IRELAND

'Myth' of recycling 'really far down the waste hierarchy', environmental group says

Jack Quann
 5 SEP 2021

An environmental group says Irish people were sold a 'myth' that recycling would solve our waste problems.

The Sick of Plastic campaign was formed in 2018, in response to the public's frustration with single-use plastics.

But it says we are taking home more plastic packaging from supermarkets than ever, despite moves such as the plastic bag levy back in 2002.

Lyndsey O'Connell from the group told Alive and Kicking people were sold a 'complete misnomer'.

"It's a myth - recycling is part of the solution, but it's really, really far down on the waste hierarchy.

"What we would say at the very top is 'refuse, reuse and refill' and then recycling would be way down there.

"We only, in Ireland, recycle 31% of our plastics and at that you can only recycle a piece of plastic five or six times before it becomes completely broken down and it has to be incinerated anyway.

"So it's not like aluminium and glass, that can be recycling and reused constantly".
Increase in plastic waste

She says the increase in plastic on products is not a mistake.

"Plastic is a big issue at the moment, it wouldn't come as a surprise to yourself I'm sure and most of your listeners, that is a bit of a pollution issue.

"But we are taking home a lot more plastic in our bags than ever as well."

Lyndsey says over time, the use of single-use plastics - on supermarket fruit and vegetables for example - has increased.


"The more time has gone on the more plastic we're using, and that's not happening by accident.

"It's a concerted effort by the plastics industry, because that's where their profit is unfortunately.

"They're producing more plastic and then we're seeing it on our shelves and then we're taking it home and putting it into our bins".

Lyndsey says as more people move away from oil and gas, the industry needs to get profit in other ways.

"I didn't realise this when I started working on this project... that 99% of the ingredients in plastic is actually oil and gas.

"So the fossil fuel industry, because we're all heating our homes now more efficiently or we're powering our cars with electricity the fossil fuel industry are moving towards the creation of plastic as a way of bolstering their kind of ebbing profits.

"So because we're seeing more plastic in the shops, this is actually a business drive for more profits.

"The more plastic they're producing, the better they're doing as a business".

Refill targets

But Lyndsey says every little helps, and people should not feel overwhelmed.

"I'm not the only one who stands over my bin in a state of paralysis with a piece of packaging in my hand going 'where does this go, I want it to go to the right place'.

"We work with bottom-up solutions, where we give people who feel like us and who are sick of plastic - if they want to push back against industry - we will provide them with ways to get in contact with their local supermarket, maybe do a local audit of their shops to see how much plastic they're using.

"But we're also looking for top-down solutions as well.

"We don't think we're going to make big changes unless industry and government are onboard.

"We're calling on the Government to introduce refill targets - so that 20% of our supermarkets floors, of the larger supermarkets, have to be refill.

"Where we can bring in our own packaging and fill up those products".

She was speaking after supermarket chain Lidl announced a Deposit Return Scheme for plastic bottles, which will see customers get vouchers in return.

The company says its reverse vending machine is now being used at its Glenageary store in Dublin, with plans for a nationwide rollout by 2023.

For every unit deposited, a customer will receive a 10c voucher in return - with a maximum voucher limit of €2.

'We have to face it head-on': Canada's opioid crisis should be front and centre this election, advocates say

Christy Somos

CTVNews.ca Writer
 Saturday, September 4, 2021 


An organizer displays a naloxone kit that people can pick up for free as International Overdose Awareness Day training seminar takes place at Centennial Square in Victoria, B.C., on Saturday August 31, 2019. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

TORONTO -- Advocates and front-line workers in crisis and rehab centres say that Canada’s federal election should tackle the issue of the opioid crisis “head-on” as deaths skyrocket across the country.

In British Columbia, the situation has turned dire as drug users die at unprecedented rates from overdoses and toxic drug supplies.

“It’s just devastating,” said B.C.’s chief coroner, Lisa Lapointe, in a telephone interview with CTVNews.ca on Friday. “We experience five or six deaths every day as a result of the toxic drug supply in our province…these are people from all walks of life and all ages, every part of our province has a death rate of 30 per 100,000 due to drug toxicity, which is a massive increase over the last five years, when this public health emergency was first declared.”

Lapointe said that right now in B.C., drug toxicity is the leading cause of death for those 19 to 39 years of age.

