It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Inflammation is a risk factor for many chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease (CVD), and the impact of diet on inflammation is an area of growing scientific interest. In particular, recommendations to limit red meat consumption are often based, in part, on old studies suggesting that red meat negatively affects inflammation – yet more recent studies have not supported this.
“The role of diet, including red meat, on inflammation and disease risk has not been adequately studied, which can lead to public health recommendations that are not based on strong evidence,” said Dr. Alexis Wood, associate professor of pediatrics – nutrition at the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital. “Our team sought to take a closer look by using metabolite data in the blood, which can provide a more direct link between diet and health.”
Wood and her team analyzed cross-sectional data captured from approximately 4,000 older adults participating in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), and recently published their findings in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Cross-sectional data is a useful source of evidence on how diet affects health; it uses data that is observed with free-living people, without attempting to influence their usual lifestyle. In this way, it may be easier to take results from such studies and apply them to non-research settings. In addition to assessing participants’ self-reported food intake and several biomarkers, researchers also measured an array of dietary intake metabolites in blood. Plasma metabolites can help capture the effects of dietary intake as food is processed, digested and absorbed.
Researchers found that when adjusted for body mass index (BMI), intake of unprocessed and processed red meat (beef, pork or lamb) was not directly associated with any markers of inflammation, suggesting that body weight, not red meat, may be the driver of increased systemic inflammation. Of particular interest was the lack of a link between red meat intake and C-reactive protein (CRP), the major inflammatory risk marker of chronic disease.
“Our analysis adds to the growing body of evidence that indicates the importance of measuring plasma markers, such as metabolites, to track diet and disease risk associations, versus relying on self-reported dietary intake alone,” Wood said. “Our analysis does not support previous observational research associations linking red meat intake and inflammation.”
Because observational studies cannot indicate cause and effect, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) where individuals are randomly assigned to consume a dietary factor of interest or not consume it, are needed as an additional line of evidence to adequately understand if red meat does not alter inflammation. Several RCTs have demonstrated that lean unprocessed beef can be enjoyed in heart-healthy dietary patterns.
“We have reached a stage where more studies are needed before we can make recommendations to limit red meat consumption for reducing inflammation if we want to base dietary recommendations on the most up-to-date evidence,” Wood said. “Red meat is popular, accessible and palatable – and its place in our diet has deep cultural roots. Given this, recommendations about reducing consumption should be supported by strong scientific evidence, which doesn’t yet exist.”
Other contributors to this work include Goncalo Graca, Meghana Gadgil, Mackenzie K. Senn, Matthew A. Allison, Ioanna Tzoulaki, Philip Greenland, Timothy Ebbels, Paul Elliott, Mark O. Goodarzi, Russell Tracy, Jerome I. Rotter and David Herrington.
The study was supported by the Beef Checkoff. Wood was supported, in part, by the USDA/ARS (Cooperative Agreement 58-3092-5-001). Mark Goodarzi was supported by the Eris M. Field Chair in Diabetes Research. Jerome Rotter was supported, in part, by the National Institutes of Health grants from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease (DK063491), from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1TR001881), the CHARGE Consortium, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI; R01HL105756).
Untargeted metabolomic analysis investigating links between unprocessed red meat intake and markers of inflammation
Venus had Earth-like plate tectonics billions of years ago, study suggests
Simulations produced by a Brown-led research team offer evidence that Venus once had plate tectonics — a finding that opens the door for the possibility of early life on the planet and insights into its history.
VENUS, A SCORCHING WASTELAND OF A PLANET ACCORDING TO SCIENTISTS, MAY HAVE ONCE HAD TECTONIC PLATE MOVEMENTS SIMILAR TO THOSE BELIEVED TO HAVE OCCURRED ON EARLY EARTH, A NEW STUDY FOUND.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Venus, a scorching wasteland of a planet according to scientists, may have once had tectonic plate movements similar to those believed to have occurred on early Earth, a new study found. The finding sets up tantalizing scenarios regarding the possibility of early life on Venus, its evolutionary past and the history of the solar system.
