the $11,000 (£8,800) fee for a permit to go up. The government denies this.

On top of the permit, each climber spends at least $26,700 on an expedition in Nepal, including on permit fees, gas, food, guides and local travel, according to sherpas.

Yubaraj Khatiwada, director at Nepal's Department of Tourism, rebuffed criticism of the number of permits awarded. Speaking last month, he said a team of doctors and government officials would be stationed at the Everest base camp for the first time to manage climbing activities throughout the season.

"We are concerned for their safety and are well prepared to cope with the crowd, by spreading summit bids as long as the good weather window provides to ensure the climbing goes smoothly as far as possible," Mr Khatiwada told AFP.

Lukas Furtenbach, whose Austria-based tour company has brought 100 people to the summit since 2016, stressed the need for readily available oxygen, given the threat of overcrowding. He said his company has measures in place to make sure that their clients never run out of oxygen and that they have recorded zero accidents.

"Proper oxygen logistics are super important if there are many people climbing at the same time. I am convinced that with minimum safety, equipment and logistic standards for all operators, we could avoid many of the deaths that happen today on Everest," he told the BBC.

Other concerns

While this year has seen no deaths due to avalanches, these events have accounted for roughly 40% of fatalities in recent years, according to The Himalayan Database.

An avalanche in 2014 killed 16 people, in what is considered the worst accident on the mountain in modern history.

Climbers have also had to contend with warmer temperatures, that have melted glaciers and caused lakes to form. Scientists noted that due to climate change, temperatures on the Tibetan Plateau, where Everest is located, have increased by around 2C over 40 years from 1979.

And when the snow melts, glacier ice loses its cover from the sun, causing it to either turn into water that goes down the slopes or vaporise into the air due to strong winds, according to research published in 2022 by the University of Maine's Climate Change Institute.

Melting glaciers have caused lakes to form or swell

Climate effects will "change the experience" of Everest climbs as more bedrock is exposed in place of snow and ice, and icefalls and avalanches become more "dynamic", the study said. Melting glaciers could also "destabilise" base camp that houses about 1,000 climbers and logistics team during the peak season.

But plans to move the camp have been recently shelved. Last month, Sherpa leaders told the BBC that proposals to shift it were impractical.

The changing terrain has been jarring for guides who have traversed the area for years.

"They're saying that every time they go back, the mountain looks different. So where there used to be ice last year, there's water, where there used to be hard snow, now it's soft snow," veteran guide Pasang Yanjee Sherpa said in a podcast after the 2022 spring season.

This year saw unusual snowfall that normally occurs during the winter months, Ang Tshering Sherpa, former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, told AFP. This heightened the risk of an avalanche since fresh snow is soft, he said.

For Mr Furtenbach, climate change impacts seem "remarkable and never seen before".

"I assume that for the next five to 10 years, we will slowly start to see if and how the climbing route on Everest will be affected by global warming," he told the BBC.
Lure of summit remains



The season has also seen dramatic rescues and milestones. Last month, Nepali guide Gelje Sherpa carried a Malaysian climber down from 8,500m above sea level over the course of six hours.

Separately, Kami Rita Sherpa from Nepal reached the summit for a record 28th time, solidifying his reputation as the world's "Everest Man".

And earlier, Hari Budha Magar, a former Gurkha soldier who lives in Britain, summited Everest with prosthetic legs. He is the world's first double above-the-knee amputee to achieve this feat.

Misfortune and triumph just days apart shows the need for rigorous preparation to conquer Everest and survive in the most hostile conditions, experts say.

"Tragedy, deaths and drama play a vital role why people are drawn by Everest. It is the highest point of this planet, but also one of the most dangerous places on earth. This combination attracts people," Mr Furtenbach says.

Smoke from Canadian wildfires continues to shroud eastern US in noxious haze

Smoke from Canadian wildfires shrouded US cities in a noxious haze again Thursday, delaying flights and disrupting outdoor events in what President Joe Biden called a "stark reminder" of climate change.

Issued on: 09/06/2023 -

01:40

The White House shrouded in haze and smoke caused by wildfires in Canada, in Washington, June 8, 2023. 

Text by: NEWS WIRES|

Video by :Jessica LE MASURIER

Thick skies and an acrid campfire smell hung over the capital Washington, with parts of the mid-Atlantic region reaching "Code Maroon," the highest category of the Air Quality Index (AQI), signaling hazardous conditions.

