ARCTIC

Livelihoods and nature at risk as Lapland warms quickly, irrevocably

According to the Finnish Environment Institute (Syke), many species could disappear as temperatures rise over the next few decades.

Temperatures in Inari this last week of September have peaked above 15 degrees Celsius. Photo: Thomas Nilsen

By YLE News

September 29, 2023

The average annual temperature in Finnish Lapland may rise by many degrees within one generation, with a dramatic impact on nature and local livelihoods, the Finnish Environment Institute (Syke) warned on Wednesday.

If the growth of greenhouse gases is not curbed, temperatures in Lapland could rise by almost seven degrees Celsius over the next 50 years, compared to pre-industrial times.

According to Syke predictions, Lapland will warm by up to 2–3 degrees from the current state, i.e. 4–5 degrees compared to pre-industrial times, over the next half century based on currently decided climate measures. The estimate is based on a long-term analysis of temperatures in the Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian parts of Lapland.

Compared to pre-industrial times, Lapland has already warmed by about two degrees.

“Lapland’s winters are starting later and becoming milder, causing difficulties for many livelihoods, such as reindeer husbandry, nature tourism and construction. The shift is estimated to take place during the span of one human generation,” predicts Syke.

According to the analysis, as the temperature rises, natural habitats change and disappear when, for example, palsa mires and permafrost melt. Open areas become bushy and grassy as the Arctic nature becomes greener.

More northerly animal species will become endangered, and some may disappear completely. Almost 40 percent of open-tundra species are already endangered.

The plight of these species is further aggravated by the darkening and eutrophication of the waters and the spread of newcomer and alien species such as fox, humpback (pink) salmon and giant hogweed in the area, the institute says.
Stricter laws would help

Even if most countries comply with the emission reduction targets of the Paris Climate Agreement to a reasonable extent, the temperature in the northwestern region known as Fell Lapland will rise by a further 2-3 degrees in the next 50 years, says Syke.

“If the growth of greenhouse gases is not curbed at all, at worst the temperature in Lapland may rise by almost seven degrees compared to pre-industrial times,” Syke forecasts.

However, according to the institute, the temperature increase could be limited to 3–4 degrees if all countries in the world introduce new, strict and comprehensive restrictions on energy production, transport, construction, food production and consumption.

Syke coordinated the analysis in partnership with the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Parks & Wildlife Finland, the University of Umeå, as well as several other Nordic research institutes and universities.

This story is posted on the Barents Observer as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.

ARCTIC

Russian Nuclear waste ship makes unprecedented port call at Novaya Zemlya

Photo: Thomas Nilsen

"I am deeply worried if Russia has started to move nuclear waste from the Kola Peninsula to the Arctic archipelago," says Frederic Hauge with the Bellona foundation.

By Thomas Nilsen

Barents Observer
September 29, 2023

Last week, the “Rossita” could be seen on ship tracking services as it sailed outside Gremikha, a shutdown submarine base east on the Kola Peninsula. Now, the specially designed ship is moored at the pier in Severny, a military town on the shores of the Matochkin Strait diving the northern and southern islands of Novaya Zemlya

This Sentinel image from Thursday, September 28, shows that winter has arrived at Novaya Zemlya. Graphics by Barents Observer

Severny is the settlement serving Russia’s nuclear weapons tests, nowadays in the form of sub-critical experiments taking place deep inside tunnels in the permafrost mountains. The last real detonation of a nuclear warhead was on October 24, 1990.

The “Rossita” was built in Italy with Italian taxpayers’ money. It was a helping hand from a European nation aimed to transport spent nuclear fuel from the run-down storage site in Andreeva Guba on the shores of the Litsa fjord, a short 60 km from the border with Norway.

Russian and Western officials at the quay in Andreeva Bay as “Rossita” made its first voyage with spent nuclear fuel. Photo: gov-murman.ru


Some 21,000 spent fuel elements from the Soviet Union’s fleet of Cold War submarines were stored. Italy’s contributions were part of a larger international cooperation to assist Russia in securing the lethal highly radioactive waste.

Other contributing nations were Norway, the United Kingdom and Sweden.

The “Rossita” shuttled between Andreeva Bay and Atomflot in Murmansk. From there, the containers with the fuel elements were sent by train to Mayak north of Chelyabinsk where Russia’s reprocessing plant is located.

With Moscow’s all-out war against Ukraine, the Western partners stopped all cooperation with Russia in regard to nuclear waste handling.

For the last 19 months, little information about what happens in Andreeva Bay has reached the public.

What is known is that two of the Northern Fleet’s most potent nuclear-powered submarines, the “Severodvinsk” and the “Kazan” of the Yasen class are moored across the bay at the piers in Nerpicha, part of Zapadnaya Litsa naval base.
“All reasons to monitor”

Frederic Hauge with the Bellona Foundation in Norway will not speculate too much about reasons Russia might have to move nuclear waste to the Arctic archipelago of Novaya Zemlya.

