Letters to the Editor: My AI sex robot, my choice

To the editor:

 As both a constitutional and criminal defense lawyer for people charged with prostitution-related offenses, I applaud Professor Rob Brooks' support for future purchasers of artificially intelligent sex robots. He properly criticizes the religious right and the anti-porn left for their opposition to these soon-to-be mechanized intimate companions.

Brooks refers to society's "typical censoriousness about sex." All ideological extremes want to prohibit people from living differently from that belief system's dictates. If our neighbors are not objectively harming us, we have no right to forcibly restrict their personal choices in order to compel obedience to what is ultimately our own subjective code of conduct.

If someone chooses to privately interact with a robot that provides sexual gratification, any ideology underlying an attempt to deprive anyone of the legal right to seek such pleasure is a totalitarian threat to our freedoms.

Edward Tabash, Los Angeles


To the editor:

 What was most unsettling about Brooks' op-ed article on the coming culture war over advanced sex robots and intimacy in virtual reality was how distantly cool and rational it was.

A big part of intimacy to me is working through things I may not agree on with my partner. Equally it has to do with my partner and I standing beside each other through heartache, pain and loss. From this springs trust, affection and desire.

What electronic formula could possibly contrive the infinite complexity of feeling devastated by losing a loved one? What satisfaction would there be in a relationship devoid of the possibility that eventually, it might not all work out, but for your faith and effort?

The very fragile tenuousness of relationships is part of what makes relationships precious and sacred. No AI creation will ever substitute for this.

Eric Searcy, Los Angeles

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

December political cartoon gallery from the USA TODAY Network

Mike Thompson, USA TODAY

TECHNO MYTH

Finally, a Fusion Reaction Has Generated More Energy Than Absorbed by The Fuel

A major milestone has been breached in the quest for fusion energy.

© LLNL/Damien JemisonPreamplifiers that boost laser beams at the National Ignition Facility.

Michelle Starr - Yesterday 

For the first time, a fusion reaction has achieved a record 1.3 megajoule energy output – and for the first time, exceeding energy absorbed by the fuel used to trigger it.

Although there's still some way to go, the result represents a significant improvement on previous yields: eight times greater than experiments conducted just a few months prior, and 25 times greater than experiments conducted in 2018. It's a huge achievement.

Physicists at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will be submitting a paper for peer review.

"This result is a historic step forward for inertial confinement fusion research, opening a fundamentally new regime for exploration and the advancement of our critical national security missions. It is also a testament to the innovation, ingenuity, commitment and grit of this team and the many researchers in this field over the decades who have steadfastly pursued this goal," said Kim Budil, director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

"For me, it demonstrates one of the most important roles of the national labs – our relentless commitment to tackling the biggest and most important scientific grand challenges and finding solutions where others might be dissuaded by the obstacles."

Inertial confinement fusion involves creating something like a tiny star. It starts with a capsule of fuel, consisting of deuterium and tritium – heavier isotopes of hydrogen. This fuel capsule is placed in a hollow gold chamber about the size of a pencil eraser called a hohlraum.

Then, 192 high-powered laser beams are blasted at the hohlraum, where they are converted into X-rays. These X-rays implode the fuel capsule, heating and compressing it to conditions comparable to those in the center of a star – temperatures in excess of 100 million degrees Celsius (180 million Fahrenheit) and pressures greater than 100 billion Earth atmospheres – turning the fuel capsule into a tiny blob of plasma.

And, just as hydrogen fuses into heavier elements in the heart of a main-sequence star, so too does the deuterium and tritium in the fuel capsule. The whole process takes place in just a few billionths of a second. The goal is to achieve ignition – a point at which the energy generated by the fusion process exceeds the total energy input.

The experiment, conducted on 8 August, fell just short of that mark; the input from the lasers was 1.9 megajoules. But it's still tremendously exciting, because according to the team's measurements, the fuel capsule absorbed over five times less energy than it generated in the fusion process.

This, the team said, is the result of painstaking work refining the experiment, including the design of the hohlraum and capsule, improved laser precision, new diagnostic tools, and design changes to increase the speed of the implosion of the capsule, which transfers more energy to the plasma hotspot in which fusion takes place.

"Gaining experimental access to thermonuclear burn in the laboratory is the culmination of decades of scientific and technological work stretching across nearly 50 years," said Thomas Mason, director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

"This enables experiments that will check theory and simulation in the high energy density regime more rigorously than ever possible before and will enable fundamental achievements in applied science and engineering."

