JUST SAY; NO NUKES

30,000 shipments of nuclear waste would move through Ontario cities, farmland under draft plan

Colin Butler 

© NWMO Canada's nuclear industry plans to send up to 30,000 shipments of toxic radioactive waste by truck or rail to either Ignace or South Bruce in Ontario. Some of those shipments would travel through densely populated communities.

A proposed transportation plan by Canada's nuclear industry would see up to 30,000 shipments of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel rods travel through some of Ontario's most densely populated communities over four decades, starting in the 2040s.

Under the proposed plan from the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), fuel rods would be shipped by road and/or rail from reactor sites and interim storage facilities in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and New Brunswick, destined for either South Bruce or Ignace in Ontario.

Currently, scientists are studying the ancient bedrock below both communities to determine whether the geology is right for a deep geologic repository, a $23-billion crypt as deep as the CN Tower is tall, in which Canada could seal away its entire stockpile of nuclear waste for eons.

The selection of a site is expected in 2023. Once chosen, the host community would start to receive up to 30,000 shipments of nuclear waste over four decades, which translates into an average of 654 shipments per year or almost two shipments per day.
Travel would involve rail, highway, streets

For the rest of the province, it would mean the radioactive cargo could potentially travel along rail routes, 400 series highways or even city streets as the fuel rods make their way to their final resting place.

"We're confident we can safely transport used nuclear fuel," said Caitlin Burley, the NWMO's manager of transportation engagement.

She said the likelihood of an accidental radiation release, particularly in the event of a crash, while the waste is being transported through cities or some of the province's most productive farmland depends largely on the safety of the containers in which the spent fuel rods are being transported.

Burley said the containers have been extensively tested according to international standards. Vintage films of such tests can be easily found online, in which nuclear shipping containers are dropped, immersed in water, punctured, rammed with a speeding locomotive or even set ablaze using propane and jet fuel.

"All of them occur consecutively on the same package to inflict maximum damage," she said.
Shipments tracked by GPS, have security detail

Burley said that in all of the tests, the containers successfully shielded the outside environment from nuclear radiation, and noted that in almost 60 years of transporting used nuclear fuel, there has never been an incident in which people or the environment have been harmed.

Transportation of radioactive waste is regulated by Transport Canada and the Canada Nuclear Safety Commission.

CBC News reached out to both for comment Monday and has yet to receive a response.

Final approval of the plan would rest with the federal government.

Shipments will also have a security detail, and will be monitored by satellite and in constant communication with a 24-hour command centre to ensure the radioactive material isn't captured by criminals or terrorists.

Still, in the event a crash does happen, the NWMO has developed a plan to deal with the situation, Burley said.

"We will be prepared. We will have the equipment and the personnel in place to respond. Everyone will know what their job is."
Critics say proposed plan is too vague

Bill Knoll, a resident of South Bruce and vice-president of the citizens' group Protecting Our Waterways — No Nuclear Waste, spoke to CBC News about the plan.

"The plan is vague on details and is more of a plan for a plan," Knoll wrote in an email on Monday. "This is one of the issues we have with the NWMO. Information that should be easy to arrive at is always changing."

For its part, the NWMO said the plan is vague because it is still in flux, noting the nuclear industry has yet to narrow down whether the permanent location for Canada's nuclear waste would be in South Bruce or Ignace.

"It's not set in stone. It's actually a living document that's meant to advance conversations around transportation," Burley said.

"We're really interested in what people have to say so we can incorporate it into our planning."

‘They treat me like dirt and tortured me’: Australian activist on three years in Chinese prisons

Australian writer and democracy activist Dr Yang Hengjun’s health is failing as he approaches three years imprisoned in China, say friends who fear he may not survive his incarceration.

© Photograph: Facebook Yang Hengjun’s single-day secret trial was in May of 2021 and he has not yet been sentenced, despite his failing health.

Wednesday is the third anniversary of Yang’s arrest at Guangzhou airport on allegations of espionage on behalf of an unnamed foreign country. He maintains his innocence.

“Sometimes I’m pessimistic and sometimes I’m optimistic,” he said in a dictated statement from prison, made before he was blindfolded and led back to his cell.

Related: China stepping up use of secret detention without trial, report warns

“I’m confident I didn’t do what they said I did. I know this, my lawyer knows this, and I think the judge knows this. According to Chinese law, I’m not guilty. But they treat me like dirt here and they tortured me.”

