It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, August 27, 2021
'Cancel culture' show in Warsaw stirs controversy
By AFP Published August 27, 2021 Swedish artist Dan Park refers to the Holocaust in some of his work - Copyright AFP Aamir QURESHI
Jewish groups have issued an open letter voicing criticism of an exhibition opening in Warsaw on Friday that includes works by the Swedish artist Dan Park, who has been convicted for hate speech.
One of Park’s works on display at the “Political Art” show depicts the Norwegian right-wing extremist killer Anders Behring Breivik as a fashion model for the Lacoste clothing brand.
“We do not agree to support for people who spread hatred, intolerance and hostility,” read the letter signed by, among others, Poland’s chief rabbi Michael Schudrich and Zygmunt Stepinski, director of the POLIN museum of the history of Polish Jews.
The letter said it was “astonishing and sad” that Park should be featured in an exhibition.
“In Poland — a country where as a result of Nazi policy six million citizens were killed — the activities of such creators as Dan Park insults the feelings of all Poles,” it said.
Park has been convicted several times for his provocative words and actions, including in 1996 when he wore a bomber jacket featuring a swastika, bearing the words ‘Heil Hitler’ and ‘SS’ and the skull-and-crossbones Totenkopf symbol.
He told the court he wore it as a provocation, not because he sympathised with Nazism.
Park is popular with far-right movements.
The exhibition at the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art is described by organisers as a celebration of free speech and a platform for artists who fall victim to “cancel culture”.
“Artists who contradict these tendencies and advocate unrestrained expression and anti-mainstream ideas often pay the highest price for testing the limits of tolerance and confronting political dogmas,” the museum said.
The museum’s director Piotr Bernatowicz was installed in 2019 by Poland’s populist right-wing ruling party, Law and Justice (PiS) — a controversial appointment that drew accusations of the government attempting to coopt cultural institutions into its conservative agenda.
The show, which is funded by the Polish culture ministry, features 28 artists, including Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who in 2007 sparked controversy with his drawing of Muslim Prophet Mohammad.
He has been the target of several attempted assaults, the latest in Copenhagen in February 2015 during a conference dubbed “Art, blasphemy and freedom”.
The exhibition also includes a conceptual art project by Danish artist Kristian von Hornsleth, who paid 340 impoverished villagers in Uganda to legally change their names to “Hornsleth”.
Experts estimate endangered Galapagos pink iguana population at 211
By AFP Published August 27, 2021 Handout photo released by the Galapagos National Park of a Galapagos pink iguana at Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island in the Galapagos archipelago, Ecuador - Copyright PARQUE NACIONAL GALAPAGOS/AFP Freddy Jiménez
Scientific experts sent to the Galapagos Islands to count a critically endangered lizard species estimate there to be just 211 pink iguanas left, local authorities said Friday.
Around 30 scientists and Galapagos park rangers took part in the expedition this month on Wolf Volcano, in the north of Isabela Island — the largest on the archipelago.
“In the census, 53 iguanas were located and (temporarily) captured, 94 percent of which live more than 1,500 meters (4,900 feet) above sea level,” said the Galapagos National Parks (PNG) in a statement.
That allowed the experts to “estimate a population of 211 pink iguanas.”
The pink iguanas were first discovered in 1986 and identified as a separate species from the Galapagos land iguana in 2009.
They live exclusively in a 25 square kilometer (9.5 square miles) area on the Wolf Volcano, where the PNG has set up cameras to study the iguanas’ behavior and the threats they face.
Prior to the census, Ecuadoran expert Washington Tapia told AFP that there could be as many as 350 pink iguanas.
So far, “no juveniles have been discovered,” said Tapia, the director of the American Galapagos Conservancy NGO that took part in the expedition.
In quotes released by PNG on Friday, Tapia said “being restricted to one single site makes the species more vulnerable.”
“Urgent action is required to guarantee their preservation.”
The Galapagos Islands are a protected wildlife area and home to unique species of flora and fauna.
They lie 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) west of Ecuador.
The archipelago was made famous by British geologist and naturalist Charles Darwin’s observations on evolution after visiting the islands.
A homeless family in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil, August 27, 2021
- Copyright AFP John OKUNYOMIH
Rodrigo ALMONACID, Fernando MARRON
When Monica’s landlord suddenly doubled the rent on the room where she lived with her three daughters in Sao Paulo, she says they had little choice but to go live on the streets.
Like a growing number of poor people in Brazil’s economic capital, Monica has fallen on bitter times during the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing her to choose between feeding or housing herself and her girls, ages 12, nine and three.
“If we spend everything on the rent, how are we going to fill our stomachs? People need more than just a roof over their heads, right?” said Monica, 33, who set up an impromptu camp for the family a week ago at Republic Square, in the heart of this sprawling concrete jungle of 12 million people.
She spends her days collecting and selling recyclable materials, earning around 20 to 30 reais (about $4 to $6) a day, before picking her daughters up at school, she said.