The team plans to conduct follow-up experiments to see if they can replicate their result, and to study the process in greater detail. The result also opens up new avenues for experimental research.

The physicists also hope to work out how to further increase energy efficiency. A lot of energy is lost when the laser light is converted into X-rays inside the hohlraum; a large proportion of the laser light instead goes into heating the hohlraum walls. Solving this problem will take us another significant step closer to fusion energy.

In the meantime, though, the researchers are tremendously excited.

"Achieving ignition in a laboratory remains one of the scientific grand challenges of this era and this result is a momentous step forward towards achieving that goal," said physicist Johan Frenje of MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center.

"It also enables the exploration of a fundamentally new regime that is extremely difficult to access experimentally, furthering our understanding of the processes of fusion ignition and burn, which is critical for validating and enhancing our simulation tools in support of the stockpile stewardship.

"In addition, the result is historic as it represents the culmination of many decades of hard work, innovation and ingenuity, team work on a large scale, and relentless focus on the ultimate goal."

The team presented their results at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics.

The Washington Post
The patterns of gun sales in the United States, visualized
Philip Bump - 2h ago

According to Oakland County, Mich., authorities, James Crumbley bought a Christmas present last Friday. It was Black Friday, a day on which Americans commonly begin shopping for the holidays in earnest. Crumbley’s alleged purchase was one that’s also common these days: a handgun, intended as a gift for the son who joined him at Acme Shooting Goods when the purchase was made.



On this particular Black Friday, nearly 188,000 instant background checks were conducted through the FBI, generally (but not always) indicating the purchase of a new firearm. Since the instant background check system was implemented in 1998, there have been only nine days on which more background checks were conducted.

In the case of James Crumbley, we see one of the flaws in that system. According to the county, his son brought the gun to school Tuesday, where he allegedly used it to kill four of his classmates. That James Crumbley seems to have passed a background check did not prevent the weapon from allegedly being used in a violent crime. Crumbley and his wife now face criminal charges related to the shooting.

In the past, the FBI only shared data on background checks on a monthly basis. Recently, though, they’ve expanded that, creating a file that indicates the number of background checks conducted on any day since the system was put in place. That allows us a unique opportunity to see the patterns in gun sales, using background checks as a proxy.

We took that data and created a visualization of sales by day since Nov. 30, 1998. Each day is indicated with a square. The darker the red that square is colored, the more background checks were completed. Squares outlined with white boxes are days on which a new record number of background checks were performed. We’ve also added notes to indicate various patterns and anomalies.

The patterns of gun sales in the United States, visualized

As noted in the graphic, the number of background checks has increased over time. We can visualize that another way. Here, for example, is the number of background checks each year as a function of the country’s population. Two decades ago, there were about 30 checks for every 1,000 Americans each year. In 2020, the figure was four times as high.


The patterns of gun sales in the United States, visualized

Again, this is not only because of more gun sales. Some states use background checks for permitting, for example; in some states, those checks occur multiple times a year.

But it is also because of increased gun sales.

Mike Thompson, USA TODAY

Huge $2.6 billion green hydrogen project planned for Europe

Hydrogen, which has a diverse range of applications and can be deployed in a wide range of industries, can be produced in a number of ways.

Over the last few years, a number of major businesses have become involved in projects centered around green hydrogen.


© Provided by CNBC The Iberdrola Tower in Bilbao, Spain.

Anmar Frangoul - CNBC

Spanish power company Iberdrola and Sweden's H2 Green Steel are to partner and develop a major facility that will produce green hydrogen, in yet another example of how companies are taking an interest in the much talked about sector.

In an announcement on Thursday, the firms said the 2.3 billion euro ($2.6 billion) project would see them set up a green hydrogen facility with an electrolysis capacity of 1 gigawatt. Financing will come from a mixture of equity, green project financing and public funding.

Hydrogen, which has a diverse range of applications and can be deployed in a wide range of industries, can be produced in a number of ways.

One method includes using electrolysis, with an electric current splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen. If the electricity used in this process comes from a renewable source such as wind or solar then some call it green or renewable hydrogen.

The idea is that the green hydrogen from the Iberdrola and H2 Green Steel development will be utilized to generate roughly 2 million tons of direct reduced iron, or DRI, each year, which can then be used to produce steel.

At 1 GW, the scale of the project is significant: according to the International Energy Agency, global installed electrolyzer capacity stood at just 0.3 GW in 2020.