Writing in Nature Astronomy, a team of scientists led by Brown University researchers describes using atmospheric data from Venus and computer modeling to show that the composition of the planet’s current atmosphere and surface pressure would only have been possible as a result of an early form of plate tectonics, a process critical to life that involves multiple continental plates pushing, pulling and sliding beneath one another.
On Earth, this process intensified over billions of years, forming new continents and mountains, and leading to chemical reactions that stabilized the planet’s surface temperature, resulting in an environment more conducive to the development of life.
Venus, on the other hand, Earth’s nearest neighbor and sister planet, went in the opposite direction and today has surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead. One explanation is that the planet has always been thought to have what’s known as a “stagnant lid,” meaning its surface has only a single plate with minimal amounts of give, movement and gasses being released into the atmosphere.
The new paper posits that this wasn’t always the case. To account for the abundance of nitrogen and carbon dioxide present in Venus’ atmosphere, the researchers conclude that Venus must have had plate tectonics sometime after the planet formed, about 4.5 billion to 3.5 billion years ago. The paper suggests that this early tectonic movement, like on Earth, would have been limited in terms of the number of plates moving and in how much they shifted. It also would have been happening on Earth and Venus simultaneously.
“One of the big picture takeaways is that we very likely had two planets at the same time in the same solar system operating in a plate tectonic regime — the same mode of tectonics that allowed for the life that we see on Earth today,” said Matt Weller, the study’s lead author who completed the work while he was a postdoctoral researcher at Brown and is now at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.
This bolsters the possibility of microbial life on ancient Venus and shows that at one point the two planets — which are in the same solar neighborhood, are about the same size, and have the same mass, density and volume — were more alike than previously thought before diverging.
The work also highlights the possibility that plate tectonics on planets might just come down to timing — and therefore, so may life itself.
“We've so far thought about tectonic state in terms of a binary: it’s either true or it’s false, and it's either true or false for the duration of the planet,” said study co-author Alexander Evans, an assistant professor of Earth, environmental and planetary sciences at Brown. “This shows that planets may transition in and out of different tectonic states and that this may actually be fairly common. Earth may be the outlier. This also means we might have planets that transition in and out of habitability rather than just being continuously habitable.”
That concept will be important to consider as scientists look to understand nearby moons — like Jupiter’s Europa, which has shown proof of having Earth-like plate tectonics — and distant exoplanets, according to the paper.
The researchers initially started the work as a way to show that the atmospheres of far-off exoplanets can be powerful markers of their early histories, before deciding to investigate that point closer to home.
They used current data on Venus’ atmosphere as the endpoint for their models and started by assuming Venus has had a stagnant lid through its entire existence. Quickly, they were able to see that simulations recreating the planet’s current atmosphere didn’t match up with where the planet is now in terms of the amount nitrogen and carbon dioxide present in the current atmosphere and its resulting surface pressure.
The researchers then simulated what would have had to happen on the planet to get to where it is today. They eventually matched the numbers almost exactly when they accounted for limited tectonic movement early in Venus’ history followed by the stagnant lid model that exists today.
Overall, the team believes the work serves as a proof of concept regarding atmospheres and their ability to provide insights into the past.
“We’re still in this paradigm where we use the surfaces of planets to understand their history,” Evans said. “We really show for the first time that the atmosphere may actually be the best way to understand some of the very ancient history of planets that is often not preserved on the surface.”
Upcoming NASA DAVINCI missions, which will measure gasses in the Venusian atmosphere, may help solidify the study’s findings. In the meantime, the researchers plan to delve deep into a key question the paper raises: What happened to plate tectonics on Venus? The theory in the paper suggests that the planet ultimately became too hot and its atmosphere too thick, drying up the necessary ingredients for tectonic movement.
“Venus basically ran out of juice to some extent, and that put the brakes on the process,” said Daniel Ibarra, a professor in Brown’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences and co-author on the paper.
The researchers say the details of how this happened may hold important implications for Earth.
“That’s going to be the next critical step in understanding Venus, its evolution and ultimately the fate of the Earth,” Weller said. “What conditions will force us to move in a Venus-like trajectory, and what conditions could allow the Earth to remain habitable?”