Despite hundreds of interrogations, and, in his words, “torture” at the hands of China’s ministry of state security, Yang says he has not confessed to anything alleged against him, a fact that appears to have further delayed his judgment and sentencing under China’s confession-based legal system. His sentencing is now due by 9 April.

Yang, 54, faced a single-day trial in May, held in secret, after more than two years in detention. He spoke briefly in his own defence, telling the court he was “100% innocent” and submitted about 100 pages of evidence and testimony to support his case.

Yang, and the Australian government, reject the allegations against him. Australia’s ambassador to China has said his imprisonment amounts to “arbitrary detention”.

Yang’s family, friends, and supporters say they are extremely concerned about his deteriorating health and argue he must be released on bail for medical treatment and returned to Australia. However, there appears little chance of his release ahead of sentencing, which has been repeatedly delayed.

China has consistently said Yang’s detention and trial had been conducted in accordance with the law and accused Australia of “gross interference” in its advocacy on behalf of Yang.

“Chinese judicial authorities handle the case strictly in accordance with law and fully protect the lawful rights of the relevant person,” a spokesperson said ahead of the trial. “The Australian side should respect China’s judicial sovereignty and refrain from interfering in any form in Chinese judicial authorities’ lawful handling of the case.”

In his latest message from prison, Yang said: “I want the Chinese government to open my case and publish it. To provide details to the world, the Australian government, and the country. We should apply to open the case, and you can see for yourself.

“They said it’s about espionage. I hope it’s just about Chinese judicial corruption.”

Yang has been prevented from sending letters to lawyers, family and friends, or receiving them.

He has access to one state-run television channel and some pre-approved books. He lives and sleeps in a crowded room with no sunlight, lights on all night, a communal open toilet, a hard floor and little room to move around or stretch.

Yang’s health has deteriorated seriously in prison. He has severe problems with gout, high uric acid, high blood pressure, impaired vision and dizzy spells.

One recent account, from late in 2021, reported: “Ongoing fatigue meant he was only able to exercise for short periods. Further, because of his dizzy spells, he sometimes wasn’t able to walk and had to, at times, just stand in place during his one hour of activity outdoors”.

Blood tests have shown rapidly rising levels of creatinine, raising his risk of kidney failure.

Friends and family say his worsening health problems are not being adequately treated. “We are concerned Yang is being systematically deprived of proper medical treatment,” a close friend and supporter said.

“We know he does not trust the medication administered to him and, unfortunately, he has no reason to. Yang must not be left to die through medical neglect and mistreatment, like so many other writers and artists and public intellectuals who are passionately committed to a better future for the Chinese people, such as [Nobel laureate] Liu Xiaobo.”

Prof Chongyi Feng, Yang’s PhD supervisor, said Yang was previously healthy, “but he has deteriorated greatly, and he is not being properly treated”.

“We are very worried about him.”

The Australia director at Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson, said conditions in China’s detention facilities and prisons were poor, with only rudimentary health care.

“We are very concerned that Yang’s detention has exacerbated his medical problems and that the treatment in prison is inadequate. The Chinese government should release him unconditionally immediately.”

Related: ‘They tortured me,’ Australian Yang Hengjun says as he awaits verdict after trial in China

Pearson said there was a “long list of human rights defenders” who have died in Chinese custody or shortly after being released.

“A prison sentence should not be a death sentence in China. The Australian government should be doing everything in their power to persuade the Chinese authorities to release Yang Hengjun, as well as Cheng Lei and others who are arbitrarily detained.”

Australia’s foreign minister, Marise Payne, said the federal government was concerned about numerous delays to the verdict following Yang’s trial.

“Neither Dr Yang nor the Australian government have been provided with details as to the charges against him or of the investigation, reinforcing our view that this constitutes the arbitrary detention of an Australian citizen,” Payne said in a statement. “We therefore call for Dr Yang’s immediate release and his return to Australia.”

Payne said the government would continue to advocate for Yang’s interests and wellbeing.

“Australia is also extremely concerned about Dr Yang’s health. We call on Chinese authorities to meet their obligations to ensure that all necessary treatment for his physical and mental health is provided.”

Yang, whose legal name is Yang Jun, was born in Hubei in central China. He was formerly a diplomat for China’s ministry of foreign affairs, and an agent for the secretive ministry of state security, before working in the private sector in Hong Kong and moving to Australia, then to the US, where he was a visiting scholar at Columbia University.

