Sudan Band's Music Empowers Sidelined Ethnic Group

By Menna Zaki
06/04/22 

Noureddine Jaber, a musician with a unique part-guitar, part-tamboura instrument, is giving voice to Sudan's long-marginalised eastern communities through a new album.

Hailing from the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, Jaber belongs to the Beja people, a group of nomadic herders and breeders with unique languages, culture, food and music.

They have borne the weight of disenfranchisement especially under autocratic president Omar al-Bashir who was ousted in 2019.

Hailing from the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, Noureddine Jaber belongs to the Beja people, a group of nomadic herders and breeders with unique languages, culture, food and music Photo: AFP / Median Yasser

But the title of his first album, due out later in June, conveys a different message: "Beja Power."

During Bashir's three-decade rule, non-Arab groups complained that his government allowed Arab culture to dominate, giving little representation to the country's many ethnic minorities.

Also known as "Noori", Jaber grew up devouring the rich heritage of distinct tunes of the Beja people who trace their roots back millennia.

Though he first formed his band in 2006, it was only in recent months that he was able to record his first album, at the age of 47.

Noureddine Jaber plays a unique 'tambo-guitar', an instrument he fashioned from a guitar neck and his father's vintage tamboura

 Photo: AFP / Median Yasser

"Beja music is the window to the struggles of its people," said Jaber, who called his six-member band "Dorpa", which means "the band of the mountains" in Bedawit, a Beja language.

"The Beja have long been marginalised and we are trying to convey their voice through music."

Though their region is a maritime trade hub known for its lush fertile fields, and rich gold mines, it is also one of the most impoverished parts of Sudan, itself one of the poorest countries in the world.

At a studio in Omdurman, the capital Khartoum's twin city, Jaber leads his band through rehearsal, producing a mellow, toe-tapping sound somewhat similar to jazz.

The album 'Beja Power' hopes to give voice to Sudan's long-marginalised eastern communities

 Photo: AFP / Median Yasser

"Let's play the 'Saagama'," Jaber tells his bandmates: a bassist, saxophonist, rhythm guitarist, bongos player, and a conga drummer.

In his hand he holds his unique "tambo-guitar", an instrument he fashioned from a guitar neck and his father's vintage tamboura, a type of lyre played in East Africa.

Jaber's invention is embossed with small shells and a map of Africa.

Unlike Jaber, the rest of his band all hail from different parts of ethnically diverse Sudan Photo: AFP / Median Yasser

"Saagama", which means migration in Bedawit, is one of the album's most evocative tracks, inspired by ancient melodies from Sudan's east.

Unlike him, the rest of the band all hail from different parts of ethnically diverse Sudan.

Beja musicians regularly faced restrictions under Sudan's former president Omar al-Bashir, with authorities often stopping their performances 

Photo: AFP / Median Yasser

They say it took them years to learn the Beja music scales and tones, traditionally played on drums and the tamboura.

"I've never been to east Sudan. I only learned the music from Noori," conga player Mohamed Abdelazim told AFP.

"The way they play drums in the east is different, very distinct. It has its own very special rhythm."

According to Jaber, the Beja's under-representation in Sudanese culture is part of why many fail to recognise their music.

Under Bashir, he told AFP, "the rule was for the Arab culture to prevail while other African ethnicities fade."

Beja musicians regularly faced restrictions, with authorities often stopping their performances.

"It could be for anything, lack of permits or because the audience were mixed groups" of men and women together, in contrast to those of Arab performers, Jaber said.

Abdelhalim Adam, the band's bassist, is originally from the ethnic Folani tribe of the Darfur region, on the other side of the country in Sudan's west.

For him, joining the band was particularly meaningful.

"The Beja's struggle is similar to our tribes in North Darfur," Adam said. "They are as marginalised."

Darfur was ravaged by civil war that began in 2003 when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against Bashir's Arab-dominated government, which unleashed the Janjaweed militia blamed for atrocities.

Hundreds of thousands were killed and millions have been displaced since.

The Beja also rebelled against Bashir's government for more than a decade. Communities in the east then joined nationwide calls for his ouster in the protests which began in 2018.

A glimmer of hope shone following Bashir's overthrow and the installation of a fragile transition to civilian rule which pledged to end marginalisation in Sudan.

But even then, Beja tribes complained of marginalisation.

Last year, they blockaded the main seaport of Port Sudan shortly before a military coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan upended Sudan's transition.

As Beja tribes continue to call for wider representation, Jaber has zeroed in on music as his avenue to highlight the struggles of his people.

"It's an effective way for our story to travel and attract the world's attention," he says. And it is also a way "to preserve our heritage."

A look at opposition group La France Insoumise’s past five years in parliament

Romain BRUNET 

AFP

FRANCE24


Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s far-left France Unbowed (La France Insoumise or LFI) party, which came in third in the first round of the 2022 presidential election, has had 17 MPs in the National Assembly since the 2017 legislative elections. They quickly gained notice not only for their ability to create a buzz, but also for blocking certain government texts.

© Ludovic Marin, AFP

On May 10, 2022, France’s Greens, Communist Party and Socialist Party all agreed to form a historic alliance with the far-left France Unbowed (La France Insoumise or LFI), ahead of the June legislative elections in hopes of securing a lower-house majority. Despite its small number of members currently, LFI has been very active in the National Assembly over the past five years. It has passed 100 or so bills and more than 60 motions for resolutions, tabled more than 60,000 amendments, established four commissions of enquiry and intervened thousands of times in parliament.

In June 2017, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who had been a senator in Essonne for 18 years, was the only one of the 17 LFI MPs who knew how parliament worked. In fact, his colleagues were mocked during the first few months of their terms for their lack of experience. In addition to the fact that she had been a nurse’s aide prior to being elected, some of Caroline Fiat’s opponents nicknamed her "the deputy Bac -2", referring to her educational trainng, while Adrien Quatennens, who had previously been a customer advisor for EDF (Électricité de France S.A., a French multinational electric utility company), was given the nickname of "Deputy Call-center".

However, the mockery quickly ceased when it became apparent that the LFI MPs were serious about positioning themselves as the opposition to Emmanuel Macron’s presidential majority during his five-year term.

"The LFI MPs have really been very active, very present and very invested in their roles, both in the committee and the Assembly, doing serious groundwork," said Olivier Rozenberg, a professor at Sciences-Po and specialist in parliamentary life.

