Saturday, June 12, 2021

Pine Island Glacier's ice shelf is ripping apart, speeding up key Antarctic glacier

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

VIDEO: THE ICE SHELF ON ANTARCTICA'S PINE ISLAND GLACIER LOST ABOUT ONE-FIFTH OF ITS AREA FROM 2017 TO 2020, MOSTLY IN THREE DRAMATIC BREAKS. THE TIMELAPSE VIDEO INCORPORATES SATELLITE IMAGES FROM... view more

CREDIT: JOUGHIN ET AL./SCIENCE ADVANCES

For decades, the ice shelf helping to hold back one of the fastest-moving glaciers in Antarctica has gradually thinned. Analysis of satellite images reveals a more dramatic process in recent years: From 2017 to 2020, large icebergs at the ice shelf's edge broke off, and the glacier sped up.

Since floating ice shelves help to hold back the larger grounded mass of the glacier, the recent speedup due to the weakening edge could shorten the timeline for Pine Island Glacier's eventual collapse into the sea. The study from researchers at the University of Washington and British Antarctic Survey was published June 11 in the open-access journal Science Advances.

"We may not have the luxury of waiting for slow changes on Pine Island; things could actually go much quicker than expected," said lead author Ian Joughin, a glaciologist at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory. "The processes we'd been studying in this region were leading to an irreversible collapse, but at a fairly measured pace. Things could be much more abrupt if we lose the rest of that ice shelf."

Pine Island Glacier contains approximately 180 trillion tons of ice -- equivalent to 0.5 meters, or 1.6 feet, of global sea level rise. It is already responsible for much of Antarctica's contribution to sea-level rise, causing about one-sixth of a millimeter of sea level rise each year, or about two-thirds of an inch per century, a rate that's expected to increase. If it and neighboring Thwaites Glacier speed up and flow completely into the ocean, releasing their hold on the larger West Antarctic Ice Sheet, global seas could rise by several feet over the next few centuries.

These glaciers have attracted attention in recent decades as their ice shelves thinned because warmer ocean currents melted the ice's underside. From the 1990s to 2009, Pine Island Glacier's motion toward the sea accelerated from 2.5 kilometers per year to 4 kilometers per year (1.5 miles per year to 2.5 miles per year). The glacier's speed then stabilized for almost a decade.

Results show that what's happened more recently is a different process, Joughin said, related to internal forces on the glacier.

From 2017 to 2020, Pine Island's ice shelf lost one-fifth of its area in a few dramatic breaks that were captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellites, operated by the European Space Agency on behalf of the European Union. The researchers analyzed images from January 2015 to March 2020 and found that the recent changes on the ice shelf were not caused by processes directly related to ocean melting.

"The ice shelf appears to be ripping itself apart due to the glacier's acceleration in the past decade or two," Joughin said.

Two points on the glacier's surface that were analyzed in the paper sped up by 12% between 2017 and 2020. The authors used an ice flow model developed at the UW to confirm that the loss of the ice shelf caused the observed speedup.

"The recent changes in speed are not due to melt-driven thinning; instead they're due to the loss of the outer part of the ice shelf," Joughin said. "The glacier's speedup is not catastrophic at this point. But if the rest of that ice shelf breaks up and goes away then this glacier could speed up quite a lot."

It's not clear whether the shelf will continue to crumble. Other factors, like the slope of the land below the glacier's receding edge, will come into play, Joughin said. But the results change the timeline for when Pine Island's ice shelf might disappear and how fast the glacier might move, boosting its contribution to rising seas.

"The loss of Pine Island's ice shelf now looks like it possibly could occur in the next decade or two, as opposed to the melt-driven subsurface change playing out over 100 or more years," said co-author Pierre Dutrieux, an ocean physicist at British Antarctic Survey. "So it's a potentially much more rapid and abrupt change."

Pine Island's ice shelf is important because it's helping to hold back this relatively unstable West Antarctic glacier, the way the curved buttresses on Notre Dame cathedral hold up the cathedral's mass. Once those buttresses are removed, the slow-moving glacier can flow more quickly downward to the ocean, contributing to rising seas.