This exceeded some of the most polluted cities in the world in South Asia and China, leading many residents to wear masks to protect their health. Though improving, conditions aren't expected to return to normal until the weekend.

More than 111 million people in the United States were living under air quality alerts due to the fires, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday.

"Millions of Americans are experiencing the effects of smoke resulting from devastating wildfires burning in Canada, another stark reminder of the impacts of climate change," Biden said in a statement.

He added he was sending extra resources to Canada, including "additional firefighters and fire suppression assets such as air tankers," on top of 600 American personnel sent in May.

The smoke blanketing the nation's capital was not immune to the city's usual political machinations

White House spokesman Andrew Bates hit out at congressional Republicans, saying the majority "subscribes to debunked conspiracy theories that deny the existence and nature of climate change," even amid worsening weather events.

The White House postponed an outdoor Pride event, although a parade and festival this weekend remain on course for now. The National Zoo meanwhile announced it would close "for the safety of our animals, our staff and our guests."

The Washington Nationals, the capital's Major League Baseball team, announced it was postponing its afternoon game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Hemadri Vora, a 42-year-old tourist from Mumbai, was spending the day with her family in Washington after a visit to New York.

"It's a little disappointing," she told AFP at the Washington Monument, but added she was used to similar pollution levels back home. "Obviously, the pictures are not going to be very clear."

Public schools in the capital canceled all outdoor activities including recess, physical education, athletic practices and competitions.

The Federal Aviation Administration meanwhile said low visibility had forced it to take steps to "manage the flow of traffic safely into New York City, DC, Philadelphia and Charlotte."

Environmental groups were also quick to draw attention to climate change, which is creating warmer, drier conditions that are increasing the risk and extent of wildfires.

"This is the climate crisis, here and now, causing dangerous air pollution and threatening the health of millions of people," said May Boeve, Chief Executive of 350.org.

'Reminded me of 9/11’

Skies were noticeably clearer in New York compared to Wednesday, even as the AQI remained high.

A spokesperson for the city's health department told AFP "we are seeing higher than usual asthma-related visits to the Emergency Department," adding that visits and calls were in the "low hundreds."

Officials handed out face coverings at train stations, bus depots and parks, and declared public schools would switch to remote-learning on Friday.

Linda Juliano, a 65-year-old secretary, gladly accepted a mask at Grand Central Station in Midtown Manhattan.

"I've never seen anything like it," she told AFP, describing the sepia-tinged smog that engulfed New York on Wednesday as "scary."

"It reminded me a lot of 9/11, seeing the sky all smoky and everything," said Juliano.

Meanwhile in Canada, pollution from the wildfires is expected to peak Thursday in Toronto, Environment Canada said.

With nearly 800,000 hectares (two million acres) affected, according to the Society for the Protection of Forests Against Fire (SOPFEU), Quebec is experiencing a historic fire season.

Twice as many blazes have been recorded this year compared to the average over the past ten years.

On Thursday, the French-speaking province still had more than 150 active fires, including nearly 90 out of control.

New reinforcements -- from the United States, France and Portugal -- are expected in the hours and days to come. More than 12,000 people have been evacuated within the space of a few days.

The situation remains worrisome in several regions, explained Stephane Caron, of SOPFEU.

"We are only at the very beginning of this fire season. We are now entering the period when usually there are beginning to be larger fires in Quebec," he said.

The risk of a new outbreak is rated "extreme" by authorities in the western part of Quebec.

(AFP)

Facing unprecedented fire season, Canada confronts logistical challenge

Montreal (AFP) – Larger and more powerful wildfires than ever have scorched millions of hectares of Canadian forests and displaced tens of thousands of residents. With so many fires out of control and no relief in sight, the nation is facing a logistical nightmare.

09/06/2023 

This handout image provided by the BC Wildfire Service on June 7 shows smoke from the West Kiskatinaw River and Peavine Creek wildfires in the Dawson Creek Zone, British Colombia, Canada 

© - / BC Wildfire Service/AFP

After an early start, it is on course to be the worst wildfire season on record as hot, dry conditions are forecast to continue through August.

"The distribution of fires from coast to coast this year is unusual," said Michael Norton, an official with Canada's Natural Resources ministry. "At this time of year, fires usually occur only on one side of the country at a time, most often in the West."