"Our goal was simple: to be the first opponent and the first proposer", says Mathilde Panot, MP for Val-de-Marne and president of the LFI parliamentary group in the National Assembly. "We wanted to fight the government both by bringing the country's various social struggles into the National Assembly while making sure, each time, to propose another vision by converting our programme into legislative proposals," she continued. "For example, we are the only group that presented a counter-budget every year and a counter-management plan for Covid."

"Our voice should be heard by as many people as possible"

However, it's the stunts from LFI's MPs that have left the biggest mark. Very early on in the legislature, LFI took advange of Palais-Bourbon’s media platform to make themselves known. Alexis Corbière, MP for Seine-Saint-Denis, pushed back against the government’s decision to reduce the personal housing allowance by €5 by presenting a shopping basket before parliament that contained €5’s worth of food. Adrien Quatennens, MP from the North, encouraged the Republic on the Move (La République en Marche, or LREM) MPs to be "insubordinate" during the revision of the Labour Code. And finally, François Ruffin, MP for the Somme, wore the shirt of an amateur football club when he talked about financing non-professional sport. All these actions created a buzz, with videos widely shared on social media.

If LFI and its newly created coalition secures a majority in parliament, no doubt more attention-grabbing actions will take place. It has pledged to introduce a €1,400 monthly minimum wage, a monthly allowance for young people, a price freeze on basic necessities, re-establish the wealth tax, repeal Macron's flat tax on capital gains, an “ecological planning” programme to transition to a greener future and establish a Sixth Republic, an institutional revamp in which the executive’s powers would be reduced in favour of the parliament and people. LFI ran on all these proposals during France’s latest presidential election in April.

Video: Analysis: French left-wing parties seal coalition deal to challenge Macron in parliamentary elections (France 24)

"It's true that some of our speeches have had several million views, which was quite unprecedented in the history of the National Assembly," says Panot. "We start from the principle that the words we speak in the Assembly are meant to be heard by the greatest number of people, so you will never hear us talk about amendment no. 6147 aimed at deleting paragraph 4 of Article 2. When Alexis Corbière took out his shopping basket, our primary goal was to bring reality back into the debates."

"This strategy has been effective because it is talked about and remembered," says Rozenberg. "But above all, it was also an opportunity to bring to the forefront, alongside Jean-Luc Mélenchon, new figures within LFI who otherwise would not have existed. The result after five years is therefore rather beneficial. A new generation has been trained."

LFI MPs also took advantage of their parliamentary niches, which were granted to the opposition groups so that they could set the National Assembly’s agenda usually established by the government. This meant that bills with which the government was not comfortable could be voted on, including recognising occupational pathologies resulting from burnout, introducing receipts for identity checks, banning glyphosate, capping bank charges, extending the earned income supplement to young people aged between 18 and 25 and introducing a tax on crisis profiteers.

"All these texts were rejected, but since they were popular with the public, they used them to catch the government off guard," says Rozenberg.

Clémentine Autain, the MP for Seine-Saint-Denis, did however manage to get a resolution passed in January 2022 that recognises endometriosis as a long-term medical condition (ALD). Two days after President Macron presented a plan dedicated to it, this subject made media headlines. It would therefore have been difficult for the presidential majority to vote against this recognition, which authorities had been demanding for several years.

"Blocking deliberations raises questions"

However, the actions of LFI MPs have also been obstructed on numerous occasions. Unable to block a bill due to their low numbers, the LFI group wrote several amendments and points of order in order to slow down the examination of certain texts.

At the beginning of 2020, the pension reform thus resulted in the rebel MPs' tabling of 19,000 amendments. "We acknowledge our obstructionism," said Mélenchon on BFMTV. "Because, in the same way that a trade unionist goes on strike for 43, 45, 50 days and loses salary, the MPs would be failing in their duty if they did not use every possible weapon to delay the final decision that could be imposed automatically in the Chamber."

This has happened to such an extent that the presidential majority is worried about what will happen if a very large number of LFI MPs get elected during the legislative elections on 12 and 19 June. "LFI has adopted a chaos strategy. (...) There is a risk of permanent political guerrilla warfare regarding substance and form," says François de Rugy, the former ‘Macronist’ president of the National Assembly, in an article published on 16 May by L'Opinion.

All the more so as the first opposition group is given – in principle – the presidency of the Finance Committee, another subject of concern for the outgoing presidential majority. "LFI could take advantage of this to investigate Bercy in order to highlight this or that problem regarding public spending or to fully inform themselves of the consequences of abolishing the ISF [solidarity tax on wealth]," says Rozenberg. "But I don't think it will create chaos. Rather, it is an opportunity to see important things happen in the Assembly."

"It's true that if there are 150 or 200 of us, then that changes everything. And being in charge of the finance committee would make us even stronger opponents," says Panot. "That being said," she resumes, "the 'Marcheurs' are right to be afraid of us because we don't want to be the first opposition group: we want the majority."

During the last presidential election in April 2022, LFI’s platform was heavily centred on social issues and the cost of living, and Mélanchon garnered 22% of the vote, narrowly losing to Marine Le Pen, who went up against Macron in the second round.

This article has been adapted from the original in French by Mariamne Everett.

Greece evacuates Athens suburb under wildfire threat

The fire led to the evacuation of five neighbourhoods south of Athens.

A wildfire whipped by gale-force winds blazed through vegetation in a southern suburb of Athens on Saturday, the fire brigade said, forcing residents to evacuate and damaging about 20 properties.

The Greek Civil Protection agency issued an emergency appeal via SMS for people to leave Ano Voula as the flames reached homes.

Officials reported no casualties but four more neighbourhoods were evacuated as the wind changed direction and drove the fire front towards the town of Vari, Grigoris Konstantelos, the mayor of Voula, told Skai TV.

Kostantelos said around 20 houses were damaged.

Six water-bombing aircrafts, three helicopters and municipal water tankers supported dozens of firefighters with 20 fire engines.

"The situation is very difficult and the wind does not help," said Giannis Konstantatos, mayor of Ellinikon-Argiroupoli, a neighbouring municipality.

"The atmosphere is suffocating, we have difficulty breathing," he told Athens News Agency.

Police told people to leave their homes in images broadcast by Ant1 TV.

The Fire Brigade told AFP that the wind has dropped a bit so they are hopeful that the fire will slow its pace.

Skai TV showed footage of a burning house with flames licking inside.