Surging unemployment and rising prices, especially for housing, during the pandemic have pushed numerous people like her into the streets.
“There’s been a very big increase in the number of people living on the streets for the first time,” said Kelseny Medeiros Pinho, of the University of Sao Paulo’s human-rights clinic.
“If you lose your job and you don’t have any alternative, the street is your only answer.”
It hasn’t helped, she said, that President Jair Bolsonaro’s government cut emergency Covid-19 assistance to the poor from 600 reais to 150 reais (around $28) this year.
The far-right president and Sao Paulo’s governor both vetoed legislation that would have put a moratorium on evictions during the health crisis.
Across Brazil, at least 14,300 families were evicted from March 2020 to June 2021, and another 85,000 are threatened with eviction, according to the organization Zero Evictions (Despejo Zero).
In Sao Paulo state alone, nearly 4,000 have been evicted, with 34,000 more threatened with eviction, it found.
– ‘A shocking number’ –
Anderson Lopes Miranda of the National Homeless Movement (MNPR) called the situation in Sao Paulo unprecedented in his 30 years living and working with the homeless.
“We used to see mainly elderly people or workers who lost their jobs ending up on the street. Now, you see families, women with children,” he said.
The last official census put Sao Paulo’s homeless population at 24,344 in 2019, 85 percent of them men.
Organizations that work with the homeless say that is an underestimate.
Monica and her daughters share a mattress they are borrowing from a “neighbor” on the square.
He watches over their few belongings while Monica works and the girls attend school.
“I’m trying to live a normal life. Bathe, take the girls to school. But when you wake up, you don’t look very good, you know? And everyone’s looking at you,” she said.
“My biggest fear is getting sick and not being able to take care of my daughters,” she added.
“I dream of getting off the street. I’m not giving up. I’m just working and trying to get through this.”
She says she does not want to go to a homeless shelter, because she is afraid of drugs and violence there.
A few blocks away, Marcio Machado of the Power of God World Church, a Brazilian Evangelical mega-church, oversees the handout of 800 free breakfasts for the poor — double what the church was distributing before the pandemic.
“It’s a terrible situation,” he said.
“A shocking number every day. Men, women, children, entire families living on the street.”
The city has opened 2,393 new shelter beds to deal with the increase, and raised the number of free meals distributed daily from 7,500 to 10,000.
Daniela Rosa Neves, 24, who is seven months pregnant with her second child, watched as her almost-two-year-old son played with a scrap of banana on the street.
At daybreak on a freezing cold day high in the Andes, dozens of Peruvian peasants clamber up a mountainside to carry out a centuries-old tradition of shearing the highly-prized wool off vicunas, which are relatives of the llama.
One week each year, the peasants of Totoroma, a village 50 kilometers (30 kilometers) to the southwest of Lake Titicaca, join forces for a process of herding and shearing known locally as the “chaccu”.
They trudge up the mountainside and herd around 500 vicunas back down the slope into a pen made of posts and three-meter high mesh — a necessary precaution to keep the agile members of the camelid family from escaping.
The comuneros — men and women, some even carrying children — wrap up against the cold and wear wide-brimmed hats to protect them from the sun.
This year, they’re also wearing face masks to protect against Covid-19.
“It’s an ancestral activity that has been going on since time immemorial and now we’re helping out as a public state administration,” vet Jaime Figueroa told AFP.
Jesus Pilco Mamani is following in the footsteps of his father and grandfathers.
“I started working as a comunero in 1986,” he told AFP.
The vicuna appears on Peru’s national coat of arms and there are an estimated 200,000 of the Andean camelid in the country.
The annual chaccu helps support families in 290 communities in the Peruvian Andes.
Vicuna wool is highly-prized for its soft qualities and is one of the most expensive in the world.
The vicunas live at least 3,500 meters above sea level so getting their wool — by rounding up and shearing them — is a difficult task.
The communities in the Peruvian Andes produce around 10 tons of vicuna wool a year.
Unlike llamas and alpacas, amongst Andean camelids, vicunas and guanacos have not been domesticated.
Alpaca wool is far more common, while llama wool can be used to make rugs and carpets but is considered too rough for clothing.
Guanaco wool is also highly-prized, although not as soft as vicuna.
Inside the pen, the comuneros hold each brown vicuna down on a blanket on the ground while an expert quickly shears them using a machine powered by a portable generator.
The wool of each vicuna is collected and placed inside individual plastic bags.
Once shorn, the vicuna is immediately released from the pen and runs at top speed back up the mountain.
A kilogram (2.2 pounds) of unprocessed vicuna wool sells for $400 — much more than alpaca wool.
But a single sheared alpaca produces three kilograms of wool, compared to “150 to 180 grams” from the much smaller vicuna, Erick Lleque Quisoe, an official in the regional Puno government, told AFP.
He said that in Totoroma the locals “took off 35-40 kilograms” of wool from the 500 vicunas.