“What we do know is that “Rossita” is specially designed to carry TUK-18 containers modified to hold damaged spent nuclear fuel,” he says.

Frederic Hauge is head of the Bellona Foundation. 

Photo: Thomas Nilsen

Much of the remaining uranium fuel elements in Andreeva Guba are damaged and pose special problems to handle. For that reason, the reprocessing plant in Mayak has been unwilling to receive.

“There are all reasons to monitor what now happens at Novaya Zemlya,” Hauge notes.

His team of nuclear experts in Oslo and Vilnius are now analyzing the limited available information with the hope of understanding what happens.

“A week ago, Rosatom’s larger carrier “Sevmorput” sailed to Novaya Zemlya. We are also told that there have been busy days at Severny and near the tunnels designed for nuclear weapons testing,” Hauge says in a phone interview with the Barents Observer.

“The big unanswered question is if what we now are witnessing is a Russia that brings dangerous nuclear waste to Novaya Zemlya for long-term storage in the permafrost.”

The “Rossita” at Atomflot in Murmansk. This base for maintenance of Russia’s fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers could also serve as a transit-hub for shipping nuclear waste to remote Arctic locations. Photo: Thomas Nilsen

ARCTIC

C2C: An integrated science approach in the changing north



By: Amanda E Poste* and André Frainer* // Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Bodil A Bluhm and Rolf A Ims // UiT The Arctic University of Norway
* Also affiliated with UiT The Arctic University of Norway

Barents Observer

When we hike on a local mountain we move through different types of vegetation, from barren tundra to meadows and forests. We cross mires, hop over streams, walk along lake shores. When we reach the coast, we see rivers meeting the sea and wade to our knees in salt water to look for sea creatures.

On our hike, without noticing, we have already crossed several ecosystems – freshwater, terrestrial, and marine. While the boundaries between these ecosystems are not always very clear, they often have their own management plans and research traditions.

TOP PHOTO
When we hike on a local mountain we move through different types of vegetation, from barren tundra to meadows and forests. Photo: Helge M. Markusson/The Fram Centre

Terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems are all strongly connected, yet climate change research and environmental management often ignore such cross-ecosystem linkages and impacts. Given the sweeping nature of industrial impacts on the planet, from local-scale effects on soil and drinking water, to global-scale effects on biodiversity and climate, there is a pressing need for a more holistic understanding and management of socio-ecological systems. This type of holistic, integrated understanding requires improved insight into how global change is likely to impact cross-ecosystem connectivity and links between nature and society at the landscape scale – from catchment to coast (C2C).

C2C Goals

The goal of the C2C research programme is to improve our understanding of how terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems are linked, and how we can improve their integrated management. In C2C, we take an integrated approach across ecosystem boundaries, from catchment to coast, in three key study areas: Isfjorden/ Adventdalen in Svalbard, and Målselv/Malangen and Varanger/Tana, both in northern Norway.

In these case study regions, C2C will build understanding about climate change impacts “from catchment to coast” and will contribute much-needed knowledge in support of the development of more holistic integrated ecosystem-based management plans in the case regions. Our ambition is that the work in C2C can also serve as model for other areas in northern Norway and other Arctic regions.
Mission

C2C brings together natural and social scientists and stakeholders to deliver new knowledge related to cross-ecosystem linkages among terrestrial, aquatic, and coastal marine ecosystems, and the importance of these linkages for understanding, managing, and mitigating climate change impacts in the Norwegian north (including Svalbard).

Case studies capture many contexts

The plume of Målselva flowing towards the sea is clearly visible as lighter water. Photo: Amanda Poste / Norwegian Institute for Nature Research

At the core of C2C is a set of case studies in northern Norway and Svalbard, where we carry out coordinated and cohesive research across ecosystem and disciplinary boundaries and engage with key local and regional actors. In the case studies, we link and synthesise existing data, field observations and experiments, local knowledge, climate predictions, and current management approaches. The selected sites cover a range of climate, ecological, social, and governance contexts, and capture a broad range of important cross-ecosystem interactions.

For example, case study sites in northern Norway provide opportunities for relevant cross-ecosystem research related to the effect of vegetation change (e.g. greening, browning, shrubification); effects of pink salmon on freshwater and terrestrial nutrient availability and freshwater invertebrate community structure; the magnitude, timing, and impact of terrestrial carbon and nutrients transported from rivers to fjords; and the effects of climate change on floods, droughts, and snow cover extent.

