Sunday, July 16, 2023

Here's how geothermal energy heats and cools a home



Groundwater squirts up during drilling for a geothermal heating and cooling system at a home in White Plains, N.Y., Monday, May 8, 2023. A water-filled loop installed several hundred feet deep either carries heat away from, or into the house, depending on the season. Industry experts see the technology becoming increasingly popular in the coming years. 
(AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

ISABELLA O'MALLEY
Thu, July 13, 2023

Some homeowners looking to switch out their heating and cooling systems are turning to home geothermal — also known as ground source — heat pumps. It's a technology that relies on a simple physical fact: Dig several feet below Earth's surface, in the coldest winter or the hottest summer, and the temperature will be around 55 degrees.

Geothermal takes advantage of that constant temperature by pushing water with some antifreeze through a loop of flexible pipe that runs deep underground. The water gets circulated by a heat pump system, usually located in the basement.

When the house needs cooling — say on an 85-degree July day — a refrigerant, which is a special fluid, absorbs unwanted heat indoors and transfers it to water in the long piping, circulating it underground, giving it time to cool to the constant mid-50s below. House air blows across the cool fluid. Having dumped its heat, it can absorb more for transfer to the outdoors.

Warming the building works much the same, in reverse. On a sub-freezing January day, the system circulates the water underground, warming it to about 55 degrees. Arriving back at the pump, the water in the loop now heats the refrigerant, making it want to expand. An electric pump then compresses it, which spikes the temperature. The system then pushes air over the hot refrigerant and into the house until the air in the house reaches thermostat temperature.

In apartment buildings, schools or other commercial buildings, the underground loop may be just a few feet deep and extend horizontally over a wide area. For smaller residential lots, the solution is to drill deeper — as much as 300 feet or more — to get a loop that is long enough for the water be in contact with the ground and equalize with its constant temperature.

Geothermal systems cost more up front than typical furnaces, sometimes tends of thousands of dollars. Supporters say lower operating costs eventually make that worthwhile, because the superpower of ground source heat pumps is that they use very little electricity to move heat around. They're designed to last more than 50 years for the underground parts, with the above-ground components expected to last 25 years or more. Gas furnaces typically last 15 to 30 years on average.

Geothermal or ground-source heat pumps are still the exception rather than the rule. Air-source heat pump are far more common and work by extracting energy from outdoor air to both heat and cool the home.

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Doctors reattach boy's head after car accident thanks to 'amazing' surgery
NOT WHAT YOU THINK

Drs. Ohad Einav and Ziv Asa with 12-year-old Suleiman Hassan, center, at Hadassah Medical Center following Hassan's recovery.

Peter Aitken
Thu, July 13, 2023 

Surgeons in Israel performed a miracle surgery and managed to reattach a boy’s head after he was hit by a car while riding his bike, a Jerusalem hospital announced this week.

Suleiman Hassan, a 12-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank, suffered what is known as an internal decapitation, with his skull detached from the top vertebrae of his spine — officially known as a bilateral atlanto occipital joint dislocation, according to The Times of Israel.

Hassan was riding his bike when a car hit him. The boy was rushed to Hadassah Medical Center and immediately put into surgery in the trauma unit. The doctors said his head was "almost completely detached from the base of his neck."

Dr. Ohad Einav, the orthopedic specialist who led the operation, said the procedure took several hours and required the doctors to use "new plates and fixations in the damaged area."

"Our ability to save the child was thanks to our knowledge and the most innovative technology in the operating room," Einav said, adding that the team "fought for the boy’s life."

Einav and his team said that Hassan has a projected survival rate of only 50%, and his recovery is nothing short of a miracle, according to i24 News.

The operation occurred in June, but doctors waited a month to announce the results. The hospital recently discharged Hassan with a cervical splint and will continue to monitor his recovery.


The sun shines on Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.

"The fact that such a child has no neurological deficits or sensory or motor dysfunction and that he is functioning normally and walking without an aid after such a long process is no small thing," Einav said.

According to Israel's TPS news agency, Hassan’s father did not leave his son’s bedside during the recovery process, saying he had nothing but a "big thank you" for the medical staff.

"Bless you all," the father said. "Thanks to you, he regained his life even when the odds were low and the danger was obvious."

"What saved him were professionalism, technology and quick decision-making by the trauma and orthopedics team," TPS reported the father as saying.


Dr. Marc Siegel, Clinical Professor of Medicine and a practicing internist at NYU Langone Medical Center and Fox News contributor, told Fox News Digital that the "amazing" surgery was only possible if major blood vessels remained intact.

"The key is preserving blood flow to the brain," Siegel said. "It sounds like — from the story — that the major blood vessels were likely not severed and that this involved an orthopedic rebuilding — probably using rods and reattaching ligaments and possibly bone grafts and implants."

Einav stressed that the surgery is "extremely rare," but the large size of a child’s head relative to an adult means they are "more susceptible."

"This is not a common surgery at all, and especially not on children and teens. A surgeon needs knowledge and experience to do this," he said.
ICYMI
Extreme weather is terrorizing the world. It's only just begun.




Li Cohen
Fri, July 14, 2023

Boiling heat and raging floods have taken the world by storm this week, plummeting millions of people across the world into dangerous and deadly conditions. But it's not a temporary trip of bad luck – it is becoming the new norm.

The heat waves causing record temperatures, storms dumping record rain on cities and wildfires raging across thousands of acres of land are all the impact of an undeniable source: climate change.

Just last week, preliminary data showed that the world had its hottest week on record, following the hottest June on record. El Niño is believed to have spawned the latest events as it comes at the onset of warmer sea surface temperatures, but experts have warned that the current situation won't suddenly vanish when El Niño departs.

"We are in uncharted territory and we can expect more records to fall as El Niño develops further and these impacts will extend into 2024," said Christopher Hewitt, head of international climate services for the World Meteorological Organization. "This is worrying news for the planet."

In a news release Thursday, the WMO highlighted issues that included heat waves causing sweltering conditions in areas around the U.S. to North Africa.

