House Oversight launches investigation into climate crisis disinformation by fossil fuel industry

By Ella Nilsen, CNN -




© Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg/Getty Images


The House Oversight and Reform Committee announced Thursday it is launching an investigation into fossil fuel industry disinformation on the climate crisis. The committee invited the heads of six oil companies and major lobbying groups to testify in front of the committee next month.

The announcement comes after reports the fossil fuel industry has participated in campaigns aimed at creating confusion about the cause of the climate crisis, or sowing skepticism in the science. An undercover video released this summer appeared to show an ExxonMobil lobbyist admitting the company fought climate policy and the science behind it.

House Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney of New York and Subcommittee on the Environment Chairman Ro Khanna of California sent letters to top executives at ExxonMobil, BP America, Chevron Corporation, Shell Oil Company, the American Petroleum Institute and the US Chamber of Commerce.

Lawmakers are planning a high-profile hearing on October 28 to try to get oil company CEOs to admit they spread disinformation about climate change, Khanna told CNN.

The investigation has been taking place already for two months, Khanna said, and ExxonMobil has so far complied with the committee by producing "some very concerning documents."

Representatives from all six companies and lobbying groups told CNN they had received the letter.

Josh Hicks, a spokesperson for BP, told CNN the company's "ambition is to reach net zero by 2050 or sooner and to help the world get there. We are actively advocating for policies such as carbon pricing and regulating methane that will support the energy transition, the Paris climate agreement and a net zero world."

"Shell strongly supports the Paris Agreement and the need for society to transition to a lower carbon future, while extending the economic and social benefits of energy access to everyone," said Curtis Smith, a spokesperson for Shell.

In the letters to industry executives, the committee requested the companies and organizations to produce by September 30 related documents going back to 2015, specifically detailing any efforts to undercut climate science and policy.

"They need to have answers for what climate disinformation is still going on with their companies -- are they giving money to think tanks to try to influence studies?" Khanna told CNN. "Finally, they need to commit to stopping all of that."

In a letter to ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods, lawmakers wrote they are deeply concerned the fossil fuel industry has "reaped massive profits for decades while contributing to climate change that is devastating American communities, costing taxpayers billions of dollars, and ravaging the natural world."

"We are also concerned that to protect those profits, the industry has reportedly led a coordinated effort to spread disinformation to mislead the public and prevent crucial action to address climate change," the letter reads.

Khanna told CNN the hearing will align with Congress's planned timetable to pass massive climate and clean energy investments as part of President Joe Biden's budget bill. It also comes days before the UN climate conference begins in Glasgow, where world leaders will meet to discuss targets to reduce fossil-fuel emissions.

He said the purpose of the hearing is not to try to "embarrass" fossil fuel executives, but to get them to admit disinformation and commit to stopping it in the future.

"It will help our climate agenda if the fossil fuel industry and lobbyists know they're under a magnifying glass," Khanna said. "It's to try to get the climate disinformation to stop so we can have legislation pass the House and Senate to tackle the climate crisis."

Toronto homeless, their supporters vow to fight charges in encampment clearings




Toronto should stop evicting homeless encampments and drop trespass charges against people who live in tents, the city's homeless community and their supporters demanded Thursday.

They said the city should find a long-term solution to homelessness, suggesting all three levels of governments work together to create not-for-profit homes that will help ease the housing crisis.

Dozens are facing charges and fines stemming from city operations this summer - assisted by police - to remove homeless encampments from four municipal parks.

"Stop criminalizing the homeless," said Jennifer Jewell, who was an encampment resident for four months before the city offered her temporary shelter at a hotel.

Jewell, who uses a wheelchair, said she was assaulted and detained by officers during the clearing of an encampment at Lamport Stadium in July.

"I've been on a waiting list for wheelchair-accessible housing for 15 years," she said at a news conference outside Mayor John Tory’s downtown condominium.

Four officers stood behind barricades protecting the entrance to the condo, with more officers on police horses standing a block away.

Skyler Williams, an Indigenous man who is the spokesman for the land reclamation camp known as 1492 Land Back Lane at a development site in Caledonia, Ont., said he came out to show his support for the homeless community.

He said about 40 per cent of encampment residents are Indigenous.

"These are people who have witnessed more trauma than most," he said.

"Let me be very clear to John Tory: whenever our people call out for help, whether in the bush or downtown, we’ll be there to support them no matter what because these are our people."