Interdisciplinary team

C2C brings together over seventy researchers from twelve Fram Centre institutes: together, they provide expertise related to governance and management; climate science; terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecology; socio-ecological systems; hydrology; biogeochemistry; anthropology; geomorphology; environmental monitoring; remote sensing; and outreach. C2C is organised in a work package structure that takes advantage of this expertise and ensures a connection across disciplines. In addition to bringing together new constellations of researchers across disciplines and ecosystems, C2C also takes advantage of ongoing research, existing infrastructure, and monitoring time series in the partner institutes, including data and infrastructure developed through the previous Fram Centre flagships.

Work in progress – 2022 to 2026

C2C has started by working with key stakeholders to identify knowledge gaps and prioritise research needs when addressing cross-ecosystem linkages in northern Norway under climate change (WP1). This important step ensures that different perspectives can be heard and contribute to the planning of new research themes in C2C. Other ongoing activities include the establishment of climate models for better detecting changes in snow cover, seasonality, and vegetation (WP2), analyses of the flux and fate of carbon and nutrients from rivers to the sea (WP3), the interplay between primary producers and consumers across ecosystems (WP4), the assessment of management plans for northern Norway (WP5), and integration and synthesis of the work happening across C2C (WP6).

C2C

In C2C we define cross-ecosystem linkages as movement of water and material (including organisms) across terrestrial–freshwater–marine ecosystem boundaries. Cross-ecosystem impacts occur when changes in one ecosystem have effects that cross over ecosystem boundaries (e.g. impacts of terrestrial climate and vegetation change on freshwater and coastal water quality, impacts of changing stream invertebrate communities on the types and quantities of insects that cross over into terrestrial food webs).

This story was first published by the Fram Forum

ARCTIC

No signs of any imminent nuclear tests at Novaya Zemlya

Amid dark rhetoric from the Kremlin, lawmakers and propagandists with threats to abandon the test ban treaty, there are hardly any visible indications at Russia’s Arctic test site substantiating ongoing preparations to resume nuclear tests.

Zone B nuclear test site. The smaller images of the tunnels are all in the valleys south and west of Severnaya near the Matochkin Strait. Image illustration by the Barents Observer based on Google Earth and Earthcache/Skywatch/Bellona

By

Thomas Nilsen

Barents Observer

October 07, 2023

Satellite images that the Barents Observer has studied together with the Norwegian-based Bellona Foundation this summer and autumn show building activities at Severny, the settlement supporting Russia’s only active polygon for testing of nuclear weapons materials. The buildings, however, can’t directly be tied to a change in policy towards real tests of nuclear warheads.

There is no evidence supporting that the tunnels in the valleys south and west of Severny are being prepared for real nuclear detonations.

The question is important because the call for resumption has been voiced loudly in recent propaganda.

This week in short:Physicist Mikhail Kovalchuk, head of the Kurchatov Institute and a near ally of Putin, said Russia should carry out nuclear weapon tests “at least once” at Novaya Zemlya to scare the West.
Chief propagandist, RT’s editor Margarita Simonyan, proposed detonating a thermonuclear device “somewhere over Siberia” to knock out all electronic devices and satellites as a “painful” message to the West.
Civil defense forces held a nuclear war drill across all regions of Russia to test rescue workers’s ability to evacuate large number of people affected by radiation fall-out. The exercise scenario foresaw a massive nuclear attack from the West.
In his speech to the annual Valdai Discussion Club, the Russian dictator could not rule out the possibility that the country could withdraw from the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), although he underlined that he was “not sure if we need to carry out nuclear tests or not.”
Putin used the Valdai stage to once again say Russia had tested with success the nuclear-powered Burevestnik missile. It was, however, unclear if the test he referred to was this autumn or at a previous time.
Chairman of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, said the parliament could swiftly consider a possible need to revoke Russia’s ratification of the CTBT.

International media, among them CNN, in September reported about the ongoing construction works at Severnaya and linked two new buildings to a possible resumption of nuclear testing. The buildings are located between the helipad and the houses for the personnel working at the base.

The buildings could also be a replacement for older facilities from Soviet times as part of Russia’s ongoing military modernization of all Arctic bases.

In August, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu visited the constructions together with Rosatom boss Aleksei Likahsev. It is Rosatom that is in charge of developing and maintaining Russia’s nuclear weapons.

There are more than 30 tunnels into the permafrost mountains at the northern test range. Most of them were used for underground nuclear testing in the 26-year period following the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty banning nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, in outer space and underwater.

Three of the areas, nearest to Severny, are of special interest. Two of them are entirely fenced off with barbed wire and access gate control, while the third is likely home to Russia’s ongoing program for sub-critical tests.

Although the roads deeper into the valley are maintained and trucks periodically can be seen at some locations, there are no changes, or hint of new tunnel constructions in recent months.