Giorgos Papanikolaou, the mayor of Glyfada, where the fire first broke out, said it began at a high voltage electricity power station, according to the agency.

Water-bombing aircraft and helicopters were called in to help control the fires.

An estimated 20 homes ere reported damaged by the blazes.

The mayor of Glyfada, where the fire first broke out, said it began at a high voltage electricity power station.

Water-bombing aircraft and helicopters were called in to help control the fires.

Later in the afternoon, a second fire broke out near Athens, in the village of Kouvaras but residential areas were not under threat.

Late in the day, the Fire Brigade told AFP that the wind has dropped raising hopes the spread of the fire will slow.

Last summer, Greece's most severe heatwave in decades, which authorities blamed on climate change, saw fires destroy more than 100,000 hectares of forest and farmland, the country's worst wildfire damage since 2007.

More than 200 firefighters and technical equipment provided by European Union countries will be soon deployed to Greece to help boost the battle against large wildfires.

Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Romania and Norway will take part in the deployment, coordinated by the EU's Civil Protection Mechanism.

Greek villages evacuated as forest fire rages

Baby formula plant linked to US shortage resumes production

Brian KNOWLTON
Sat, June 4, 2022


Production resumed Saturday at an Abbott Nutrition baby formula plant in the US whose closure helped fuel a crippling nationwide shortage.

The facility in Sturges, Michigan has met initial government sanitary requirements for reopening, the company said in a statement.

The plant, a major producer of formula, shut down and issued a product recall in February after the death of two babies raised concerns over contamination.

Subsequent shortages were particularly worrying to parents of infants with allergies or with certain metabolic conditions. They desperately scoured stores and online sources for the specialized formulas.

Their concerns became so acute that President Joe Biden met virtually this week with infant-food executives and insisted his administration was doing everything it could to help.

The crisis, coming at a time when soaring inflation and supply-chain delays have fanned a growing sense of unease among many ordinary Americans, has been seized on by Biden critics to question the competence of his administration.

- 'Working hard' -

Abbott, which controls about 40 percent of the US baby food market, said Saturday that it was restarting production of its hypoallergenic EleCare formula and that the product should be back on store shelves around June 20.

"We're also working hard to fulfill the steps necessary to restart production of Similac and other formulas," Abbott said. "We will ramp production as quickly as we can while meeting all requirements."

The formula shortages, initially caused by supply chain blockages and a lack of workers due to the pandemic, were exacerbated when Abbott closed its Sturges plant.

The plant was shut down amid complaints the plant lacked adequate protections against contamination from bacteria -- complaints echoed after a six-week inspection by US Food and Drug Administration agents.

"Frankly, the inspection results were shocking," FDA chief Robert Califf told members of a House subcommittee last month.

There was standing water in key equipment that presented "the potential for bacterial contamination," plus leaks in the roof and a lack of basic hygiene facilities, he said.

But Abbott officials, while apologizing for the formula shortage, have said there is no conclusive evidence linking the formula to infant illnesses or deaths.

For Biden, the issue had blown up into a political maelstrom.

He told reporters Wednesday that he was only informed about the looming problem in early April and that he had pulled all the levers of government to resolve shortages ever since.

"I don't think anyone anticipated the impact of the shutdown of one facility," Biden said at a virtual meeting with the executives from five companies helping to take up the slack caused by Abbott's problems.

"Once we learned the extent of it and how broad it was, it kicked everything into gear," Biden said.

However, some executives said they had been able to tell immediately in February that a crisis was imminent.

"We knew from the very beginning," said Robert Cleveland, a senior vice president at Reckitt.

Other executives taking part in the video session represented Gerber, ByHeart, Bubs Australia and Perrigo.

 Notably absent was anyone from Abbott.

bbk/wd

Shoot 'em up video game a refuge for war-scarred Afghans


Cyril Belaud and Aysha Safi
Fri, June 3, 2022, 


The crackle of gunfire. A gasp of a stranger. Explosions rumbling in the distance. In the Afghan capital of Kabul, such sounds would normally prompt panic.

But they are coming from the tinny speaker of a mobile phone clutched by a young man, hunched over and absorbed in the bloody shoot 'em up video game "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds", or PUBG.

"In this country, we are living but we are not alive," said gamer Abdul Musawir Raufi, after peeling his gaze away from the phone screen, where his avatar duels with other players in an online arena.

"We don't know what will happen from one moment to the next. It's the only way to pass the time," said the 23-year-old.

Afghanistan has been wracked by four decades of very real conflict, now largely subsided since the withdrawal of US-led troops and the return of the Taliban last year.

But in a striking irony, youngsters say the wildly popular virtual violence simulator offers respite from the turmoil of the transition and the strictures of the hardline Islamist regime, as well as a rare channel of communication with the outside world.

Meanwhile, the Taliban -- who spent the past 20 years waging their own vicious and bloody insurgency -- are currently working to cut off access to PUBG, having deemed it a corrupting influence.

- End of entertainment -

Since storming back to power in August, the Taliban have not curtailed entertainment as harshly as they did during their previous stint in power between 1996 and 2001, when TV, cinema, photography and kite flying were all banned.

In the capital, a few arcades and bowling alleys remain open and some sports are still being played. But music has been banned alongside female-fronted or foreign television series.

Many Kabul residents are wary of the Taliban fighters who patrol the streets and man checkpoints, and prefer to stay at home rather than risk an outing for entertainment.

Raufi was once a keen football player, but most of the friends he played with fled the country during the chaotic mass evacuation in the final days of the international withdrawal.

"The fun we used to have, the laughing with friends... it's all over," he said.

But PUBG, published by Chinese digital giant Tencent and downloaded on mobiles more than a billion times globally, has allowed him to stay in touch with friends and make new connections with foreign players online.

"It allows us to learn about the culture of other countries and their language. The bonds I've created are very strong," he said.

Former student Abdul Mujeeb, 20, has also found refuge in the video game from the spiralling economic crisis that accompanied the Taliban's return.

The United States has seized billions of dollars in Afghan assets, while international aid that propped up the domestic economy has dried up.

"During the previous government, we were mostly busy with our jobs and studies," said Mujeeb. "Now, we can't study and there are no jobs."

That leaves PUBG and TikTok -- the social media video app is also in the crosshairs of Taliban censors -- as "the entertainment we have at home and that keeps us busy", he said.

