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Hurricane Ida adds misery to 'Cancer Alley': Part I

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In the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, the communities of the Louisiana region known as “Cancer Alley” were left to deal with destroyed homes, no electricity and polluted water — on top of the toxic air they breathe every day because of industrial pollution.

Sharon Lavigne, whose home was demolished by Ida, is the founder of RISE St. James and a 2021 Goldman Prize recipient for her work in organizing against a massive Formosa plastics plant. Lavigne lives along an 80-mile stretch between Baton Rouge and New Orleans known as Cancer Alley, which is the site of some of 150 petrochemical plants — a notorious source of toxic chemicals for locals on a normal day.

After Hurricane Ida struck, communities in the region struggled with even more polluted air and water than usual. When a hurricane is about to hit the area, petrochemical facilities have the right, as part of emergency procedures, to emit unprocessed chemicals and gases through flaring, which is basically burning them in the air.

“The chemical plants are really having a ball with this hurricane. ... They think no one is watching them right now, so they're polluting us even more on top of the hurricane."

Sharon Lavigne, RISE St. James

“The chemical plants are really having a ball with this hurricane,” Lavigne says. “They are out there polluting us even more. Before Ida, the flares were in the air, and it might have stopped; [they] might have vented it, like, on a morning or an evening. Now it's constant, all day long, and the reason why I know [is] I live 2 1/2 miles from it. And I pass there and other people pass there and they tell me. I did livestream for two or three days about this industry that’s with the flares.

I went out there for two days to take videos and to do livestreams to let the people know what's going on in St. James because the industry doesn't care. … They think no one is watching them right now, so they're polluting us even more on top of the hurricane. They are taking advantage of that and they are polluting us even more.”

Many residents of the Cancer Alley area are low income descendants of Black slaves who once toiled on the vast sugar plantations of the lower Mississippi. Their efforts to come up from slavery included the purchase of land passed down through the generations. Lavigne lives on old sugar cane plantation land bought by her grandfather in St. James Parish, on the west bank of the Mississippi River, north of New Orleans.

“Industry have bought a lot of the sugarcane land because they want that land for industry,” Lavigne says. “And a lot of people sold their land to industry because it's more money. It's more money than selling it to a resident.”

RelatedFederal judge halts Louisiana pipeline

She retired as a special education teacher to devote herself full time to environmental advocacy, in an effort to stop even more toxic industrial development in Cancer Alley. Her organization and others sued Formosa, a Taiwanese company that planned to build an ethane cracking plant nearby. The suit prompted the Army Corps of Engineers and the courts to require an updated environmental impact statement of the facility.

RelatedNew ethane cracker factories raise climate change and pollution concerns

The Formosa plant would have produced hundreds of tons of methylene dipehnyl diisocyanate (MDI)— a chemical that affects the respiratory system in humans and produces tumors in rats — along with other toxic, cancer-related pollutants such as benzene and formaldehyde. The plant would release these chemicals into adjacent residential neighborhoods.

We have people with asthma; we have people with all all types of respiratory illnesses; we have people with cancer all up and down this river. And they wanted to pollute us even more because I guess they figure that we're the area where they dump their garbage.”

Sharon Lavigne, RISE St. James

“They are gonna pollute the air even more, even though we have twelve refineries and industries in the Fifth District where I live,” Lavigne says. “They don't care. They want to add some more to us. So, once they add this industry to us, we're not going to be able to live. It's going to be too much in the air for us to breathe and live. We are having trouble breathing now. We have people with asthma; we have people with all all types of respiratory illnesses; we have people with cancer all up and down this river. And they wanted to pollute us even more because I guess they figure that we're the area where they dump their garbage.”

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and even local parish officials approved the project.

“That's the part that hurt me, because they live here with us. But they think because it's in the Fifth District on the West Bank, they think it's not going to go to the other districts,” Lavigne says. “But it will go to the other districts, it will not get to them as fast as it is getting to us, but eventually, just like we would die off from this industry, they would die off, too.”

“It's a hurtful thing to think how people just want to throw something on us because we are Black and we are poor."

Sharon Lavigne, RISE St. James

“It's a hurtful thing to think how people just want to throw something on us because we are Black and we are poor,” Lavigne continues. “And no one would speak up, no one would speak up against industry because industry have more money than we have. So, in some cases, money talks. But I don't care if I don't have any money. I'm going to fight for my community. And this is where I've been all my life. And this is where I want to stay. And I have people in this community that's backing me up.”

The new plant would be just two miles from Lavigne’s home and one mile from a church and a public school, Lavigne notes. When she discovered this she said, “No more.”

RelatedFor poor and minority children, excessive air pollution creates a toxic learning environment

She attended a community meeting and asked some of her fellow residents why they weren’t fighting to stop the plant. The governor approved it, they told her, and the parish council is going approve it, too, and once that happens it's a done deal.

