Tuesday, July 13, 2021

'Time is of the essence': Canada races to save Afghan allies as Taliban regains control

Without U.S. forces gone the Taliban could soon control the entire country. That puts people who worked with NATO forces, including Canada, at extreme risk

Author of the article: Ryan Tumilty
Publishing date :Jul 13, 2021 •

Then-Brigadier General David Fraser is escorted into a village during a visit to the Shah Wali Kot region of Afghanistan in 2006. PHOTO BY CPL. ROBIN MUGRIDGE/TASK FORCE AFGHANISTAN/DND/FILE

OTTAWA – The Canadian government is racing to get former interpreters and embassy staff out of Afghanistan, as more of the country falls to Taliban forces, putting their lives in danger.

Retired Major-General David Fraser, who led Canadian and American troops as part of the NATO mission in 2006, said the government needed to move quickly to get the former interpreters out of the country.

“Every day, we are witnessing in the media the Taliban taking over districts, the killing of Afghan security forces, summarily executed. So time is of the essence,” he said.

He said if the Taliban overran the country, as they seem poised to do, the interpreters who worked with Canada would be on borrowed time.

“I just received a letter from an interpreter — a half hour ago — whose family are receiving death threats and are being intimidated,” he said. “The Taliban history to people of authority, to educated women, to anybody that was not signed up to their cause, has been rather severe.”

After nearly two decades, American forces have largely left Afghanistan, as part of a pull-out ordered by U.S. President Joe Biden, and are expected to have completely left the country by the end of the summer.

The Afghan National Army is fighting against the Taliban forces, but without American backing they have lost vast swaths of territory and the Taliban could soon control the entire country. That puts people who worked with NATO forces, including Canada, at extreme risk of reprisals.

MORE ON THIS TOPIC

Taliban say they control 85 per cent of Afghanistan as U.S. withdraws troops

Canada looking to resettle Afghan interpreters and embassy staff amid U.S. withdrawal

Alexander Cohen, a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino, said they were working to aid people who helped Canada during the conflict.

“The Government of Canada recognizes the significant contributions of the brave Afghans who worked for us during Canada’s combat mission in Afghanistan,” he said in an email.

The previous Conservative government had two special programs for Afghan interpreters who worked with Canadian forces as well as their families and about 800 people have previously come to Canada under those programs.

Cohen said they were reaching out to people who didn’t come during any of the previous programs to help them come to Canada now.

“We are currently working to assist individuals previously or currently employed by the Government of Canada, who wish to come here and did not avail themselves of either of the previous temporary policies.”

An immigration official, speaking on background, said they were fully aware of the ticking clock as the Taliban advanced throughout the country.

“We know the time is limited here,” they said.

The government is focusing both on local embassy staff and former interpreters. In some cases, the interpreters pose larger challenges because they last worked for Canadian forces more than a decade ago

An Afghan National Army soldier stands guard at the gate of Bagram U.S. air base, on the day the last of American troops vacated it, Parwan province, Afghanistan July 2, 2021. PHOTO BY MOHAMMAD ISMAIL /Reuters

Fraser said the Liberals should reinstate the special programs set up by the Conservatives for previous groups of interpreters. He said the interpreters put their lives on the line to work with Canada and the country had a responsibility to protect them.

“We could not have done anything over there had it not been for them, interpreting and explaining the culture to us.”

More than 40,000 Canadian soldiers fought in Afghanistan before the end of combat operations in 2011 and 158 died. After a brief training mission, Canada pulled out completely in 2014, but the Americans and other NATO countries have remained in the country until now.

The U.S. is keeping a small force behind to defend its embassy, but last week completed a major withdrawal of Bagram Air Force Base, a major part of the U.S. war. The American officials left in the dead of night due to security concerns and the base was looted before Afghan army officials could retake control.

Conservative MP Jasraj Singh Hallan said the Liberals needed to make a clear commitment to get staff and interpreters to Canada.

“This government is so wishy washy. There’s nothing that’s concrete about any of their plans,” he said.

He said there were already indications that Afghans who worked with coalition forces would face torture and death. He said if Canada wanted locals to trust us in Afghanistan or any future conflict it had to help them now.

“We should be setting that standard and showing the world that Canada’s takes these things very seriously.”