The development by Iberdrola and H2 Green Steel will be situated on the Iberian Peninsula — no specific location has been announced yet — and is slated to commence production in 2025 or 2026.

The electrolyzer itself will be co-owned and operated by the two companies. Iberdrola will provide renewable energy to the site, with H2 Green Steel owning and operating DRI production, including any processes connected to downstream steel production.

The businesses said they would also "explore the opportunity to co-locate a Green Steel production facility capable of producing 2.5-5 million tons of Green flat steel annually, in conjunction with the plant."

In a statement, Aitor Moso, Iberdrola's liberalized business director, said green hydrogen would be "a critical technology in the decarbonization of heavy industrial processes such as the production of steel."

Projects such as the one being planned with H2 Green Steel would, Moso said, "help to speed-up the commercialization of larger and more sophisticated electrolyzers, making green hydrogen more competitive."

Reducing the environmental footprint of intensive industrial processes is a significant challenge.

"Among heavy industries, the iron and steel sector ranks first when it comes to CO2 emissions, and second when it comes energy consumption," the IEA says, adding that the iron and steel sector is responsible for 2.6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

"The steel sector is currently the largest industrial consumer of coal, which provides around 75% of its energy demand," it says.

Hopes for hydrogen, but hurdles too

Over the last few years, a number of major businesses have become involved in projects centered around green hydrogen.

In November, for example, Australia-headquartered Fortescue Future Industries said it would become the U.K.'s largest supplier of green hydrogen after signing a memorandum of understanding with construction equipment firm JCB and Ryze Hydrogen.

In the same month, it was announced that Norsk Hydro and oil giant Shell would look into the potential of joint projects focused on green hydrogen production.

While there is excitement about the potential of green hydrogen, there are also hurdles to overcome.

In October, the CEO of Siemens Energy spoke about the issues he felt were facing the sector, telling CNBC that there was "no commercial case" for it at this moment in time.

In comments made during a discussion at CNBC's Sustainable Future Forum, Christian Bruch outlined several areas that would need attention in order for green hydrogen to gain momentum.

"We need to define boundary conditions which make this technology and these cases commercially viable," Bruch told CNBC's Steve Sedgwick. "And we need an environment, obviously, of cheap electricity and in this regard, abundant renewable energy available to do this." This was not there yet, he argued.

A few months earlier, in July, Enel CEO Francesco Starace said there was "no competition for capital between hydrogen and renewables."

"Hydrogen today is a niche, and it is a niche that needs to develop into commercial standard and into … big industry, competitive pricing," Starace said, signaling that such a shift would probably take 10 years.

ECOLOGY

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a 'raft of life' for animals in the open ocean

Kate Baggaley - 

Every year, at least 14 million tons of plastic garbage enter the world’s oceans and cause all kinds of problems for the wildlife that eat, suffocate on, or become entangled within it. There’s also another consequence of all this trash for marine habitats that’s been mostly overlooked until now, scientists reported this week.


© Smithsonian Institution

Feather-like coastal animals called hydroids join an open-ocean crab and gooseneck barnacles on a piece of floating debris.

It turns out that coastal plants and animals are hitching a ride on the ever-growing deluge of plastic debris and traveling hundreds of miles from shore to create a new kind of ecosystem in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the largest accumulation of moving plastic debris in the ocean. Researchers identified a host of anemones and other species living within the rubbish, which allows the little creatures to thrive in an otherwise inhospitable environment. The coastal organisms may compete with local species and journey across the sea or be carried to the shore to invade new coastlines, the team wrote on December 2 in Nature Communications.

“There are so many questions at this point about what the ecological impacts are,” says Linsey E. Haram, a research associate at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and coauthor of the study. “If this is a common phenomenon across oceans, then we’re looking at an avenue for invasive species transport that’s really difficult to manage.”

Researchers have long understood that marine detritus such as floating logs and seaweed can ferry coastal organisms to islands and distant shores. But these rafts were generally rare and short-lived before the advent of durable, buoyant plastics. It was thought that coastal plants and animals would struggle to survive in the harsh conditions of the open ocean, where there’s often little food and shelter.

However, the glut of plastic that’s accumulated in the ocean since the mid 20th century has given enterprising critters new and more enduring opportunities to colonize the high seas, Haram and her team wrote. The massive East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011 offered a striking example of how this can happen. Hundreds of coastal Japanese marine species rode the debris released by the destruction over 6,000 kilometers (3,728 miles) to North America’s west coast and the Hawaiian Islands.

