TO JUSTIFY NOT TAKING NO FOR AN ANWSER

The Alberta government has tasked a five-member committee with finding out how people feel about open-pit coal mining in the Rocky Mountains and their eastern slopes. 

Here's a description of committee members as provided by the Alberta Energy Department:

Ron Wallace: Is to chair the committee. He's an internationally recognized expert in regulatory policies associated with environmental assessment and monitoring. He has served on numerous regulatory boards dealing with energy and environmental issues, in addition to having extensive experience in the private sector. He was also a permanent member of the National Energy Board.

Fred Bradley: Minister of the environment in former Progressive Conservative premier Peter Lougheed's government. He served as member of the legislature for Pincher Creek-Crowsnest. After retiring from politics, he served as chairman of the Alberta Research Council.

Natalie Charlton: Executive director of the Hinton and District Chamber of Commerce. She has served on various boards and has experience advocating for alternative energy resources.

Bill Trafford: President of the Livingstone Landowners Group, which represents landowners and supporters of the Livingstone-Porcupine area of Alberta. He has 35 years of experience in the IT industry and the health sector.

Eric North Peigan: A small business owner and member of Pikanii First Nation. He operates a teepee camp that provides an immersive cultural experience for tourists.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 29. 2021

NO ENVIRONMENTALISTS, UNIONS, GEOLOGISTS, ENGINEERS, ETC ETC

IS THIS COMMITTEE FULL TIME OR PART TIME

STILL UP FOR DEBATE

Did volcanoes kill the dinosaurs? 

New research says no

If you asked Joe Blow on the street how the dinosaurs went extinct, he'd mostly likely say an asteroid wiped them out, but the truth is a little more complex than that. By this stage, we're well aware that a massive asteroid around 10 to 15 kilometers wide struck Earth around 66 million years ago. We even know where it hit: the Chicxulub crater, located in the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, is 150 kilometers wide. Pretty difficult to miss.

© Provided by CNET The rock got them. 

© Oli Scarff/Getty Images

But many scientists still subscribe to the theory that a massive volcanic range, located in India, was the main driver of the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event that killed the dinosaurs. That volcanic range, named the Deccan Traps, is at the center of that debate.

We know lava was spewing from the Deccan Traps during the period in which the dinosaurs went extinct, but we don't know the precise timing of those eruptions or if the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere was significant enough to cause the type of global warming consistent with extinction events in the past.

Until now.

Recent research by a multi-institutional team led by scientists from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York has attempted to measure how much carbon dioxide was released into the atmosphere, hoping to understand the role volcanoes played in the fifth extinction event.

The results? Volcanic eruptions most likely weren't a significant driver of dinosaur extinction.

"Our team analyzed Deccan Traps CO2 budgets that coincided with the warming event," said Andres Hernandez Nava, a Ph.D. student in the Graduate Center CUNY's Earth and Environmental Science program, "and we found that carbon outgassing from lava volumes alone couldn't have caused that level of global warming."

The team used lasers and ion beams to measure the carbon dioxide of frozen magma trapped inside Deccan Traps crystals from the end-Cretaceous period and performed modeling of that climate in an attempt to test the impacts of Deccan Traps release on surface temperatures. The data revealed that most likely the Deccan Traps contributed to a temperature increase of around 3 degrees Celsius. Significant, for sure, but most likely not enough to create a fifth extinction event.

In short, as my 5-year-old son says when I ask who killed the dinosaurs: "A big rock got them."

Dust devil shatters ice on frozen lake

Duration: 01:03

A photographer was left flabbergasted when a dust devil suddenly appeared in front of him on a frozen lake near Copenhagen, Denmark.

Bill Nelson - Chance Encounters In The Garden Of Lights, Disc1 

1987

Bill Nelson  formerly of Be Bop Deluxe applying the trance magicks of Austin Osman Spare

 to create gnostic musick

Biden task force to probe science manipulation under Trump

In a letter to federal agencies, the panel aims to “prevent improper political interference in the conduct of scientific research."


March 29, 2021, 
By Josh Lederman


WASHINGTON — A new White House task force will examine instances where the Trump administration may have distorted or suppressed science in critical government decisions, with an eye toward creating fail-safes to prevent it from happening again, the White House said Monday.