“We haven’t seen activities near any of the tunnels that indicate more than the continuation of the ongoing sub-critical tests program,” says Frederic Hauge, head of the Bellona Foundation.

Bellona has monitored the nuclear developments in Russia’s northwest all since the group sailed its boat MS Genius to the waters outside Novaya Zemlya in 1990, protesting the Soviet Union’s nuclear testings.

The final multiple nuclear device test took place in Zone B at Novaya Zemlya on October 24, 1990.

Bellona is currently making an analysis of all available information about Rosatom’s weapons programs carried out at Novaya Zemlya. That be the sub-critical testings, possible preparations for real nuclear testings, and the ongoing test program for the nuclear-powered Burevestnik missile at the Pankovo field some 30 kilometers south of the Matochkin Strait.
Post-Soviet tunnels

Last modification of a tunnel entrance was according to the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies made in 2016, at the D-11 area, about 14 kilometers southeast of Severny. This tunnel was first prepared for possible nuclear tests in the early 2000s, according to a paper by Science and Global Security.

Work at the tunnel was resumed in 2016 and continued at least until the last Google Earth image from the area was updated in October 2021. If Russia later chooses to blow a nuke, it will most likely take place here.

This October 2021 satellite image shows trucks and work at the tunnel that most likely will be used if the Kremlin changes its position and withdraw Russia from the CTBT. Photo: Google Earth

“We still think a full-scale nuclear test is unlikely, but what worries us is all the rhetorics in recent days. One thing might take the other, and what is words today could be reality tomorrow,” Frederic Hauge says.

Bellona’s study, comparing satellite images of the tunnels from September and early October this year with images from a few years back, will be published in the near future.

In his Sochi speech for the Valdai Club, Putin said: “I listen to calls to start testing nuclear weapons, to return to testing.”

“I’m not ready to say whether we really need to conduct tests or not,” Putin said and let the uncertainty trigger further speculations.
Expects responsibility

In Norway, the news that Russia is considering revoking its ratification of the test ban treaty is met with deep concern.

“It would be very negative for the work on nuclear disarmament if Russia were to choose to withdraw from the agreement,” said Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt. “We expect that Russia is aware of its responsibility.”

Norway’s northeastern corner is only 900 kilometers away from the test site at Novaya Zemlya and suffered massive fallout of radiation from the days when the Soviet Union detonated thermonuclear weapons in the atmosphere in the late 1950s, and early 1960s.

Although the tests would take place inside a mountain, the rock formations at Novaya Zemlya have previously been proven to crack and release radioactivity into the atmosphere. Like the 1987 test in a tunnel at Moiseev Mountain when five nuclear devices with a total yield of 150 kilotons were detonated.

Severnaya: Move the slider to see the appearance of the new 200-meter-long building from 2022 to 2023.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Baltimore director predicts activists will lean into history for radical change


Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor (Ian West/PA)

By Ellie Iorizzo and Jess Rawnsley, PA

Sun 8 Oct 2023 at 05:25

Irish director Joe Lawlor said his film Baltimore – about heiress-turned-IRA mastermind Rose Dugdale – has modern connotations with groups such as Extinction Rebellion UK and Just Stop Oil who he suggests will become “more militant” in time.

The film from Lawlor and his wife Christine Molloy focuses on the aftermath of the art heist considered to be the largest in history by former debutante Rose in the name of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Actress Imogen Poots plays the ringleader of the 1974 heist at the private estate Russborough House in Ireland’s County Wicklow, where the group stole 19 priceless paintings.

Imogen Poots (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Speaking about the character, Lawlor told the PA news agency at the London Film Festival: “If I think about Extinction Rebellion or Just Stop Oil, I can easily see how people, particularly around the climate, will incrementally become more and more militant.

“I think that’s going to be at the sharp end of action, because it really isn’t changing as fast as it should, so don’t be surprised if people lean into history in the 60s and 70s, it can still instruct and help people to realise that we may well be and are already running out of time.

“It may well be that radical action is the only thing that’s going to really focus people’s attention.

“So I do think (the film) speaks to today, very loudly and very clearly, we have lost that gear. But that gear is being found again, and there was a real lack of it.

“But I think people will become more and more frustrated.”

Molloy said that Rose Dugdale’s actions came out of “something very principled”.

“When Rose Dugdale began her involvement with the IRA, it began as a civil rights movement to improve the lives of the Catholic community in Northern Ireland,” the director said.

“She put her money where her mouth was – today it can be seen in people who are taking huge personal risks for what they believe in.

The couple said that although they could have had the opportunity to meet Rose, who they believe is in a nursing home in Dublin, they didn’t want the film to become a biopic.

“She has no idea this film has been made, she’ll hear about it soon enough I imagine,” Lawlor said.

“We were interested in the ideas around her, and the kind of the drama around her.