A writer of spy novels, he has been a popular blogger, political commentator and agitator for democratic reforms in China for more than a decade. He describes himself as a “democracy peddler”.

Yang, who became an Australian citizen in 2002, flew into Guangzhou with his family in January 2019. His wife and child were able to enter China but authorities escorted Yang from the plane into detention. He has not been free since.

 

Sweet dog Daisy run over by car needs your help

January 17, 2022

The BC SPCA is hoping you can help Daisy, a sweet, golden lab who was run over by a car and has extensive injuries.

“Daisy arrived at the shelter requiring urgent care,” says Chloe MacBeth, manager, Chilliwack BC SPCA. “She had a large laceration on her hind leg, had a severe paw injury, her face was swollen, and she still had blood and tire tread marks on her face.”

She was immediately brought to a veterinarian for treatment of her injuries.  It was determined that in addition to the laceration, she had many small skull fractures and would also require amputation of a number of toes on her rear paw that had been crushed by the car.

“Daisy was a breeding animal before she was surrendered to us,” says MacBeth. “Despite everything she has been through, she has great energy and spirit and has been so good with vet staff and her foster family when she gets her daily wound care.”

This young dog has received blood work, vaccinations, de-worming, pain control, radiographs, antibiotics and surgery. Her bandages will need to be changed every other day and she has a spay and possible physiotherapy ahead of her.

MacBeth says Daisy wants so badly to play and run outside and she looks forward to watching Daisy do just that.

Daisy will be in the BC SPCA’s care for at least two months and possibly longer depending on how she heals from her injuries.

DONATE

https://medical.spca.bc.ca/?utm_source=news&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=medicalemergency&_ga=2.205922899.156062625.1642528653-1170403700.1642528653

Sudanese barricade streets, close shops after 7 killed

Sudanese shuttered shops and barricaded Khartoum streets on Tuesday in a civil disobedience campaign to protest one of the bloodiest days since an October coup derailed the country's democratic transition.

© - Shops are seen closed in Khartoum's Sajane Market on January 18, 2022, as part of a civil disobedience campaign following the killing of seven anti-coup demonstrators, including a merchant from the market

Security forces on Monday killed at least seven people during anti-coup protests by thousands, bringing the total fatalities from the crackdown on anti-coup demonstrations to 71, according to medics.

Sudan's main civilian bloc, the Forces for Freedom and Change, called for two days of civil disobedience to begin on Tuesday.

"Shop closed for mourning," said a series of small signs posted on the closed outlets at the sprawling Sajane construction supplies market in Khartoum. One of the merchants, Othman el-Sherif, was among those shot dead on Monday.

© Erin CONROY Map of the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.

In several other parts of Khartoum, too, many pharmacies and other shops were shuttered, according to an AFP correspondent.


Sudan's University for Science and Technology suspended all activities as part of the civil disobedience, according to an official statement.

As they do regularly, police on Tuesday fired tear gas at dozens of protesters setting up roadbloacks, this time on the streets of east Khartoum, according to an AFP correspondent.

After Monday's deaths the United Nations special representative Volker Perthes condemned the use of live ammunition and the US embassy criticised "violent tactics of Sudanese security forces," the latest such appeals by world powers, which have not curbed a rising death toll.

Washington's Assistant Secretary of State Molly Phee and special envoy for the Horn of Africa, David Satterfield, were expected in Khartoum where they would "reiterate our call for security forces to end violence and respect freedom of expression and peaceful assembly," spokesman Ned Price said.

On Monday, Sudan's police said they used "the least force" to counter the protests, in which about 50 police personnel were wounded in confrontations.

Authorities have repeatedly denied using live ammunition against demonstrators, and insist scores of security personnel have been wounded during protests which have occurred regularly since the October 25 coup.

A police general was stabbed to death last week.

On Tuesday the "Friends of Sudan" group calling for the restoration of the country's transitional government held talks in Saudi Arabia over the crisis.