Williams, a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River, faces two charges related to the occupation of McKenzie Meadows, a proposed housing development.

Shortly after speaking at Thursday's news conference, Williams was arrested by plainclothes officersfor failure to comply with recognizance.

His lawyer said Williams was told by police that he breached one of the conditions related to the 1492 Land Back Lane charges not to participate in "unlawful protests or demonstrations" related to the encampment clearing at Lamport Stadium.

"These conditions placed on Skyler are meant to silence him and it's a very clear attempt to intimidate him," Aliah El-houni said.

Williams, after being released, said it was a long day at the police station.

"This is a typical reaction to Indigenous people making a stand for their lands," he said.

"It is absolutely ridiculous that this is the only way that the police and the government deal with our people."

The arrest prompted the crowd to move their protest to a nearby police station where Williams was being held.

Member of the homeless community and their supporters have said the police operations to clear the encampments left some with broken bones, concussions and cuts.

Police have said they were supporting city staff and carried out "enforcement" as a last resort.

On Thursday, police asked the public to help them identify eight people wanted for criminal offences in connection with protests at a July 21 encampment clearing. They said multiple people threw objects at officers and assaulted them.

Early in the pandemic, hundreds fled Toronto's homeless shelters for fear of contracting COVID-19, setting up tents in parks throughout the city. The city maintains the shelter system is safe, and city council has passed a motion to end encampments.

Sima Atri, a lawyer representing some of those facing charges, said many will have their first appearance in court on Friday.

Jack, who lives in an encampment at Moss Park and did not want to give his last name due to fears of the police, said he has lived in a tent for a year.

He was arrested for trespassing at one of the encampment clearing operations, a charge he intends to fight.

Jack said he wants a home, not a spot in one of the city shelters. Last year, he said, he was not prepared for the extremely cold winter.

"I was so cold I had to ride streetcars three hours a day to warm myself up," he said. "I almost died. I just want some help, a place with walls and a roof, but there's nothing available."

Recent data obtained by The Canadian Press shows a significant rise in violent incidents in Toronto's shelter system over the last five years.

The city said nearly 6,333 people who are experiencing homelessness were moved from the shelter system into permanent housing from April 2020 to July 2021, and more than 1,858 people staying in encampments have been referred to safe inside spaces.

A spokeswoman for the mayor questioned the choice of location for Thursday's protest.

"I have no idea why anyone would organize a protest outside the mayor's private home on a weekday while he is working at city hall – a public place where people can and do come and protest," said Lawvin Hadisi.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2021.

The Canadian Press

Thousands call for fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty as UN meeting kicks off

More than 2,000 academics from around the world signed an open letter calling for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, as the United Nations’ 76th General Assembly kicks off its annual meeting.

Mobilizing meaningful action on climate change is one of the UN’s top priorities this year, and it was just last month that UN Secretary General António Guterres said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest report “must sound a death knell for coal and fossil fuels before they destroy our planet.”

The hope many academics, researchers, and activists have is that an international agreement to prevent the expansion of fossil fuels, to manage a fair global phase-out, and to guide a just transition could be used to preserve a planet that can support human life.

“With climate change being caused most significantly by the burning of fossil fuels, it is a matter of urgency like the petition states,” said Heather Castleden, the Impact Chair in Transformative Governance for Planetary Health at the University of Victoria, and one of the letter’s signatories.

“​​We need to have a precautionary principle toward maintaining human life on Earth, and one of the ways to do that is to end fossil fuel production,” she said. “It's one of those things that is fundamental to human life, I don't know how else to put it.”

The letter calls on world leaders to focus efforts on limiting the production of fossil fuels, something Canada refuses to do. That’s in part because to hit the Paris Agreement goal of holding warming to 1.5 C, global greenhouse gas emissions will have to fall 45 per cent by 2030, or six per cent per year between 2020 and 2030. The letter notes the global fossil fuel industry is planning to grow two per cent over that same period.

“Without international co-operation and policy processes focusing on the supply of fossil fuels, countries will continue to overshoot their already insufficient emissions targets,” the letter reads.

Denmark and Costa Rica are announcing new details of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA) on Thursday, ahead of an expected official launch at COP26 later this year.

“The new bar of leadership that BOGA is creating puts to shame countries such as Canada, Norway, the U.K., and the U.S. that continue to drill for more oil and gas despite having the means to enable a just transition away from fossil fuels,” said Oil Change International global policy campaign manager Romain Ioualalen in a statement.