“We're still finding examples of tsunami debris landing even in 2020 and 2021,” Haram says. “It really opened our eyes to the fact that plastics in particular can be really long-lived as floating debris, which opens up opportunities for some of these rafting species to be out in the open ocean for extended periods of time.”

Much of the waste washed out to sea by the tsunami ended up in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, better known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The gyre, which lies between Hawaii and California, is formed by rotating ocean currents and has, over the past 50 plus years, become a reservoir for plastic litter of all sizes.

[Related: The great Pacific garbage patch is even trashier than we thought]

Haram and her colleagues wanted to find out whether any coastal marine life from the tsunami was still clinging to this trash. They worked with the Ocean Voyages Institute, a nonprofit that cleans up plastic pollution, and volunteers to collect debris larger than 5 centimeters (about 2 inches). The researchers then combed through samples of the garbage—which included buoys, derelict fishing gear, and household items such as hangers and toothbrushes—for signs of life.

They found coastal species attached to well over half of the plastic pieces they examined, and many were species that typically thrive in eastern Asia. Among them were anemones, brittle stars, barnacles, shrimp-like crustaceans called isopods, seaweeds, and even coastal fish that were “corralling around or on these floating plastics,” Haram says. “It really creates a little raft of life.”

Alongside the coastal creatures were organisms that have evolved to settle on marine floating debris or animals. These open ocean dwellers included gooseneck barnacles, crabs, and filter-feeding animals called bryozoans. Intriguingly, Haram says, these native rafters were actually less diverse than the array of coastal species her team identified.

The findings suggest that the blend of lifeforms thriving on plastic rafts in the middle of the ocean are a community in their own right, says Henry S. Carson, a marine ecologist at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife who wasn’t involved with the research.

“You’ve got this mix of species that are evolved to be [in the] open ocean and evolved to be coastal, and now they’re mixing on this new kind of habitat,” he says. “I couldn’t predict what will happen, but it's fascinating.”

The two groups do seem to be competing for space, but beyond that it’s not clear yet how the coastal species interact with their neighbors or what they’re eating, Haram says. She and her colleagues are also investigating whether the new arrivals can actually reproduce and sustain their populations in the open ocean.

“To figure out how much of this community is persisting on its own and how much is being constantly imported from the coast…would be a natural and very interesting place to go,” Carson says.

[Related: This luxurious fabric breaks down in the ocean without leaving a trace]

Another key question is whether these communities form in other oceans. It’s also important to investigate the extent to which plastic rafts carry invasive species to new habitats, points out Carson, who has previously identified organisms that cause disease in corals on plastic debris from the Pacific Ocean.

It’s likely that these rafting communities will only become more prevalent in the future as the amount of plastic dumped into the sea continues to grow, and flooding and destruction along coastlines worsens due to increased storminess driven by climate change, Haram and her colleagues concluded.

“We’re looking at more opportunities for inoculation of plastics into our oceans, and what that will mean for open ocean communities time will tell,” Haram says. “But we can expect to see more and more plastic ending up in the middle of the ocean and if our research is any indication that may mean more coastal species as well.”

USA TODAY investigation reveals a stunning shift in the way rain falls in America

Nicole Carroll, USA TODAY - 

© George Walker IV / The Tennessean

I'm USA TODAY editor-in-chief Nicole Carroll, and this is The Backstory, insights into our biggest stories of the week. If you'd like to get The Backstory in your inbox every week, sign up here.

Think your area has had more rain than usual? You're probably right.

Think your area has had less rain than usual? Again, you're probably right.

For our climate change investigation out this week, called Downpour, USA TODAY reporters used 126 years of monthly data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to analyze average annual precipitation at 344 climate divisions. They used daily precipitation data from weather stations to measure the change in frequency of extreme rain events across the U.S. from 1951-2020.

"We were hearing a lot about extreme rainfall, stories of flooding, people with sewer backups, people flooded out of their homes, and we wanted to know, is this happening everywhere?," said Dinah Pulver, one of the project's lead reporters. "How many people, how many places, are contending with this kind of rainfall?


© Eric Seals, Detroit Free Press

A man in a red SUV surrounded by other cars and trucks that are also stuck and stalled waits to get help on I-94 West near Trumbull and Rosa Parks in Detroit on June 26, 2021. Heavy rains in Metro Detroit caused massive flooding in homes, streets and freeways.