“But we weren’t so interested in getting to know her as an actual person and getting distracted by too much story.”

Molloy said the inspiration for the film was born as Rose’s role in the heist “was completely forgotten about” as the focus shifted to Irish criminal Martin Cahill, known as The General.

Putin Says ‘We have Begun to Live Better’ but Russian People Ask: ‘Does That Include Us?’

Sunday, October 8, 2023

            Staunton, Oct. 6 – Speaking at the Valdai Club meeting, Vladimir Putin said that “we have begun to live better.” Russians are certain that this is the case for the Kremlin leader and his entourage. What they are not at all certain about is whether that “we” includes the Russian people as well.

            This is only one of the anecdotes Moscow journalist Tatyana Pushkaryova has published in her latest collection (publizist.ru/blogs/107374/46911/-). Among the best of the rest are the following:

·       Putin says it can train all its own experts but does his best to destroy the schools that might in fact provide such training.

·       Putin says it is hard to work with the elites in the West because they are always changing, not like in Russia where continuity is the rule.

·       If Americans want to buy a dollar, they’ll know have to find 100 rubles. Given that Russia has all of those, it is going to be hard. Checkmate for Russia!

·       Russian air defenses have now shot down another Su-35. To be sure it is a Russian plane but at least it proves the air defense forces can do something.

·       The Kremlin says that Prigozhin’s plane was blown up by a hand grenade that one of the passengers had. An amazing and uniquely Russian weapon that managed to blow off the wing of the plane.

·       In Russia, it is very difficult to tell what time it is, at least as far as years are concerned.

·       Adam Kadyrov will have to beat five more people before he can become a Hero of Russia. Fortunately, these people are now being sent to Grozny.

·       Russian officials now say that Ukrainian authorities are selling children’s organs to the Coca Cola Company. That’s outrageous and unnecessary as it would be simpler and more humane to drone such children as some Russian commanders have suggested.

The Marines are moving gradually and sometimes reluctantly to integrate women and men in boot camp

By Lolita C. Baldor The Associated Press
Sunday, October 8, 2023


PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Under a scorching sky at Marine Base Parris Island, two young recruits grapple awkwardly in hand-to-hand combat inside an Octagon training structure. Circling them, the drill instructor barks orders, “Hit her! Punch her! DO something!”


Outside the ring, a mix of male and female Marine hopefuls are helping each other put on protective headgear, preparing for their turn at combat. They are assigned to one of the mixed-gender recruit companies as the Marine Corps moves gradually — and at times reluctantly — to more integrated training at boot camp.

It's been a bit hit-and-miss.

While companies of men and women train together at the ring, on the obstacle course or at the range, the line of recruits outside the swimming pool presents a sharp contrast. There the companies are broken up into their smaller platoons that remain separated by gender. So as they line up, there is a small group of women standing rod-straight at the front with groups of men in formation behind them.

It's a stark visual reminder that Corps leaders still fervently believe there must be a degree of segregation as they mold young people into tomorrow's force of what they promote as the Few, the Proud, the Marines.

This summer — nearly eight years after the defense secretary at the time, Ash Carter, ordered all combat jobs open to women — the Marine Corps formally deactivated the 4th Marine Recruit Training Battalion at Parris Island. Since 1949, all female recruits have gone through boot camp at the South Carolina base; the 4th Battalion was created in 1986 as the women's unit.

The Marines have inched grudgingly toward integration. Marine leaders flatly opposed allowing women in combat jobs, but Carter dismissed their arguments. Many Corps officers stridently defended the training separation, insisting that women could grow more confident quickly if they were not directly competing with their often larger or stronger male counterparts.

Under pressure from Congress, the Marines over the past four years gradually made the 4th Battalion coed, then disbanded it in June. The remaining recruit battalions include a mix of gender-integrated and all-male companies.

Now, Marine leaders say, boot camp is integrated.

But from watching the training for several days, it's not that clear-cut.

Inside the pool, men and women struggle side by side, jumping off a platform and swimming to the other end. Some wear their fatigues inside out, identifying them as Marines who are just learning to swim and flailing the length of the pool in a mix of dog paddle and haphazard overhand stroke. Instructors are also a mix of men and women, and they line the sides ready to toss a float or jump in if needed.

But outside, a group of recruits moving through the woods and then dropping to crawl across a stretch of blistering hot sand are all men trying to get through the final tests to become a Marine. A second group on a different part of the course also includes no women.

Brig. Gen. Walker Field, who heads the recruit depot, is insistent that keeping the platoons segregated by gender is key to the way the Corps makes Marines — by taking individuals, breaking them down and building them back up as team members.

“We have established a tried-and-true manner by which we train Marines that proves effective in transforming young Americans,” he said in a recent interview at Parris Island. “We break down their individuality and grow them as a team. We’re adamant about that outcome. Having the platoon model is absolutely part of that.”

