Opinion: How parental rights has co-opted some Muslim communities

Opinion by Edmonton Journal • 

Over 1,000 protesters with anti-LGBTQ groups took part in The 1 Million March 4 Children near the office of the Alberta Teachers, Association on Sept. 19, 2023. They were greeted with a few hundred counter protesters and a couple minor skirmishes ensued.© Provided by Edmonton Journal

Recently, a widely circulated statement from the Muslim Association of Canada defended Muslim protests against 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion in schools. In response, an open letter signed by prominent Canadian Muslim community leaders, educators, and professionals condemned these attacks against the 2SLGBTQ+ community.Ad

The differing approaches indicate that Islam is not a monolith. There are many diverse perspectives as some community leaders practise exclusion, whereas others stand in support of 2SLGBTQ+ communities and affirm sexual and gender diversity within the Islamic faith.

Through his investigative reporting, Canadian journalist Omar Mosleh reveals how prominent organizers of these so-called “parental rights” protests have utilized sensationalized stereotypes and extreme rhetoric equating teaching about sexual and gender diversity as a false equivalency to the genocide of the residential school system.

Another common framing attempts to position discussions about 2SLGBTQ+ identities as a form of sex education and indoctrination. These distortions deliberately conflate sexual identity and behaviour and position 2SLGBTQ+ identities as pathological and deviant sexual acts that infiltrate the minds of vulnerable children. The mantra of “ leave our kids alone ” becomes the battle cry for the total erasure of 2SLGBTQ+ identities, communities, and cultures in schools and society.

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The far-right populist movement has gained traction in Canada thanks to Conservative politicians who have seized political opportunism by jumping on the “parental rights” bandwagon to introduce policies targeting transgender and nonbinary youth and banning evidence-based educational programs like SOGI 123 from use in schools.

The current fight against 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion in schools has its roots in the history of sexual health education and the belief that parents should have the final say about how these “personal and private” issues are discussed publicly in schools. The great sex education debate can be traced back decades with the common far-right refrain that teaching about sexuality was akin to promoting pornography in schools and the widely held belief that by talking openly about sex, youth would have more of it.

In the 1960s, it was a common narrative that sexual health education was a communist plot , which still has roots today when “parental rights” protestors describe 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion in schools as a form of sexual Marxism . In the 1980s, with the onslaught of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, messages about sexual health education changed to focus on abstinence-only and promoted discourses of fear, shame, and stigma. In the 2000s, sexual health education moved beyond risk and reproduction to engage more comprehensive approaches , including issues of consent, intimacy, reproductive rights, and 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion.

Today, we see many cultural minorities in Canada being lured into protests against 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion in schools. Unlikely coalitions of Christian evangelicals, white nationalists, conservative Muslims, anti-vaxxers, and conspiracy theorists have coalesced together under the umbrella of a renewed “parental rights” movement. These factions are tenuously united together through forms of religious fundamentalism and anti-government extremism fuelled by populism with the mantra of “taking back” their divine rights and protecting kids from sinister forces.

The question is, what are they trying to “protect kids” from?

As the recent “ 1 Million March 4 Children ” protests have demonstrated, the manufactured enemy of the moment is the 2SLGBTQ+ community premised on the rallying call to stop the indoctrination and sexualization of children by “the elimination of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) curriculum, pronouns, gender ideology, and mixed bathrooms in schools.”

What concerns us most is how some factions of the Muslim community have been actively co-opted into these discourses of hate and prejudice, which are counter to the teachings of the Islamic faith.

We echo the calls of progressive Muslim community leaders with the reminder of the Islamic teaching of la darar wa la dirar fil Islam , which translates to mean “there is no harm or reciprocating harm in Islam.”