But in the last month fires have erupted in almost every province across Canada.

As a consequence, Canada has had to juggle resources and call in reinforcements from abroad, including more than 1,000 firefighters from Australia, the United States, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, France, Spain and Portugal.

How is the fight to tame fires organized?

Canada's 10 provinces are each responsible for managing wildfires, with help from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Alberta, Nova Scotia and Quebec have also asked Ottawa to send in the military.

Additionally, 1,000 new firefighters are being trained to deploy this summer, and the military's firefighting capabilities are being expanded.

They face an arduous task: "When a big fire is burning, it is impossible for the firefighters to make a direct attack," explains Marc-Andre Parisien, a specialist in fire risk management.

This handout image courtesy of helicopter pilot Kevin Burton shows an aerial view of wildfires between Chibougamau and the Mistissini Indigenous community in northern Quebec on June 5, 2023 

© Kevin BURTON / HANDOUT/AFP

And then "sending water bombers to douse flames 30 meters high is like spitting on a campfire, it is ineffective," he said.

One solution is to use controlled burns to halt advancing blazes, but with big fires, "only a big rain" will extinguish them.

What are the logistical challenges?

Quebec notably has struggled to fight all of the many fires burning in the province at once, due to a lack of resources.

"With the current hands, we can fight about 40 fires at a time, but 150 fires are burning," Quebec Premier Francois Legault told a news conference this week.

The focus has been to try to save lives and the mostly urban properties under threat.

Canada has an aging fleet of 55 water bomber aircraft. "But it's getting more and more difficult to maintain them due to the age of this fleet," which is now 50 years old, said John Gradek, head of McGill University's aviation management program.

A burnt landscape caused by wildfires is pictured near Entrance, Wild Hay area, Alberta, Canada on May 10 © Megan ALBU / AFP

With half of the fleet in poor condition, and with more extreme weather expected in the years to come, another 75 water bombers are urgently needed, he estimated.

How do you prepare for new normal?

In a typical year, about 7,500 wildfires burn more than 2.5 million hectares of forests in Canada. So far this year, 2,293 fires have already burned more than 3.8 million hectares.

The amount of burned forest area is projected to double by 2050.

Wildfires researcher Yan Boulanger noted, "for each degree increase in temperature in the boreal forest, expect the size of fires to triple."

Canada is warming faster than the rest of the planet, according to climatologists. This May was one of the warmest on record. And eastern Canada sweltered under an early heatwave in June.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged: "Our resources are stretched."

"There is no doubt that in coming years we will have to reflect seriously on how we can equip ourselves to deal with this new reality. We will be facing more and more extreme weather events," he said.

Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said Canada is looking to acquire additional equipment and water bombers.

Parliament is also considering upping tax credits for volunteer firefighters to entice more to join their ranks. An estimated 15,000 more are needed.

In this May 30 image courtesy of the Nova Scotia government in Canada, Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Station 54 Captain Natasha Prest directs firefighters working to put out wildfires in the Tantallon area of Nova Scotia 

© Handout / Nova Scotia Government/AFP

Many experts also called for updated building codes for rural construction -- requiring fire-proof roofs on cottages, for example -- and even planting less-flammable trees.

"You need to have a buffer zone between the wooded area and your town site. And so if a fire starts raging, it'll run out of fuel by the time it gets to your front porch," said climatologist Dave Phillips.

Ottawa is also tapping Indigenous knowledge and practices used to fight wildfires for millennia.

© 2023 AFP

The toxic cloud is upon us

Bob Hennelly, Insider NJ
June 8, 2023

The sun rises behind The One World Trade Center while the smoke from Canada wildfires covers the Manhattan borough on June 8, 2023, as seen from New Jersey. 

Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images

This article originally appeared in Insider NJ.

Canada is on fire.

The smog fallout downwind has set off air quality alerts for 13 states south of the border with the worst air quality currently being reported in upstate New York from Syracuse to Binghamton. Toxic smog has extended down along the East Coast and into the Ohio Valley as millions of Americans are being advised to curtail outdoor activity if they have pre-existing health conditions.

On Wednesday, poor visibility at Newark Liberty International Airport and New York City’s LaGuardia Airport prompted the FAA to slow air traffic for lack of visibility. “Exposure to elevated levels of fine particles such as wood smoke can increase the likelihood of respiratory symptoms in sensitive individuals and aggravate heart or lung disease,” the National Weather Service warned.