"Deep concern about yesterday's violence. International support and leverage is needed. Support for political process needs to go along with active support to stop violence," the UN's Perthes said on Twitter, after attending the meeting virtually.

bur/it

Review: ‘Who We Are’ offers a searing view of racism in US

“If you’ve ever owned a slave, please raise your hand,” Jeffery Robinson asks a live audience at the beginning of “Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America,” a searing documentary based on a lecture he’s spent a decade perfecting.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Obviously, nobody in the auditorium raises a hand. This is 2018 New York City! But the few seconds that follow the question are probably the only chance these audience members have to put some distance between themselves and the country’s sorry record of racial oppression. No, explains Robinson, slavery may not be our fault. But it is “our shared history.”

And then Robinson, a longtime criminal defense lawyer and former deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, launches his harrowing journey through centuries of institutionalized racism. Along the way he points out both the well known (the plantations, the lynchings, the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre) and the less widely known (the troubling third verse of the Star-Spangled Banner, or the advertised offer by future President Andrew Jackson of $10 extra for any 100 lashes given his escaped slave). No matter how much you think you already know, you’re bound to learn new things from “Who We Are,” directed by Emily and Sarah Kunstler. And to be stunned, at some point.

How did this lecture come about? Robinson explains that he became a father in 2011, when his sister-in-law died and her son, then 13, moved in. Suddenly, Robinson needed to teach a Black teen about racism. In educating himself, he says, he was stunned by what he himself — lucky enough to have a stellar education, including a Harvard law degree — didn't know.

He began sharing his findings wherever he could — in community centers, churches, conference rooms. The directors, after hearing him speak, suggested a movie. Their resulting film is anchored by the 2018 lecture in New York’s historic Town Hall and filled out with archival footage, photographs and current-day interviews with the likes of 107-year-old Lessie Benningfield Randle, one of the last survivors of the Tulsa massacre, and Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner, whose death from a police chokehold became a rallying cry for Black Lives Matter. Robinson also argues briefly with a man holding a Confederate flag, who insists the Civil War had nothing at all to do with slavery.

At a slavery museum in Charleston, South Carolina, Robinson examines two pairs of shackles; one is adult-sized, the other toddler-sized. We also see an oak “hanging tree” — and later, photographs of white Americans standing next to the bodies of Black people who have been lynched, a sight Robinson says was once “normal and accepted” in America.

But despite the many references to painful periods in U.S. history, it’s also the smartly placed sprinklings of Robinson’s own life experience that help personalize the proceedings and give the film its emotional wallop.

A number of these moments take place in Memphis, where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated but also where Robinson grew up. He travels back to his hometown, where, he tells us, his parents tried to buy a house in a white neighborhood but were turned away, until white friends went and bought it for them. Then, when the family moved in, a neighbor showed up with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies for “the lady of the house” — but turned and left, cookies in hand, when Robinson’s Black mother came to the door.

In another scene, a white high school friend confesses he never told Robinson that they’d all once been denied entry to a basketball game because of Robinson’s race; a pastor intervened, without Robinson ever knowing. Both men are reduced to tears at the story.

Robinson closes on a note of tentative hope. The Black Lives Matter protests united people of all races in American streets, he observes: “The possibility of radical change is in the air." But he also warns: “The things they’re saying about Black Lives Matter today are the exact same things they said about Martin Luther King in the ’60s.”

If the format of a lecture is inherently limiting, the directors do a superb job of weaving a compelling visual — and emotional — experience. One can only hope they, and Robinson, get the wide audience the film deserves (the documentary is part of a broader educational initiative, the Who We Are Project).

Robinson’s final point is that we're at another tipping point — just as we were in the late '60s. Will we fall back again, he asks?

“Or, will this generation decide to do something different?”

“Who We Are,” a Sony Pictures Classics release, has been rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for “thematic content, disturbing images, violence and strong language — all involving racism." Running time: 117 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.

___

MPAA definition of PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press

O’Toole calls for national security review into takeover of mining company Neo Lithium

Jan 18, 2022

Global News

▪︎During a press conference on Monday, Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole called on the #Canadian_government to launch a national security review into the Chinese acquisition of the #mining_company #Neo_Lithium_Corp He said a review of such a sale is “critical.”

Canada's Saskatchewan province gets lift from record helium activity
By Rod Nickel 

© Reuters/ROYAL HELIUM/BRIAN ZINCHUK

 Crew members work at Royal Helium's Climax 3 drill site near Climax

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Canada's farm and mining province Saskatchewan is seeing record activity in exploration for helium, as global demand rises like a hot air balloon for the gas used to manufacture semiconductors and conduct medical tests.

