Climate-friendly foam building insulation may do more harm than good

GREEN SCIENCE POLICY INSTITUTE

Research News

 

The use of the polymeric flame retardant PolyFR in "eco-friendly" foam plastic building insulation may be harmful to human health and the environment, according to a new commentary in Environmental Science & Technology. The authors' analysis identifies several points during the lifecycle of foam insulation that may expose workers, communities, and ecosystems to PolyFR and its potentially toxic breakdown products.

With the climate crisis fueling demand for energy-efficient insulation, the production of PolyFR is increasing rapidly. That's because this flame retardant is added to all foam plastic building insulation in North America to comply with flammability codes, replacing the flame retardant hexabromocyclododecane that has been globally phased out due to its toxicity and persistence. PolyFR is commonly assumed to be safe. However, the authors question that assumption.

The presumed safety of PolyFR hinges on the claim that as a large molecule called a polymer, it has few opportunities for release from foam insulation. But the authors' analysis shows that in fact, PolyFR in building insulation has significant opportunities for release into the environment during manufacturing, installation, and disposal of foam insulation. Once released, the PolyFR may break down into harmful chemicals that can end up in people and ecosystems.

"Since so much PolyFR is being used and so little is known about its release into the environment, we need to have realistic assessments of the potential for PolyFR across its life cycle to harm human and environmental health," said Miriam Diamond, Professor at University of Toronto and corresponding author of the study.

PolyFR is a polymer made from butadiene and styrene, which are both carcinogens. Bromine is added making it a brominated flame retardant--such flame retardants studied in the past were found to be toxic and many have been phased out of use.

A greater understanding of the potential for health harm associated with the increasing production of PolyFR, as well as its eventual breakdown and disposal, is needed to protect workers, fenceline communities near waste disposal sites, and others exposed throughout this flame retardant's lifecycle.

Importantly, alternative insulation materials already exist which do not require the use of potentially hazardous flame retardants. Inherently flame-resistant mineral fibers, such as glass wool or stone wool, can be used instead. Also, the fire safety benefit of adding flame retardants should be established before such chemicals are used.

"Making buildings more energy-efficient is a key part of tackling the climate crisis," said co-author Arlene Blum, Executive Director of the Green Science Policy Institute. "But we need to be careful not to create new health and environmental problems along the way. A 'green building' with potentially hazardous insulation isn't a green building at all."

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Novice drivers talking on hand-held smartphones are more likely to run red-lights

Young novice drivers who speak into hand-held smartphones while driving are also likely to drive while under the influence of drink or drugs

LERO

Research News

 

Young novice drivers who speak into hand-held smartphones while driving are also likely to drive while under the influence of drink or drugs, according to researchers at Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software.

The study "Smartphone Use While Driving: An Investigation of Young Novice Driver (YND) Behaviour," also found that speaking on a hand-held phone is strongly correlated with high-risk driving behaviours such as overtaking on the inside of the car ahead, speeding, driving without a valid licence and driving while intoxicated.

Lero researchers, surveyed 700 German Young Novice Drivers (YNDs), with an average age of just over 21. While the data relates to Germany, it may point to young drivers' risky driving behaviour in other motorised countries, enabling road safety authorities to target information campaigns designed for younger drivers, the authors believe.

Dr Darren Shannon of Lero and University of Limerick said car crashes are the leading cause of death for those between the ages of 15-29, according to the World Health Organisation, with smartphone use acting as a significant contributory factor.

"The data also indicates a moderately-strong effect between talking on a hand-held phone and speeding more than 20 km/h over the speed limit in urban areas. Speeding in built-up areas is moderately correlated with reading notifications, sending texts, or voice messages.

"There is a strong association between those who speak on their phone and those who engage in risky activity with potentially fatal consequences, such as intoxicated driving, ignoring red traffic lights, and driving with more passengers than seatbelts," added Dr Shannon, a specialised vehicle collision researcher with the Emerging Risk Group (ERG), Kemmy Business School, UL.

Lero's Dr Martin Mullins said the work carried out by the team points to the prevalence of certain attitudes in young people who drive while using mobile phones. In Germany, for example, the research shows that a sizeable number of novice motorists deliberately disobey the law by hiding their phones while driving.