"The extreme weather – an increasingly frequent occurrence in our warming climate – is having a major impact on human health, ecosystems, economies, agriculture, energy and water supplies," WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in the news release. "This underlines the increasing urgency of cutting greenhouse gas emissions as quickly and as deeply as possible."

Here's what the world has faced in recent days.


Dangerous heat waves across the world

Heataves are one of the deadliest hazards to emerge in extreme weather, and they're occurring on a global scale.

The Southwest U.S. has been battling extreme heat for days, and as of Friday, the National Weather Service predicts that the "dangerous heat wave" will continue. At least 93 million people in the U.S. are under excessive heat warnings and advisories Friday morning as the intense heat continues its stretch from the West Coast to the Gulf Coast, the agency said.

The Southwest will see high temperatures surpassing 120 degrees Fahrenheit in some parts, while Texas and Louisiana could see temperatures up to 115 degrees Fahrenheit, the agency said.

And Death Valley, which holds the world record for the highest air temperature ever measured, is expected to see temperatures near that temperature. The record occurred on July 10, 1913, hitting 134 degrees Fahrenheit. This weekend, it could hit just shy of that at 130 degrees Fahrenheit, The Weather Channel's Stephanie Abrams said on Friday, seeing a low of just around 100 degrees.

"This type of heat is going to continue through at least next week," the meteorologist said. "Preliminary daily data shows that we passed the hottest average global temperature on July 3 and have been above that value every day since, setting a new record on July 6."



Flagstaff, Arizona, is also nearing a record-high, with the NWS expecting it to hit 95 degrees on Sunday – just 2 degrees less than its all-time record hit in 1973.

But the extreme heat isn't constrained to the U.S. – Europe has been facing its own battle.

Records were broken in France, Switzerland, Germany and Spain, the European Union's earth observation service, Copernicus, said earlier this week. On Tuesday, satellite imagery determined that some areas of Spain saw land surface temperatures, which measure the temperature of soil, exceeding 60 degrees Celsius – 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

Extreme land surface temperatures were seen in Spain earlier this week, in some places surpassing 60 degrees Celsius
. / Credit: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-3 imagery

Spain's State Meteorological Agency shared on Friday that parts of the country could reach 42 degrees Celsius (more than 107 degrees Fahrenheit). On Thursday, it was even warmer, reaching 44.9 degrees Celsius in The Village of San Nicolás.

And it's not over. Over the next two weeks, the WMO said above-normal temperatures are expected across the Mediterranean, with weekly temperatures up to 5 degrees Celsius higher than the long-term average.

Canada's wildfires continue their record season

Only seven months into 2023, Canada has already been faced with more than 4,000 wildfires that have burned up 9.6 million hectares of land, more than 37,000 square miles. As of Thursday, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre reported 906 active fires across the nation, more than half of which are considered "out of control."

On July 6, the Canadian government said this season "has already been Canada's most severe on record."


An aerial view of wildfire of Tatkin Lake in British Columbia, Canada on July 10, 2023.  Credit: BC Wildfire Service/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

"Current projections indicate that this may continue to be a significantly challenging summer for wildfires in parts of the country," officials said, as projections continue to show "higher-than-normal fire activity" is possible for most of the country. Warm temperatures and ongoing drought are to blame, they said.

Deadly, record-breaking monsoon

India has been inundated with a Southwest monsoon that covered the entire country on July 2, India's Meteorological Department said. Last week, the capital of the country, New Delhi, was hit with the highest-single day of rain in 40 years, getting half a foot of rain in a single day. The flash floods and landslides caused by the rain have killed dozens across the country.

Water from the capital city's Yamuna River spilled over its river banks this week as its water level hit a 45-year high on Thursday at 684 feet. The previous record of 681 feet was hit in 1978. The record rain and water prompted officials to urge the 30 million people who live there to stay inside.

On Friday, flash flood threats of varying degrees continued throughout many areas in the country.


A man floats on thermacol through a flooded street after Yamuna River overflowed due to monsoon rains in New Delhi on July 14, 2023. 
/ Credit: ARUN SANKAR/AFP via Getty Images

Record heat in the world's oceans

Copernicus said Friday that it's not just land and air experiencing extreme heat, but the oceans as well. The service found that the northern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea have both seen record temperatures in recent months.

Citing research institute Mercator Ocean and its own observations, the service said the western Mediterranean is seeing a "moderate" sea heatwave that "appears to be intensifying."

"The Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly along the coasts of Southern Spain and North Africa was approximately +5°C above the reference value for the period, indicative of the escalating heatwave conditions," Copernicus said Friday.


Data shows that the Atlantic and Mediterranean oceans are experiencing record-breaking temperatures. / Credit: European Union, Copernicus Marine Service Data

The data comes just a few months after researchers found that the oceans have been warming so rapidly, that it's an amount equal to the energy of five atomic bombs detonating underwater "every second for 24 hours a day for the entire year." It also comes just days after climate experts issued another warning that ocean temperatures have hit unprecedented levels that are "much higher than anything the models predicted."

By September, NOAA believes that half of the world's oceans could be experiencing heat wave conditions. Normally, only about 10% of oceans experience such conditions, experts said.

The future of extremes is now the present


The future of extreme weather that has the potential to devastate billions of people is no longer a far-off possibility. It's happening here and now.

A wide range of experts – from global agencies to national organizations and individual climate experts – have been warning for decades of the impact that warming global temperatures could have on the state of the planet. As temperatures continue to rise across the world – mostly from the burning of fossil fuels – extreme weather will only intensify.

The impact of such extremes is hard to miss.


Major cities like Chicago are seeing ground temperatures so warm due to the rising air temperatures that it's causing buildings to sink as underground materials shift. The heat also poses deadly consequences, with officials worldwide warning people to avoid extended periods of exposure. Extreme storms that swept through the Northeast last weekend have left cities totally isolated from floodwaters and businesses and homes completely destroyed. The smoke from Canada's wildfires has had harsh ramifications for air quality across the U.S., even going as far as Europe.