In 2019, Peru made $3 million exporting seven tons of vicuna wool, whereas alpaca exports bring in around $300 million, according to official figures.
Hundreds of Canadian volunteers are taking part in a program to find monarch butterfly eggs, to help researchers determine environmental zones in need of protection -Copyright AFP John OKUNYOMIH
Marion THIBAUT
When Canadian conservation enthusiasts head out to find monarch eggs, it’s always with a magnifying glass and a notebook. They are volunteers taking part in a summer census of the iconic, endangered butterflies.
July and August are the best months, when the monarch is visible in Canada at all stages of its development: eggs, caterpillar, chrysalis and adult butterfly.
It is also the reproduction period for the generation which will take off in a few weeks for a 4,000 kilometer (2,500 mile) journey to Mexico.
But it’s complicated research. “The monarch lays one egg per leaf. There are insects which can lay a dozen eggs all together while the monarch lays one. So we are looking for something very small,” explains Jacques Kirouac, who is among the hundreds of people who take part in the citizen science program Mission Monarch.
The eggs of these creatures known for their striking orange and black colors are off-white or yellow and about the size of a pinhead, with ridges that run from the tip to the base.
The species’s dire situation led to the creation five years ago of this program set up by the Montreal Insectarium to document monarch breeding grounds. The data is used by researchers, in particular to determine zones in need of protection. There are similar programs in the United States.
Monarchs of the eastern side of the continent are in a difficult situation: their population has decreased by more than 80 percent in two decades. Western monarchs — which hibernate in California — are even worse off: fewer than 2,000 were reported in the last census by Western Monarch Count, down 99.9 percent since the 1980s.
More generally, the disappearance of insects — less spectacular and less striking for the public than that of large mammals — is just as worrying, say the scientists.
They are essential to ecosystems and economies because they pollinate plants, recycle nutrients and serve as staple food for other animals. – ‘Not enough data’ –
“It’s a beautiful butterfly. It would be a real loss to lose it,” says Renald Saint-Onge, also a volunteer for Mission Monarch.
This 73-year-old former carpenter and ornithologist feels driven to “save this butterfly.” So he decided to let grow at his home as many milkweed plants as possible. Often considered a weed, this perennial plant is the only one on which the monarch butterfly lays. But we find it less and less.
“The natural fields where we had milkweed and nectar-bearing plants are increasingly rare,” says Alessandro Dieni, coordinator of the Mission Monarch program. And the plants are “of lower quality because we have fields with monocultures everywhere” and an intensive use of pesticides in the country that killed them off.
Logging has also devastated forests in Mexico where the monarchs spend the winter.
Faced with the catastrophic decline of this insect, the Canadian government has decided to get involved in helping the monarch by seeking to protect its breeding grounds. “However, there was not enough data in Canada to know where to go to protect the monarch,” says Dieni.
The decline of insects, which represent two-thirds of all terrestrial species, dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, and accelerated in the years 1950-60 to reach alarming proportions over the last 20 years.
“Thanks to the censuses, we can now do more precise research,” explains Marian MacNair of McGill University.
“This allows us to better determine the routes taken, the conditions that the monarch particularly like,” adds the biologist who expresses amazement over this small, emblematic butterfly’s ability to fly thousands of kilometers.
Hong Kong activists are working in the shadows to preserve digital backups of their democracy movement as the physical symbols of their resistance, including an opposition newspaper and a museum, are purged from the city’s streets.
In the end, it was food safety inspectors that finished Hong Kong’s museum to those killed in the Tiananmen Square protests — the only memorial of its kind within China to victims of the 1989 crackdown.
Its exhibitions documented Beijing’s decision to use tanks to quell democracy protests in the Chinese capital and Hong Kong’s three-decade history of holding annual candlelight vigils for those killed.
But officials from the city’s Food and Environmental Hygiene Department visited in early June and declared the venue — which had operated on and off for years — did not have the correct license.
With the city’s Tiananmen vigils already effectively banned by authorities since last year, the move came as little surprise to many.
Which is why dissident Chinese author Chang Ping, a former student leader back in 1989, spent the past year leading a group of anonymous activists to create an online version of the museum.
“We hope to save the spirit of 30 years’ candlelight commemoration in Hong Kong, which was an unparalleled act of resistance in human history,” Chang told AFP by phone from his home in Germany.
– ‘We needed to race the clock’ –
The online museum project is just one of many where cyberspace has become a place to preserve remnants of a city that is being remoulded in authoritarian China’s own image after huge democracy protests two years ago.
The Hong Kong Alliance, which ran the museum and organised the annual Tiananmen vigils, knew they might not survive, especially after China imposed a security law last year that criminalised much dissent.
Most of the group’s leaders have since been arrested and the coalition is on the verge of disbanding — but not before it fundraised HK$1.6 million ($215,000) to build a virtual Noah’s Ark for their movement.