“These countries should be leading the pack away from fossil fuels. The time for excuses and greenwash is over.”

One of the open letter’s signatories, Angela Carter, a University of Waterloo politics professor and author of Fossilized: Environmental Policy in Canada's Petro-Provinces, called BOGA the “future of climate policy.”

“This is science-aligned policy that's collaborative, and reaching right up into those highest levels of international governance to make change,” she said.

Castleden said it was exciting to see that type of nation-to-nation collaboration, and that it's important to have those types of relationships in Canada between Indigenous nations and the governments at various levels.

She added that land defence is critical because it's a “form of resistance” that’s “all about planetary health, and human health and well-being.” As such, she said international treaties should bring in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the idea of free, prior, and informed consent to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into governance.

The Indigenous Environmental Network and Oil Change International recently found that over the past decade, Indigenous resistance to 26 fossil fuel expansion projects in Canada and the United States has or will (if successful) prevent 1.8 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases from being released into the atmosphere — or about 28 per cent of annual Canadian and U.S. emissions.

“Victories in infrastructure fights alone represent the carbon equivalent of 12 per cent of annual U.S. and Canadian pollution, or 779 million metric tons CO2e,” the report said.

Climate advocacy group 350’s Cam Fenton said if Canada were to sign on to a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, projects like the Trans Mountain expansion would be off the table.

“The idea of non-proliferation, based on nuclear non-proliferation, is you can't build anything that expands or puts the world on the path to acquiring more nuclear weapons,” he said. “And so for fossil fuels, you can't build anything that expands the extraction, export, or consumption of fossil fuels.”

He described the strategy as bottom-up, with municipalities banning the construction of nuclear sites in an effort to push resistance up the chain.

Fenton said the strategy was effective to curb the nuclear industry at a time when it “was talking about how there would be a nuclear power plant outside of every city powering every home.”

“The reality is most of the cities that signed did not have the prospect of nuclear facilities being built in their border ... but what it did was it created a bottom-up rejection en masse of the idea of building new nuclear construction.”

Beyond thousands of scientists, academics, and other researchers signing a letter calling for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Dalai Lama and 100 Nobel laureates have too. The Nobel letter makes a similar case, calling it “unconscionable” to allow the fossil fuel industry to grow.

John Woodside, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

A Cat From Guelph Is Unofficially Running In The 2021 Elections & His Campaign Is Purrfect

Canada - Toronto Team - 
Narcity




© Provided by NarcityA Cat From Guelph Is Unofficially Running In The 2021 Elections & His Campaign Is Purrfect

Canada's federal election day is coming up and one four-legged Guelph resident is among the candidates. Backed by the Feline Party, Fernando the Cat is running in the furr-deral elections, and he is not kitten around.

"Fernando came late to [the] race, but it was the appearance of other party signs that seemed to drive down the number of snacks being received on a daily basis," Fernando's campaign manager and info officer, "Doc," told Narcity via email. "His feline intuition made the connection. These candidates were taking his snacks."

Even though he's in the Guelph riding, Fernando has been focusing his attention on Forbes Avenue and the two neighbouring streets. Residents call him "The King of Forbes," which could make him quite the formidable opponent against Liberal incumbent Lloyd Longfield.

"This is a liberal stronghold, however, Longfield is yet to campaign on Forbes Avenue. We believe this is because he has little chance on this street," his campaign manager wrote. "Of course, Fernando has the highest respect for Forbes Avenue and democracy, so if an alliance were required, discussions of such could take place over a selection of treats."

Longfield has been serving as the MP for Guelph since 2015, but given Fernando's popularity, his future as MP could be in jeopardy.

The community loves Fernando, and he loves them right back. His platform is basically 'You rub my belly, I scratch yours,'" Doc told us.

He cares so deeply about the residents of his street, he visits each house every single day. "He knows people's schedules," Doc said, adding that Fernando waits at their doors to be let in.

But don't take him for a softie; Fernando's approach to keeping the streets safe is very serious.

He's fearless in the face of local dogs, who know him well and "bow to him," his manager told Narcity. He also often conducts home inspections to check all the good hiding places for mice.

