Desperation, despondency, sabotage, new normal, omnicrisis, devastating, hottest, fastest, largest, historic, highest, lowest, catastrophic...
Hi,
We can’t give in to desperation, no matter what. With news from COP27, now well underway in Egypt, beginning to fill the airwaves - it's both good and bad. Despite good intentions, promises and good meetings, it's not the process we should scrutinize, but the results. With widespread distrust in the conference and its actors and doubt any progress will result, we must come to understand that we can’t keep mining fossil fuels and establish a plan to stop 95% of it. Assigning most all oil companies to the history books in the next decade or two is imperative. It is entirely possible and feasible if society and political leadership steps up to confront reality and the super powerful agents of the status quo.
If desperation includes any whisper of giving up, hopelessness or defeat, it too has to be rejected, assigned to history. Hearing a podcast the other day about the Cuban missile crisis 60 years ago gave me hope that level heads, strong leadership, the desire for peace and concern for future generations can also prevail today. But will they? I’m not blinded by the light, and see well the ruinous trajectory we are on. Most others see it, loud and clear, even including the perpetrators. There’s no giving in though to the lies and greenwashing continually bombarding our senses, news media and politics. Good on those young protesters raising the blood pressure and challenging our common sense. They've taken on desperation with hope, determination and their freedom.
If you don't behave as you believe, you will end by believing as you behave. Antonio Guterres, the UN Chief and head bureaucrat of the world, said at the opening of COP27 last Sunday, “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator. Humanity has a choice: cooperate or perish. It is either a Climate Solidarity Pact or a Collective Suicide Pact." That sounds like a desperate plea to those,eking out the last luxury before we all land squarely in the blaze.
Yet, we in Canada lag behind all our peers in GHG reductions and emit more GHGs per capita than almost anyone else in the world. In the Canadian north peoples’ lives are being turned upside down, being forced to change from a way of life from they had known for thousands of years. With the Arctic warming 4 times the already dangerous global rate, its inhabitants are being consequently and continually presented with life threatening situations. Climate heating is upsetting their way of life more than most in the world, unless of course you've recently been wiped out by a hurricane or your house and town have been flooded or burned to the ground.
The choices we make now and the changes that each one of us makes are significant. Every burnt barrel of oil may not affect us immediately but adds to the momentum and locked in future of global climate heating for hundreds of years. It's not the result we are looking for.
We know, though, that it’s not just those living in the far North being affected. I read this yesterday in an email from Fodor’s Travel:
“Maybe the world is trying to tell us to slow down. So far this year, we’ve clocked 29 climate-related disasters that have each caused more than a billion dollars worth of damage, from a catastrophic “monsoon on steroids” in Pakistan to a pair of hurricanes that swept away bridges and homes in Puerto Rico and Florida, and record heat waves and drought that killed thousands of people and agricultural crops across Europe. The latter even exposed “hunger stones,” rocks engraved to mark low water levels during historic droughts. A circa 1900 inscription on one in Děčín, along the Elbe River in the northern Czech Republic, reads, “If you see me, then weep”—an ominous reminder that no pocket of the planet has gone untouched by climate change.”
Weeping yet or not, read on in today’s Planetary Health Weekly
(#45 of 2022):
- CLIMATE & BIODIVERSITY CRISES UPDATES:
- Russia’s Ukraine invasion and climate change go hand in hand,
- Mobilizing public health action on climate change in Canada,
- We cannot adapt our way out of climate crisis,
- Can a holiday help deliver on global goals?
- Green travel: the low-cost rail firms taking on Europe’s airlines,
- Addressing agricultural emissions key to green production in Vietnam,
- Greenwashing debunked in 11 FortisBC gas claims,
- William Shatner: My trip to space filled me with sadness,
- CORONAVIRUS UPDATES:
- Will Covid reinfections wear down our immunity?
- Hundreds of Canadians are still dying of Covid-19 every week – who are they?
- Study sheds new light on the risk of rare blood-clotting condition after Covid-19 vaccination,
- Menstrual cycles disrupted by Covid and vaccines,
- Chinese authorities race to contain new waves of dire and complicated’ outbreaks,
- China’s zero-Covid policy leaves experts at a loss with no definite end in sight,
- Regular exercise may improve the effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines,
- Hong Kong study shows early use of antiviral drugs cuts risk of death in Covid-19 patients, THEN
- PHW Blog - Milner on Biodiversity: "Beyond forest loss (part 2), "
- Lebanon cholera: ‘we’re afraid of everything now,’
- The shoddy conclusions of the man shaping the gun-rights debate in the USA,
- The war in Ukraine is fuelling antimicrobial resistance,
- This plastic alternative breaks down into sugar,
- The Volvo Group commits to the Science Based Targets initiative,
- Covid-19 isn’t done with us yet,
- Fighting for a shot: Why South Africa’s plans to make continent’s first Covid-19 vaccine may upend a broken global system,
- Equity-in-practice: Arrow Big Smoke, RN,
- Quote by Brazil’s President-elect Lula on fighting the climate crisis and protecting the Amazon,
- New event: World Ocean Summit Asia-Pacific - Harnessing the Changing Tides, in Singapore, November 29-30,
- Season 2 of Africa Forward (podcasts),
- Decarbonization of shipping: the challenges of getting into action & Decarbonizing shipping one bite at a time through ‘green corridors & Climate change and cruise ships: can Venice survive the rising tides?
