High-tech fixes for the food system could have unintended consequences

New technology is needed for our failing food systems; but anticipating trade-offs is crucial to making sure fixes do not create unmanageable new problems

INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR TROPICAL AGRICULTURE (CIAT)

Research News

 

IMAGE: A FARMER IN BEORA, A SMALL COMMUNITY IN RUPANDEHI DISTRICT OF NEPAL. view more 

CREDIT: NEIL PALMER / INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR TROPICAL AGRICULTURE

Protein derived from organic waste to feed livestock could decrease demand for soybean meal. This could lead to less deforestation caused by soy farming. But decreased production of soybean, which is also used to produce oil for food products, could increase demand for palm oil. This could clear more forests for oil palm plantations.

This is just one example of how innovations to fix our food systems could backfire. In a new analysis in The Lancet Planetary Health, a team of scientists builds on recent research that discusses how new technology is needed to improve human health and the wellbeing of the planet.

The authors say that the urgency to meet the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (called SDGs; there are 17) must be tempered by the understanding that there are no quick fixes to ending poverty, eliminating hunger and conserving biological diversity.

"The food system is in the mess it is right now because we introduce technologies and approaches to managing it without fully understanding all the indirect impacts the intervention can have," said Andy Jarvis, a co-author and the associate director of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT.

Symptoms of our ailing food system include unsustainable farming practices, habitat destruction, biodiversity loss and the waste or loss of about 30 percent of all food produced. Some 2 billion people are unhealthy because of their diets and some 8 million people died in 2019 due to dietary risk factors.

In addition to tapping organic waste to produce microbial protein (called "circular feed") the authors looked at trade-offs of three other food-system remedying technologies on the horizon:

• Using cereals to replenish nitrogen in soils (called "nitrogen fixation") could decrease the overuse of chemical fertilizers and its unsustainable impacts on the environment such as water pollution. But this could reduce prices for already over-consumed foods, potentially leading to further increases in non-communicable diseases (NDCs) like diabetes.
• Personalized nutrition technologies could substantially reduce NDCs by tailoring diets to people's genetic profiles and metabolism. But this could lead to a rapidly unsustainable increase in demand for healthy foods (see: Mexico's avocado sector). The cost of personalized nutrition could also be out of the economic reach of many. And, were it to become widespread, personalized nutrition would generate high volumes of sensitive personal data.
• Automation and robotics could increase the reach of precision agriculture. This could reduce food prices, stabilize food supply and reduce overuse of fertilizers and water, which would benefit the environment. But this could reduce the need for unskilled labor, further threaten the precarious livelihoods of smallholder farmers, and drive more migration to haphazardly growing megacities.

"Exciting new technologies are needed for transitioning towards a sustainable food system," said Ana Maria Loboguerrero, a co-author and the Alliance's research director for climate action. "But we must be aware that "win-win" technological solutions do not always exist, with losers and winners and trade-offs and synergies across different SDGs."

Helping the SDGs

The study was led by Mario Herrera, the chief research scientist at CSIRO, Australia's national research agency. The authors calculated the potential direct effects of different technologies on the food system (including digital agriculture, gene technology and resource efficiency) and their indirect effects on the SDGs.

The analysis showed most technologies will have neutral or varying degrees of positive impacts across most of the SDGs. But in the case of decent work and economic growth for all (SDG 8), reduced inequality (SDG 10) and peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16), the results will be mixed.

Some of the SDGs, which were created in 2015 to expand upon 2000's Millenium Development Goals, are not trending in the right direction. Hunger was already increasing before the COVID-19 pandemic made undernourishment worse. Rapid action is necessary and the temptation to adopt quick-fix actions with unknown negative impacts may be greater now than ever.

The authors conclude, "[C]hange and innovation come with trade-offs, but we now have methods, the science, the targets, and the socioeconomic mechanisms in place to ensure that the trade-offs of our actions do not become insurmountable. Now is the time to put our arsenal of sociotechnical innovation and immense human ingenuity to use to secure the future of our planet and the next generations."

