Queer online series meets eager Russian LGBTQ audience

MOSCOW — Russian film director Andrei Fenochka says his online series about queer young people is important for LGBTQ people in a country that bans gay “propaganda” among minors

.

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Fenochka's “Here I Come” series that debuted last fall is marked as only available to people older than 18 in accordance with Russian law.

Fenochka said Tuesday that the Russian audience has welcomed the series, which he described as a romantic story that mixes “mystics, dreams and everyday life.”

“We have met with a very positive, supportive reaction from young viewers because they finally see the presentation of this part of society not only in English or in Korean, but also in Russian,” he said. “It is important for them to feel that they are not alone, they are not in isolation, they are not banned. Therefore, the interest is very large.”

Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993, but anti-gay sentiment remains widespread. In 2013, Russia adopted a federal law banning "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations among minors.” The law has been widely criticized as effectively blocking any public discussions of homosexuality while authorities have argued it’s intended to protect the interests of children.

And in the predominantly Muslim Russian province of Chechnya, scores of men were arrested and tortured and some were killed on the mere suspicion of being gay in recent years, according to human rights groups. Chechnya's Kremlin-backed regional strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov has claimed there are no gays in Chechnya and a government probe found no proof of abuses.

Asked if he fears reprisals, Fenochka said that he and members of his crew were concerned about the safety of their actors while they were filming romantic scenes in open locations. He emphasized that all his actors were adults.

He noted that the sense of danger has given him a flow of adrenaline and argued that it's not a reason to be afraid.

“If you feel a free person and continue to live in Russia and you want to talk about any topics in your art, you need to be ready for any consequences,” he said.

The Associated Press

Fossil fuel air pollution causes almost 1 in 5 deaths globally each year

More than 8 million people around the world die each year as a result of breathing polluted air that contains particles from fossil fuels, a new study has found.

People walk along Rajpath near India Gate under heavy smog

 conditions in New Delhi on November 9, 2020.

(Photo by SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images)

Burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil produces greenhouse gases that trap solar radiation in the atmosphere and cause climate change. But it also releases tiny poisonous particles known as PM2.5. Small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs, these particles can aggravate respiratory conditions like asthma and can lead to lung cancer, coronary heart disease, strokes and early death.

Research has also found a link between higher levels of long-term pollution and more deaths from Covid-19.

In a study published in the journal Environmental Research on Tuesday, researchers from Harvard University, in collaboration with the University of Birmingham, the University of Leicester and University College London, found that exposure to particulate matter from fossil fuel emissions accounted for 18% of total global deaths -- almost one in five -- in 2018.

The figure is much higher than previously thought. As recently as in 2019, scientists were estimating that 4.2 million people die each year from outdoor airborne particulate matter pollution, a figure that included people who die because of pollution from dust and smoke from wildfires and agricultural fires.

The new study shows that in 2018, estimated 8.7 million deaths were linked to fossil fuel emissions alone.

Eloise Marais, an associate professor in physical geography at UCL and a co-author of the study, said the research adds to the "mounting evidence" that air pollution from fossil fuels is detrimental to global health.

"We can't in good conscience continue to rely on fossil fuels, when we know that there are such severe effects on health and viable, cleaner alternatives," she said in a statement.

The scientists used a global 3D model of atmospheric chemistry developed at Harvard to get a better picture of pollution at a more local level.

Traditionally, satellite and surface observations were used to estimate the average global annual concentrations of PM2.5 particles in the air. By using the 3D model, the scientists were able to divide the globe into a grid with boxes as small as 50 kilometers by 60 kilometers (31 miles by 37 miles) and look at pollution levels in each box individually.

This allowed them to assess the impact of the pollution in places where people live and to distinguish between different sources of pollution.

They found that China, India, parts of the eastern US, Europe and Southeast Asia were the worst impacted. According to the data, as many as 30.7% of deaths in Eastern Asia, 16.8% in Europe and 13.1% in the US can be attributed to fossil fuel pollution.

To model the pollution, the researchers used real emissions and meteorology data, mostly from 2012. The year was picked to eliminate the influence of the El Niño phenomenon, which can worsen or improve pollution depending on the region. They then updated the data to reflect a 44% fall in fossil fuel pollution in China between 2012 and 2018.

The researchers estimate that China's move to cut its fossil fuels emissions saved 2.4 million lives worldwide, including 1.5 million in China.