In a letter to federal agencies, obtained by NBC News, the White House said the task force’s mandate would include identifying whether current policies effectively “prevent improper political interference in the conduct of scientific research” and “prevent the suppression or distortion of scientific or technological findings.”


“Restoring and safeguarding scientific integrity will require the participation and contribution of scientists from across government, who will bring their diverse perspectives to the endeavor,” the letter states, which was signed by Jane Lubchenco and Alondra Nelson, two officials in the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Biden taps Michael Regan to lead Environmental Protection Agency

DEC. 17, 2020  0:26

It is the latest attempt by President Joe Biden’s administration to erase the remnants of former President Donald Trump, who Biden aides say diminished the federal government’s credibility with the public on critical issues by disregarding facts to fit the former president’s message. Under Trump, the White House offered conflicting recommendations about the need for masks to fight Covid-19 and the severity of the pandemic, while pushing aside experts in government who sounded the alarm about climate change.

Julia Krieger, a spokeswoman for the Office of Science and Technology Policy, said the task force would take a “whole-of-government, forward-looking review of science across federal agencies, in part by examining practices that were antithetical to that mission over the last four years.” She said that would include “Trump-era policies that eschewed scientific integrity in favor of politics.”

Formally announced on Monday, the task force was first called for in a January 27 memorandum Biden signed that declared that critical decisions should not be “distorted or influenced by political considerations.” The White House is asking federal agencies to nominate members for the task force by April 2.

In a sign that the White House was looking beyond the traditional bureaucracies, like the Energy Department and Environmental Protection Agency, a lengthy list of divisions that handle national security, financial and health-related issues were invited to nominate members to the task force. Among those receiving the White House letter on Monday were the Justice, Treasury and Defense departments, as well as the Office of Director of National Intelligence, National Institutes of Health, and the State Department.

The White House effort to look broadly across the federal government comes after the EPA last week launched its own effort to review environmental policies and decisions to see where scientific data may have been manipulated or intentionally suppressed, and to update those policies if needed, NBC News reported.

“When politics drives science rather than science informing policy, we are more likely to make policy choices that sacrifice the health of the most vulnerable among us,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan wrote in a letter to staff last week.

Under Trump’s EPA, the agency was frequently accused of distorting science and data for political purposes and to justify laxer regulations on polluting industries whose emissions contribute to global warming. During Trump’s years in office, the EPA removed climate change data from its website, and scores of top scientists and long-serving policy experts left the agency.

VOTER SUPPRESSION; GOP,CCP AUTHORITARIAN STATISM BAON

 China unanimously approves contentious proposal to overhaul Hong Kong's electoral system

HKong, March 30 (ANI): China on Tuesday approved the most controversial and sweeping overhaul of Hong Kong's electoral system, which will slash the number of directly elected seats in the city's legislature from half to about one-fifth.

Read more At: 

https://www.aninews.in/news/world/asia/china-unanimously-approves-contentious-proposal-to-overhaul-hong-kongs-electoral-system20210330141457/

AUTHORITARIAN STATISTS;CCP,GOP

TikTok is prompting users to follow far-right extremist accounts

Three Percenter, QAnon, Patriot Party, and Oath Keeper accounts are being recommended by TikTok’s algorithm

Media Matters / Molly Butler

WRITTEN BY OLIVIA LITTLE
PUBLISHED 03/26/21 

TikTok’s account recommendation algorithm appears to be prompting users to follow far-right extremist movements, with Three Percenter, QAnon, Patriot Party, and Oath Keeper accounts all being pushed by the platform’s algorithm. These include far-right movements that were deeply involved in the planning and execution of the January 6 insurrection, which resulted in five deaths and nearly 140 injuries to police defending the Capitol.

Three Percenter, QAnon, Patriot Party, and Oath Keeper content is prohibited by TikTok, but the company’s algorithm appears to be both circulating their content and helping them to expand their following.

A TikTok spokesperson told Vox that the platform’s recommendation of accounts to follow is “based on user behavior”; the company’s other explanation of the algorithm (found on the information button next to “suggested accounts”) claims that account recommendations are tailored to the “interests” or “connections” of an individual user.