"It's getting worse and worse," Hannah Cloke, a climate scientist and professor at Reading University, told Reuters, saying that the way to prevent extreme weather from getting even worse is by drastically – and quickly – reducing greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases, primarily emitted from the burning of fossil fuels, work to trap heat within the atmosphere, amplifying global temperatures.

But it's important to realize, she added, that doing so will only prevent the absolute worst outcomes.

"We must realize we are locked into some of these changes now and we will continue to see records broken," she said.


GLASS HALF EMPTY

Forecasters see overwhelming chance El Niño will last through early 2024



Nick Robertson
Thu, July 13, 2023 

Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) believe the new El Niño water temperature phenomenon has a greater than 90 percent chance of lasting through the winter and into 2024.

El Niño conditions mean that ocean temperatures in the eastern Pacific are higher than normal, which can cause a less severe winter for much of the northern U.S. and more rain for the south, as the jet stream is forced north.

Eastern Pacific waters more than 0.5 degrees Celsius above normal are considered El Niño conditions. Temperatures were 0.8 degrees above average as of June and are anticipated to rise to as much as 1.5 degrees above average in the last few months of the year, when El Niños usually peak.

However, NOAA forecasters said the standard effects of an El Niño — milder winters and fewer hurricanes — may be reduced by a globally warmer ocean.

“One potential outcome is a weaker atmospheric response than we might otherwise expect. The strength of the atmospheric response is related to the pattern of sea surface temperature throughout the tropics,” Emily Becker, a University of Miami climatologist, wrote for NOAA.

“However, when the western Pacific and the rest of the tropics are also warm, the response may be more muddled,” she added.

Earlier this month, hurricane forecasters at Colorado State University (CSU) said that this hurricane season is expected to be above average despite the El Niño, because Atlantic Ocean temperatures are also above average.

“The extreme anomalous warmth in the Atlantic may counteract some of the typical El Niño-driven wind shear,” CSU’s Phil Klotzbach said.

NOAA forecasters said there is an 80 percent chance that the peak of the El Niño this winter will be at least in the normal temperature range, a 50 percent chance that it is at least severe and a 20 percent chance that it will be very severe — or more than 2 degrees Celsius above average.

An El Niño is caused by weaker than normal trade winds in the Pacific, which causes warmer water to stick around in the eastern Pacific instead of being blown west. In years where trade winds are stronger than normal, called La Niñas, the eastern Pacific is colder than normal, usually causing more severe winters in the northern U.S., droughts in the south and more hurricanes than normal.
NO BDS FOR HELEN, JUST BS
Helen Mirren Gives Shoutout To “My Tribe Of Actors’ At Jerusalem Film Festival As SAG-AFTRA Strike Hits: “Actors Are Wonderful People”

Melanie Goodfellow
Thu, July 13, 2023

Helen Mirren dedicated a Jerusalem Film Festival life-time achievement award to actors around the world on Thursday, just an hour before a looming SAG-AFTRA strike was made official.

The actress received the honorary prize ahead of the Israeli premiere of Guy Nattiv’s Golda as the festival’s opening film, in which she stars as iconic late stateswoman Golda Meir.

“I would just like to say, I am a member of a tribe and members of my tribe can be found in Germany, in Belgium, America… they are Palestinians, they are Israelis, they are Africans,” she told the 6,000-strong crowd at the outdoor opening ceremony in the shadow of Jerusalem’s Old City walls.

“They are the tribe to whom I really want to dedicate this award and that is the tribe of actors. Actors are wonderful people.”

Mirren gave a special mention to the Israeli cast members on Golda who included Lior Ashkenazi as David ‘Dado’ Elazar and Rami Heuberger as Moshe Dayan.

“I was lucky enough to work with fantastic Israeli actors on Golda. I had the greatest of times with them because immediately I felt I belonged. I was with my tribe, so thank you to my wonderful tribe of actors all over the world, in every language there is.”

Mirren had spent the morning doing promotional duties on Golda with local outlets, but interviews were wrapped by 3pm local time (5am PT).

She did not talk directly about the looming strike at a press conference in the morning or in her comments at the opening ceremony, but her appearance ended an hour before the strike was officially declared.

Other honorees on Thursday included Oliver Stone as well as Belgian directorial duo Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne. Further guests this year include directors Claire Denis and Florian Zeller who are on the jury.

The strike is expected to impact the film festival circuit as actors stop promotional and red carpet events as part of their industrial action.

With Mirren’s attendance done and dusted before the strike kicked off, disruption to the Jerusalem Film Festival will be minimal with few other big U.S. and UK acting names due to attend this year.

Mirren has long-standing ties with Israel having first visited the country in 1967 and spending a month working at the Kibbutz Ha’on at the foot of the Golan Heights.

She recounted how she had begun her stint at the kibbutz combing the grapes on the Golan Heights.

“This was just after the Six Day War so there were a few shells going off… When they realized this was a bit too dangerous for a ‘shiksa’ from London, they yanked me out of the grapevines and put me in the kitchen,” she said.

“Little did I think in that moment that one day I would be standing here in this beautiful, historic magical, difficult complex city of Jerusalem.”

Golda explores Meir’s life and legacy through the then Israeli prime minister’s controversial handling of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, in which Israel was taken by surprise by a combined joint attack by Egypt and Syria to its southern and northern borders.

Mirren’s casting as Meir sparked controversy when UK actress Maureen Lipman publicly criticized the casting of a non-Jewish actress in the role.

Israelis appear to have enthusiastically embraced Mirren in the role, but the topic came up once again in the press conference earlier on Thursday.

Mirren, who deflected a similar question at the Berlinale in February to Nattiv, spoke-up this time.

“I adhere to both camps. At the same time as believing that anyone can play anything, I also believe that sometimes the absolute right person for a role is the very person who can profoundly understand the issues involved,” she said, referring to Troy Kotsur’s performance in Coda as an example of the latter.