He added that by 2024, training at Marine Recruit Depot San Diego on the West Coast will also be fully integrated. Female recruits will then be split evenly between the two locations.

Field said keeping the platoons all one gender allows unit leaders to provide guidance and instruction tailored for each group when they are together in their barracks in the evenings. “Being the same gender at the platoon level allows us to optimize the training schedule every single day and every hour of the day,” he said.

Some measure of all-male companies would be necessary no matter what because there just are not enough female recruits to go around. Of all the military services, the Corps has the smallest percentage of woman, hovering between 8% and 9%.

Lt. Col. Aixa Dones and other female officers are also strong advocates of the continued segregation.

“As someone who came through this battalion as a recruit and has worked here as a young company grade officer, I would advocate that there’s goodness to there being all-female platoons,” said Dones, who served as the last commander of the 4th Battalion before its shutdown this year.

Speaking in the former battalion's offices, now largely empty, she said she remembers being a young recruit, and “I can’t imagine it having gone any other way.” Noting that 17- and 18-year-olds are not too mature, she said they can easily get distracted by “liking and feelings and emotions.”

She and others say keeping the men and women in separate platoons helps them stay focused and that changing to full integration could present problems.

Out near the firing range, Sgt. Maria Torres, a drill instructor, is working on firearm basics with her all-female platoon. The company-level integration, she said, is necessary and a good start. But expanding it to the platoon level might have consequences, so “we’d have to start small.”

But many disagree. They say the separate platoons only reinforce the stigma that the women are not considered equal and should be treated differently.

Erin Kirk, a former Marine sergeant who went through the more segregated training in 2010, remembers the ridicule and the cat calls from male recruits who looked down on the women in the 4th Battalion. The split, she said, divided them into “male Marines” and “female Marines,” and that shaped the men’s view of the women and made it more difficult for them to work together as they moved along.

“It made you feel like you weren’t part of the team. It made it difficult to be seen as a real Marine,” said Kirk, who served for five years. “Now we have the opportunity to have equity and inclusion and not be seen as an ‘other.'"

Another female Marine officer — who is still on active duty and has served for more than 15 years — said her first surprise as a new recruit was when she was issued her uniform and realized it was not the same as the one her male recruiter had worn.

Her uniform did not have the same collar and the hat was different. And when she got to Parris Island, “the first class I got was how to do my hair. We’re training to be the most lethal force and the first thing you learn is how to do my hair.”

The officer spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid any repercussions because she is still in the Corps.

Asked about those complaints, Dones disagreed that the segregation presented problems for the women.

“Our female platoons have been outperforming our male teams, and we have had more female company honor graduates than we have had male,” she said.

Young female recruits, who usually come from high schools where there is little separation, acknowledge the differences but voice no complaints.

Nicole Momura, 22, said she chose the Marines because she thought it was the hardest military branch, and “this recruit was looking for something bigger than herself.” She shrugged off the platoon segregation, noting that “we're all going to be working together in the fleet.”

Nubia Delatorre, 19, said she is proud to be a member of the second female platoon in Bravo Company, but admits the men and women do not interact very much. “We’re not allowed to talk to the males,” she said.

Taking a quick pause from her workout inside the gym, where she was recovering from a stress fracture of her hip, Delatorre said she believes they all get the same training. She said she joined the Marine Corps because “I wanted to prove to myself that I could do something hard.”

Dubai launches world's first Certification system marks for 3D printing in construction industry

08 Oct 2023

An official inspects a 3D printing machine in Dubai.

Dubai Municipality has launched the world's first system for Certification and conformity marks in the field of 3D printing in the construction industry, which will serve as a proactive measure to streamline procedures and improve the quality of concrete mixes used in factories licensed and operating in Dubai.

The step plays a pivotal role in advancing Dubai’s leading position as the world’s first city to adopt a conformity marking strategy for 3D printers used for construction and regulate this cutting-edge and sustainable construction technology.

Dawoud Al Hajri, Director-General of Dubai Municipality, said, “The certification and conformity mark system for factories and entities operating in the field of 3D printing for construction has been comprehensively established in alignment with Dubai Municipality’s proactive vision. This system embraces international best practices to provide exceptional services to both individuals and the community, thereby enhancing Dubai's global reputation and aligning with Dubai Municipality’s strategic objectives outlined in Dubai's 2030 Plan.

Additionally, the system supports Dubai’s 3D printing strategy, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. The strategy aims to utilise technology for the advancement of humanity and position the UAE and Dubai as prominent regional and global hubs for 3D printing technology.”

“The new system is anticipated to make significant strides in the efforts to streamline practices and procedures for 3D printing and enhance the quality of concrete mixes used in licensed factories.” Al Hajri, added.