To analyze how this process appears to operate, Media Matters reviewed and tracked which accounts TikTok recommended under a “suggested accounts” prompt after following a specific account from TikTok’s “For You” page.

Our analysis found that by following TikTok’s suggested follower prompts, users can easily be exposed to and increasingly served far-right extremist accounts and content. This is uniquely harmful because it has the potential to further radicalize people interested in these far-right extremist movements, and it doesn’t even require users to seek them out; TikTok hand-delivers the extremist movements to its users, many of whom are 14 or younger.

Using this process, Media Matters identified six common scenarios demonstrating how following specific accounts from TikTok’s “For You” page shapes the type of extremist content recommended by the platform’s “suggested accounts” algorithm.

For example, after following a QAnon account from the “For You” page, TikTok recommended another QAnon account. After following that second QAnon account, TikTok then recommended a Three Percenter account.

In another example, after following a Three Percenter account from the “For You” page, TikTok suggested following a different Three Percenter account. After following the second account, TikTok recommended yet another Three Percenter account. After following several Three Percenter accounts, the web of radicalization expanded and accounts from Patriot Party, QAnon, and others were all recommended at times.

This accelerated pattern of recommendations is alarming and has the potential to push TikTok users down a far-right rabbit hole, further populating user feeds with the sort of extremist movements behind the Capitol attack.

The following graphic illustrates the accounts fed to our “For You” page which were followed, and then TikTok’s suggested accounts indicated by an arrow. (Accounts with two graphics indicate split extremist ideology, such as a Patriot Party account that also pushed QAnon conspiracy theories.)


CitationMolly Butler / Media Matters

#HACK

Stanford Scientists Post Entire mRNA Sequence for Moderna Vaccine on Github


Tom McKay
3/29/2021

A doctor preparing a dose of Moderna vaccine in Ostrava, Czech Republic, in January 2021.Photo: Radek Mca/AFP (Getty Images)






A group of Stanford researchers has hacked Moderna’s messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine for the novel coronavirus, Motherboard first reported on Monday, and published its entire genetic sequence on the open-source code repository Github.

The mRNA vaccines work by delivering genetic information that allows the body’s own cells to produce a viral protein—such as a harmless, engineered version of the spike protein that the coronavirus uses to break its way into the body’s cells. When the body subsequently produces that protein, the immune system rapidly mobilizes to fight it, conducting a sort of live-fire training exercise that prepares it to fight the actual coronavirus; the actual mRNA delivered by the vaccine quickly disintegrates, but the antibodies stick around as a garrison against future infection. Per the MIT News Office, this allows for much easier and faster production than prior generations of vaccines relying on manufacturing the proteins under laboratory conditions. The mRNA sequence more or less serves as a sort of source code for the vaccine.

The documents the Stanford team published on Github include two pages of explanation and two pages containing the entire mRNA sequence for Moderna’s vaccine. Researchers wrote in the report that although Moderna’s mRNA has ended up in a large swathe of the population, scientists and medical personnel don’t have access to the actual genetic sequences involved.

“With the rollout of vaccines for COVID-19, these synthetic mRNAs have become broadly distributed RNA species in numerous human populations,” the researchers wrote. “Despite their ubiquity, sequences are not always available for such RNAs... Sharing of sequence information for broadly used therapeutics has the benefit of allowing any researchers or clinicians using sequencing approaches to rapidly identify such sequences as therapeutic-derived rather than host or infectious in origin.”

The research team told Motherboard that they didn’t “reverse engineer” the vaccine, they simply “posted the putative sequence of two synthetic RNA molecules that have become sufficiently prevalent in the general environment of medicine and human biology in 2021.”

“As the vaccine has been rolling out, these sequences have begun to show up in many different investigational and diagnostic studies,” Stanford scientists Andrew Fire and Massa Shoura told Motherboard by email. “Knowing these sequences and having the ability to differentiate them from other RNAs in analyzing future biomedical data sets is of great utility.”

“For this work, RNAs were obtained as discards from the small portions of vaccine doses that remained in vials after immunization; such portions would have been required to be otherwise discarded and were analyzed under FDA authorization for research use,” they added. Fire and Shoura told Motherboard that they had received permission from the FDA to collect scraps of vaccines that wouldn’t have otherwise been used from empty vials and that they’d notified Moderna in advance of their plans to publish the sequence without receiving any objection in turn.