While mobile games offer an escape, providing a sense of community and boosting mood, the World Health Organization has warned that a small proportion of gamers can develop an addiction, characterised by the increased priority given to logging on to play.

- Taliban bans -

According to figures from specialist site DataReportal, only 9.2 million Afghans have access to the internet out of a population estimated at 40.2 million.

But Taliban authorities ordered a ban on both PUBG and TikTok in April, accusing them of leading younger generations "astray".

They nonetheless remain accessible.

The issue is currently being discussed with Afghan telecom companies and both apps "will be fully banned in our country", deputy government spokesman Inamullah Samangani told AFP.

Both Raufi and Mujeeb say they will find a way around any ban.

Student Shaheera Ghafori, 19, who plays PUBG like her brother and sister, believes the Taliban "don't have the means" to forbid the game. And she doesn't understand their reasoning.

"It's a bit of an irrational judgment," she said.

"It's better to have a place to keep young people busy rather than having them wander around the streets."

PUBG has already been banned in a number of countries, including India.

But with the Taliban increasingly confining women to the domestic sphere, Ghafori said the game is a "place to play which diverts our attention, rather than leaving us sitting at home depressed".

Ghafori hopes that contact with the modern world may cause the Taliban to change their ways. But, she admits, that may just be "wishful thinking".

ash-cyb/jts/ecl/smw/qan

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for EMOTIONAL PLAGUE 

IT MUST BE 100% SAFE

Male birth control: What's getting in the way, sexism or science?


Alia E. Dastagir, USA TODAY
Sat, June 4, 2022,

Nearly half of all pregnancies around the world are unintended, according to a report from the United Nations published in March. While some of these pregnancies become a source of joy, more than half of them end in abortion. Other unplanned pregnancies that come to term create a cascade of wide-ranging consequences, including fewer educational opportunities for the women who give birth, reduced participation in the labor market and risks to the mental and physical well-being of mother and child.

In the United States, the unintended pregnancy rate is significantly higher than in many other developed countries, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Those rates are highest among young women, low-income women and women of color.

Despite the more than 120 million unintended pregnancies worldwide, options for male contraception are limited. Male-driven methods include withdrawal, condoms and vasectomy. One in 5 couples who use withdrawal becomes pregnant. According to the World Health Organization, condoms have a failure rate of 13% and vasectomies are effective but fewer than 3% of couples use them as a form of protection, in part because they are invasive and not reliably reversible.

"Once the pregnancy happens, it becomes the burden of the woman, which is why there's been a focus on female methods," said Heather Vahdat, executive director of Male Contraceptive Initiative, which provides funding and advocacy support for the research and development of male birth control. "Contraception has been inextricably linked with women's empowerment .. but we've also been quietly managing some horrendous side effects. Now women are realizing it's OK to say that this isn't good enough. Yes, we're grateful, but we want better and we should have better, and better not only means methods for us, but it means allowing our partners to be able to contribute to this equation."


Male birth control pill: Could it work?

Many men are on board. A 2017 survey of 1,500 men living in the U.S. found that 85% of participants wanted to prevent their partner from getting pregnant and taking responsibility for birth control was the key reason for wanting a new male contraceptive method.

"I do a lot of vasectomies, which includes a counseling discussion .. and I think there is a desire on the male side to be able to play a bigger role in family planning," said Dr. Bobby Najari, a physician at New York University Langone Health who specializes in male sexual and reproductive health and is director of the Male Infertility Program.

Research on male contraception began 60 years ago, but while experts say there have been promising advancements in both hormonal and non-hormonal forms, there has been little urgency to bring new male contraceptives to market. Experts blame several factors, including the abundance of existing options for female contraception, cultural attitudes that preclude men from the work of preventing pregnancy, and a lack of funding for research and development, especially among pharmaceutical companies.

Experts are divided on whether a possible overturn of Roe v. Wade would accelerate efforts to develop more effective, affordable and accessible options for male contraception. Some hope this will open up a conversation about the role of male birth control in equitable family planning, others are skeptical. Some constitutional experts have said if the court overturns its landmark Roe decision, other rights could become implicated, including access to contraception.
Studies on male contraceptives are promising

A 2017 survey found men are twice as likely to prefer a non-hormonal method to a hormonal method and nearly 90% of men report it’s important for their contraceptive method to be reversible.

Experts say condoms have a high failure rate and low compliance.

Hormonal methods have progressed the furthest in clinical development. Most non-hormonal methods are still in pre-clinical stages (or animal studies).

Najari said there have been many attempts at hormonal contraceptive options, which aim to suppress sperm production. Trials of hormonal methods have demonstrated greater efficacy than condoms and the most common side effects have been "weight gain, acne, slight suppression of serum high-density cholesterol, mood changes and changes in libido," according to a 2020 article in the journal "Focus: Sex & Reproduction."

Male birth control: Study nixed after men complain of side effects

"The main reason no hormonal combination has made it to primetime yet, however, is due to an unclear bar on side effects and safety. Regulatory bodies have not given clear guidance on what degree of side effects or safety concerns would be considered 'acceptable,' said Dr. Arthi Thirumalai, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington. "Safety concerns have typically been related to changes in red blood cell mass or cholesterol. However, it is unclear to what extent these need to be reduced or minimized in a product for it to be considered for further drug development."
What's the holdup?

Safety concerns around hormonal methods, a lack of clinical research on non-hormonal methods and a dearth of investment from pharmaceutical companies have created barriers to the development of more forms of male contraception.

Vahdat said for the last 30 years contraceptive product development has largely been managed by the philanthropic and public sectors. There have been no big pharmaceutical dollars. Vahdat said the Male Contraceptive Initiative is the second-largest funder of male contraception in the U.S. behind the National Institute of Health. Vahdat said the organization funds approximately $1.2 to $1.5 million of research per year.

Vahdat said she also suspects risk-benefit analyses may be hindering development.

"A woman weighs the medical burden of an unwanted pregnancy against the possible side effects and safety concerns of a contraceptive regimen. Men don't need to consider the medical risks of a pregnancy for themselves, so this may have a role in overall lower acceptance of side effects and safety concerns from contraceptive regimens," she said.

Najari said if not for the plethora of existing female contraceptive options, there might be a wider acceptance of the risk profile of male methods.