Data from the B.C. Coroner’s Service shows that at least 1,011 deaths in the province since the beginning of the year are due to suspected drug overdoses.

“We struggle to find a system that helps people to wellness,” she said. “Right now, people are forced to purchase substances from the black market, which we know is toxic, which we know is profit-driven…the tragedy we see every day, the families, the pain in the faces of the families who have lost their loved ones to a preventable death…it’s shocking.”

The situation is dire enough that advocates are taking the federal government to court.

More than 21,000 people died of drug overdoses in Canada between 2016 and 2020, according to a lawsuit filed against the federal government in B.C. Supreme Court Tuesday, an effort from the Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs to decriminalize the possession of illicit drugs.

Jennifer Horsnall, executive director of the Kapown Rehabilitation Centre, a First Nation-centred rehabilitation centre in Grouard, Alberta, told CTVNews.ca in an email on Friday that Canadians need to recognize that “anyone can become addicted” to opioids and that doctors need to be better educated on pain management.

“Kapown Rehabilitation was the only NNADAP (National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program) treatment centre that was operational during the pandemic,” Horsnall wrote. “We increased our treatment beds from 32 to 42 to allow for more clients to access treatment during this time.”

Horsnall said the biggest issue facing her clients in rural Alberta is “the availability of proper detox and the shortage of treatment beds.”

“Our clients tell us that it’s difficult to access treatment without huge wait times, they also admit that not being able to access detox makes it difficult to be ready for treatment,” she said.

Horsnall also said she has seen a high rate of meth use during the pandemic, something she said was complicated by the “complex mental health issues that present within 7 to 10 days of not using.”

“Finding proper mental health supports is extremely difficult in rural Alberta,” she wrote. “Meth is becoming the next crisis and it is due to the fact that it is cheap and the high lasts longer.”

Amidst the pandemic, researchers at the University of Alberta found that deaths related to fentanyl overdoses have increased by 118.4 per cent, and opioids have continued to ravage communities from all walks of life in the province. The South-Sudanese community in Edmonton rallied outside the Alberta legislature last month to highlight the crisis.

“We ran away from warlords in South Sudan only to die here from drug lords…and that’s unacceptable,” said community member Mawien Akot to CTV News Edmonton.

In Ontario, six people per day died from an opioid overdose at the start of the pandemic, with data showing that emergency room visits and deaths from opioids increased 60 per cent in 2020 compared to 2019.

GAPS IN CARE SHOULD BE HIGHLIGHTED IN ELECTION: ADVOCATES

While any decision surrounding opioids and overdoses currently falls under the purview of the provinces and territories, there have been growing calls for a national strategy in the face of the crisis, and Horsnall wrote that the federal election is an opportunity to highlight gaps in Canada’s addictions care.

Particularly, Horsnall said, there is a great need for government-funded clinics to prioritize helping clients detox from drugs, which then gives them better footing to enter rehabilitation programs. “This is a huge issue as our clients need to detox before they are mentally, emotionally and physically ready to enter treatment,” she said

Horsnall said that Kapown adapted its programs when the pandemic hit to aid clients in detoxing before seeking treatment, but that funding allocated to COVID-19 will dry up sooner or later.

“Kapown created 14 isolation - stabilization beds when the pandemic hit, and this essentially ended up being detox,” she said. “Our reason for creating these beds was so that we could isolate and COVID test [our clients] before sending them to our treatment program.”

Horsnall said she found that once her clients actually made it to treatment after being detoxed, their completion rates increased from 50 per cent to 85 per cent.

“Unfortunately funding for this program was only approved for COVID, which is going to end when the pandemic ends…this is extremely disheartening and concerning,” she said. “If this pandemic has taught us anything it’s that the most vulnerable Canadians need proper access to detox, treatment and mental health services."

“If we invest in what works we will have better success in dealing with our opioid crisis.”

Lapointe said it is really important that every party pays some attention to “the fact that we are losing thousands of Canadians every year to substance related harms in every province.”

“There is not a national strategy,” she said. “It's really important that we have one, because these are our community members…I heard a mother say the other day (her son died of a drug toxic drug event) ‘we're not doing this for our kids. It's too late for our kids, but we're doing it for your kids.’ And I think that's a position that anybody in a position of leadership in this country needs to take, that we need to find some meaningful evidence based ways to reduce the significant harms our country is experiencing as a result of substance use.”