There is a “substantial economy of scale and educational value in having the sequences available ASAP and in not having to guess where they have come from,” the two researchers told Motherboard.

Moderna’s mRNA vaccine and the competing one made by Pfizer-BioNTech were the first ones ever approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Per Motherboard, PowerDNS founder Bert Hubert was able to use publicly available data to reveal Pfizer’s mRNA sequence late last year.

As Hubert wrote in a separate blog post, however, this does not mean that anyone is going to be homebrewing either vaccine soon in a “distributed manufacturing revolution.” Hubert detailed the ridiculously complicated supply chain that powers the pharmaceutical companies’ vaccine manufacturing, which involves numerous complex ingredients, DNA and mRNA production in specialized facilities, and combining mRNA and lipids into lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), the last of which perhaps only a number of experts in the “low hundreds” know how to do. The final steps, including formulation where the LNPs are mixed with other more generic ingredients and are filled into vials, also require specialized knowledge and equipment—with subsequent distribution to patients being its own daunting technical challenge.

“Technically, the last step of the supply chain of these mRNA COVID-19 vaccines is the production of the spike protein,” Hubert concluded. “That’s what happens in the cells of your body after you receive the vaccine. You are the globally distributed vaccine manufacturing revolution.”

Joe Biden’s administration is facing pressure from some legislators to suspend patent protections on COVID-19 vaccines, according to Time, in the hopes of ensuring that profit incentives won’t get in the way of attaining levels of mass vaccination that could snuff out the pandemic. (Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, a member of the Pfizer board of directors, has argued that bottlenecks in mass vaccination lay primarily in supplies and production, not intellectual property restrictions.) The White House is still considering whether to do that, according to CNBC.

 

Amazon union vote count set to start for Alabama warehouse workers

Campaign viewed as one of the biggest and most consequential unionization drives in recent America history

If successful, the warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, would be the first union at Amazon in the US, as many Amazon workers in Europe are already unionized. Photograph: Patrick T Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

Michael Sainato

Tue 30 Mar 2021 

Vote counting is set to begin in an election to determine whether Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, will form a union in what is viewed as one of the biggest and most consequential unionization drives in recent America history.

The contest has pitted America’s labor movement – backed by a slew of Democrat politicians and some Republicans – against one of the most powerful companies in the world.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will start to tally the votes to see if the Bessemer workers will form a union with the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). If successful, the warehouse would be the first union at Amazon in the US, as many Amazon workers in Europe are already unionized.

“This campaign has already been a victory in many ways. Even though we don’t know how the vote will turn out, we believe we have opened the door to more organizing around the country, and we have exposed the lengths to which employers will go to crush their employees trying to gain a union voice,” said Stuart Appelbaum, president of RWDSU. “This campaign has become the prime example for why we need labor law reform in this country.

Around 5,800 employees were eligible to vote in the election, with a majority of those who voted to determine the outcome.

The results could take a while to be finally counted and the process could be legally fraught. The NLRB said it will not have an estimate for how long the vote count will take until counting begins. The union estimated it will take about a week for results.

During the vote count, the union and Amazon will have the opportunity to challenge the veracity of ballots and file objections within five business days of the vote count.

The results could also be delayed if enough ballots are challenged to affect the outcome of the election, at which point a hearing officer with the NLRB will determine whether a challenged ballot will be counted.

Amazon aggressively opposed the union organizing efforts at the Bessemer warehouse, encouraging workers to vote “no” in the election through posters, signs, mailings, a website, texts, ads, captive audience meetings, and hired union avoidance consultants at nearly $10,000 per day ahead of the election. Under the Pro Act, a labor law reform bill supported by Democrats and labor unions around the US, employers would be prohibited from forcing workers into captive audience meetings, and fines would significantly be increased for labor law violations.

The union drive has received support from unions and organizations in the Bessemer area and around the US. Several congress members visited the union organizing site over the past few weeks to show their support for the workers.