"Sediment records in front of and beneath the Pine Island ice shelf indicate that the glacier front has remained relatively stable over a few thousand years," Dutrieux said. "Regular advance and break-ups happened at approximately the same location until 2017, and then successively worsened each year until 2020."

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Other co-authors are Daniel Shapero and Ben Smith at the UW; and Mark Barham at British Antarctic Survey. The study was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, NASA and the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council.

CAPTION

Pine Island Glacier ends in an ice shelf that floats in the Amundsen Sea. These crevasses are near the grounding line, where the glacier makes contact with the Antarctic continent. The photo was taken in January 2010 from the east side of the glacier, looking westward. This ice shelf lost one-fifth of its area from 2017 to 2020, causing the inland glacier to speed up by 12%.

CREDIT

Ian Joughin/University of Washington

G7 climate decisions among ‘most important in human history,’ says David Attenborough

Environmentalist to deliver message to leaders at summit in Cornwall

G7 leaders face some of the most important decisions in human history as they tackle the G7 leaders face some of the most important decisions in human history as they tackle the climate change crisis, Sir David Attenborough said.

The environmentalist will address the leaders gathered in Cornwall on Sunday as they set out plans to reverse biodiversity loss and to fund infrastructure development around the world.

Boris Johnson is also launching a £500 million “blue planet fund” to protect the world’s oceans and marine life.

The leaders of the G7 - UK, US, Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Italy - will make a series of environmental commitments in Carbis Bay

Sir David will deliver a message to the G7, plus guests Australia, India, South Korea and South Africa, at a session on climate and nature.

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In advance of the session, he said: “The natural world today is greatly diminished. That is undeniable.

“Our climate is warming fast. That is beyond doubt. Our societies and nations are unequal and that is sadly plain to see.

“But the question science forces us to address specifically in 2021 is whether as a result of these intertwined facts we are on the verge of destabilising the entire planet?

“If that is so, then the decisions we make this decade - in particular the decisions made by the most economically advanced nations - are the most important in human history.”

Mixed in with the environmental intentions of the G7 is an attempt to reassert the values of the leading democracies around the world.

The “build back better for the world” plan will bring together G7 countries to develop an offer for high quality financing for vital infrastructure, from railways in Africa to wind farms in Asia.

The move is part of an attempt to counter Beijing’s “belt and road” initiative which has spread Chinese influence around the world.

The new approach is intended to give developing countries access to more, better and faster finance, while accelerating the global shift to renewable energy and sustainable technology..

The prime minister said: “Protecting our planet is the most important thing we as leaders can do for our people.

“There is a direct relationship between reducing emissions, restoring nature, creating jobs and ensuring long-term economic growth.

“As democratic nations we have a responsibility to help developing countries reap the benefits of clean growth through a fair and transparent system.

“The G7 has an unprecedented opportunity to drive a global Green Industrial Revolution, with the potential to transform the way we live.”

G7 nations are expected to commit to almost halve their emissions by 2030 relative to 2010. The UK has already pledged to cut emissions by at least 68 per cent by 2030 on 1990 levels, the equivalent to a 58 per cent reduction on 2010 levels.

The countries will set out the action they will take to slash carbon emissions, including measures like ending all unabated coal use as soon as possible, halting almost all direct government support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas and phasing out petrol and diesel cars.

The G7 will also endorse a nature compact, aimed at halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030 - including supporting the global target to conserve or protect at least 30 per cent of land and oceans by the end of the decade.

Mr Johnson has also launched the UK’s blue planet fund, with £500m to help countries including Ghana, Indonesia and Pacific island states tackle unsustainable fishing, protect and restore coastal ecosystems like mangroves and coral reefs, and reduce marine pollution.

The fund will run for at least five years.