"These attitudes have implications for the safety of other road users. Our work allows for road safety authorities to accurately target information campaigns designed for younger drivers. Targeted campaigns should increase awareness that all smartphone-related activities can significantly increase the risk of a crash or near-crash event.

"We don't just see policymakers as responsible. Carmakers are making their cars seem like a place of entertainment. This may have induced a false perception that behaviours like changing the music while driving are perceived as safe, and should instead engage in efforts to reduce this type of behaviour," added Dr Mullins, Co-Leader of the ERG at UL.

Lero researcher and PhD student Tim Jannusch of Institute for Insurance Studies of TH Köln said that the overall high percentage of Young Novice Drivers using their phone for music-related activities may suggest that they might perceive music-related activities as less dangerous.

"This could be attributed to the fact that drivers are allowed to use the car stereo while driving, which implies that changing or searching for music is safe. Nevertheless, changing music while driving, like reading or writing text messages, can cause cognitive, visual and physical distraction and significantly increase the risk for road traffic collisions," said Mr Jannusch.

Dr Shannon said policymakers could use their results for public information policy development, and to tailor financial penalties for those engaging in smartphone behaviour linked to dangerous driving. "Our findings can also be used in a Usage-based Insurance (UBI) context to financially incentivise safer driving," he added.

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Brookfield and partners formally launch hostile bid for Inter Pipeline

CALGARY — Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. and its partners have formally launched a hostile bid to acquire Inter Pipeline Ltd., nearly two weeks after its public interest was rebuffed.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Brookfield says the offer to acquire the stake in Inter Pipeline it doesn't already own is contained in documents filed with Canadian securities regulators.

Brookfield Infrastructure is offering $16.50 per share in cash or 0.206 of a Brookfield Infrastructure Corp. class A exchangeable share. The maximum cash available under the plan is $4.9 billion.

The fully financed offer that implies a value for Inter Pipeline of $7.1 billion expires on June 7.

Brookfield said it has previously discussed prices with Inter "in the range of $17 to $18.25'' per share but would need to study its books to "substantiate'' its growth potential and commercialization objectives for the company's $4-billion Heartland Petrochemical Complex, under construction near Edmonton, before increasing its offer.

Calgary-based Inter Pipeline has initiated a review of strategic alternatives in response to the hostile takeover bid.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 22, 2021.

Environmental policies not always bad for business, study finds

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

ITHACA, N.Y. - Critics claim environmental regulations hurt productivity and profits, but the reality is more nuanced, according to an analysis of environmental policies in China by a pair of Cornell economists.

The analysis found that, contrary to conventional wisdom, market-based or incentive-based policies may actually benefit regulated firms in the traditional and "green" energy sectors, by spurring innovation and improvements in production processes. Policies that mandate environmental standards and technologies, on the other hand, may broadly harm output and profits.

"The conventional wisdom is not entirely accurate," said Shuyang Si, a doctoral student in applied economics and management. "The type of policy matters, and policy effects vary by firm, industry and sector."

Si is the lead author of "The Effects of Environmental Policies in China on GDP, Output, and Profits," published in the current issue of the journal Energy Economics. C.-Y. Cynthia Lin Lawell, associate professor in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management and the Robert Dyson Sesquicentennial Chair in Environmental, Energy and Resource Economics, is a co-author.

Si mined Chinese provincial government websites and other online sources to compile a comprehensive data set of nearly 2,700 environmental laws and regulations in effect in at least one of 30 provinces between 2002 and 2013. This period came just before China declared a "war on pollution," instituting major regulatory changes that shifted its longtime prioritization of economic growth over environmental concerns.

"We really looked deep into the policies and carefully examined their features and provisions," Si said.

The researchers categorized each policy as one of four types: "command and control," such as mandates to use a portion of electricity from renewable sources; financial incentives, including taxes, subsidies and loans; monetary awards for cutting pollution or improving efficiency and technology; and nonmonetary awards, such as public recognition.

They assessed how each type of policy impacted China's gross domestic product, industrial output in traditional energy industries and the profits of new energy sector companies, using publicly available data on economic indicators and publicly traded companies.