Other projects had far less lead time to prepare.
Chris Wong, a software developer who asked to use a pseudonym, scrambled to mobilise coders earlier this year to preserve what they could of the city’s outspoken pro-democracy Apple Daily tabloid.
Its millionaire owner Jimmy Lai was already in jail and facing national security charges over campaigning for sanctions against China.
But in early June police used the national security law to freeze the paper’s assets and within little more than a week it collapsed.
“We needed to race the clock,” Wong recalled after Apple Daily announced the printing of its final edition and the removal of its online presence for later that month.
Wong went to LIHKG — a Reddit-like forum that was instrumental in coordinating Hong Kong’s 2019 democracy protests — and found tech-savvy volunteers willing to scrape the tabloid’s website.
They harvested over two million pages and archived them on the searchable website collection.news by writing around 10,000 lines of code, Wong said.
“Being the more tech-savvy guys, we feel we have more obligation to help preserve the history of Hong Kong,” Wong told AFP.
“But everyone can and needs to play a part in sharing the past with your friends, your next generation.”
– ‘Proud to play a part’
Similar digital backups have been created for reporting by RTHK, the city’s public broadcaster. Over the last six months, it has been overhauled to be more like China’s state media.
Critical journalists have lost their jobs and current affairs programmes have been axed while much of its social media content, including many reports critical of authorities, have disappeared.
An activist, using the pseudonym “Freeman”, said their group had harvested 14 terabytes of video reports from both RTHK and Apple Daily for a planned online backup.
Such digital activism is not without risks.
In recent weeks Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing media have suggested moves to preserve online records of the Tiananmen Museum and annual vigils are illegal under the national security law. Police action usually follows such editorials.
Days after the Apple Daily back-up site launched it was hit by a distributed denial of service, a type of cyber-attack where a website is deliberately flooded with hits by a network of computers to try and bring it offline.
But Chang Ping says he and other digital activists remain unbowed.
“If building a museum is a crime, then the whole history of human civilisation is illegal,” he said. “I am proud to be part of it.”
THE BLOGS Devsena Mishra AUG 28, 2021, Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them.
When was the last time we heard a logical definition of AI? Perhaps, it was in 1956, at Dartmouth Conference, when the first time the idea was presented as: “any computer program that does something that we would normally think of as intelligent in humans.” From Arthur Samuel’s first board game-playing program in 1950 to AlphaGo’s win over Lee Sedol in 2016, efforts of building intelligence in the computer program turned out to be a little harder than what was anticipated.
“The Age of AI: And our Human Future,” is the upcoming book of Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, and Daniel Huttenlocher and this is not the first time that a book with such a title is coming to the market. From the last decade, every single published work on AI sounds similar to sci-fi movie/novel promotion, and they often tend to start with the same plot too (i.e. some AlphaXYZ defeated an Asian mind).
From an article “How the Enlightenment Ends” (published in 2018) in which Kissinger has argued how human society is unprepared for the rise of Artificial Intelligence, to his upcoming book it took him only a year (and two partners- Eric Schmidt and Daniel) to declare that AI will destabilize everything and it is the humanity that needs to adapt to this revolution!
The race for AI is on. In the last 3-4 years alone, over 30 countries have released their national plans/strategy for AI. And if that’s not enough, almost every major political leader and head of the state have also commented on AI and its implications on the Future.
But there is an interesting catch here. AI has been introduced as the ‘Artificial Intelligence,’ which is built upon the Big Data, which is controlled by the Big Tech club, so everyone else (other than Big Tech club) who is discussing, producing, or consuming AI, will remain a follower. And this few decades of unique mileage that a few US Tech giants have got is the only certainty about the future.
It’s a known fact that the computer, internet, and cyber, the foundational blocks of big data and AI, have been invented as some outcome of military and intelligence R&D projects.
Let’s assume a scenario, what if the world would have taken AI in its true sense i.e. as another technological advancement. Then this technology would have contributed more effectively to human life and economic progress than now. But that’s not the goal of this invention.
For the creators/propagators of AI, the definition in their mind is not Artificial Intelligence they see AI as ‘An Idea.’ An idea through which they think they can influence and control more effectively, and forever.
And at the same time, this idea has a desire to project itself as some Alien Intelligence (another definition for AI they probably have in their mind).
The propaganda for AI starts from the simple Google search and Wikipedia definition and from there it goes to Tech talks, opinion pieces, interviews/discussions, etc. distributed across all forms of media. Observing their language from an outside view often gives this impression as if something is coming from Mars, which has to come (like an asteroid about to hit the earth), and which is irreversible and uncontrollable by the human (species of this planet)!
The basic idea of AI is based on learning, which is an endless endeavor in itself! So it is certain that neither the pace nor the outcomes can be the possible motivational factor behind the uncertain journey of teaching computers playing board games, with a hope of developing tactics in them that are appropriate to solve general human problems. Now the question comes then what’s the real source of inspiration for such decades’ long investment and labor? The answer can be searched in Dr. Kai Fu Lee’s book “AI Superpowers, China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order.”