- Thousands of workers evicted in Qatar’s capital ahead of World Cup,
- How the U.K. is winning the race against climate change – while Canada has fumbled every climate promise,
- New book: COVID-19 and Ethics in Canada: The Failure of Common Decency by Jon Parsons,
- At UN leaders confront Covid’s impact on global education, and lastly
- ENDSHOTS of Celebrating 69 Years on the Hardwood Lookout Trail, Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario
Do read on and enjoy the newsletter. Best, david
David Zakus, Editor and Publisher
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COMMON MERGANSER DUCKS ON WHITEFISH LAKE |
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IN COMPLETE SOLIDARITY WITH UKRAINE SEEKING PEACE AND VICTORY |
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AND WITH THE BRAVE PROTESTERS IN IRAN |
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CLIMATE & BIODIVERSITY CRISES UPDATES |
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Credit: Carnegie Europe
What are the intersections between the Ukraine crisis and climate transitions at the moment?
François Gemenne: There are many. I think we need to distinguish two clusters. The first one is that our dependence on Russian imports has put us in a situation of vulnerability like this. Thankfully, I’m not in the head of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, but I think that if he made the decision to invade Ukraine, it’s because he did bet on the fact that sanctions against him, or against Russia, would be light, given the huge dependence of European energy systems to Russian gas in particular. Clearly, if we had anticipated this some twenty years ago, I think we wouldn’t have been in that situation today.
Then the second cluster is the fact that the war itself, and the reactions to the war and the sanctions, will have long-lasting impacts on the energy future of European countries. First, some countries are willing to completely reverse their energy policies. And that is the case in Germany, but to a lesser extent in some other countries as well. Second, because some major investments in fossil fuel projects are being denounced or abandoned. We’ve seen British Petroleum and Shell abandoning major projects in fossil fuels, and maybe that would be a kind of game changer to accelerate either the transition toward renewable energies or possibly also to revive the nuclear energy sector. And probably a bit of both.
Olivia Lazard: I also think that we really need to look at the geostrategic relevance of Ukraine.
It is one of the massive breadbaskets of Europe. It is one of the countries that has long been central to global food markets. Just before the Arab Spring, there were a number of climate disruptions in Argentina, Ukraine, and Canada that led the price of food staples to skyrocket, which then cascaded into a number of vulnerable regions—specifically the Middle East and the North African region, which exacerbated preexisting grievances between people and their governments. This ignited a social revolution and the complete geopolitical change of map in the Middle East and North Africa.
We’ve heard Putin say that he intends to have Russia benefit from the climate crisis by opening up new trade routes, new agricultural lands, and being a breadbasket powerhouse for the global economy in the future. Putin is trying to hoard agricultural lands for Russia’s food security, thereby also increasing the world’s future dependence on Russia in agricultural markets.
And then there is another point that I find is really missing from the current conversation. In 2021, the European Union struck a partnership with Ukraine on supply chains for critical materials that are necessary for decarbonization and for digitalization. So Russia’s invasion of Ukraine can be seen as an attempt to hoard mineral resources in addition to agricultural ones by gaining access to mineral resources outside of its territory.
Read more at: CarnegieEurope
SEE ALSO:
At Government of Canada: Mobilizing Public Health Action on Climate Change in Canada
This report is a roadmap for public health systems to navigate climate-health action. It offers tangible ideas and explores opportunities to build on and expand current public health functions, including health protection and promotion, population health surveillance and risk assessment, and emergency preparedness and response. Used together, these functions can support a broad range of actions to prevent health impacts and inequities due to climate change, effectively respond to unavoidable impacts, and promote health in a changing climate. This includes:
- Advocating for action on the determinants of health that impact climate vulnerability (e.g., policies to support affordable and safe housing, promoting self-determination and self-governance for Indigenous Peoples);
- Assessing the health risks of a changing climate and projecting future risks and impacts on communities (e.g., identifying populations or places that are particularly vulnerable to extreme heat or other weather events);
- Tracking climate-sensitive infectious diseases (e.g., Lyme disease, West Nile virus) and disease vectors (e.g., ticks, mosquitos);
- Monitoring water systems, food-borne diseases, and air quality;
- Communicating with the public about the health risks of climate change and during climate-related emergencies;
- Supporting programs that are led by communities to adapt to a changing climate;
- Identifying and implementing community supports for populations impacted by climate-related emergencies (e.g., mental health supports, cooling centres).