Millions of lives could be saved by reducing greenhouse gas emissions

In a separate modeling study published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal on Tuesday, researchers found that millions of deaths could be averted by 2040 if countries fully align their policies with their commitments made under the 2015 Paris Agreement to hold global warming below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The world remains woefully short of achieving the emissions cuts needed to meet the goals of Paris and is currently on track to warm by more than 3 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, according to a report released last December by the UN.

The authors found that policies in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement could save 6.4 million lives by improving diets, 1.6 million lives due to cleaner air, and 2.1 million lives due to increased exercise. However, because people would experience crossover benefits from cutting air pollution, eating healthier and breathing cleaner air, the authors say it is difficult to estimate the total number of lives that would be saved by meeting the Paris goals.

The study looked at Brazil, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa, the UK and the US. Together, those countries make up 50% of the world's population, but produce 70% of its greenhouse gas emissions.

"The message is stark. Not only does delivering on Paris prevent millions dying prematurely each year, the quality of life for millions more will be improved through better health. We have an opportunity now to place health in the forefront of climate change policies to save even more lives," said lead author Ian Hamilton, executive director of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change.

The authors of the study call for countries to strengthen their commitments to the Paris Agreement ahead of the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in November. Several have done so already, including the UK and the European Union, as well as China, which announced a commitment last year to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

In Glasgow, all eyes will be on the US and President Joe Biden's new administration. In one of his first acts as President, Biden sent notice to the UN that the US will reenter the Paris Agreement, and he is expected to reveal more ambitious plans to reduce US emissions in the coming months.

© Ioana Epure/Bloomberg/Getty Images Fumes pump from the exhaust of a combustion engine automobile idling in traffic in Bucharest, Romania, on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020.

The new green paper sector doesn't need trees

For Nicole Rycroft, the first modern, tree-free commercial-scale pulp mill in North America was a “lightbulb moment” about the climate crisis.

The new mill in eastern Washington state, called Columbia Pulp, runs entirely without woodchips.

Instead, it makes pulp, for paper products like tissues and food containers, out of some of the hundreds of millions of tonnes of wheat straw that is left over after farmers harvest their grain.

Rycroft, as the founder and executive director of Vancouver non-profit Canopy, has been advocating for new technologies that take advantage of agricultural residues, food waste or old clothing, and turns them into everyday products, without the need for trees.

Her pitch is straightforward: climate scientists say conserving the world’s forests is key to slowing climate change, yet three billion trees per year currently go into paper packaging and another 200 million into clothing.

Meanwhile, there are tonnes of alternative fibre sources destined for landfills or the burn pile that can be made useful again, even accounting for some left over to ensure the organic integrity of the soil.

But convincing investors hasn’t been easy. For one, there is a lack of awareness of these technologies, said Rycroft. There is also a reluctance to jump into something that’s seen as new and risky.

Mills need large, upfront capital investments, while many investors are used to the high-tech world, where they can come in with smaller amounts and enjoy quick turnarounds.

For Columbia Pulp, the company had engineering plans, marketing and permits in place. But “it took them four years to find their equity,” said Rycroft.

That means knocking on hundreds of doors before being able to access the debt package needed to move forward on construction, she said.

Rycroft realized the same drawn-out process couldn’t be repeated for all the other promising technologies, one by one.

“We’re in this turnaround decade for our planet. We need to keep carbon out of the atmosphere and keep forests standing,” she said.

“So bringing on these alternative solution technologies that help alleviate the stress on forest ecosystems — we can’t wait another four years.”

Rycroft will be able to pursue this vision further as one recipient of this year's Climate Breakthrough Award, a three-year, US$3-million grant and support package from the Climate Breakthrough Project.

The award is meant to give winners the resources, time and space to put in place new strategies to deal with climate change.

Rycroft said her work and part of Canopy’s work over the next three years will be looking at ways to compress the four-year timeline she said Columbia Pulp experienced.

She believes the technological solutions are there, they just need to be scaled up and investment needs to be mobilized towards them.

“It’s a new green resource sector. There are a pipeline of innovators,” she said, in Australia, North America, Europe and China that have viable, low-carbon and low-water technologies to take advantage of alternative fibre. Canopy is working with about 25 of them at the moment, she said.

Canopy’s strategy document, unveiled January 2020, has done the math to reach its goal of eliminating 70 per cent of the pulp fibres that come from virgin forests and 30 per cent from plantations.