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About the Alliance

The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) delivers research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people's lives. Alliance solutions address the global crises of malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation. The Alliance is part of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future. http://www.bioversityinternational.org http://www.ciat.cgiar.org http://www.cgiar.org

Republican attorney appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis resigns in protest after raid on Rebekah Jones' home

Zac Anderson
Sarasota Herald-Tribune


Fired Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones shares video on Twitter when police enter her home


A Florida Republican attorney has resigned from a state commission in protest after a law enforcement raid on the home of a former Department of Health employee who said she was fired after refusing to manipulate coronavirus data.

A longtime member of the 12th Judicial Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission, which nominates judges to fill vacancies on the bench in Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties, Ron Filipkowski is a registered Republican who was reappointed last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

But, in his resignation letter, Filipkowski wrote, “I have been increasingly alarmed by the Governor’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“I believe the policy of this state towards covid is reckless and irresponsible,” he added.

Despite his concerns, Filipkowski said he stayed on the commission because “health policy was unrelated to my job.”

But after state law enforcement officers raided the home of former Department of Health employee Rebekah Jones, Filipkowski said the issue is “now a legal one rather than just medical,” and he decided that “I no longer wish to serve the current government of Florida in any capacity.”


Jones is a former Department of Health data scientist who built the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, which provides regular updates to the public on coronavirus infections, hospitalizations, deaths and other vital statistics related to the pandemic. She said she was fired after refusing to “manipulate data.”

State officials said Jones was fired for insubordination after multiple reprimands.

Who is Rebekah Jones? Former Florida COVID-19 data scientist had home raided by authorities


State officials are investigating a complaint by the Department of Health that somebody hacked into the agency’s emergency communications channel and sent a text message to 1,750 employees with the DOH and other agencies stating: “It’s time to speak up before another 17,000 people are dead. You know this is wrong. You don’t have to be a part of this. Be a hero. Speak out before it’s too late.”

Agents seized Jones’ computer equipment. She has denied hacking into the emergency communications system. An affidavit filed by a state investigator said the text message came from an Internet Protocol (IP) address linked to Jones' Comcast account.

Even if Jones did send the message, Filipkowski questioned whether it was a crime.

“What’s the crime here?” he asked. “The crime is her sending an email telling people to tell the truth?”

He also deemed the raid as inappropriate.

“You don’t send 12 armed officers to raid her computer for doing that,” he said. “That’s Gestapo. That’s authoritarian dictator tactics. That’s not America. It really viscerally bothered me.”

Filipkowsi, 52, said he is a lifelong Republican who served as the president of the South Sarasota County Republican Club and was active in the Sarasota GOP, serving as the party’s general counsel. A former state and federal prosecutor, Filipkowski is now a defense attorney, and in 2008 he ran for public defender in the 12th Judicial Circuit as a Republican, losing in the primary to Larry Eger. His son is named Ronald Reagan Filipkowski.

But Filipkowski opposed President Donald Trump and voted for Democrat Joe Biden, although he voted for all Republicans in down-ballot races. He said the GOP under Trump “is more of a personality cult that worships a supreme leader.” He worked with the Lincoln Project, a group of former Republicans opposed to Trump, and was featured on three billboards around Florida criticizing the president.

Yet while he opposed Trump, Filipkowski said “I was fine with DeSantis until COVID; I just think he’s totally sold us out.”

A DeSantis spokesman did not respond to a message seeking the governor's reaction to Filipkowski's resignation.

FLORIDA STAZI

Under fire for strong-arm tactics, DeSantis lashes out at former data scientist Rebekah Jones

John Kennedy

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Ron DeSantis lashed out Friday at a former Florida data scientist turned whistleblower whose home was raided by a state law enforcement team wielding a sledgehammer earlier this week.

“Just because you’re a darling of some corners of the fever swamps, that does not exempt you from following the law,” DeSantis said during an appearance in Tampa.

