Australia PM says must do better for first peoples as Voice referendum voted down

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Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) and Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney attend a media conference at Parliament House in Canberra on 14 October, 2023

. Photo: AFP / David Gray

Australians have rejected recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the nation's first people in the constitution through the establishment of a Voice to Parliament advisory body.

The ABC has projected the referendum will fail to meet the double majority needed for it to pass.

Nationally, a majority of voters said No to the proposed constitutional change.

The ABC has projected majority No votes in Tasmania, New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland, the Northern Territory, Victoria and Western Australia.

The ACT, which like the NT is only included in the national majority, is projected to be the only jurisdiction to return a Yes vote.

The Voice to Parliament would have been an advisory body with no power of veto but permanently enshrined in the constitution, meaning a future government of the day could not abolish it without holding another referendum.

The Voice was first proposed after hundreds of Indigenous Australians, who took part in the Uluru Dialogues, issued the Statement from the Heart six years ago. That statement called for a constitutionally enshrined Voice along with truth telling and treaty.

"While tonight's result is not one that I had hoped for, I absolutely respect the decision of the Australian people and the democratic process that has delivered it," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

He said the nation must now come together to overcome the disadvantage that Indigenous Australians face because "no one could say more of the same is good enough".

Albanese said the "real division" in Australia was one of disadvantage, which he defined as the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in life expectancy, education and the rates of suicide and disease.

"A great nation like ours can and must do better for the First Australians," the prime minister said.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton said the result was "good for the country".

"This is a referendum that Australia did not need to have," he said.

"What we have seen tonight is Australians literally in their millions reject the prime minister's divisive referendum."

ABC election analysts said the results in Sydney looked similar to the 1999 republic referendum, with eastern suburbs voting Yes, while western suburbs, which include many Labor strongholds, voted No.

Indigenous leaders react to referendum result

A woman walks past posters advocating for an Aboriginal voice and treaty ahead of an upcoming referendum, in Melbourne on 30 August, 2023. Photo: WILLIAM WEST

The Yes campaign said it had 80,000 volunteers across the country helping its effort on Saturday.

"I'm devastated," said Thomas Mayo, one of the leading Yes campaigners.

"The proposal that we have made is the right one. We need a Voice, we need that structural change and we got it right at Uluru.

"We have seen a disgusting No campaign. A campaign that has been dishonest, that has lied to the Australian people, and I'm sure that will come out in the analysis.

"History will reflect poorly on [opposition leader] Peter Dutton, [One Nation leader] Pauline Hanson, all that have opposed this."

Academic and Yes campaigner Marcia Langton, one of the key people in designing a model for how a Voice could work, described the result as an enormous rejection.

"It's very clear that reconciliation is dead," she told SBS.

"A majority of Australians have said no to an invitation from Indigenous Australians."

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe, a leading No campaigner, said she was not surprised by the referendum outcome.

She said Australia needed a treaty with First Nations people before the constitution was changed.

Yes campaigner Tanya Hosch, from Yes23, said the outcome meant Australia was left with the status quo, in which Indigenous Australians faced "unacceptable" levels of disadvantage.

But she said millions of Australians were committed to closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

"One thing that is not changed by tonight is that we're the first peoples of this country," she said.

No campaigner Warren Mundine said the result was not cause for celebration.

"There will be no dancing or bands upstairs for us tonight," he told Sky News.

"Tomorrow, we've got to reach out to the Yes campaign, the Australians that didn't vote for us, and get to work on the problems we face."

Referendum years in the making

Tourists stand under an Aboriginal and Australian national flag located on the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge on 27 September, 2023. Photo: DAVID GRAY

The Voice to Parliament proposal was Australia's 45th referendum, of which only eight have passed.

The double majority requires both a majority of the national vote and a majority of the states voting Yes for a referendum to pass.

Albanese has repeatedly said that the call for a Voice was a "modest request" from First Nations Australians.

On the night he led Labor to power, Albanese pledged to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full.

A little over six months later, the start of 2023 saw support for the referendum riding high in the polls. But that support started to fall in the months that followed.

In November last year, the federal National Party announced it would oppose the referendum. Its coalition partner, the Liberals, joined it in opposing the Voice in April this year.

Albanese officially set the date six weeks ago and the campaign that followed has been filled with with accusations of racism, misinformation and division, amid pleas for decency, empathy and goodwill.

Both Yes and No campaigners have said it will take time for healing in the aftermath of the result.

Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney, who became emotional while speaking after the results were declared, said in the months ahead she would announce renewed government commitments to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

She insisted the result was not the end of reconciliation.

"I know the last few months have been tough, but be proud of who you are, be proud of your identity, be proud of the 65,000 years of history and culture you are part of," Burney said.

Shadow Indigenous Australians spokesperson Jacinta Nampijinpa Price thanked Australians for "believing in our nation" and saying "no to division within the constitution along the lines of race".

- This story was originally published by the ABC.

Australia rejects Indigenous referendum in setback for reconciliation

14 October 2023 Share on Linked In

The Voice referendum has been rejected, Australian media predict. Photo: DAVID GRAY / AFP

Australia has decisively rejected a proposal to recognise Indigenous people in the constitution, in a major setback to the country's efforts for reconciliation with its First Peoples.

Nationwide, with 45 percent of the vote counted, the "No" vote led "Yes" by 57.35 percent to 42.65 percent. Australian broadcaster ABC and other TV networks have projected that at least four states - New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland and South Australia - would vote against altering the 122-year-old constitution.