The strategy lays out where new infrastructure needs to be built in the coming years, like textile mills near large amounts of waste textile, or agricultural residue mills near where farmers end up with lots of wheat straw, for example.

The organization says there will need to be 200 new agricultural fibre pulp mills constructed at an estimated cost of US$40 billion — as well as 107 new recycled paper pulp mills, at US$21.4 billion, and 17 new recycled cotton or microbial-cellulose dissolving pulp mills, at US$3.4 billion.

These three technologies are then projected to combine with another US$4.2 billion to plant 7.5 million hectares of new trees on lands that are not currently prioritized for either food production, carbon storage or habitat restoration. The grand total would be a US$69-billion investment over a 10-year period.

Rycroft said getting over an initial hump of 15 to 20 new mills being built, and operating, will allow the movement to get beyond the perception held by conservative-minded investors of alternative fibres being a new or risky undertaking. Then, she said, more of the conventional and institutional money might be able to be tapped.

“This concept that we’ve had about things being waste, and no longer of any use, is completely artificial,” she said.

“Those hundreds of millions of tonnes of old clothing, and straw — and even food waste — they come with a much lower carbon footprint ... and have excellent qualities for making the next generation of packaging, or next season’s clothing.”

Carl Meyer / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer

Carl Meyer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, National Observer

Why the US must support the electric vehicle supply chain

General Motors' announcement last month that the company will phase out all gas-powered vehicles by 2035, coupled with Ford's plan to double its electrification investments, are yet another sign that the global transition toward electric vehicles is well underway. Worldwide sales of EVs are anticipated to reach tens of millions per year by 2030, which means we will need just as many lithium-ion EV batteries.

© Greg Nash Why the US must support the electric vehicle supply chain

Who will produce these batteries? And how can we ensure the supply chain will be sustainable?

If the U.S. is not careful, that supply chain will continue to be dominated by foreign sources of manufacturing, exacerbating a current bottleneck of supplies in East Asia. And without greater transparency and adherence to existing responsible mining standards, communities in major mineral-producing countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chile may continue to experience harmful local impacts. These range from child labor abuses in artisanal cobalt mines and water supply depletion from lithium extraction to corruption and revenue loss at multiple levels of government.

These impacts worsen global inequalities and provide fodder for EV critics, who conveniently gloss over the similar - and often worse - problems plaguing oil and gas production, detracting from the clear environmental benefits of EVs.

But the economic opportunity for countries - and companies - that can advance a sustainable supply chain is massive. By some estimates, production of graphite, lithium, and cobalt will need to grow by over 450 percent by 2050 to meet global EV targets. The U.S. has a strong interest in ensuring that as much of this supply chain as possible is based domestically. A more geographically diversified supply chain will guard against the supply and price shocks we've seen in the oil and gas context over the decades, while more domestic production will ensure greater adherence to environmental and human rights standards, given the U.S.'s relatively strong history of regulation and enforcement.

Although the battery supply chain will likely lean heavily on imported minerals for the foreseeable future, the U.S. has opportunities to bolster domestic production and reduce its dependence on foreign production. Mineral supplies for EV batteries in the U.S. are ample. Lithium deposits are present in states like Nevada and potentially in great quantities in Southern California's Salton Sea. While battery manufacturers are scrambling to phase out cobalt, energy-dense lithium is not likely to be replaced anytime soon.

Furthermore, the U.S. has the manufacturing capability not only to mine the raw materials but refine and process them for use in battery packs. That local production can mean good jobs in the parts of our country that need them most, along with reduced shipping emissions from delivering these supplies to vehicle production facilities in places like California and Nevada (Tesla), Tennessee (Nissan), and Michigan and Ohio (General Motors).

But beyond boosting the domestic supply chain, automakers and EV advocates have an incentive to ensure that battery production is more sustainable worldwide. That means addressing all risks associated with EV batteries, including those related to human rights, governance, equity, local environmental impacts, and supply reliability. Without greater sustainability, the EV transition could be plagued by shortages, price fluctuations and negative consumer perceptions.