Lapointe said the country needs to move away from the old model of addictions health care and move toward an evidence-based model that fully supports people living with addiction and removes the stigma.

“Stop stigmatising people and pushing them into dark corners where they die alone,” she said.

Health Canada published two reports from the Expert Task Force on Substance Use that lists actions the federal government needs to implement to tackle the crisis, including decriminalization of simple possession of all drugs, expanding the safe supply programs and regulating all narcotics.

And with an election underway, Lapointe said there is one major thing candidates can do to show they have done their homework and due diligence on such a crucial issue.

“What stands out to me is that somebody has talked to people with lived experience, not just looked at the data,” she said. “What we need is some leadership to be willing to be bold and say this has to stop – these deaths have to stop, these harms have to stop.”

“We have to face it head-on and we have to be bold and courageous and make some meaningful choices about our next steps.”

WHERE THE PARTIES STAND

Here is a brief look at what the platform from each party invited to the leaders' debates on Sept. 8 and Sept. 9 says about plans to tackle the opioid crisis in Canada:

LIBERALS

The 2021 Liberal platform promises publicly accessible mental health care and “action to address the opioid crisis and make it easier for people with problematic substance use to access treatment,” which includes an investment of $25 million dollars for public education to reduce the stigma associated with drug use.

There is also an investment of $500 million to support provinces and territories in providing access to “a full-range of evidence based treatment.” There is no explicit mention of safe-supply, although Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has previously expressed support for the measure.

The Liberals have promised that a re-elected Liberal government will amend the Criminal Code to repeal mandatory minimum penalties for drug-related charges and require "police and Crown prosecutors to consider diverting individuals out of the criminal justice system.”

CONSERVATIVES

The 2021 Conservative platform promises to “treat the opioid epidemic as the health issue that it is,” and states that law enforcement should focus on dealers and traffickers. “The last thing that those suffering from addiction should have to worry about is being arrested,” the platform reads, though it does not mention decriminalization.

The Conservatives pledge to revise the federal government’s substance abuse policy framework and “reorient the Canadian Drugs and Substances strategy towards ensuring that everyone suffering from addiction has the opportunity to recover and lead a drug-free life.”

The Conservatives' platform says they will invest $325 million over the next three years to create 1,000 residential drug treatment beds and build 50 recovery centres across the country, as well as support “land-based treatment programs developed and managed by Indigenous communities.”

They also promise to partner with provinces and territories to make Naloxone kits readily available for free across the country. The platform does not mention support for safe supply.

NDP

The 2021 NDP platform promises to declare the opioid crisis a public health emergency and commit to ending the criminalization and stigma of drug addiction while “getting tough” on traffickers.

The NDP pledge to work with provinces and health professionals to create a safe supply of medically regulated alternatives to toxic street drugs and support overdose prevention sites, while expanding treatment on demand.

The NDP also say they would launch an investigation into the role drug companies have played in fueling the opioid crisis and seek “meaningful financial compensation” from them for the public costs of the crisis.

BLOC QUEBECOIS

The 2021 Bloc Quebecois platform does not mention the opioid crisis.

GREEN PARTY

The Green party has not released its full 2021 platform yet, but has in the past called for drug possession to be decriminalized to deal with the opioid crisis.

The Greens have previously expressed support for Canadians having access to a safe, screened supply and have previously promised to declare the opioid crisis a national health emergency, increase supports for mental health and addiction, and boost funding to community-based organizations to test drugs and support drug users.

They have also previously pledged to ensure that Naloxone kits are widely available to treat overdoses.

California Photographer Captures Images of Great White and Whale Shark Together

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 3, 2021

The Inertia

Whale sharks are a fairly rare site. You don’t see great whites all that often either. Seeing them together is even more rare. On a recent trip to Guadalupe Island off the coast of Baja, Mexico, Ventura County, California-based photographer Carlos Gauna captured imagery of a great white shark and a whale shark swimming together.

