Welcome to the Overnight News Digest (OND) for Tuesday, December 15, 2015
OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing near 12:00AM Eastern Time. Creation and early water-bearing of the OND concept came from our very own Magnifico - respect is due.
This diary is named for its "Hump Point" video: Stronger Than You by Estelle
|
|
|
|
|
Top News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fracking plays active role in generating toxic metal wastewater, study finds
By (ScienceDaily)
|
|
|
The production of hazardous wastewater in hydraulic fracturing is assumed to be partly due to chemicals introduced into injected freshwater when it mixes with highly saline brine naturally present in the rock. But a Dartmouth study investigating the toxic metal barium in fracking wastewater finds that chemical reactions between injected freshwater and the fractured shale itself could play a major role.
. . .
"Based on barium yields determined from laboratory leaching experiments of the Marcellus Shale and a reasonable estimate of the water/rock mass ratio during hydraulic fracturing, we suggest that all of the barium in produced water can be reconciled with leaching directly from the fractured rock," says senior author Mukul Sharma, a professor of Earth Sciences. "Importantly, barium behavior allows us to understand the behavior of radium, which is very abundant in produced water and is a very real environmental concern. There has been much discussion about injection of water with lots of toxic compounds during fracking. What is less known is that produced water is hazardous waste and chemical reactions between water and the rock are likely playing a role in its formation, not simply a mixing of freshwater with natural brines in the rock."
|
|
|
Will the financial world wake up to clean energy thanks to Paris?
By Heather Smith
|
|
|
. . .
Over the years, the oil business has maintained its profitability through relaxed environmental regulations, friendly politicians, tax breaks, and yes, some at-times impressive technological R&D when it came to getting oil out of marginal oil fields. More than that, though, the fossil-fuel industry depends on an economy that believes in its future. It needs to be the kind of business that, no matter how crazy the world gets, has a reliable financial future.
. . .
What makes this especially interesting is that we’re living in almost the exact opposite of 1973. Back then, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided to collectively raise oil prices and cut output. This time around, beginning in 2014, OPEC lowered prices and flooded the market with cheap oil — partly as a way of kneecapping the shale oil boom in the United States and Canada. In summer 2014, crude was selling for $110 a barrel. A few months later it had fallen to $65. Those index funds that had divested from oil stocks out of idealism found themselves on the right side of the market.
And the price has kept falling — it’s now down to about $36. OPEC members can’t reach an agreement on price with one another, and Russia and Saudi Arabia are using oil prices to fight a proxy war over Syria, each daring the other to see how long they can keep oil prices from rising. This was not the future that reports like those produced by Carbon Tracker laid out — one where tightening environmental regulations made fossil fuels a bad long-term investment. But it was, arguably, enough to make a lot of other countries pissed off enough to reject Saudi Arabia’s attempts to weaken the Paris Agreement.
Right now, the accord is a collectively developed figment. Like Tinkerbell, it becomes more real the more that people pay attention to it. The collapse in oil prices has dampened the growth of the renewable energy sector — but it has also made the ups and downs in the solar industry look gentle in comparison. One day, TransCanada and Enbridge might thank their lucky stars that they didn’t get the chance to build the Keystone XL pipeline.
|
|
|
Canada vows 'full reconciliation' with indigenous peoples
By (BBC)
|
|
|
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pledged "full reconciliation" with Canada's indigenous peoples after a report detailed decades of abuse.
. . .
The commission found the policy was enacted because the country "wished to divest itself of its legal and financial obligations to Aboriginal people and gain control over their land and resources."
From 1840 to 1996, more than 150,000 First Nations, Metis ands Inuit children were separated from their families and placed in the government-run schools, in an attempt to rid them of their "Indian" culture.
. . .
"It is my deepest hope that this report and its findings will help heal some of the pain...The Government of Canada sincerely apologises and asks forgiveness of the Aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly," Mr Trudeau said.