Saskatchewan produces only 1% of the world's helium, dwarfed by Qatar and the United States. The provincial government hopes to lift output to 10% of world supply by 2030, and last year unveiled new incentives and credits.

Producers have made a promising start. Saskatchewan issued 126 permits and 72 leases for helium production in 2021, breaking previous records, according to government data obtained by Reuters.

The gas is generating strong demand for manufacturing semiconductors, a critical material for computer chips that has been in short supply during the pandemic. Global demand looks to outstrip supply until at least 2025, keeping prices high, said Phil Skolnick, an analyst at Eight Capital.

© Reuters/ROYAL HELIUM/BRIAN ZINCHUK

 Aerial view shows Royal Helium's Climax 1 drill site in Lone Tree

Canada has the world's fifth-biggest helium resources and is strategically located next to the United States, the world's biggest helium consumer. The industry has long eyed Saskatchewan's potential but global competition from producers such as Russia's state-owned Gazprom and U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil Corp made it difficult to develop.

© Reuters/ROYAL HELIUM/BRIAN ZINCHUK 

Royal Helium's CEO Davidson talks to crew at Climax 1 drill site in Lone Tree

Royal Helium Ltd is one of several small companies that hope to take advantage of Saskatchewan's incentives. Its helium discovery near Climax, Saskatchewan last May was one of the province's largest known helium discoveries and could support up to 50 wells, double the 24 helium wells currently being drilled in Saskatchewan by all companies combined.

"Finding this new helium fairway in Saskatchewan and having the support of the provincial government to the extent that we do, is making this all possible," CEO Andrew Davidson said, adding that Royal aims to start production from 10 wells by year-end.

Three firms - North American Helium, Canadian Helium and Weil Group - produce a combined 60 million cubic feet per year in Saskatchewan. North American Helium opened a C$30-million purification plant last spring to supply Air Liquide, which is one of the world's biggest helium purchasers.

Saskatchewan's ambition remains a "stretch goal," considering there are large helium projects under development in Russia and Qatar, said Phil Kornbluth, a U.S.-based helium analyst.

"While there continues to be a bullish opportunity for companies who successfully discover large reserves of helium, and are able to raise significant capital, there has been a fair amount of exaggeration and hype generated by some of the more promotional start-ups," Kornbluth said.

Saskatchewan, which also produces oil, potash and uranium, has one of the most highly concentrated helium resources in the world. That means it can support drilling for helium itself, rather than capturing it as a byproduct of natural gas production, which accounts for most global helium production, Skolnick said.

That also means Saskatchewan can produce helium without generating most of the methane emissions associated with extracting natural gas, Davidson said.

Energy Minister Bronwyn Eyre said once Saskatchewan's production grows, it hopes to build a liquefaction plant to convert the gas into liquid, enabling transport over longer distances.

Some producers have already expressed interest, and Saskatchewan has financial incentives available, Eyre said.

Neighboring Alberta is also rich in helium and well-positioned to meet rising demand after establishing a competitive royalty rate for production in 2020, said Jennifer Henshaw, spokesperson for Alberta's energy minister.

(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg; Editing by David Gregorio)

'Big win': Renewable diesel, canola-crushing plant to be built in Regina


REGINA — Federated Co-operatives Ltd. says a new renewable diesel fuel and canola-crushing plant will be part of its plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The oil-production business announced Monday that the estimated $2-billion Integrated Agriculture Complex is to be built in north Regina near the company's Co-op refinery and in partnership with global pulse-processor and supplier AGT Foods.

Federated Co-operatives CEO Scott Banda said his company has made a commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2030 and to get to net-zero emissions by 2050.

"There's regulatory requirements for that, and it is the right thing to do for the long-term for our economy and for humanity," Banda said.

Once built, the diesel plant is to have a production capacity of 15,000 barrels a day, or about one billion litres annually. The canola facility is expected to produce 450,000 tonnes of oil.

The project is expected to create more than 2,500 construction jobs and 150 permanent operating jobs. It is expected to be completed by 2027.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe called the project one of the largest investments in the province.

"This is a big win for the Saskatchewan economy, a win for workers, a win for families ... and a significant win for the environment," Moe said Monday.

"We're getting cleaner and we're getting greener."

AGT Foods CEO Murad Al-Katib said canola fields can provide a source for production and renewable fuels.

"They are renewable themselves and contribute positively both to climate change and carbon-related initiatives, while combined with nitrogen-fixing crops like pulses."