Guadalupe Island is of course a great white shark breeding ground. They roam the island to feed on seals and birth their young. Meanwhile, whale sharks are much bigger, and known as filter feeders as they suck plankton, small fish, and tiny shrimp into their large mouths. “This island is likely the best place in the world to view great white sharks,” says Gauna whose drone videos of great whites in Southern California often go viral. “However, in my time there, it was the other species that intrigued me in this magical place. Not only did I see white sharks and a whale shark together, I also found one of the rarest whales on the planet.”

His stunning footage is a tribute to the stunning ecosystem that is Guadalupe Island.

'MAYBE' TECH
India has potential to become global green hydrogen hub, says Jitendra Singh

A file photo of Union minister Jitendra Singh. Photo: Mohd Zakir/HT2 min read .

 Updated: 04 Sep 2021, 06:04 AM ISTANI

The minister was speaking at 'International Climate Summit 2021: Powering India's Hydrogen Eco System' today.

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Friday said that India has the potential to become the global hub of Green Hydrogen in near future.

The minister was speaking at 'International Climate Summit 2021: Powering India's Hydrogen Eco System' today.

The theme "Powering India's Hydrogen ecosystem" is a precursor to the 26th CoP to the UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC) to be convened in Nov 2021 at Glasgow.

Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Science & Technology, while addressing the event said, "Our undivided energies should be invested to attain our aim of minimising emission and that is only possible if we adopt a proactive approach. Green hydrogen will not only enable us to reduce emissions but also help India across several verticals and align with PM Modi's vision of our nation being self-reliant."


"It's about time that we collectively work towards making India a Green Hydrogen Hub, not just for ourselves but for the bigger picture where we are considerate of the world as a whole. We have the capability and the capacity to facilitate clean hydrogen energy for the world; this is the appropriate time to get into action and create a world worth thriving in," he said.

Dr Jitendra Singh also launched the National Hydrogen Portal www.greenhydrogen-India.com.

The platform will now become a one-stop information source for research, production, storage, transportation and application of hydrogen across the country.

Ashwini Choubey, Minister of State for the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said that the need of the hour is to cater to the depleting cover and growing concerns urgently, to create a sustainable platform for clean energy.


"We intend to achieve 40 per cent of non-fossil usage by 2030, making a significant stride towards improving the current state of the country and establishing a green hydrogen ecosystem to smoothen the path to a responsible living," he said.

In addition, Choubey said, "It's time to redirect our attention towards creating and sustaining an alternative source of energy and mandating it for developing and developed nations alike to take the onus to nurture the health and wellbeing of each one of us on this planet,"

Choubey released a special Knowledge Book titled "Self Reliant India - Harnessing the Power of Hydrogen,''

ICS 2021 began with a special address delivered by Tina Bru, Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Government of Norway who said, "Green Hydrogen has the potential to realise low to zero-emission solutions in the transportation, industry and shipping sectors thus opening up new opportunities in these sectors. Since India is the world's third-biggest consumer and producer of energy with rapidly growing consumption in the decades to come, we commend the efforts of the Government of India launching ambitious targets for developing clean energy. A closer collaboration between Indian and Norwegian companies can definitely accelerate our steps towards a common low-emission future."


The Summit addressed climate concerns and essayed to build a dialogue for India's transition to clean energy.

It also paid attention to the economic aspects of the green fuel economy to create awareness about how shifting to 'Green Hydrogen' strategies will create an ecosystem that will not only improve air quality but also significantly reduce carbon emissions.

Significantly, a session was organised on promoting Ladakh as a carbon-neutral model region.

ICS 2021 was organised by the Environment Committee, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Invest India in partnership with NITI Aayog, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research, CSIR and the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India.

AUSTRALIA

Another record tumbles as renewables share reaches 57.3 per cent


Giles Parkinson 5 September 2021 5


The share of renewable energy in Australia’s main grid reached another record level on Sunday – 57.3 per cent – continuing the spree of new benchmarks over the last few weeks.

This time of year – late winter and early spring – is often witness to new records due to the relatively mild seasonal temperatures, which translates into moderate or low demand, sunny conditions and steady winds.

At 11.30 on Sunday morning, the new level of 57.3 per cent renewables share was set, overtaking the 57.1 per cent set just over a week earlier. As we reported on Friday, new weekday records (when there is usually greater demand) were set, both for the share of renewables and for the lowest aggregate coal generation.

Source: OpenNEM. Click to enlarge.