"The tolerability and the side effect profile of all these medications that have been investigated on the male side would have been viewed in a completely different way," Najari said. "It might have been deemed appropriate for physicians and men to have that discussion about risks and benefits. I think many males would elect to take on those risks because the benefits of contraception on a couple are so helpful. ... I do think that there's some bias toward a higher safety profile in males, whether that's coming from society or regulators."

The impact of Roe v. Wade on male birth control

Experts are divided on whether a possible overturn of Roe v. Wade could generate urgency on male-directed contraceptive methods. Thirumalai is skeptical and said it's important to enhance contraceptive options regardless of political beliefs or what the high court decides.

"Engaging male partners in the overall effort toward lowering the burden of unwanted pregnancies as a society is our best chance of making reproductive rights and health fair to both members in couples," she said.

Vahdat is hopeful that a conversation around the tenuousness of Roe may bring men into the picture in a way they haven't been before, though she also said there needs to be a generational shift in depoliticizing reproductive health.

When the news about Roe leaked, some women on social media said that even if more options for male birth control existed, they would be suspicious of compliance. Experts say this concern is specific to the dynamics of sexual partners.

Vahdat said compliance isn't either/or, and that's why it's imperative to develop more contraceptive methods.

"If a woman doesn't trust her male partner, then they can both contracept. If a woman is having horrible side effects, her partner can contracept on behalf of both of them. People can take turns. People's interest, demands and desires around contraception change dramatically throughout the course of their reproductive lifespan," she said.

Vahdat also noted the importance of developing non-hormonal options for people who are not gender binary or who are trans, especially if they're undergoing hormone therapy.

Experts say the demand for male contraception is strong, and they're disappointed there isn't more urgency from funding agencies and regulators to meet that demand.

"We are not allowing half of the global population to control their reproductive autonomy," Vahdat said, "and it impacts everyone."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Male birth control: Why are condoms and vasectomies the only options?

Why Canada Races on Gun Policy When America Crawls

Max Fisher
Fri, June 3, 2022

Gun control advocates listen as Democratic senators speak at a rally at the Capitol in Washington, May 26, 2022. (Tom Brenner/The New York Times)

As Congress once more struggles through acrimonious and so far fruitless negotiations over gun reforms in the wake of a mass shooting, Americans may find themselves looking north in befuddlement.

Canada’s government has begun moving to ban handgun sales and buy back military-style rifles — dramatic changes in a country with one of the world’s highest gun ownership rates outside of the United States, expected to pass easily and with little fuss.

Ask Americans why Canada’s government seems to cut through issues that mire their own in bitterness and frustration, and you might hear them cite cultural differences, gentler politics, even easygoing Canadian temperaments.

But ask a political scientist, and you will get a more straightforward answer.

Differences in national culture and issues, while meaningful, do not on their own explain things. After all, Canada also has two parties that mostly dominate national politics, an urban-rural divide, deepening culture wars and a rising far-right. And guns have been a contentious issue there for decades, one long contested by activist groups.

Rather, much of the gap in how these two countries handle contentious policy questions comes down to something that can feel invisible amid day-to-day politicking but may be just as important as the issues themselves: the structures of their political systems.

Canada’s is a parliamentary system. Its head of government, Justin Trudeau, is elevated to that job by the legislature, of which he is also a member, and which his party, in collaboration with another, controls.

If Trudeau wants to pass a new law, he must merely ask his subordinates in his party and their allies to do it. There is no such thing as divided government and less cross-party horse-trading and legislative gridlock.

Canada is similar to what the United States would be if it had only a House of Representatives, whose speaker also oversaw federal agencies and foreign policy.

What the U.S. has instead is a system whose structure simultaneously requires cooperation across competing parties and discourages them from working together.

The result is a U.S. system that not only moves slower and passes fewer laws than those of parliamentary models like Canada’s, research has found, but also stalls for years even on measures that enjoy widespread support among voters in both parties, such as universal background checks for gun purchases.

Many political scientists argue that the United States’ long-worsening gridlock runs much deeper than any one issue or the interest groups engaged with it, to the basic setup of its political system.

The Perils of Presidents

Scholar Juan Linz warned in a much-discussed 1990 essay, as much of the developing and formerly Soviet worlds moved to democracy, that those countries not follow what he called one of the foundational flaws of the United States: its presidency.

“The vast majority of the stable democracies in the world today are parliamentary regimes,” Linz wrote.

Presidential systems, on the other hand, tended to collapse in coups or other violence, with only the United States having persisted since its origin.

It’s telling that when American diplomats and technocrats help to set up new democracies abroad, they almost always model them on European-style parliaments.

Subsequent research has found that parliamentary systems also perform better at managing the economy and advancing rule of law than presidencies, if only for the comparative ease with which they can implement policy — witnessed in Canada’s rapid response to gun violence or other crises.

America’s legislative hurdles, requiring cooperation across the president, Senate and House to pass laws, are raised further by the fact that all three are elected under different rules.

None represents a straight national majority. Presidential elections favor some states over others. The Senate tilts especially toward rural voters. All three are elected on different schedules. As a result, single-party control is rare. Because competing parties typically control at least one of those three veto points on legislation, legislation is frequently vetoed.

Americans have come to accept, even embrace, divided government. But it is exceedingly uncommon. While Americans may see Canada’s legislative efficiency as unusual, to the rest of the world it is American-style gridlock that looks odd.

Still, America’s presidential system does not, on its own, explain what makes it function so differently from a country like Canada.

“As long as things are moderate, a presidential system is not so bad,” said Lee Drutman, a political scientist who studies political reform.

Rather, he cited that the U.S. is nearly alone in combining a presidency with winner-take-all elections.

Zero-Sum Contests

Proportional votes, common in most of the world, award seats to each party based on its share of the vote.

Under American-style elections, the party that wins 51% of a race controls 100% of the office it elects, while the party with 49% ends up with nothing.

This all but ensured that politics would coalesce between two parties because third-ranked parties rarely win office. And as those two parties came to represent geographically distinct electorates struggling for national control, their contests took on, for voters, a sensation of us-versus-them.

Canada, too, has winner-take-all elections, a practice inherited from Britain. Still, neither of those countries hold presidential contests, which pit one half of the nation against the other.

And in neither country do the executive and legislative branches share power, which, in times of divided government, extends the zero-sum nature of U.S. elections into lawmaking, too. And not only on issues on which the parties’ supporters disagree.