Preventing Muslim youth from learning about sexual and gender diversity is not only a harmful disservice; it is not based on Islamic teachings. Historically, Muslim societies have comprised 2SLGBTQ+ individuals, albeit known by different names. Across space and time, these included the khuntha mushkil (intersex), mukhannthun (men with feminine traits), mutarajjilat (women with masculine traits), zarifat (courtly lady lovers), habaib (female beloveds), ghayr uli al irba (men without desire for women), amongst many others.

A turn to the past can help us understand the future need not be feared. Schools should be places of liberation, not bastions of prejudice and discrimination. Perhaps adults would do best to leave “our children alone” with the belief that God, Allah, or to whomever you pray has the best intentions for our children to be exactly who they are meant to be in all the wonder of diversity that exists in our world and faith.

Dr. Kristopher Wells is an associate professor and the Canada Research Chair for the Public Understanding of Sexual and Gender Minority Youth at MacEwan University. He also serves as editor-in-chief of the international Journal of LGBT Youth.

Dr. Junaid B. Jahangir is an associate professor of Economics at MacEwan University and co-author of Islamic Law and Muslim Same-Sex Unions.

Canada needs to move faster than the rest of the world on renewable energy: Wilkinson

NOT LIKE ALBERTA WHICH HAS PUT A HOLD ON THEM

The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Canada needs to move faster on renewable energy as a new international energy outlook forecasts demand for all fossil fuels will peak in seven years, Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Wednesday.

An annual outlook the International Energy Agency published on Tuesday said that even if no new climate-related policies are implemented, the ones that already exist are still enough to bring demand for oil, gas and coal to a peak by 2030.

It said that renewables will account for nearly half the world's electricity supply by that year, and solar power alone will account for more energy than is currently produced by the entire U.S. electricity system.

Wilkinson said the agency had previously predicted that demand for oil and gas could peak by 2030.

But that forecast had depended on scenarios that saw most countries adopt stronger policies. He said this is the first time the agency is predicting a 2030 peak even if no country lifts another finger on climate action.

It means there should be no doubt that renewable energy and clean technology are the economic drivers of the future, he said.

"What Canada needs to do is to really get with the program," Wilkinson said in an interview.

"We actually have to double down on investing, in building that economy that will create jobs and economic opportunity for the future, and stop looking backwards at a scenario that is in the past. The world is moving. The report underlines that the world is moving."

Wilkinson said China has been strategically investing in renewable technologies for years and is now the world's largest supplier of clean technology, electric vehicles and critical minerals.

He said Canada's oil and gas industry needs to move as quickly as it can to decarbonize its operations, because that is the only way it will increase or even maintain its position as the market begins to shrink.

Canada's biggest oilsands producers are planning to invest in technology that traps some of their emissions and funnels them back underground, but they differ with the federal government on how quickly they can lower their emissions.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is expected to soon publish details of his plan to cap emissions from oil and gas production, part of the strategy to meet Canada's next greenhouse-gas emissions target in 2030.

The oil and gas cap regulations are overdue, with Guilbeault initially promising a draft in the spring. He said recently that it's a very complex policy that no other major oil producer has attempted.

Oil and gas production accounts for more than one-quarter of Canada's total emissions.

Guilbeault said Wednesday that the international agency's forecast is in line with what the Canada Energy Regulator has suggested will happen.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 25, 2023.

Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press

Opinion: Don't worry — the Hudson Bay polar bears are still doing all right

Opinion 

by Special to Financial Post • 

Polar bears along the shoreline of the Hudson Bay near Churchill, Man., 2022.

© Provided by Financial Post

By Susan J. Crockford

The polar bears of southern Hudson Bay are snubbed cousins of the superstars from western Hudson Bay. That’s because the west features the rail-accessible port town of Churchill, self-proclaimed “Polar Bear Capital of the World.”

Over the summer, when the sea ice melts, hundreds of polar bears come ashore near Churchill. As they wait for the ice to reform in the fall, they are viewed by tens of thousands of tourists and studied by a few dedicated polar bear scientists. Even though Southern Hudson polar bears (hereafter “southern bears”) live further south than any other in the Arctic and should logically garner the most attention from those seeking signals of human-caused climate change, it is Western Hudson polar bears (we’ll call them “western bears”) that get all the notice.