At The Guardian: We cannot adapt our way out of climate crisis, warns leading scientist
At Economist: Can a holiday help deliver on global goals?
At Positive News: Green travel: the low-cost rail firms taking on Europe’s airlines
At Vietnam Plus: Addressing agricultural emissions key to green production in Vietnam
At Tyee: Greenwashing Debunked in 11 FortisBC Gas Claims
FortisBC is a regulated utility that largely provides fossil gas to around 1.1 million customers across British Columbia (B.C.). in 135 different communities via 50,000 kilometres of pipelines.
Watching videos on FortisBC’s YouTube page, you might get the idea the company is advertising spa services. Shots of laughing children playing sports are overlaid with aerial shots of water flowing over hydro dams and cows contemplating life while taking in the sunset from a grassy field.
You don’t need to visit YouTube to view them — these soothing ads are found across every platform in B.C. The croaking “rrreeeebates” frog on the radio, pictures of people hiking on social media and full-page sponsored articles in local magazines.
There’s just one problem: it’s all greenwashing, according to several experts.
To separate advertising from reality, and fact from fiction, The Tyee asked those experts to list their greenwashing allegations and asked FortisBC for a rebuttal.
Not all of the greenwashing FortisBC benefits from is generated by the utility. American ad campaigns from the ’30s were first responsible for the foundation of the broad understanding of the product today — the fact it’s referred to as “natural gas,” for example.
But many FortisBC ads present the product as an environmentally friendly energy source and feature laughing families cooking over gas appliances together. And FortisBC presents its product, a fossil fuel, as a key part of the global energy transition towards a lower carbon economy.
At Variety: William Shatner: My Trip to Space Filled Me With Sadness
So, I went to space.
Our group, consisting of me, tech mogul Glen de Vries, Blue Origin Vice President and former NASA International Space Station flight controller Audrey Powers, and former NASA engineer Dr. Chris Boshuizen, had done various simulations and training courses to prepare, but you can only prepare so much for a trip out of Earth’s atmosphere! As if sensing that feeling in our group, the ground crew kept reassuring us along the way. “Everything’s going to be fine. Don’t worry about anything. It’s all okay.” Sure, easy for them to say, I thought. They get to stay here on the ground.
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SARS-CoV-2 & COVID-19 UPDATES |
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The pandemic continues all over the world and is now complicated by seasonal flu and RSV (most common in children). However, information about Covid-19's prevalence and outcomes is increasingly hard to find, and many erroneously feel it's over. It is not. Covid is still a life threatening disease associated with many complications and infecting and killing many. It's appearing to be plateauing; will this become the new norm? Collective action, data reporting and leadership have all but disappeared.
Over the last week, cases are down by about half to 350,000/day (though this is under-reported); deaths continue on at about 1400/day; and vaccinations are down about 20% to near 1.4 million/day - with way too many not still not immunized, including getting boosters, especially among those 60+ (see charts below).
Vaccination, despite ongoing concerns about waning immunity and huge slander against it, along with other proven public health measures, remain the best ways to keep yourself and others safe from serious consequences. Get all the shots/boosters you can, and practise other public health measures (like masking) especially indoors with crowds.
See below too for a few global stats and current hotspots:
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"It is the plague in seemingly all sincerity." Bob Woodward |
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Credit: Shutterstock.
Nearly three years into the pandemic, it’s clear early expectations about the behaviour of the coronavirus and its toll on our bodies have proven overly optimistic.
Recall those early days when experts broadly assumed that once we’d withstood an infection our immune systems would adjust and fully resist another reinfection.
And then hopes rose that mass vaccination would provide the path out of the pandemic. Although vaccines did reduce deaths and hospitalizations, the effort failed to produce herd immunity.
But researchers saw further promise in what they called hybrid immunity: people who had been infected with COVID and then received mRNA vaccines would, it was assumed, develop a formidable protection through raised levels of antibodies (proteins made by the immune system to battle infection).
However variants emerged, capable of evading those antibodies. Many people who had been vaccinated or already had endured a bout of COVID were experiencing “breakthrough infections.” What could put the brakes on this ever-evolving virus, which can kill, damage organs and linger for months? Read more at Tyee
SEE ALSO:
At CBC: Hundreds of Canadians Are Still Dying Of COVID-19 Every Week. Who Are They?
At News Medical Life Science: Study Sheds New Light On The Risk Of Rare Blood-Clotting Condition After Covid-19 Vaccination
At National Geographic: Menstrual Cycles Disrupted By Covid Vaccines
Women getting COVID were not told. Women getting COVID vaccines were not told.
Both the coronavirus and the protection against it really mess up menstrual cycles. For artist Raven La Fae, long after suffering through the virus and getting vaccines, her periods have not returned to normal—sometimes lasting up to 13 days a month.