AI is the product of Silicon Valley and now there are two Silicon Valley at the front seat of global AI efforts, one in the USA (the original one) and another in China (Zhongguancun). It is not a coincidence that the Chinese AI revolution – the Cloner’s success, is largely driven by former big tech executives like Dr. Kai Fu Lee (chairman of Sinovation Ventures), who has worked with three big tech players- Microsoft, Google, and Apple before investing/incubating Chinese startups. Dr. Kai writes in his famous book ‘AI Superpowers’ that “China and the United States have already jumped out to an enormous lead over all other countries in artificial intelligence, setting the stage for a new kind of bipolar world order.” This year, when social media giants shut the voice of ex-US President Donald Trump, the biggest brand ambassador of the ‘America First’ approach, that move raised some questions on the values they represent. The new generation of the valley appears quite globalist in their approach and they coined and popularized many global ideas in the last few years. But this was not the case before.
Some Background
Silicon Valley, which is branded as the ultimate destination of entrepreneurship and the highly successful ‘garage startups’ that it produced in the last few decades, is the product of the ‘America First’ approach itself.
Frederick Emmons Terman, the leader of Allied radio-jamming efforts in World War II, is credited to be called the father of the Silicon Valley. It was Terman’s vision to lease out the university’s land to high tech startups to build the Stanford Industrial Park, which is now called the Stanford Research Park and the ‘Engine’ of Silicon Valley, which is home to over 150 high tech startups, including HP, VMware, Tesla, Steve Jobs’ NeXT computer, and Facebook, etc., which are leading the global AI bandwagon.
Similarly, the ideas of ‘venture capital’ and venture capitalist were coined to encourage the private sector investments in businesses by returning soldiers of World War II.
And this was not the first such experiment! There is a long history of the American scientist fraternity, their businesses, and defense and intelligence communities working together with the ‘America First’ approach, from the creation of atomic bombs to satellites to the famous moon landing efforts. So when in the Regan Defense Forum 2019, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon had said: “If big tech is going to turn their backs on the Department of Defense, this country is in trouble. That just can’t happen.” He simply echoed the spirit of his seniors!
AI as Animal Intelligence
Defining AI as Artificial Intelligence is misleading in many ways. ‘Learning from experience’ the core idea behind the AI advancement, represents only a tiny aspect of magnificent human intelligence. In fact, by that logic, AI should have been defined as ‘Animal Intelligence,’ as this trait is more common and relevant for animals, not humans (unless you don’t see the things from a Darwinian perspective). The human mind and intelligence drive through self-consciousness, wisdom, and creativity, and none of these could be programmed in machines.
There is an unwritten rule in driving that says as long as the ‘speed’ is in your control, you are driving it- the moment it goes out of control the speed drives you. Something similar has happened with the AI efforts.
The aspects of uncertainty and abnormality that AI propagators often highlight, demonstrates nothing but an inherent element of ignorance toward humanity, nature, and its creations, rooted in the culture of some parts of the world. An Indian Perspective
Technology brings efficiency and speed, and in that context, even a basic calculator can be called smarter than average human intelligence but that does not make human intelligence an irrelevant idea.
The ultimate goal of technology is ‘success’ but that success is for whom? Human is at the core of all technological invention. Technology must help, not disregard the human being, and this is a basic requirement that cannot be violated at any cost!
In that light, AI or any other tech product can be an assistant of the Human workers, an efficient assistant, not his competitor.
In Bharat, there are several historical and ancient accounts that specify the objectives of the human research (Anusandhan) and invention (Avishkar), with clear distinctions between the constructive (Sur) and destructive inventions (Asura Invention, another AI).
With this ancient wisdom and clarity in thought, Bharat can show a direction to the world in developing a global system that can better protect the values of human life.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Devsena Mishra promotes advanced technologies, startup ecosystems and Indian government’s business and technology related initiatives like Digital India, Make in India and Startup India etc. through her portals, articles, videos, and books.
Energy Infrastructure Near Hurricane Ida
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Energy Disruptions Map
Hurricane Ida is approaching the U.S. Gulf Coast region — home to key U.S. energy infrastructure — and is expected to make landfall on August 29. Hurricane Ida could affect local energy supply and demand, especially for transportation fuels and electricity. Our Energy Disruptions Map shows storm-related geographic data (also referred to as map layers) from the National Hurricane Center and the National Weather Service and map layers for energy-related infrastructure such as high-voltage transmission lines, power plants, and petroleum bulk terminals.
We also publish key production, consumption, and operational status information. We collect and publish hourly electric load data for each of the 68 balancing authorities in the Lower 48 states in the U.S. Hourly Electric Grid Monitor. The effects of storms on electric load may become apparent in the data as long as balancing authorities can transmit information to us. For example, in September 2017, widespread outages following the landfall of Hurricane Irma resulted in electricity demand in Florida falling to 64% lower than typical levels for that time of year.