The earliest rough estimate of southern bear numbers (254 bears) was completed in 1973 and published in a 1976 Canadian Wildlife Service report , while the first western bear count (308 bears) was done in 1975 and published in 1977. These remarkably low estimates, although crude, reflected decades of wanton polar bear slaughter in Hudson Bay that had decimated bear populations. Evidence of similar declines across the Arctic prompted an international treaty to protect polar bears in 1973.

It is now known that both western and southern bears, as well as bears from Foxe Basin to the north, hunt on the ice over the winter, with the potential for inter-breeding during the spring mating season. A genetic study published in 2016 suggested moving the long-established boundaries for western bears, since it was apparent that they may come ashore over a much larger range of coastline than previously thought. Southern bears, on the other hand, rarely move out of James Bay, not even to hunt during the winter.

This brings us to the 2021 population surveys that revealed an apparent 27 per cent decline in the western bear population but a 30 per cent increase for southern bears. Unfortunately, the survey for southern bears was not available when news of the western bear decline was made public — and generated considerable alarm — in December 2022.

According to the report released first, which was by Stephen Atkinson and colleagues, the three most recent population estimates for western bears were 949 (range 618-1280) in 2011, 842 (range 562-1,121) in 2016 and 618 (range 385-852) in 2021. As mentioned, the apparent change from 2016 to 2021 was a 27 per cent decline — although, as the authors noted, that’s not statistically significant.

The overall drop apparently was driven by a decline of more than 200 adult females and sub-adult bears, especially in the area around Churchill. The authors considered but rejected the possibility that these bears had simply relocated into southern Hudson Bay. Oddly, in light of the 2016 study about changing habitat boundaries, they did not consider the possibility that the “missing” animals had relocated northward into Foxe Basin territory.

Sea ice in Foxe Basin almost always lingers well into August, so it might now be preferred as a summering and denning area by some western bear females and young bears looking for more predictable ice conditions. Foxe Basin bears haven’t been surveyed since 2010 but they were then doing very well, with an estimated population size of 2,580.

As for southern bears, their numbers went from 943 in 2012 (range 658-1350) to 780 in 2016 (range 590-1029), and then to a whopping 1,119 in 2021 (range 860-1,454) — which gives, as noted, an increase of 30 per cent over five years. The study’s authors don’t actually say if that’s statistically significant but it seems likely it is, since they concluded a natural increase in numbers had indeed occurred and they couldn’t verify immigration of bears from another subpopulation.

Overall, the authors of both reports seemed hard-pressed to explain their results. A loss of hundreds of western bears from 2016-2021 is not consistent with the prevailing hypothesis that lack of sea ice drives long-term declines in polar bear numbers: sea ice conditions in western Hudson Bay were better for the first four of those years than they had been in decades — only 2021 was not as good — and southern bear numbers increased markedly with similar ice conditions in their part of Hudson Bay over the same period.

Were polar bears dying in one region during 2017-2021 — for reasons not having to do with sea ice — but reproducing like crazy just next door? Or were hundreds of western bears moving undetected between subpopulation boundaries? If movement into Foxe Basin does explain the recent survey results for western bears, it means they haven’t been counted properly for decades. That’s a big problem for polar bear scientists and conservation organizations because it suggests western bears — and therefore all polar bears — may not be threatened with extinction due to loss of sea ice, as previously thought.

Susan J. Crockford, a zoologist, is author of Polar Bear Evolution: A Model for How New Species Arise (2023).

QIA takes federal government to court over fisheries

Story by The Canadian Press  • 16h

 The Qikiqtani Inuit Association has launched a court challenge against a recent decision by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to transfer valuable Nunavut-adjacent water fishing licences in the Davis Strait to “non-Inuit southern interests.”

The Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA) is arguing that there is and will be significant economic loss incurred to Inuit, including “direct and indirect benefits for Inuit that have not been realized since the creation of the territory in 1999.”

Citing Article 15 of the Nunavut Agreement, the QIA is accusing the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) of a failure to fairly distribute commercial fishing licences in adjacent waters, which is a “viable pillar of the Nunavut economy [that] requires addressing unequal and unjust treatment of Inuit within the fisheries.”

The QIA emphasized that this is a crucial decision in the ongoing matter of reconciliation.

“Economic development,” the regional Inuit association states, “is an important way to affirm and enact Inuit jurisdiction and authority while building the Inuit economy.”

The QIA cites the importance of improving the “blue economy” — sustainability in fishing and marine practices — as well as managing the risks and best practices in an industry so heavily dependent on the extraction of non-renewable resources. In addition, non-Indigenous jurisdictional concerns play a part in how these practices and the balance of the economy is meted out. The Qikiqtani-based organization says it is attempting to work with the federal government on the “a fisheries reconciliation approach to quota distribution.

“Increasing Inuit participation in fisheries is therefore a tangible way that QIA can advance economic development while minimizing the need to further expand non-renewable resource extraction activities,” the QIA stated.

With this court challenge, the QIA is also aiming to increase protected areas by 30 per cent by 2030.

Economic losses quantified

The Qikiqtani Inuit Association carried out an economic analysis “to better understand the consequences on Inuit resulting from the federal government’s failure to increase access to the fisheries.”

Its findings were that between 1993-2022, $600 million in indirect economic Inuit benefits were lost, as well as, $450 million in lost economic opportunities. Furthermore, “these economic losses are likely to extend into the future if there is no change in approach and decision-making in Nunavut’s adjacent waters fisheries quota by the federal government.”

When asked for clarification, the QIA gave examples of indirect benefits as the additional economic benefit to the Inuit economy from higher income in the fisheries sector, the social returns from policies and programs undertaken by Inuit organizations that collect fisheries royalties and the reinvestment of profits by Inuit-owned fisheries businesses into productive activity.

“QIA identified Nunavut fisheries as holding many potential opportunities… fishing represents an important economic base for Inuit specifically, which has important socio-economic impacts – for example, commercial fishing licences are all held by Inuit-owned companies, and the industry is intended to create locally-based training and job opportunities specifically for Inuit… To date, Inuit have not seen their fair share of quota in the adjacent water fisheries” the QIA stated. “As a key component of our recent Qikiqtani-Project Finance for Permanence Agreement in Principle, QIA is working to reinforce Qikiqtani Inuit control and care of the land and water, including those waters in the offshore and adjacent to the Qikiqtani region.”

The court heard the legal challenge, known as a “judicial review,” in Iqaluit on Oct. 16-18. It was not known at the time of writing when a decision will be rendered.

Kira Wronska Dorward, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunavut News

Ontario Urges National Summit on Alberta’s CPP Withdrawal Proposal

ONT LIKE 90% OF ALBERTANS 

OPPOSES THIS STUPID IDEA

Story by Olalekan Adigun  • BNN BREAKING NEWS 

Ontario, one of Canada’s most populated provinces, has called for an urgent national summit. The topic of concern is a controversial proposal by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to withdraw Alberta from the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). This plan, if actualized, could potentially reshape the retirement landscape across the country, affecting millions of working people and retirees.

A Disproportionate Contribution?

Smith argues that Albertans are currently contributing more than their fair share to the CPP. She believes that Alberta is owed an astronomical sum of $334 billion, which is more than half of the total value of the CPP. To test the waters, a task force is currently holding hearings in Alberta to gauge public sentiment on the potential withdrawal. If public sentiment aligns with Smith's vision, a referendum could be on the horizon by 2025.

The Ontario Perspective

Ontario, however, has raised eyebrows at the calculations behind Alberta's claim. The province is demanding a firm estimate of Alberta's share of the CPP assets before moving forward with a referendum. Ontario's opposition to Alberta's plan, coupled with criticism from other provinces and pension experts, brings to light questions about the feasibility and potential consequences of Alberta's proposal.