In 2013, shortly after a gunman killed 20 first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, polls found that 81% of Republicans supported background checks for gun purchases. But when asked whether the Senate should pass such a bill — which would have required Republicans to side with the then-Democratic majority — support dropped to 57%. The measure never passed.

The episode was one of many suggesting that Americans often privilege partisan victory, or at least denying victory to the other side, over their own policy preferences, scholar Lilliana Mason wrote in a book on partisanship.

“Even when policy debates crack open and an opportunity for compromise appears,” Mason wrote, “partisans are psychologically motivated to look away.”

Unstable Majorities

Still, there is something unusual to Canada’s model, too.

Most parliamentary systems, as in Europe, elect lawmakers proportionally. Voters select a party, which takes seats in the legislature proportional to its overall vote share. As a result, many different parties end up in office and must join in a coalition to secure a governing majority. Lawmaking is less prone to gridlock than in the U.S., but it’s not seamless, either: The prime minister must negotiate among the parties of their coalition.

Canada, like Britain, combines American-style elections, which produce what is not quite a two-party system in those countries but is close, with European-style parliaments.

As a result, Canada’s prime minister usually oversees a legislative majority, allowing him or her to breeze through legislation even more easily than in European-style parliaments.

This moment is an exception: Trudeau’s Liberal Party controls slightly less than half of the House of Commons. Still, his party dominates a legislative alliance in which he has only one partner. Canada also includes a Senate, though its members are appointed and rarely rock the boat.

But the Canadian system produces what Drutman called “unstable majorities,” prone to whiplashing on policy.

“If you have a 52% margin for one party, and then you throw the bums out because 4% of the vote went the other way, now you’ve moved completely in the other direction,” he said.

Gun laws are a case in point. After a 1989 mass shooting, Canadian lawmakers passed registration rules but phased them in over several years because they were unpopular among rural communities.

Those rules were later abolished under a Conservative government. Though Trudeau has not reimposed the registry, he has tightened gun laws in other ways.

In a European-style system, by contrast, a 4-point shift to the right or left might change only one party in the country’s governing coalition, prompting a slighter policy change more proportional to the electorate’s mood.

American liberals may thrill at the seeming ease with which Canada’s often-left-leaning government can implement policy, much as conservatives may envy Britain’s more right-wing, but similarly rapid, lawmaking under a similar system.

But it is the slow-and-steady European model, with its frustratingly incremental advances, that, over the long run, research finds, tend to prove the most stable and effective.

© 2022 The New York Times Company

EPA raises amount of ethanol that must be blended with gas


An ethanol refinery is shown on July 22, 2021, in Chancellor, S.D. The Biden administration set new requirements Friday, June 3, 2022, that increase the amount of ethanol that must be blended into the nation's gasoline supply but reduce previous ethanol-blending requirements due to a plunge in fuel demand during the coronavirus pandemic. 

(AP Photo/Stephen Groves, File) 

DAVID PITT
Fri, June 3, 2022

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Biden administration on Friday set new requirements that increase the amount of ethanol that must be blended into the nation's gasoline supply but reduce previous ethanol-blending requirements due to a plunge in fuel demand during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Environmental Protection Agency said it would set the 2022 levels for corn-based ethanol blended into gasoline at 15 billion gallons. But even as the new rules increased future ethanol requirements, the EPA retroactively reduced levels for 2020 by 2.5 billion gallons and by 1.2 billion gallons for 2021, reflecting the lower amount of ethanol produced and decreased sales of gasoline during a period when the virus led to a drop in driving.

Most gasoline sold in the U.S. contains 10% ethanol, and the fuel has become a key part of the economy in many Midwest states. The fuel consumes more than 40% of the nation's corn supply, and ethanol and other biofuel production plants offer jobs in rural areas that have seen steady population declines over the decades.

President Joe Biden is among many politicians from both parties who have frequently promised to support increases in the renewable fuel standard.

“Today’s actions will help to reduce our reliance on oil and put the RFS program back on track after years of challenges and mismanagement," said EPA Administrator Michael Regan.

The Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol lobbying group, criticized the retroactive reduction of biofuels targets but said the future requirements would bring certainty back to the renewable fuel standard, help lower gas prices and set a foundation for future growth.

In the last few days, wholesale ethanol prices have been as much as $1.30 per gallon lower than gasoline, the group said.

The final order also denies exemptions for certain oil refineries from ethanol requirements, saying they had failed to show exemptions were justified under the Clean Air Act.

The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers group, which represents refineries, called the 2022 figure “bewildering and contrary to the administration’s claims to be doing everything in their power to provide relief to consumers.” The group said unachievable mandates will increase fuel production costs and keep consumer prices high.

The Biden administration also announced Friday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture would provide $700 million to support 195 biofuel producers in 25 states that faced unexpected market losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The money comes from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

Biden's EPA finalizes ethanol, biodiesel blending requirements, requiring largest amount on record

Donnelle Eller, Des Moines Register
Fri, June 3, 2022

The Biden administration Friday made official its requirement for how much ethanol and biodiesel the oil industry must blend into the nation's fuel supply this year, giving the renewable fuel industry several wins.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency deviated little from the proposal level announced late last year, the largest since the establishment of the Renewable Fuel Standard in 2005. Most U.S. gasoline is blended with at least 10% ethanol under the federal mandate.

Iowa is both the nation's largest ethanol producer and corn grower, with about half the crop going to make the renewable fuel.

It also leads the nation in making biodiesel and is the second-largest grower of soybeans, a major feedstock for the fuel.

President Joe Biden announces the elimination of restrictions on E15, allowing the 15% ethanol blend of gasoline to be sold year-round, at POET Bioprocessing, on Tuesday, April 12, 2022, in rural Menlo, Iowa.

The EPA said the decision on the standard reflects "the Biden administration’s commitment to reset and strengthen the RFS, bolster our nation’s energy security, and support homegrown biofuel alternatives to oil for transportation fuel."

Supporters hailed the decision, which comes at a time when gas prices have skyrocketed. In Iowa, the Friday median gas price was $4.493 a gallon, nearly 60% higher than a year earlier, according to AAA Gas Price.

The renewable fuels industry says gas blended with 15% ethanol, called E15, can cut pump prices by nearly 60 cents a gallon in some parts of the country. President Joe Biden visited an Iowa ethanol plant in April to announce he was lifting disputed smog-related restrictions on the summer sales of E15 to help cut gas prices

More: A new Iowa law will require more gas stations to carry E15. Can I use it? Will it save me money?