. . .
He pledged that the government would enact all of the report's recommendations, beginning with the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
International |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nigerian Shia Muslims protest over military crackdown
By (BBC)
|
|
|
Shia Muslims are protesting in six northern Nigerian cities against a military crackdown they allege has left hundreds of their members dead.
. . .
Nigeria's military accuses the pro-Iranian sect of trying to assassinate army chief Gen Tukur Buratai.
. . .
Shias are minority in Nigeria but their numbers are increasing
The IMN, formed in the 1980s, is the main Shia group led by Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky
. . .
The IMN is backed by Shia-dominated Iran and its members often go there to study Sunni jihadist group Boko Haram condemns Shias as heretics who should be killed
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
USA |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Flint mayor declares 'manmade disaster' over lead-tainted water supply
By Joanna Walters
|
|
|
The city of Flint, Michigan, has declared a state of emergency over contaminated water supplies amid calls for a criminal investigation, the resignation of the state governor and a class action lawsuit that could top $1bn.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) sent 28,000 bottles of water to the city on Monday just hours before the mayor declared: “The city of Flint has experienced a manmade disaster.”
. . .
With the city in financial dire straits, the state of Michigan put Flint under emergency management from 2002 until 2004 and again in 2011, when it went into receivership. The city was being run under state-imposed emergency powers when it converted to use the local water supply in April 2014, in an effort to save money.
Initial reports of high bacterial and chemical pollutants in the water reportedly necessitated higher levels of chlorination, which then resulted in Flint violating the federal Safe Drinking Water Act during three tests in 2014. Reports also found that the treated water was more corrosive than previous supplies and caused high levels of lead to leach out of the city’s ageing pipes into the drinking supply.
. . .
Julie Hurwitz, another lawyer working on the lawsuit, said that city and state authorities had repeatedly scoffed at Flint residents and worried parents who complained that the water was making them and their children ill, only now to see the city declare an emergency.
|
|
|
|
|
Welcome to the "Hump Point" of this OND.
News can be sobering and engrossing - at this point in the diary, an offering of brief escapism:
Random notes related to this video:
Q: Favorite moments on the show so far?
. . .
REBECCA SUGAR: How to finally see Garnet and understand. For a long time I was trying to figure out the best way to show that. To introduce her to Steven and to everyone. The moment where they come together was something I was dreaming about it, dreaming about it, dreaming about it, and me and Jeff Liu teamed up storyboarding it, and I’m really proud of it.
IAN JONES-QUARTEY: And also because there has to be this whole fight, and I remember asking, “Why don’t we make it a song also?” A fight song.
REBECCA SUGAR: I was like, what should he do because it’s a fight song and a love song and a victory song all at the same time, and Estelle sang me a couple bars of “Gold.” And the theme from Fame, and I wrote it down, and then I was listening to it over and over again.
ESTELLE: It’s good. My little niece, my mom sends me videos of my family, and this is where they see me. She sent me a video one day and it’s her watching the “Stronger Than You” clip, she’s watching it and she’s like “Auntie Stell” and that makes my heart sing because they get it, they understand it. It’s watching her focus and she’s at the part where she’s fighting and going “this is who I am” and it’s so wonderful. It’s her song, and my mom is like, this is her ritual. Don’t disturb her, let her sit and watch this.
Back to what's happening:
|
|
|
|
|
Environmental |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lettuce Produces More Greenhouse Gas Emissions than Bacon Does
By Brittany Patterson
|
|
|
. . .
The reason for this is because on a per-calorie basis, many fruits, vegetables, dairy and seafood—the foods the USDA pushes in the guidelines over sugary processed food and fats—are relatively resource-intensive, the study finds. Lettuce, for example, produces three times more greenhouse gas emissions than bacon.
. . .
The researchers conducted a meta-analysis of life-cycle assessments quantifying the water, energy use and emissions for more than 100 foods. They found fruits have the largest water and energy footprint per calorie. Meat and seafood have the highest greenhouse gas emissions per calorie.