• Email: rtumilty@postmedia.com | Twitter: ryantumilty

Governments have done "very little" to address climate change says head of zero-carbon development at global cities network

Piazzale Loreto in Milan will turn a traffic hub into a green square

Marcus Fairs | 14 hours ago

City leaders are doing more to eliminate global carbon emissions than national governments, according to Hélène Chartier of international network C40 Cities.

Chartier, whose organisation is coordinating the climate strategies of almost 100 cities around the world, said that politicians have made "very, very little" progress on climate since the 2015 Paris Agreement.

"Cities have been really leaders, especially when the nations were stuck with Trump," said Chartier, who is head of zero-carbon development at C40 Cities.

Former US president Trump was a climate sceptic who pulled his nation out of the landmark Paris Agreement, which committed signatories to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures.

C40 Cities is a network of megacities addressing climate change

"It was very inspiring to see the US mayors really accelerate their climate action while Trump was withdrawing the US from the Paris Agreement," added Chartier, who previously worked in the office of visionary Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo.

"Without nations, it's going to be not possible [to reach net-zero] but at least mayors can pave the way." The USA has since rejoined the Paris Agreement under new president Joe Biden.

"Sometimes urban areas are more progressive so they feel that they have more operational capacity," she added. "They have more support from their residents to accelerate the transition and help nations to go in the right direction."

Top image: the Piazzale Loreto development is a Reinventing Cities winner. Above: Hélène Chartier

C40 Cities is "a network of the world's megacities committed to addressing climate change". It now has 97 member cities, which together represent over 700 million people and make up one-quarter of the global economy.

Members, which include London, Shanghai, São Paulo and Lagos, pledge to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement, which involve halving emissions by 2030 and eliminating them altogether by 2050.

National governments who signed the Paris Agreement will meet in November at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow to assess progress. But cities are outpacing nations in the race to decarbonise, Chartier said. "All our cities align their strategy to reach net-zero by 2050," she said. "That's their objective."

Related story
Virtual pavilion seeks projects that showcase zero-carbon architecture at COP26 climate conference

Among activities coordinated by C40 Cities is the Reinventing Cities competition, which seeks urban developments that strive for net-zero emissions. This means they emit no greenhouse gases into the atmosphere either as embodied carbon during their construction or as operational carbon during their use.

The first tranche of the 49 winning projects from the inaugural competition are about to go on site in cities including Milan, Oslo, Paris and Reykjavik.

Achieving zero emissions in operation at these projects is relatively straightforward since the bulk of energy needs can be provided by renewable sources, Chartier said. However, eliminating embodied emissions generated by materials supply chains and the construction process is "impossible," according to Chartier.

The only way to negate these emissions is via offsetting. "Reaching net-zero on embodied, you cannot do it without offsets," Chartier said. "It's totally impossible. So the question is really to push them to reduce embodied carbon to the maximum and then to offset the last part."

"Each team is really free to develop their own offsetting strategy but the most important thing is to reach net-zero operational emissions, minimise embodied emissions and offset the rest with a good offsetting system."

Opinions on offsetting schemes vary

There is disagreement over what constitutes a "good" offsetting scheme that is compatible with the concept of a net-zero building, for which there is no internationally agreed standard.

The United Nations' Race to Zero campaign defines net-zero as meaning no carbon is added to the atmosphere either directly or indirectly over the entire lifecycle, which includes materials used in a project and emissions caused by customers using a product, service or building.

Where emissions cannot be eliminated, they can be offset. But Race to Zero also states that offsetting schemes must directly capture carbon from the atmosphere, for example via biomass or direct air capture technology. Schemes that reduce or defer emissions, for example by encouraging people to switch to renewable energy or by capturing industrial carbon emissions, do not count.

Related story
Urban developments that "strive for zero carbon" to start on site in Milan, Paris, Reykjavik and Oslo

Winning projects in the Reinventing Cities competition take a variety of approaches to offsetting, although Chartier said that entrants were encouraged to "go for local offsets and not just buy them."

Not all of the approaches are compatible with Race to Zero standards. The Porte de Montreuil project, designed by Atelier Georges, Tatiana Bilbao Estudio, Serie Architects and Bond Society, will be powered by an on-site geothermal power plant and photovoltaics. The L'Innesto project in Milan by Barreca & LA Varra will feature a district heat network.