Fortunately, advocates and industry have worked hard to develop responsible mining standards, such as guidance from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Responsible Minerals Initiative and Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. Yet these admirable initiatives can suffer from a lack of coordination, limiting adherence and international oversight. The industry will need stronger mechanisms for neutral and reliable information sharing, leveraging automakers' experience and capacity in traceability and sustainability, and new incentives for compliance with agreed-upon standards. Meanwhile, enhanced U.S. diplomacy and foreign aid can bolster the capacity of governments and observers in mineral producing countries and promote strong standards for transparency and accountability.

Beyond improving existing standards, the U.S. needs to begin planning for a massive battery reuse and recycling deployment. As batteries begin to degrade in vehicles, consumers can swap them out for newer ones, leading to a potential tidal wave of still-serviceable, inexpensive used batteries that can be repurposed for utility-scale grid storage, stationary backup power and myriad other applications. Eventually, they can be recycled, leading to downward demand for newly mined supplies and potentially creating local jobs in the process. But this process will require careful planning and community outreach, incentives and ultimately supportive legislation and regulation, as we've seen with successful recycling efforts launched for other products.

Electric vehicles are here to stay, which is good news for the economy and the environment. They are a much cleaner option than internal combustion engines - even factoring in electricity emissions (which are decreasing with renewables), they represent significant savings on greenhouse gases per mile compared to gas engines.

But the gains will be much greater if U.S. and state policy makers seize the opportunity to plan for a more sustainable, domestic supply chain for the batteries that will soon be powering most of our transportation needs.

Ethan Elkind is the director of the Climate Program at UC Berkeley Law's Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE) and co-author of the report, "Sustainable Drive, Sustainable Supply: Priorities to Improve the Electric Vehicle Battery Supply Chain."

Saskatchewan judge rules university must give professor oil and gas research info

REGINA — A judge has ruled that the University of Regina must provide information to one of its professors about who is funding research into the oil and gas industry.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

"Ultimately, requiring that funding identity information be disclosed is in keeping with promoting transparency, openness and accountability in public institutions, such as the university," Justice Meghan McCreary wrote in her decision released Tuesday.

Emily Eaton, who teaches in the university's geography and environmental studies department, is researching the influence of the fossil fuel industry on education in Saskatchewan.

Under freedom-of-information legislation, she requested that the school disclose who is funding research related to oil and gas, coal, carbon capture and climate change, as well as which departments receive the money.

Eaton was denied her request and turned to the courts.

The university used a "discretionary class exemption" in the province's freedom-of-information laws that allowed it refuse to provide details of the academic research.

But McCreary ruled that the types of records Eaton requested did not fall within the exemption.

"This is because disclosing the amount of funding does not reveal the particulars of the research — the questions, methodology, results and conclusions of the research, itself," the judge wrote.

She said she agrees with the university that "there may be harms in disclosing funding identity information," but that it did not provide enough evidence that it would be the case in this situation.

"The university is entitled to consider whether disclosing funding identity information for any specific research may result in harm prohibited by other provisions of (the act)," she said.

"However, I reiterate that the effect of my decision is that the university cannot rely on (this section of the act) as a blanket exemption to refuse to provide funding identity information."

She added that if the university does not find proper reasoning, "the research files in question must be disclosed."

"If this information is publicly available it provides community members with information that may be relevant to the context of the academic research, thereby providing the public with the ability to consider, analyze and debate the funding choices made by a public institution."

Eaton applauded McCreary's decision on Twitter, calling it a "positive precedent" for transparency of fossil fuel funding in university research.

A lawyer representing the university in the case declined to comment.

University of Regina officials were not immediately available for comment.

— By Daniela Germano in Edmonton

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 9, 2021.

The Canadian Press

ARACHNOPHOBIA TRIGGER WARNING

It's summer in Australia, and that means spiders — some deadly — are invading people's homes

Australian summer is in full bloom and people, restless from the winter COVID-19 lockdowns, have eagerly ventured out onto the pavements, beaches and parks to enjoy the sunshine. 

© Provided by National Post

  A Sydney resident posted a photo of baby huntsman spiders crowding the corner of a wall in her friend's house.

But arachnid experts have warned Sydney residents to watch where they step after warm weather and rainfall brought out deadly male funnel web spiders in homes across the city.

These spiders, which are especially active in the evening, are dangerous, experts told The Daily Mail . A spider bite, without an antivenom, can kill a person in a matter of minutes to three days . They can be found near or inside the house, within laundry baskets, inside clothes, shoes or even underwater, where they can survive for 48 hours.