Fernando's campaigner manager says that if elected, Fernando will continue to visit his constituents' homes daily and keeping Forbes Avenue free from rodents and pests. "In particular he promises to take care of the black squirrel with the bent tail, thereby maintaining the sanctity of local bird feeders."

The aspiring MP has experienced his fair share of scandals, too.

In a recent IG post, Fernando clapped back at his opponents, who have been accusing him of excessive catnip use.

"May I remind them nip is now legal in this country," he wrote, "I did try it in university, but did not inhale."

BETTER TO APOLOGIZE THAN SEEK PERMISSION

Developer asks for approval after paving conservation land without permission

DEVELOPERS HAVE TOO MUCH POWER

A parking lot and road were built without permission on top of an environmental conservation area near the Holiday Inn on York Road and now the developer is looking to get approval after the fact by having the area rezoned.

The road was built to connect Counsell Street and Glendale Avenue, which are separated by conservation land.

The unsanctioned construction came to light during a public meeting regarding 524 York Rd. held during a committee of the whole session on Monday.

Coun Norm. Arsenault was vocal in his criticism.

“You know, it never ceases to (amaze) me about the audacity of developers, the way they do this. They take over, in this case, something like 60 feet of conservation land, do what they want, and they come back looking for approval after the fact,” he told councillors.

“It just makes me crazy when I see developers taking over conservation areas like this without asking permission. I will not support this, I cannot support this,” Arsenault continued before being reminded by Lord Mayor Betty Disero that the meeting was an open house and not the venue for councillors to express their opinions.

Disero later apologized to Arsenault through Zoom chat.

The area in question includes a Holiday Inn Express and Staybridge Suites, both developed by the Vrancor Group.

The west side of the developed lot is bordered by an environmental conservation area separating the lot from Glendale Avenue.

The developer had always planned to build a parking lot and connecting road through the area, said Susan Smyth, a land use planner with Quartek Group Inc., appearing on behalf of Vrancor.

But the construction was not approved as part of the development's first phase but the company built the parking lot and road on top of the conservation land anyway.

“Although constructed early and prematurely, this area was always part of the overall development master plan,” Smyth told council.

She said rezoning would rectify the “non-compliance issue,” a term she repeatedly used to describe the unapproved construction.

The phase one construction plan was approved by the previous council under then-Lord Mayor Pat Darte in 2017. The parking lot and connecting road were part of the unapproved phase two master plan, Smyth said.

Town planner Rick Wilson stressed throughout his presentation that this construction was done independent of the town or region.

“The developer did this construction beyond the limits of what was approved,” he repeatedly told councillors.

He said the work must have taken place sometime in late 2017 into 2018.

Wilson said the developer was required to submit a study showing that ecological features would not be affected by the proposed development.

Vrancor submitted its report after the work had already been completed but the report claimed the studies had been done in 2016 and 2017, before construction took place.

The assessment is now in the hands of the Niagara Region for review. The region is responsible for natural heritage features, Wilson said.

The region noted the “recommendations and mitigation measures contained in the environmental impact study are insufficient to address the construction encroachments,” he said.

Wilson said the region wants more information.

According to the submitted assessment, no species at risk or significant wildlife habitat was affected by the construction.

Significant wildlife habitat referred to areas for snake hibernation or deer wintering. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry Services' Anne Yagi and Natural Resource Solutions Inc., were involved in the assessments. It was signed by Barry Myler, a biologist with Myler Ecological Consulting.

Myler spoke in defence of the developer.

“There were no species at risk found. Like, zero,” he emphasized.

Coun. Gary Burroughs noted part of Six Mile Creek extends up through the area, and salmon and trout have been seen migrating there.

Myler said the construction completed on the conservation land was purely “terrestrial” as a culvert crossing had been previously built under the area for the creek.

Smyth noted that no sensitive fish species or fish habitat were found, meaning the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority had no jurisdiction. She said the agency had no concern in its most recent comments.

Coun. Sandra O'Connor raised the issue of mammal crossings in the area but Myler said mammals would be minimally affected.

“Birds can still fly from one tree to another or terrestrial wildlife could still cross a two-lane driveway,” he said.

Myler pointed to the impediments caused by York Road and the Queen Elizabeth Highway as far greater impediments for wildlife than the new roadway.

"We don’t have herds of deer moving through here or anything like that. We’re really just talking about the squirrels and rabbits and the neighbourhood birds,” he told council.

The potential rezoning will come before council for approval at a later date.