“This election is important because it’s the start to addressing inadequate working conditions,” said Eric Hall, founder of the Black Lives Matter chapter in Birmingham, Alabama, which has supported the union organizing efforts and participated in rallies to garner community support for the workers.

An estimated 85% of the Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer are Black.

“Birmingham is a city known for its strong stance for civil rights. Its people led a rebellion against racism and Jim Crow, and in this present day movement it’s the grand and great grandchildren fighting against today’s injustices, fighting against the rich and powerful, fighting systemic racism, fighting economic and social injustice,” said Hall.

According to the RWDSU, hundreds of Amazon workers around the US have reached out to the union during the Alabama organizing effort with interests to start union organizing within their workplaces.

As the union election in Alabama concluded, Amazon executives increasingly attacked their critics, with recent spars on social media from Amazon CEO Dave Clark and Amazon’s communications team against Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congressman Mark Pocan.

According to Recode, the tweets came after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos expressed dismay that executives weren’t pushing back enough on criticism toward the company.

Shortly after Amazon’s PR account claimed reports workers urinate in bottles due to their inability to take bathroom breaks during shifts are false, The Intercept reported on leaked emails and memos where Amazon management discussed problems with delivery drivers urinating in plastic bottles and defecating in plastic bags.

An Amazon spokesperson said in an email: “We don’t believe the RWDSU represents the majority of our employees’ views. Our employees choose to work at Amazon because we offer some of the best jobs available everywhere we hire, and we encourage anyone to compare our total compensation package, health benefits, and workplace environment to any other company with similar jobs.”

What happens when back-flipping futuristic robot technology meets capitalism? Yeah, it’s warehouse work

Boston Dynamics: From Terminator to Amazon worker replacement

Kieren McCarthy in San Francisco Tue 30 Mar 2021 

---

ANALYSIS Those fearing a takeover of the human race by robots may have failed to adequately account for the drudgery of modern capitalism.

Supermachine maker Boston Dynamics – the same outfit that gave us videos of back-flipping, door-opening, prowling robots – has unveiled its latest creation and it’s, well, it’s a warehouse laborer.

“Stretch is a versatile mobile robot for case handling, designed for easy deployment in existing warehouses. Unload trucks and build pallets faster by sending the robot to the work, eliminating the need for new fixed infrastructure,” the robotics biz pitches, exciting warehouse managers across the nation and absolutely nobody else.

The sleep-inducing descriptions continue: “Automate case handling anywhere in the warehouse with advanced mobility, reducing the need for fixed infrastructure”; “Maximize pick rates with hardware and software optimized to go beyond a full shift”; “Handle package variability in challenging environments with state-of-the-art vision systems.”

Your job might be automated within 120 years, AI experts reckon

READ MORE

This is some distance from Boston Dynamics previous launches where millions of people alternatively marveled at and then feared the fact that modern technology had come so far that machines were able to perform athletic feats that many of us could not, as well as understand the world and think sufficiently well that they can come across a door handle and open it. The velociraptor nightmare come true.

Our long-held Dalek-defeating measure of adding steps suddenly seemed small and foolish as we imagined Atlas bounding along after us, followed at his heels by his fearless Spot dog.

I know kung... stacking

But the real-world and its overriding need to make money took over has intervened. Even moneybags Google dumped Boston after a few years because it wanted to make money more than cool new things. So instead of seeing the inevitable next step in Boston’s robot takeover - an automaton that can do kung fu or a machine that can hack systems by social engineering its own kind - what we have is a rotating set of arms that moves boxes without having to wear a waist belt.

Presumably Jeff Bezos is already doing the calculations, especially with the specter of unionized warehouse workers hovering over Amazon. Having a machine that doesn’t demand bathroom breaks, paid time off, or to be respected as a living being is likely to be an attractive prospect: but is it as quick? Based on the footage released, the answer is: probably not.

The other truth is: who cares? If there’s one thing we are all very comfortable with robots doing, it’s tedious physical labor. Shifting a pile of boxes from one place to another place is exactly the sort of thing we want machines to do. And if the horrifying addition of “artificial intelligence” only gives it the ability to spot a box, stick its stickers on it and then move it six feet away, then I think we can all get behind it.