“When COVID started, we were worried about people dying, so other things were overlooked,” says Yale obstetrician Hugh Taylor. The omission created fear, because women have been told menstrual changes could signal a hormonal imbalance, or even cancer. Why did menstrual cycles change? And why did this news take so long to get out?
At SCMP: Coronavirus: Chinese Authorities Race To Contain New Waves Of ‘Dire And Complicated’ Outbreaks
At SCMP: China’s Zero-Covid Policy Leaves Experts At A Loss With No Definite End In Sight
At Washington Post: Regular Exercise May Improve The Effectiveness Of Coronavirus Vaccines
Regular exercise could amplify the benefits of your next coronavirus vaccination or booster, even if you schedule your shot weeks or months from now, according to a new study of the effects of regular physical activity and vaccines.
The study, which involved almost 200,000 men and women in South Africa, found coronavirus vaccination effectively prevented severe illness in most of them. But it worked best in people who exercised regularly. They wound up about 25 percent less likely to be hospitalized with covid than sedentary people, although everyone received the same vaccine.
“I think this study adds to the growing evidence that, along with vaccination, daily physical activity is the single most important thing you can do to prevent severe COVID-19 outcomes,” said Robert Sallis, a family and sports medicine doctor at the Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center in California and former president of the American College of Sports Medicine. He has researched Covid and exercise but was not involved with the new study.
At SCMP: Hong Kong Study Shows Early Use Of Antiviral Drugs Cuts Risk Of Death In Covid-19 Patients
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Three charts below from Dr. Isaac Bogoch on Twitter (@BogochIsaac) November 8, 2022 |
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Beyond Forest Loss (Part 2), Blog #8 |
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Credit: Government of Canada
The UN Biodiversity Conference at Montreal in December will be concentrating on the 30:30 proposal – every country and all the seas to have 30% in ‘protected areas’ by 2030 – with as many governments as possible to ‘pledge’ support. As I indicated in a previous blog, I am unconvinced that ‘pledges’ agreed at these conferences advance actual performance at all. As it stands, many so-called ‘protected areas’ all over the world are nothing of the sort with illegal logging, wildlife poaching, destructive bottom-trawling, mining and tourism projects rife – sometimes with ‘carbon offsets’ supposedly helping compensate for the damage. What is needed is for protection to be real, and the best practice from particular sites or regions around the world followed.
As an alternative to the Montreal Conference, I’d like to suggest a ‘Montreal Fringe’. This would be a more informal gathering of indigenous community representatives, independent campaign groups like Greenpeace, Blue Marine Foundation, Amazon Watch, etc., together with reputable research institutes, and political representation restricted to countries with exemplary environmental credentials. It might then be possible to draw up some principles, ecological, political and financial, to conserve biodiversity on the ground rather than in the headlines. Taking forests as an example, perhaps a BFLA ‘Beyond Forest Loss Alliance’ could be formed (taking its cue from BOGA – Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, see my last blog) with the aim of securing serious funding and commitment from the high-emitting countries to arrest forest loss, restore and protect all the global forests: terrestrial (rainforests), intertidal (mangrove) and marine (kelp). Proposals along these lines (but involving National Governments) were, after all, proposed years ago at both the Kyoto and Paris Conferences, but nothing came of it due to inadequate political will.
Meanwhile, forest destruction has accelerated, especially in countries like Brazil where government policies have been primarily exploitative, and along coasts and offshore in many parts of the world.
One major problem that conserving biodiversity shares with the problem of global heating is a mechanism for the transfer of resources to enable the people and governments of poor countries to undertake the necessary actions to conserve and enhance their biodiversity - even basic protections against poaching and wildlife smuggling. Funds are regularly ‘pledged’ at international conferences such as Paris, Kyoto and recently COP26, but actual payments made are far short of what is required – even sums actually pledged are often overlooked. Once again there are some promising initiatives and funders like the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund have made positive moves; Mongabay reports billions contributed by the Fund for rainforest conservation over the past decade. A bilateral agreement between Indonesia and the Norwegian Government was recently signed to restrict forest loss for new oil palm plantations.
Another major problem is due to the workings of the international financial system. Many countries of the Global South are pressurised to destroy their natural environment to produce crops for export to service debts, and debt relief seems difficult to arrange – again through the lack of political will.
Meanwhile, as Cambridge University economists have recently pointed out* many nations are suffering credit downgrades due to ‘partial ecosystems collapse’ reducing economic performance ‘with grim consequences for ordinary people’ – and the whole environment.