Evan Saunders, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Lake Report

In Canada's far north, candidate seeks to be indigenous people's voice


Issued on: 17/09/2021 -

Lise Kistabish, shown here during a campaign stop in Seneterre, Quebec, Canada on September 8, 2021, wants to bring her region's concerns to parliament 

Andrej Ivanov AFP


Val-d'Or (Canada) (AFP)

As she campaigns ahead of parliamentary elections next week, Lise Kistabish has a message for Canada's marginalized indigenous people: she will make their concerns heard.

"I want to make the point that we are here and that we have a voice," Kistabish told AFP on a recent campaign stop in the sparsely populated northern Quebec.

Kistabish, 54, an indigenous community organizer, has been traveling thousands of kilometers (miles) to meet with voters in the electoral district of Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou, where indigenous people make up 38 percent of eligible voters.

The district is about one and a half times the size of France. Here, small towns and villages are often several hundred kilometers apart.

"I want to provide solutions and bring the region's priorities to parliament," Kistabish, a short woman with closely cropped hair, told AFP during a stop in Waswanipi, a Cree community of 2,000 inhabitants.

"We can learn from history. I want horror stories not to be repeated. I want to make sure that this message is carried to parliament," she added.

Kistabish was referring to the discovery last summer of more than 1,200 unmarked graves at former indigenous residential schools in British Columbia and Saskatchewan provinces that exposed a dark chapter in Canada's history.

Lise Kistabish gives a look to her rival, Bloc Quebecois candidate Sylvie Berube during the official debate in Val d’Or, Quebec, Canada on September 9, 2021 

Andrej Ivanov AFP

Until the 1990s, some 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Metis youths were forcibly enrolled in the schools, where students were physically and sexually abused by headmasters and teachers who stripped them of their culture and language.

- 'Children were taken away' -

Kistabish was born to an Algonquin mother and a Cree father and grew up in the indigenous community of Pikogan, 600 kilometers (375 miles) north of Montreal.

She worked in various indigenous organizations before she decided to enter politics to try to "change things."

Kistabish is running in the September 20 election under the Liberal banner of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, she says, because the party puts "human values first."

Her constituents, she says, are mainly concerned about access to housing, jobs, and Canada's ongoing reconciliation with its more than 600 indigenous tribes.

During a local candidates debate in Val-d'Or, the largest city in the region, Kistabish launched into her non-indigenous opponents saying: "You don't understand what it is to live in a community whose children were taken away."

The same day, she covered hundreds of kilometers campaigning with the federal minister of indigenous services, courting voters in the village of Senneterre and tacking campaign signs to telephone poles in Lebel-sur-Quevillon.

She is not the only indigenous candidate from the region vying for a seat in the House of Commons. Pauline Lameboy is running for the leftist New Democratic Party.

Andrej Ivanov AFP

But there is more kinship than rivalry between them.

"I am proud of Lise. She's not my competitor, she's my sister," said Lameboy.

Having two strong indigenous candidates among a total of five contenders in the race delights Andrew Kistabish, a 27-year-old Algonquin father of three.

"It's inspiring for others who may one day want to follow in their footsteps," he told AFP outside his Pikogan residence, adding that he is torn between which of the two to vote for.

- Voting hesitancy -

One of the top challenges for candidates here is getting people out to vote. "It's not a natural reflex for many First Nations people to vote in Canadian elections," said Edith Cloutier, executive director of the Native Friendship Center of Val-d'Or.

However, Kistabish and Lameboy's participation in the race may produce a larger than usual indigenous turnout at the polls, she said.

Sebastien Brodeur-Girard, who teaches native studies at the University of Quebec in Abitibi-Temiscamingue, said that having two indigenous women on the ballot here is a welcome development. First Nations people only got the right to vote in Canada in the 1960s, he added.

"I think they are leading the way," said Cloutier. "By participating in these elections, they are demonstrating that anything is possible for indigenous women."

© 2021 AFP

See Earth sparkle in knockout views from China's new space station

What a pretty planet we've got here.

Amanda Kooser
Sept. 16, 2021 

Lights sparkle below in this sweeping view of Earth, space and stars taken from the Tianhe module of China's space station. Tang Hongbo/China Manned Space Agency

It's been a busy year for China in space. The country has landed a rover on Mars, launched a key module of a new space station into orbit and sent astronauts up for a visit. Those astronauts -- known as taikonauts -- have now gifted us with some seriously stunning views from above.