The video of law enforcement’s arrival at the Tallahassee home of Rebekah Jones has gone viral and the former health department data scientist has denied allegations that she accessed a state emergency alert system to urge former co-workers to speak out about the DeSantis administration's handling of the coronavirus.

DeSantis said Friday that what Jones is accused of doing is “clearly a felony offense.” Jones, who has not been charged, was fired from the Department of Health in May.

Rebekah Jones:Former Florida COVID-19 data scientist pushes back after raid on home

Jones said she was let go by the agency for refusing to falsify data on COVID-19.

The governor said that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s approach to the case followed investigative guidelines. While a body-camera recording of the incident shows an officer apparently poised to use a sledgehammer to open a door if Jones continued to refuse to respond to the team’s phone calls and knocks, DeSantis defended officers.

DeSantis also sidestepped when asked if he knew the raid was about to occur.

“I knew there was an investigation,” DeSantis said. “I didn’t know what they were going…and it’s not a raid. I mean, with all due respect, what you just said is editorializing. These people did their jobs. They’ve been smeared as the Gestapo for doing their jobs.”

DeSantis said that in the course of the investigation an Internet Protocol (IP) address attached to a computer at Jones’ home was used to access the state site.

“They did a search warrant. Why did they do a search warrant on the house? Because her IP address was linked to the felony. What were they supposed to do? Just ignore it?” DeSantis said.

Jones has made several appearances on national television since law enforcement seized her computer and cellular phone. Jones, who has created an online database that challenges some of the state’s own reporting on COVID-19, says she thinks the state’s action is designed to threaten dissidents within the governor’s own administration.

DeSantis denied her claims. “I think Floridians want government to protect them,” he said. “They want these sensitive systems to be protected.”

Follow John Kennedy on Twitter: @JKennedyReport.

Zodiac cipher solved 5 decades after serial killer terrorized Northern California
Associated Press





SAN FRANCISCO — A coded letter mailed to a San Francisco newspaper by the Zodiac serial killer in 1969 has been deciphered by a team of amateur sleuths from the United States, Australia and Belgium, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday.

The cipher is one of many sent by a killer who referred to himself as Zodiac in letters sent to detectives and the media. The Zodiac terrorized Northern California communities and killed five people in the Bay Area in 1968 and 1969.

According to code-breaking expert David Oranchak, the cipher's text includes: "I hope you are having lots of fun in trying to catch me. ... I am not afraid of the gas chamber because it will send me to paradise all the sooner because I now have enough slaves to work for me," the newspaper reported. 

Oranchak, who has been working on the Zodiac's codes for years, said in an email to the newspaper that the solved cipher was sent to the FBI.

"They have confirmed the solution. No joke! This is the real deal," he wrote. 

Cameron Polan, spokeswoman for the FBI's San Francisco office, confirmed Oranchak's claim Friday.

"The FBI is aware that a cipher attributed to the Zodiac Killer was recently solved by private citizens. The Zodiac Killer case remains an ongoing investigation for the FBI San Francisco division and our local law enforcement partners," she said in a statement.

"Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, and out of respect for the victims and their families, we will not be providing further comment at this time," she added. 

This is the second time a Zodiac cipher has been cracked. The first, one long cipher sent in pieces to The Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald papers in 1969, was solved by a Salinas schoolteacher and his wife.

It said little beyond: "I like killing because it is so much fun."

Code-breakers said they solved 'Zodiac Killer' cipher



Police released a sketch of what they believed the so-called Zodiac Killer to look like in the late 1960s. File Image courtesy of the San Francisco Police Department



Dec. 12 (UPI) -- A group of private citizens say they've broken an encoded message sent by the so-called "Zodiac Killer" to a San Francisco newspaper more than five decades ago.

The code-breakers said they translated the message after working on it for about 14 years.

The team included American software developer David Oranchak, Belgian computer programmer Jarl Van Eycke and Australian mathematician Sam Blake.

"It was incredible. It was a big shock. I never really thought we'd find anything because I had grown so used to failure," Oranchak told CNN.