More good ideas

Ideally, of course, we would use this vast freeing up of people’s minds and bodies from the tedium of manual work to encourage the extraordinary human traits of imagination and innovation. But in truth, society will likely just use the advent of Stretch to fire workers and then complain about them for drawing on unemployment benefit.

Still, at least our deaths at the hands of Terminator robots has been put off for a few years. And, by then, we may have perfected technology to obscure our atmosphere from the sun in order to counteract climate change: something that we are certain can only result in a positive outcome. ®

‘Treating Us Like Robots’: Alabama Amazon Workers Seek Union

By Kim Chandler | March 30, 2021

Linda Burns was excited at first to land a job at the Amazon warehouse outside Birmingham, Alabama. The former nursing assistant had always enjoyed ordering from the company, Now, she would be working for them.

A cog in a fast-moving assembly line, her job involved picking up customers’ orders and sending them down the line to the packers. Now she is a staunch supporter of getting a union at the Bessemer facility. She said employees face relentless quotas and deserve more respect.

“They are treating us like robots rather than humans,” said Burns, 51, who said she is out of leave after developing tendonitis.

Last week, Amazon workers and union advocates, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, made a last-minute push as voting comes to a close in the high-stakes union battle. If organizers are successful, it could lead to a chain reaction of other unionization pushes at Amazon facilities. If voted down, it would be another loss for organizers hoping to win a rare labor victory in the Deep South.

Amazon is fighting the union. The company argues the warehouse created thousands of jobs with an average pay of $15.30 per hour – more than twice the minimum wage in Alabama. Workers also get benefits including health care, vision and dental insurance without paying union dues, the company said.

Sanders spoke at a union rally in Birmingham on Friday, saying a labor victory against the tech and retail giant owned by the richest person in world – and in a historically anti-union state – would resonate across the country.

“What you are doing here is historical, historical, because all over this country people are sick and tired of being exploited, sick and tired of not having the dignity that they deserve. And your message to people all over this country is stand up and fight back,” Sanders said.

“This country belongs to all of us, not just a handful of billionaires,” the former Democratic presidential candidate said.



Ahead of Sanders’ visit, Amazon CEO Dave Clark tweeted that they “actually deliver” a progressive workplace with a $15 hourly minimum wage and good health benefits that Sanders said he supports.

“So, if you want to hear about $15 an hour and health care, Senator Sanders will be speaking downtown. But if you would like to make at least $15 an hour and have good health care, Amazon is hiring,” Clark tweeted.

Burns and Harvey Wilson, a 41-year-old who works as a “picker” at Amazon, both said they’re supporting the union because of poor working conditions at the warehouse. Employees face relentless quotas and the mammoth size of the facility makes it nearly impossible to get to the bathroom and back to your station during a workers’ break time, they said.

“How could you work for somebody who is trillion, billion whatever you want to call it, how can you work for them and they don’t want you to go to the bathroom?” Burns said.

Wilson said he is unsure how the vote would go because a number of younger workers are fearful they could lose benefits.

“A lot of people are scared to vote because they are afraid they are going to lose their jobs,” Wilson said.

Employees are seeking to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. Ballots on the vote must be returned by Monday.

The vote in Alabama comes after efforts to start unions at Southern auto plants came up short.

Emmit Ashford, a part-time Amazon worker, said that even if the vote fails, he believes the workers in Bessemer have ignited something.

“No matter what happens with this vote, the bell has been rung and it won’t stop here. We will not stop fighting,” Ashford said at a rally ahead of the vote.
Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistribu

White House to Review Federal Scientific Integrity Policies


By
Elizabeth Redden
March 30, 2021


The Biden administration will investigate Trump-era political interference in the federal government’s science decision making, The New York Times reported. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy sent a letter to leaders of all federal agencies Monday announcing the formation of a task force aimed at identifying past incidents of political interference and reviewing the effectiveness of federal policies aimed at protecting scientific integrity.

“We know that there were blatant attempts to distort, to cherry pick and disregard science -- we saw that across multiple agencies,” Jane Lubchenco, deputy director for climate and the environment at the White House science office, told the Times in an interview. She added that the Biden administration, is “ushering in a new era.”

Kelvin K. Droegemeier, the former head of the White House science office under Trump, declined the Times’ request for comment.