A successful referendum requires at least four of the six states to vote in favour, along with a national majority. Because of Australia's time zones, voting in Western Australia was still under way as it became clear the referendum was lost.

Australians had to write "Yes" or "No" on a ballot paper that asked whether they agree to the proposal, which would recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people through the creation of an Indigenous advisory body, the 'Voice to Parliament'.

"I'm devastated," Indigenous leader and prominent "Yes" campaigner Thomas Mayo said on ABC News.

"We need a Voice. We need that structural change."

Australia's Indigenous citizens, who make up 3.8% of the country's 26 million population, have inhabited the land for about 60,000 years but are not mentioned in the constitution and are, by most socio-economic measures, the most disadvantaged people in the country. Academics and human rights advocates fear a win for the "No" camp could set back reconciliation efforts by years.

The Voice to Parliament was proposed in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, a 2017 document crafted by Indigenous leaders that set out a roadmap for reconciliation with wider Australia.

Supporters of the proposal believe entrenching an Indigenous Voice into the constitution would unite Australia and usher in a new era with its Indigenous people.

Many Indigenous people favour the change, but some say it is a distraction from achieving practical and positive outcomes. The political opposition has criticised the measure, saying it is divisive, would be ineffective, and would slow government decision-making.

Setback for Albanese

Referendums are difficult to pass in Australia, with only eight of 44 succeeding since the country's founding in 1901. This is the first referendum in Australia in almost a quarter of a century. Australian voters rejected a 1999 proposal to become a republic.

In 1967, a referendum to count Indigenous people as part of the Australian population was a resounding success with bipartisan political support. The 2023 referendum has not garnered unified political support, with leaders of the major conservative parties campaigning for a "No" vote.

"The problem that the 'Yes' campaign had was they went and spoke to the leadership, the elites of this community, and they kept on saying: 'We've got these communities'," said Warren Mundine, a leader of the "No" campaign across the country.

The Voice has been a key feature of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's term in office, and a referendum loss would stand out, political analysts say, as his biggest setback since coming to power in May last year.

"The task ahead for us is to come together and chart a new path forward," Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.

"I don't know yet what that would be but it's something that we can do as a country."

- Reuters

Australians vote No in referendum that promised change for First Nations people but couldn’t deliver

Story by By Hilary Whiteman, CNN •


With a two-letter word, Australians struck down the first attempt at constitutional change in 24 years, a move experts say will inflict lasting damage on First Nations people and suspend any hopes of modernizing the nation’s founding document.

Preliminary results from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) suggested that most of the country’s 17.6 million registered voters wrote No on their ballots, and CNN affiliates 9 News, Sky News and SBS all projected no path forward for the Yes campaign.

The proposal, to recognize Indigenous people in the constitution and create an Indigenous body to advise government on policies that affect them, needed a majority nationally and in four of six states to pass.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had championed the referendum and in a national address on Saturday night said his government remained committed to improving the lives of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders.

“This moment of disagreement does not define us. And it will not divide us. We are not yes voters or no voters. We are all Australians,” he said.

“It is as Australians together that we must take our country beyond this debate without forgetting why we had it in the first place. Because too often in the life of our nation, and in the political conversation, the disadvantage confronting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has been relegated to the margins.”

“This referendum and my government has put it right at the center.”

Supporters of the Yes vote had hailed it as an opportunity to work with First Nations people to solve problems in their most remote communities – higher rates of suicide, domestic violence, children in out-of-home care and incarceration.

However, resistance swelled as conservative political parties lined up to denounce the proposal as lacking detail and an unnecessary duplication of existing advisory bodies.

On Saturday, leading No campaigner Warren Mundine said the referendum should never have been called.

“This is a referendum we should never have had because it was built on a lie that Aboriginal people do not have a voice,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

During months of campaigning, the No vote gained momentum with slogans that appealed to voter apathy – “If you don’t know, vote No” – and a host of other statements designed to instil fear, according to experts, including that it would divide Australia by race and be legally risky, despite expert advice to the contrary.



"Vote No" volunteers at a polling center in Canberra on October 13, 2023. - Martin Ollman/Getty Images© Provided by CNN
Rejection of high-profile campaign

No shortage of high-profile voices lent their support to the Yes campaign.

Constitutional experts, Australians of the Year, eminent retired judges, companies large and small, universities, sporting legends, netballers, footballers, reality stars and Hollywood actors flagged their endorsement. There was even an unlikely intervention by US rapper MC Hammer.


Aussie music legend John Farnham gifted a song considered to be the unofficial Australian anthem to a Yes advertisement with a stirring message of national unity. But opinion polls continued to slide to No.

Objections came thick and fast from the leaders of opposition political parties, who picked at loose threads of the proposal. “Where’s the detail?” they asked, knowing that would be decided and legislated by parliament.

Some members of the Indigenous community said they didn’t want to be part of a settler document, demanding more than a body that gives the government non-binding advice. Other Australians were completely disengaged.

Yes campaigner Marilyn Trad told CNN that volunteers making calls to prospective voters had to break the news to some – this week – that there was indeed a referendum.

Kevin Argus, a marketing expert from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), told CNN the Yes campaign was a “case study in how not to message change on matters of social importance.”


“From a public relations perspective, what is proposed is quite simple – an advisory group to government. Not unlike what the business council, mining groups, banking groups and others expect and gain when legislation is being drafted that affects the people they represent,” he said.

Argus said only the No campaign had used simple messaging, maximized the reach of personal profiles, and acted decisively to combat challenges to their arguments with clear and repeatable slogans.