Alia Al Harmoodi, CEO of the Environment, Health, and Safety Agency at Dubai Municipality, highlighted that the main focus of the new system includes assessing product and raw material quality, ensuring the efficiency of manufacturing equipment and machinery, defining technical standards of manufacturing operations at every stage of production, and ensuring efficiency of management systems within factories.

“In line with its efforts, Dubai Municipality included an integrated guide on its website featuring four chapters that cover the key requirements to be met by factories and entities engaged in 3D printing for the construction sector. The guide, which has a flexible and relevant design, sheds light on various methods and technologies of manufacturing concrete used in 3D printers, while also considering different components and specifications of materials used by companies,” Al Harmoodi added.

Dubai Central Laboratory, with its team of experts, specialists, engineers, and technicians, will supervise the management of the new system in terms of product evaluation, auditing, and lab testing and issuing conformity certificates in accordance with approved technical principles and controls.

In recent years, the Laboratory has developed various certification and quality marking systems that have been instrumental in elevating product quality and ensuring consumer protection across Dubai. This includes conformity certification programs for ready-mix concrete factories, precast concrete factories as well as cement and chemical additive factories.

By integrating cutting-edge technologies like 3D printing, construction projects can yield numerous benefits such as reducing chances of errors, wastage of materials and natural resources used in mixtures like water, aggregate and cement, and accelerating work completion with minimum manpower.

WAM

These books are being used to train AI. No one told the authors

By Leah Asmelash, CNN
Sun October 8, 2023

A recent report highlighted that nearly 200,000 books spanning all genres were being used to train AI systems. Authors, who were not informed in advance, are expressing their dismay.

David Madison/Stone RF/Getty Images

CNN —

Almost 200,000 books are being used to train artificial intelligence systems by some of the biggest companies in technology. The problem? No one told the authors.

The system is called Books3, and according to an investigation by The Atlantic, the data set is based on a collection of pirated e-books spanning all genres, from erotic fiction to prose poetry. Books help generative AI systems with learning how to communicate information.

Some AI training text can be pulled from articles that are posted on the internet, but high-quality AI requires high-quality text to absorb language from, according to the Atlantic, which is where books come in. Books3 is already the subject of multiple lawsuits against Meta and other companies using the system to train AI.

Now, thanks to a database published by The Atlantic last week pulling from Books3, authors can see whether their books specifically are being used to train these AI systems. And many are not happy.

“I’m completely gutted and whipsawed. I am outraged and at the same time feel utterly helpless,” wrote Mary H. K. Choi on social media, upon discovering her work was being used. “I’m furious and want to fight but I’m also so tired.”

Choi, whose debut novel “Emergency Contact” appeared in the database, further explained her feelings in an email. The book, which centers on a young Korean-American woman navigating a new relationship, was “deeply personal,” and Choi was initially told her story was “too quiet and niche.” The book later went on to become a New York Times bestseller, and found audiences around the world.

“A book encapsulates infinite choices, boundless permutations and even shortcomings of the author at the time. To think that all this life can be chucked into a vast churning pool to be extruded into a giant algorithmic, generative sausage machine reduces so much so swiftly,” she said. “Not just financially for the authors but it beggars booksellers, librarians, and readers from so many intimacies.”

Min Jin Lee, author of novels “Pachinko” and “Free Food for Millionaires,” expressed similar thoughts on social media, bluntly calling the use of her books “a theft.”

“I spent three decades of my life to write my books,” she said. “The Al large language models did not ‘ingest’ or ‘scrape’ ‘data.’ Al companies stole my work, time, and creativity. They stole my stories. They stole a part of me.”

Nora Roberts, the prolific romance novelist, has 206 books used in the Books3 database, according to The Atlantic. That number is the highest by any living author, and second only to William Shakespeare. She called the database, and its use by tech companies, “all kinds of wrong.”

“We are human beings, we are writers, and we’re being exploited by people who want to use our work, again without permission or compensation, to `write’ books, scripts, essays because it’s cheap and easy,” Roberts said in a statement to CNN.

That exploitation of writers didn’t shock author Nik Sharma, whose cookbook “Season” was found in the database.

“I’m horrified but not surprised that I’d be taken advantage of,” he said in a social media post. “Obviously, I wasn’t even asked for permission or received any compensation for the use of my work to train AI.”

AI is inevitable, Sharma said later in an email — hence his lack of surprise. What was most aggravating, he said, is that no one was contacted about usage or payment. After all, education isn’t free in the US, he said; teachers are paid, and textbooks are bought.

“It’s the Wild West right now with AI, and governmental policy on this is in its infancy,” Sharma said. “And consequently, tech companies are taking full advantage while they can. I’m glad it was just one cookbook and not my others.”