Taikonauts Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo are currently on their way back to Earth after a three-month stay. The China Manned Space Agency has released a series of photos over the last few weeks showing what Earth looks like from the station's windows.

Tianhe is the core module of the station, which is coming along in its 18-month construction schedule. The station is expected to be completed by late 2022.

 


The Tianhe module's solar array makes a cameo appearance in this view over Earth that shows part of South Africa.Tang Hongbo/China Manned Space Agency

The views out the window are spectacular, but we also got a photo that includes a Tianhe window, which looks a lot like a porthole on a ship.

This porthole-like window gives China's taikonauts a view of the planet below.Tang Hongbo/China Manned Space Agency

Hongbo shared a look at his bedroom on board Tianhe, which helps to put the size of the window into perspective. Notice how the bed can be closed up like a sleeping bag. That's so the taikonauts can stay put and not float off in microgravity while they're snoozing.

Taikonaut Tang Hongbo snapped this view of his bedroom on board the Tianhe core module of China's space station.Tang Hongbo/China Manned Space Agency

The core module is home base in space for the taikonauts. It will get an expansion with the eventual addition of two more modules designed to host research and experiments.

Between China's space station, the International Space Station and now SpaceX's all-private Inspiration4 mission, we're experiencing a welcome outpouring of outstanding photography from orbit. Keep it coming, astronauts, cosmonauts and taikonauts!

'Happy' SpaceX tourist crew spend first day whizzing around Earth


Issued on: 17/09/2021 

First all-civilian crew space mission 

Gal ROMA AFP


Washington (AFP)

SpaceX's all-civilian Inspiration4 crew spent their first day in orbit conducting scientific research and talking to children at a pediatric cancer hospital, after blasting off on their pioneering mission from Cape Canaveral the night before.

St Jude tweeted its patients got to speak with the four American space tourists, "asking the questions we all want to know like 'are there cows on the Moon?'"

Billionaire Jared Isaacman, who chartered the flight, is trying to raise $200 million for the research facility.

Inspiration4 is the first orbital spaceflight with only private citizens aboard.

Earlier, Elon Musk's company tweeted that the four were "healthy" and "happy," had completed their first round of scientific research, and enjoyed a couple of meals.

Musk himself tweeted that he had personally spoken with the crew and "all is well."

By now, they should have also been able to gaze out from the Dragon ship's cupola -- the largest space window ever built, which has been fitted onto the vessel for the first time in place of its usual docking mechanism.

- Most humans in space -

The Inspiration4 mission also brings the total number of humans currently in space to 14 -- a new record. In 2009, there were 13 people on the International Space Station (ISS).

There are currently seven people aboard the ISS, including two Russian cosmonauts, and three Chinese astronauts on spaceship Shenzhou-12, which is bound home after its crew spent 90 days at the Tiangong space station.

Isaacman, physician assistant Hayley Arceneaux, geoscientist Sian Proctor and aerospace data engineer Chris Sembroski are whizzing around the planet at an altitude that at times reaches 590 kilometers (367 miles).

That is deeper in space than the ISS, which orbits at 420 kilometers (260 miles), and the furthest any humans have ventured since a 2009 maintenance mission for the Hubble telescope.

Their ship is moving at about 17,500 mph (28,000 kph) and each day they will experience about 15 sunrises and sunsets.

Their high speed means they are experiencing time slightly slower than people on the surface, because of a phenomenon called "relative velocity time dilation."

Apart from fundraising for charity, the mission aims to study the biological effects of deep space on the astronauts' bodies.

"Missions like Inspiration4 help advance spaceflight to enable ultimately anyone to go to orbit & beyond," added Musk in a tweet.

The space adventure bookends a summer marked by the battle of the billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos to reach the final frontier.

But these flights only offered a few minutes of weightlessness -- rather than the three full days of orbit the Inspiration4 crew will experience, before splashing down off the coast of Florida on Saturday.

© 2021 AFP

Chinese astronauts return to earth after 90-day mission


Issued on: 17/09/2021 - 

The launch of Beijing's first crewed mission in nearly five years coincided with the 100th anniversary of the ruling Communist Party 

GREG BAKER AFP/File

Beijing (AFP)

Chinese astronauts returned to earth Friday after completing the country's longest-ever crewed mission, the latest landmark in Beijing's drive to become a major space power.