The next challenge for cities, according to Chartier, is to address emissions generated by people who live in carbon-neutral developments.

"There is one path of emissions that we have to include in the strategy a little bit more," she said. "That is consumption-based emissions." This third category of emissions, after embodied carbon and operational carbon, covers emissions caused by things such as food, transport and consumption of goods

The L'Innesto project by Barreca & LA Varra in Milan will have a heat system powered by renewable sources

While good progress has been made on understanding and tackling embodied and operational carbon, consumption-based emissions have been overlooked, Chartier feels.

Architects have a big role to play in reducing them, she said. "I think architects have a very important role because they don't just build a building," she explained. "They build a place where people will live."

"If you have segregation of waste, if you have composting, if you have a zero-waste restaurant, if you have parking for bikes you will accelerate your transition to net-zero.

"But if you don't provide access to these types of amenities and services, it's going to be very complicated for people. Consumption-based emissions are really something that we need to integrate into our systems and in the way we count emissions."

Despite heel-dragging by politicians, Chartier feels that there is enough momentum among city leaders, businesses and the public to force change. "The good thing is that now everybody – the businesses and the citizens – is ready to make the change," she said. "We just need to help them to make this possible."

Carbon revolution

This article is part of Dezeen's carbon revolution series, which explores how this miracle material could be removed from the atmosphere and put to use on earth. Read all the content at: www.dezeen.com/carbon.

The sky photograph used in the carbon revolution graphic is by Taylor van Riper via Unsplash.
Read more:
Carbon revolution
Architecture
Cities
Climate change
C40 Cities

More unmarked graves discovered in British Columbia at a former indigenous residential school known as 'Canada's Alcatraz'

More than 160 undocumented and unmarked graves were discovered on Penelakut Island, B.C.

Kuper Island Residential School was open for nearly 100 years on the remote island, and was referred to as Alcatraz because its location made escape nearly impossible.

By Paula Newton, CNN
Tue July 13, 2021

(CNN)The Penelakut Tribe in British Columbia announced Monday that it had found more than 160 "undocumented and unmarked' graves in the province's Southern Gulf Islands, once home to the Kuper Island Residential School.

The latest grim discovery follows other similar findings in British Columbia as well as in the province of Saskatchewan.

Hundreds of unmarked graves have been discovered in recent weeks and dozens of investigations, many using ground-penetrating radar, continue on the grounds of former residential schools across the country.

"It is impossible to get over acts of genocide and human rights violations. Healing is an ongoing process, and sometimes it goes well, and sometimes we lose more people because the burden is too great. We are at another point in time where we must face the trauma because of these acts of genocide. Each time we do, it is possible to heal a little more," the Penelakut Tribe said in a statement posted by the neighboring Cowichan Tribes on its Facebook page.

Their children vanished at an indigenous boarding school. This tribe is bringing them home after 140 years

The Penelakut Tribe confirmed the contents of the statement to CNN, but has not yet responded to a request for comment.

In a 1997 documentary posted on YouTube and produced with funding from the federal government, survivors of the Kuper Industrial School describe it as "Canada's Alcatraz."
Survivors from the island school say some children died after taking to the water in whatever they could find to try to escape the abuse they suffered at the school.

The statement, on behalf of Penelakut Tribe Chief Joan Brown and council members, did not say whether ground-penetrating radar was used to uncover the unmarked graves or whether they contained the remains of children or adults.

The Kuper Island Residential School in British Columbia is pictured
in this June 19, 1941, archive photo.

"We understand that many of our brothers and sisters from our neighboring communities attended the Kuper Island Industrial School. We also recognize with a tremendous amount of grief and loss, that too many did not return home," the tribe said in the statement.

The Penelakut Tribe announced to neighboring tribes and communities that it would be holding "healing sessions" and a march for the children "lost" in the coming weeks. The school operated from the late 19th century until it was closed in 1975.

The Canadian government has said that it would fund more investigations into unmarked graves in indigenous communities across the country, but it has also faced criticism for not doing so sooner, as outlined by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in its 2015 report.