The study also included Alexandria Johnson from Purdue University. It was supported by NASA’s Solar System Workings program.
An international team has developed the first comprehensive framework for designing networks of marine protected areas that can help vulnerable species survive as climate change drives habitat loss.
In a paper published Oct. 26 in One Earth, the researchers outlined guidelines for governments to provide long-distance larval drifters, like urchins and lobsters, as well as migratory species, like turtles and sharks, with protected stopovers along coastal corridors. Led by Stanford marine conservation scientist Nur Arafeh-Dalmau, the team included 50 scientists and practitioners from academia, conservation organizations, and management agencies from the U.S., Mexico, and Australia.
The guidelines come at a critical time as nearly every country in the world has committed to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030. Marine protected areas and similar conservation measures on land connect habitats fractured by generations of human development or erratically carved up by wildfires and heat waves.
“Until now, marine protected areas have been designed for biodiversity conservation, but not necessarily for climate resilience,” said Arafeh-Dalmau, a postdoctoral scholar in the Oceans Department at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and an honorary fellow at The University of Queensland. “They suffer from climate impacts but aren’t designed to endure them.”
Enter the Southern California Bight
As a case study, the authors used the 21 biological and physical guidelines presented in their framework to map out protections for giant kelp ecosystems and species across the Southern California Bight. This vast region is distinguished by a gradual bend in the southerly trajectory of California’s coastline where it curves to the southeast along the peninsula of Baja California, Mexico.
Here, giant kelp forests provide nursery areas, shelter from predators and storms, and food to hundreds of commercially and culturally valuable species. In recent years, marine heat waves and prolonged periods of low dissolved oxygen have led to the collapse of commercially valuable fisheries like jumbo squid and abalone, jeopardizing the livelihoods of local communities.
Though Baja California is home to large marine protected areas and in the process of designing more, less than 1% of coastal waters are fully protected and prohibit extractive activities like fishing or drilling. In California, marine protected areas comprise 16% of state waters, half of which are fully protected. According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, these protected waters make up the largest ecologically connected marine protected area network in the world.
However, the network doesn’t account for how species move between the U.S. and Mexico, which means even if one country protects species’ nurseries, those benefits are lost if protections end a short drift into the neighboring country where larvae might settle and grow into adults.
“We designed a systematic approach to help resource managers stay ahead of the curve and anticipate rather than react to climate change,” said co-lead author Adrian Munguia Vega, a genomics researcher at The University of Arizona and the Applied Genomics Lab in Mexico. “A big part of that is showing how entire marine ecosystems and the species that inhabit them are connected by ocean currents that do not stop at the international border. Thus, we need coordinated efforts and protections across political boundaries.”
Integrating climate
Government agencies charged with establishing new marine protected areas typically refer to biological and physical criteria developed by scientists over the past two decades. The study authors expanded these guidelines from acknowledging the need to address climate adaptations to explicitly planning for how various future climate scenarios might play out.
For example, conservation planners today try to provide enough time for threatened species to recover from overfishing or habitat loss before allowing extractive or harvesting activities, but few models have considered how worsening marine heat waves will lengthen that recovery period. The new framework requires marine resource managers to evaluate whether proposed timelines will facilitate recovery of vulnerable species over the next decade or even century.
Management authorities also currently consider whether protected areas include the full range of habitats that regional species need to thrive. In the Southern California Bight, they might prioritize conserving a variety of sandy beaches, tidal flats, rocky reefs, and kelp forests. In addition to habitat diversity, the researchers prioritized habitat persistence or a habitat’s presence over time. Considered “climate refugia,” these habitats often experience natural temperature swings from local currents and can provide consistent relief for species faced with extreme thermal shocks.
“Climate extremes don’t stop at the boundary of a marine protected area,” said co-author Fiorenza Micheli, chair of the Oceans Department and co-director of the Center for Ocean Solutions. “If California’s network of marine protected areas had been designed with climate considerations, it would look different.”