The capsule carrying the three astronauts was suspended on a parachute and landed in the Gobi desert at 1:35 pm local time (05:35 GMT).

The crew of the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft were in "good health" after the 90-day mission, a record duration for China, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Live footage showed medical crew and support staff in a helicopter rush to a landing site in the Gobi desert. One staffer planted the Chinese national flag near the capsule.

The taikonauts -- as Chinese astronauts are known -- will undergo a 14-day quarantine before they can go home "because their immune systems may have weakened after the long mission," Huang Weifen, chief designer of China's manned space project told CCTV.

The mission was part of China's heavily promoted space programme, which has already seen the nation land a rover on Mars and send probes to the moon.

The launch of Beijing's first crewed mission in nearly five years coincided with the 100th anniversary of the ruling Communist Party on July 1, and was the highlight of a massive propaganda campaign.

The crew stayed for 90 days at the Tiangong space station, conducting spacewalks and scientific experiments.

"The successful completion of the mission... paves the way for future regular missions and utlisation of the (Chinese space) station," said Chen Lan, an independent analyst at GoTaikonauts, which specialises in China's space programme.

"It is a very important and very much needed start for the CSS."

Tiangong, meaning "heavenly palace", is expected to operate for at least 10 years.

The mission is headed by Nie Haisheng, a decorated airforce pilot in the People's Liberation Army who previously participated in two space missions.

The two other astronauts, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo, are also in the military.

- Space race -

The Chinese space agency is planning a total of 11 launches before the end of next year, including three more crewed missions that will deliver two lab modules to expand the 70-tonne station.

China has poured billions of dollars into its military-led space programme in recent years as it tries to catch up with the United States and Russia.

Beijing's space ambitions have been fuelled in part by a US ban on its astronauts on the International Space Station, a collaboration between the United States, Russia, Canada, Europe and Japan.

The ISS is due for retirement after 2024, although NASA has said it could potentially remain functional beyond 2028.

"Compared to the US, China is still technically somewhat behind," Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told AFP.

"The main US lead in human spaceflight is in total experience," he said.

"For example, two spacewalks is not the same as hundreds of ISS spacewalks. Quantity makes a difference."

© 2021 AFP

A  woman walks by a screen showing news of the Chinese astronauts preparing to return to earth, at a shopping mall in Beijing, September 16, 2021.

 © Andy Wong, AP
Text by:NEWS WIRES

Three Chinese astronauts returned to earth on Friday after a 90-day visit to an unfinished space station in the country's first crewed mission since 2016.

In a small return capsule, the three men - Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo - landed safely in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia in the north of China at 1:34 p.m. (0534 GMT), state media reported.

The Shenzhou-12 mission was the first of four crewed missions planned for 2021-2022 as China assembles its first permanent space station. The process requires 11 missions, including the launches of the station's three modules.

Construction kicked off in April with the launch of the Tianhe module, the future living quarters of the space station. Slightly larger than a city bus, Tianhe was where Nie, Liu and Tang have stayed since mid-June, marking China's longest spaceflight mission.

While in orbit, the astronauts conducted spacewalks, validated Tianhe's life-support system, tested the module's robotic arm, and sorted supplies for upcoming crewed missions.

The second crewed mission is planned for October, with the next batch of astronauts expected to stay on Tianhe for six months.

Ahead of that Shenzhou-13 mission, China will send an automated cargo spacecraft - Tianzhou-3 - to Tianhe carrying supplies needed by the next crew.

Tianzhou-3 will be launched in the near future, state media said recently.

Blocked by U.S. law from working with NASA and by extension on the U.S.-led International Space Station (ISS), China has spent the past decade developing technologies to construct its own space station.

China's space station, expected to be completed by the end of 2022, will be the sole alternative to the 20-year-old ISS, which may be retired in 2024.

(REUTERS)

As workers age, robots take on more jobs -study

© Reuters/TIMOTHY AEPPEL


(Reuters) - It turns out robots are taking over jobs fastest around the world in places where their human counterparts are aging the most rapidly.

That is the conclusion of a new study that looked at demographic and industry-level data in 60 countries and found a powerful link between aging workforces - defined as the ratio of workers aged 56 and older, compared with those aged 21 to 55 - and robot use, focusing in particular on industrial settings.

The research showed age alone accounted for 35% of the variation between countries in their adoption of robots, with those having older workers far more likely to adopt the machines.