Also, a recent study shows that corn-ethanol has 46% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline.

"More ethanol in the fuel supply saves Americans money at the pump and lowers greenhouse gas emissions," said Chris Edgington, an Iowa farmer and National Corn Growers Association's board president.

“President Biden understands the important role the biofuels industry plays in supporting Iowa farmers and rural communities while reducing the price at the pump for consumers,” U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne, an Iowa Democrat, said in a statement.

"By requiring petroleum refiners to blend larger volumes of low-cost biofuels like ethanol, today’s actions will put downward pressure on gas prices and provide economic relief to American families facing record-high pump prices," Renewable Fuels Association CEO Geoff Cooper said in a statement.

MORE: President Joe Biden in Iowa OKs more ethanol use to cut gas prices, pitches plan to improve rural America

But Chet Thompson, CEO of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, said the blending requirement for this year is "contrary to the administration’s claims to be doing everything in their power to provide relief to consumers."

"Unachievable mandates will needlessly raise fuel production costs and further threaten the viability of U.S. small refineries, both at the expense of consumers," Thompson said.
Announcement also include denial of refinery exemptions

The EPA, after gathering comments since releasing it proposed blending requirements in December, said Friday it will require refiners to blend 20.77 billion gallons of ethanol, biodiesel and other renewable fuel this year.

Additionally, the oil industry must blend 250 million more gallons of renewable fuel, both this year and next, after a federal court found the Obama administration inappropriately reduced the 2016 blending requirements.

The agency also denied roughly 70 exemptions for small refineries, many of which had been granted under former President Donald Trump.

More: Verbio launches $115 million renewable natural gas, ethanol plant in Nevada; touts bigger plans

“The Biden EPA is to be commended for restoring sanity to the refinery exemption program,” Monte Shaw, the Iowa Renewable Fuel Association's executive director, said in a statement. “These exemptions have never been justified and were simply being used to illegally undermine the RFS. We are grateful this long nightmare is over.”

Shaw, however, said he's concerned about the EPA's decision to retroactively scale back the blending requirements for 2020 and 2021, although the agency did increase last year's requirement by 320 million over December's proposal.

More: Chevron plans to buy Ames-based biodiesel company Renewable Energy Group for $3.15 billion

The EPA attributed the reduction in the blending requirements to widespread travel shutdowns during the coronavirus pandemic, which drastically reduced fuel demand.

“We cannot ignore that today’s final rule creates uncertainty," Shaw said. "Any of these numbers that look good today could be revised downward in the future."

But Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy, a Washington, D.C., biofuels advocacy group, said the Biden's administration final rule "sends a positive signal" as the EPA works to set new guidelines for 2023, when the federal mandate will no longer outlines blending requirements.

Donnelle Eller covers agriculture, the environment and energy for the Register. Reach her at deller@registermedia.com or 515-284-8457.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: EPA announces renewable fuel standard, key figure for Iowa corn, ethanol

WHIPSAWING

John Deere is moving its tractor cab production from Waterloo to Mexico



Donnelle Eller, Des Moines Register
Fri, June 3, 2022

Farm and construction equipment manufacturing giant Deere & Co. said Thursday it's moving tractor cab production from its Waterloo plant to Mexico, given a tight labor market and the need to make way for new products at the northeast Iowa plant, its largest.

The company said it plans to transfer the operations to its components plant in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, in 2024.

"The decision to move cab production ensures the company can balance workforce needs within the tight labor market, while also ensuring Waterloo can open up floor space to manufacture new products," the company said in a statement.

Deere declined Thursday to say what kind of new products might be produced at the Waterloo plant.

The number of employees affected will depend on production volumes and employee attrition over the next two years, as well as new product program needs, the statement said.

More: John Deere introduces Iowa-built driverless tractor, touted as the next revolution in agriculture

Without attrition, about 250 workers could lose their jobs. The plant employs about 1,500 people, including 1,100 production workers.

Leaders at United Auto Workers Local 838, which represents about 3,000 workers in the Waterloo metro area, many of them Deere employees, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Any possible job loss, especially high-paying positions like those at Deere, worries Iowa Rep. Ras Smith, a Democrat who represents Waterloo.

"It's disappointing to see jobs leave the state, let alone the country," Smith said.

Deere is a major Waterloo and Iowa manufacturing employer. Based in Moline, on the Illinois side of the Quad Cities, it has more than 6,600 workers in Iowa, with large plants in Ankeny, Davenport, Dubuque, Ottumwa and Paton, in addition to Waterloo.

Smith, who's not seeking reelection, said Deere has provided many Iowa families, including his own, a pathway to a better life.

"Many of us grew up playing with green tractors because our moms and dads worked there," said the lawmaker, whose father, L.C. Smith, worked 43 years for Deere before retiring.

"It's helped a lot of families move into middle class," he said.

He said he hoped the UAW's five-week strike at Deere plants last fall played no role in the company's decision.

MORE: John Deere employees approve third contract proposal, ending their five-week strike

About 10,100 striking UAW members shut down production in Iowa, Kansas and Illinois before workers approved a new six-year contract in November. They had rejected two earlier offers in the largest labor action in Iowa in decades.

Union members gained improved hourly wages and retirement benefits. At the low end of the pay grade, workers earn about $22 an hour, and at the top end, they're paid $33.

Deere said in an email that the strike — the first at the company since 1986 — was not a factor in its decision.

Access to a ready supply of workers was likely a key concern in Deere's decision to shift production, said Peter Orazem, an Iowa State University labor economist.

A year ago, Deere said it would hire dozens of workers at its Iowa plants if the company could find them, given booming farm and construction economies and increased equipment demand.

Orazem said the percentage of Iowans willing to work has failed to recover at the same rate as the nation's since the 2020 global pandemic hit. Iowa had roughly 61,000 fewer people either working or looking for work in April compared to October 2019, U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics show.

In that month, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Iowa's labor participation rate was at a decade high of 70.6%, compared to 67.4% in April.

Iowa's unemployment rate was 3% in April, 15th in the nation, when the overall U.S. unemployment rate for the month was 3.6%.

Iowa employers have looked to immigrants to help boost a workforce that skews older than the nation's, Orazem said. But that's been difficult, both because of COVID-19 restrictions on movement of people and goods across borders and tighter U.S. immigration policies.