Command and control policies and nonmonetary award policies had significant negative effects on GDP, output and profits, Si and Lin Lawell concluded. But a financial incentive - loans for increasing renewable energy consumption - improved industrial output in the petroleum and nuclear energy industries, and monetary awards for reducing pollution boosted new energy sector profits.

"Environmental policies do not necessarily lead to a decrease in output or profits," the researchers wrote.

That finding, they said, is consistent with the "Porter hypothesis" - Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter's 1991 proposal that environmental policies could stimulate growth and development, by spurring technology and business innovation to reduce both pollution and costs.

While certain policies benefitted regulated firms and industries, the study found that those benefits came at a cost to other sectors and to the overall economy. Nevertheless, Si and Lin Lawell said, these costs should be weighed against the benefits of these policies to the environment and society, and to the regulated firms and industries.

Economists generally prefer market-based or incentive-based environmental policies, Lin Lawell said, with a carbon tax or tradeable permit system representing the gold standard. The new study led by Si, she said, provides more support for those types of policies.

"This work will make people aware, including firms that may be opposed to environmental regulation, that it's not necessarily the case that these regulations will be harmful to their profits and productivity," Lin Lawell said. "In fact, if policies promoting environmental protection are designed carefully, there are some that these firms might actually like."

###

Additional co-authors contributing to the study were Mingjie Lyu of Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance, and Song Chen of Tongji University. The authors acknowledged financial support from the Shanghai Science and Technology Development Fund and an Exxon-Mobil ITS-Davis Corporate Affiliate Fellowship.

Study: Effects of past ice ages more widespread than previously thought

Cold temperatures during North America's last ice age may have shaped landscapes well beyond the reach of glaciers, according to a new study led by a U of A geologist

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

Research News

 

IMAGE: THE EXTENT OF FROST CRACKING IN MODERN NORTH AMERICA AND DURING THE LAST GLACIAL MAXIMUM view more 

CREDIT: JILL A. MARSHALL

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Cold temperatures, prevalent during glacial periods, had a significant impact on past and modern unglaciated landscapes across much of North America, according to a recent study by University of Arkansas geologist Jill A. Marshall.

Marshall, assistant professor of geosciences, is the first author of the study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The findings help shape understanding of the earth's "Critical Zone," the relatively thin layer of the planet that extends from where vegetation meets the atmosphere to the lowermost extent of weathered bedrock. "Climate and ecosystems determine how quickly bedrock weathers, how soil is produced, how sediment moves on land and in rivers and other factors that shape the landscape," the authors wrote.

In cold lands, such as Alaska today, frost can crack or weather rock that is at or near the surface of the earth - making it more porous and turning solid rock into sediment. By applying a frost-weathering model to North America paleoclimate simulations tracking temperatures during the Last Glacial Maximum approximately 21,000 years ago, Marshall and her team determined that a large swath of North America, from Oregon to Georgia and as far south as Texas and Arkansas, were likely affected by such periglacial processes.

While permafrost landscapes like the modern Arctic experience frozen ground for two years or more, periglacial landscapes, though not permanently frozen, experience below-freezing temperature for much of the year. Though the evidence of past periglacial processes is easily hidden by vegetation and/or erased by subsequent geological processes, the teams' results suggest that frost weathering (and by extent other periglacial processes) covered an area about 3.5 times larger than the mapped extent of permafrost during the Last Glacial Maximum. This predicted influence of past cold climates on below ground weathering may significantly influence modern landscape attributes that we depend on such as soil thickness and water storage.

"Based on the widespread occurrence of glacial-period frost weathering over meter-scale depths, we suggest that past cold climates have had a significant impact on modern landscapes, both through lingering impact on subsurface pathways for water and thus chemical weathering, and the rock damage that contributes to the rate at which rock disaggregates into sediment and potential instability due to non-steady rates of hillslope and river processes," the paper states.

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'All hell broke loose': 

Staff, customers, alleged thug all firing guns — inside a gun store

WHERE ELSE WOULD YOU FIRE THEM

Shari Kulha 

It was a busy Saturday afternoon at the Jefferson Gun Outlet in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans. Customers and staff were in the store, some were in the shooting range and others were in a class on concealed weapons

© Provided by National Post The Jefferson Gun Outlet sells discount guns and ammunition.