A seal swims through a giant kelp forest in Baja California earlier this summer.
CREDIT
Mission Blue/Eduardo Sorensen
Putting the framework into practice
The researchers examined decades of satellite imagery to map giant kelp persistence along 1,678 miles (2,700 kilometers) of continuous coastline in the Southern California Bight and quantify how many safe havens they provide for larvae spawned by sea cucumbers, sea urchins, abalone, and California sheephead. They found that under current protection schemes, marine heat waves expected over the next 50 years will splinter the suitable habitat for these larvae. The authors estimate ecological connectivity, a measure of the animals’ ability to move freely from place to place, will fall by about half, while population density could decline by as much as 90%. This would mean smaller gene pools and greater risk of population collapse.
Conventional assessment methods prioritize protection of areas that have the greatest number of kelp species. The new framework, by contrast, identified sites where kelp have the highest chance of survival and are more likely to provide a stable habitat for other marine species to reproduce. They recommended a series of protected areas that link isolated populations like beads of a necklace along the Southern California Bight.
“This stepping stone strategy can be very cost-effective and cheaper for everyone,” said Arafeh-Dalamu, who documented Mexico’s worst marine heat wave from 2014 to 2016. “Maybe you need fewer areas to be protected if you are protecting the important areas.” Plus, he added, the collaboration between countries can strengthen research capacity, and ideally, diplomacy.
“We have the information and tools to design and implement marine conservation in a way that explicitly and proactively accounts for climate change,” said Micheli. “Now is the time to understand where we strategically invest in expanding and strengthening protection so these ecosystems have a future.”
Arafeh-Dalmau is also affiliated with the University of California Los Angeles.
Other Stanford co-authors include Oceans Department postdoctoral scholars Carolina Olguín-Jacobson and Juan Carlos Villaseñor-Derbez and PhD student Christopher J. Knight. Olguín-Jacobson is also affiliated with Griffith University and Villaseñor-Derbez is also affiliated with the University of California Santa Barbara. Alfredo Giron-Nava, who is now Head of the World Economic Forum’s Ocean Action Agenda and Friends of Ocean Action, worked on the research as an André Hoffmann Fellow at the Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions. Alexandra Smith, who is now affiliated with Scoot Science, worked on the research as a research technician in the Oceans Department.
Additional co-authors are affiliated with The University of Queensland, University of California Los Angeles, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Comunidad y Biodiversidad, University of the Sunshine Coast, Nelson Mandela University, Centro de Investigación y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, University of California Davis, San Diego State University, University of Georgia, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, University of California San Diego, California Ocean Protection Council, The Nature Conservancy, University of California Santa Cruz, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, MarFishEco Fisheries Consultants Ltd, Heriot-Watt University, Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Centro de Estudios Biológicos, Medio Ambiente, y Recursos Naturales, Drexel University, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
This research was supported by the Fundación Bancaria ‘la Caixa’ under a postgraduate fellowship, The University of Queensland, the Winifred Violet Scott Charitable Trust, a UC-Mexus Collaborative Grant, and National Science Foundation grants.
JOURNAL
One Earth
3D printed reactor core makes solar fuel production more efficient
THE SUN-TRACKING PARABOLIC REFLECTOR DELIVERS CONCENTRATED SUNLIGHT TO A SOLAR REACTOR (SEEN VIA THE SECONDARY REFLECTOR) WHICH CONVERTS WATER AND CO2 EXTRACTED FROM THE AIR INTO A SYNGAS MIXTURE, WHICH IN TURN IS FURTHER PROCESSED INTO DROP-IN FUELS SUCH AS KEROSENE.
In recent years, engineers at ETH Zurich have developed the technology to produce liquid fuels from sunlight and air. In 2019, they demonstrated the entire thermochemical process chain under real conditions for the first time, in the middle of Zurich, on the roof of ETH Machine Laboratory. These synthetic solar fuels are carbon neutral because they release only as much CO2 during their combustion as was drawn from the air for their production. Two ETH spin-offs, Climeworks and Synhelion, are further developing and commercialising the technologies.