“I’m personally ambivalent. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to inhabit Golda because it was just such an amazing place for me to be in this woman’s mind. It was an incredibly profound journey for me, and I’m very, very grateful for it but at the same time, my mind is open.”

The Jerusalem Film Festival runs from July 13 to 23.


Helen Mirren visits Jerusalem for new film 'Golda,' says she is inspired by anti-government protests






 Helen Mirren arrives at the world premiere of "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, at the Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles. Helen Mirren, who plays Israel’s first female prime minister in her latest film, says she has been inspired by the widespread protests against the country’s current prime minister. Mirren plays the late Golda Meir during the 1973 war between Israel and a coalition of Arab states in “Golda.” 
(Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

JULIA FRANKEL
Updated Thu, July 13, 2023 

JERUSALEM (AP) — Helen Mirren, who plays Israel's first female prime minister in her latest film, says she has been inspired by the widespread protests underway against the country's current premier, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mirren, who portrays the late Golda Meir during the 1973 war between Israel and a coalition of Arab states in “Golda,” is visiting an Israel similarly beset by crisis as mass demonstrations take place against Netanyahu's plan to overhaul the country's judicial system.

Mirren told a news conference before the opening of the Jerusalem Film Festival that she is inspired by the protests.

“I’m personally very moved and excited when you see these huge demonstrations,” she said. “I think it’s a pivotal moment in Israeli history.”

Netanyahu's coalition government, which took office in December, is the most hard-line ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox in Israel’s 75-year history.

For over six months, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest the proposed judicial overhaul. Netanyahu's allies say the plan is needed to rein in the powers of an unelected judiciary. His opponents say it is a thinly veiled power grab that will destroy the country's fragile system of checks and balances.

Mirren contrasted the leadership of Meir — who often served coffee to her military advisers as they convened in her kitchen to discuss strategy — with that of Netanyahu, who has a reputation for being aloof and out of touch with everyday Israelis.

“She had immense power, but she was perfectly happy to toddle around in the kitchen, making everyone coffee and being the grandmother,” Mirren said. “It’s a very different attitude toward power — from the male, Netanyahu type of power to the Golda Meir kitchen power.”

Mirren's visit also comes at a time when Netanyahu's government is moving to deepen its hold on the West Bank. His government has approved plans for thousands of homes in West Bank settlements, and tensions with the Palestinians are rising.

Over 150 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire this year in the occupied West Bank, and Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis have killed at least 25 people. Israel says most of the Palestinians who were killed were militants, though stone-throwers and people uninvolved in violence have also been among the dead.

Some of Netanyahu's allies are West Bank settler leaders who have sought to deny the national aspirations of Palestinians, a sentiment which Meir famously expressed in 1969.

“There was no such thing as Palestinians,” Meir said in an interview with the Sunday Times. Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich echoed Meir recently, stating, “there is no such thing as a Palestinian people."

Lior Ashkenazi, the Israeli actor who plays the head of the Israeli army in the film, said he thought Meir would support efforts to annex the West Bank.

“Even though she was a socialist,” Ashkenazi said, “I think she would definitely support the settlers.”


The film, directed by Guy Nattiv and written by Nicholas Martin, focuses on Meir’s leadership during the 1973 Mideast war, when a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria launched an attack on Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

Under the leadership of Meir and Israeli military officials, Israel emerged victorious from the war, its forces standing within 70 miles (120 kilometers) of the Egyptian capital of Cairo. The war’s outcome laid the groundwork for a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt.

But Israel suffered heavy losses during the war, and Meir was criticized for the government's lack of preparation and refusing to act on intelligence indicating an attack was imminent. Meir resigned the following year, and the national trauma in the wake of the war set off a process that would bring the right-wing Likud party, which Netanyahu currently leads, to power in 1977.

Mirren, a British-born actor, has won both Oscar and Emmy awards for performances ranging from Queen Elizabeth II in “The Queen,” and Sofia Tolstoy in “The Last Station."




ZIONIST ILLEGAL OCCUPATION

Israel advances peak number of West Bank settlement plans in 2023 -watchdog

Ozzy Jackson, an 18-year-old settler carries buckets at Kedar Sheep Farm near the Jewish settlement of Kedar

Reuters
Thu, July 13, 2023 

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's religious-nationalist government has promoted a record number of housing units in settlements in the occupied West Bank in its first six months, Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now said on Thursday.

Most countries deem Jewish settlements built on land Israel occupied in a 1967 Middle East war as illegal, and their continued expansion has for decades been among the most contentious issues between Israel, the Palestinians and the international community.

Since January, Israel has advanced 12,855 settler housing units across the West Bank, said Peace Now - the highest number the group has recorded since it started tracking such activity in 2012.

"In the past six months, the only sector that Israel has vigorously promoted is the settlement enterprise," it said in a statement.


Palestinian leaders have sought to establish an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital. They say settlements cut Palestinian communities from each other and undermine hopes of a viable state.

The United States, Israel's key ally and a broker of statehood negotiations that have stalled since 2014, has repeatedly expressed its objection to Israel's ongoing settlement expansion.

According to the United Nations, some 700,000 settlers live in 279 settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, up from 520,000 in 2012. More than 3 million Palestinians who live in the same area are subjected to Israeli military rule that some rights groups say amounts to apartheid.

Israel cites biblical and historical ties to the area and denies it maintains an apartheid policy against Palestinians. Netanyahu, whose coalition includes far-right ministers who oppose Palestinian statehood, has recently said Israeli settlements were not an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians.

(Reporting by Henriette Chacar; Editing by Alistair Bell)
Palestinian leader calls on world to ‘protect us,’ and his people respond with bitter laughter
THE BITTERNESS OF WORMWOOD


Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images


Abeer Salman
CNN
Fri, July 14, 2023 

President Mahmoud Abbas, the 87-year-old veteran who has led the Palestinian Authority for nearly two decades, is trending on Palestinian social media – but not in the way he might like.

When he made a rare flying visit to Jenin this week, eight days after the largest Israeli incursion into the city’s refugee camp in decades, many comments in the Facebook live feed of Palestine TV were harsh.