Monday, Reuters reported “Canada is on track for its worst-ever year of wildfire destruction as warm and dry conditions are forecast to persist through to the end of the summer after an unprecedented start to the fire season” with blazes officials said on Monday “burning in nearly all Canadian provinces and territories.”

“The distribution of fires from coast to coast this year is unusual. At this time of the year, fires usually occur only on one side of the country at a time, most often that being in the west,” Michael Norton, an official with Canada’s Natural Resources ministry, told Reuters.

Yan Boulanger, with Natural Resources Canada told the wire service that “over the last 20 years, we have never seen such a large area burned so early in the season. Partially because of climate change, we’re seeing trends toward increasing burned areas throughout Canada.”
ADVERTISEMENT

By last weekend officials were estimating that 3.3 million hectares (a hectare is equal to 2.47 acres) had already gone up in flames “about 13 times the 10-year average” forcing more than 120,000 people to leave their homes, according to Reuters.

Of the over 400 active wildfires, over half were deemed out of control.

After years of handwringing, Canada’s unprecedented wildfire season, aggravated by the weather distortions of climate change, is presenting us a teachable moment as we find ourselves checking the smog alert like we did the daily COVID numbers just a few months ago.

Mayor Ras J. Baraka had to urge his city residents to take precautions during the air quality alert issued by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). One of the features of the climate crisis, like the pandemic, is it hits the communities hardest that have the highest concentration of the chronically ill, like the many thousands of New Jersey’s youths from communities of color who suffer from asthma at a much higher rate than their white peers.

“Due to heavy smoke from a convergence of wildfires as far away as Canada, the NJDEP has issued an air quality alert for the northern region of the state, including Newark,” Baraka said in a statement. “I ask everyone to protect their health by staying informed and carefully following NJDEP’s guidelines throughout the duration of the alert.”

Specifically, NJ DEP warned at-risk residents to stay indoors as much as possible, keep their windows closed, use an air purifier if possible, limit their outdoor physical activity and if they had to go out for an extended period to wear a mask. Officials flagged children, older adults, and people with heart disease, asthma, or other lung diseases as being particularly vulnerable to the degraded air quality.

“I think it would be common sense that when the National Weather Service and the NJDEP have both issued a code red air quality day with the weather service saying air quality is worse today, our state workforce should be kept insider as much as possible,” texted Fran Ehret, New Jersey state director of the CWA, which represents 40,000 state workers many of whom work outdoors.

Finally, after months of prodding from the environmentalists, Gov. Phil Murphy announced yesterday the adoption of the Inland Flood Protection Rule to better protect New Jersey’s communities from worsening flooding and stormwater runoff. The announcement was welcomed but the delay was inexcusable.

“The Inland Flood Protection Rule will serve as a critical component of my Administration’s comprehensive strategy to bolster our state’s resilience amid the worsening impacts of climate change,” Murphy said in his statement yesterday. “As a national model for climate adaptation and mitigation, we can no longer afford to depend on 20th-century data to meet 21st-century challenges. This rule’s formation and upcoming adoption testify to our commitment to rely on the most up-to-date science and robust stakeholder engagement to inform our most crucial policy decisions.”

The Governor got the rhetoric right way back in his January 2020 Executive Order 100 citing a 2019 report “New Jersey’s Rising Seas and Changing Coastal Storms” that showed “that sea-level rise projections in New Jersey are more than two times the global average and that the sea level in New Jersey could rise from 2000 levels by up to 1.1 feet by 2030, 2.1 feet by 2050, and 6.3 feet by 2100, underscoring the urgent need for action to protect the State from adverse climate change impacts.”

In the late summer of 2021, Hurricane Ida took 90 lives in total when it inundated a nine-state swath of the Northeast. Damage estimates for New Jersey ranged between $8 to $10 billion and in the $7.5 to $9 billion range in New York. In October 2012, Superstorm Sandy caused $70.2 billion worth of damage, left 8.5 million people without power, and destroyed 650,000 homes and was responsible for the deaths of at least 72 Americans.