Related video: Finance ministers to meet on Alberta's proposal to leave Canada Pension Plan (The Canadian Press)  Duration 2:57  View on Watch

One key concern is the increased financial burden that may befall other Canadians. Ontario argues that the CPP's strength lies in its pan-Canadian approach, a shared responsibility that provides stability and security for workers and their families. By leaving the CPP, Alberta could disrupt this balance, potentially affecting the retirement savings of millions of Canadians.

Lessons from Ontario's Experience

Ontario's own experience with a standalone provincial pension plan, the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP), serves as a cautionary tale. When federal departments and the Canada Revenue Agency refused to assist with the management of the ORPP, Ontario had to establish its own pension administration corporation. This experience casts a shadow over Alberta's assumption that federal entities would willingly take on the administration of an Alberta pension program.

In addition to concerns about the feasibility of Alberta's plan, there are questions about the accuracy of the calculations behind the claim that Alberta is owed $334 billion. Ontario's own calculations suggest a discrepancy. If Alberta's formula were applied to Ontario, it would be owed 63% of the CPP's total value, which contradicts Alberta's claim and raises concerns about the potential impact on other provinces.

Ontario's opposition to Alberta's proposal, along with criticism from other provinces and pension experts, emphasizes the complexity and potential consequences of withdrawing from the CPP. The ongoing dispute underscores the importance of a pan-Canadian approach to retirement savings, and the need for a national conversation on the subject.

UCP resolutions contentious, but most unlikely to become policy: Political scientist

Story by Matthew Black  •  Edmonton Journal

Premier Danielle Smith speaks during a Calgary Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Calgary on June 29.

Members of Alberta’s governing United Conservative Party (UCP) are set to vote on a series of policy proposals at their upcoming convention, though the likelihood of any of those changes becoming government policy remains unclear.

The UCP’s annual general meeting is set for Nov. 3 and Nov. 4 in Calgary where delegates will vote on 51 resolutions, including 30 policy proposals .

Those include a pushback against Ottawa’s clean electricity regulations, calls for a school voucher system, and an end for funding of supervised consumption sites.

Other resolutions seek changes to parental rights, treatment of transgender prisoners, and availability of material some deem offensive in schools. About one-fifth of the resolutions address some kind of grievance from the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic; others assert conspiracy theories around 15 minute cities and electronic voting machines.

Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt says while some of the resolutions are eye-catching for varying reasons, it would be a mistake to equate those with the views the party or government will put forth to the public, even if members vote in support.

“There is a wide gap between an election platform and policies adopted at a party convention,” he said.

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“They get a lot of attention, but let’s just see how many actually go through that whole cycle and end up as a public policy.”

There are also resolutions calling for the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion offices in post-secondary institutions, the creation of a bill of parents rights minimizing the role of “activist professionals” in education, and banning schools form using race as a factor in admissions.

Bratt says what those resolutions do is highlight the views of the party’s most activist members.

“Those are the ones that show up.”

That dynamic, Bratt said, is apparent at all party conventions, noting provincial NDP leader Rachel Notley’s 2016 opposition to the federal NDP-supported Leap Manifesto, which called for the end of fossil fuels as an energy source.

It will also be a different dynamic than when Jason Kenney led the UCP.

“Transgender issues, parental rights, COVID medical stuff, none of that existed,” Bratt said.

“That just shows the dramatic change in politics in this province.”

It will also be a test for Take Back Alberta (TBA), the group credited by some for driving the party’s policies and encouraging enough of its members to attend the convention that a switch to a bigger venue was needed.

“This is going to be a test of TBA’s strength, not just in controlling the board, but in winning these votes and then seeing if they actually get implemented,” Bratt said of TBA.