To Increase Offshore Wind Energy, White House Prioritizes East Coast Windfarm Approval

By Rain Jordan
Mar 30, 2021 

The Biden administration is working to significantly expand offshore wind energy along the US east coast, declaring that it is taking measures toward authorizing a major wind farm off the coast of New Jersey as part of a proposal to produce enough electricity to fuel over 10 million homes by 2030.

(Photo : Pixabay)

Job and Economic Opportunity

According to the White House, meeting the goal will result in more than 44,000 new jobs and 33,000 new jobs in related fields. The effort will also help stop 78 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, a crucial move towards slowing the climate crisis.

Joe Biden, according to White House environment advisor Gina McCarthy, "believes we have an immense opportunity in front of us to not only resolve the challenges of climate change but to use it as an opportunity to generate millions of good-paying, union jobs that will boost America's economic recovery."

"The size of the potential is more precise nowhere than in offshore wind.

She went on to say that the pledge will "build paths to the middle class for people from all cultures and communities."

Related Article: Biden To Overhaul Offices to Promote Environmental Justice


Environmental Preparation

(Photo : robdimagery on Pixabay)

The administration has announced that it plans to prepare a comprehensive environmental report for the Ocean Wind project off the coast of New Jersey, clearing the way for it to become the US's third commercial-scale offshore wind project.

The Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said it searched for offshore wind projects in shallow waters between Long Island, New York, and New Jersey. According to a tweet, a new report showed that the city will accommodate up to 25,000 production and construction jobs by 2030.

OEM plans to sell industrial leases in late 2021 or early 2022, according to the company.

Ocean Wind will generate about 1,100 megawatts a year, enough to fuel 500,000 homes, 15 miles off the coast of southern New Jersey.

Environmental assessments for Vineyard Wind in Massachusetts and the South Fork wind farm about 35 miles east of Montauk Point in New York have been announced by the Interior Department. Vineyard Wind is projected to generate 800 megawatts, while South Fork will generate 132.

As part of his attempt to slow the climate crisis, Biden has pledged to double offshore wind capacity by 2030. The possible acceptance of the Atlantic coast schemes, which are the forerunners of at least 16 offshore wind projects along the east coast, represents a significant shift from the Trump administration's opposition to wind power on land and sea.

Related Article: US Gears Up To Reverse All Environmental Damages Caused by Previous Administration

Fixing Wind Power's Reputation

(Photo : PublicDomainImages on Pixabay)

Wind power has been vilified by Donald Trump as an expensive, bird-killing energy source, and his administration has battled or rejected initiatives like Vineyard Wind. To avoid a potential denial, the Massachusetts project's developer temporarily withdrew its submission. Soon after assuming office in January, Biden gave the project a new lease on life.

"We've put off the transition to renewable energies for years, and now we're facing a climate crisis," said Deb Haaland, the interior secretary.

"We must move to a better future for all while our world faces the interlocking pressures of a global pandemic, economic collapse, social inequality, and the climate crisis."

Vineyard Wind is set to go live in 2023, with Ocean Wind coming a year later.

Related Article: Wind Energy Company To Breed California Condors, Replace Those Killed by Turbines


Economic Potentials

(Photo : Luo Lei on Unsplash)

In the United States, offshore wind production is only in its infancy, lagging well behind Europe. A tiny windfarm is located in Rhode Island's territorial waters, and another is located off the coast of Virginia.

European companies or branches own the three main projects. Vineyard Wind is a partnership between a Danish company and a US unit of Iberdrola, a Spanish energy company. Orsted, a Danish corporation, is in charge of Ocean Wind and South Fork.

According to Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, wind entrepreneurs are on track to build tens of thousands of jobs and $100 billion in new investment by 2030, "but the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management must first open the door to new leasing."

Huge offshore wind developments have worried fishing communities from Maine to Florida, who fear that they will cut off large swaths of the ocean to their catch.

Also Read: Environmental Justice Goes Mainstream with Governmental Support

MYANMAR REPORT VIDEOS FRANCE 24

Report: Myanmar refugees flee country as Thailand prepares for crisis


Myanmar’s military crackdown against civilians is leading to an exodus of refugees, according to press reports. File Photo by EPA-EF


March 29 (UPI) -- Thailand could be preparing for an influx of refugees from Myanmar as Myanmar's military crackdown claims more casualties, including a record 100 people who died Saturday.