The Associated Press reported that one person entered the store and fatally shot two people , prompting customers and staff to open fire on the shooter, according to Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto. Dead are store clerk Noah Fischbach, 47; customer Veronica Billot, 59; and the shooter, Joshua Jamal Williams. Lopinto said two men also were hit by gunfire and were hospitalized in stable condition.

According to Action News Jax , the 27-year-old Williams of New Orleans carried an unholstered pistol with an extended clip into the shop, and was told he couldn’t carry a loaded gun until he was in the shooting range area — which is normally accessed by an exterior side door.

Michael Mayer, vice-president of operations at the gun outlet, said in an email to NOLA.com that Williams “became agitated by the request and pulled his gun out of his pants and started firing. Our armed and trained employees, as well as some armed permitted customers, returned fire and eliminated the threat.”

One relative told NOLA.com that the initial shooter had gone to the store with his brother and some children “ just to spend time together on a Saturday .” This person, who would not give his name, wondered why the first shots were fired. To him, it made no sense that the brothers would have arrived intending to shoot anyone, in a place known as an off-hours spot for law enforcement officers and military personnel.

“That would be a death sentence,” he said.

A report from WDSU News said an update would be forthcoming.

Video: Man injured in custody at Headingley jail dies (cbc.ca)

The outlet sits on a main road, across from a large park, where people say they heard up to 50 shots. One mother posted this on Facebook:

During this time, six people were in the conceal-and-carry course in a classroom at the store. Dan Baird, interviewed by WDSU , said “All hell broke loose. It wasn’t guns in the range, it was guns in the hallway and it went on for like 20 seconds.” He said one instructor stayed with the students, barring the door, while two others headed toward the sound of gunfire.

“One of them came back and asked for a tourniquet,” Baird said, which the remaining instructor was able to provide.

Another student said he heard screams and gunshots and “a lot of commotion. I was on the ground, praying.”

The class had not yet begun its second segment, during which they would have been in the shooting range.

Also in the class were Tyrone Russell and Wanetta Joseph, who heard what they described as rapid firing, much louder than the usual muffled shooting that comes from inside the shooting range.

Joseph said she hid with other students under a table — not knowing if there were multiple shooters or if one was near the classroom.

Once police led them out, Russell described seeing shattered glass, bullet casings strewn about the store and that out in the parking lot, he could see a guy “laid out” not far from his car, which was struck by bullets.

Nancy Fischbach, the wife of the store clerk who was fatally wounded, said her husband was a special effects expert and an armorer, who supervises the use of all weapons on a film set and gives actors and staff instruction for how to properly and safely use them. Because of COVID-19 and its restrictions on the film industry, Fischbach had been working more hours at the gun store.

Martin Gugino, 75-year-old protester pushed by Buffalo police, files lawsuit against city, mayor and officers

By Mirna Alsharif and Alec Snyder, CNN


Martin Gugino, the 75-year-old protester who was knocked to the ground by police officers last year in Buffalo, New York, filed a civil lawsuit against the city Monday, according to court documents.

© @MikeDesmondWBFO/Twitter Elderly man pushed by police 

in Buffalo, New York Fair use per RACI

Gugino is also suing Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown; officers Robert McCabe, Aaron Torgalski and John Losi; Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood; and Deputy Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia, according to the document.

Gugino fractured his skull when he fell after the officers pushed him to the ground June 4, during a protest against racism and police brutality, his lawyers have said. Among the counts Gugino alleges in his lawsuit are unlawful use of force and violation of his right to freedom of movement.

Earlier this month, a grand jury decided not to indict Torgalski and McCabe for pushing Gugino. However, the two officers remain suspended pending the results of an internal investigation into the incident.

After the grand jury's decision, Gugino told Spectrum News Buffalo, a CNN affiliate, he was "a little surprised" jurors did not indict the two officers.

"There's no reason for the police to break that up, short of them thinking there's some kind of lawless action about to take place, clear and present danger to somebody over something," Gugino said. "It wasn't really a curfew. It was an intent to suppress dissent."