“Most of those cheering are his security forces. Where are the injured people?” one viewer asked.

“Good morning, you can wait for a week more, no harm,” another said, in reference to the time that had passed between the Israeli pullout and Abbas’s arrival.

“Those helicopters were rented,” another said of the two Jordanian aircraft that brought the leader and his entourage to Jenin.

The Facebook feed recorded more laughing emojis in response to viewer comments than hearts during the visit.

And that’s not the worst of it.

Abbas’s speech to the United Nations on May 15 commemorating the displacement of Palestinians at the founding of Israel, known in Arabic as the Nakba, or catastrophe, triggered a wave of cynical and darkly comic social media memes and videos.

Abbas called on the international community to provide protection for the Palestinian people. In an emotional plea, he said: “We are getting beaten every day, we scream every day. People of the world, protect us! Aren’t we human beings? Even animals should be protected. If you have an animal, won’t you protect it? Protect us…”

His words struck a chord with many Palestinians – a deeply negative one.

For some, Abbas’s comparison of their suffering to that of animals was deeply insulting, while for others, it was seen as darkly comic. His phrase “Protect us” – “Ehmouna” in Arabic – quickly became a trending topic on social media.

Videos began circulating mocking Abbas’s words.

In one, a child is asked by his father what Abbas said at the UN. The boy, wriggling in the backseat of a car, childishly says “Ehmouna, ehmouna for Allah’s sake” as other people in the car laugh.

A harsher video features an elderly woman cursing Abbas sarcastically and viciously, repeatedly saying “Ehmouna.” She demands that he use his police and security forces to provide protection for his people instead of making a desperate plea to the international community.

Meanwhile, one of the simplest but funniest videos on TikTok, just features a man lip syncing the sound of Abbas saying “Ehmouna,” exaggerating his expressions just enough to make the mockery plain.

Ultimately, these viral moments shed light on the frustrations and aspirations of the Palestinian people, caught between the conflict with Israel on the one hand and their own unpopular leadership on the other.

The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah found last September that 26% of respondents were satisfied with Abbas as president, while 71% were dissatisfied; 74% demanded that he resign. The Center interviewed 1,270 adults face to face September 13-17, 2022, and the poll had a margin of error of three points.

The Palestinian Authority has not held presidential elections since May 2006 – repeatedly postponing votes – leaving the Palestinian people with few ways other than social media to make their voices heard.

“Protect us” was not the first time Palestinians have picked up on a hashtag related to Abbas. Another trend emerged around his calls for peaceful resistance, which many Palestinians view as disconnected from the harsh realities of increasing Israeli settler violence and frequent, deadly Israeli military incursions in the occupied West Bank.

Two Palestinians sarcastically attempt to “act as President Abbas requested” in one video. They pretend to protest against an Israeli military base built on their land, gently urging: “Go away and leave us alone.”

Laughing, they conclude: “They’ll be gone by noon.”

CNN.com
New report estimates 89,000 lives could be saved if Americans make one simple lifestyle change: ‘A significant health benefit’



Roberto Guerra
Thu, July 13, 2023

A new report has highlighted the health benefits of shifting to electric vehicles (EVs) as efficiently as possible, as long as the energy comes from renewable sources.

The American Lung Association released a new report explaining how if drivers stop using conventional air-polluting vehicles and the U.S. cleans up its power grid, 89,000 lives and nearly $1 trillion in health costs could be saved by the middle of the century, as reported by Grist.

According to William Barrett, who authored the report and works on clean air and climate policy at the American Lung Association, “There’s a real significant health benefit to be achieved and significant suffering to be avoided — premature deaths to be avoided, children having asthma attacks avoided — by making this transition to technology that exists today.”

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), almost all of the global population (99%) breathes air that exceeds WHO guideline limits and contains high levels of pollutants.

Conventional motor vehicles emit pollution that contains particulate matter, which penetrates the lungs and enters the bloodstream, resulting in various impacts on cardiovascular health (such as ischaemic heart disease), cerebrovascular health (such as stroke), and respiratory well-being, the WHO reports.

The organization also states that short-term and long-term exposure to particulate matter is associated with increased mortality rates related to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

Long-term exposure has also been linked to negative perinatal outcomes and lung cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the WHO classified particulate matter as a cause of lung cancer in 2013.

States such as California and Oregon have established goals to achieve “zero-emissions” for all passenger vehicle sales by 2035.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently introduced tailpipe emissions standards that could result in EVs making up around two-thirds of all new car sales by 2032.

However, the American Lung Association’s report also specifies the need for EVs to be powered by clean energy sources, like solar or wind.

Sara Adar, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan who specializes in studying environmental health, particularly traffic pollution, admitted, “If we fail in our attempt to clean the grid and we are still generating electricity based on coal, I think those estimates will no longer be accurate,” Grist reported.




'It's our duty': Hundreds gather to remember Newark firefighters killed in ship fire


Mike Kelly, NorthJersey.com
Updated Fri, July 14, 2023 

NEWARK, N.J. — Firefighters are helpers by nature. It prompts them to run into danger. It’s also the glue that holds them together in tough times.

And so, on a hot, windy Thursday in Newark, New Jersey, hundreds of firefighters — some traveling from as far away as California — gathered to help one another get through the first of two long goodbyes to two Newark firefighters who perished last week after they were trapped aboard a burning ship loaded with used cars bound for Africa.

“This is what it’s all about,” said Tim McGovern, a retired Newark battalion chief who drove from Toms River to pay tribute to firefighter Augusto “Augie” Acabou, 45, who was overcome by smoke along with his colleague, firefighter Wayne “Bear” Brooks Jr., while battling flames aboard the Grande Costa D'Avorio, a 692-foot cargo ship, on July 5.

“When something like that happens, you show up,” McGovern said. “It’s part of the job.”

Augusto’s nearly three-hour funeral at Newark’s Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Thursday morning ended only a few hours before a wake for Brooks, whose funeral took place at the same church on Friday morning.