Among individual states at 11.30 on Sunday, South Australia was producing 101.9 per cent of its local demand from wind and solar, and either storing or exporting the surplus. Tasmania was producing 138 per cent of its demand from renewables, nearly all of it from hydro, and exporting the surplus to Victoria.

Victoria sourced 64.6 per cent of its demand from renewables at the same time (63 per cent wind and solar), and was sending all its excess north to NSW, which in turn was sourcing 53.9 per cent from renewables, nearly all of it wind and solar, and importing a small amount and storing some with pumped hydro too.

Only Queensland was short of the 50 per cent renewables mark at the time, sourcing just 42 per cent from wind and solar.

Wind power is surging in the U.S., which means all sorts of good things

By AJ Dellinger

Sep. 1, 2021

Sorry, Dunkin', but America increasingly runs on wind. According to a new report from the Department of Energy, wind was the fastest growing energy source in the country last year, and it wasn't particularly close. 2020 marked a record year for the renewable energy option, which surpassed all sources of power — including former President Donald Trump's precious coal — as the fastest growing in the country.

Over the course of last year, the United States installed 16,836 megawatts of wind capacity across the country, per the latest Land-Based Wind Market Report, published earlier this week. For context, the average U.S. home consumes about 877 kilowatt-hours per month, meaning the new wind turbines have the ability to power nearly 20,000 homes. The expansion of wind made up 42% of all new energy capacity in 2020, including nearly 80% of additions made in the southwest portion of the country. And, irony of all ironies, despite the fact that Texas politicians tried to blame wind power for the state's power grid failing during an extremely cold winter storm, the Lone Star State actually led the way in new wind capacity.

Why is wind dominating right now? The simple answer is that we've gotten really good at building effective wind turbines. Thanks to significant investments in the technology, we've been able to build bigger turbines — both taller and with bigger rotors — for cheaper than ever before. Even better, they're generating significant energy and producing an impressive return on investment. A study published last year in the journal Applied Energy found that federal wind power research has produced a benefit-to-cost ratio of 18 to 1. The math is pretty simple here: Investing in wind power is saving the country lots of money.

Of course, shifting to renewables isn't just an economic benefit. It's what we have to do in order to kick our fossil fuel habit and keep the planet from warming. The expansion of wind is helping with that, too. While wind turbines were the fastest growing power source in the country (and solar was the second-fastest, a happy little footnote here), the growth of renewables is driving down dirty-burning fuel sources. New natural gas capacity fell to a five-year low in 2020, according to the Department of Energy, and coal had nearly non-existent growth despite the fact that then-President Trump did lots of bragging about how he was getting coal miners back to work.

Here's another huge benefit: For every megawatt-hour of energy generated by a wind turbine, $76 of health and climate benefits are also produced. This is because wind power produces zero greenhouse gases while in operation and generates no air pollution. Burning fossil fuels, on the other hand, produces a significant amount of air pollution that results in worse health outcomes and shorter lifespans. According to the Department of Justice, the financial benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions alone is worth nearly three times the cost of producing wind energy.

Shifting to clean energy has been a painfully slow process that we should have been doing decades ago. But the technology is here now, it's more affordable and more capable than ever, and demand for it is finally growing.

Bear activity closes trail in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park

Michael Franklin

CTVNewsCalgary.ca 

Senior Digital Producer
Sunday, September 5, 2021

Alberta Parks says Rockwall trail in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park is closed until further notice. (File)

CALGARY -- A trail in a provincial park west of Calgary is closed due to the possibility of visitors stumbling upon bears in the area.

Officials say Rockwall Trail, which is next to the Peter Lougheed Discovery Centre, is closed until further notice because of "multiple grizzly bears frequenting the area."

They add that while the advisory is in effect for that specific area, visitors can encounter bears and other wildlife anywhere in the Kananaskis region.

The advisory comes several days after Alberta Parks closed an area in Bluerock Wildland Provincial Park for grizzly activity.



Officials said it is helpful to consider the following advice when you're out hiking:
Make plenty of noise and travel in groups;
Watch your surroundings closely and be on the look out for bears;
Keep your pet leashed;
Carry bear spray and know how to use it and;
Consult the province's WildSmart website for bear safety tips.