"My heart breaks for the Penelakut Tribe and for all indigenous communities across Canada. I recognize these findings only deepen the pain that families, survivors and all indigenous peoples and communities are already feeling and that they reaffirm a truth that they have long known. To members of the Penelakut Tribe, we are here for you," said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a virtual news conference in Ottawa on Tuesday.

The shocking abuse as detailed by victims has been well documented for decades but this latest discovery deepens a national reckoning on unmarked graves and why the deaths were undocumented for so long.

The Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation in B.C., which recently disclosed that it had found at least 215 unmarked graves on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, said it would announce more details about its findings Thursday.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission reported that more than 4,000 indigenous children in residential schools died either from neglect or abuse.

Emily Murphy statue in Edmonton defaced with red paint

By Caley Ramsay Global News

Posted July 13, 2021 1:40 pm

Updated July 13, 2021 5:31 pm

The Emily Murphy statue in Edmonton defaced with red paint and the word "racist" Tuesday, July 13, 2021. Global News

A statue of Emily Murphy in Edmonton’s river valley has been defaced with red paint.

Red paint covered the Emily Murphy statue Tuesday morning and the word “racist” was written on the plaque on its base.

Murphy was one of the Famous Five behind the Persons Case, a campaign to have women declared persons in the eyes of British law. However, her views on immigration and eugenics have been criticized as racist and elitist.

“Emily Murphy, along with all the Famous Five and most social reformers of the period, ascribed to the philosophy of eugenics; this idea that there was superiority of the races and, in particular, people of northern European Christian decent were superior,” explained Rebecca Sullivan, a professor in the Gender and Sexual Studies program at the University of Calgary.

“They tried all different kinds of ways to prove that they were superior. I’m sure many of you have heard about the idea of being high brow versus low brow — that actually comes from physically measuring the forehead with calipers to prove that white northern European-decent people had higher foreheads because they had bigger brains.”

Sullivan said using the word racist to describe Murphy “is not inaccurate,” pointing to a publication called The Black Candle. Under the pseudonym Janey Canuck, Sullivan said Murphy wrote the piece which focuses on the drug trade and criminalization of illegal drugs.

Sullivan said the piece “singles out in particular Chinese, Greek… and of course African immigrants, were all targeted in this piece as genetically inferior and therefore more susceptible to vice.”

“It framed it all around moral superiority, and intellectual inferiority, like the inability of racialized immigrants and First Nations to withstand these vices and that they were bringing the rot into Canadian society — meaning white Christian society, fair-complexioned.

“There’s no two ways to read The Black Candle. It’s just full-blown racist.”
CLICK TO SHARE QUOTE ON TWITTER: "THERE'S NO TWO WAYS TO READ <EM>THE BLACK CANDLE</EM>. IT'S JUST FULL-BLOWN RACIST."

HER MOST INFAMOUS BOOK WAS THE BLACK CANDLE
ABOUT THE WHITE SLAVE TRADE, RUN BY ORIENTALS WHO IMPORTED OPIUM AND MARIJUANA. AS A RESULT SHE INTRODUCED THE NARCOTICS ACT IN CANADA.

Sullivan said removing the statue will not erase history and she would like to see larger conversations around figures like Murphy.

“What I want to do with the history of Emily Murphy is understand it in a much more comprehensive and complex manner,” she said.

“Does that mean that maybe we stop for a while with statues and parks being named after people who caused a lot of harm? Sure. Will we continue to teach Emily Murphy in the classroom? I will. Nobody is saying don’t teach Emily Murphy. Nobody is saying don’t teach the Famous Five or the Persons Case. We’re saying teach it better.”

Murphy was born on March 4, 1868 in Cookstown, Ont., and died in Edmonton on Oct. 27, 1933.

Late Tuesday afternoon, city manager Andre Corbould issued a statement about the statue being vandalized and acknowledged “the strong emotions and polarizing opinions that arise when we consider the attitudes and beliefs of historical figures whose actions no longer reflect our modern ideas and values.”

“We are listening to these concerns and are taking steps to determine how to handle these issues through our work in revising our Naming Committee Bylaw under City Policy C509B, and our Statuary Policy C459,” he said. “But this type of work takes time and must include the voices of all Edmontonians, not just those who believe they can solve such concerns through damage or destruction.