“If you are bitten by a male funnel web and you don’t get antivenom you will die. There’s a 100 per cent fatality rate for an untreated envenomation,” Jake Meney, a spider keeper at the Australian Reptile Park, which runs the nations’s antivenom program told The Daily Mail.

Meney added that before they were able to obtain the antivenom, two people who had been bitted by a male funnel web spider had died — one was an adult who died in 75 minutes and the second, a toddler, died in 15 minutes.

© Getty Images A male funnel web spider is pictured on a wall. These spiders are deadly, experts say, and without, and a bite without antivenom can kill a person in hours.

“Funnel web spiders are not something to muck around with,” he said.

But if you’re courageous enough, do try to catch the spiders and donate them to the program, he said . Their spider park has only a few funnel web spiders, which means they rely on spiders donated by the public so they can milk them for their antivenom.

“If you are an adult and feel safe to do so, please catch the funnel webs using a big glass jar and keeping your hands away from the spider, coax the spider into the jar and bring it to us or one of our drop-off points,” Meney said, adding that the organization had posted videos on their social media channels and website tutoring the brave on how to safely catch the spiders and where to drop them.

“You will literally be helping us save lives.”

The antivenom program, the only one of its kind in Australia, will need around 200 male funnel web spiders, Meney said. The male Sydney funnel web spider is the second-most poisonous spider in the world after the Brazilian wandering spider, which is found in North America.

So, for everyone saying it's Photoshopped, here is her actual video. pic.twitter.com/2Zcro0nra7— 💧 Petie R 🇦🇺🌟🦄🌱🌈🌏 (@PrinPeta) January 28, 2021

Last week, Sydney residents discovered hordes of baby huntsman spiders in their homes, as part of the summer spider boom. Pictures posted on social media showed hundreds of the dark, hairy spiders lining the walls of a room and hiding behind clothes hanging in a closet.

Huntsman spiders, unlike their funnel web counterparts, are harmless, experts said. They also have poor eyesight and aren’t aggressive towards humans. They’re cannibalistic, one expert told The Daily Mail , and often disperse quickly after they’ve hatched, to avoid being eaten by their siblings.

“There’s probably only enough food for one huntsman in each house,” Dr. Lizzie Lowe told The Daily Mail.

More than 130 years after its discovery, this moth was finally photographed alive

A month into the coronavirus pandemic, photographer Joel Sartore woke up early at home in Lincoln, Nebraska, and went outside to grab the newspaper. Grounded from traveling his usual six months a year, he’d been moping, unsure what to do now that his 2020 trips were canceled.

© Photograph by Joel Sartore, National Geographic Photo Ark
Joel Sartore captured the long-toothed dart moth in September 2020 near Santa Fe, New Mexico.

On the porch, a panoply of bugs buzzing around a light caught his eye—dragonflies, cicadas, june bugs, and many more. Suddenly, his funk lifted.

“I thought, I bet I could stay busy through this pandemic by photographing insects and other invertebrates,” Sartore says. As the founder of National Geographic’s Photo Ark, he aims to document every species living in zoos and wildlife sanctuaries around the world. (Read how Photo Ark began.)

After that April morning, Sartore recruited two of his grown children, along with his friends Loren and Babs Padelford, Nebraska-based amateur entomologists and retirees who devote their time to photographing insects. The team began combing the farmlands and prairies of Nebraska and five neighboring states for the tiniest of creatures, from ferocious antlions to colorful leafhoppers to spindly assassin bugs. They ultimately added 900 new species to the Photo Ark in a mere eight months.

“That something so vital to the Photo Ark was right under my nose the whole time is just amazing,” says Sartore, who photographed most of the invertebrates on-site, in tents, and released them back in the wild.

As the 11,000th species to be added to this decades-long effort, Sartore chose the long-toothed dart moth, Dichagyris longidens. (Read about the güiña, the mystery cat that marked Sartore’s 10,000th photo.)

After its naming in 1890, the roughly inch-long moth, native to the U.S. Southwest, was largely forgotten. So little is known about it, in fact, that Sartore’s photograph is the first-ever of a live specimen.

“The mammals get all the press—the gorillas, the tigers—but it’s the insects that save us all,” he says, citing their role as crucial crop pollinators and scavengers that break down waste. In the U.S. alone, insects contribute about $70 billion a year to the economy. At the same time, many studies show that insects are also disappearing at a rapid rate worldwide, largely due to habitat loss and agricultural pesticides.