Our Nuclear Outages status page maintains the daily status of each of the nation’s 57 nuclear power plants, based on status reports to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Louisiana has two nuclear power plants: Waterford Unit 3, located near New Orleans, and the River Bend nuclear power plant, located farther inland. Both facilities were operating at full capacity as of August 27.
Typically, demand for transportation fuels increases rapidly in the days before the arrival of a hurricane in the affected areas as consumers purchase fuel to prepare for evacuation. This rapid, unexpected increase in demand puts pressure on local inventories because the rest of the supply chain has not had time to respond. Louisiana has declared a state of emergency ahead of Hurricane Ida’s landfall.
Our Weekly Petroleum Status Report provides the most recent weekly estimates of regional petroleum markets. As of the week ending August 14, the Gulf Coast region had 84.9 million barrels of motor gasoline, or about 6% lower than last year in mid-August.
Principal contributors: Kristen Tsai, Elesia Fasching
Organic cotton totes that replace plastic bags now an environmental issue
Cotton bags have become a means for brands, retailers and supermarkets to telegraph a planet-friendly mindset.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
PUBLISHED AUG 26, 2021,
NEW YORK (NYTIMES) - Recently, Venetia Berry, an artist in London, counted up the free cotton tote bags that she had accumulated in her closet. There were at least 25.
There were totes from the eco-fashion brand Reformation and totes from vintage stores, totes from Soho House, boutique countryside hotels and independent art shops. She had two totes from Cubitts, the millennial-friendly opticians, and even one from a garlic farm. "You get them without choosing," Berry, 28, said.
Cotton bags have become a means for brands, retailers and supermarkets to telegraph a planet-friendly mindset - or, at least, to show that the companies are aware of the overuse of plastic in packaging.
There was a brief lull in cotton tote use during the Covid-19 pandemic, when there were fears that reusable bags could harbour the virus, but they are now fully back in force.
"There's a trend in New York right now where people are wearing merch: carrying totes from local delis, hardware stores or their favourite steakhouse," said designer Rachel Comey.
So far, so earth-friendly? Not exactly. It turns out the wholehearted embrace of cotton totes may actually have created a new problem.
An organic cotton tote needs to be used 20,000 times to offset its overall impact of production, according to a 2018 study by the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark. That equates to daily use for 54 years - for just one bag.
Based on that metric, if all 25 of her totes were organic, Berry would have to live for more than a thousand years to offset her current arsenal.
"Cotton is so water intensive," said University of Maine's environmental science professor Travis Wagner.
It is also associated with alleged forced labour, thanks to revelations about the treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang, China, which produces 20 per cent of the world's cotton and supplies most Western fashion brands.
And figuring out how to dispose of a tote in an environmentally low-impact way is not nearly as simple as people think.
One cannot, for example, just put a tote in a compost bin. Ms Maxine Bedat, a director at the New Standard Institute, a non-profit focused on fashion and sustainability, said she has "yet to find a municipal compost that will accept textiles".
And only 15 per cent of the 30 million tons of cotton produced every year actually makes its way to textile depositories.
Even when a tote does make it to a treatment plant, most dyes used to print logos onto them are PVC-based and thus not recyclable; they are "extremely difficult to break down chemically", said Mr Christopher Stanev, the co-founder of Evrnu, a Seattle-based textile recycling firm.
Printed patterns have to be cut out of the cloth; Mr Stanev estimates that 10 to 15 per cent of the cotton that Evrnu receives is wasted this way.
At which point there is the issue of turning old cloth into new, which is almost as energy intensive as making it in the first place.
"Textile's biggest carbon footprint occurs at the mill," Ms Bedat said.
The cotton tote dilemma, said Ms Laura Balmond, a project manager for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Make Fashion Circular campaign, is "a really good example of unintended consequences of people trying to make positive choices, and not understanding the full landscape".
How did we get here? Arguably, it was British designer Anya Hindmarch who put the reusable cotton bag on the map. Her 2007 "I'm Not a Plastic Bag" tote, created with the environmental agency Swift, sold for around US$10 (S$13.52 in today's exchange rates) in supermarkets. It encouraged shoppers to stop buying single-use bags and went effectively viral.
Eighty thousand people queued in one day in the UK, alone, the designer said. And it was effective. The number of bags bought in the UK dropped from around 10 billion to about six billion by 2010, according to the British Retail Consortium.
"It was important at the time to use fashion to communicate the problem," Hindmarch said.
The original Anya Hindmarch tote that kick-started the anti-plastic-bag campaign (left) and the updated tote made from recycled plastic.
PHOTOS: NYTIMES
Naturally, it soon became a branding tool.
The famed cream-and-black tote from the New Yorker magazine turned into a status symbol; since 2014, the Conde Nast-owned weekly has gifted two million bags to subscribers, according to a spokesman for the magazine.