“Criminal acts will not drive city policy.”

Corbould said while attitudes and values evolve over time, government’s must keep pace, but also noted “that can’t happen overnight.”

“We ask for people’s understanding and patience so that the solutions we develop reflect our broader society,” he said.

“Vandalism solves nothing. It destroys property, it destroys the hard work of the artist who created the monument or statue and it causes greater anger and frustration.”

In a statement, the City of Edmonton also said the naming and the potential renaming of any park or place is an in-depth process that requires “engagement, research and community buy-in.”

Names can be submitted by residents, organizations, community leagues, developers and city departments.

The city is undertaking a review of the policy that outlines what kind of statues and monuments can be erected in the city. It was last updated in 1990.

“Current plans are for an amendment of the policy and procedures in 2022 to better reflect the current environment and city policy frameworks like the diversity and inclusion policy and the Indigenous framework,” the statement read.

Part of the revised policy will include procedures for dealing with complaints or concerns about specific statues or monuments. The public will be consulted during the process, the city said.

The Edmonton Arts Council was responsible for the cleanup of the statue, which was completed by Tuesday afternoon. The EAC estimates the cleanup cost about $1,200.

The statue is located in Emily Murphy Park on the south bank of the North Saskatchewan River.

It’s now known exactly when the statue was defaced. A spokesperson with the Edmonton Police Service said Tuesday afternoon that she could not confirm whether the incident was reported to police.

– With files from Phil Heidenreich, Global News and Kirby Bourne, 630 CHED

Emily Murphy statue splashed with red

paint, comes weeks after Churchill statue

vandalized in same fashion

Author of the article:Nicole Bergot
Publishing date:Jul 13, 2021 •

The statue of Emily Murphy at the entrance to Emily Murphy Park in Edmonton was vandalized with red paint on Tuesday July 13, 2021. PHOTO BY LARRY WONG

The statue of Emily Murphy — one of the ‘Famous Five’ who in 1927 fought to have women declared as ‘persons’ — was found splashed with red paint Tuesday morning.

The statue in Emily Murphy Park was discovered vandalized with red paint, the word ‘racist’ also written in red, on Tuesday, weeks after the downtown statue of Sir Winston Churchill was slopped with red paint.

The Edmonton Arts Council had the Emily Murphy statue cleaned within two hours at a cost of roughly $1,200. The council also cleaned up the Churchill statue last month.

It was in August of 1927 that Emily Murphy invited four women — Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby, Louise McKinney and Henrietta Muir Edwards — to her house in Garneau. There, they drafted and signed a letter to the governor general of Canada, asking the Supreme Court to rule on whether women could legally be appointed to the Canadian Senate.

That letter launched the Persons Case, the lawsuit that determined, once and for all, that women in Canada were “persons” under the law, with an equal right to hold political office.

Murphy was a journalist, a novelist, a jurist, a mother, and a feminist crusader. But she was also racist, wanting to see Canada develop as a white, Anglo-Saxon country, and while she was sympathetic to the plight of Indigenous Canadians, she feared immigration was debasing the country.

In her writings, she attacked pretty much everyone: French-Canadians, Germans, Ukrainians, Jews, Greeks, as well as “Assyrians,” “Negroes,” “Chinamen” and “Hindus.”

“It sometimes seems as if the white race lacks both the physical and moral stamina to protect itself, and that maybe the black and yellow races may yet obtain the ascendancy,” she wrote.

Murphy was also a vocal proponent of the eugenics movement, and of Alberta’s Sexual Sterilization Act: “We protect the public against diseased and distempered cattle,” she wrote. “We should similarly protect them against the offal of humanity.”

Spokeswoman Mary-Ann Thurber said the city has not received any requests to remove the Emily Murphy statue or rename Emily Murphy Park.

“Edmontonians are encouraged to work with the City to discuss their concerns about place names or statues. Vandalism is not the answer to the challenging questions our society now faces,” she said in a statement.

The Edmonton Arts Council, on June 17, was called in to help clean up the Churchill vandalism.

Churchill, who served as prime minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955, is seen as a national hero for his leadership during the Second World War but held many views that would be deemed racist.