We found more than half of the nation's 344 climate divisions had their wettest periods on record since 2018. We calculated the same rolling averages for states.

"East of the Rockies, more rain is falling, and it’s coming in more intense bursts," our report finds. "In the West, people are waiting longer to see any rain at all.

"Taken together, the reporting reveals a stunning shift in the way precipitation falls in America."

Specifically, our reporting finds:

At some point over the past three years, 27 states – all east of the Rocky Mountains – hit their highest 30-year precipitation average since record keeping began in 1895.
A dozen states, including Iowa, Ohio and Rhode Island, saw five of their 10 wettest years in history over the past two decades.

Michigan saw six of its wettest 10 years on record over the past 13 years.

In June, at least 136 daily rainfall records were set during storms across five states along the Mississippi River.

At the opposite extreme, eight states – including five in the West – had at least three record-dry years in the same time period. That’s double what would be expected based on historical patterns.

Look up your zip code: See how precipitation has changed in your community
"People talk about the climate we're leaving for our kids or the climate of the future," Pulver said. "But the reality is climate change is here now and it's affecting most of us."

So how does the warming planet impact rainfall?

Michael Mann, a climatologist at Penn State University, told our reporters the greenhouse effect is important to keep Earth from freezing, but excess heat greatly reduces the temperature difference between the warmer tropics and cooler polar regions in the summer.

Mann said that reduction in the temperature difference slows down the jet stream, which makes it weaker and wavier in the summer. That means weather systems moving across the country can slow or stall more often.

"The gentle rains for a number of days are kind of disappearing and are being replaced by downpours," said Chris Davis, USA TODAY's executive editor for investigations. "And that in and of itself has a lot ramifications, everything from flooding, to mudslides out west, to how much fertilizer gets picked up and carried into the Mississippi River and down into the Gulf of Mexico."


© Jon Austria/The Coloradoan

Dan Bond stands in a debris field on Nov. 3, 2021. The debris was left over from the Black Hollow post-fire debris flow near his Colorado home.

In the West, the high temperatures and lingering high pressure systems pull moisture from soil and plants. The increased heat and long periods between rains contribute to record wildfires.

“They’re all interconnected to the impact that climate change is having on these persistent weather extremes,” Mann said. “It’s not a contradiction to have huge floods, unprecedented floods and unprecedented heat waves and droughts at the same time.”

The downpours bring a deluge of problems. Stormwater, sewage and drinking water pipes are 50 to 100 years old and nearing the end of their life expectancy, said Christine Kirchhoff, an associate professor in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Connecticut.

That leaves communities increasingly vulnerable to flooding. It also prompts massive releases of treated and untreated wastewater into waterways, which can cause or inflame gastrointestinal issues.

Downpours also push fertilizer from Midwestern fields into rivers, which ultimately slowly poison the Gulf of Mexico.

"But it’s not just the Gulf of Mexico," reported Ignacio Calderon, with our partner the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting. "Fertilizer runoff wreaks havoc on rivers and lakes across the country. It contaminates drinking water, harms aquatic life and sickens both people and pets."

It took our reporters months to collect, organize, analyze and publish this information. Now, you can see how rainfall has changed in your community in just seconds.

Here, you can enter your address or ZIP code to see how rainfall has changed dating back to 1895.

Data reporter Kevin Crowe led our data analysis efforts, a huge undertaking given the number of climate divisions and years of data. Crowe ran our methodology by several scientists to make sure our findings were spot on. We also drew on the data and expertise of climatologist Brian Brettschneider.

What stood out?

"Looking at states in the Midwest and in the Northeast and just how much more rain places like Michigan, Indiana or Ohio or Pennsylvania are getting, that kind of boggled my mind," Crowe said. "I mean the Great Lakes are higher, all sorts of things kind of indicate that there's more water falling, but just seeing the overall trend lines was still pretty surprising."

Our team also dreamed up creative ways to help our readers understand the changing rainfall. Developer Chris Amico wondered if we could create a sonification of the hundred-plus years of rainfall data.

Pulver took that challenge to Florida's Full Sail University, where musicians composed songs based on changing precipitation patterns in several states.

Timothy Stulman, a composer and department chair of music composition, took on Pennsylvania. He gathered sounds of wind, thunder and rain, then combined those with flute and cello melodies. The density and volume directly correlate to the data.