Akito Y. Kawahara, an associate professor and curator of Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) at the Florida Museum of Natural History, applauded Sartore’s decision to highlight a moth for this Photo Ark milestone.

“He’s bringing attention to the small things in the world—they’re really underappreciated,” he says. (See 15 pictures of beautiful, misunderstood moths.)

Mystery moth

When Sartore and his team captured the long-toothed dart moth along New Mexico’s Pecos River in September 2020, they sent a photo of the mysterious species to Bob Biagi, an editor at the species-identification website BugGuide. His response: “We have been waiting for your image for at least 130 years.”

The long-toothed dart moth is a type of cutworm—small brown moths that look virtually the same. It’s hard even for scientists to tell them apart, Kawahara says, which is why the long-toothed dart moth has been so little studied.

Cutworm moths are so named because their caterpillars emerge from the soil at night and snip the stems off plants, usually seedlings, toppling them over. Some species, such as the army cutworm, are considered agricultural pests, but most aren’t harmful to crops, Kawahara says.

Cutworm moths also help feed bats (they’re particularly “meaty,” Kawahara says) and pollinate night-blooming flowers. Moths’ role as pollinators is often overshadowed in the public eye by butterflies and bees, he says.

Earth is home to about 160,000 known species of moths and butterflies, but perhaps another 200,000 remain unidentified. “There are so many insects that we don’t know much about,” says Scott Bundy, a professor of entomology at New Mexico State University.

New Mexico in particular has many undocumented insect species, in part because it became a state relatively recently, in 1912. In eastern U.S. states, entomologists have been cataloging species for centuries, Bundy says.

“That’s what’s so fun for me—there’s so much still to be learned about what we have here.”

Insect threats—and solutions

Moths and butterflies are disappearing faster than other insect groups, according to a recent study, and many species may go extinct before they can be identified.

Climate change in particular presents a “huge, huge problem” for moths, Kawahara says. Fluctuating temperatures can confuse caterpillars about when it’s time to pupate, and increasingly extreme wildfires can roast caterpillars alive.

Another threat is light pollution. As nocturnal creatures, moths navigate by moonlight, but they can get distracted by artificial lighting, which they end up circling so many times it exhausts them and makes them easy prey, Kawahara says. (Read more about why moths are attracted to bright lights.)

He recently published a study detailing eight simple things people can do to help moths and other insects, such as turning off lights in offices and homes at night and planting native vegetation.

He also encourages people to be curious about the world around them: Go outside with your smartphone, flip over rocks, and share pictures of what you see, he says. Such community-science data can supplement scientific research, particularly during the pandemic when scientists’ ability to work in the field is limited. (Learn more ways you can help pollinators at home.)

“I hope more photographers aren’t just drawn to the charismatic megafauna,” Kawahara says, “but instead realize there’s this extraordinary diversity of incredible animals right in our backyards.”

The National Geographic Society, committed to illuminating and protecting the wonder of our world, funds the Photo Ark.

Deer native to India starve to death amid drought in Hawaii

HONOLULU — Axis deer, a species native to India presented as a gift from Hong Kong to the king of Hawaii in 1868, have fed hunters and their families on the rural island of Molokai for generations. But for the community of about 7,500, where self-sustainability is a way of life, the invasive deer are both a cherished food source and a danger to their island ecosystem

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Now, drought on Molokai has brought the problem into focus. Hundreds of deer have died from starvation, stretching thin the island’s limited resources.

The drought is among the island’s worst in recent memory and has been going on for nearly two years.

“During the last wet season, which in Hawaii runs from October through April, it never pulled out of drought,” said U.S. National Weather Service hydrologist Kevin Kodama. “It’s been pretty bad, especially for pasture conditions and just the general vegetation. ... It’s had an impact on the wildlife.”

In India, axis deer are kept in check by tigers and leopards. But with no natural predators on Molokai, the population has exploded, and there now are an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 deer on the 260 square mile (673 square kilometre) island.

Residents have a hard time controlling the population by hunting alone. And the animals, in desperate search for food and water, are destroying crops and forest watershed people rely on for food and drinking water.

When the deer devour fruits, vegetables and other plants, it leads to erosion and runoff into the ocean that alters the island’s coral reef — another important food source.