Kiehls, the skincare line, offers totes for US$1, while fashion brands like Reformation began bagging purchases in black cotton versions. Ms Lakeisha Goedluck, 28, a writer in Copenhagen, said she has "at least six".
Some customers get rid of theirs by selling them on Poshmark, a social marketplace for new and second-hand goods.
The idea, said Mr Shaun Russell, the founder of Skandinavisk, a Swedish skincare brand that is a registered B Corp - or business that meets certain standards for social or environmental sustainability - is "to use your customers as mobile billboards". It is free advertising. "Any brand that claims otherwise would be lying," he added.
Ms Suzanne Santos, the chief customer of Aesop, does not know exactly how many ecru - or unbleached linen - bags the Aussie beauty brand produces every year but admitted it is "a lot".
Aesop, which is also a registered B Corp, first introduced them as shopping bags a decade ago. Ms Santos said customers consider them "an emblematic part of the Aesop experience".
So much so that the brand receives angry e-mail messages when they fail to arrive with online orders.
Cotton bags have long existed in luxury: shoes and handbags come in protective dust wrappings. But the supposed sustainability of totes means more brands than ever are packaging wares in ever more layers. Items that do not even need protection from dust, like hair scrunchies, organic tampons and facial cleansers, now arrive swaddled in a sleeping bag.
"It's just packaging on top of packaging on top of packaging," Ms Bedat said.
The New Yorker tote, which has become a status symbol unto itself.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
That is not to say that cotton is worse than plastic, or that the two should even be compared. While cotton can use pesticides - if it is not organically grown - and has dried up rivers from water consumption, lightweight plastic bags use greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels, never biodegrade and clog up the oceans.
Weighing the two materials against each other, "we end up in an environmental what-about-ism that leaves consumers with the idea that there is no solution", said environmental studies and science professor Melanie Dupuis from Pace University in New York.
Retailers' solutions Buffy Reid, of the British knitwear label &Daughter, halted production of her cotton bags in April this year; she is planning to implement an on-site feature where customers can opt into receiving one.
Though Aesop is not halting production, the brand is converting the composition of their bags to a 60-40 blend of recycled and organic cotton. "It will cost us 15 per cent more, but it reduces water by 70 per cent to 80 per cent," said Ms Santos.
Some brands are turning to other textile solutions.
British designer Ally Capellino recently swapped cotton for hemp, while Hindmarch introduced a new version of her original tote, this time made from recycled water bottles; Nordstrom also uses similar bags in its stores.
In the end, the simplest solution may be the most obvious. "Not every product needs a bag," Comey said.
Robert F. Kennedy's assassin granted parole by California board
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Prosecutors declined to argue Sirhan Sirhan should remain in prison
The Associated Press ·
The photo above shows U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy speaking in Atlantic City, N.J., in May of 1968, just weeks before he was fatally shot in Los Angeles. (The Associated Press)
U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's assassin was granted parole Friday after two of RFK's sons spoke in favour of Sirhan Sirhan's release and prosecutors declined to argue he should be kept behind bars.
The decision was a major victory for the 77-year-old prisoner, though it does not assure his release.
The ruling by the two-person panel at Sirhan's 16th parole hearing will be reviewed over the next 90 days by the California Parole Board's staff. Then it will be sent to the governor, who will have 30 days to decide whether to grant, reverse or modify it.
Douglas Kennedy, who was a toddler when his father was gunned down in 1968, said he was moved to tears by Sirhan's remorse and he should be released if he's not a threat to others.
"I'm overwhelmed just by being able to view Mr. Sirhan face to face," he said. "I think I've lived my life both in fear of him and his name in one way or another. And I am grateful today to see him as a human being worthy of compassion and love."
Shot at L.A. hotel
The New York senator and brother of President John F. Kennedy was a Democratic presidential candidate when he was gunned down June 6, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after delivering a victory speech in the pivotal California primary.
Sirhan, who was convicted of first-degree murder, has said he doesn't remember the killing.
This June 28, 1968, file photo, shows the main entrance to the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. (David F. Smith/The Associated Press)
His lawyer, Angela Berry, argued that the board should base its decision on who Sirhan is today.
Prosecutors declined to participate or oppose his release under a policy by Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon, a former police officer who took office last year after running on a reform platform.
Gascon, who said he idolized the Kennedys and mourned RFK's assassination, believes the prosecutors' role ends at sentencing and they should not influence decisions to release prisoners.
RFK’s son favors parole for father’s assassin Sirhan Sirhan
In this image provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Sirhan Sirhan arrives for a parole hearing Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, in San Diego. Sirhan faces his 16th parole hearing Friday for fatally shooting U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP)
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The youngest son of U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy spoke Friday in favor of paroling his father’s assassin at a hearing in which prosecutors declined to attend to argue he should be kept behind bars.