. . .
Fischbeck said the takeaway from the analysis is policymakers need to take a closer look at foods on an individual basis, especially as USDA prepares to release its 2015 Dietary Guidelines, expected in a matter of days. These recommendations will guide food purchasing for the federal school lunch program as well as form the basis for federal nutrition policy for the next five years.
. . .
Fischbeck said that even though it seems counterintuitive, the best diet for the environment would be terrible for a person's health.
"If you totally forget health, which diet would have best impact on the environment?" Fischbeck asked. "You'd eat a lot more fats and sugars."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Science and Health |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gamma rays detected from galaxy halfway across the visible universe
By (ScienceDaily)
|
|
|
In April 2015, after traveling for about half the age of the universe, a flood of powerful gamma rays from a distant galaxy slammed into Earth's atmosphere. That torrent generated a cascade of light -- a shower that fell onto the waiting mirrors of the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) in Arizona. The resulting data have given astronomers a unique look into that faraway galaxy and the black hole engine at its heart.
Gamma rays are photons of light with very high energies. These gamma rays came from a galaxy known as PKS 1441+25, which is a rare type of galaxy known as a blazar. At its center it hosts a supermassive black hole surrounded by a disk of hot gas and dust.
. . .
Measuring high-energy gamma rays at all was a surprise. They tend to be either absorbed at the source or on their long journey to Earth. When the galaxy flared to life, it must have generated a huge flood of gamma rays.
The finding also provides insight into a phenomenon known as extragalactic background light or EBL, a faint haze of light that suffuses the universe. The EBL comes from all the stars and galaxies that have ever existed, and in a sense can track the history of the universe.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Technology |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Printer giant Lexmark fires Mexico factory workers demanding $0.35 raise
By Nina Lakhani in Mexico City and Sam Thielman in New York
|
|
|
. . .
Hundreds of workers at the printer cartridge plant went on strike last week, calling for the company to increase its daily rate for experienced employees from 114 to 120 pesos – a raise of approximately $0.35.
Days later, Lexmark fired around 120 of the striking workers. Most of those dismissed had been involved in attempts to set up an independent union to advocate pay increases and improvements in working conditions.
. . .
Delgado, who has worked in factories since moving to Ciudad Juarez 30 years ago, told the Guardian: “They fired those of us who were trying to organise and fight. Nothing has changed in Juarez, we are still forced to put up with unjust and undignified working conditions. I don’t know what I will do, but I can’t work in the factories anymore.”
Lexmark’s disputes with labor have landed the firm in legal trouble domestically as well: in 2010 an LA county superior court judge found that the company’s longstanding “use it or lose it” vacation policy (which disallowed employees from rolling vacation days into the new year) was in fact illegal; a year later an appeals court ruled against the company again, though it reduced the multimillion-dollar payout on appeal.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cultural |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Last Pieces of the Destroyed Twin Towers Are Leaving New York City
By Alissa Walker
|
|
|
The memorial is finished, the tower replacing it is occupied, and the museum is open—for better or for worse. Today, several of the largest remaining pieces of World Trade Center infrastructure from the 9/11 terrorist attacks were pulled out of storage to leave New York City.
Hundreds of pieces from the site were placed in a hangar at JFK airport, where they’ve remained for 14 years. Among the recovered items being moved out today were an I-beam which recovery workers cut religious symbols out of as keepsakes, a section of antenna that sat atop one of the towers, and a damaged PATH train car.
All of these relics are destined for different locations. Although some artifacts were placed in the 9/11 museum, the Port Authority felt strongly that pieces should be shared with a wider community and have been shipped around the world. The only condition is that the pieces must be displayed publicly.
|
|
|
|
|
Meteor Blades is known to offer an enlightening Evening Open Diary - you might consider checking that out tonight if you haven't already.