Other statues of Churchill have been vandalized before, most notably the one in Parliament Square in London, which has been defaced several times.

Elisebeth Checkel, the president of the Sir Winston Churchill Society of Edmonton, said at the time Churchill has a complicated legacy and believes it is important to look at him in a balanced way.

“If we look at any historical figure, we will find the same thing,” Checkel said. “If we look at almost any person from the 1880s, we would find their views were if not repugnant to us nowadays, we would find they were disagreeable, for sure. If you look at Churchill’s later actions and life as he grew, as we all hope to do, his views did change. The balance should be celebrated because without Churchill we would not even have the right to protest in this country.”

In the wake of the Churchill vandalism, Mayor Don Iveson said in a statement that he welcomes healthy debate on legacies in society.

“I know historical monuments and sculptures, here and elsewhere, are at the heart of an emotional debate regarding what legacies and stories we venerate as a society,” he said last month. “The city welcomes healthy debate and discussion on issues of inclusiveness, and how we go about addressing historical wrongdoings and inequities like systemic racism.

“However, I believe there are more productive ways to move society along towards a more inclusive and uplifting future than vandalizing city property,” the mayor added.

Iveson said the city’s naming committee is currently reviewing and revising policy and a report is coming back to city council on Aug. 24.

— With files from Kellen Taniguchi and Postmedia News

Gen Z, millennials playing a significant part in the Great Resignation trend

One-third of employed generation Z and millennial professionals polled reported plans to pursue a new job

THE CANADIAN PRESS
Jul. 13, 2021

Vanessa Staniforth is shown in the garden at her home in Ottawa, on Friday, July 9, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

As the COVID-19 pandemic dragged on over the past 16 months, Vanessa Staniforth experienced both burnout and career stagnation in her job.

“I started to feel stuck,” said the 30-year-old Ottawa-based software developer. “There weren’t many opportunities to step out of daily work to expand skills. I had to commit to learning new skills outside of work to satisfy that desire and gain the confidence to even apply for other positions.”

Staniforth, who left her job in April to start a career in a new industry, says she believes the pandemic gave many people a chance to reflect on their work life.

“People are asking themselves: ‘Is this really where I want to be? Is this the right direction for me?’” she said.

Her experience is part of a phenomenon being dubbed the Great Resignation, a wave of workers in Canada and the U.S. who are leaving their jobs, and younger Canadians are contributing to the trend.

According to a recent survey in Canada from global staffing firm Robert Half, 33 per cent of employed generation Z and millennial professionals polled reported plans to pursue a new job. The survey revealed that gen Z mostly wants a change so they can earn a higher salary (40 per cent) while millennials are struggling with low morale (31 per cent).

Staniforth’s former employer was in talks to bring employees back to the office eventually, either full time or with a hybrid work model, but her preference was to remain working from home. She was also looking for a company that could maintain a good company culture for remote workers.

What stood out to Staniforth about her new employer, aside from a fully remote work environment, was that the company promotes diversity and inclusion, offers continuous learning opportunities, celebrates and recognizes good work and encourages rest among its employees.

The position also offered other perks, including a higher salary, flexible time off, restricted stock units, a generous yearly “lifestyle” spending allowance and supplemented parental leave.

Yiorgos Boudouris, a self-employed career coach and head of recruitment at Toronto-based software company Forma AI, said he is constantly having conversations with young professionals who are anxious about their employers’ return-to-office policies.

“I think the pressure is building for folks in that they’re wondering, ‘What will things look like for me and my role once life moves back into some form of normalcy?’” Boudouris said.

With the rise of remote work, many people are also quitting right now because they have the option to work for companies that they never thought possible, Boudouris added. As a result, employers are feeling the pressure to retain employees.

“Employers are going to have to be accommodating to employee needs. That’s why I think if you’re employed right now and there might be some things that you hope to see evolve in your workplace, that accommodation factor might be greater because it’s going to be really hard to find replacements for all the folks who have thoughts about leaving. That retention piece is where I think employees have a lot of power,” he said.

Boudouris’ advice for young professionals is to remind employers about the level of impact that they’ve had and will continue to have on the organization, and explain how certain incremental changes, such as introducing hybrid work options, flexible paid time off, flexible working hours, and employee-directed budgets that support learning and growth, will make them perform even better in their role.