“If there was a really high rainfall year, I would choose recordings of intense rainfall, strong winds, and mix them with loud thunderclaps," he told us. "So it's not a single recording of a storm, but rather various storm elements blended together based on the rainfall data.”

The point of all of this work is to help people understand the impact of climate change, right now, in their specific communities.

"These extreme events are not coincidence. They're really all part of the same pattern," said investigative editor Emily Le Coz.

"You still hear terms like '100-year rainfall event' or this is a '50-year flood.' Those terms are sort of meaningless now. What's the point of calling it a 100-year event if it's happened five times in the last decade?

"There's a lot that we need to do to wrap our brains around the new reality that we're living in."

Backstory: How Reviewed experts pick products and deals for shoppers (sometimes they set things on fire)

Backstory: USA TODAY investigation finds widespread retaliation against police whistleblowers

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: USA TODAY investigation reveals a stunning shift in the way rain falls in America

Climate change comes to US insurance

Bridget Pals and Michael Panfil, opinion contributors - 

© AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

Natural disasters have cost the United States more than $600 billion over the past five years. With climate change, those costs are expected to continue increasing. Moving forward, managing and distributing these harms will become increasingly important. Insurance is one tool to do so. Unfortunately, the insurance system is also at risk from climate change.

By changing the underlying risk profile of certain insurance products, climate change threatens insurers' business model. At the same time, insurers also face risk as investors, as insurers' assets may be overvalued due to unassigned climate risk. Improved data, research and resilience planning can contribute to a more robust and more equitable insurance system, while improving financial disclosure requirements can limit investment risk. Just last month, the New York State Department of Financial Services took major strides toward solving these problems by issuing guidance on how insurers are expected to integrate climate risk assessment into their operations and investments. Further action is needed.

Insurance works by pooling risk across a population. Essentially, policyholders pay into a pot. When a policyholder suffers a harm, they collect from the value in the pot. Because only a small number of policyholders are likely to suffer an insured harm in a given period, the money from the lucky policyholders covers the claims of the unlucky.

However, this system breaks down when large portions of the population suffer harms at the same time, as is the case with many climate-related events. Consider a wildfire, which can affect an entire region. In response, insurers may either raise premiums beyond what most Americans can afford or pull out of a high-risk market altogether, leaving gaps in coverage and reducing accessibility (an alarmingly common trend for homeowners in wildfire-prone areas of California).

Underwriters and policyholders need better access to climate data in order to make informed decisions with regards to climate risk. Where private insurance is uneconomical, however, policymakers should consider how public insurance programs can play a role, with an eye toward designing those programs to distribute risk equitably. Alongside this research, policymakers should investigate how resilience measures can reduce damages from disasters, limiting overall risk in the first place. Federal resilience grants have been found to save the public $6 for every $1 spent.

However, underwriting risk is only a piece of the puzzle. Insurers are also large institutional investors, holding about $7.5 trillion (about one-third of the United States gross domestic product) in cash and invested assets. As investors, insurers face and create climate risk by making investing decisions without fully accounting for the underassessed financial risks created by climate change.

For example, sea-level rise might mean coastal homes are worth less than they appear, and movement away from fossil fuel dependence could indicate that long-term oil assets have little value. Just as mortgages were overvalued in 2008, experts fear investors are ignoring climate risk and consequently overvaluing assets across our economy, creating a climate bubble. This climate bubble means that insurance companies, their policyholders and their investors may be on far less stable financial ground than they think.

Policymakers should take action to unearth hidden risk in insurers' portfolios. Requiring insurers to identify and disclose the climate risk in their portfolios is a necessary step. Disclosure would create a foundation from which policymakers could consider how climate risk threatens insurer solvency and, from there, regulate the risk. This is important not only to insurers and policymakers, but to all Americans who rely upon a well-functioning financial system.

Change is coming. On the investment side, a recent survey by BlackRock found that 95 percent of insurers expect climate change to affect how they build their investment portfolios. Regulators are also taking action, as evidenced by New York's recent guidance, setting the expectation that insurers analyze their climate risk as both underwriters and investors and report that risk to stakeholders.

These efforts are encouraging, but more are urgently needed.

These solutions need to be incorporated across all 50 states. While insurance is state-regulated, the Federal Insurance Office, established by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, is charged with monitoring the insurance industry and can play a critical role in giving states the tools they need to do the job. Working with a coalition of advocacy groups, we encouraged the agency to use its unique position to set and socialize best practices in this area, provide the insurance industry, policyholders and state regulators with better climate data, as well as develop research on resilience efforts and the role of public insurance in spreading risk.