Premier Danielle Smith will also have navigate her relationship with TBA, whose supporters appear to back some of the resolutions arounds parents rights and gender pronouns in schools, something Smith has been reluctant to speak out against in the past.

“There’s a huge gap between the personal beliefs of Danielle Smith and a political reality within our own party,” Bratt said.

“I don’t think she’s going to be able to avoid it.”

Walking that metaphorical tightrope will not be easy for the premier, Bratt said, bearing in mind the party turfed Jason Kenney as leader when he was a sitting premier not long ago.

He cautioned that any cracks in party unity that emerge at the convention could grow in the months to come.

“Is it actually about the resolution or is it about something wider?”

Feds need to address impact of St. Lawrence seaway strike, stakeholders say

Labour Minister  says he won't interfere in negotiations beyond providing federal mediation between the company and Unifor. 

Story by Nicole Williams • CBC

Canada's labour minister says he won't interfere in negotiations to end the strike at St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp., but those who rely on the shipping channel argue there's no time to wait for a deal with millions of dollars in grain at stake.

About 360 employees with the government-established company have been on the picket line since Sunday after negotiations broke down with union representatives at Unifor.

Company and union officials are expected back at the bargaining table on Friday when they sit down with federal mediators in Toronto.

For now roughly 100 ships, including cargo vessels, have been halted along the artery of the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Lake Erie.

The union is demanding higher wages for workers and for the company to address "a toxic workplace," said National President Lana Payne from the picket line Tuesday.

"We want a reasonable agreement for our members," Payne said. "But it takes two to tango and the reality is ... this employer has not been willing to make a serious offer."

In a statement released earlier this week, company officials said they were "pleased" to resume talks with Unifor and they have been "extremely concerned" with the impacts caused by the current strike.

They said work is ongoing to reach a "mutually beneficial agreement."


Lana Payne, national president of Unifor, talks to St. Lawrence seaway workers from a picket line in St. Catharines, Ont., Tuesday. (Paul Smith/CBC)© Provided by cbc.ca
Port running out of grain storage

Even if a deal is reached by Friday the strike has already hurt local producers, said Robert Dalley, who manages the port in Johnstown, Ont.

Truckloads of soybeans harvested by local farmers continue to be delivered to the port — approximately 5,500 tonnes every day — and stored inside grain elevators.

Ships are typically scheduled to come once a week to load and deliver the supply to buyers, which in turn creates more room for storage at the port.

"When those vessels stop, eventually the system will back up," said Dalley.



A lineup of trucks at the Port of Johnstown is seen delivering soybeans harvested from local farmers. Dalley says there will be no more room for the 5,000 tonnes of soybeans each truck brings if there is no ship to take them in the next few days. (Nicole Williams/CBC)© Provided by cbc.ca

About 125,000 tonnes of soybeans are yet to be harvested this season but will have nowhere to go, and potentially cost farmers $62 million in lost revenue, he added.

This is the consequence of the strike and the corn harvest could also be affected next, which is why Dalley urged both the union and Seaway to come to an agreement quickly.

Related video: 'This stops global trade': The impact of the St. Lawrence Seaway Strike on Western New York (WKBW Buffalo, NY)  Duration 2:56   View on Watch

"As a worldwide exporter of grain, of soybean, we need to be reliable. We need to be able to move our grain into the port and move it out to Quebec and over to the European markets," he said.

"When you don't do that and people are waiting for it, they will find it somewhere else."
No back-to-work legislation planned

Those concerns are echoed by federal officials who are keeping a close eye on the situation, but said they have no plans to intervene in negotiations. They continue to urge both parties to return to the bargaining table.

"We just keep talking to our American counterparts. They're obviously very concerned and have a lot at stake, as do a lot of members of this caucus around the Great Lakes communities," Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan said Wednesday.


Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan says he won't interfere in negotiations beyond providing federal mediation between the company and Unifor. 

(Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CCOC) has called on the government to "immediately intervene to prevent further damage to supply chains and limit the impact on Canadians," saying the situation can't wait until Friday.