Some years ago, ‘debt for nature’ swaps were engineered for precisely this purpose – providing local funds for conservation in countries of the Global South. If politicians and the financial community are interested in making a contribution to this global problem here is an opportunity – funding conservation and forest wellbeing rather than supporting fresh deforestation (even supposedly ‘offset’) for yet more oil palm plantations, soya fields and cattle ranches. The attack on primary forests isn’t limited to the tropics: as a BBC expose recently revealed old growth forests in British Columbia are being cut down even now to produce wood pellets for supposedly ‘green’ energy generation in English power stations – and earning government subsidies for doing so!
A different approach might be a (small) basic levy on all fossil fuels at the wellhead; or a variety of the ‘Tobin tax’ – a small levy on all financial transactions above a certain figure – say £1M, across the globe.
If next month's Montreal conference is to make any sense at all, it is the financing of global biodiversity conservation that must be the priority. Some radical ideas along these lines might be the way to make progress, but ultimately it all depends on the political will of the powerful players, and pressure from those already taking it seriously. Responsible leadership has never been more urgently needed.
Read more from Milner On Biodiversity at PHW Blogs
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Mohamad Akel arrived at the hospital with suspected cholera. Credit: BBC
Mohamad Akel can't breathe. He heaves over onto his side, retching, and begs for the water he isn't allowed to drink. He arrived at the hospital emergency ward from his home in Minyel just a few hours ago. The doctor suspects cholera. "All my body aches, I have fever and chills," he groans. "Now I really can't take anything in. If I did it would go out again from here and here." He gestures first to his mouth, and then further down. He hasn't got time for this. Mohamad is a farmer, and needs to be out working in his fields. He coughs again, rolling from side to side on the bed in pain. But he's determined to tell me who he blames.
"There is a Nobel prize for peace? Lebanon deserves the Nobel prize for failure. All of our politicians are corrupt. It's no surprise we got to this situation." The country's political failures are tightly woven into this outbreak. Despite elections in May, no new government has been formed. The national electricity grid provides just an hour of power a day, if that. The currency has lost around 90% of its value, and medicines can be hard to find. More than 80% of the population here is living in poverty. Read more at BBC
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Credit: Lia Liao
For nearly thirty years, whenever gun-rights activists have reached for data to defend their arguments, they’ve cited the work of the economist John R. Lott, Jr., who has argued that guns make Americans safer and that restrictions put them at risk. “He stands against droves of distinguished academics who have determined that the opposite is true,” Mike Spies details in a riveting and rigorously researched story, published in partnership with The Trace. “But, in the scientific debate over firearms, no one has had greater influence.” That influence has extended far beyond supplying talking points to the likes of Senator Ted Cruz or the pro-gun musician Ted Nugent: last year, when a federal-court judge overturned California’s ban on semi-automatic AR-style rifles, he referred specifically to sworn testimony offered by Lott, who said that there was no credible evidence that such bans “have any meaningful effect of reducing gun homicides and no discernable crime-reduction impact.” Through meticulous reporting, Spies examines the dangerous flaws in Lott’s research and reveals just how intertwined his arguments have become with those of the pro-gun lobby. Read more at the New Yorker
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Credit: A field hospital in the Lviv region of Ukraine. Credit: Pavlo Palamarchuk / SOPA Images / via Reuters Connect
The war in Ukraine is increasing the spread of antimicrobial resistance, said Dr. Laura Jung, a clinician and researcher on antibiotic resistance at the University of Leipzig Medical Center in Germany, during the recent World Health Summit.
"Right now in the hospital, the most resistant infections that we are seeing are people that come from Ukraine that got wounded in battles, treated in field hospitals, and then at some point made it to Germany or to central Europe,” she said. “And it's very devastating and very concerning as a clinician when you get back those lab results. … You end up very empty-handed in front of your patients.”
Antimicrobial resistance was estimated to be directly responsible for 1.27 million deaths globally in 2019, and was associated with an estimated 4.95 million deaths.
Dr. Muhammad Asaduzzaman, doctoral research fellow at the department of community medicine and global health at the University of Oslo, wrote about the link between the war in Ukraine and antimicrobial resistance in June. Read more at Devex
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Credit: Pressmaster/ Shutterstock.com
While banning plastics is an important measure for curbing pollution, replacing plastics as a practical consumer material is important.
Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne have developed a plant-based alternative for plastics that decompose into sugar. “The plastic has very exciting properties, notably for applications like food packaging,” research leader professor Jeremy Luterbacher at EPFL’s School of Basic Sciences said in a press release.
Researchers have been struggling to find an alternative to plastic with the same versatility and durability. Plastic’s low cost and ease of production also make it hard to replace. The Swiss team, though, thinks they have found a comparable alternative in their “new plastic” which is made from non-edible plant material and is similar in quality to the plastic used in water bottles. “We essentially just ‘cook’ wood or other non-edible plant material, such as agricultural wastes, in inexpensive chemicals to produce the plastic precursor in one step,” said Luterbacher. Read more at Optimist Daily
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Ferry between Skarberget and Bognes under the Midnight sun. Credit: Thomas Nilsen
The Volvo Group is taking the next step in adjusting and future-proofing the company in line with the ambitions of the Paris Climate Agreement. The ambition is that Volvo Group will be a net-zero emissions company by 2050, at the very latest. In order to be transparent on its progress, the company is now committing to the Science Based Targets initiative.