At the heart of the production process is a solar reactor that is exposed to concentrated sunlight delivered by a parabolic mirror and reaches temperatures of up to 1500 degrees Celsius. Inside this reactor, which contains a porous ceramic structure made of cerium oxide, a thermochemical cycle takes place for splitting water and CO2 captured previously from the air. The product is syngas: a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which can be further processed into liquid hydrocarbon fuels such as kerosene (jet fuel) for powering aviation.
Until now, structures with isotropic porosity have been applied, but these have the drawback that they exponentially attenuate the incident solar radiation as it travels into the reactor. This results in lower inner temperatures, limiting the fuel yield of the solar reactor.
Now, researchers from the group of André Studart, ETH Professor of Complex Materials, and the group of Aldo Steinfeld, ETH Professor of Renewable Energy Carriers, have developed a novel 3D printing methodology that enables them to manufacture porous ceramic structures with complex pore geometries to transport solar radiation more efficiently into the reactor’s interior. The research project is funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy.
Hierarchically ordered designs with channels and pores that are open at the surface exposed to the sunlight and become narrower towards the rear of the reactor have proven to be particularly efficient. This arrangement enables to absorb the incident concentrated solar radiation over the entire volume. This in turn ensures that the whole porous structure reaches the reaction temperature of 1500°C, boosting the fuel generation. These ceramic structures were manufactured using an extrusion-based 3D printing process and a new type of ink with optimal characteristics developed specifically for this purpose, namely: low viscosity and a high concentration of ceria particles to maximise the amount of redox active material.
Successful initial testing
The researchers investigated the complex interplay between the transfer of radiant heat and the thermochemical reaction. They were able to show that their new hierarchical structures can produce twice as much fuel as the uniform structures when subjected to the same concentrated solar radiation of intensity equivalent to 1000 suns.
The technology for 3D printing the ceramic structures is already patented, and Synhelion has acquired the license from ETH Zurich. “This technology has the potential to boost the solar reactor’s energy efficiency and thus to significantly improve the economic viability of sustainable aviation fuels,” Steinfeld says.
Solar-driven redox splitting of CO2 using 3D-printed hierarchically channelled ceria structures
Alpine rock reveals dynamics of plate movements in Earth’s interior
Geological analysis of whiteschist shows rapid upward movements – Study by Goethe University Frankfurt, Heidelberg University and the University of Rennes
PROFESSOR LUCIE TAJČMANOVÁ, HEIDELBERG UNIVERSITY, EXAMINES THE WHITESCHIST SAMPLE FROM THE DORA MAIRA MASSIF OF THE WESTERN ALPS. PHOTO: SEBASTIAN CIONOIU, HEIDELBERG UNIVERSITY
FRANKFURT. Geoscientists analyze rocks in mountain belts to reconstruct how they once moved downwards into the depths and then returned to the surface. This history of burial and exhumation sheds light on the mechanisms of plate tectonics and mountain building. Certain rocks that sink far down into Earth’s interior together with plates are transformed into different types under the enormous pressure that prevails there. During this UHP metamorphosis (UHP: Ultra High Pressure), silica (SiO2) in the rock, for example, becomes coesite, which is also referred to as the UHP polymorph of SiO2. Although it is chemically still silica, the crystal lattices are more tightly packed and therefore denser. When the plates move upwards again from the depths, the UHP rocks also come to the surface and can be found in certain places in the mountains. Their mineral composition provides information about the pressures to which they were exposed during their vertical journey through Earth’s interior. Using lithostatic pressure as a unit of measurement, it is possible to correlate pressure and depth: the higher the pressure, the deeper the rocks once lay.