Smith, the state lawmaker, said Iowa also may not seem welcoming to workers, with a new law that reduces unemployment benefits and restrictive social legislation, such as another new law that forbids participation by transgender girls in female school sports teams. "Parents aren't going to want to come here if they have a trans daughter or son," he said.

He said Iowa will need to work harder to attract workers to the state or face the possibility that more companies may look to move operations.

"The pool of workers is shrinking. That doesn't bode well for companies that want to expand," he said.

But Debi Durham, the Iowa Economic Development Authority's director, said a tight labor market is "not unique to Iowa."

"But we’re in a better position than most states. Our economy is growing and we’re seeing more people return to the workforce," Durham said in an email.

She credited Gov. Kim Reynolds for "turning our unemployment system into a re-employment system" as well as supporting worker training and businesses' adoption of technology that improves productivity.


This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Deere plans to move tractor cab production from Iowa to Mexico in 2024

Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere soars to levels not seen for millions of years, NOAA says

Doyle Rice, USA TODAY
Sat, June 4, 2022,

The amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere is now more than 50% higher than pre-industrial times – and is at levels not seen since millions of years ago when Earth was a hothouse ocean-inundated planet, federal government scientists announced Friday.

“Carbon dioxide is at levels our species has never experienced before,” said Pieter Tans, senior scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Global Monitoring Laboratory.

The burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas releases "greenhouse" gases such as carbon dioxide and methane into Earth's atmosphere and oceans. The emissions have caused the planet's temperatures to rise to levels that cannot be explained by natural factors, scientists say.

Just in the past 20 years, the world's temperature has risen about two-thirds of a degree Fahrenheit, NOAA said.

According to NOAA, these rising temperatures have unleashed a cascade of weather impacts, including episodes of extreme heat, drought and wildfire activity, as well as heavier precipitation, flooding and tropical storm activity.

University of Illinois climate scientist Donald Wuebbles said that without cuts in carbon pollution “we will see ever more damaging levels of climate change, more heat waves, more flooding, more droughts, more large storms and higher sea levels.”

A man wades into the ocean at sunset on June 22, 2021, in Newport Beach, Calif. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Friday that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in May averaged 421 parts per million, more than 50% higher than pre-industrial levels.

Levels of carbon dioxide continue to rise, when they need to be falling, scientists say. This year’s carbon dioxide level is nearly 1.9 parts per million more than a year ago, a slightly bigger jump than from May 2020 to May 2021.

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, carbon dioxide levels were consistently around 280 ppm for almost 6,000 years of human civilization, NOAA said. Since then, humans have generated an estimated 1.5 trillion tons of carbon dioxide pollution, much of which will continue to warm the atmosphere for thousands of years.

NOAA said carbon dioxide levels in the air in May have reached a point last known when Earth was 7 degrees hotter, millions of years ago.

FACT CHECK: Climate change measured in decades, day to day temperature fluctuation common

The slowdown from the pandemic did cut global carbon emissions a bit in 2020, but they rebounded last year.

"It's depressing that we've lacked the collective willpower to slow the relentless rise in CO2,” said geochemist Ralph Keeling of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. “Fossil fuel use may no longer be accelerating, but we are still racing at top speed toward a global catastrophe.”

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Earth carbon dioxide at levels not seen for millions of years: NOAA

Sky high: Carbon dioxide levels in air spike past milestone


SETH BORENSTEIN
Fri, June 3, 2022

The amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has shot past a key milestone -- more than 50% higher than pre-industrial times -- and is at levels not seen since millions of years ago when Earth was a hothouse ocean-inundated planet, federal scientists announced Friday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said its long-time monitoring station at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, averaged 421 parts per million of carbon dioxide for the month of May, which is when the crucial greenhouse gas hits its yearly high. Before the industrial revolution in the late 19th century carbon dioxide levels were at 280 parts per million, scientists said, so humans have significantly changed the atmosphere. Some activists and scientists want a level of 350 parts per million. Industrial carbon dioxide emissions come from the burning of coal, oil and gas.

Levels of the gas continue to rise, when they need to be falling, scientists say. This year’s carbon dioxide level is nearly 1.9 ppm more than a year ago, a slightly bigger jump than from May 2020 to May 2021.

“The world is trying to reduce emissions, and you just don’t see it. In other words, if you’re measuring the atmosphere, you’re not seeing anything happening right now in terms of change,” said NOAA climate scientist Pieter Tans, who tracks global greenhouse gas emissions for the agency.

Outside scientists said the numbers show a severe climate change problem.

“Watching these incremental but persistent increases in CO2 year-to-year is much like watching a train barrel down the track towards you in slow motion. It’s terrifying," said University of Wisconsin-Madison climate scientist Andrea Dutton. “If we stay on the track with a plan to jump out of the way at the last minute, we may die of heat stroke out on the tracks before it even gets to us.”

University of Illinois climate scientist Donald Wuebbles said without cuts in carbon pollution “we will see ever more damaging levels of climate change, more heat waves, more flooding, more droughts, more large storms and higher sea levels.”

The slowdown from the pandemic did cut global carbon emissions a bit in 2020, but they rebounded last year. Both changes were small compared to how much carbon dioxide is pumped into the atmosphere each year, especially considering that carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere hundreds to a thousand years, Tans said.

The world puts about 10 billion metric tons of carbon in the air each year, much of it gets drawn down by oceans and plants. That’s why May is the peak for global carbon dioxide emissions. Plants in the northern hemisphere start sucking up more carbon dioxide in the summer as they grow.

NOAA said carbon dioxide levels are now about the same as 4.1 to 4.5 million years ago in the Pliocene era, when temperatures were 7 degrees (3.9 degrees Celsius) hotter and sea levels were 16 to 82 feet (5 to 25 meters) higher than now. South Florida, for example, was completely under water. These are conditions that human civilization has never known.

The reason it was much warmer and seas were higher millions of years ago at the same carbon dioxide level as now is that in the past the natural increase in carbon dioxide levels was far more gradual. With carbon sticking in the air hundreds of years, temperatures heated up over longer periods of time and stayed there. The Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets melted over time, raising sea levels tremendously and making Earth darker and reflecting less heat off the planet, Tans and other scientists said.

Scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography calculated levels a bit differently based on time and averaging, and put the May average at 420.8 ppm, slightly lower than NOAA’s figure.

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Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears

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