Star's death will play a mean pinball with rhythmic planets

Four planets locked in a perfect rhythm around a nearby star are destined to be pinballed around their solar system when their sun eventually dies, according to a study led by the University of Warwick that peers into its future

UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK

Research News

Astronomers from University of Warwick and University of Exeter modelling the future of unusual planetary system found a solar system of planets that will 'pinball' off one another
Today, the system consists of four massive planets locked in a perfect rhythm
Study shows that this perfect rhythm is likely to hold for 3 billion years - but the death of its sun will cause a chain reaction and set the interplanetary pinball game in motion

Astronomers have modelled how the change in gravitational forces in the system as a result of the star becoming a white dwarf will cause its planets to fly loose from their orbits and bounce off each other's gravity, like balls bouncing off a bumper in a game of pinball.

In the process, they will knock nearby debris into their dying sun, offering scientists new insight into how the white dwarfs with polluted atmospheres that we see today originally evolved. The conclusions by astronomers from the University of Warwick and the University of Exeter are published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The HR 8799 system is 135 light years away and comprises a 30-40 million year-old A type star and four unusually massive planets, all over five times the mass of Jupiter, orbiting very close to each other. The system also contains two debris discs, inside the orbit of the innermost planet and another outside the outermost. Recent research has shown that the four planets are locked in a perfect rhythm that sees each one completing double the orbit of its neighbour: so for every orbit the furthest completes, the next closest completes two, the next completes four, while the closest completes eight.

The team from Warwick and Exeter decided to learn the ultimate fate of the system by creating a model that allowed them to play 'planetary pinball' with the planets, investigating what may cause the perfect rhythm to destabilise.

They determined that the resonance that locks the four planets is likely to hold firm for the next 3 billion years, despite the effects of Galactic tides and close flybys of other stars. However, it always breaks once the star enters the phase in which it becomes a red giant, when it will expand to several hundred times its current size and eject nearly half its mass, ending up as a white dwarf.

The planets will then start to pinball and become a highly chaotic system where their movements become very uncertain. Even changing a planet's position by a centimetre at the start of the process can dramatically change the outcome.

Lead author Dr Dimitri Veras from the University of Warwick Department of Physics said: "The planets will gravitationally scatter off of one another. In one case, the innermost planet could be ejected from the system. Or, in another case, the third planet may be ejected. Or the second and fourth planets could switch positions. Any combination is possible just with little tweaks.

"They are so big and so close to each other the only thing that's keeping them in this perfect rhythm right now is the locations of their orbits. All four are connected in this chain. As soon as the star loses mass their locations will deviate, then two of them will scatter off one another, causing a chain reaction amongst all four."

Dr Veras was supported by an Ernest Rutherford Fellowship from the Science and Technology Facilities Council, part of UK Research and Innovation.

Regardless of the precise movements of the planets, one thing that the team is certain of is that the planets will move around enough to dislodge material from the system's debris discs into the atmosphere of the star. It is this type of debris that astronomers are analysing today to discover the histories of other white dwarf systems.

Dr Veras adds: "These planets move around the white dwarf at different locations and can easily kick whatever debris is still there into the white dwarf, polluting it.

"The HR 8799 planetary system represents a foretaste of the polluted white dwarf systems that we see today. It's a demonstration of the value of computing the fates of planetary systems, rather than just looking at their formation."

Co-author Professor Sasha Hinkley of the University of Exeter said: "The HR 8799 system has been so iconic for exoplanetary science since its discovery nearly 13 years ago, and so it is fascinating to see into the future, and watch it evolve from a harmonious collection of planets into a chaotic scene."

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* 'The post-main-sequence fate of the HR 8799 planetary system' is published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stab1311 Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab1311

Notes to editors:

Artist's impression of the four planets of the HR 8799 system and its star (Credit: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick). Image is free for use if used in direct connection with this story but image copyright and credit must be University of Warwick/Mark Garlick: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/communications/medialibrary/images/junes_2021/hr_8799.jpg

The European Southern Observatory have a pre-existing video showing the orbital motion of the HR8799 system. The video is available for media use via the link below, but it must be accompanied by the credit: J. Wang et al. - https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1905b/

For interviews or a copy of the paper contact:
Peter Thorley
Media Relations Manager (Warwick Medical School and Department of Physics) | Press & Media Relations | University of Warwick
Email: peter.thorley@warwick.ac.uk
Mob: +44 (0) 7824 540863

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is part of UK Research and Innovation - the UK body which works in partnership with universities, research organisations, businesses, charities, and government to create the best possible environment for research and innovation to flourish. For more information visit UK Research and Innovation.