Until now, research had assumed that UHP rocks were buried at a depth of 120 kilometers. From there, they returned to the surface together with the plates. In the process, ambient pressure decreased at a stable rate, i.e. statically. However, a new study by Goethe University Frankfurt and the universities of Heidelberg and Rennes (France) calls this assumption of a long, continuous ascent into question. Among those involved in the study on the part of Goethe University Frankfurt were first author Cindy Luisier, who came to the university on a Humboldt Research Fellowship, and Thibault Duretz, head of the Geodynamic Modeling Working Group at the Department of Geosciences. The research team analyzed whiteschist from the Dora Maira Massif in the Western Alps, Italy. “Whiteschists are rocks that formed as a result of the UHP metamorphosis of a hydrothermally altered granite during the formation of the Alps,” explains Duretz. “What is special about them is the large amount of coesite. The coesite crystals in the whiteschist are several hundred micrometers in size, which makes them ideal for our experiments.” The piece of whiteschist from the Dora Maira Massif contained pink garnets in a silvery-white matrix composed of quartz and other minerals. “The rock has special chemical and thus mineralogical properties,” says Duretz. Together with the team, he analyzed it by first cutting a very thin slice about 50 micrometers thick and then gluing it onto glass. In this way, it was possible to identify the minerals under a microscope. The next step was computer modeling of specific, particularly interesting areas.
These areas were silica particles surrounded by the grains of pink garnet, in which two SiO2 polymorphs had formed. One of these was coesite, which had formed under very high pressure (4.3 gigapascals). The other silica polymorph was quartz, which lay like a ring around the coesite. It had formed under much lower pressure (1.1 gigapascals). The whiteschist had evidently first been exposed to very high and then much lower pressure. There had been a sharp decrease in pressure or decompression. The most important discovery was that spoke-shaped cracks radiated from the SiO2 inclusions in all directions: the result of the phase transition from coesite to quartz. The effect of this transition was a large change in volume, and it caused extensive geological stresses in the rock. These made the garnet surrounding the SiO2 inclusions fracture. “Such radial cracks can only form if the host mineral, the garnet, stays very strong,” explains Duretz. “At such temperatures, garnet only stays very strong if the pressure drops very quickly.” On a geological timescale, “very quickly” means in thousands to hundreds of thousands of years. In this “short” period, the pressure must have dropped from 4.3 to 1.1 gigapascals. The garnet would otherwise have creeped viscously to compensate for the change in volume in the SiO2 inclusions, instead of forming cracks.
According to Duretz, the previous assumption that UHP rock reaches a depth of 120 kilometers seems less probable in view of this rapid decompression because the ascent from such a depth would take place over a long period of time, which does not equate with the high decompression rate, he says. “We rather presume that our whiteschist lay at a depth of only 60 to 80 kilometers,” says the geoscientist. And the processes underway in Earth’s interior could also be quite different than assumed in the past. That rock units move continuously upwards over great distances, from a depth of 120 kilometers to the surface, also seems less probable than previously thought. “Our hypothesis is that rapid tectonic processes took place instead, which led to minimal vertical plate displacements.” We can imagine it like this, he says: The plates suddenly jerked upwards a little bit in Earth’s interior – and as a result the pressure surrounding the UHP rock decreased in a relatively short time.
For the microscopic examination, a thin section of the whiteschist was glued to a glass slide (center of the picture).
CREDIT
Sebastian Cionoiu, Heidelberg University
One of the pink garnet grains (left image, embedded in a matrix of quartz, rutile and phengite) with SiO2 inclusions (quartz inclusions), from which cracks originate. Numerical models (right image) predicts the generation of garnet failure.
Garnet microstructures suggest ultra-fast decompression of ultrahigh-pressure rocks.
Living paycheque to paycheque: three generations struggling to build finances for tomorrow
Story by Douglas Blakey •
Stress over money is not only causing Gen X, Y and Z to lose sleep. It is also having a negative effect on their mental health and personal relationships. Compared to 40% of all Canadian adults surveyed, Gen Y (millennials) are the most likely to have a difficult time sleeping because they are worried about their finances (53%). They are followed by Gen Z (48%) and Gen X (43%). The data is revealed on the latest version of RBC’s 2023 Canadian Financial Wellbeing Survey.
Just under half (48%) of all respondents report that their mental health is also being negatively affected. This Is true for a much larger proportion of Gen Y and Gen Z (63% each) and Gen X (54%). ‘Personal wellbeing is closely tied to financial wellbeing’: Neil McLaughlin, RBC
Furthermore, 59% of Gen Y, 53% of Gen Z, and 47% of Gen X report having “a significant amount of stress” in their personal relationships related to their finances. This compares to the national average of 43%.