Alberta Parks asks that all bear sightings be reported wildlife officers by calling 403-591-7755.

Sunflower experiment leads to 'field of happiness' in Hay River, N.W.T.

Social Sharing

• Facebook

• Twitter

• Email

• Reddit

• LinkedIn

‘You walk 10 feet into those flowers and the road disappears and the town disappears'

CBC News · Posted: Sep 04, 2021 6:00 AM CT | Last Updated: September 4

A 30-acre field of sunflower seeds in Hay River, N.W.T. They were planted by Ann Boden and her husband on their farm, not knowing if the flowers would grow. (Submitted by Ann Boden.)

What started out as a plan to grow commercial potatoes has become a unique sight in the North.

Ann Boden, who owns and operates Boden Farms with her husband in Hay River, N.W.T., said they couldn't find a place to store the potatoes so they decided to grow something else instead.

"We actually planted 30 acres of black oil, sunflower seeds as more of an experiment than anything," she said.

The result? "It's a field of happiness," said Boden.

"You can stand out there and you walk 10 feet into those flowers and the road disappears and the town disappears. And you are just surrounded by these little pieces of joy. That's the only way I can describe it," she said.

Ann Boden and her husband are selling sunflower bouquets this year from their 30 acres of sunflowers. (Submitted by Ann Boden)

She said the couple didn't know if the flowers would grow when they seeded the land, and agreed that if they didn't, the seeds would at least provide nutrients to the soil and help break up some of the clay in it.

"But it's turning out that I now have 30 acres of gorgeous yellow and green sunflowers," she said.

She said that in one field, the flowers stand seven-feet tall.

"You walk five feet in and you just disappear," said Boden.

She said she also noticed a lot of bees on the flowers.

"You can just hear the whole field buzzing," she said. "I've seen honey bees out there. I've seen the big bumblebees out there. So that's really, really encouraging to see."

Commercial opportunity

The couple decided to sell the sunflowers this year.

"People have been really excited to be able to come and get some. [The] bouquets are huge. There's 10 flowers in a bouquet and they're massive," said Boden.

Ann Boden stands in her sunflower field, which she calls her 'field of happiness.' (Submitted by Ann Boden)

She said that next year, they'll use the sunflower seeds for birdseed.

"And whatever we don't keep for the local birdseed market will be sent South if there's not enough demand for it," she said, adding they expect to be able to produce 60,000 pounds of birdseed.

"I don't know if the North can absorb 60,000 pounds of birdseed," she said with a laugh.

 

Extensive Chains of Volcanoes Provides Safety Valve for Earth’s Long-Term Climate

By UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS 

Fiery river in Kamchatka, Russia.

Extensive chains of volcanoes have been responsible for both emitting and then removing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), stabilizing temperatures at Earth’s surface.

An international research team explored the combined impact of processes in the Earth, oceans, and atmosphere over the past 400 million years. Their findings are published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The researchers included scientists from the University of Leeds, University of Southampton, University of Sydney, Australian National University (ANU), and the University of Ottawa.

Co-author Dr. Andrew Merdith, of Leeds’ School of Earth and Environment, said: “The work understates the importance of the connectivity and dependence between different Earth systems, each occurring on different scales in time and space.

“Unfortunately, the connectivity and response between the different systems isn’t necessarily instantaneous, and effects can lag their processes by millions of years.”

Continental volcanic arcs such as this one in Kamchatka, Russia, are rapidly weathered, driving CO2 removal from the atmosphere over geological time. Credit: Tom Gernon, University of Southampton

Locking up CO2

Natural breakdown and dissolution of rocks on Earth’s surface is called chemical weathering.

The process is critically important because the products of weathering – elements such as calcium and magnesium – are flushed via rivers to the oceans, where they form minerals that lock up CO2.

This feedback mechanism regulates atmospheric CO2 levels, and in turn global climate, over geological time.

Lead author of the report is Dr. Tom Gernon, Associate Professor in Earth Science at the University of Southampton, and a Fellow of the Turing Institute.

He said: “In this respect, weathering of the Earth’s surface serves as a geological thermostat.

“But the underlying controls have proven difficult to determine due to the complexity of the Earth system.”

 

Eelco Rohling, Professor in Ocean and Climate Change at ANU and co-author of the study, said: “Many Earth processes are interlinked, and there are some major time lags between processes and their effects.

