Category: Travel

Reuters asked the 147 lawmakers if they believed Donald Trump lost because of election fraud. Most refused to say.

Just hours after the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, 147 Republicans lawmakers voted to overturn then-president Donald Trump’s election loss, following months of his baseless claims that the November U.S. election had been stolen.

Since then, remarkably few have been willing to state clearly on the record whether they believe Trump was cheated by widespread voter fraud.

Source: The Republicans who voted to overturn the election

A strategy focusing largely on boosting a firefighting force won’t save the country from climate crisis-fuelled blazes.

Source: Greece is fighting wildfires the wrong way

What might happen…..the end of the world?

The International Seabed Authority — the United Nations body that regulates the world’s ocean floor — is preparing to resume negotiations that could open the international seabed for mining, including for materials critical for the green energy transition.

Years-long negotiations are reaching a critical point where the authority will soon need to begin accepting mining permit applications, adding to worries over the potential impacts on sparsely researched marine ecosystems and habitats of the deep sea.

Here’s a look at what deep sea mining is, why some companies and countries are applying for permits to carry it out and why environmental activists are raising concerns.

Source: Victoria News

Canada calls for moratorium on deep-sea mining as International Seabed Authority debates rules on extracting minerals from the ocean floor

While a Canadian company is pushing for deep-sea mining, the federal government is joining calls for a moratorium on extracting minerals from the world’s ocean floor.

Eighteen countries, as well as financial institutions and companies, are taking positions against deep-sea mining in international waters. Canada’s July 10 statement confirms it will not support commercial extraction of minerals from the seafloor until more is known about the environmental impacts and there is a “robust regulatory regime” in place.

“Seabed mining should take place only if effective protection of the marine environment is provided through a rigorous regulatory structure, applying precautionary and ecosystem-based approaches, using science-based and transparent management and ensuring effective compliance with a robust inspection mechanism,” the government of Canada said in a joint statement from the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Natural Resources, Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.

The support for a moratorium comes as delegates and observers, including from Canada, negotiate next steps at the International Seabed Authority meetings this month in Kingston, Jamaica. The International Seabed Authority is an autonomous, intergovernmental body established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It is made up of 168 members and regulates the ocean floor beyond national jurisdiction. These waters are beyond national jurisdiction. As it stands now, there are no clear and agreed-upon extraction regulations for the industry.

“The pressure is on to protect the deep sea, and Canada’s support for a moratorium comes at a critical moment,” Nicole Zanesco, Oceans North’s International Policy Advisor, said in a statement. Oceans North, a marine conservation group, is the only Canadian observer at the meetings in Kingston.

There is still a lot to negotiate at the International Seabed Authority meetings over the next three short weeks including environmental protections, clean-up responsibilities should disaster strike, financial payment regimes for permits and how to structure contracts and enforcement mechanisms. For regulations to take effect, they must be adopted by consensus of the authority’s council, made up of 36 states.

For the first time, the international regulator is also being asked to discuss a general policy on what a pause to deep-sea mining would look like, rather than solely focus on how to allow mining. A coalition of five states — Chile, Costa Rica, France, Palau and Vanuatu — have put forward a request to discuss how to implement a “precautionary recess” of deep-sea mining.

Source: Is deep-sea mining imminent? Canada wants a pause | The Narwhal

Take every chance to debunk these six false promises destined to make most Canadians worse off.

In Pierre Poilievre, Canada has a radical free market zealot whose policies will be disastrous for the poor, working and middle classes.

Indeed, if the Conservatives are victorious in the next election, Poilievre will be the most right-wing prime minister in our modern history. Think the gutting of social welfare from the Paul Martin budgets of the early 1990s meets a supercharged dismantling of the fiscal capacity of government à la Stephen Harper.

Poilievre, to the credit of his communications team, has managed to dress up his right-wing program with populist rhetoric that resonates during a time of rising economic insecurity. But scratch the surface and the neoliberal playbook of slashing social spending, tax cuts for business and the wealthy, and abandoning people to market inequities is plain to see.

All of this provides plenty of potent talking points for those who oppose Poilievre’s bid to lead the Conservatives into power in the next election.

Source: How to Defeat Poilievre’s Politics of Abandonment | The Tyee

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, IS NOTHING short of a seafood paradise. Situated at the mouth of the formerly salmon-rich Fraser River, the city overlooks Vancouver Island to the west, and beyond that, the open Pacific Ocean. Long before it had a skyline or a deepwater port, this was a bountiful fishing ground for the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples, who still depend on its waters for cultural and spiritual sustenance as much as for food. Today, tourists come from all over the world to taste local favorites such as salmon and halibut fresh from the water. But beneath these waves, things are changing.

Climate change is an intensifying reality for the marine species that live near Vancouver and for the people who depend on them. In a new study, a team from the University of British Columbia (UBC) shows one unexpected way that climate effects are already manifesting in our daily lives. To find it, they looked not at thermometers or ice cores, but at restaurant menus.

Source: 130-Year-Old Menus Show How Climate Change Is Already Changing What We Eat

Could an enzyme responsible for breaking down and eliminating booze from our bodies also be able to help us lead longer, healthier lives? Scientists have discovered a molecular mechanism that could offer just that.

Source: Wonder enzyme may hold the key to longer, healthier lives