"Our commitment to future generations is well-known and the Volvo Group is doing its part in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. Being the leader in sustainable transport and infrastructure solutions is good for the company and its stakeholders, but even better for the world. With our transformation comes a responsibility to openly and transparently report our progress, now we take the next step and commit to set Science Based Targets,” says Martin Lundstedt, President and CEO of the Volvo Group.
Setting ambitious targets on the reduction of CO2 emissions is nothing new to the Volvo Group, which has been collaborating with the WWF Climate Savers program since 2010. This has been a period which has been crucial to progress knowledge and awareness on climate change mitigation. In the current program the Volvo Group has set out to save energy and reduce emissions from its own production and transports as well as from the products it sells – throughout their operational life.
- At year-end 2019, the Volvo Group had reduced CO2 emission per shipped volumes in its own freight transport system by 18% from a baseline in 2013.
- In the manufacturing operations, energy-saving projects totaling 170 GWh have been implemented since 2015. Together with an increased share of renewable energy, these have resulted in CO2 emissions from the Group’s manufacturing operations being reduced by more than 35% in 2013-2019.
- Thanks to improved fuel efficiency, customers using Volvo Group solutions have reduced CO2 emissions by 34 million tons cumulatively since 2015.
Read more at Volvo Group
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Credit: CDC
Are we burying our heads in the sand when it comes to COVID-19?
It used to be that COVID-19 was always in the news as an ever-present danger and threat to our well-being. We were inundated with public-health announcements about the advisability of wearing masks, hand-washing, social distancing, getting vaccinated and social isolation requirements should we contract this virus.
Now we rarely see or hear about COVID-19 in the media. Life is back to “normal.” We are once again travelling and going to restaurants and sporting events.
And yet, COVID-19 is still here. How many people are aware that Manitoba’s COVID-19 death toll increased by 17 in the last week in September, or that during that week 77 people were admitted to the hospital with the disease, including 13 to intensive care? Read more at Winnipeg Free Press
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FIGHTING FOR A SHOT (PART 2): |
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Why South Africa’s Plans To Make Continent’s First COVID-19 Vaccine May Upend A Broken Global System |
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Credit: TOMMY TRENCHARD/SUSAN KAO TORONTO STAR PHOTO ILLUSTRATION
As COVID-19 vaccines have flowed around the globe, the majority have been snapped up by wealthy countries, leaving billions unprotected. The fact that Africa struggled to get a consistent vaccine supply was, sadly, not surprising, Terblanche says.
“But we didn’t expect the lag time. For the first vaccine to fly to Africa was just so long after the rest of the world.”
Backed by the World Health Organization and increasingly watched by governments around the world, Terblanche and her team have made an early prototype of Africa’s first mRNA vaccine, using the same technology pioneered by Moderna and BioNTech.
Fully developing that prototype would be a huge health win for a part of the world that doesn’t yet produce very many vaccines.
But, more to the point, the next time a global pandemic requires a life-saving vaccine, the capacity that’s being created would mean Africa isn’t stuck waiting for the Global North to donate extra doses after its own populations are done with them.
The hurdles are significant. Two years after the first mRNA dose went into a volunteer’s arm, Afrigen faced the prospect of having to crack the COVID vaccine code all over again. Read more at the Star
See also at Open Society Foundations: The Quest to Boost Africa’s Fight Against COVID-19
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SPOTLIGHT ON INDIGENOUS WELLNESS |
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Equity-in-Practice: Arrow Big Smoke |
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Credit: Equity in Palliative Care
Arrow Big Smoke is a proud member of the Blackfoot Confederacy and is registered with the Piikani Nation. She is also a Registered Nurse with over 10 years of experience working in emergency care, harm reduction, and community health. Now working for Alberta Health Services, Arrow is one of three Indigenous Cancer Patient Navigators in the province. In this role, Arrow advocates and supports Indigenous clients in their cancer care journeys.
Arrow is driven by personal and professional experiences of witnessing the ongoing impacts of Canada’s colonial history. She describes how residential schools and TB sanatoriums set the stage for an approach to Indigenous people’s health that lacked consent, let alone involvement. Due to the reality of medical and intergenerational trauma, Arrow sees supporting people and their families to understand, have a voice, and be involved in medical decisions as a key part of her job. Learning from Elders and Knowledge Keepers who relay information through storytelling, Arrow notes that rushing, being preoccupied, or not being present with patients and clients can mean missing essential information to direct care. Read more at Equity in Palliative Care
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Brazilian Indigenous climate activist. Credit: Michael Dantas/AFP via Getty Images
"Let's fight for zero deforestation. Brazil is ready to resume its leading role in the fight against the climate crisis, protecting all our biomes, especially the Amazon forest... We will resume monitoring and surveillance of the Amazon, and combat any and all illegal activity—whether mining, logging, or improper agricultural occupation."