Timeline: Chief breaks down department's response to fatal Newark ship fire

Profound anguish

For firefighters, the loss of just one of their breed in the line of duty often sets off deep emotions about the ever-present dangers of the job that requires them to run into a fire instead of from it. But the loss of two firefighters in Newark seemed to set off especially widespread sorrow.

The anguish was even more profound because Acabou, 45, a 10-year veteran of the Newark Fire Department, and Brooks, 49, who served 16 years, were not rescuing people. They died trying to extinguish a blaze that broke out amid nearly 1,200 cars parked tightly together aboard a 12-story cargo ship that is nearly as long as two football fields.


Firefighter Augusto Acabou's Funeral at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark on Thursday, July 13, 2023.

“That’s what brings us together,” said Lt. Joseph Hoyle Sr., a 31-year veteran of the Englewood, New Jersey, fire department. “We understand our profession, and we understand the extreme risks. But to lose two firefighters to a car fire is especially difficult to live with.”

Hoyle said he hopes that the questions raised about the ship fire would result in some changes in how to battle shipboard fires, just as criticism of the firefighters’ response to a blaze in a truss roof at a car dealership in Hackensack, New Jersey, in July 1988 resulted in new firefighting standards across America.

One recommendation that Hoyle said he and other fire fighters would wholeheartedly support would be the establishment of specially trained fire brigades at America’s shipping ports.


“This will, without a doubt, cause a renewed focus on having a fire service especially at our ports,” Hoyle said of the fire.

In the wake of the deaths of Acabou and Brooks, firefighters have voiced criticism of Newark’s fire department for what they described as insufficient training and equipment to fight ship fires. Some of Newark's fire engines are staffed by only one officer and just two fire fighters. The optimum staffing of fire engines is one officer and four or five fire fighters. But many municipalities cuts budgets by trimming staffing levels.


In a larger sense, firefighters from across the region also questioned why nozzles on the cargo ship’s firefighting system were only one inch wide while the firefighters arrived with hoses with nozzles that were 2.5 inches wide.


Firefighter Augusto Acabou's funeral at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark on Thursday, July 13, 2023.

The criticism also raised concerns about whether the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey should establish its own specially trained fire department for its 272-acre docking facility in Newark, the nation’s third-largest port. For decades, the Port Authority, which has specially trained fire fighting teams at its airports, has relied on Newark’s fire department, which is trained mainly to fight fires in home and offices, to respond to fires at its shipping ports.


Before Acabou’s funeral began, Sean DeCrane, director of health and safety operational services for the International Association of Firefighters, the nation’s largest firefighting union, said federal safety officials planned to examine the Newark port fire with an eye toward improving firefighting techniques. But DeCrane said in an interview with NorthJersey.com and The Record outside the cathedral basilica that the federal study could not begin until Newark’s fire department officially requested it.


On Thursday, Newark fire officials were unavailable for comment on this issue.

Mike Kelly: As Newark firefighters are laid to rest, these are the questions we must answer

More: Newark firefighters union blasts 'neglect' by city in wake of two deaths
A final farewell

Acabou’s funeral was a mix of tradition and heartfelt family memories.

In addition to English, scripture readings were recited in Acabou’s native language, Portuguese.

A large American flag hung from ladders between two firetrucks as Acabou’s coffin was brought to the cathedral basilica in an antique fire engine. A pipe band played the Irish funeral tune “Going Home” — a tradition at many fire department funerals across America. As a farewell, three fire chiefs rang a bell and a Newark fire dispatcher sent a final radio message to city fire fighters that Acabou had answered his last call.

Police on horses stood by. Hundreds of firefighters, clad in blue uniforms and white gloves, saluted. Color guards from fire brigades from across the region lowered their flags as Acabou's coffin, draped in an American flag, was carried into the cathedral basilica.

Inside, the ancient Roman Catholic hymn “Ave Maria” was sung. So was Leonard Cohen’s more modern pop classic, “Hallelujah.” And Acabou’s former football coach at Newark’s Eastside High School, Kevin Bullock, presented his jersey inscribed with the number 85 to his family. Bullock also said that Acabou devoted hours driving his former coach to doctors' appointments or just picking up groceries when he battled cancer.

"Augie would give his heart to anyone," Bullock said. "I said, 'Augie, you don't have to do this.' But that's what Augie did."

“To say that Augie Acabou was brave is an understatement,” Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said in one of six eulogies that included an announcement by the city that Acabou would be promoted posthumously to the rank of captain.

Earlier: Newark firefighters killed in cargo ship fire remembered for dedication, selflessness

The same honor was bestowed Friday on Brooks during his funeral in a proclamation read by Newark Public afety Director Fritz Frage. And just as many who came to Acabou’s funeral had personal memories of him, the same was true of Brooks.

Bob LaCour, a retired Edison firefighter who worked with Brooks on an extra job on the runways at Newark Liberty International Airport, said in an interview that Brooks deeply wanted to help people in need.

“He was a friendly, helpful, jolly person,” LaCour said. “And he really wanted a career in the fire service. Firefighters are just helpful people by nature.”

LaCour said he was especially impressed by Brooks' desire to assist almost anyone. "There are people who take a job for benefits and people who aspire to help people," LaCour said. "Wayne wanted to help people."

Like the service for Acabou, Brooks' funeral brought together hundreds of fire fighters from across New Jersey, with some coming from as far away as Chicago. Brooks' memorial also included a stream of eulogies that praised him as a devoted father and friend. Many mourners wore blue to honor Brooks -- blue dresses for women and blue ties for men.

Jason Brooks spoke of his older brother as a "super hero" who loved to brag about his family's achievements, from graduating from college to the birth of a new baby.

"Let's brag about him even more than he would brag about us," said Jason Brooks, adding that "Wayne was always the type of person who takes the lead in solving a problem. He never complains. He just got things done. Nothing I could say could describe the void left by Wayne because he’s a connector.