RELATED UPI Archives: Blood-soaked cloth sent to paper after murder

Police believe the serial killer was responsible for at least five slayings in Northern California during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The crime spree, which remains unsolved, drew attention for the killer's cryptic and taunting notes sent to the San Francisco Chronicle.

One of those letters -- sent in November 1969 -- used a cipher detectives were unable to break. The FBI acknowledged it was aware of the code-breakers' apparent success in cracking the code.

"The Zodiac Killer case remains an ongoing investigation for the FBI San Francisco division and our local enforcement partners," the FBI said in a statement.

RELATED UPI Archives: Experts rule Zodiac killer letter phony

"The Zodiac Killer terrorized multiple communities across Northern California and even though decades have gone by, we continue to seek justice for the victims of those brutal crimes. Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, and out of respect for the victims and their families, we will not be providing further comment at this time."

The code-breakers said they translated the message, with typos included, as follows:

"I hope you are having lots of fun trying to catch me.

RELATED UPI Archives: 50 years after first case, Zodiac Killer still taunts Bay Area investigators

"That wasn't me on the TV show which brings up a point about me.

"I am not afraid of the gas chamber because it will send me to paradice all the sooner.

"Because I now have enough slaves to work for me where everyone else has nothing when they reach paradice so they are afraid of death.

RELATED UPI Archives: Police hope to use new DNA testing to catch Zodiac Killer

"I am not afraid because I know that my new life will be an easy one in paradice death."

Another encrypted letter was deciphered shortly after it was sent in July 1969. That letter threatened to kill lone people in the night if newspapers didn't run the killer's letter on their front pages.

Police believe the Zodiac Killer was responsible for the deaths of David Faraday in December 1968; Darlene Ferrin in July 1969; Cecelia Shepard in September 1969; and Paul Stine in October 1969.

Several other slayings and attacks may be attributed to the killer, but they've never been confirmed,

Asteroids aren't completely random? Mass extinctions of Earth's land animals follow a cycle, study finds
Doyle Rice
USA TODAY

Mass extinctions coincide with major asteroid impacts and devastating volcanic outpourings of lava.

Paleontologists had previously discovered that similar mass extinctions of marine life were not random events.

We're about 20 million years away from the next predicted mass extinction.

Mass extinctions of life on Earth appear to follow a regular pattern, a new study suggests.

In fact, widespread die-offs of land-dwelling animals – which include amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds – follow a cycle of about 27 million years, the study reports.

The study also said these mass extinctions coincide with major asteroid impacts and devastating volcanic outpourings of lava.

"The global mass extinctions were apparently caused by the largest cataclysmic impacts and massive volcanism, perhaps sometimes working in concert," said study lead author Michael Rampino of New York University, in a statement.

Paleontologists had previously discovered that similar mass extinctions of marine life, in which up to 90% of species disappeared, were not random events, but seemed to come in a 26-million-year cycle.

How could this be? Aren't asteroid or comet impacts completely random? Apparently not, the study suggests, and it's because of the orbit of our planet through the galaxy.

The solar system passes through the crowded part of our Milky Way galaxy about every 30 million years. During those times, comet showers are possible, leading to large impacts on the Earth.

"These new findings of coinciding, sudden mass extinctions on land and in the oceans, and of the common 26- to 27-million-year cycle, lend credence to the idea of periodic global catastrophic events as the triggers for the extinctions," Rampino said.

"In fact, three of the mass annihilations of species on land and in the sea are already known to have occurred at the same times as the three largest impacts of the last 250 million years, each capable of causing a global disaster and resulting mass extinctions."


More: Study finds asteroid impact, not volcanoes, made the Earth uninhabitable for dinosaurs: 'Only plausible explanation'

The study said that the impacts can create conditions that would stress and potentially kill off land and marine life, including widespread dark and cold, wildfires, acid rain and ozone depletion. The most infamous asteroid strike we know of is the one that killed off the dinosaurs some 66 million years ago, which overall wiped out 70% of the species on Earth.