“Molokai has the longest continuous fringing reef in the United States, and it’s one of our community’s greatest assets,” said Russell Kallstrom, information co-ordinator for the Nature Conservancy’s Molokai program. “When ungulates overpopulate an area, that erosion impacts not just the reef, but people’s lifestyle and the subsistence lifestyle that’s there.”

The reefs around Molokai are getting more runoff and sedimentation than expected and at least part of it is caused by erosion from the deer, said Greg Asner, a Hawaii-based marine ecologist.

Sedimentation that settles on the coral can kill it, said Asner, who heads Arizona State University’s Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science. “Fish, invertebrates like crabs, lobsters, you name it — they all rely on that same habitat.”

The deer problem has persisted for years but is getting worse, according to Glenn Teves, a Molokai native and the University of Hawaii’s county extension agent for the island.

“They started moving into the farm area and are just raising hell,” said Teves, who owns a small farm on Molokai.

“It’s a perfect storm,” he said. “What farmers did was they started fencing off their areas, but not all farmers could afford the fencing. So you may be protecting yourself, but you’re just pushing the deer into the another farmer’s place.”

Options for controlling the population include more hunting, aerial sniping and fencing that protects certain areas. Sterilizing deer is difficult and expensive, and no one wants to poison or eradicate them.

If healthy deer are killed, slaughter houses could process the meat into hamburger for food banks and others in need, Teves said. Even composting the carcasses of unhealthy animals has been considered, he said, “so we can use it to bring the land back.”

Hawaii Gov. David Ige recently issued an emergency disaster declaration for Maui County, which includes Molokai, so the state could “take immediate measures to reduce and control the axis deer populations and to remove and dispose of the carcasses quickly.”

Maui County’s mayor, Mayor Michael Victorino, said the disaster proclamation also can help unlock state and federal funding to mitigate some financial losses. ”Our agricultural sector has sustained substantial pasture and crop damage from axis deer in search of food,” he said.

Maui county recently set aside $1 million to address the problem, splitting it among Molokai and two other islands — Maui and Lanai — where axis deer were brought in the 1950s and now are damaging farms, ranches and forests.

A bill last year to allocate another $1 million died in the state Legislature after pushback from Molokai residents who feared the deer would be wiped out. State lawmakers are again trying pass a measure for funding to help manage the deer.

“They trample sea bird burrows, and their grazing and trampling causes soil erosion, causing siltation of reefs that support fish people eat as well, and ultimately, watersheds and fresh water production,” said Jeff Bagshaw, an outreach specialist for the state’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife in Maui County.

Hunting can help control the deer, but Bagshaw says hunters tend to shoot bucks, which increases “harem-size” and doesn’t do much to decrease the overall population.

In 2019, fewer than 400 residents on Molokai were issued hunting permits, he said. Statewide the number was about 10,600. Nearly 1,500 permits were issued to non-residents, many who come to Hawaii specifically to hunt, but coronavirus restrictions in 2020 meant far fewer people came to the state for leisure.

Because of the overpopulation, there is no daily bag limit on deer nor a designated hunting season.

A number of other non-native species have become established in the islands, including goats and pigs. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the hoofed animals are among the largest contributors to ecosystem degradation and extinction in Hawaii, where plants and animals that evolved in isolation over millions of years lack natural defences against introduced species.

In addition to causing to environmental damage, the starving deer population has become a public nuisance. Dead ones are rotting around the island, including along shorelines where people fish, swim and surf.

Private landowners are responsible for disposing of dead deer on their property, while state and county agencies have to clean up dead deer on public lands.

And people who regularly drive on Molokai say the normally skittish deer have become more brazen while seeking food and water and pose a serious roadway hazard.

“Just driving down the highway, herds will suddenly decide to cross, and so a lot of people have had their vehicles totalled as a result of impacts with deer,” said the Nature Conservancy’s Kallstrom.

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Follow Caleb Jones on Twitter: @CalebAP

Caleb Jones, The Associated Press

A rare yellow lobster, named Banana, 

has been caught off the coast of Maine

A rare yellow lobster has been caught off the coast of Maine and has been lovingly named Banana.

© From University of New England

 The odds of catching a yellow lobster are about one in 30 million.

The University of New England (UNE) said in a news release that Banana was caught by lobsterman Marley Babb and donated to the university on Wednesday. The yellow color comes from a pigment in the lobster's shell and the odds of catching one are about one in 30 million, according to the Lobster Institute at the University of Maine.