And a big majority in all three generations agree they would be happier if they had more confidence in their financial future (88% Gen Z, 86% Gen Y, 80% Gen X).
“We know personal wellbeing is closely tied to financial wellbeing. This is particularly so for Canadians who are essentially living paycheque to paycheque or are uncertain about what the future holds,” says Neil McLaughlin, group head, Personal & Commercial Banking, RBC.
“Many Canadians deal with a lack of confidence when it comes to understanding their finances. This affects their ability to make sound financial decisions.” The poll findings confirm that money is on the minds of all three generations. Almost a third or more of Gen X (31%), Gen Y (41%) and Gen Z (34%) think about money a couple of times daily. But more than two-thirds respond that their financial situation could be better if they spent more time on it (70%, 69% and 73% respectively).
RBC My Money Matters
A new digital destination – RBC My Money Matters – brings a vast array of financial advice and expertise together in one place. This makes it easier for Canadians to learn about money and take control of their finances.
Available at no cost, the new website is a helpful repository of comprehensive content, resources and tools. RBC says that it supports financial wellbeing and ideally makes thinking about money less stressful.
“We’ve built My Money Matters to provide useful insights and resources to help Canadians make more informed financial decisions and explore related resources. Our hope is that whatever someone’s personal situation might be – trying to save, managing debt, starting a business – they will find some helpful information guidance here,” McLaughlin adds.
“Our ultimate goal is to help Canadians develop the financial knowledge, skills and confidence to build a strong financial foundation with money and take control of their long-term financial wellbeing.”
"Living paycheque to paycheque: three generations struggling to build finances for tomorrow" was originally created and published by Retail Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand.
As inflation pressures grow, Bank of Canada execs take home millions in bonuses: CTF
Story by Bryan Passifiume •
Despite its governor warning business leaders not to factor soaring inflation into worker compensation, Canada’s central bank handed out millions of dollars in bonuses to nearly all of its top executives last year.
According to documents uncovered by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation , all but two of the Bank of Canada’s 82 executives received some sort of “performance pay” in 2022, totalling $3.5 million. That number does not include either the Bank of Canada’s governor or senior deputy governor.
Senior public servants in Canada earn both a base salary and “performance pay” — a two-part compensation program that offers eligible managers an opportunity to earn extra income based on performance metrics.
“The PMP (performance management program) encourages excellent performance in the senior ranks of the public service by recognizing and rewarding the achievement of results linked to business plans and government objectives and the demonstration of leadership competencies,” reads an explainer published by the Government of Canada.
Performance pay consists of “at-risk pay” — a variable amount that must be re-earned each year, and an additional bonus amount if performance goes above and beyond.
At-risk pay for agency heads or governor-in-council appointees ranges from 10.6 to 20.4 per cent, with bonuses between three and eight per cent.
Deputy Ministers could earn an additional 20 to 30 per cent of at-risk pay, with bonuses between six and nine per cent, while chief executive officers of crown corporations can earn at-risk pay bonuses of up to 33 per cent.
While 80 Bank of Canada executives received at-risk pay, 25 received the above-and-beyond bonus pay.
Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said it makes little sense for central bank executives to be getting large bonuses when so many Canadians are suffering under punishing inflation and cost-of-living increases.
“Executives at the Bank of Canada shouldn’t be showering themselves with big bonuses when Canadians can’t afford gas, groceries or mortgages,” Terrazzano said.
“Most organizations don’t give 98 per cent of their executives bonuses when they have their worst year in four decades.”
Senior management at the Bank of Canada received nearly $21 million in executive bonuses since 2015.
While speaking at an event last July hosted by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem warned attendees against triggering a wage-price spiral by not using high inflation as an excuse to raise wages.
“Don’t plan on the current rate of inflation staying,” Macklem told business leaders at the event.
“Don’t build that into longer-term contracts. Don’t build that into wage contracts. It is going to take some time, but you can be confident that inflation will come down.”