STFC funds and supports research in particle and nuclear physics, astronomy, gravitational research and astrophysics, and space science and also operates a network of five national laboratories, including the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and the Daresbury Laboratory, as well as supporting UK research at a number of international research facilities including CERN, FERMILAB, the ESO telescopes in Chile and many more. Visit https://stfc.ukri.org/ for more information. @STFC_Matters

Key Points

Question Do Medicare Advantage star ratings, which are generated using data from all enrollees in a plan, reflect the quality experience of racial/ethnic minorities and enrollees with low socioeconomic status (SES)?

Findings This cross-sectional study of 1 578 564 Medicare Advantage enrollees found that simulated star ratings for persons with lower SES and Black and Hispanic enrollees were substantially lower than ratings for those with higher SES and White enrollees in the same contract. There was little correlation between ratings for each group, and higher-performing plans, as measured by the star rating, had larger racial/ethnic and SES disparities in care.

Meaning Medicare Advantage star ratings, which are designed to reflect overall performance in a plan, are only modestly associated with quality for racial/ethnic minorities and enrollees of low SES in the same plan.

Abstract

Importance Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, which disproportionately enroll racial/ethnic minorities and persons with socioeconomic disadvantage, receive bonus payments on the basis of overall performance on a 5-star rating scale. The association between plans’ overall quality and disparities in quality is not well understood.

Objective To examine the association between MA star ratings and disparities in care for racial/ethnic minorities and enrollees with lower income and educational attainment.

Design, Setting, and Participants This cross-sectional study included 1 578 564 MA enrollees from 454 contracts across the 2015 and 2016 calendar years. Data analyses were conducted between June 2019 and June 2020.

Exposures Self-reported race and ethnicity and low socioeconomic status (SES) (defined by low income or less than a high school education) vs high SES (neither low income nor low educational attainment).

Main Outcomes and Measures Performance on 22 measures of quality and satisfaction determined at the individual enrollee level, aggregated into simulated star ratings (scale, 2-5) stratified by SES and race/ethnicity.

Results A total of 1 578 564 enrollees were included in this analysis (55.8% female; mean [SD] age, 71.4 [11.3] years; 65.8% White; 12.3% Black; 14.6% Hispanic). Enrollees with low SES had simulated stratified star ratings 0.5 stars lower (95% CI, 0.4-0.6 stars) than individuals with high SES in the same contract. Black and Hispanic enrollees had simulated star ratings that were 0.3 stars (95% CI, 0.2-0.4 stars) and 0.1 stars (95% CI, −0.04 to 0.2 stars) lower than White enrollees within the same contracts. Black enrollees had a 0.4-star lower rating (95% CI, 0.1-0.7 stars) in 4.5- to 5-star contracts and a no statistical difference in 2.0- to 2.5-star–rated contracts (difference, 0.3 stars; 95% CI, −0.02 to 0.7 stars). Hispanic enrollees had a 0.6-star lower simulated rating (95% CI, 0.2-1.0 stars) in 4.5- to 5-star contracts and no statistical difference in 2- to 2.5-star contracts (difference, −0.01 stars; 95% CI, −0.5 to 0.4 stars). There was low correlation between simulated ratings for enrollees of low SES and high SES (difference, 0.2 stars; 95% CI, 0.03-0.4 stars) and between simulated ratings for White and Black enrollees (difference, 0.4 stars; 95% CI, 0.3-0.5 stars) and White and Hispanic enrollees (difference, 0.3 stars; 95% CI, 0.2-0.4 stars). As the proportion of Black and Hispanic enrollees increased in a contract, racial/ethnic disparities in ratings decreased.