Under the Paris agreement, Canada committed to reducing its emissions by 40 to 45 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.

Last June, the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act became law It enshrines Canada’s commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. That means the economy emits no greenhouse gas emissions or offsets its emissions through actions such as tree planting or employing technologies that can capture carbon before it is released into the air.

Federated Co-operatives, which operates other assets including gas stations, has already started to move to cleaner production and is also exploring carbon capture technology, said Banda.

"For every renewable leader you build, that's one less fossil fuel we have to produce. We do see that decline and are seeing that decline in our refinery. We haven't been running at full capacity there for some time and we do have to transition."

Banda said he can't commit at this point to how much the company's greenhouse gases will go down with the new plant, but he said it will be a "huge, huge piece of that puzzle" in reducing emissions.

"It can be a complete replacement for fossil-fuel diesel, so that's significant and critical in terms of our commitment to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and transition to a low-carbon economy."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 17, 2022.

Mickey Djuric, The Canadian Press

Ipogeo dei Cristallini: Ancient Greek tombs in Naples rewrite history

Julia Buckley, CNN 

It's world-famous for the Roman ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii, destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 C.E., but the latest tourist attraction in Naples shows a very different side of the city.

© Archivio dell'arte, Pedicini fotografi The Ipogeo dei Cristallini will open its ancient Greek tombs to the public in June 2022.

Opening in June, the Ipogeo dei Cristallini -- Hypogeum of Cristallini Street -- is part of an ancient cemetery, located just outside the walls of Neapolis, as the city was called 2,300 years ago.

Not only is the cemetery more than 400 years older than the ruins of Pompeii and the other Roman towns along the Bay of Naples, but it isn't Roman at all. In fact, it was built by the ancient Greeks, who founded Naples in the eight century B.C.E., and kept it a fully Greek city, even when it came under Roman control centuries later.

© Mimmo Jodice The site consists of four tombs and the original necropolis pathway.

It's a game-changing opening, according to archaeologists, that promises to change how we think of Naples, the Mediterranean in ancient times, and even Greek artistry. It also, those involved with the project believe, has the potential to protect Naples from a tourism boom that, if it continues, could bring overtourism to the city.

© Luca Torcigliani The "beds" are similar to findings in in Macedonia.


In the bowels of the city

Forty feet below the garden of a 19th-century palazzo, in what's now the Sanità area of the city, a steep staircase burrowing underground leads to four tombs. Each with their own grand entrance -- one even has Ionic columns sculpted on its façade -- they open on to what is thought to have been the original pathway that mourners would have taken.

© Archivio dell'arte, Pedicini fotografi In one tomb, a gorgon watches over the dead.

This is only a small part of the original necropolis, or cemetery, built by the Greeks. In the fourth century B.C.E., when the tombs are thought to have been built, dozens of them would have been dug into the hills outside the city walls, says Luigi La Rocca, who, as Naples' Soprintendente, is in charge of the city's archaeological heritage.

© Julia Buckley The gorgon watching over the dead appears to be breathing.

Ancient Greeks built twin-chambered tombs -- one upper chamber, where prayers were said, and a lower one, where the bodies were laid to rest -- by digging out the soft tuff rock, rather like making a cave.

But these are no mere caves. The chambers have been sculpted to resemble real rooms, with fake ceiling beams, benches, staircases and even high-mattress "beds" -- sarcophagi, inside which multiple bodies were laid to rest. And these weren't sculpted outside and then brought in. Every single detail -- right down to the perfectly plumped "pillows" on those beds -- has been carved from the original rock face.

Precious paintings shed light on Greek art

Although they're now underground, their entrances would originally have been street level -- hence those imposing Ionic columns, signifying the elite status of its inhabitants. Only the lower chamber would have been subterranean.

© Archivio dell'arte, Pedicini fotografi The Romans 'upcycled' the Greek tombs, sculpting niches for their own funerary urns.

But centuries of mudslides that regularly devastated the area -- only ending in the 1960s when the sewerage system was overhauled -- buried the tombs a few centuries after they were built.

That means their level of preservation is exceptional, according to archaeologists. Crucially, they still retain their vibrant wall paintings.

Ancient Greek art, of course, is known the world over -- but what has survived is for the most part sculpture.