“Understanding the relative influence of specific processes within the Earth system response has therefore been an intractable problem.”

To unravel the complexity, the team constructed a novel ‘Earth network’, incorporating machine-learning algorithms and state-of-the-art plate tectonic reconstructions.

This enabled them to identify the dominant interactions within the Earth system, and how they evolved through time. 

The team found that continental volcanic arcs were the most important driver of weathering intensity over the past 400 million years.

Chains of volcanoes

Today, continental arcs comprise chains of volcanoes in, for example, the Andes in South America, and the Cascades in the US.

These volcanoes are some of the highest and fastest eroding features on Earth.

Because the volcanic rocks are fragmented and chemically reactive, they are rapidly weathered and flushed into the oceans.

Leeds’ Dr. Merdith added: “The plate-tectonic reconstructions, which describe the position and motion of Earth’s tectonic plates through time, provided a foundation within which our analysis could not only be performed, but also make sense.

“This is because we can extract and approximate a number of tectonic parameters, such as volcanic degassing along arcs, as well as the storage of carbon in oceans through the alteration of new oceanic crust at mid-ocean ridges.”

Martin Palmer, Professor of Geochemistry at the University of Southampton and co-author of the study, said: “It’s a balancing act. On one hand, these volcanoes pumped out large amounts of CO2 that increased atmospheric CO2 levels.

“On the other hand, these same volcanoes helped remove that carbon via rapid weathering reactions.”

The study casts doubt on a long-held concept that Earth’s climate stability over tens to hundreds of millions of years reflects a balance between weathering of the seafloor and continental interiors.

Geological tug of war

Lead author Dr. Gernon added: “The idea of such a geological tug of war between the landmasses and the seafloor as a dominant driver of Earth surface weathering is not supported by the data.

“Unfortunately, the results do not mean that nature will save us from climate change.

“Today, atmospheric CO2 levels are higher than at any time in the past three million years, and human driven emissions are about 150 times larger than volcanic CO2 emissions.

“The continental arcs that appear to have saved the planet in the deep past are simply not present at the scale needed to help counteract present-day CO2 emissions.”

But the team’s findings still provide critical insights into how society might manage the current climate crisis.

Artificially enhanced rock weathering—where rocks are pulverized and spread across land to speed up chemical reaction rates—could play a key role in safely removing CO2 from the atmosphere.

The team’s findings suggest that such schemes may be deployed optimally by using calc-alkaline volcanic materials (those containing calcium, potassium, and sodium), like those found in continental arc environments.

Dr Gernon added: “This is by no means a silver bullet solution to the climate crisis—we urgently need to reduce CO2 emissions in line with IPCC mitigation pathways, full stop.

“Our assessment of weathering feedbacks over long timescales may help in designing and evaluating large-scale enhanced weathering schemes, which is just one of the steps needed to counteract global climate change.”

For more on this research, see Volcanoes Act as a Safety Valve for Earth’s Long-Term Climate – Stabilizing Surface Temperatures.

Reference: “Global chemical weathering dominated by continental arcs since the mid-Palaeozoic” by Thomas M. Gernon, Thea K. Hincks, Andrew S. Merdith, Eelco J. Rohling, Martin R. Palmer, Gavin L. Foster, Clément P. Bataille and R. Dietmar Müller, 23 August 2021, Nature Geoscience.
DOI: 10.1038/s41561-021-00806-0

Great Sitkin volcano (Aleutian Islands,

 Alaska): actively growing lava dome

 reached over 1 km width

Sat, 4 Sep 2021, 06:29

06:29 AM | BY: MARTIN

The lava dome from space on 27 August (image: Simon Plank/German Aerospace Center)

The effusive eruption of the volcano continues to be elevated during the past week.
The active lava dome continues to grow with magma rising into it as confirmed by a new satellite data that depicts the dark mass of fresh viscous lava that has been accumulating on the summit crater.
The extruded lava dome is currently about 3,600 ft (1,090 m) wide detected on 30 August in comparison with parameters from 19 August (2,800 ft (860 m) as reported by the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO).
A series of small earthquakes have been detected over the last week which might be related as a response to the extrusive eruption at the volcano.
There is no indication of how long the lava effusion will continue during the current eruption and it is possible that explosive activity could occur with little or no warning.
An impressive series of high-resolution satellite radar (SAR) images of the lava dome growing process from 25 July to 27 August have been published by Simon Plank from German Aerospace Center (DLR) as visible in the GIF animation below.
Source: Alaska Volcano Observatory volcano activity update 4 September 2021