Douglas Kennedy, who was a toddler when his father was gunned down in 1968, said he was moved to tears by Sirhan Sirhan’s remorse and should be released if he’s found to not be a threat to others.
“I’m overwhelmed just by being able to view Mr. Sirhan face to face,” he said. “I think I’ve lived my life both in fear of him and his name in one way or another. And I am grateful today to see him as a human being worthy of compassion and love.”
Sirhan, who was in a blue prison uniform with a paper towel folded like a handkerchief and tucked into his pocket, smiled as Kennedy spoke.
Sirhan Sirhan, 77, told members of the California Parole Board at this 16th bid for freedom that he had learned to control his anger and was committed to living peacefully.
“I would never put myself in jeopardy again,” he said. “You have my pledge. I will always look to safety and peace and non-violence.”
Some Kennedy family members, Los Angeles law enforcement officers and the public submitted letters opposing Sirhan’s release, Parole Board Commissioner Robert Barton said at the start of the proceeding held virtually Friday, where Sirhan appeared from San Diego County prison.
“We don’t have a DA here, but I have to consider all sides,” Barton said, noting it would consider arguments made in the past by prosecutors opposing his release, depending on their relevance.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, a former police officer who took office last year after running on a reform platform, says he idolized the Kennedys and mourned RFK’s assassination but is sticking to his policy that prosecutors not influence decisions to release prisoners.
That decision is best left to board members who can evaluate whether Sirhan has been rehabilitated and can be released safely, Gascón told The Associated Press earlier this year. Relitigating a case decades after a crime should not be the job of prosecutors, even in notorious cases, he said.
Sirhan has served 53 years for the murder of the New York senator and brother of President John F. Kennedy. RFK was a Democratic presidential candidate when he was gunned down at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after delivering a victory speech in the pivotal California primary.
Sirhan, a Christian Palestinian from Jordan, has acknowledged he was angry at Kennedy for his support of Israel.
When asked about how he feels about the Middle East conflict today, Sirhan broke down crying and temporarily couldn’t speak.
“Take a few deep breaths,” said Barton, who noted the conflict had not gone away and still touched a nerve.
Sirhan said he doesn’t follow what’s going on in the region but thinks about the suffering of refugees.
“The misery that those people are experiencing. It’s painful,” Sirhan said.
If released, Sirhan could be deported to Jordan, and Barton said he was concerned he might become a “symbol or lightning rod to foment more violence.”
Sirhan said he was too old to be involved in the Middle East conflict and would detach himself from it.
“The same argument can be said or made that I can be a peacemaker, and a contributor to a friendly nonviolent way of resolving the issue,” Sirhan said.
Paul Schrade, who was wounded in the shooting, also spoke in favor of his release.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has spoken in favor of Sirhan’s release in the past, wrote in favor of paroling Sirhan.
Sirhan’s defense attorney, Angela Berry, said argued that the board’s decision should be based on who Sirhan is today and not about past events, which is what the board has based its parole denials on before. She said she plans to focus on his exemplary record in prison and show that he poses no danger.
“We can’t change the past, but he was not sentenced to life without the possibility of parole,” Berry told the AP on Thursday. “To justify denying it based on the gravity of the crime and the fact that it disenfranchised millions of Americans is ignoring the rehabilitation that has occurred and that rehabilitation is a more relevant indicator of whether or not a person is still a risk to society.”
Sirhan’s hearing was being presided over by a two-person panel that usually announces its decision the same day. After that, the Parole Board staff has 90 days to review the decision, and then it is handed over to the governor for consideration.
Sirhan was sentenced to death after his conviction, but that sentence was commuted to life when the California Supreme Court briefly outlawed capital punishment in 1972. At his last parole hearing in 2016, commissioners concluded after more than three hours of intense testimony that Sirhan did not show adequate remorse or understand the enormity of his crime.
Berry said California laws approved since 2018 support her case. One she plans to point out to the board favors releasing certain older prisoners who committed crimes at a young age when the brain is prone to impulsivity. Sirhan was 24 at the time of the assassination.
Barton the board was required to give “great weight” to youth parole eligibility.
Sirhan has in the past stuck to his account that he doesn’t remember the killing. However, he has recalled events before the crime in detail — going to a shooting range that day, visiting the hotel in search of a party and returning after realizing he was too drunk to drive after downing Tom Collins cocktails.
Just before the assassination, he drank coffee in a hotel pantry with a woman to whom he was attracted. The next thing he has said he remembered was being choked and unable to breathe as he was taken into custody. At his 2016 hearing, he said he felt remorse for any crime victim but couldn’t take responsibility for the shooting.
Sirhan told the panel then that if released, he hoped he would be deported to Jordan or live with his brother in Pasadena, California.
After 15 denials for his release, Berry said it’s difficult to predict how much of an impact the prosecution’s absence will have on the outcome.
“I like to think it’ll make a difference. But I think everybody is not impervious to the fact that this is political,” she said.