Gugino is accusing the defendants of violating his constitutional rights, specifically his rights to freedom of speech, peaceful assembly, protest, movement, unreasonable seizures, freedom from the unlawful use of force by government agents, and due process of law, according to his lawsuit.

"You do not have freedom of speech unless you have freedom of protest," said one of his attorneys, Melissa Wischerath, in the statement. "If any one person's rights are suppressed by the state, it harms all of us by eroding the foundation of our constitution."

Gugino's attorneys told CNN they are requesting a jury trial.

CNN has reached out to the mayor's office and Buffalo Police Department for comment on the lawsuit.

The Buffalo Police Benevolent Association declined to comment when reached by CNN on Monday.

Rescuers race to save dozens of stranded pilot whales in New Zealand
Elle Hunt in Wellington 

A team of experts and volunteers are racing the tides to save a pod of pilot whales stranded at Farewell Spit at the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island

.

© Photograph: Project Jonah/AFP/Getty Images Rescuers race to save dozens of pilot whales that beached on a stretch of New Zealand coast at Farewell Spit.

Dozens of the roughly 50 long-finned pilot whales have already died since they stranded on Monday, and the remaining animals stayed in the shallows on Tuesday morning despite efforts to move them out to sea.

The Department of Conservation responded to the stranding on Monday afternoon with a team of about 65 people, including volunteers from the marine mammal rescue charity Project Jonah.

Rescuers managed to refloat many of the whales with the high tide that evening, forming a human chain to guide them out to deeper water. But the pod remained in the shallows about 80 metres offshore overnight as the outgoing tide worked against them.

Related: 'What is the sea telling us?': Māori tribes fearful over whale strandings | Eleanor Ainge Roy

On Tuesday morning rescuers had relocated the pod at dawn to find a further 17 whales had died overnight, adding to the nine deaths on Monday.

Though volunteers stood with the whales for more than an hour in chest-deep water, they did not seem motivated to swim out to deeper water.

Karen Stockin, director of the Cetacean Ecology Research Group at Massey University who was at the scene, said at noon on Tuesday that 28 whales remained alive – roughly half the number that first stranded – but were still at risk.

“We’ve been in the water pretty much since the first light … Now we’re losing the tide really quickly, and the real risk is the ones that are in the shallows now.

“We’re needing to be prepared for the possibility that there will be a re-stranding of the 28 [alive], based on the tide going out.”

© Provided by The Guardian Farewell Spit is notorious for mass strandings of whales and dolphins. Photograph: Project Jonah/AFP/Getty Images

Farewell Spit – a 5km-long stretch of sand at the top of the South Island – is a frequent site of whale and dolphin strandings, especially early in the year, though scientists are not sure what draws the animals to the spot.

The last mass stranding there was in February 2017, when an estimated 600-700 whales were beached at Farewell Spit – leading to 250 deaths.

Last year nearly 100 pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins died in a mass stranding on the remote Chatham Islands, about 800km (497 miles) off New Zealand’s east coast.

Stockin said research was being carried out at the Farewell Spit site in the hope of understanding the whales’ behaviour and what factors might contribute to their survival in future stranding events.

“As strandings go for Golden Bay, 49 or so animals is small, which we’re very grateful for – but by the same token, some have now perished.”

#ESG GREEN CAPITALI$M
Is financial regulation the way to advance a climate agenda?

Martha C. White 

President Joe Biden plans to use every tool at his disposal in the fight against climate change, including financial regulation. While not an intuitive choice, supporters say mandating that public companies and investment firms quantify and disclose climate risks — and the costs associated with them — is a bold step that could make ESG (environmental, social and governance) data as commonplace in corporate financial reports as sales and profit figures.

© Provided by NBC News

“The recent change in administration in Washington has contributed to a renewed sense of urgency around environmental issues,” said Leahruth Jemilo, head of the ESG advisory practice at Corbin Advisors.

The Treasury Department is reportedly adding a “climate czar,” the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month. At the New York Times DealBook virtual conference on Monday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen floated an idea of what a framework for evaluating climate risk might look like, saying that banks and insurers could be subject to climate stress tests.