Campaign signs are seen outside the voting centre at Old Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, October 14, 2023. - Mick Tsikas/AAP Image/Reuters© Provided by CNN
What does the result mean?

The result means no constitutional change, but the referendum will have lasting consequences for the entire nation, according to experts.

For First Nations people, it will be seen as a rejection of reconciliation by Australia’s non-Indigenous majority and tacit approval of a status quo that is widely considered to have failed them for two centuries.


Before the vote, Senator Pat Dodson, the government’s special envoy for reconciliation, said win or lose, the country had a “huge healing process to go through.”

“We’ve got to contemplate the impact of a No vote on the future generations, the young people,” he told the National Press Club this week. “We already know that the Aboriginal youth of this country have high suicide rates. Why? They’re not bad people. They’re good people. Why don’t they see any future?”

Maree Teesson, director of the Matilda Center for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use at the University of Sydney, told CNN the Voice to Parliament had offered self-determination to Indigenous communities, an ability to have a say over what happens in their lives.

“Self-determination is such a critical part of their social and emotional well-being,” she said.

Teesson said a No vote doesn’t just maintain the status quo, it “undermines the self-determination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”

“I do hope that we don’t lose the possibility of the hope that this gave our nation and that we somehow work to find another way to achieve that,” she said.

Some experts say more broadly the No outcome could deter future leaders from holding referendums, as it could indicate that the bar for constitutional change – written into the document in 1901 – is too high.

The last time Australians voted down a referendum was in 1999 when they were asked to cut ties with the British monarchy and become a republic – and little has changed on that front since then.

“The drafters of the constitution said this is the rulebook and we’re only going to change it if the Australian people say they want to change it – we’re not going to leave it up to politicians,” said Paula Gerber, professor of Law at Monash University.

“So that power, to change, to modernize, to update the constitution has been put in the hands of the Australian people. And if they are going to say every time, “If you don’t know, vote No,” then what politician is going to spend the time and money on a referendum that can be so easily defeated?”

Should the Next Generation of Observatories be Built on the Moon?

Could we ever have moon telescopes? The moon may offer a better and safer view of space.

By Conor Feehly

Oct 14, 2023 

Credit:vchal/Getty Images)

Radio telescopes around the globe have provided scientists with data on astronomical phenomena for nearly a century. We have even built telescopes and sent them into orbit, the most recent of which — the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) — has provided astronomers with brand new insights into the formation of early galaxies, nebula where stars are born, and the chemical composition of atmospheres of newly discovered worlds.

But science doesn't stop. Astronomers have been asking what the next generation of telescopes should look like and, perhaps more interestingly, where they should be built.

Could We Ever Have Moon Telescopes?

An idea gaining popularity among researchers is to build the next generation of telescopes on the moon. But what advantages would observatories on the moon bring? And what are the practical limitations of actually doing this?

On Earth, we have an atmosphere. This is problematic if you want to capture the clearest images of space possible. However, Earth provides the ground to build large astronomical structures. Having telescopes with a large surface area means we can capture a broader range of waves in the electromagnetic spectrum, and this is good if you want to study a wide variety of astronomical phenomena.

"The optical telescopes on Earth are 8, 10, and up to 39 meters (in construction) but are limited in use by the weather conditions, in image resolution, by the atmospheric turbulence," says astronomer Jean-Pierre Maillard from the Institute of Astrophysics in Paris, and who has made proposals for moon-based observatories.

Astrophysicists have circumnavigated some of the issues an atmosphere causes in making good observations by sending telescopes into space. There, we have unadulterated views of the sky in every direction. However, having telescopes in space presents a new set of constraints.

Read More: How the James Webb Space Telescope Takes Such Stunning Pictures
How Big Are Telescopes In Space?

Telescopes in space can't be as big as those we build on the surface of Earth because they have to fit within a certain payload and could become vulnerable to space debris. Some telescopes that observe in the infrared also need cooling fluid — otherwise, they would give off too much of their own infrared radiation and ruin the images. This fluid can also evaporate or run out. Plus, space-based telescopes are hard to access if they need repairs or modification.

In theory, a moon-based telescope could be as large as those we have on Earth, and astronomers wouldn't have to filter out an atmosphere through which to view the cosmos. But getting the telescope to the moon would be difficult since it would need cargo launchers.

"A big enough rover is needed to transport the station to the appropriate site. A permanent source of energy must be also available to deploy and operate the telescope," says Maillard.

According to Maillard, the lunar poles have permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) inside impact craters that could serve as potential sites for a large telescope — sites that stay cold enough to allow for infrared observations without needing a coolant.

Some PSRs are as cold as 18 Kelvin (about -427 degrees Fahrenheit). According to Maillard, these temperatures could offer the necessary passive cooling for an infrared telescope. This is even a colder region than the JWST experiences.

Read More: James Webb Telescope Captures Eerie Image Of Pillars Of Creation
Why Are Moon-Based Observatories Better?

So, how would a moon-based observatory improve upon what we already have in terms of observational potential?

By extending sensitivity in spectral coverage, a moon-based observatory — in Maillard's proposal — would be a 13-meter, multi-segment telescope and would give astronomers access to the far infrared.

"By its full diameter (4 times the JWST collecting area), it will be twice more sensitive in the common spectral domain [...] offering an image resolution twice as good. But [...] it would be a completely new tool since no space telescope for the far infrared has been having a comparable diameter," says Maillard.