“New Jersey is experiencing increased effects of climate change — this is a climate crisis and what we are seeing and will continue to see are periods of dryness that lead to drought and wildfires and then followed by periods of big rain events that lead to flooding — so we are going to have too much water excerpt when we don’t have enough of it,” said Jennifer Coffey, executive director of the Association of New Jersey’s Environmental Commissions. “These climate extremes are going to continue for New Jersey and the Northeast for many, many decades to come and we need to prepare ourselves for those impacts and become more resilient. So, we need to shore up our water supplies and also need to increase the intelligence that we use when we map storm water and that’s what these rules do.”

While we continue to debate climate change and the need to stop burning fossil fuels, the physical manifestation of the crisis is all around us whether we choose to make the connections or not. When wildfires on this hemispheric scale burn out of control it should prompt a sense of urgency for us to try and reduce our reliance on burning fossil fuels to power our society.

“This is the time to reject the seven fossil fuel projects here in New Jersey,” said Paula Rogovin, longtime Bergen County environmental activist. “What are they waiting for? It is going to get worse. This is the ultimate teachable moment. My grandson in New York City is in school and they can’t do anything outside. This is the time to recognize it is not getting better. We are not even in the summertime yet. The wildfires are just beginning.”

This morass had been building for days but we were too distracted to really notice how our atmosphere was being consumed by a jaundiced mega-cloud drifting south like a welcome mat from Hades.

And then the kids couldn’t go outside for recess.

Pray for rain to redeem us.

In haze-filled Washington, tourists are undeterred

Issued on: 08/06/2023 

Washington (AFP) – On many ordinary days, one can gaze down the National Mall from the Washington Monument and clearly see the dome of the US Capitol offset by blue sky.

But today, an acrid haze from wildfires in Canada cloaks the city.

That appeared to not bother some tourists, who strolled along wearing "Trump 2024" baseball caps or freshly purchased hats emblazoned with "Washington DC."

Public schools in the city canceled all outdoor activities due to an air quality alert, but out-of-town teenagers on school trips happily performed acrobatics on the lawn for photos, with the Lincoln Memorial in the background.

One 61-year-old tourist from Nebraska says the haze added an "ethereal" quality that "kind of makes things beautiful."

"It actually happens all the time with us," she says, giving her name only as Diane. "We have controlled burns in Oklahoma and Kansas. So this happens."

Her husband, David, visiting Washington for the first time, nods in agreement. "If a 10 were perfect, still an eight" despite the haze, he says.

Near them, an American tourist on a phone describes what she sees: "It's very smoggy here because of the wildfires in Canada!"

 

A cyclist rides under a blanket of haze near the US Capitol © Mandel NGAN / AFP

"That looks creepy," agrees her friend, looking up at the Capitol, whose silhouette can barely be made out in the distance.

The friend, Adriana George, 31, from Tucson, Arizona, adds: "The fog is everywhere and it just seems kind of gloomy." But fortunately, with moderate temperatures and a light morning breeze, "the weather's been great."

Although she suffers from asthma, George says it hasn't bothered her for the past two days.
'Used to the pollution'

Many foreign tourists say they're having a great time despite the haze.

 

An airliner takes off through the haze from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on June 8, 2023 © SAUL LOEB / AFP

Choi Yoonjung, from South Korea, explains with a smile, thanks to a friend's translation, that "it's like this" in the south of South Korea when it comes to pollution.

The same was true of Hemadri Vora, 42, who had come from Mumbai in India and was spending the day in Washington with her family after a visit to New York. "We wouldn't feel it that much because we're kind of used to the pollution!" she laughs.

The day before, while visiting the Statue of Liberty and not having followed the news from Canada, she admits she was "a bit scared" when she saw the haze, thinking it was an incoming storm and not smoke from northern fires.

She just regrets that the photos of her trip aren't under blue skies. "Obviously, the pictures are not going to be very clear," she says.

While many Washingtonians heeded public health warnings and wore masks outdoors on Thursday, few tourists did so.

On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency told AFP that more than 100 million Americans were affected by air quality alerts due to the drifting smoke from Canada.

Until it clears, perhaps this weekend, visitors are trying to enjoy the city.

As sirens sounded and police cars sped down Constitution Avenue near the White House, tourists speculated.

"That must be the British prime minister," Rishi Sunak, who is visiting Washington, says one man excitedly.

© 2023 AFP

Canada may be on track for its worst wildfire season ever

Jenna Moon

Semafor 
Jun 7, 2023

REUTERS/Carlos Osorio


THE NEWS


Wildfires are burning across Canada, and much of the country is experiencing a worse-than-usual fire season.