The Karen National Union, a rebel organization run by an ethnic minority group, said people from Myanmar were crossing the Salween river at the border into Thailand, the Financial Times reported Monday.

The KNU operates as a semi-autonomous region within Myanmar and supports the pro-democracy protests. The head of KNU's foreign affairs department, Padoh Saw Taw Nee, said more than 4,000 people have fled into nearby jungles after attacks. Myanmar's military launched air strikes Saturday, the report said.

"If the air strikes continue, they may find a way to cross the border and seek refuge in Thailand," he said.

Thailand's public broadcasting service, Thai PBS, said that approximately 3,000 people already has arrived in northwestern Mae Hong Son province in Thailand.

Earlier in March the broadcaster reported Bangkok has been "preparing facilities" to accommodate refugees. Among the facilities include four shelters for 2,000 refugees in Kanchanaburi province, the report said.

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has refrained from criticism of Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief and leader of the coup in Myanmar.

The military leader is charged with killing at least 459 people since Feb. 1, and detaining more than 2,559, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Myanmar's military keeps soldiers under tight control through a system of constant monitoring, the New York Times reported Sunday.

Troops also are "brainwashed" through military education. Orders to kill unarmed civilians are often followed through without question, the report said.

Some soldiers who disobey go into hiding. Tun Myat Aung, captain of the 77th Light Infantry Division, told the Times that he fled for reasons of conscience as the killings continue in the country.

"The message I want to give my fellow soldiers is: If you are choosing between the country and the Tatmadaw, please choose the country," he said.

Johnson & Johnson agrees to give Africa 220M COVID-19 vaccine doses


A Missouri National Guardsman inspects a vial of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine at a senior living center in St. Louis, Mo., on March 4. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

March 29 (UPI) -- Johnson & Johnson announced Monday its subsidiary Janssen has entered into an agreement with the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust to make available up to 220 million doses of its one-shot COVID-19 vaccine.

The company said delivery of the vaccine to the African Union's 55 member states will begin in the third quarter of this year, if the shot is granted approval by the various national regulatory authorities.

The vaccine has received approval in the United States and other countries.

"From the beginning of this pandemic, Johnson & Johnson has recognized that no one is safe until everyone is safe, and we have been committed to equitable, global access to new COVID-19 vaccines," Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky said in a statement.

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An additional 180 million doses will also potentially be available to AU member states through 2022, the company said.

The agreement was made months after Johnson & Johnson entered an agreement in principle in December with Gavi to supply its COVAX Facility -- the World Health Organization-led plan to provide worldwide equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines -- with up to 500 million doses through 2022.

The company said Monday that both sides expect to enter a finalized agreement, though no date or timeline was given.

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"Our support for the COVAX Facility, combined with countries and regions, will help accelerate global progress toward ending the COVID-19 pandemic," Gorsky said.

According to Oxford University, Africa has administered far fewer shots per 100 people than all other continents aside from Antarctica, for which the project did not provide data. North America led with nearly 26 doses administered per 100 people, compared to Africa at 0.74 doses.

The WHO has repeatedly called on rich nations to join its COVAX plan, share their extra doses and not fall into vaccine nationalism.

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On Thursday, the WHO said only 7.7 million vaccine doses had been administered throughout the entire African continent, though mainly to high-risk populations.

Those targeted may continue to go unvaccinated due to global supply chain constraints, it said, stating 10 African nations have not received a vaccine.

"While some high-income countries are seeking to vaccinate their entire populations, many in Africa are struggling to sufficiently cover even their high-risk groups," Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said in a statement. "Acquiring COVID-19 vaccines must not be a competition. Fair access will benefit all and not just some of us."

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has long warned rich countries against vaccine nationalism and early last week said inequitable distribution was "becoming more grotesque every day."

He also urged rich countries to share vaccines with poorer nations out of their own self-interest as the longer the virus spreads anywhere in the world the greater risk it mutates and the higher the risk it will evade vaccines.

COVAX has distributed more than 32 million doses to 60 participating countries, including at least 14 in Africa, according to its website.

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