The far infrared is such a sought-after region of the electromagnetic spectrum to observe because this is where astronomers could access the earliest stages of galaxy formation in the primitive Universe.

Because these galaxies are so far away and because the Universe is expanding due to dark energy, the electromagnetic emissions of these early galaxies have redshifted to the far infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Having observational access to them would give astronomers and cosmologists invaluable data on how the first galaxies and stars formed — an insight into our cosmic dawn.

For now, NASA and the ESA don't have concrete plans to build such an observatory on the moon. But as scientists start to build a larger presence there, through things like the upcoming Artemis mission, it's possible that such projects could become feasible in the future — which would be much to the delight of astronomers and those of us interested in our cosmic origins.

Two Trans Contestants To Compete For Miss Universe 2023 Crown

Christine Lai
OCTOBER 11, 2023

Image: Miss Netherlands Rikkie Valerie Kollé (Left) And Miss Portugal Marina Machete. Images: Instagram


This year’s Miss Universe pageant will have at least two trans women competing for the chance to win the beauty title.

Miss Portugal Marina Machete and Miss Netherlands Rikkie Valerie Kollé are both gearing up to compete for the coveted title of Miss Universe in the upcoming November pageant.

Just last week, Marina Machete made history as the first transgender woman to claim the title of Miss Portugal, establishing herself as one of the two trans contestants set to vie for the Miss Universe crown later this year.
Miss Portugal

Prior to her victory in the Miss Portugal competition, 28-year-old flight attendant Machete, stated that she was proud to be the first trans woman to compete for the title. Machete posted to Instagram, adding “For many years I wasn’t eligible to compete and now it’s such an honour to be a part of this incredible group of candidates!”

In a video shared on Instagram over the weekend, she shared a message to her followers talking about how she believed the possibilities in life were limitless.


Her followers commented their support for her Miss Portugal win, with one writing, “You are light Marina! Just as you inspire me, you inspire so many other women. You spread change in the world. Thank you for simply being you. I’m so, so proud of you. the universe is yours; you will fly só [sic] high, and I will always be here applauding you”- @carlotamlobo.
Miss Netherlands

Earlier this year, Rikkie Valerie Kollé became the first trans woman to be crowned Miss Netherlands.

Miss Universe has been accepting trans candidates since 2012. In July 22-year-old Dutch model Kollé achieved a historic milestone by securing the Miss Netherlands title, marking the first time in the 94-year history of the pageant.

Kollé spoke with, Spanish daily newspaper in July describing her journey to being a ‘strong and empowered woman’.

Raised in Den Helder, a northern Dutch town, Kollé had a deep understanding of her identity from a young age and at the age of eight, her parents realised that their child, then known as Rik, had feelings different to other boys.

At that age, she went with them to a polyclinic for trans cases in an Amsterdam hospital where the doctors asked her a lot of questions and administered tests to make sure she was ready to “tackle the long journey of going from man to woman”.

A Sense

She embarked on her transition journey at 10, and in January this year, she reached a significant milestone by undergoing a major transformative procedure. Kollé openly documented this moment on her Instagram account, and upon reflection, she expressed, “[I felt] a sense of pride in how far I’ve come. We’re in 2023, and it’s high time to destigmatise and normalise this.”

Kollé shared her joy with her Instagram followers, after her Miss Netherlands title win, writing “Yes, I am a trans woman and I would like to share my story, but I am also Rikkie and that is what matters to me. I did this on my own strength and enjoyed every moment”.

Machete and Kollé are set to stand as the transgender contestants amidst the 90 contestants vying for the crown on November 18.

There are two more qualifying pageants scheduled in Mongolia and China before the upcoming Miss Universe competition next month, but there are no current reports about transgender contestants participating from those regions.

Refrigeration chemicals are a nightmare for the climate. Experts say alternatives must spread fast

ISABELLA O'MALLEY
Updated Fri, October 13, 2023 


2 / 23
Climate Sustainable Refrigerants

Harvard graduate student Faith Chen, of Wilmette, Ill., left, places a sample of cobalt-based hybrid material in a calorimeter, a device that measures temperature changes, as Jarad Mason, assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University, of Watertown, Mass., right, looks on, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023, in a lab on the school's campus, in Cambridge, Mass. The experiment is part of research to develop a more environmentally-friendly solid refrigerant that could be used as an alternative to existing volatile refrigerants. 

(AP Photo/Steven Senne)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — When Jennifer Byrne, owner and technician at Comfy Heating and Cooling, gets a call to come and fix a relatively new air conditioning system, one of the first questions she asks is if the house has just been remodeled.

Here in West Philadelphia, Byrne has found shoddy renovations where installers skip steps such as pressure testing after installation. That can result in ice buildup and leaks of the chemicals that cool, called refrigerants.

“This problem is extremely frequent around here. Usually people tell you they bought a house that was flipped and all kinds of things are wrong, like the AC is freezing,” Byrne said, referring to the ice buildup.

"Trying to get it done as cheaply as possible,” she added, as she hauled equipment out of her truck.

It's not a small matter. When refrigerants leak out like this, they are highly destructive to the Earth's sensitive atmosphere. They're “the most potent greenhouse gases known to modern science,” as one research paper put it and they're growing fast.

One of the most common ones, with the unfriendly name R-410A, is 2,088 times more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide, which comes from burning coal and gasoline. So an essential way that people are staying cool is making the world hotter and more unstable.

This is why the Clean Air Act prohibits the intentional release of most refrigerants. With the Environmental Protection Agency required to phase out one family of the chemicals 85% by 2036, the push is on to develop and spread cleaner alternatives.