"Canada is at a critical point right now," said Pascal Chan, senior director of transportation, infrastructure and construction at the CCOC.

"Our supply chains are fragile and they have been impacted over the last few years by events such as wildfires, floods, the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as most recently the port strike in British Columbia."

Other groups such as the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses have asked the government to keep the seaway fully operational to minimize damage to small and large markets as negotiations continue.

 

 

Exclusive-Shell cuts low-carbon jobs, scales back hydrogen in overhaul by CEO

Story by By Ron Bousso  • 

A view shows a logo of Shell petrol station in South East London, Britain, February 2, 2023.

 REUTERS/May James//File Photo© Thomson Reuters

By Ron Bousso

LONDON (Reuters) -Shell will cut around 15% of the workforce at its low-carbon solutions division and scale back its hydrogen business as part of CEO Wael Sawan's drive to boost profits, the company confirmed in response to a query from Reuters on Wednesday.

The staff cuts and organizational changes come after Sawan, who took the helm in January, vowed to revamp Shell's energy transition strategy to focus on the most profitable renewables and low-carbon business, steady oil production, and grow gas output.

Shell will cut 200 jobs in 2024 and has placed another 130 positions under review as part of a drive to reduce the headcount in the unit, a spokesperson said.

Some of these roles will be integrated into other parts of Shell, the company added.

"We are transforming our Low Carbon Solutions (LCS) business to strengthen its delivery on our core low-carbon business areas such as transport and industry," the company said.

The LCS operations include the hydrogen and other businesses looking at decarbonizing the transport and industry sectors, but does not include the renewable power business.

Shell managers last week held several town hall meetings with the LCS division where the job cuts and organizational changes were announced, company sources said.

(Reporting by Ron Bousso; editing by Jason Neely and Jan Harvey)

Related video: Shell cuts jobs in low-carbon, scales back hydrogen (Reuters)
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BC

First Nations petitioning to stop Canfor logging

Story by The Canadian Press  • 

West Moberly First Nations have filed a B.C. Supreme Court petition to protect the Anzac and Table River area from logging proposed by Canfor, claiming Treaty 8 rights and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) have been breached.

Specifically, West Moberly are challenging a cutting permit and road permit amendment issued September 26, stating they weren’t notified that Canfor had applied for the permits or that the province was considering issuing them, even after prior concerns that had already been raised to133 other forestry-related permits.

Known as Chuu Xaadeslii by the Dunne-za people or “Where the Water Starts”, West Moberly says the region would be significantly impacted by industrial activity.

An old growth analysis was provided by West Moberly to the province, noting that 82 percent had already been lost and all of the proposed clearcuts would remove another four percent, leaving only 14 percent, which is not enough to sustain their way of life.

According to the petition, Chief Roland Willson sent a June 13 letter to the province advising that West Moberly would impose a moratorium over all current or proposed forestry activities within the Chuu Xaadeslii region due to concerns with Canfor reports shared in January and October 2022. 

“The Province has not completed the necessary cumulative effects assessment needed to consider forestry activities in the Chuu Xaadeslii,” states the petition.

Mercury contamination in bull trout on the Crooked River, industrial land use in the Parsnip River watershed, unexpected turbidity in the Anzac River, loss of ability to engage in cultural practices due to forestry activities, and declines of caribou and moose populations are top concerns listed by West Moberly.

It’s also alleged the Ministry of Forests said discussions were ongoing with Canfor and the ministry promised to keep the nations updated. The petition notes West Moberly have yet to be informed on any outcome from those discussions.

Tom Summer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alaska Highway News

 

By defending the squats, we defend the movement against the rotten world of authority

Comment, Oct 25th

From the ashes of Evros, central Greece and Rhodes to the mud of the valley:

Last summer, we experienced destructive fires and floods – the result of the political choices of the New Democracy government – with thousands of acres of land and lifelong struggles getting lost in the mud and the ashes. Political choices led to the death of dozens of refugees and local citizens and thousands of animals found dead, burnt or drowned waiting for the 112 of the eviction of their souls: the free social spaces and squats, the only barricade against the insufficiency of the state mechanisms.