Climate risk can be redistributed only to a point; ultimately, the best tools in the fight against climate change are decarbonizing the economy and investing in climate resilience measures. But, as climate risks grow steeper and the climate bubble expands, it is necessary to align incentives in the insurance industry to prevent widespread defaults that would leave policyholders unprotected. Where insurers are absent from the market, policymakers must also examine who is bearing risk in society and how that burden can be shared. Other states should follow New York and take concrete steps to protect consumers and investors.

Bridget Pals is a legal fellow at the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law.

Michael Panfil is lead counsel and director of Climate Risk Strategies at the Environmental Defense Fund

UK: Used Electric Cars Now Sell Faster Than Gas, Auto Trader Says

James Fossdyke -
© InsideEVs

The company says its the first time electric vehicles (EVs) have sold faster than petrols.

Used electric cars are now selling faster than their petrol-powered alternatives for the first time, according to one online car marketplace. Auto Trader says the average used electric vehicle (EV) is currently taking 26 days to sell, compared with 28 days for the average used petrol vehicle.

That isn’t just the first time EVs have sold faster than petrol-powered alternatives, but it marks a 41-percent reduction in the time EVs spend on dealer forecourts compared with January. Back at the beginning of the year, the average used EV took 44 days to sell.

On a more granular level, 2017 Nissan Leafs are the fastest-selling used electric cars in the UK, taking an average of just 20 days to find a buyer. In second place is the 2016 Renault Zoe, which takes an average of 23 days to sell, while nearly-new (2021) examples of the Tesla Model 3 take an average of 27 days to shift.


© InsideEVs2017 Nissan LEAF

According to Auto Trader, the acceleration in sales times is down to “massive growth” in consumer demand for electric cars. That’s backed up by the 122.6-percent increase in the number of searches for electric cars on the Auto Trader website compared with 12 months ago.

That said, electric cars still represent a tiny proportion of the overall used car market, and Auto Trader says only a small proportion of those searching for EVs are serious about making the switch. In fact, the company says a mere 25 percent of “EV considerers” account for 79 percent of all the EVs looked at.

The company suggests that reluctance to commit to an electric car could be down to the “significant price disparity” between used electric vehicles and their petrol- or diesel-powered peers. The firm claims the average sticker price of a ‘nearly new’ EV (under 12 months old) is currently 47 percent more expensive than its petrol or diesel equivalent, whilst a one-year-old EV is 40 percent more expensive than an internal combustion-powered car.
More on the switch to electric cars:

UK car industry calls on government to support electric car uptake

UK electric uptake 'lacks required pace' to meet government targets

“The acceleration in the speed of sale of used electric vehicles reflects a significant increase in consumer demand this year, which has been driven by a myriad of factors, not least rising fuel costs,” said Auto Trader’s director of commercial products, Karolina Edwards-Smajda. “The used electric market will play an important role in driving mass adoption and reaching the government’s 2030 targets, however, as it stands, the ‘green premium’ for buying a new or used EV means they remain out of reach for the vast majority of car buyers.

“If the government is serious in its ambition, it will need to do a lot more to make EVs financially accessible to more than just the most affluent; it would do well to take the lead from other European markets which are applying a smarter approach to incentives and a more comprehensive set of enabling policies.”

Source: AutoTrader.co.uk

In a lot of respects, progress regarding sustainability and climate change is still far too slow for what the world needs. One area where the pace is really picking up however is that of electric vehicles. That is, the production and purchase of them. When it comes to public infrastructure to match this growing demand, a lot of countries are still a long way behind in providing charging points.

As this infographic using International Energy Agency data shows, there is a large discrepancy in countries like New Zealand, where there were 52 electric vehicles for every one public charging point in 2020. It doesn't have to be like this though, as exemplified by South Korea where fighting over the parking space at the charging station is surely a very rare occurence. Here, there is a public charger for every two EVs in the country.

This chart shows the ratio of electric vehicle stock to public charging points in selected countries in 2020

PATRIARCHY IS MISOGYNY, FEMICIDE, CHILD BRIDES

Taliban decree on women's rights makes no mention of school or work

By Eliza Mackintosh, CNN - 

© HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images


The Taliban released a so-called "decree on women's rights" on Friday that failed to mention access to education or work and was immediately panned by Afghan women and experts, who said it was proof that the militant group was uninterested in upholding basic freedoms for millions of Afghan women who have largely been constrained to their homes in recent months.