Conclusions and Relevance In this cross-sectional study, simulated MA star ratings were only weakly correlated with those for enrollees of low SES in the same contract, and contracts with higher star ratings had larger disparities in quality. Measures of equity in MA plans’ quality of care may be needed.

READ THE REST HERE

JAMA Health Forum – Health Policy, Health Care Reform, Health Affairs | JAMA Health Forum | JAMA Network

Big data: IPK researchers double accuracy in predicting wheat yields

LEIBNIZ INSTITUTE OF PLANT GENETICS AND CROP PLANT RESEARCH

Research News

IMAGE: BY INCREASING POPULATION SIZES, AN INTERNATIONAL TEAM OF SCIENTISTS LED BY IPK LEIBNIZ-INSTITUTE WAS ABLE TO DOUBLE THE PREDICTION ACCURACY FOR WHEAT YIELD. view more
CREDIT: IPK/ CHRISTOPH MARTIN

The enormous potential of Big Data has already been demonstrated in areas such as financial services and telecommunications. An international team of researchers led by the IPK Leibniz Institute has now tapped the potential of big data for the first time on a large scale for plant research. To this end, data from three projects were used to increase the predictive accuracy for yield in hybrid varieties of wheat.

"We were able to draw on the largest dataset published to date, which contains information from almost a decade of wheat research and development," says Prof. Dr. Jochen Reif, Head of the Breeding Research Department at IPK. The results, which could herald a new era for plant breeding, have now been published in the magazine Science Advances.

Finally, data on more than 13,000 genotypes tested in 125,000 yield plots were analysed. For comparison: In a breeding programme, plants are tested in 20,000 yield plots every year. "It was clear to us that we would have to increase the population sizes in order to ultimately develop robust predictive models for yield," says Prof. Dr. Jochen Reif, "so in this case it was really once: 'a lot goes a long way'". The effort was worth it, he said. "We were able to double the predictive accuracy for yield in our study."

The research team used data from the two previous projects HYWHEAT (funded by the Federal Ministry of Research and Education) and Zuchtwert (funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture) as well as from a programme of the seed producer KWS. Basically, the challenge in such studies is to prepare the information to a uniform quality level and thus enable a common analysis. "Since we were responsible for the designs of the experiments from the start, we were able to plan them in such a way that a small proportion of the same genotypes were always tested across the projects, thus enabling an integrated analysis in the first place," says Prof. Dr. Jochen Reif.

The scientist is firmly convinced that it pays off to use Big Data for plant breeding and research. "We have ultimately worked on the future of all of us", says the IPK scientist. "We have succeeded in showing the potential of Big Data for breeding yield-stable varieties in times of climate change."

According to Prof. Dr. Jochen Reif, the current model study has a significance that goes far beyond one crop type and hopefully heralds a cultural change in breeding. "We were able to show the great benefits of Big Data for plant breeding. However, the possibilities for this are only possible through a trusting cooperation of all stakeholders to share data and master the challenges of the future together."

Ultimately, this is also the entry point for the use of artificial intelligence (AI). "The successful use of AI also stands and falls in plant breeding and research with curated and comprehensive data. Our current study is an important door opener for this path."

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CAPITALI$M IS ADDICTION

Alcohol companies earned billions from underage drinking in 2016

JOURNAL OF STUDIES ON ALCOHOL AND DRUGS

Research News

IMAGE: UNDERAGE DRINKING view more
CREDIT: RUTGERS CENTER OF ALCOHOL & SUBSTANCE USE STUDIES

PISCATAWAY, NJ - Underage youth consumed $17.5 billion worth, or 8.6 percent, of the alcoholic drinks sold in 2016. Products from three alcohol companies--AB Inbev, MillerCoors and Diageo--accounted for nearly half of youth consumption, according to a new study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Data collected in a landmark study of youth alcohol consumption by brand enabled the authors to calculate the first estimate in nearly 20 years of the monetary value of youth alcohol consumption. And for the first time, they were able to attribute those revenues to specific companies.