"It seems that large-body impacts and the pulses of internal Earth activity that create flood-basalt volcanism may be marching to the same 27-million-year drumbeat as the extinctions, perhaps paced by our orbit in the galaxy," Rampino said.

And as for where we are in the current cycle, he told USA TODAY that we're about 20 million years away from the next predicted mass extinction that's due to a comet strike or volcanic activity.

The study was published Friday in the journal Historical Biology.

Global carbon emissions down by record 7% in 2020

Researchers say global carbon emissions dropped by an estimated 2.4 billion metric tons this year due to the coronavirus-induced lockdowns. They have also warned that the emissions may rebound once the pandemic ends.

The coronavirus pandemic has contributed to reduced emissions

Carbon dioxide emissions in 2020 fell by 7%, the biggest drop ever, as countries around the world imposed lockdowns and restrictions on movement to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the Global Carbon Project said in its annual assessment on Friday.

The pandemic-struck year saw emissions cut by an estimated 2.4 billion metric tons, shattering previous records of annual declines, such as 0.9 billion metric tons at the end of World War II or 0.5 billion metric tons in 2009 when the global financial crisis hit.

Researchers say the emissions are down mainly because more people stayed home and traveled less by car or plane this year.

Transport accounted for the largest share of the global decrease in emission of carbon dioxide, the chief man-made greenhouse gas.

Emissions from road transport fell by roughly half in April when the first wave of the coronavirus was at its peak. By December, it had fallen 10% year-on-year.

Emissions from aviation were down by 40% this year.

Industrial activity, which accounted for 22% of the global total, was down by 30% in some countries due to strict lockdown measures.

The US and the European Union saw the most pronounced emissions reduction, down 12% and 11% respectively. China, however, saw its emissions drop just 1.7% as the country powered up its economic recovery.

CORONAVIRUS AND THE ENVIRONMENT: 7 CHANGES TO EXPECT

Better air quality

As the world grinds to a halt, the sudden shutdown of most industrial activities has dramatically reduced air pollution levels. Satellite images have even revealed a clear drop in global levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a gas which is primarily emitted from car engines and commercial manufacturing plants and is responsible for poor air quality in many major cities.

PHOTOS 1234567

Also, China had an earlier lockdown with less of a second wave, said study co-author Corinne LeQuere, a climate scientist at the University of East Anglia. China's emissions are more industrial-based than other countries and its industry was less affected than transportation, she said.

Under the Paris climate accord, signed five years ago, emissions cuts of 1 to 2 billion metric tons annually this decade are needed to limit the global temperature from rising well below 2 degrees Celsius.

Since the 2015 accord, emissions have grown each year. The UN says they must fall 7.6% annually by 2030 to reach the more ambitious temperature limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Lockdown not a solution

"Of course, lockdown is absolutely not the way to tackle climate change," LeQuere said.

Experts have warned that emissions may rebound after the pandemic ends, although it is still too early to say how fast they would jump back up.

Long-term emission trends would depend on how countries power their economic recovery post-pandemic.

"All elements are not yet in place for sustained decreases in global emissions, and emissions are slowly edging back to 2019 levels," LeQuere said.

Watch video 03:42 Iceland gets creative in climate battle

Transition to green energy

Without the pandemic, the carbon footprint of big emitters such as China would have continued to grow in 2020, said Philippe Ciais, a researcher at France's Laboratory of Climate and Environment Sciences.

"It's a temporary respite," he said. "The way to mitigate climate change is not to stop activity but rather to speed up the transition to low-carbon energy."

Ciais added that 2020's emissions fall has not translated into a reduction in the levels of carbon pollution in Earth's atmosphere.

Chris Field, director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, is more optimistic about the future.

While he too believes that emissions will increase after the pandemic, he is confident that people have become more environmentally conscious.

"I am optimistic that we have, as a society, learned some lessons that may help decrease emissions in the future," Field said.