Babb contacted the Maine Department of Marine Research (DMR) after his once-in-a-lifetime catch to see if they would be interested in housing the lobster.




Lindsey Forrette, a lab coordinator and chemical hygiene officer in the School of Marine and Environmental Programs said Babb drove two hours from his location in Tenant's Harbor to drop off Banana.

"UNE has cultivated strong connections with lobstermen and Maine DMR," Charles Tilburg, director of the School of Marine and Environmental Programs said in a statement. "It was through those connections that (researchers) learned about Banana and Lindsay was able to coordinate with Marley from there."



The University of New England is sharing an $860,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) with the Maine Department of Marine Resources, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, and Hood College in Maryland to study the impact that a warming Gulf of Maine is having on lobster larvae and their success in growing to adulthood.

"Banana is about a pound to a pound and a half and is settling in nicely here," Forrette said.

Canada plans hydropower push as Biden looks to clean up U.S. grid

By Nia Williams and Allison Lampert

© Reuters/JP Moczulski FILE PHOTO: 

High voltage electrical power transmission lines in Toronto

CALGARY, Alberta/ MONTREAL, (Reuters) - Canada sees an opportunity in U.S. President Joe Biden's push to achieve a carbon-free electrical grid by 2035: hydropower exports.

With Canadian crude exports taking a hit from Biden's decision to scrap the Keystone XL oil pipeline, Ottawa is increasingly focused on sales of clean energy.

Around 60% of the 4 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity consumed in the United States in 2019 came from fossil fuels, government data show. Biden's push to convert that to clean energy gives Canada, the world's third-largest producer of hydropower, a window to sell more hydro exports to its southern neighbour.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Reuters last week the United States is interested in boosting hydro imports. In a separate interview Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said combining Canada's clean energy with U.S. wind, solar and geothermal power was a priority for early talks between the two countries.

"We do think that's a big economic opportunity," Wilkinson told Reuters.

A White House spokesman, asked about Canadian hydro exports, said the new administration is "leaving no sources of renewable energy off the table."

Canada generated about 440 billion kilowatt-hours from hydropower in 2020, just over half its maximum installed capacity. Canada's electricity exports to United States dropped in 2019 to a six-year low of 47 billion kilowatt-hours, worth C$1.9 billion ($1.5 billion), influenced by factors like water levels and domestic demand, Canada Energy Regulator specialist Matthew Hansen said.

While a massive U.S. effort to build renewable energy infrastructure might meet Biden's targets, an interconnected grid and sharing resources with neighbouring countries would keep energy more affordable, said Steve Clemmer, director of energy research and analysis with the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists.

"Having the hydro from Canada gives some more flexibility to control costs," Clemmer said.

POWER STORAGE

Hydro Quebec, Canada's largest electricity producer, has already been working to advance two new high-voltage lines to neighbouring New England and New York.

"We share Prime Minister Trudeau's optimism and we are enthused by President Biden's commitment....as we believe HQ can play a major role in our neighbours' decarbonisation efforts, at the lowest cost possible to rate payers," said Hydro Quebec spokeswoman Lynn St-Laurent.

When more renewable energy comes online, power storage facilities that Canada's reservoirs provide to the U.S. grid should become even more valuable, experts said, noting reservoirs can function like giant batteries. When demand is low but the sun is shining or wind is whipping, the power generated can pump water for release later to run a turbine when electricity is needed.

"There's this version of Canadian hydro not only being firm (capacity) but being something like a battery. That's the big picture informing the vision of some policymakers," said Justin Gundlach, senior attorney at the New York University School of Law's Institute for Policy Integrity.

Potential problems include integration of cross-border grids. Local communities often object to efforts to build more high-voltage transmission lines. Another worry: provincial utilities may be leery of long construction times for power projects and lack of finalised U.S. clean energy regulations.

Hydro Quebec's proposed New England Clean Energy Connect project has secured state and federal permits but could face a fall referendum. Opponents, including the Natural Resources Council of Maine, argue it will displace U.S. clean energy projects at a time when Biden is touting domestic production.

"We hope that facts, science and trust in the robust regulatory review of the project will prevail," Hydro Quebec's St-Laurent said, adding other projects would not reduce emissions on the same scale as quickly.

(Additional reporting by Steve Scherer in Ottawa and Valerie Volcovici in Washington; Editing by Denny Thomas and David Gregorio)