Although they would not limit companies’ ability to pay out dividends or impose new capital requirements, Yellen said they could still be an effective risk-discovery and -mitigation tool. She clarified that implementation and oversight would fall under the purview of the Federal Reserve and other banking regulators, not the Treasury, although she said the Treasury could “facilitate” the process.

Yellen also seemed to dismiss the idea that voluntary oversight measures on the part of the financial services industry would suffice, saying, “It certainly requires policy.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission already has created a new, climate-focused senior policy adviser position, and the Federal Reserve in December joined the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System, a consortium of more than 80 countries.

Ben Koltun, director of research at consulting firm Beacon Policy Advisors, said these announcements are a signal to investors, executives and policymakers. “It does speak to the whole-government approach the Biden administration is taking with climate change,” he said.

Climate activists such as environmental nonprofit group Ceres want Gary Gensler, the former Commodity Futures Trading Commission chair who is Biden’s nominee to lead the SEC, to mandate that public companies disclose their exposure to climate risks and the potential costs that could be incurred, on top of documenting metrics such as greenhouse gas emissions, water usage and plastic consumption.

Failing to do so could constitute securities fraud. It might sound drastic, but advocates of this expanded regulatory scope say climate change is a crisis of such monumental significance that using financial regulations as a lever to advance environmental policy is less extreme than it sounds.

Advocates say climate change is a crisis of such monumental significance that using financial regulations as a lever to advance environmental policy is less extreme than it sounds.

“I think it is justified to some extent. While climate change is a real risk and crisis, we still don't have a clear regulatory guideline to handle what that means, what that entails for corporations,” Koltun said.

Video: Administration is discussing climate, infrastructure deals, but no details yet (CNBC)

Some Congressional Republicans have warned that using a regulatory infrastructure intended for banking and markets to accomplish climate policy goals could produce unintended consequences, such as inhibiting access to capital markets by companies involved in fossil fuel production. “There's a concern that there isn’t a clear framework and it could lead to concerns of regulatory overreach,” Koltun said.

Centralizing the federal government’s approach to climate change could help mitigate those concerns, Koltun said. The alternative — multiple agencies working with different, sometimes overlapping rules — could overwhelm smaller companies’ bandwidth for regulatory compliance management and erode support from the business community. “The regulatory process is already pretty cumbersome,” he said. “The benefit is you have a hub for organizing this… It creates a better workflow and it creates a more seamless messaging process to voters and companies.”

For regulatory agencies like the SEC, getting the broad contours in place will be only the first step: Crafting detailed standards for how companies must define and quantify their exposure to risks related to climate change will be the heavy lift.

Even defining what a “green” or investment incorporates or entails will be a challenge. Some institutions that have marketed funds as sustainable have faced investor blowback when investments in companies like fossil fuel producers — historically not a sector that has been viewed were publicized. According to Jemilo at Corbin, 48 percent of institutional investors say their biggest challenge regarding ESG disclosures is the lack of a uniform standard for measuring and reporting that information.

“This renewed emphasis on [environmental disclosure] will only further drive home the need for companies to decide on a framework or standard to use in measuring and reporting on ESG efforts,” she said.

By framing climate change mitigation as a driver of job growth, rather than just environmental stewardship, Biden has built support for this push from some unlikely allies. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has endorsed Washington’s holistic approach to fighting climate change, saying in a statement: “The impacts of climate change are far reaching and it will take smart policies across a wide spectrum of issues to achieve meaningful global emissions reductions while also supporting economic growth and job creation.”

“This policy is as much about jobs and job creation as it is about clean energy,” Koltun said. “You want to get as big a coalition as possible… That’s the political tightrope they have to walk — they want to focus on the climate crisis, but their concern is building the economy.”

Dan North, chief economist for North America at Euler Hermes, said companies are coming around to the realization that regulation to mitigate climate change is inevitable, and market pros have largely priced in these expenses as a cost of doing business. “We’re going to be having more regulation. That’s where this is going, and anytime there’s more regulation, there’s a cost to businesses,” he said.