"The alcohol industry has said they don't want minors to drink, but when we counted up the drinks, it was clear that they were making billions of dollars from these sales," said co-lead author Pamela J. Trangenstein, Ph.D., assistant professor of health behavior at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health. "There is a clear disconnect when an industry advocates prevention but then makes billions of dollars from prevention's failure."

Alcohol is the number one drug used among people ages 12 to 20. Although underage consumption has been falling in recent years, alcohol is still responsible for approximately 3,500 deaths per year among people younger than age 21, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Our prior studies have repeatedly shown that youth are exposed to and influenced by alcohol marketing," said co-author David H. Jernigan, Ph.D., professor at Boston University and co-author on the study. "If alcohol companies are truly committed to preventing youth drinking, they should be willing to put these revenues into an independent agency able to address underage drinking without a conflict of interest."

The Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, the science advisory body for Congress, made that recommendation in their 2003 report on underage drinking. In 2006, Congress passed unanimously the first legislation solely devoted to reducing underage drinking. While that legislation authorized $18 million in spending, Congress has never spent the full amount. In fact, Congress recently made permanent the tax break provided to alcohol companies in the 2017 tax cuts.

"Community coalitions in North Carolina and across the country are constantly begging for dollars to support their work on underage drinking," said Trangenstein. "Our study identifies a clear source for that badly needed funding. Families and communities are paying the price, while big alcohol companies are reaping all the benefits."

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Journal citation: Eck, R. H., Trangenstein, P. J., Siegel, M., & Jernigan, D. H. (2021). Company-specific revenues from underage drinking. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 82, 368-376. doi:10.15288/jsad.2021.82.368

THE SOURCE OF THE PROBLEM IS THE AGE FOR DRINKING 21

AT 18 YOU CAN VOTE, FUCK LEGALLY, AND DIE IN WAR

HERESY! IN BIG OIL COUNTRY

Opinion: Line 5 dispute reveals Canada still has not learned the key lesson

Author of the article: Calgary Herald
Publishing date: Jun 07, 2021 • 5 days ago •

A sign at the confluence of Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River warns residents of Marshall, Mich. On July 26, 2010, hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil from a ruptured pipeline operated by Enbridge Inc. spilled into the Kalamazoo. The current debate over Line 5 goes back to this disaster, says columnist Gerry Kruk. Postmedia file

Michigan’s demand that Enbridge close its 68-year-old oil pipeline (Line 5) across the Straits of Mackinac joining lakes Michigan and Huron did not come out of nowhere. It is essentially the fifth “wave” of opposition to Canadian oil pipelines that suddenly erupted in 2010.

The first four cases, of course, were TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline, then Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline, followed by TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline and Kinder Morgan’s TransMountain Expansion pipeline.

In the case of Line 5, as in each of these earlier four cases, the opposition initially emerged in local communities along the pipeline and tanker routes which were concerned about what they judged to be the unacceptable risk of disastrous oil spills into cherished regional water bodies. Again, in all five cases, the localized opposition was later joined by national-scale climate-change activists.

The present Michigan Line 5 confrontation vividly illustrates that Canadian corporate and government authorities have still not learned — or perhaps refuse to acknowledge — the key lesson inherent in all of these pipeline controversies. This pivotal lesson is that there tends to be a very powerful and costly “blowback” — reputationally, politically and economically — when organizations responsible for major accidents are judged by impacted publics as having egregiously failed to diligently prevent or reassuringly respond to that preventable risk event.

The reflexive response by Canadian authorities to each wave of pipeline opposition has repeatedly consisted of essentially the same allegations. It is claimed the opposition is the cynical product of well-organized, media-savvy and often U.S.-funded environmental and climate-change extremists intent on destroying Canada’s oilsands industry. This “blockadia” movement is said to be lubricated by self-serving ambitious politicians and public ignorance of the economic benefits and ethical environmental performance of Canada’s oil industry.