"For example, as people get good at telecommuting a couple of days a week or realize they don't need quite so many business trips, we might see behavior-related future emissions decreases," he added.

Watch video 02:46 Germany's climate program disappoints environmentalists

adi/rc (AP, AFP)

Good news? Earth's carbon dioxide emissions had record drop this year during the pandemic
Doyle Rice, USA TODAY 

Although it took a catastrophic global pandemic for it to occur, worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide had a record drop in 2020, a new report said

.

© Mark J. Terrill, AP In this Friday, March 20, 2020, file photo, extremely light traffic moves along the 110 Harbor Freeway toward downtown Los Angeles in the mid-afternoon. Traffic would normally be bumper-to-bumper during this time of day on a Friday. New calculations released on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, show the world's carbon dioxide emissions plunged 7% in 2020 because of the pandemic lockdowns.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which are the leading cause of global warming, fell by 7% in 2020, according to the report from the Global Carbon Project, a group of international scientists who track emissions.

That's the biggest yearly drop on record, the group said.

Emissions from transportation accounted for the largest share of the global decrease, researchers said. Those from surface transport, such as car journeys, fell by approximately half at the peak of the COVID-19 lockdowns earlier in 2020.

“Of course, lockdown is absolutely not the way to tackle climate change,” said report co-author Corinne Le Quere, a climate scientist at the University of East Anglia in the U.K.

The report estimated that the world will have put 37 billion U.S. tons of carbon dioxide in the air in 2020. That’s down from 40.1 billion U.S. tons in 2019.

Emissions dropped 12% in the U.S. and 11% in Europe, but only 1.7% in China. That’s because China had an earlier lockdown with less of a second wave. Also China’s emissions are more industrial-based than other countries and its industry was less affected than transportation, Le Quere said.

Video: Exxon Holds Back on Technology That Could Slow Climate Change (QuickTake)


Report: World not doing nearly enough to stop 'catastrophic' global warming, UN warns

Globally, the peak of the decrease in emissions in 2020 occurred in the first half of April, when lockdown measures were at their maximum, particularly across Europe and the U.S.

Lead researcher Pierre Friedlingstein of the University of Exeter in the U.K. said that “although global emissions were not as high as last year, they still amounted to about 37 billion tons of CO2, and inevitably led to a further increase in CO2 in the atmosphere. The atmospheric CO2 level, and consequently the world’s climate, will only stabilize when global CO2 emissions are near zero.”

More: Due to COVID-19, 2020 greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. are predicted to drop to lowest level in three decades

Researchers warn that it is too early to say how much emissions will rebound by during 2021 and beyond, as the long-term trend will be largely influenced by actions to stimulate the global economy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“All elements are not yet in place for sustained decreases in global emission, and emissions are slowly edging back to 2019 levels," Le Quere said. "Government actions to stimulate the economy at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic can also help lower emissions and tackle climate change."

The report was published in the journal Earth System Science Data.

Contributing: The Associated Press

UK

Wealthy TORY MP urged to pay up for his family’s slave trade past

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Graham Hunt/Alamy

A wealthy Tory MP is facing demands to pay reparations for his family’s part in the Caribbean slave trade after the Observer revealed that he now controls the plantation where his ancestors created the first slave-worked sugar plantation in the British empire almost 400 years ago.


The MP for South Dorset, Richard Drax, has inherited the 250-hectare Drax Hall plantation in Barbados from his father, inquiries by the Observer have established. His father died in 2017. Drax has not yet declared the land or its properties in the parliamentary register of members’ interests.

Last week, leading figures in the Caribbean Reparations Commission (Caricom) described the Drax Hall plantation as a “killing field” and a “crime scene” from the tens of thousands of African slaves who died there in terrible conditions between 1640 and 1836. The Draxes also owned a slave plantation in Jamaica which they sold in the 18th century.

Sir Hilary Beckles, a prominent Barbadian historian of slavery, said Drax must acknowledge the wealth brought to the family by slavery. “If Richard Drax was in front of me now, I would say: ‘Mr Drax, the people of Barbados and Jamaica are entitled to reparatory justice.’”