Byrne's truck is loaded with tools, canisters, hoses, and special sealed cylinders, including an industry-pink one that holds the potent R-410A. When she works on a leaking AC unit, she drains the remaining refrigerant into one of the cylinders for safe storage while she takes things apart.

But these leaking home AC units are just one way refrigerants seep into the atmosphere, measurably raising levels and contributing to increasing extreme weather.

Cars are another source of these super pollutants, says Eckhard Groll, an expert in refrigeration and head of mechanical engineering at Purdue University. AC systems in gas-powered vehicles are “prone to leaking” and on average approximately 25% of refrigerant from all cars leak out every year. With more than 200 million gasoline cars in the U.S. alone, Groll said that amounts to approximately 100 million pounds of refrigerant leaking out into the atmosphere each year.

Supermarkets are the second-biggest source of leaks because they are large and extensive piping carries refrigerant to each cold display case. Danielle Wright, executive director of the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council, an advocacy group, said the average supermarket leaks approximately 25% of its refrigerant each year, which agrees with an Environmental Protection Agency document from 2011.

“I wouldn’t say (supermarkets) are cutting corners necessarily, but let’s put it this way — it’s cheaper to leak the refrigerant than to build a leak-proof system,” Wright said.

The need to minimize refrigerant leaks has spurred a reuse and reclamation industry. One company is A-Gas Rapid Recovery, which has facilities in Dallas, Texas, Toledo, Ohio and Punta Gorda, Florida, among others.

Refrigerants can be used many times over and can last for 30 years, said Mike Armstrong, President of A-Gas in the Americas. The company takes in refrigerants and tanks from around the country and beyond, drains them, then purifies and reclaims the chemicals, shipping out recycled product.

“Some technicians back in the day would literally just cut the line and vent the gas to the atmosphere,” said Anthony Nash, an A-Gas network training manager. Now, "the EPA and the regulations that we fall under make that not only illegal, but unethical,” he said.

Refrigerant that cannot be reused goes through a very high-temperature process called pyrolysis so the gases are destroyed. Business is booming.

“This industry is probably going to increase four to five times in the next couple years,” Armstrong said.

SUSTAINABLE REPLACEMENTS

At the same time the chemical industry is looking for replacements. So far, some are much better for the climate, but could have other negatives, like being flammable, and their long-term impact on the environment isn't known.

A number of researchers are looking at carbon dioxide itself as a refrigerant. But Groll noted it has to be under extremely high pressure, requiring different systems.

Carbon dioxide would be great “if we’re pulling it out of the atmosphere,” said Christopher Cappa, a professor of environmental engineering at the University of California, Davis. “But if we’re producing it just as a refrigerant, that wouldn’t be necessarily nearly as good.”

“One could think of a future where we move to a largely fossil-free economy and our primary source of carbon dioxide would be pulling it out of the atmosphere,” Cappa said.

Today, commercial buyers looking for cleaner refrigeration can find it. “This is kind of a low-hanging fruit, it’s a known technology and it’s market ready,” Wright said.

But it's a different story with air conditioning. Wright claims that lobbying efforts from chemical and HVAC equipment manufacturers, as well as certain codes and standards, have stalled the growth of cleaner refrigerants for air conditioners in the U.S.

But one major manufacturer, Trane Technologies, said it has been working hard on cleaner alternatives, has selected one that is 78% less damaging than the current one, and will be phasing it into its units beginning in 2024.

Jarad Mason, an assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University, is working with fellow researchers to develop a refrigerant that's actually a solid instead of a vapor. The mineral perovskite is good at absorbing heat under low pressure, allowing it to cool its surroundings.

Solid refrigerant research is in it’s infancy, but Mason said that he is optimistic about its potential because it could be used in fridges, commercial buildings and homes.

“Demands for heating and cooling are only going to increase and it’s absolutely critical that we have sustainable ways and economical ways of providing for everyone in the world,” he said.

___

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.


Refrigerants are bad for the climate, but sustainable alternatives exist



When consumers throw away old AC units and refrigerators, we know someone is going to do the tedious work of reclaiming the refrigerant inside. But that process is no small task. If done improperly, refrigerants leak out, and they are highly destructive to the Earth's sensitive atmosphere. (Oct. 13, 2023)

When it comes to heating the planet, the fluid in your AC is thousands of times worse than CO2

ISABELLA O'MALLEY
Fri, October 13, 2023 




Climate Sustainable Refrigerants Explainer

Cans of R-134A refrigerant sit on the shelves of Cary's Auto, Monday, Aug. 28, 2023, in Scottsdale, Ariz. Refrigerants absorb a lot more heat than water or other common fluids, which makes them great for cooling systems, but bad for climate change when they escape.

 (AP Photo/Matt York)

Air conditioning has made it possible to live comfortably in many hot places, but the special chemicals that makes it work are actually extremely hazardous to the climate.

Refrigerants used in fridges, freezers and cars change from a fluid to a gas to transport heat away from the place you want cooled.

In refrigerators, the refrigerant starts as a liquid and expands into a gas, which forces it to cool down. This chilled gas circulates through the fridge, absorbing heat as it flows along.

Once the chilled fluid has absorbed significant heat, say, from eggs you just hardboiled and placed inside, it gets squeezed in a compressor and gets even hotter. The refrigerant then flows through condenser coils where it releases its heat out and cools back into a liquid.

The cycle starts over when the refrigerant enters the expansion device, where the fluid spreads out, cools, and once again turns into a gas.