Dry conditions over the spring and a warm winter have contributed to the issue. Major cities, including Toronto, New York City, and Ottawa faced air quality warnings Tuesday and Wednesday as smoke from the fires spread across Ontario and Quebec, and the Northeastern U.S.


KNOW MORE


Canada is on track to have one of its most destructive fire seasons in recent years. According to estimates by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System, more than 3.5 million hectares of land have burned as of June — around 10 times higher than would be normal for the month — and almost on par with the entirety of the 2017 fire season.

Fires are burning from coast to coast, with Quebec and Alberta among the hardest-hit provinces. As of Wednesday, around 160 fires were burning in Quebec — Canada’s second most-populous province — and Alberta faced another 64. Around 10,000 people were evacuated from their homes in Quebec, though that number is falling as some fires come under control.

Millions of residents across the U.S. and Canada are under air quality warnings, and as of early Wednesday the air quality in New York City was the second-worst in the world, according to IQAir.com. New York measured a 160 on the U.S. Air Quality Index (AQI), 14.5 times higher than the World Health Organization’s annual guideline. In Detroit, the AQI was 156, and in Toronto, it measured at 107, or 7.4 times more than the WHO guidelines.

NOTABLE
Wildfires in Canada are on track to become bigger and more intense with climate change. As Emma McIntosh wrote in the Toronto Star in 2019, three of the country’s most destructive fires occurred in the past 20 years, and the area which has burned since the ’70s has doubled.

Wildfires: Forests need more fire, not less

Adam Cole
Semafor 
Updated Jun 8, 2023

THE AGENDA


Many western forests need frequent, low-severity wildfires to thrive. But in the 20th century, the US government vowed to put out all forest fires and outlawed traditional burning by indigenous peoples. Most experts think that this policy contributed to denser forests … and the massive, deadly wildfires that now race through them.

“These are not your grandfather’s fires,” Senator Ron Wyden told me. “They’re bigger, they’re hotter, they’re more powerful. Communities wiped down to ashes — that’s what we’re dealing with.”

With temperatures rising and the western drought deepening, wildfires will be part of life for the foreseeable future. But there is wide consensus that we can dampen the impacts of those megafires by carefully reintroducing smaller fires to the landscape. That could mean letting some natural fires run their course. Or that could mean agencies and tribal groups setting more prescribed fires. This will require a massive increase in labor – there are many more burn projects needed than there are trained workers. And it will require policymakers to understand that the risk of prescribed fires is much smaller than the risk of doing nothing.

Watch above for our latest episode of our series The Agenda, about the policy problems at the top of Washington's to-do list and the people trying to solve them, and subscribe to Semafor on YouTube for all our videos.


WHAT'S NEXT


The Inflation Reduction Act allocated $1.8 billion for “hazardous fuels reduction” in America’s forests. Those dollars are already funding some prescribed burns … and also “thinning” projects. In the latter, crews cut down small and medium trees to try and rob fires of their fuel. It’s a painstaking process — and the value of the harvested trees doesn’t come close to covering the expense. But there’s a bigger issue: a growing body of evidence suggests that thinning can often make wildfires worse unless it’s followed by a burn. Time will tell how much the Forest Service is actually investing in prescribed fire vs. thinning — and what impact these fuels reduction projects will have on the future fire seasons.

Meanwhile, Wyden and his colleagues from Colorado, John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet have introduced a bill that would send $60 billion to forest “restoration and resilience projects” including “reintroduction of characteristic, low-intensity fire in frequent fire regime ecosystems.”


NOTABLE
Data-visualizations from the New York Times show what makes the issue of wildfires so urgent: more and more people are living in the path of destruction.
Oregon Public Broadcasting has led the coverage of wildfires in the pacific northwest, including this piece by Tony Schick and Jes Burns on timber industry efforts to push logging as a wildfire mitigation strategy.
Susan Prichard, the University of Washington fire ecologist featured in this video, lays out the mainstream scientific consensus on wildfire management in this review paper. She and her co-authors write, “an intentional merging of Indigenous and western knowledge is needed to guide future forest conditions and restore active fire regimes to western North American forests.”
Ecologist Dominick DellaSala (also featured) argues that most fuels reduction projects are ineffectual or counterproductive. He’s part of a vocal faction of conservationists often at odds with the Forest Service and mainstream scientists.
Environmental scientist Melinda Adams examines “the powerful Indigenous healing that is nourished by the constructive action of cultural burning” in this recent paper.
“Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire” — a documentary film by Trip Jennings – explores our changing understanding of fire and shows how different people are learning to live alongside fire-adapted forests.