Beckles, the chair of Caricom and the vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies, said: “Today, when I drive through the Drax Hall land and its environs, I feel a keen sense of being in a massive killing field with unmarked cemeteries. Sugar and Black Death went hand in glove. Black life mattered only to make millionaires of English enslavers and the Drax family did it longer than any other elite family.”

Official sources in Bridgetown, Barbados, confirmed the MP now farms Drax Hall. One document reveals his involvement in the farm, showing that in February he registered the plantation as a business in the Barbados Companies House in his full name, Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax.

On Friday, the MP said he does not yet legally own the Barbados holdings “as these are still going through the probate process and have not yet transferred to my name. Once that process is completed, I will of course register it in proper accordance with the rules.”

David Comissiong, the Barbados ambassador to Caricom, said on Friday: “There have been centuries of looting and siphoning off the wealth which should have remained in Barbados.

“This was a crime against humanity and we impose upon him [Mr Drax] and his family a moral responsibility to contribute to the effort to repair the damage.”

Like many of his ancestors, Drax is a Dorset MP and is probably the wealthiest landowner in the House of Commons, with 5,600 hectares of farmland and woodlands. The estate’s finances are largely opaque to the public gaze and involve at least six trusts and other disconnected financial entities.

Harrow-educated 62-year-old Drax, a former Guards officer and BBC journalist, lives at Charborough Park, noted for its three-mile long brick wall running alongside one of Dorset’s major roads.

In the centre of the park is the Grade I-listed mansion. Drax also owns some 125 Dorset properties personally or through family trusts and could be worth as much as £150m. He also owns a £4.5m holiday villa on nearby Sandbanks, which is rented out at up to £6,734 a week in peak season.

In Barbados, the imposing plantation house, Drax Hall, built around 1650, still stands – the oldest house in the western hemisphere – and sugar is still grown on the plantation.

Drax rarely comments on his ancestors’ history of slave owning. When he first stood for parliament in 2010, he was asked by the Daily Mirror about his historical responsibility. He replied: “I can’t be held responsible for something that happened 300 or 400 years ago.” Drax said it was an attempt to smear him. “They are using the old class thing and that is not what this election is about. It’s not what I stand for and I ignore it.”

On Friday, Drax said: “I am keenly aware of the slave trade in the West Indies, and the role my very distant ancestor played in it is deeply, deeply regrettable, but no one can be held responsible today for what happened many hundreds of years ago. This is a part of the nation’s history, from which we must all learn.’’

The Barbadian historian Beckles, however, told the Observer: “It is no answer for Richard Drax to say it has nothing to do with him when he is the owner and the inheritor. They should pay reparations.”

Music Industry Mourns Country Artist Charley Pride: ‘Truly a Giant’

© Laura Roberts/Invision/AP

After news broke Saturday that legendary country musician Charley Pride died of complications from COVID-19, musicians and industry professionals took to social media to honor his career and mourn his death.

Maren Morris commented on the fact that Pride had recently performed at the Country Music Association Awards on Nov. 11. “I don’t want to jump to conclusions because no family statement has been made, but if this was a result of the CMAs being indoors, we should all be outraged. Rest in power, Charley,” she wrote.

More from Variety
Charley Pride, Country Music's First Black Superstar, Dies of COVID-19 at 86

Charley Pride to Be Celebrated as Lifetime Achievement Honoree at CMA Awards

Dolly Parton also mourned his death, writing, “I’m so heartbroken that one of my dearest and oldest friends, Charley Pride, has passed away. It’s even worse to know that he passed away from COVID-19. What a horrible, horrible virus. Charley, we will always love you.”

Country singer Reba McEntire paid tribute to Pride, writing: “Charley Pride will always be a legend in Country music. He will truly be missed but will always be remembered for his great music, wonderful personality and his big heart.”

Country singer Ronnie Milsap remembered Pride in a statement to Variety.