“Aging is a huge part of the story” in robot adoption, said Daron Acemoglu, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who conducted the study with Pascual Restrepo of Boston University.

The research fits a longstanding trend of countries such as South Korea and Germany - which both have very rapidly aging workforces - also being among the world’s fastest adopters of robots, based on the number of robots per human worker they deploy.

“The U.S. has a huge technological advantage in a bunch of areas - including software and (artificial intelligence),” said Acemoglu. “But in robots, it's Germany, Japan and recently South Korea, that are further ahead.”

Of the world’s top 15 robotics companies, seven are based in Japan and seven in Germany, Acemoglu said.

The researchers found a similar pattern inside the U.S. economy - with metropolitan areas that have older workforces also seeing great adoption of robots after 1990.

The study examined 700 U.S. metros and used the number of robot "integrators" - firms that specialize in installing and maintaining industrial robots - as a proxy for local robotic activity. They found a 10 percentage-point increase in the aging of a local population led to a 6.45 percentage-point increase in the presence of these integrators.

(Reporting by Timothy Aeppel in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

AI, Jobs, and ‘Rule of the Robots’

Martin Ford’s artificial intelligence centered follow-up to his 2015 book arguing that robots were poised to take all of our jobs.

By
Joshua Kim
September 16, 2021

Rule of the Robots: How Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Everything by Martin Ford

Published in September of 2021.

It is hard to overstate the academic mindshare that Martin Ford captured in his 2015 book Rise of the Robots.

From 2015 until the start of 2020, a theme of almost every higher ed tech and learning conference that I attended was the existential imperative for universities to prepare our students for the coming jobless future.

In the race between robots and humans, the inevitable result seemed to be robots winning out.

Ford’s 2015 book provided much of the intellectual foundations for this concern. In that deeply-researched and well-argued book, Ford explained how intelligent machines would soon replace much of the work done by people.

Now Ford has a follow-up book to Rise called Rule of the Robots. In this book, Ford updates his arguments to put artificial intelligence (AI) at the center of the story.

AI, in Ford’s estimate, is on the cusp of becoming a general-purpose technology. The impact of AI will be as profound as that of electricity, as artificial intelligence will fundamentally change how every other technology gets produced and utilized.

Just as the preceding century could be defined as the age of electricity, the century to come will be remembered as the age of AI.

Rule of the Robots is a sober, even at times cautious, look into our technological future. Unlike in his first book, Ford seems to be a bit more cautious in offering his predictions about the likely impact of AI as infrastructure.

Readers will come away with a good understanding of the technological fundamentals of AI and the debates concerning the likely impact of a maturing set of narrow AI technologies.

My big complaint is that Ford grapples too little with his central thesis that robots represent an existential threat to paid human employment.

If robots are bound to take all the jobs, then that future sure is taking its time arriving.

The reality that our society faces today is not too few jobs, but too many.

In the region that I live in, the schools can’t find enough teachers or bus drivers. The hospitals can’t find enough nurses. The restaurants can’t find enough servers. The construction companies can’t find enough skilled labor. The supermarkets can’t find enough cashiers. The childcare centers can’t find enough childcare workers. Trucking companies can’t deliver goods because there are not enough truck drivers. And so on, and on, and on.

Today’s robots are nowhere near capable enough to replace today’s workers. Even if all the AI technologies that Ford describes end up maturing in the next few years, the result will not be robots capable of the varied type of work in which humans excel.

We may need robot nurses and childcare workers, but we will never get them.

The argument for a universal basic income (UBI) that Ford discusses in Rule of the Robots is that the future will be one of technology-induced employment. A universal wage will be necessary as robots will take all available paid work.

The reality may be that a UBI is necessary to enable more humans to engage in paid work. To the extent that a UBI supports workers being able to find housing and childcare, a universal basic income may enable people to move to where the jobs are and go to work rather than staying home to take care of their kids.

There is a good conversation to be had about the role that AI will play in higher ed. Rule of the Robots should help us look beyond COVID to re-ignite that conversation.

Once that AI-centric campus discussion restarts, I hope that we can begin puzzling out together the reasons behind our acute shortages of nurses, teachers, childcare providers, food servers, plumbers, carpenters, electricians, truck drivers, and every other type of worker that we have now only realized to be genuinely essential.

From what I can see, smart robots can’t get here fast enough.