Canada wildfires spark 'ecoterrorist' conspiracy theory

Gwen Roley
Thu, June 8, 2023 

This aerial image, courtesy of the Nova Scotia Government in Canada, shows the magnitude of the fire in Shelburne County on May 31, 2023

As Canada hurtles towards its worst wildfire season in history, a conspiracy theory has taken off online claiming environmentalists intentionally set some of the blazes.

"I bet a good portion of the wildfires raging across the country were started by green terrorists who want to give their climate change campaign a little boost," Maxime Bernier, a former foreign minister-turned fringe party leader, said in a June 5 tweet.

So far in 2023, Canada has seen larger wildfires than any previous year at this point in the season, with more than three million hectares burned. Tens of thousands of people have evacuated as a result.

On TikTok, a video already viewed almost 20,000 times, claims the fires in Nova Scotia were set "on purpose to push a climate change agenda."

One article speculates that since 90 percent of Alberta's fires could be "human-caused," there is a possibility that "ecoterrorists" may be behind them.

As wildfires spread in Quebec, some questioned how all the blazes could have started on the same day. One Facebook video with more than one million views blames "a terrorist attack" for the flames.

But Karine Pelletier from the province's Forest Fire Protection Agency said the causes are still under investigation.

"There are a lot which are caused by humans, but these are almost always accidents," she said, noting that recent lightning strikes were to blame for many of Quebec’s wildfires.

Alberta Wildfire told AFP that unless lightning is involved, a blaze is classified as human-caused. This does not exclusively mean arson.

"It could be related to general causes, including agriculture, forest industry, powerlines, or oil and gas industry, railroad or residential wildfires," said spokeswoman Melissa Story.

Nova Scotia officials have also said they are still investigating the origins of the province’s fires, which are presumed to be human-caused.

"Human-caused fires can be accidental, intentional or undetermined," said Heather Fairbairn, a spokeswoman for the Office of the Fire Marshal of Nova Scotia. "Certainly, we are seeing the impacts of climate change which can increase fire risks."

--False narrative--


Conspiracy theorists have repeatedly tried to pin devastating wildfire seasons on politically motivated arsonists.

During Australia's Black Summer of 2020, social media users misleadingly cited arson statistics from a prior year to blame unconnected crimes for the season’s bushfires.

In California in 2021, arsonists were behind several wildfires -- but there is no evidence they were pushing a climate change agenda, as some people claimed online.

Chris Russill, a professor at Carleton University studying climate change communication, said the ecoterrorist theory may have once had some basis in truth, but "then that gets exaggerated in its importance or significance."

Such is the case in Canada, where some social media users are citing genuine reports of suspicious fires to spin conspiracy theories about unrelated events and locations.

--Climate change--

On top of purported vigilantism, some falsely theorize that the Canadian government is starting wildfires, either to advance its climate change policies or to force citizens into cities where it will be easier to impose "climate lockdowns."

Russill tied those fears to Canada's signing of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, which raised alarm about the impending climate crisis.

As the Liberal government implemented stricter climate caps and taxes over the past decade, Russill said people in Canada's natural resource industries have grown defensive.

"This grievance isn't actually always about a global fear of shadowy UN elites or eco-vigilantes, even though that's how this gets taken up and incubated in this sort of narrative," he said. "It's expressing the fact that the relationship to the federal government and the provinces has become more insistent and more forceful."

Social media posts insist "arson not climate change" is responsible for the wildfires, but Natural Resources Canada told reporters June 5 that this fire season was exacerbated by hot, dry and windy conditions.

"Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of wildland fires and creating longer fire seasons," said Mike Norton, director general of the Canadian Forestry Centre.

gr-mgs/df/adm

Corporate conventions are fleeing Florida over 'openly hostile' political climate: report

WHEN SHOOTING YOURSELF IN THE FOOT, REMEMBER TO REMOVE IT FROM YOUR MOUTH; FIRST
Maya Boddie, Alternet
June 8, 2023

Ron DeSantis (Photo via AFP)

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' discriminatory policies and culture war tactics are starting to negatively impact the Sunshine State financially, Orlando Sentinel reports.

