UNWRA funding cuts hasty and reckless

The speed with which a bunch of Western countries, including Canada, have frozen funding for UNWRA - after allegations by Israel that some of its workers are indicated in the October 7th 2023 Hamas attack, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 Israelis and the taking of 240 hostages - has been mind-boggling.

UNWRA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, is the UN agency doing the vast majority of the relief work in Palestine, and has been since 1948. Cutting off its funding - "pending an inquiry" - is to cut off the vast majority of the humanitarian assistance that is the only thing stopping Israel from completely wiping out the Palestinian people. Over 2 million suffering people in the besieged enclave have suddenly had the rug pulled out from under them, while Israel continues to wage its war on them.

According to Israel - and there's a big caveat, right there - 12 members of the UNWRA team on the ground are alleged to have had a hand, in some unspecified way, in the Hamas attacks. 9 of these named individuals have been summarily dismissed from the service, one has died in the conflict, and two others are awaiting more identification details.

So, 12 individuals out of the estimated 13,000 UNWRA staff (less than one tenth of a percent) are alleged - and notice the word "alleged"; I'm not sure what hard evidence, if any, has been presented -  to have done bad things. The 13,000 employees are almost all Palestinians, so the most surprising thing may be how FEW  of them are hardline Hamas supporters. And this is enough for ten major UN donors to completely cut their funding, overnight. The agency can survive for literally weeks without regular infections of funding.

To name names, the thirteen countries who have cut teir funding so far are: USA, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, UK, Italy, Australia, Estonia, Finland, Japan, Austria, and Romania, almost all of whom are in the top 20 or so donors to the agency. France and the EU are reviewing their options. Notably, Ireland, Spain, Luxembourgband Norway have said they will NOT cut funding due to the crucial work the agency does to help displaced Palestinians.

The UN and WHO have, obviously enough, strongly criticized the funding cuts, but so have many other experts in international relations and humanitarian aid, including several retired Canadian foreign service diplomats. As one pointed out, "This is pretty much the definition of collective punishment", the very thing that Israel is accused of with its continuing military overreach. It has also been pointed out that UNWRA shares its staff list with Israel every year, and has never heard any concerns about specific staff members, until now...

For a government that can take years to grind to a decision on some things, this precipitate and poorly-considered move is a shockingly fast response. Review Israel's claims by all means - and review it carefully, because I'm not sure I would trust such a convenient claim very far - but don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake. Holding humanitarian aid to ransom is not cool.

UPDATE

Pierre Poilievre, of course, never knowingly undersold, has vowed to cut finding to UNWRA completely if he ever gets voted in as PM, on the grounds it is a "terrorist organization". The guy doesn't really do moderation or nuance.

How to save the northern white rhino

I knew that the white rhinoceros was an endangered species, teetering on the edge of extinction. What I hadn't realized was that there were two subspecies - northern and southern - and that the northern white rhino was substantially more endangered than the southern.

In fact, there are only two northern white rhinos left alive anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, both of them are female: a 35-year old mother, Najin, and her 24-year old daughter, Fatu. The last male of the subspecies, Sudan, died back in 2018. Najin and Fatu are living the good life in Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, cared for around the clock and protected by armed guards. But the last two animals being females sounds like the end of the road, right?

Well, maybe not. The southern white rhino population is not exactly healthy, but they do at least number around 20,000 now, thanks to strong protection measures, captive breeding programs and, most recently, a surprisingly successful IVF (in vitro fertilization) program.

Unfortunately, for medical reasons, neither Najin nor Fatu are able to actually give birth. But the thought is that southern white rhinos are probably sufficiently similar to their northern cousins for a southern surrogate mother to bear a northern baby. An outfit called BioRescue has been creating northern white rhino embryos from Fatu's eggs and frozen sperm collected from other males before they were eradicated. The plan is to use southern surrogate mothers to host these northern embryos.

Northern white rhinos typically live to about 40 years of age, so there is a small window of opportunity to allow the two remaining animals to raise a few babies and teach them the social behaviour of their kind, but time is now of the essence. 

It's an audacious and slightly desperate plan, but these are desperate times for the northern white rhino.

Alberta's oil sands polluting much more than reported

A joint study by Environment Canada and Yale University, recently published in the journal Science, suggests that Alberta's oilsands are much more polluting than the industry is reporting.

Using data from 30 airplane overflights, the study found that, while the industry was reporting about 68 million tonnes carbon dioxide emissions a year (about 10% of all Canadian emissions), the actual figure was closer to 100 million tonnes. Which just goes to show the folly of putting the fox in change of the hen-coop.