The general antagonistic movement and the self-organized spaces build defences against the destruction, the inexistence and the neglectfulness of the state. Solidarity networks are established, and they dive into the fires and floods. Squats and self-organized spaces coordinate, setting up cooking places and organising the fulfilment of needs of the afflicted.

Resistance against barbarity. The state mechanism blames the afflicted while hitting the squats to disorient. Uprising now and always. While we drown in mud and fight the fires, the state does not waste any opportunity to attack self-organised structures. Self-organisation is the society we desire, of the elimination of oppression and the exploitation of humans on other humans, animals and the environment. Our lives are constantly in danger of being lost in the fires and floods, in the trains and ships, at the borders and by the uniformed murderers and the useless government funded people within our villages and cities. We defend the movement against the rotten world of authority by defending the squats.

Solidarity with all those struggling within or outside the walls against the system that gives birth and upbrings poverty, fascism, war and death. Get your hands off the squats. See you on the streets.

~ Autonomous Centre of Kavala & Squat Vyronos 3

UN report warns of catastrophic risks to Earth systems


AFP
October 25, 2023

Pakistani porters hike the Baltoro Glacier, July 14, 2023 

- Copyright AFP Guillem SARTORIO

Melting glaciers, unbearable heat and space junk: a month before crunch climate talks in the United Arab Emirates, a UN report published Wednesday warns about irreversible impacts to the planet without drastic changes to connected social and physical systems.

The Interconnected Disaster Risks Report identifies thresholds it calls “risk tipping points,” defined as “the moment at which a given socioecological system is no longer able to buffer risks and provide its expected function” — after which the risk of catastrophe increases significantly.

It focuses on six areas that connect the physical and natural world with human society: accelerating extinctions, groundwater depletion, mountain glacial melt, space debris, unbearable heat and an “uninsurable” future.

“As we indiscriminately extract our water resources, damage nature and biodiversity, and pollute both Earth and space, we are moving dangerously close to the brink of multiple risk tipping points that could destroy the very systems that our life depends on,” said Zita Sebesvari, the report’s lead author.

For example: underground water reservoirs represent an essential freshwater resource around the world and today mitigate half of the losses of agriculture caused by droughts, which are being exacerbated by climate change.

But aquifers themselves are now depleting faster than they can be naturally replenished: Saudi Arabia has already crossed the groundwater risk tipping point while India isn’t far behind.

In the case of accelerating extinctions, the report highlights the cascading effects of extinctions throughout food chains.

“The gopher tortoise, which is threatened with extinction, digs burrows that are used by more than 350 other species for breeding, feeding, protection from predators and avoiding extreme temperatures,” the report said.

If the gopher tortoise goes extinct, the gopher frog that helps control insect populations will likely follow, triggering effects throughout the entire forest ecosystem of the southeastern United States.

Mountain glaciers that store vast amounts of freshwater meanwhile are melting twice as fast as they did in the past two decades.

“Peak water” — the point when a glacier produces its maximum amount of water runoff due to melting — has been reached or is expected to be reached within the next ten years across small glaciers in Central Europe, Western Canada and South America.

“The 90,000+ glaciers of the Himalayas, Karakoram and Hindu Kush mountains are at risk, and so are the nearly 870 million people that rely on them,” the report said.

In the case of space junk, the report warns Earth’s orbit is in danger of becoming so full of debris that a collision triggers a chain reaction that threatens humanity’s ability to operate satellites — including those that provide vital early warning monitoring against disasters.

The report finds most solutions currently being implemented focus on delaying problems rather than genuinely addressing the root causes.

“We need to understand the difference between adapting to risk tipping points and avoiding them, and between actions that delay looming risks and those that move us towards transformation,” it said.