Air conditioners also use refrigerants and operate similarly to this, but they release their heat to the outdoors rather than your kitchen.

Refrigerants absorb a lot more heat than water or other common fluids, which makes them great for cooling systems but bad for climate change when they escape.

Some of the earlier refrigerant chemicals that allowed hot places like Phoenix, Arizona and Dubai to grow into population centers, were a family known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), but scientists discovered that these were causing widespread damage to the ozone layer in the mid to late 1900s.

So countries came together and ratified the Montreal Protocol which went into effect in 1987 and banned CFCs. This is cited as one of the most successful international environmental laws ever.

The family of chemicals that replaced those CFCs was hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs. They were first commercialized in the 1990s. But these were found to be dangerous for the climate and were rapidly building up in the atmosphere as air conditioning spread across the world.

The way to compare damaging gases is “global warming potential” or GWP, which the Environmental Protection Agency defines as how much energy one ton of a gas can absorb over a certain period of time, compared to one ton of carbon dioxide. Over one century, the GWP of carbon dioxide is one, therefore. Methane, the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide is 28, or 28 times worse. The common refrigerant known as R-410A, has a global warming potential of 2,088.

In 2016, the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol phased down the use of climate-harming hydrofluorocarbons 85% by 2036, so that phasedown is currently happening.

According to the most recent comprehensive climate report from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2021, this Kigali Agreement will meaningfully prevent some warming of the Earth if fully enforced.

In the United States, people are not allowed to intentionally release hydrofluorocarbons and other refrigerants under the Clean Air Act. When an appliance containing a refrigerant is disposed of, the EPA also requires the last person in the disposal process to recover the refrigerant to a certain level or verify that there hasn’t been any leakage.

However, accidents happen. When a car is totaled in a collision, all of that refrigerant escapes into the atmosphere. The EPA also restricts sales of refrigerants, but people can purchase small cans of certain HFCs in stores if they contain two pounds or less. When a car is dumped at a junk yard, personnel there are responsible for recovering the refrigerant.

Scientists say that lowering our emissions of HFCs will have a fairly quick payoff because most persist in the atmosphere for roughly 15 years, far less time than carbon dioxide.

——

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

New Zealand Election: Conservative leader Christopher Luxon to form govt

 14 Oct 2023, 

Anwesha Mitra

New Zealand Election: National Party and ACT projected to win 62 seats in New Zealand election

New Zealand's National Party leader Christopher Luxon interacts with his supporters after winning the 2023 New Zealand general election (AFP)

New Zealand Election: New Zealand is set to get a center-right government after the Chris Hipkins-led Labour Party conceded defeat on Saturday. The outgoing Prime Minister has spent just nine months at the top job after taking over from Jacinda Ardern in January. With most of the votes tallied, conservative former businessman Christopher Luxon's National Party and its coalition partner ACT are projected to win 62 seats.

“Earlier this evening I called Christopher Luxon to congratulate him on National’s results. As it stands, Labour is not in a position to form another government," Hipkins told supporters in Wellington.

The election campaign had been dominated by an increasingly difficult economic situation and a spike in the cost of living. Luxon said on Saturday that New Zealanders had "reached for hope and voted for change".

ALSO READ: Google Doodle celebrates New Zealand general elections 2023

With 97% of votes tallied, National had 39% while Labour trailed on 27%. As the result stands, National can form a government with the support of its ally the libertarian ACT Party, on 9%. However, they may yet need the backing of the nationalist New Zealand First Party, on 6%, to reach a majority in parliament.

Both parties had tried to woo voters with promises to ease surging petrol prices, fix chronic housing shortages, and halt the skyrocketing prices of staple foods.

ALSO READ: Rishi Sunak eyes anti-smoking measures inspired by New Zealand

Ardern led the Labour Party to the first outright majority since New Zealand switched to a proportional representation system in 1996 during the previous polls. Support for the party appears to have declined steadily since – collapsing from 50% in 2020 to one of its heaviest defeats. Forecasts point to 34 seats in New Zealand's 120-seat parliament.

The election also sees the return of New Zealand First and its leader – 78-year-old Winston Peters. The nationalist New Zealand First had been ousted from parliament at the last election in 2020 but is currently above the 5% threshold required to return to parliament.

(With inputs from agencies)

CRYPTO CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

FTX’s stolen crypto funds linked to Russian cybercrime networks

By Rony Roy

October 13, 2023 
Edited by Yana Khlebnikova

NEWS


Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic has released new findings that suggest a Russian-linked entity may be behind the high-profile hack of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

The revelation comes as part of an ongoing investigation into the theft of a staggering $477 million in various cryptocurrencies from the exchange.
Funds moved during SBF’s court appearance

Elliptic’s report highlights a key moment that casts doubt on initial suspicions that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried could be involved in the theft.

According to the firm, $15 million of the stolen assets were moved on Oct. 4, 2023, at 3:41 p.m. EST. At that time, Bankman-Fried was reportedly in a Manhattan courtroom without internet access, making it unlikely that he was responsible for the transaction.

Since the hack, a significant portion of the stolen funds has been converted to Bitcoin (BTC) and funneled through ChipMixer, a now-defunct privacy mixer. Elliptic’s analysis shows that these assets were often mixed with funds from Russia-linked criminal groups, including ransomware gangs and darknet markets.

“This points to the involvement of a broker or other intermediary with a nexus in Russia,” the firm stated.