That said, it’s not always worth asking for a change if you’re ready to go.

“When you wake up in the morning, is there a level of enthusiasm for starting your work? And, when you close your laptop that night, do you look back at the day and think it was a good day, or do you think you misplaced your time?” Boudouris said.

“If you’re answering those questions and it’s not looking like you’re deriving satisfaction for what you’ve done that day, then I think it probably tells you that either working for that organization or doing the type of work that you’re doing isn’t what you should be spending your time on.”

Leah Golob, The Canadian Press

Some sea-level rise solutions may exacerbate coastal flooding
By
Brooks Hays

Researchers say that directing flood waters to less vulnerable land, rather than building taller seawalls, in places like the San Francisco Bay could help protect shorelines more effectively. File Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI | License Photo

July 12 (UPI) -- Some strategies for combating sea-level rise can have unintended consequences, worsening flood conditions in neighboring cities, towns and neighborhoods, according to a new study.

For example, new research -- published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences -- seawalls along the San Francisco Bay shoreline could exacerbate flood damages across the region.

In coastal bay communities like San Francisco, researchers suggest it may be best to direct flood waters to less vulnerable land, rather than build defenses.

"It's not practical to keep building taller and taller seawalls to hold back the ocean," senior study author Anne Guerry said in a press release.

"Our goal was to show how the threat of sea-level rise is interconnected with the whole social-ecological system of the Bay Area. Communities need to coordinate their approaches to sea-level rise adaptation so we can find solutions that are best for the whole bay," said Guerry, chief strategy officer and lead scientist at the Stanford Natural Capital Project.

Models predict sea levels across the San Francisco Bay will rise some seven feet by the end of the century, putting millions of people and hundreds of billions of dollars worth of real estate and infrastructure at risk.

To help city leaders and policy makers develop effective sea-level rise mitigation plans, researchers at Stanford deployed complex mathematic models to simulate how seawall construction would influence the flow of floodwaters in the Bay Area.

RELATED Rising seas, lunar wobble to increase U.S. coastal flooding in 2030s, NASA says

The models showed that should seawalls be built along the San Jose shoreline, communities throughout the region, from Napa to Redwood City, would suffer an additional $723 million in flood damage after just a single high tide.

According to the authors of the new study, seawalls can impede the movement of important bird and fish species. Seawalls can also degrade wetlands, which store carbon and remove pollutants for local waterways.

"You may be protecting your immediate community, but you may be creating serious costs and damages for your neighbors," study co-author Robert Griffin said in the press release.

RELATED Forecast predicts global increase in coastal overtopping

"When it comes to current sea-level rise planning, there's some incomplete cost-benefit accounting going on," said Griffin, an economist at the Natural Capital Project.

Researchers with the Natural Capital Project found communities could avoid excess flood damages by directing floodwaters toward overflow zones such as the Napa-Sonoma shoreline.

Currently, the shoreline is home to Highway 37. Local decision makers are considering whether to build a taller embankment or construct a causeway that would raise the road while allowing excess water to flow inland.

Models suggest an embankment would worsen flooding in bayside communities, while allowing the Napa-Sonoma shoreline to serve as a strategic flood area could prevent millions of dollars in flood damage.

"It's critical to consider the regional impacts of local actions," said lead author Michelle Hummel, assistant professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. "Studies like ours can identify actions that will have large impacts, either positive or negative, on the rest of the bay and help to inform decisions about how to manage the shoreline."

Strategic flooding won't work everywhere, so decision makers considering the unorthodox approach must work with experts to ensure there are sufficient valleys and flood plains that can serve as overflow zones.

Policy makers must also think about how different mitigation strategies will affect various communities.

The authors of the latest study suggest local leaders must work with demographers to ensure flood control efforts don't negatively impact the most vulnerable communities -- neighborhoods already subject to environmental inequities.

As such, flood mitigation planning should be coordinated with broader efforts to build just and sustainable cities.

Moving forward, researchers with the Natural Capital Project plan to model the effects of sea-level rise adaptations on infrastructure, employment and community dynamics.

"Our plans should be as interconnected as our ecosystems," said Guerry.

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Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Emily Murphy statue in Edmonton defaced with red paint

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