"It may be a stretch to call Wayne a 'super hero,' but it's not a stretch to call him a super servant," said the Rev. DeForest "Buster" Soaries, a Baptist minister and noted civil rights leader in New Jersey.

Soaries said that Brooks "had the intellect" to take on any job he wanted but "he chose to become a super servant and now he's a super hero."

Brooks' wife, Michele, did not speak at the service. But a friend read an emotional letter from her.

"Wayne 'Bear' Brooks Jr., loved me in a way I always dreamed for," Michelle Brooks wrote. "You believed and saw the brighter side of things, always."

Captain Brett Hendrie of the New Rochelle, New York, fire department agreed that the instinct to be helpful also creates a unique bond of friendship and loyalty among firefighters. He said that’s why he drove from New Rochelle to Newark to attend the funeral of a man he did not know.

“When they talk about the brotherhood, it’s truly a real thing,” Hendrie said. “What Acabou and Brooks went through could happen to any firefighters. When one of us dies, it’s like a member of the family died.”

Firefighter Augusto Acabou's funeral at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark on Thursday, July 13, 2023.

As a final eulogy, Acabou’s close friend and fellow Newark firefighter Eddie Paulo drew laughs when he mentioned that Acabou quit his amateur boxing career because “he felt bad for the guys he was hurting.”

“It’s a cliché to say that someone is the nicest guy in the world,” Paolo said. “But in Augie Acabou’s case, it was true.”

As he waited outside the cathedral basilica, Englewood firefighter Chandy Campbell, a 28-year veteran, drew quiet as he reflected on the possibility that every firefighter might someday face the same fate as Acabou and Brooks.

“Is it fair?” Campbell said. “No. But it’s our duty.”

As the funeral ended, Acabou’s coffin was driven away in the antique firetruck. The band played “America the Beautiful.”

Mike Kelly is an award-winning columnist for NorthJersey.com, part of the USA TODAY Network, as well as the author of three critically acclaimed non-fiction books and a podcast and documentary film producer. To get unlimited access to his insightful thoughts on how we live life in the Northeast, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Port Newark fire: Hundreds honor Augie Acabou, Wayne Brooks



TEXAS
Company confirms it has found new funding to build a massive gas terminal at the Port of Brownsville



Dylan Baddour, Inside Climate News
Thu, July 13, 2023 

The Boca Chica Wildlife Refuge on the Rio Grande delta, about 6 miles east of the proposed 750-acre site of the Rio Grande LNG facility. 
Credit: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News

After years of delays, an industrial developer said this week that it has secured funding to proceed with construction of a massive new gas liquefaction plant and export terminal in the wild greenfields and wetlands of the Rio Grande delta.

Houston-based NextDecade says it has secured $5.9 billion in financing from international partners to begin work on the terminal’s first three compressors to liquify natural gas from Texas’ shale fields for export on global markets.

When completed, five giant compressor units, each designed to process 5.4 million metric tons of liquified natural gas per year, will make the 750-acre Rio Grande LNG facility among the largest gas export terminals in the world.

Its location in the Port of Brownsville — the last major deepwater port in Texas that remains without large fossil fuel projects — will complete the energy sector’s coastal sprawl from Louisiana to Mexico. Once constructed in several years, Rio Grande LNG will join the growing Gulf Coast energy export boom, which has pushed oil and gas production in Texas to record high levels.

In the Wednesday announcement, NextDecade CEO Matt Schatzman called the financing agreement “a landmark event reflecting years of hard work and dedication by NextDecade’s employees, shareholders, construction partners, equipment suppliers, and customers.”

One of the project funders, Abu Dabi-based Mubadala, called the deal “the largest greenfield energy project financing in U.S. history.”

Seven such LNG export terminals have cropped up on U.S. coastlines in the last seven years, according to the Energy Information Agency. Another three are under construction and another 11 have been approved by federal regulators.

Along with the Rio Grande terminal, the planned Rio Bravo Pipeline will deliver 4.5 billion cubic feet of Permian gas per day to the South Texas coast, where compressor trains at Rio Grande LNG will super-cool the gas to minus-260 degrees Fahrenheit and then load it onto ocean-going tankers for sale overseas. The facility will occupy 750 acres of greenfield, including 182 acres of wetlands, on a 984-acre waterfront tract.

Initially scheduled for completion in 2023, yearslong delays have plagued the project. Campaigns by local activists and indigenous leaders prompted three French banks, SMBC Group, BNP Paribas and Société Générale, to withdraw their financial commitments. Three nearby municipalities of Laguna Vista, South Padre Island and Port Isabel adopted resolutions opposing the project.

A federal court ordered regulators to modify the conditions of their approval following challenges

by local organizers who hoped to preserve the Rio Grande Delta as the last major inlet on the Gulf Coast of Texas still free from fossil fuel facilities like refineries, chemical plants and terminals.

“The oil and gas companies and the politicians can’t find it in their hearts to keep the industry in an industrial space,” said Lela Burnell, the daughter of a shrimper in the Port of Brownsville and the plaintiff in multiple lawsuits against plans for Rio Grande LNG. “Why do they feel like they need to just inundate and take over the whole coast? They don’t want to leave one spot where there is a sanctuary or a safe zone for nature.”

The final frontier of the Texas Gulf Coast

In the last century, fossil fuel projects have cropped up on almost every major inlet of the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana — from “Cancer Alley,” where the Mississippi River meets the sea, to refinery sectors in Lake Charles, Port Arthur and Houston, where the nation’s largest petrochemical complex lines 44 miles of Galveston Bay.



Further west is Dow Chemical on the mouth of the Brazos, Formosa Plastics on Lavaca Bay, Dow Chemical on San Antonio Bay and the sprawling industrial complex around Nueces and Corpus Christi Bays.

But after that, it’s 160 miles of dunes and beaches, including the nation’s largest stretch of undeveloped barrier island, to the mouth of the Rio Grande — a vast landscape of wetlands with three national wildlife refuges, a state park and the SpaceX rocket factory and launch pad.