In economics, a wage-price spiral is a theory that blames rising prices on an increase of disposable income brought on by increased wages.
Canada’s current monetary policy framework states the agreement between the government and the Bank of Canada sets inflation targets at “two per cent mid-point of the one to three percent inflation-control range.”
Economists, reported the Financial Post last year, levelled criticism at the central bank for its surprise decision not to hike interest rates last January, with some saying the decision puts the Bank of Canada’s credibility into question.
In a statement, the Bank of Canada reiterated its use of the performance management program, and that management who meet performance objectives are entitled to bonus pay.
“Our independent Board of Directors oversees the management and administration of the Bank, including our human resources policies,” the statement read. “Like many employers in the financial sector, we hire and retain within a highly competitive environment.”
Norwegian oil and gas company OKEA has discovered oil near the Brage field in production license (PL) 055 in the Norwegian North Sea.
The oil discovery was made following the drilling of well 31/4-A 13 E in the northern part of the North Sea.
According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), the discovery holds between 0.2 and 0.5 million standard cubic metres of proven recoverable oil.
The decision to drill a horizontal sidetrack, well 31/4-A 13 E, was based on data collected during the drilling operation.
Following drilling, this well encountered the Sognefjord Formation at 2,147m below sea level. It showed oil in a sandstone layer of around 10m in reservoir rocks with ‘moderate to good reservoir quality’.
OKEA also completed drilling of production well 31/4-A-13 D, which was extended to reach exploration targets in two different reservoirs. These two targets were dry.
In a press statement, NPD said: “In connection with the drilling of production well 31/4-A-13 D in the southern part of the Brage field, the well was extended to reach two exploration targets in a separate structure south of the field.
“The exploration targets were in the Sognefjord and Fensfjord Formation, and both were dry.”
The company did not conduct a formation test at the well but carried out data acquisition.
The two wells, 31/4-A 13 E and 31/4-A-13 D, have been drilled from the platform on the Brage field, which was commissioned in 1993.
More than 1,000 union members and activists are in Edmonton for the Alberta Union of Provincial Employee’s 46th annual convention ahead of next year’s bargaining negotiations.
The three-day convention kicked off Thursday morning at the Edmonton EXPO Centre with opening remarks from the president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees Guy Smith, who said the show of solidarity and unity among members was inspiring and necessary as they prepare to head into negotiations in 2024.
Smith said more than 81,000 AUPE members will be entering negotiations with their employer in the new year and they already have their bargaining teams in place, but in the meantime the convention serves as a place where members and activists can voice their concerns and share what they want to see done.
“W hat’s unique about this is that regardless of what sector our members work in or who their employer is, t here are five or six main goals that impact everybody, including those around pay increases, dealing with staffing shortages, job security, benefits and supports for mental health,” said Smith.
“A lot of our members on the front lines, like most of the world, is suffering from increased mental health issues, and we believe that employers need to step up and recognize that and support our members.”
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AUPE is the largest union in western Canada representing 95,000 employees in government, health care, education, boards and agencies and local government.
Smith called next year’s bargaining “historic,” due to the large size and number of members they have going into negotiations. He said the upcoming negotiations is a chance to make “serious gains” that were difficult in the previous round of bargaining, which took place during the pandemic.
“What we saw from all employers was rollbacks and concessions, and they may bring those to the table next year, too. But we are now historically much better prepared than we ever have been before.”
Throughout the next three days delegates will be electing a new executive committee including a president, secretary treasurer and six vice-presidents on top of ongoing discussions surrounding bargaining.
The convention is an open forum and a number of resolutions will be coming forward to amend the union’s constitution, said Smith.
“We’re looking for some good robust debate. Every voice is welcome to be heard and we’ll come to some decisions there, and obviously the big decision that delegates have to make is to elect the new executive committee.”
3.9K views16 years ago Paula Kirman Radical Citizen Media Guy Smith performs the classic labour song "Ya Ain't Done Nothing If Ya Ain't Been Called A Red" at the May Day march on May 1 ...