Even more worrying, though, is the massive release of "volatile organic compounds" from the oil sands operations. These highly-reactive and potentially hazardous carbon-based chemicals are being released into the atmosphere at 20 to 63 times higher rates than the official modelled estimates. These emissions are about equal to the entire output of such chemicals in the whole of the rest of Canada. Very little is known about what happens when these chemicals mix and react, or how they accumulate in the environment.

The study really demonstrates just how much we don't know about Alberta's oil sands operations. But what we DO know about it is enough to call for a shut-down.

Tucker Carlson goes to Canada

So, Tucker Carlson was invited to Canada to impart some of the ultra-right wing conspiracy theorists' deep wisdom. Well, that was never going to go well, was it?

The man that even Fox News couldn't stomach was invited to speak by - you might have guessed - Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, ostensibly for Carlson to "interview her" (i.e endorse her). I guess she thought it might burnish her severely-tarnished reputation a little. And maybe it did among her die-hard supporters, those who don't really care whether her reputation is somewhat tarnished according to those liberal elites in Toronto and Montreal.

For every one else, those she would categorize as liberal elites (whatever that actually means), the visit mainly elicited yawns and eye-rolls. Smith did preface her "interview" with a disclaimer that she doesn't necessarily agree with everything Carlson says, but after that it pretty much went as you might expect - support for Alberta's oil exports to the US, and criticism of the solar power that Alberta increasingly relies on; support for 2022's trucker convoy, and amnesty for Albertans arrested during it; opposition to medical assistance in dying; opposition to our "facist" prime minister, etc, etc.

He also offered some Toronto-bashing, which went down very well with the Alberta audience. "There's one in particular that, I'm sorry to say, I think is an atrocity ... why is Toronto the face of Canada? ... why are you clustered in the crappiest places?" I'm not sure I remember Toronto being called an atrocity before. I feel suitably chastened about my home town.

Maybe Carlson needed endorsement from Smith, who right-wing Americans are increasingly familiar with? Maybe it was other way round. Maybe neither. The studio audience of rabid Albertan righties lapped it up, offering standing ovations. But did it help Ms. Smith? Probably not. Those who like her, still like her a lot. But not all Albertans do, and most of the rest of the country is distinctly suspicious of her. None of that has changed, although maybe it is a smidgeon more pronounced. A divided people a little more divided. Good job, Danielle.

Data on methane pollution now at our fingertips

I can't believe this has never been done before, but satellite surveillance by environmental intelligence company Kayrros is now identifying specifics culprits in methane pollution worldwide.

Kayrros' open-access climate data has identified the 1,300 largest methane polluters, in countries like Turkmenistan (which I have commented on before), India, Russia, Australia, and the United States, right down to the level of individual gas wells, pipelines, coal mines and waste sites.

This is essential information, and makes possible targeted reductions. The USA has recently implemented national methane monitoring and repair policies, but Kayrros's data can help keep everyone honest.

Why is Ontario rushing to the aid of a fossil fuel monopoly?

It probably comes as no surprise, but the province of Ontario has sided with the gas monopoly Enbridge as it fights back against the Ontario Energy Board's directive to force Enbridge to charge developers, not homeowners, for new natural gas hookups.

I don't really see that it makes much difference in terms of cost. Either homeowners pay for their gas hookups, or the developers pay for it and then charge the homeowners. Because you don't really think that the developers will just suck up extra costs without passing them on, do you?

In terms of policy and optics, though, the Ontario Energy Board is probably on the right side of history, given the risks of gas becoming obsolete in the coming years as communities look to reduce their carbon footprint. Forcing developers to pay for gas hookups, which is, after all, undeniably part of the process of building housing, might make them think twice and maybe opt for cleaner, more sustainable, all-electric heating, with heat pumps as the primary heating and cooling medium. 

In fact, this could save homeowners a significant amount of money, given that they would not have to pay up-front for a gas hookup, and then again later to change to a more sustainable system. (The current system, administered by Enbridge, is that new gas connections are amortized over 40 years, and recovered in the gas rates paid by all customers.) Installing a heat pump from scratch is much cheaper than a subsequent retrofit. You'd think that the province, which professes to be all about reducing housing costs, would be all over this.

You can see why Enbridge might be up in arms about this - they are the ones staring down obsolescence - but why does the province of Ontario care so much? The speed and vehemence of Energy Minister Todd Smith's reaction to the Board's ruling was breathtaking and curious in equal measure. 