"Greek painting is almost completely lost -- even in Greece there's almost nothing left of painting, though we know from sources that it was important," Federica Giacomini, who has spent the last year overseeing the monitoring of the site for Italy's ICR, the Central Institute for Conservation, told CNN.

"There's basically nothing left of anything painted on wood or furniture, and there's very little wall painting -- mainly Macedonian tombs that conserve important pictorial murals, but it's almost nothing.

"We have lots of Roman painting, but much less Greek. So this is a rarity, and very precious."

Down in the depths

The painted tombs give a very different impression of Greek art to those bone-white sculptures and buildings (which, too, would have originally been colored). One tomb has scarlet-painted steps leading down to a red faux-marble floor. The stone pillows -- turquoise with yellow stripes -- have red hatching on the side, imitating cross-stitch threading the textiles together.

Meanwhile the walls are lavishly frescoed: lush garlands swinging from columns, flaming candelabras, vases and dishes that were used in funerary rituals, and even two human figures, thought to be the god Dionysus with Ariadne, the woman he gifted with immortal life.

There's even a sculpted gorgon -- the mythological beast with a woman's head but snakes for hair, as they twist and curl around her pretty face. She's the only element of all four tombs to be sculpted and attached, rather than dug out from the hillside.

On the walls, meanwhile, are scrawled names in ancient Greek: lists of those buried inside.

The other three tombs are equally interesting, if not as spectacular. One was also frescoed, although the paintings have been damaged -- it's hoped that future restoration will bring them back to light.

In another lie six headstones, dedicated to the dead. Each lists the name of the deceased, and signs off with the inscription "khaire" -- an ancient Greek greeting, akin to the "ciao" that modern Neapolitans use.

The tombs even have niches carved by Romans, who reused them to bury their own dead after the original Greek dynasties had died. In all, the necropolis was in use from the late fourth century B.C.E. to the early first century C.E. before being buried by mudslides.

Elsewhere are sculptures of people, and traces of portraits -- potentially dead ancestors, according to Paolo Giulierini, director of the National Archaeology Museum of Naples, which houses hundreds of finds from the tombs, including sculptures, vases, and carved symbols of resurrection, such as pomegranates and eggs.

A city of the dead beneath the modern city

These aren't the only tombs of the ancient necropolis have been found. La Rocca says that around 20 have been identified under buildings in the Sanità district, which was built in the 16th century. Some of them conserve paintings, and archaeologist Carlo Leggieri leads visits to five of them -- including three partially frescoed tombs, and another with a remains of a sculpted panther. But, Giulierini says, these look to be the most important so far.

Damaged by building work in the 1700s, the tombs were officially discovered in 1899, but have always been closed to the public -- until now.

Archaeologists have been monitoring the environment since May 2021 to understand potential hazards. Once they complete a year's monitoring, the tombs should be opened for limited visits while restoration work commences. Visitors will be able to see the tombs as they are now -- largely as they were when discovered -- and be present as they are gradually brought back to life.

Those in the know have high hopes.

"It's a space of extraordinary importance because it furnishes us with precious data about the beliefs and the social structure of Neapolis in the Hellenistic and Roman eras," La Rocca told CNN.

Giacomini calls it "a testimony of a civilization that we have extremely few traces of."

For Giulierini, it's proof of the high status Neapolis ("new city" in Greek) once held in the ancient Mediterranean. The tombs best resemble those found in Macedonia -- the homeland of Alexander the Great, covering modern North Macedonia and northern Greece.

"This shows that Neapolis had a huge international profile," he told CNN, calling it a "top ranking cultural capital" along the lines of New York, London or Berlin today.

Changing Naples tourism

Giulierini -- who curates tens of thousands of objects from Pompeii and Herculaneum at his museum -- hopes that the tombs will also correct the "imbalance" in how visitors today perceive the city, linking it to the Roman ruins in the area.

In fact, he says, while the citizens of Pompeii were holding bloodthirsty gladiator games, the people of Neapolis were hosting a more refined take on the Greek Olympic Games, launched by the emperor Augustus. Another emperor, Nero, came to perform on the stage in Neapolis, before later touring Greece. And they had, of course, for centuries been burying their dead in grand painted chambers dug into the hillside.

Meanwhile, La Rocca hopes that the opening will help bring more cultural tourism to Naples, which is currently seeing a tourism boom.

"Naples is more than ancient but it's not often seen as an archaeological city," he said. "The city should be told through its archaeological remains, but these are mainly known by professionals. Sadly many monuments are not open to the public."