These assertions are problematical and self-destructive in their lack of candid self-reflection. They also seek to deflect blame from both the actual trigger for the initial outbreak of opposition in 2010 and from the resulting risk concerns, distrust and outrage that were the driving forces sustaining the opposition over the past decade.

The “trigger” was the catastrophic diluted bitumen pipeline spill from Enbridge’s Line 6B into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan in July 2010. Kalamazoo unleashed a new and frightening risk concern: that spills into waterways of the growing volumes of (sinkable) diluted bitumen were much more damaging and costly than traditional spills of (floatable) conventional light oil.

This “risk concern” escalated into enduring “distrust” and “outrage” as investigative reports revealed the shocking degree of Enbridge’s pre-accident complacency and carelessness, regulatory non-compliance, secrecy, inadequate training and incompetence, emergency response failures and, generally, its anemic safety culture.

These corporate character issues, combined with the aggravating effect of the unreassuring longer-term response to Kalamazoo by Enbridge and Canadian authorities, constitute an alarming track record that inevitably undermines public confidence. The outrage and “blowback” tend to be even stronger when the negligent organizations are foreign entities invited into and relied upon by the people of the host jurisdiction, in this case, Michigan. Such a corporate reputation of unreliability and untrustworthiness has now come home to roost for Enbridge and Canada in Michigan. This is the case given its responsibility for a pipeline, whether transporting conventional oil or dilbit, that is now understandably viewed as an unacceptable risk to the uniquely important Great Lakes.

Trust is absolutely pivotal to both corporate or government success. Distrust, like trust, is earned, through observed behaviour and manifested attitudes and values. Enbridge and Canada, having claimed like Michigan that safety is their top priority, should put aside their current adversarial legal and public relations strategies and instead engage in sustained interest-based rather than positional negotiations with Michigan. In this way, they can respectfully discuss the issues, cultivate compromises and collaboratively resolve the question of what “acceptable” pipeline risk at the Straits of Mackinac could look like. In this way, Canada could also help to restore its vital relationship with America.

Gerry Kruk has extensive experience as a consultant for stakeholder relations and risk communications for petroleum and pipeline companies operating in Western and Arctic Canada.

UCP ALBERTA SEPARATIST PARTY

Notley asks O'Toole whether he would play ball with Kenney on the equalization referendum; FIREWALL ALBERTA

Author of the article: Ashley Joannou
Publishing date: Jun 09, 2021 •

Alberta NDP Leader Rachel sent a letter to federal Conservative Opposition Leader Erin O'Toole asking him to weigh in on the province's equalization referendum on Wednesday, June 9, 2021. PHOTO BY GREG SOUTHAM /Postmedia

Alberta NDP Leader Rachel has sent a letter to federal Conservative Opposition Leader Erin O’Toole asking him to weigh in on the province’s equalization referendum by the end of next week.

Alberta MLAs are considering a proposed referendum that would ask municipal election voters this fall if they want to remove part of Canada’s constitution that deals with equalization payments. The province has no ability to actually do that on its own but Premier Jason Kenney says having a clear answer would put the province in a better position to negotiate a better deal with Ottawa.

In a Wednesday letter, Notley asked O’Toole whether he would use his authority if elected prime minister to convene constitutional negotiations.

“It is my view that it is not a matter that should be undertaken lightly, without some clear understanding that there is at least one federal leader who would pursue this objective,” she said.

“To do so would be to raise the ire of a portion of Albertans while at the same time providing no meaningful prospect of securing the outcome they are being asked to choose. In my mind this would be reckless and irresponsible.”

Notley did not send a similar letter to federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday afternoon, Notley called the referendum a “cheap political trick”

She said if the goal is to force the federal government to take equalization concerns more seriously, the referendum should be about the formula.

“But that’s not what the referendum is about. The referendum is about completely eliminating the principle of equalization from the Constitution of Canada, an outcome which we know full well cannot and will not be achieved,” she said.

During question period Wednesday, Kenney did not answer a question about whether he knew O’Toole’s position on the issue.