Brazilian President-Elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (aka Lula) in his first speech as president-elect (Oct. 31, 2022)
Read more at CommonDreams: 'Lungs of the Earth Will Breathe Easier Tonight': Amazon Defenders Cheer Lula Victory
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- November 6-18, 2022: COP 27 UN Climate Change Conference (Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt)
- November 15-17, 2022: Smart City Expo World Congress, 15-17 November 2022 (Barcelona, Spain)
- November 24-25, 2022: Circularity: Driving Circular Innovation (Sydney, Australia)
- November 21-23, 2022: Canadian Conference on Global Health Join us in Toronto for the 28th Canadian Conference on Global Health (CCGH). This year's hybrid event will explore the theme of: "Inclusive Global Health in Uncertain Times: Research and Practice".
- November 29-30: World Ocean Summit Asia-Pacific: Harnessing the Changing Tides in Singapore
- December 7-8, 2022: The 4th International Conference on Rare Diseases (Vienna, Austria)
- December 7-19, 2022: COP15 UN Biodiversity Conference (Montreal, Canada)
- April 14-16, 2023: CUGH's Annual Global Health Conference - Global Health at a Crossroads: Equity, Climate Change and Microbial Threats
- May 23-25, 2023: The Battery Show Europe (Stuggart, Germany).
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FYI#1 SPOTLIGHT ON MEDIA |
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Season 2 of AFRICA FORWARD |
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Credit: African Wildlife Foundation
The African Wildlife Foundation is proud to bring you Season 2 of Africa Forward, a podcast hosted by Carol Pineau and produced by FP Studios. The second season, just out, explores green infrastructure, Africa’s tremendous biodiversity, and how African-led conservation may not only help save endangered species but also the planet. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Credit: Chris Pagan on Unsplash
The green shipping transition is one of the most critical and challenging tasks the sector has ever faced. There is strong demand for the decarbonization of shipping from the general public, governments and international organizations. The debate is therefore no longer about “Must the shipping sector decarbonize or not?” but rather, “How much and at what speed?” Stakeholders within the maritime industry have become first movers and have taken clear steps towards a carbon-neutral future. They are now calling for action and demanding that the sector as a whole follow suit.
By its nature, shipping is uniquely global. A level playing field ensured by global regulation through the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is therefore crucial to avoid carbon leakage and unfair competition, both of which are roadblocks in implementing a carbon-neutral shipping sector. To move forward, we must act on different levels. The first of these is regulatory: we need a clear, ambitious target and a corresponding global regulatory framework.
With the IMO on track to decide on a revised strategic target in 2023, we believe the industry should aim for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The IMO member states need to act now to implement the required transition and, equally importantly, to send a clear message that the global maritime community is all in and stepping up to the challenge.
Yet setting the target is the “easy” part—finding the technological solutions and, in particular, facilitating the uptake of new green fuels is the real challenge. This leads to the second level we must act on: practical steps. International collaboration, as well as cross-cutting collaboration among governments, international governmental organizations, NGOs, companies and researchers, is vital to promote innovation, investments, technological development and market upscaling.
SEE ALSO:
At OceanEconomist: Decarbonising shipping one bite at a time through “green corridors”
At EuroNews: Climate change and cruise ships: Can Venice survive the rising tides?
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FYI #3 |
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Thousands Of Workers Evicted In Qatar's Capital Ahead Of World Cup |
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Credit: REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Qatar has emptied apartment blocks housing thousands of foreign
workers in the same areas in the centre of the capital Doha where visiting
soccer fans will stay during the World Cup, workers who were evicted from their
homes told Reuters.
They said more than a dozen buildings had been evacuated and
shut down by authorities, forcing the mainly Asian and African workers to seek
what shelter they could - including bedding down on the pavement outside one of
their former homes.
The move comes less than four weeks before the November 20 start of
the global soccer tournament which has drawn intense international scrutiny of
Qatar's treatment of foreign workers and its restrictive social laws.
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FYI #4 |
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How The UK Is Winning The Race Against Climate Change. While Canada Has Fumbled Every Climate Promise, The UK Has Been Hitting Its Emissions Targets. What Would It Take To Catch Up? |
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Credit: MIN GYO CHUNG
Unlike the UK, Canada has fumbled every climate pledge. Emissions here have risen by at least 21% in the three decades since 1990, during which time both Conservative and Liberal governments produced ten federal climate-action plans—the latest of which was published at the end of March—but delivered a performance that ranks last among G7 nations.