Two organizations recently decided to remove upcoming conventions from Florida, which Orlando Sentinel notes is "the latest economic blow to the region, coming in the wake of Walt Disney Co.'s decision to drop plans for a nearly $1 billion corporate campus in Orlando with 2,000 high-paying jobs."

This comes after the NAACP issued a travel advisory last month saying, "Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals."

California-based AnitaB.org, a technology group of female and nonbinary employees, boasts around 16,000 attendees for its annual Grace Hopper Celebration — usually held in Orlando — which is lauded the "world's largest gathering of women in computing."

The group emphasized, "[W]e will not return until this legislation is overturned, and the state becomes more welcoming to all," attributing its reason for relocation to "laws that banned most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, cracked down on illegal immigration and lifted permit requirements for carrying a concealed gun in public, along with measures that organizers said were intended 'to erase the identities and dignities of people from historically marginalized and excluded groups, including Black, Brown, LGBTQIA+, and Indigenous people.'"

The organization's Chief Executive Officer Brenda Darden Wilkerson said in a statement, "We at AnitaB.org are very proud of our diversity because that diversity is our strength. We owe it to our community — to those women and nonbinary technologists — to be vigilant."

Additionally, the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses will no longer hold "its 2027 surgical conference and expo" over "political concerns." Instead, the group of "about 7,000 nurses and exhibitors" will be hosted in Philadelphia, said the organization's spokeswoman, Linda Kanamine, adding, "The decision to move to Philadelphia was the right one for AORN for 2027."

DeSantis' Disney fight blows up major Florida real estate projects: Wall Street Journal

Adam Nichols
May 29, 2023,

Walt Disney’s scrapping of a $900 million development in Florida has derailed other major real-estate projects that are already underway, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The company canceled plans for office space and the relocation of 2,000 workers from California earlier this month amid a brutal feud with Florida’s governor and Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis.

The planned office park in Orlando had been a central part of an 11,000-acre planned community – and Disney's cancellation has put the whole development in jeopardy, the Journal reported.

Disney’s development would have taken up 60 acres of an 11,000-acre planned community called Lake Nona that's being built by Tavistock Development Co. Many of the other commercial and residential projects – as well as other housing developments in the Orlando area – had planned on the influx of Disney workers.

More than 2,100 apartments have been built since Disney announced it was moving – compared to only 750 in the three years before, according to the Journal. Construction of another 1,200 was planned.

“Its pullout could contribute to a glut of homes in the community,” the Journal reported.

The Lake Nona development also includes restaurants and a hotel, which had banked on Disney bringing in business.

Disney “would have been a transformational development project for Lake Nona,” said Lisa McNatt, a market analytics expert based in Orlando.

“It would have resulted in a strong uptick in higher-income jobs that could have benefited the Orlando area at large.”

The fight between Disney and DeSantis started when Disney criticized a Florida law that bars classroom discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity. Several lawsuits have been filed since, with Disney accusing DeSantis of retaliation.

NOT DISNEY, WOKE WARNER BROS.1957

What's Opera, Doc? - Wikipedia

WHERE-IN DESANTIS PLAYS ELMER FUDD

HUAC REDUX

‘Is this funny?’ Marjorie Taylor Greene flips out after witness laughs at her during House hearing

Sky Palma
RAW STORY

May 16, 2023


During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on "left wing violence" on Tuesday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) claimed that "we experienced some left-wing extremism of our own" as the hearing was underway.

Greene said that a left-wing group of protesters were arrested outside the hearing room. "You kinda can't even make this up," Greene said, claiming that "George Soros funded" the protest outside.

Greene went on to say that since members at the hearing brought up the subject of white supremacy, she wanted to point out that the real white supremacists are people who support abortion, since "20 million Black babies" have been aborted in America "since Roe vs Wade."

As Greene was speaking, an expert witness at the hearing -- executive director of Integrity First for America Amy Spitalnick -- apparently began to laugh, which clearly angered Greene.

"Is this funny to you?" Greene asked. "Is babies being murdered in the womb funny to you? Because you're smirking and laughing at me right now."

"What's not funny are the Black people and Hispanic people and Jewish people and Muslim people who have been murdered in synagogues, in church, in supermarkets, in mosques, by white supremacists," witness Amy Spitalnick replied.