GIF animation of the lava dome growing during the last month (source: Simon Plank/German Aerospace Center)

• All news about: Great Sitkin volcano
• Information about: Great Sitkin volcano

Scientists warn glacier in Canadian Rockies is slipping away before their eyes at unprecedented rate


By Jayme Doll Global News



WATCH ABOVE: Scientists monitoring Peyto Glacier in Banff National Park said it's retreating at an unprecedented rate. As Jayme Doll reports, researchers say it's a casualty of climate change.

A summer of unprecedented heat has not been kind to the iconic ice in the Canadian Rockies. According to researchers, glaciers are melting at a rate never seen before.

“It’s horrific to see this almost unrecognizable from one year ago, two years ago, let alone 10-20 years ago,“ said Dr. John Pomeroy, a hydrologist and director of Global Water Futures.

Pomeroy first stepped foot on Banff National Parks Peyto Glacier in 2008. He came to better understand the hydrology of the famous glacier. In the early 1900s, it once sprawled three and half kilometres further than it does today, down the valley resting near the turquoise water of Peyto Lake.

“During the heat wave in early July and late June, we were seeing 2/3 of ice melt per week. At that rate, we could lose seven metres of ice coming off this glacier this year, the biggest downward melt ever recorded,” said Pomeroy, who is also a professor with University of Saskatchewan

“The tongue has retreated horizontally 200 metres in the last year, 10 times faster than the last half century of retreat,” Pomeroy said, adding he is “stunned and horrified.”


“It’s a nightmare come true.


READ MORE: How will Canada prepare for more heat waves and other extreme weather events?

A growing lake now sits at the toe of the glacier — formed over the past decade. The ice has collapsed in many places and is slushy and speckled with cryoconite — a combination of soot, bacteria and dust. Water in a spider web of small streams runs off of it.

Pomeroy said the record-setting heat domes and wildfires this season have helped accelerate glacial melt.

“A lot of the soot from the wildfires has landed on the glaciers and darkened them up…where it’s accumulative, the ice has melted faster than where it hasn’t.”

READ MORE: Western Canada heat wave accelerates rate of glacier melt, experts say

Peyto Glacier is at the headwaters to The North Saskatchewan River. Its snowpack and ice melt help maintain stream flows in rivers across the Prairie provinces.

Pomeroy said areas of rivers not fed by glacial melt are experiencing some of the lowest flow rates ever recorded. In contrast, streams that are fed by the glaciers have had normal to even higher than normal flow rates this summer.

But with that crucial source of water now in fast retreat, scientists are worried about the impacts downstream.

“Glacial melt contributes water when irrigators need it most on the Prairies, and irrigators and people in the agricultural sector there depends on mountain water,” said Dr. Robert Sanford, chair of water and climate security at United National University Institute for water.

“It’s not impossible to imagine if we are losing ice at the rate that Peyto Glacier is losing ice this year, our rivers would run dry in August and September,” conservationist Dr. Harvey Locke said.

“This is grievously serious for the future of life on the Prairies. The world as we know it is being transformed as we watch.”

3:28 Is this the new normal? The science behind western North America’s historic heat wave

According to Sanford, between 1920 and 2005, 300 glaciers 

disappeared in the Rocky Mountain national parks alone.

“Years like this one will accelerate that dramatically and I think sooner or later we are going to have to issue death certificates for glaciers like they do in Iceland. I think the first will be Peyto Glacier,” Sanford said. “This is serious, we are now looking at the future.”

Peyto is one of the longest monitored and studied glaciers in the world. Pomeroy said he’d never imagined he’d be documenting its demise, he doesn’t think it will survive the next decade.

“This is not just affecting water supply, irrigation and hydropower, it’s affecting the very nature of the Canadian Rockies and what they are… we are losing our heritage we are losing our landscape, it’s very sad.”

Pomeroy points out new glaciers can re-grow in the future, but he said that all depends on humanity getting a hold of the changing climate.