Canada’s chronic failures over the past 30 years are not lost on federal commissioner of the environment and sustainable development Jerry V. DeMarco, Canada’s environmental watchdog: “Lots of plans, lots of targets, but a frustrating lack of performance.” Had Canada managed to mirror the UK’s reductions, we would have kept the equivalent of over 6,500 megatonnes of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, equal to the emissions generated by nearly 750 million car trips around the equator.
Today, the world is full of climate change legislation. What set the U.K. one apart? To begin with, it was the first to introduce carbon budgets into law. Typically, a government would pledge to lower emissions a certain amount by a distant future date. The UK act legislated an end goal—but also the short-term carbon budgets required to get there. The act is also notable because it’s fairly agnostic about how the government of the day decides to adhere to its legally binding emissions constraints. Instead, to ensure they happen, the act included what Worthington calls an “enforcement mechanism.” A major tool in that mechanism is the Climate Change Committee.
The CCC is an independent body of experts in the areas of climate science and policy, economics, engineering and energy production. It exists to help plug gaps between ambition and performance. Committee members not only recommend to Parliament what the carbon budgets should be but also annually report on the progress made to meet them. They look at how industries are investing in renewables, for example. They scrutinize policy introduced to help that shift, including clocking the speed between the implementation of their recommendations and material results. They also forecast how infrastructure projects—an airport expansion, for example—might impact future carbon emissions.
If efforts are falling short, the CCC prescribes course corrections. If the country blows past the total carbon it is mandated to emit, the legislation has armed citizens with the ability to take the government to court. “You need that to hold their feet to the fire,” says Worthington. “The government knows it’s got to do certain things by certain dates, and if they don’t do it, they risk getting judicially reviewed.”
Canada also has a piece of climate legislation. The Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act passed in 2021, after extensive advocacy by the climate movement. Under the act, the minister of environment and climate change sets emissions targets, delivers reduction plans, and tracks the country’s progress. But, while the act promises unprecedented levels of effort in the form of planning and reporting, no emissions targets between now and 2050 are enshrined in law, as they are with the UK’s rolling carbon budgets. They also aren’t as enforceable. When Canada misses a target, the minister explains what failed and what the government will do better going forward. “It’s kind of like what a grade three teacher might ask a bad student to do if they didn’t hand in their homework on time,” says David V. Wright, an environmental law professor at the University of Calgary. Notably absent is the explicit legal language to compel the government with the threat of a lawsuit. As a result, “it’s an open question what a court would be willing to do for something that this government or a future government fails to do under the act,” explains Wright. Last year, Elizabeth May, of the Green Party, introduced an amendment to fill this gap, but with only the NDP and Bloc Québécois in support, it failed.
The Canadian version of the CCC is called the Net-Zero Advisory Body. Its remit is quite narrow. First, unlike the CCC, it does not annually review Canada’s progress toward its climate goals. Second, it reports directly to the minister of environment and climate change, instead of making its recommendations to all of Parliament, like the CCC does. Third, rather than following the CCC’s arm’s-length model of drawing on the academic and technological community for members, the NZAB reflects stakeholder groups (the current co-chair previously worked as the CEO of Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, something one senator I spoke to likened to the tobacco industry being in the operating room of a lung cancer patient).
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FYI #5: NEW NOVEMBER READING |
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"COVID-19 and Ethics in Canada: The Failure of Common Decency" by Jon Parsons |
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Credit: Book Cover
COVID-19 and Ethics in Canada maps the trajectory of the first two years of the pandemic through the lens of applied ethics. Whereas the public discussion of the pandemic often centres on data, the essays and articles that make up the chapters of this book approach COVID-19 as an issue of morality and values. A key argument running through the text is that Canada’s response to the pandemic has been a failure of ethical action. The impacts of this failure can be seen in the disintegration of social relations and the fragmentation of Canadian identity. This book offers an unflinching look at how Canada failed the test of common decency and where the country goes from here.
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FYI#6: SPOTLIGHT ON EDUCATION |
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At UN, Leaders Confront COVID’s Impact On Global Education |
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Youngest Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai. Credit: Apple TV+
With COVID-related school disruptions setting back children around the world, activists implored world leaders to prioritize school systems and restore educational budgets slashed when the pandemic hit.
The summit on transforming education, held at the U.N. General Assembly (in September) ahead of the annual leaders’ meeting, called on the world’s nations to ensure that children everywhere from sub-Saharan Africa to the United States don’t fall too far behind.
“Seven years ago, I stood on this platform hoping that the voice of a teenage girl who took a bullet in standing up for her education would be heard,” said Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, a U.N. messenger of peace. “On that day, countries, corporates, civil society, all of us committed to work together to see every child in schools by 2030. It is heartbreaking that halfway through that target date, we are facing an education emergency.”
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On the Hardwood Lookout Trail Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario |
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Photo Credits: David Zakus |
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THANKS FOR READING THE FREE
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Current News on Ecological Wellness and Global Health
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