Certainly, it would be all but unprecedented for a provincial government to legislate against the findings of an independent regulatory in the way that Minister Smith is threatening. Introducing bare-faced politics into what should be a purely economic and financial decision is never going to be a good idea.

It's not like Ontario has a huge gas industry to protect. Do we really need to be protecting Alberta and BC's gas industries? Shouldn't we be boosting our home-grown green electricity industry instead?

I've never really understood it, but it seems that Conservative governments the world over automatically back the oil and gas industry, even when it just makes no sense. What exactly are they trying to conserve? The environment of the planet? Natch. The status quo? Apparently. 

Conservatives, almost by definition, do not like change. But change is exactly what we need at this juncture. So, they really need to get over themselves, and wise up to the writing on the wall.

To those who want to see EVs fail

I'm copying this partially from an earlier post that went off at a tangent, because I do believe that it's important.

There is a lot of misinformation, disinformation, and just plain lazy information out there regarding electric vehicles (EVs). There are an awful lot of people who just want to see EVs fail (all over again) for various reasons, and they are doing their best to diss and miss them wherever possible. Most of it, though, is spurious, and it behooves us to rectify the misinformation wherever possible.

So, here are just a few of the spurious claims being levelled against zero-emission vehicles, with links to some "alternative facts", or to some of my previous posts that consider the issues in more detail:

• EVs do not have enough range, and you will be constantly suffering from range anxiety. In fact. EV range is not an issue these days, and it is improving all the time.
• EVs are expensive and you will never recoup the upfront costs through cheaper fuel. Nope. By some calculations, they will start to save you money after just a couple of years, and prices will continue to fall as demand increases.
• There aren't enough charging stations, and those that do exist are unreliable. There is an element of truth to this one, but, while reliability is still a problem with public charging ports, the number of charging stations is increasing rapidly, and anyway most EV owners do most of their charging (80%) at home. 
• EVs are dangerous and they can burst into flames. Actually, they don't spontaneously burst into flames with great regularity (much less frequently than gas cars, in fact). 
• Electric vehicles are a bigger environmental threat than ICE cars because of the raw material mining required. No, EVs are not actually an environmental disaster covered up by the radical eco-warrior caste. This is further confirmed by a FactCheck.org report, quoting US Department of Energy data. And anyway, the scale of lithium mining (both now and even in some potential future EV utopia) is tiny compared to other metal mining.
• There is no plan for the disposal of EV batteries and they will be a significant environmental hazard (on a par with nuclear waste, if you believe some people). In fact, dead EV batteries are unlikely to be a major problem, and lithium-ion batteries are at least 90% recyclable (this according to JD Power). 
• EV batteries don't last very long, and you can expect to replace to them after a few years. Er, no, it turns out that only 1.5% of EV batteries have been replaced, and the vast majority outlive the car itself.
• All this electricification will "break the grid", won't it? No, it won't. People have been looking into this for years, and many solutions have presented themselves. Besides, what's the alternative?
• And, finally, EVs are not able to cope with cold weather (a favourite trope just recently). Yes, EV range goes down in cold weather, no surprise there, but so does the range of regular gas vehicles and they may fail even more than EVs, according to Norwegian data, and a new generation of batteries is expected to reduce the problem still further.

And finally finally, no-one has ever said that electric vehicles are going to single-handedly save the world, but they are  a not insignificant part of the solution to climate change, and to pretend otherwise is tilting at windmills (so to speak).

Pink fairy armadillo - new Pokemon or real animal?

The pink fairy armadillo sounds like an invented animal, or a character from a kids' cartoon of or video game. But it's actually a real animal, living in the arid highlands of central Argentina.

Chlamyforus truncatus is a cute little critter, just 15cm (6 inches) long and weighing in at 100g (3.5 ounces). It probably eats mainly ants and other insects, and it lives in a burrow excavated by it disproportionately large claws, spending most of its time underground (unusual for an armadillo). 

But, other than that, its way of life in its natural habitat is poorly understood, and captive specimens tend not to live very long. In fact, so little is known about it that it is hard to assess whether it is threatened or not. However, anecdotally, fewer and fewer are being seen, and they are suffering predation from domestic dogs and cats and habitat loss from farming activities.

Setting aside its whimsical name, the animal even looks kind of unreal and made-up mainly because of its two-toned skin. In fact, it has a double layer of skin, unique among mammals, with an underneath layer of thick yellowish-white fur covered on the animal's top half by cornified scales (dead tissue forming a thickened protective layer) and osteoderms (bony plates embedded in the skin) more characteristic of other armadillo. 

So, not a new Pokemon, a pink fairy armadillo.