Some aren’t waiting for the regulators. Major corporate entities such as Amazon, Microsoft and Morgan Stanley have pledged to achieve carbon neutrality and set target dates for reaching zero-emission status. Millennials, who make up a growing share of the workforce and are moving into leadership roles, are cognizant of the costs of continued climate inaction and bringing those values into boardrooms and onto trading desks. An increasing number of retail investors also are voting with their dollars. Morningstar data shows that sustainable fund balances are up 67 percent year over year, and currently total nearly $1.7 trillion.

“Companies that incorporate meaningful ESG into their business strategy are better positioned for long-term value creation,” Jemilo said. “Those that are taking ESG seriously — not greenwashing — will be better able to target specific investors and open doors to additional capital.”

“It’s very popular with investors,” North said. “They've gone away from the Milton Friedman model that return to investors is everything. ESG is important, as well.”

Bright green fireball meteor lit up the pre-dawn sky over Alberta

Scott Sutherland


Embedded content: https://players.brightcove.net/1942203455001/B1CSR9sVf_default/index.html?videoId=6234427346001

The pre-dawn sky over central Alberta briefly turned green Monday morning, lit up by an impressive fireball meteor blazing through the air.

According to NASA, it's estimated that Earth sweeps up several metric tons worth of space dust every day, as the planet travels along its orbit around the Sun. Once in a while, however, something a little bigger gets in our way, and it makes itself known to us in spectacular fashion.

This is what occurred at around 6:22 a.m. MST, on the morning of February 22, 2021, a little over 50 kilometres north of Edmonton, Alberta.

© Provided by The Weather Network

This dashcam view of the fireball (and closeup, inset) shows off the meteor's brightness and green tinge. Credit: Joey Joey/UGC

A small meteoroid — exactly how big is not known — plunged into the upper atmosphere, and blazed a bright green trail through the air before it fizzled out. This meteor flash was so intense, and occurred so high above the ground, that witnesses from hundreds of kilometres around spotted it.

© Provided by The Weather NetworkThis 'heat map' shows the approximate location of the meteor trail (green arrow), with the splotches of colour indicating the concentration of the reports received by the American Meteor Society as of the afternoon of February 22. Credit: AMS

Due to the relatively clear skies over the west Monday morning, the flash was reported from as far south as Helena, Montana (roughly 500 km south of Calgary). As of the afternoon of February 22, the American Meteor Society had a total of 158 reports of this meteor.

Anyone who spotted it is encouraged to submit their own report, to get the most complete record of the event possible.

SEEN FROM SPACE

This fireball was not only bright enough to be seen by witnesses from hundreds of kms around, it was also seen by satellites in space.

Both Geostationary Lightning Mapper instruments, on board the GOES-16 and GOES-17 geosynchronous weather satellites, spotted the meteor flash.

Alberta fireball from GOES 17 GLM. Better view angle, but clearly high and fast. GLM automatically projects to lightning - type heights, so this was further south than shown against the map. Appears to be moving almost East-West.

@amsmeteors

@WesternU

Embedded content: https://twitter.com/pgbrown/status/1364020147044892672

WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?

Out in space, between the planets, there are likely millions of tiny bits of rock and ice and dust, floating around the Sun. These are all leftover pieces from the formation of the solar system, over 4.5 billion years ago. As they orbit the Sun, these meteoroids are travelling at speeds of tens to hundreds of thousands of kilometres per hour. So, if their path happens to intercept Earth, they plunge into the atmosphere at high speed. 

© Provided by The Weather Network

As the meteoroid encounters air molecules in its path, it compresses those molecules together. This slows the meteoroid down, and if it compresses the air hard enough, that air will glow. This is the 'meteor' flash that we see.

If these meteoroids are extremely small, such as microscopic dust grains, we may not notice at all. If something bigger — the size of a grain of sand up to a pebble or even larger — passes over places we inhabit, though, they are much more noticeable. The larger and faster moving the meteoroid is, the brighter the resulting meteor will be. Brighter ones are referred to as fireballs, while the brightest (which usually involve the meteoroid exploding during flight) are often called bolides.

The colours of these meteors depend on a number of factors. This includes the concentration of gases that are compressed ahead of the meteoroid, and even what kinds of minerals and metals are found in the meteoroid, itself.

If a meteoroid is large enough, and moving slowly enough as it makes its plunge through the atmosphere, pieces of it can reach the ground intact. If we find these, we call them meteorites