Beside the river, the Brownsville Ship Channel runs 17 miles to the Port of Brownsville.

“There's not much else except the Port of Brownsville,” said Jordan Blum, editorial director for Hart Energy. “There are just little, completely undeveloped areas like Port Mansfield, Port O'Connor and Sargent.”

NextDecade initially proposed its Rio Grande LNG terminal in December 2015, one week after the legalization of U.S. oil and gas exports. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the plans in 2019, but quickly faced challenges from local and national activist groups.

A coalition of local groups sued in 2020 to challenge the project’s wetlands permits with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and again to challenge FERC’s study of the project's air quality impacts, environmental justice impacts, mitigation measures, greenhouse gas emissions and the commission’s determination that the project was in the public interest.


Juan Mancias, chairman of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, has campaigned against LNG terminals near the Rio Grande, stands outside the tract for a planned terminal on the Brownsville Ship Channel in April. 
Credit: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News

In August 2021, a federal court in Washington D.C. sided with the petitioners and remanded FERC’s approval order, asserting that the commission’s analyses of the projects’ impacts on climate change and environmental justice communities were deficient.

Social costs of carbon

The court ordered FERC to produce a calculation of the “social costs” of the project’s carbon emissions, a measure of the estimated future financial impacts created by releasing greenhouse gasses today.

The FERC determined that the 6.4 million tons of carbon-dioxide equivalent released by the export terminal and gas compressors each year would incur global social costs of about $18 billion in 2020 dollars, while the social costs of the Rio Bravo Pipeline were estimated at $2 billion.

“We recognize that the projects’ contributions to [greenhouse gas] emissions globally contribute incrementally to future climate change impacts,” FERC wrote in its April 2023 re-approval of project plans.

On Tuesday, the groups filed another lawsuit challenging FERC’s re-approval.

“We believe the future of our community is worth fighting for,” Jared Hockema, Port Isabel’s city manager, said in a press release Tuesday. “With the prospects of environmental degradation, harm to our natural resource-based economy or even an explosive disaster being so high, we are determined to continue this fight. We won’t rest until our community, and our people, are safe.”

NextDecade has also proposed a project to capture some of the facility’s carbon emissions and inject them underground.

The project got a major boost last month when energy giant TotalEnergies announced an investment and purchase agreement with NextDecade, acquiring a $219 million interest in the project. Total, a company from France where fracking is illegal, committed to purchasing 5.4 million tons of fracked gas per year from Rio Grande LNG.

In the announcement, Total CEO Patrick Pouyanné said, “Our involvement in this project will add 5.4 million tons per year of LNG to our global portfolio, strengthening our ability to ensure Europe's security of gas supply, and to provide our Asian customers with an alternative fuel to coal that emits half its CO2 emissions.”

Total touts LNG as a centerpiece effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“LNG can contribute to the transition of our global energy economy towards a lower-carbon future,” the company wrote on its website.

Similar statements from across the energy sector have prompted charges of greenwashing from clean energy and environmental advocates.

Shruti Shukla, a senior advocate with the Natural Resource Defense Council in Washington D.C., said energy companies’ efforts to promote LNG around the world are impeding a global energy transition.

“Coal is a fossil fuel just like LNG, so replacing one with the other is not really a replacement, it’s just a continuation,” Shukla said. “Investments in LNG could end up marginalizing investments in cleaner and truly renewable resources that those countries could have.”

Three countries dominate most of the global LNG export market: Australia, Qatar and the U.S. — Shukla said the U.S. exports LNG to 42 countries.

“We just do not have the time or the leisure to wait or delay action on climate,” she said, pointing to the recent record-breaking heatwave in South Texas. “Adding LNG or natural gas to the mix does not help us.”

Disclosure: Dow Chemical has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

Join us for conversations that matter with newly announced speakers at the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival, in downtown Austin from Sept. 21-23.
Creature found lurking ‘in disguise’ in waters off Australia. See the new species


Aspen Pflughoeft
Thu, July 13, 2023 

A striped creature lurked “in disguise” amid the shadowy depths off the coast of Australia. The animal had gone relatively unnoticed and, even when spotted, was often misidentified. That all changed when scientists captured one of the animals and discovered it was a new species.

Researchers were surveying the Gascoyne Marine Park off the coast of Exmouth when they captured the striped shark, co-author and shark scientist William White said on Twitter.

The shark was “a striking, small, stripey hornshark,” White said. Researchers recognized it as a previously unknown species.

The new species was named Heterodontus marshallae, or the painted hornshark, according to a study published July 12 in the journal Diversity. It ranges in size from about 1 foot long to about 2 feet long.

Photos show the painted hornshark’s tan or grayish coloring and its darker, blackish stripes. The animal has a “blunt,” almost square-shaped head with a short, “triangular” snout, researchers said.



The painted hornshark “has a remarkably similar color pattern” to another species of hornshark, Heterodontus zebra, the study said. For decades, researchers misidentified any captured painted hornsharks as Heterodontus zebra hornsharks.

To identify the new species, researchers studied older archived specimens and newly collected specimens. They noticed several differences between painted hornsharks and other known species, the study said.

The painted hornshark lives deeper in the ocean and has different color patterns on its snout, gills and fins, the study said. DNA analysis also confirmed the painted hornshark was genetically distinct from other hornshark species.

Unlike other sharks, hornsharks cannot be identified by their teeth, the study said. Instead, researchers identify hornshark species based on their color patterns.

A Heterodontus marshallae, or painted hornshark, as seen from the top and side.

The new species was named Heterodontus marshallae “in honor of Dr. Lindsay Marshall, a scientific illustrator” and scientist who studies sharks and rays, researchers said. The name painted hornshark refers to both “the beautiful coloration of the species” and to Marshall “who has painted all the hornsharks in amazing detail.”

The painted hornshark is native to Australia and has been found in the waters from Exmouth to Bathurst Island, the study said. This area is on the opposite side of the country from Sydney.

The research team included White, Frederik Mollen, Helen O’Neill, Lei Yang and Gavin Naylor.