“Charley Pride, a pioneer, a music man, a baseball player, a good friend and the love of Rozene’s life, has passed on. Without his encouragement when I was playing the Whiskey.A-Go-Go on the Sunset Strip in the ‘70s, I might have never made it to Nashville – and to hear this news tears out a piece of my heart,” Milsap wrote. “That he died of COVID makes me even sadder. These are such sad days with too much lose. Please, to everyone who’s ever loved ‘Kiss An Angel Good Morning,’ ‘Mountain of Love’ or ‘Is Anybody Goin’ To San Antone,’ wear a mask, wash your hands and be wise about gathering. We’ve lost too many, and I just want us all to be here to love each other and the music the way Charley always did for years to come.”

Country-folk band Flatland Cavalry tweeted lyrics from Pride’s 1971 track “Kiss An Angel Good Mornin'”: “Kiss an angel good morning and love her like the devil when you get back home. RIP to the legend Charley Pride.”

“The Voice” winner and singer Chevel Shepherd wrote, “Heartbroken to hear about Charley Pride. We just watched you on the CMA Awards. You have touched so many lives, and your music will continue to do just that.”

Singer-songwriter Kelleigh Bannen commented on Pride’s acceptance speech for the lifetime achievement award at the CMAs: “Heartbroken. I never met Charley Pride but admired him from afar. His acceptance speech for the lifetime achievement CMA award was such a stunning display of humility and humanity from a man who was truly a giant.”

See more reactions below.
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Greta Thunberg Says She's 'More Than Happy' 

That U.S. Is Rejoining Paris Climate Agreement


Jeremy Blum
·Reporter, HuffPost
Sat., December 12, 2020, 

Teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg said on Friday — one day before the fifth anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement — that she is glad the United States will be rejoining the accord, but added that world leaders still had far to go in tackling environmental challenges.

“I am more than happy that the U.S. will rejoin the Paris agreement; that is absolutely crucial,” Thunberg said to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, referencing President-elect Joe Biden’s affirmation to rejoin on day one of his presidency.

The Trump administration finalized arrangements to exit the Paris Climate Agreement on Nov. 4, with the president arguing that it had undermined the U.S. economy.

Thunberg said that despite this hopeful development, global leaders still needed “to start treating the climate crisis like a crisis.”

“We need to communicate the situation where we are, we need to understand that we are facing an emergency, we need to change the social narrative around this, and of course as young people we would really appreciate it if we stopped only talking about future, distant hypothetical goals and targets ... and start focusing on what we need to do now,” Thunberg said.

Thunberg said simply setting nebulous goals for net-zero carbon emissions would only put pass responsibility to future generations.

“We don’t want to solve these problems for you; we want you to take care of it right now,” she said.

Thunberg echoed similar points in an Instagram video released on Thursday, stressing that pledges by countries such as the U.K., which has promised a 68% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, presented only a vague illusion of progress.

“We need to stop focusing on goals and targets for 2030 or 2050,” Thunberg said in the clip. “We need to implement annual binding carbon budgets today.”

Christiane Amanpour

@camanpour

·

Dec 11

While

@GretaThunberg

 is "happy that the U.S. will rejoin the Paris agreement", she is calling for far greater climate urgency from political leaders. "As young people, we would really appreciate if we stopped only talking about future, distant hypothetical goals and targets."

Greta Thunberg on Instagram: “My name is Greta Thunberg and I am inviting you to be a part of the solution. As #ParisAgreement turns 5, our leaders present their…”

gretathunberg

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#FightFor1point5

My name is Greta Thunberg and I am inviting you to be a part of the solution.

As #ParisAgreement turns 5, our leaders present their 'hopeful' distant hypothetical targets, 'net zero' loopholes and empty promises.

But the real hope comes from the people. And it all starts with awareness.

#FightFor1Point5

A huge thanks to Tom Mustill, Evie Wright and Fergus Dingle for turning my Paris Agreement Anniversary speech into a film!!