"Sustainable tourism in relation to cultural preservation," could be a way forward for the city, he added.

The Ipogeo dei Cristallini will open for limited visits in June. Carlo Leggieri's tours of the other tombs can be booked by email: carlo.celanapoli[at]gmail.com



Main image: Archivio dell'arte, Pedicini fotografi

The 6th Mass Extinction Really Has Begun, Scientists Warn in Newly Published Study

Peter Dockrill 

The signs of death are everywhere, if you look. For years, scientists have rung the alarm bell, warning that grave declines in animal biodiversity around the globe herald the onset of what will be Earth's sixth mass extinction.

© Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty Images A snail.

Despite the looming weight of evidence to suggest this grim phenomenon is unfolding all around us, not everybody agrees.

"Drastically increased rates of species extinctions and declining abundances of many animal and plant populations are well documented, yet some deny that these phenomena amount to mass extinction," says bioscientist Robert Cowie from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.

"This denial is based on a highly biased assessment of the crisis which focuses on mammals and birds and ignores invertebrates, which of course constitute the great majority of biodiversity."

In a new study, Cowie and his fellow researchers seek to refute the deniers by focusing the spotlight on the decline of invertebrate creatures, which receive significantly less attention than vertebrate animals in discussions of biodiversity loss – even in the esteemed IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, arguably the world's foremost record of species extinctions, yet skewed towards birds, mammals, and amphibians.

"The Red List is heavily biased," Cowie and colleagues write in their paper.

"Almost all birds and mammals but only a minute fraction of invertebrates have been evaluated against conservation criteria… The implicit, and sometimes explicit, assumption is often made that assessments of extinction rates of mammals and birds are reflective of extinction rates of all biodiversity, an assumption accepted not only among the vertebrate-centric media but also among many vertebrate-centric scientific and conservation organizations."

Since 1500 CE, about 1.5 percent of evaluated mammal and bird species have gone extinct per the IUCN's count, the researchers say – which isn't so far off the 'background' extinction rate that exists in between mass extinction events.

But if we extrapolate based on estimations of invertebrate extinctions not considered by the IUCN, the situation looks far worse.

To highlight the vast scale of biodiversity loss being missed in IUCN figures, the researchers focused on mollusks, which constitute the second largest phylum of invertebrate animals after arthropods, with invertebrates themselves representing the vast majority of known animal species (up to 97 percent, some think).

Based on "bold" extrapolations from a number of previous studies examining invertebrate declines, the researchers suggest between 7.5 to 13 percent of all the roughly 2 million known plant and animal species on Earth could have gone extinct since 1500 CE – an extinction toll orders of magnitude greater than what the IUCN recognizes.

"Including invertebrates was key to confirming that we are indeed witnessing the onset of the sixth mass extinction in Earth's history," Cowie says.

Depending on where you look, however, some kinds of species are faring better than others in the current crisis, the researchers point out, with marine species extinctions and plant extinctions not yet looking as grave as the rate of extinctions seen in many land animals.

Nonetheless, particular extinction rates so far suggested by the IUCN Red List are not something that reveal the full picture of biodiversity loss, the researchers say.

"Current extinction rates, notably in terrestrial invertebrates, are far higher than background extinction rates," the authors write.

"We also show that use of IUCN Red List extinction data to determine current extinction rates inevitably leads to dramatic under-estimation of rates, except for birds, mammals and perhaps amphibians."

As to whether these perilous trends can be stopped, the researchers don't know the answer. But they note that denying the crisis or failing to act upon it is an abrogation of our moral responsibility, and call upon scientists and conservationists to keep drawing attention to the biodiversity crisis, and to continue nurturing the "innate human appreciation" of biodiversity.

They also note that we likely won't be able to save all the species currently going extinct, but if we act with care and urgency, we might at least manage to preserve most, and document them for future generations.

"Dedicated conservation biologists and conservation agencies are doing what they can, focused mainly on threatened birds and mammals, among which some species may be saved from the extinction that would otherwise ensue," the researchers explain.

"Perhaps, with efforts to publicize the crisis, biodiversity scientists may achieve some successes, such that a significant component of currently extant global biodiversity can be preserved in the wild, and many of those species that will be lost from the wild can at least be preserved in museums for future generations to study and marvel at."

The findings are reported in Biological Reviews.