The decree, which sets out the rules governing marriage and property for women, states that women should not be forced into marriage and that widows have a share in their husbands property. "A woman is not a property, but a noble and free human being; no one can give her to anyone in exchange for peace...or to end animosity," said the Taliban decree, released by spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid.

The Taliban have been placed under immense pressure to support the rights of women by the international community, which has mostly frozen funds for Afghanistan since the group seized control of the country. Instead, in their four months of rule, the Taliban's leaders have imposed limits on girls' education and banned women from certain workplaces, stripping away rights they had fought tirelessly for over the last two decades.

Afghan women interviewed by CNN on Friday said that the decree would do little to change their lives, adding that the rights detailed by the Taliban were already enshrined under Islamic law. The Taliban's leaders promised that women would have rights "within the bounds of Islamic law" when they swept to power, but it's been unclear what that would mean or how it would differ from the strict interpretation of the law imposed by the group from 1996 to 2001, when women were banned from leaving the home without a male guardian and girls were blocked from school.
'They only want women to stay home'

"[The decree] has no connection with our right to go to school, university or participate in government. We don't see any hope for our future if it goes on like this," said Muzhda, a 20-year-old university student in the capital Kabul, who asked that her surname not be used. "We were not feeling comfortable since the the Taliban took control and we won't feel comfortable after this decree ... if they don't bring changes to their rules for the women's rights we will prefer to stay inside."

"They only want women to stay home and prevent them from going out for school, university or work, but they want to appeal to international community," she added.

The timing of the edict comes as Afghanistan plunges deeper into an economic crisis and amid warnings of a looming famine. But it is unlikely that the statement will go far enough to assuage international concerns that Afghan women are currently unable to work and go to school, or even access public spaces outside the home.

"It's been becoming more and more clear to the Taliban over the last three and a half months that women's rights, particularly girls education, is a really serious barrier to achieving some things that they want from the international community -- recognition, legitimacy, funding, unfreezing of assets," Heather Barr, the associate director of women's rights at Human Rights Watch, told CNN.

The Taliban's leaders have presented a more moderate face of the group to the world in recent months, pledging to allow primary education and some secondary education for girls, but rights advocates are unconvinced their views have changed. According to Barr, "their views are pretty intact compared to '96 to 2001, about what the role of women and girls should be. And so, in that context, this looks like a statement that costs them nothing."

"It gives you a sense of how the Taliban see women's roles in society," Barr added. "It feels a bit insulting, honestly, at a moment when millions of girls are being denied access to education."
A worsening crisis

Barr noted that, in practical terms, the Taliban has no way to uphold women's rights after having abolished all the mechanisms to do so. Since sweeping to power, the Taliban has abolished the Ministry of Women's Affairs, a key body in promoting women's rights through Afghan laws. They've also rolled back the Elimination of Violence against Women Law, signed in 2009 to protect women from abuses -- including forced marriage, leaving them without recourse to justice, according to the UN.

"Enforcement of this decree in most parts of the country is impossible, only the Taliban can implement it in the capital and some parts of the country, but most parts are having their own custom, which they won't accept this decree," Fariha Sediqi, 62, a former school teacher in Kabul, told CNN.

Even though marriage under the age of 15 is illegal nationwide, it has been commonly practiced for years, especially in more rural parts of Afghanistan. And the situation has deteriorated since the August takeover, as families became more desperate in the face of a worsening economic crisis.

Zahra Joya, an Afghan journalist who fled the Taliban, but is continuing to run her own women's news agency, Rukhshana Media, from London, England, where she is seeking asylum, said that the decree was meaningless.

"The Taliban said women are humans. Everyone knows women are humans. They say women are free. But how? It is the 21st century and all Afghan women need to have their freedoms — educational rights, working rights. And unfortunately, the Taliban they've limited women's life in the 100 days they've been in power," Joya said.

Joya, who grew up under the Taliban in the '90s and lived as a boy in order to flout the group's education ban and attend school, left Afghanistan to continue her work. She has a network of female journalists across the country who are reporting on women's issues, like rise in forced marriage amid the economic, in secret.

"Right now, the majority of Afghan people don't have enough food for eating. The Taliban don't have any solution for solving the economic situation in Afghanistan, and yet they're still trying to limit women," she added.