FTX lost 9,500 Ethereum (ETH) to an unidentified hacker on the same day it filed for bankruptcy last November. The hacker also made off with other cryptocurrencies, including Pax Gold (PAXG), Tether (USDT), and Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC).

While some of these assets were frozen by regulatory authorities, most were successfully converted into other cryptocurrencies and moved to different blockchains.
You might also like:FTX hacker switches strategy after THORSwap suspends service
Breaking the blockchain trail

Elliptic notes that the hacker used various methods to obscure the trail of stolen funds.

On Nov. 20, 65,000 ETH were converted to Bitcoin via RenBridge, a service ironically owned by Alameda Research, which shares a balance sheet with FTX.

After a pause of nine months, an additional 72,500 Ethereum (ETH), valued at $120 million, were converted to Bitcoin through the use of THORSwap, a service that has since suspended its interface due to money laundering concerns.

Daily transaction count related to stolen FTX assets | Source: Elliptic

With ChipMixer no longer operational, many of the funds were mixed through Sinbad, a service believed to be a rebranded version of Blender. The U.S. Treasury Department previously sanctioned the latter for aiding the North Korean Lazarus Group.

However, Elliptic does not believe that the Lazarus Group is behind the FTX hack, citing the hacker’s relatively unsophisticated money laundering techniques.

While the identity of the FTX hacker remains unknown, Elliptic’s latest findings add a new layer of complexity to an already intricate case.

The firm’s analysis points to a Russian-linked entity as a likely suspect, although further investigation is needed to confirm these suspicions.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for SBF 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=FTX

UK

How Starmer has killed Labour's left wing

Peter Oborne
6 October 2023 

His brand of right-wing authoritarianism has abolished the radical tradition embodied by Corbyn

UK Labour leader Keir Starmer is pictured at a summit in Canada, on 15 September 2023 (AFP)


Labour conference 2024: Newly elected Prime Minister Keir Starmer strides onto the stage.

An ecstatic audience rises to its feet in galvanic applause to celebrate the greatest victory in the history of the Labour Party. Bigger than Clem Attlee’s great victory over Winston Churchill’s Tories in 1945; bigger even than Tony Blair’s famous 179-seat majority in 1997.

Meanwhile, the Tory Party is broken by defeat and poisoned by the battle for the successor to Rishi Sunak.

In theory, the British left ought to celebrate the end of 14 years that - as even many Conservatives accept - have been a disaster for the country. In practice, there is a profound sense of loss.

One of Starmer’s predecessors as Labour leader, Harold Wilson, the winner of four general elections, declared that his party was “a moral crusade or it is nothing”. For Wilson, Labour was a party of two basic factions: the head and the heart.

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Thus, Wilson’s Labour government had strong right-wing voices, such as Roy Jenkins and Denis Healey. But they were balanced by left wingers such as Michael Foot and Tony Benn.

The postwar Attlee government had robust right-wing talent, such as the foreign secretary, Ernie Bevin. But he was balanced by left wingers like Aneurin Bevan, founder of the National Health Service.

This meant that the 20th-century Labour Party was at its best a magnificent democratic force capable of appealing to great swathes of British society, from the working classes to professionals. Not so under control freak Starmer, who has abolished this delicate balance.
By-election victory

Starmer’s brand of right-wing authoritarianism has no room for a Foot, Benn or Bevan. He has abolished the battle of ideas, along with the radical tradition of which former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was the final embodiment.

I don’t believe that Starmer has thought through the consequences. He will pay a price for driving out the British left.

When he takes power next year - and in the wake of Thursday’s sensational Rutherglen by-election, there can be little doubt of that outcome - the British left will not be represented in parliament.


Starmer has defined his leadership against the Labour left. His challenge at the Labour conference this coming week is to show that he can also define himself against the Tory right

This has not happened since the party’s first leader, Scottish trade unionist Keir Hardie, was elected MP for West Ham South in 1892 (there’s no way a socialist like Hardie would survive in Starmer’s party). That was more than 130 years ago.

Banned from parliamentary debate, the British left will only be heard on the streets and through strike actions. This is profoundly dangerous for democracy - all the more so at a time when economic forecasters predict a recession and living standards are in sharp decline.

Crucially, there’s a version of this problem on the Tory benches. Just as Starmer has purged the left of the Labour Party, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson purged the left of the Tories.

Back in 2019, the Conservative Party endured the political equivalent of what natural scientists call a mass extinction event, when Johnson drove out the so-called one-nation Tories from the party in order to impose his own version of political uniformity.

Politicians such as former chancellor Ken Clarke, rising star Rory Stewart and many others were forbidden from standing in the 2019 general election. This act of hubris opened the way for entryists from the far right. The party retains its name and legal structure, but as the recent Tory conference in Manchester proved, the party has otherwise changed beyond recognition.
Far-right conspiracies

I have seen the term “fascism” used in connection with this conference. I don’t think that’s quite right. Fascism is associated with militarism, violence and above all, Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini, the two dictators who arose in the 1930s.

The term should not, and cannot, be used in relation to Sunak’s Conservatives. But Sunak’s supporters aren’t Conservative in the traditional sense. How should we describe them?

During the conference, they lied, spouted far-right conspiracy theories, dumped climate-change policies, mocked the rule of law, pilloried minorities and generally echoed the language and the politics of former US President Donald Trump.

 

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak addresses delegates at the annual Conservative Party conference in Manchester, northern England, on 4 October 2023 (AFP)

Racism, as I exposed last week in my article on Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s attack on British Pakistanis, has become an embedded feature of the politics of Britain’s governing party. The Tories under Sunak can be compared to the AfD in Germany or the Trump Republicans.