“This government was elected on a platform to give Albertans a direct voice on equalization and we are keeping that promise with a referendum this October,” Kenney said.

ALBERTA

'Unacceptable environmental effects': New federal policy restricts thermal coal

Move creates new roadblock for planned Vista mine expansion near Hinton, Alta.

Bob Weber · The Canadian Press · Posted: Jun 11, 2021

The existing Vista mine near Hinton is owned by the U.S. coal giant Cline Group and began shipping coal for export in May 2019. (Bighorn Mining)

The federal government is making it more difficult to develop thermal coal in Canada with a new policy that says all such mines create "unacceptable environmental effects."

The move erects another roadblock for Coalspur Mines and its Vista mine expansion in Alberta, the only such mine in Canada currently before regulators.

Federal Environment Minister Jonathon Wilkinson said the move was made because of the need to stop burning coal for power— the single greatest source of greenhouse gases in the world.

"Phasing out thermal coal is the most critical climate change issue right now," he said.

The policy, released Friday, does not rule out such development.

But approvals will be tough to get.

"The government of Canada considers that any new thermal coal mining projects, or expansions of existing thermal coal mines in Canada, are likely to cause unacceptable environmental effects," it says. "This position will inform federal decision-making on thermal coal projects."

It says the federal cabinet must consider sustainability and climate change in weighing any new projects, regardless of size.

"What we're saying is this is something that does not fit from a public policy perspective," Wilkinson said. "A proponent can continue on through the process, but that's a pretty high bar to surmount."

Coal company asks court to quash order for federal review of Alberta mine expansion

Hinton coal mine expansion to be subject to federal environmental review after all

Coalspur's Vista mine expansion project near Hinton, Alta., which would be the largest thermal coal mine in North America, has filed an application to the provincial regulator. Wilkinson has ruled the project should face a federal environmental assessment, although Coalspur is challenging that decision in court.

The company has been informed the new policy will apply to it, Wilkinson said. He added the policy gives more certainty to other companies considering similar projects.

Wilkinson said he believes the new policy lies within federal power despite its impact on natural resources, a provincial jurisdiction.

"We're comfortable this is something within our purview to do," he said. "The vast, vast, vast majority of Canadians would think that this is something that's a no-brainer."

Canada is a founding member of the Powering Past Coal Alliance, a group of countries trying to reduce the use of thermal coal around the globe. Wilkinson said permitting new mines would harm Canada's efforts in that forum.

"We've been the leader in the international community telling other countries that they should be phasing out thermal coal — and then we approve new thermal coal mines? People would say that doesn't make any sense."

Policy doesn't affect metallurgical coal

The new policy does not affect metallurgical coal, the type of coal found in most of the controversial new coal exploration projects in the Alberta foothills.

The federal government has been asked to step in on many of those projects. Wilkinson has until July 1 to decide if he will request a federal assessment for Montem Resource's Tent Mountain mine.

Wilkinson called emissions from steelmaking a different issue.

"[Thermal coal] is a short-term issue," he said.

"Our commitment with other countries is to help them phase out [coal] nine years from now. That's not much time."

Canada has promised to phase out the burning of coal for power by 2030.

Trypillia: 7000-year-old civilisation in Ukraine

The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture is one of the of the oldest civilisations in the world and dates back to 5,000 BC.

Since most of its settlements were discovered in the former communist countries in Eastern Europe, many mysteries of this ancient civilisation remain unsolved.

Video Journalist: Valeria Kovtun

Commissioned by: Griesham Taan

BBC Reel

10 JUNE 2021|ARCHAEOLOGY

SEE

Ancient Ukraine

The Trypillian culture of neolithic people in the Ukraine gives further evidence for Maria Gimbutas theory of a matriarchical culture in the region of the Ukraine, Lithuania, and the Southern Blatics. It is important to note that the Trypillian design work on pottery is similar to that of the Celtic Bell Beaker peoples of Central Europe. Which became part of the later Celtic design of the trifoil. These were the early proto-communist societies that Marx and Engels refered to.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment

Saturday, June 12, 2021