Meta, which has used the Books3 database according to The Atlantic, did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for Bloomberg noted in a statement that the company had “used a number of different data sources,” including Books3, to train its initial BloombergGPT model, an AI model for the financial industry. But, according to the spokesperson, Bloomberg will “not include the Books3 dataset among the data sources used to train future commercial versions of BloombergGPT.”

Not every author is upset about their work being used by AI. James Chappel, whose academic book on the modern Catholic church was used in the database, said on social media that he doesn’t “care at all.”

“I want my book to (be) read!” he wrote. “I want it to educate!”

Chappel did not respond to requests for further comment.

AI, in the hands of large corporations, has morphed into a significant concern for many writers. The Writers Guild of America went on strike this summer in part to demand limits on using AI in writing films and television shows. ChatGPT in particular has been used for everything from writing assignments to legal briefs.

Writers aren’t alone in their concerns. With the popularity of text-to-image AI systems, visual artists were in same situation last year, discovering their work was being used to train AI without permission. Together, both instances highlight concerns around AI’s increasing reach into all forms of art, where work can sometimes be intensely personal or intimate.

The conversation raised by Books3 comes just as US President Joe Biden announced plans to introduce an executive order on AI this fall, saying that the country will lead “the way toward responsible AI innovation.”

For writers, though, the constant battles surrounding AI and their work can be deflating. For Choi, discovering her book had been used in the midst of the WGA strike, in which AI was a hotly debated subject, was “surreal.”

“I was gutted,” she said over email. “It truly felt as though any gains or traction there was to be made in one arena could be so handily wiped out in another.”

And still, Choi said she knows her book, in the midst of thousands of others, is “insultingly inconsequential,” despite its importance to her.

“I think the part that sucks most profoundly about all of it is that in my more hopeless moments it all feels absolutely inevitable,” she said.

Choi isn’t alone in that feeling of inevitability. Roberts called for unity among writers and audiences alike to combat these issues.

“We who create stories need to unite to fight this abuse of our talent and hard work,” she said. “We need to stand for our work, and each other’s work. I hope readers and viewers stand with us on this vital issue.”

Artificial intelligence generates virtual Van Gogh at Paris expo

A new exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris uses virtual reality and artificial intelligence to immerse visitors in Vincent Van Gogh's final paintings – and even introduce them to the artist himself.

Issued on: 08/10/2023 

A visitor takes a video of a self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh during the press preview of the exhibition "Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise, last months" at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, on 29 September 2023. © AFP - Dimitar Dilkoff

By: Isabelle Martinetti

The exhibition "Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise, The Final Months", which opened this week and runs until February, is dedicated to the works Van Gogh produced during the last two months of his life, when he was based in Auvers-sur-Oise, just north of the French capital.

The Dutch painter arrived in Auvers-sur-Oise on 20 May, 1890, and died there on 29 July, aged 37, following a suicide attempt with a rusty pistol.
Visitors look at Van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr Paul Gachet" at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. © AFP - Dimitar Dilkoff

In two months, the artist produced 74 paintings and 33 drawings, including iconic works such as Portrait of Dr Paul Gachet, The Church at Auvers and Wheatfield with Crows.

"All the more surprising is that this period has never been given a dedicated showcase," said Christophe Leribault, president of the Musée d'Orsay.

Among the highlights is a room dedicated to his "double-square" panoramas, a technical revolution in which he used very long and thin canvases, prefiguring the wide-screen landscapes of cinema.

"Wheatfield with Crows" by Vincent Van Gogh (8 July 1890). © Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent Van Gogh Foundation)

Virtual Van Gogh

This exhibition also offers virtual reality experiences, a first for a French public museum.

As well as an immersive VR experience bringing to life the artist's palette, an avatar of Van Gogh made with artificial intelligence appears on a video screen at the end of the exhibition.

Visitors can ask the artist questions and receive AI-generated answers based on analysis of his letters.

"Using this avatar allows us to rethink the way we visit museums and to really take a more active role ... by asking questions ourselves and by providing information that is more personalised and tailored to each visitor," Christophe Renaudineau, head of Jumbo Mana, the Strasbourg start-up which designed the feature, told RFI.'We Love Plastic' expo questions use of AI in photography and art

German artist provokes anger after refusing award for AI-generated photograph

It comes as part of an experimental AI research programme aimed at creating new museum experiences and attracting younger visitors.

"The experiment should help us understand what we know about AI today, to see where the limits are and where we need to improve our knowledge so that it can be as exhaustive as possible," Renaudineau says.

"The aim over the next four months [of the exhibition] is to get as close as possible to Vincent Van Gogh. That's why we're really updating the AI ... and the AI learns from its interactions with visitors."

"Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise, The Final Months" is at the Musée d'Orsay until 4 February, 2024.