This is not an accident. Isaac Levido, Sunak’s political strategist, learned his trade at the feet of Lynton Crosby, master of the art of exploiting “wedge issues” for electoral advantage.

Judging by recent events, he’s planning to do exactly the same in next year’s general election. And he’s targeting one group of voters in particular: the far right.
Labour's challenge

There’s a reason for this. Over the summer months, polls consistently showed a Labour lead over the Tories of between 15 and 20 percent. Such a lead might appear indestructible - until one notes that the populist Reform UK regularly scores up to 10 percent.

Tory strategists crave the support of these hard-right Reform voters, whose support would lift the Conservatives to the mid-thirties in the polls - a base from which to challenge Starmer.

This scares Starmer. I understand why.

 

Labour: Starmer is paving the way for the triumph of dark politics

Read More »

A quarter of a century ago, Jenkins described Blair’s task ahead of the 1997 election as “a man carrying a priceless Ming vase across a highly polished floor”.

Hence Starmer’s aversion to risk; his supplication to media giant Rupert Murdoch; his ingratiation with the right-wing vote; his sycophancy to big business; his intolerance of the left; and his refusal to make the moral case for Labour against the hard right.

The consequences when Starmer wins power will include a cowed majority at Westminster for a technocratic Labour government, while real politics gets going elsewhere. On the left, this will occur through extra-parliamentary actions, while on the right, the Conservative Party will mutate into something increasingly dark, horrible, intolerant and dangerous.

So far, Starmer has defined his leadership against the Labour left. His challenge at the Labour conference this coming week is to show that he can also define himself against the Tory right. It really ought not to be too difficult - not against the Sunak rabble.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

Peter Oborne won best commentary/blogging in both 2022 and 2017, and was also named freelancer of the year in 2016 at the Drum Online Media Awards for articles he wrote for Middle East Eye. He was also named as British Press Awards Columnist of the Year in 2013. He resigned as chief political columnist of the Daily Telegraph in 2015. His latest book is The Fate of Abraham: Why the West is Wrong about Islam, published in May by Simon & Schuster. His previous books include The Triumph of the Political Class, The Rise of Political Lying, Why the West is Wrong about Nuclear Iran and The Assault on Truth: Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and the Emergence of a New Moral Barbarism.

POLITE PROTESTER

UK

Protester who disrupted Keir Starmer conference speech knows his actions 'crossed the line'

The protester stormed the stage, threw glitter and shouted "true democracy is citizen-led"

NEWS
By Patrick EdrichReporter

13 OCT 2023

A protester storms the stage and throws glitter over Labour party leader, Sir Keir Starmer during the leader's speech on the third day of the Labour Party conference on October 10, 2023 in Liverpool 

(Image: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)

A protester who disrupted Keir Starmer's keynote speech at the Labour Party Conference apologised and said he knows his actions "crossed the line".

Protester Yaz Ashmawi admitted to tipping glitter over the Labour leader and grabbing him just as he was about to begin his set-piece speech in Liverpool on Tuesday. Speaking to the Politics Uncensored podcast on Fubar Radio, Mr Ashmawi said he took "responsibility" for what he did and apologised for making Sir Keir feel unsafe

He told show host Ali Milani on Thursday: "The thought that, even for a moment, he felt that he was in danger is horrible to think about. I think it is absolutely fine to pour glitter on someone and to go onto the stage. I just think it is physical contact that crossed the line there."

Asked whether he would like to apologise to the Opposition leader, he said: "Yes, absolutely. I’m sorry for doing that." Merseyside Police confirmed it arrested a 28-year-old man from Surrey on suspicion of assault, breach of the peace and causing public nuisance following the stunt.

On Thursday, the force said the man — who Mr Ashmawi has confirmed is him — has been bailed pending further inquiries. Mr Ashmawi told the podcast he was kept in a cell for 22 hours after his arrest.

He belongs to a group called People Demand Democracy, which is calling for reform of the political system. The campaigner said the group wanted to see an “upgraded form of democracy”, suggesting it backed a more proportional electoral system.

After throwing the glitter over Sir Keir, Mr Ashmawi shouted “true democracy is citizen-led”. The protester continued to shout “politics needs an update”, “we demand a people’s house”, “we are in crisis” and “our whole future is in jeopardy” as he was wrestled to the ground.

Mr Ashmawi said he used some chairs to hoist himself up and he "hopped" onto the stage where Sir Keir was standing waiting for the applause to subside before addressing those at the ACC Liverpool conference centre. He said: “The thing is, I put my hand on his arm and touched him and I think… politicians, they get a lot of death threats and they have a need to feel safe and I compromised that in that moment by touching him."

He added: "If Mr Starmer felt that he was threatened… I take responsibility for that, I want to take full responsibility for my actions."

Sir Keir pushed the activist away from the microphone with his right arm before security arrived. After removing his jacket, the Labour leader said "if he thinks that bothers me, he doesn’t know me".

He later admitted the incident "could have been a lot worse", and questions have since been raised about the level of security in place. ACC Liverpool, who provided the security at the conference, said: “A protest incident took place during the leader’s speech at the Labour Party conference when an attendee gained access to the stage.

"Whilst The ACC Liverpool Group recognises the rights of all groups and individuals to free speech and freedom of expression, the safety of all those attending events including speakers, performers, customers and staff is of the utmost importance to us.

"Highly trained stewarding and security teams ensured the incident was dealt with appropriately. We will assist Merseyside Police as required."