“I told them, ‘We need to do something about it because we have too many. [polluting industries].’ And they said, ‘Oh, Sharon, you are wasting your time. You can't fight industry.’ So that's when I prayed. I went to God,” Lavigne says. “I left them fools alone and I went to God and I prayed and I asked God what I should do. And he told me to fight. So that's when I started to fight. I didn't know what to do to fight. I didn't know how to do this type of thing because I was never involved in environmental issues, I was never involved in anything in the parish.”

Lavigne and others formed RISE St. James in October of 2018. Then they began meeting with other organizations in the region and formed the Coalition against Death Alley.

In 2019, the group marched for five days from Reserve to Baton Rouge to protest the plant. In October, they marched again, this time for 10 days.

“It was tiresome, but we went, we did it,” Lavigne says. “We lit candles for the loved ones who died of cancer. I still have those candles in my garage. Then we went to the Capitol to see the governor. He wouldn't even come out. And he knew we were there. … He never came out. I was told he went out the back door.”

On Nov. 1, 2019, the governor came to St. James Parish for a campaign event. Environmental advocates packed the building and Lavigne and two others wore their RISE Saint James shirts. “The other members said they weren't going to wear this shirt,” Lavigne says. “They want to go dress up for a governor. And I said, ‘I don't want to dress up for a governor. I want the governor to see me, to let him know who we are, and we don't like the idea that he wants to put this industry in our community.’”

When someone approached her and asked if she would speak to the governor, Lavigne agreed.

“I said, ‘Governor, I’m asking you, would you stop Formosa? Don't let it come into our neighborhood.’ And this is what he answered me: ‘I'm going to do a health study.' I was so hurt."

Sharon Lavigne, RISE St. James

“I said, ‘Governor, I’m asking you, would you stop Formosa? Don't let it come into our neighborhood.’ And this is what he answered me: ‘I'm going to do a health study,’” Lavigne says. “I was so hurt. I was so let down because he just threw it off like it was nothing — I guess to let the people that called him know that he did speak to me. Then after that he walked away.”

Eventually, a coalition of organizations filed lawsuits against the Formosa plant. A district judge found that the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality had used obsolete data to evaluate the project’s economic impact and ordered a new review using more recent data, including an evaluation of the industries already in the area.

The lawsuit did not stop the project completely, but it was a welcome victory for environmental justice in the region. And, despite the odds, Lavigne vows to keep fighting.

This article is written by Adam Wernick, based on an interview that aired on Living on Earth from PRX.

Listen to Part II of this story here


Hurricane Ida adds misery to 'Cancer Alley': Part II

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Hurricane Ida left areas of southern Louisiana with crumbling homes and infrastructure, in a region that already suffers from pollution, as well as some of the highest cancer and COVID-19 death rates in the United States.

Sharon Lavigne, founder of the environmental justice nonprofit RISE St. James, says Ida added even more misery to the toxic environment she and her fellow residents endure along the petrochemical corridor in Louisiana known as "Cancer Alley.”

Lavigne is the 2021 North American Goldman Environmental Prize recipient for her work that so far has blocked construction near her home of a major ethane cracking plant proposed by Taiwanese plastics maker Formosa. But a lifetime of exposure to toxic chemicals has already killed some and sickened many others in the region, including Sharon herself.

“In 2016, I was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis, and I found out that it came from industrial pollutants,” Lavigne says. “And then, in 2018, I was diagnosed with aluminum in my body. And this year, I was diagnosed with lead in my body.”

The area known as Cancer Alley is home to some 150 petrochemical plants. Two of these, American Syrinix and Mosaic, a fertilizer plant, are within 2 1/2 miles of Lavigne’s home. “They have sulfur sitting up there and you could smell it when you pass by,” Lavigne says.

As part of the emergency procedures in preparation for a hurricane, industrial plants are permitted to emit unprocessed chemicals and gases through flaring. In addition, Marathon Pipeline acknowledged a release of crude oil the day after Hurricane Ida.

"One lady came from Lake Charles, she came to bring supplies, and she was gonna jump across the ditch to go on top of the levee and she stepped in some oil. They put the oil in a ditch. They don't care."

Sharon Lavigne, founder, RISE St. James

"One lady came from Lake Charles, she came to bring supplies, and she was gonna jump across the ditch to go on top of the levee and she stepped in some oil,” Lavigne says. “They put the oil in a ditch. They don't care. They put oil in Burton Lane.”

“You have poor Black people, you don’t have no white people in Burton Lane,” she continues. “People are dying. Two people died over there, one guy with respiratory problems because he can walk a few steps and go touch the tank. That's how close one of the tanks are to his house, and he died. And this other lady that was fighting with me, she died, too; she had all kinds of problems, all kinds of illnesses. … And they have this noise all day long. And they have this fuming air all day long. And these people were bombarded with all of that all throughout the day. They call me and complain. And the lady that was helping me, she died.”

RelatedQuest for racial justice in US must include environmental and climate issues, activists say

Recent studies show that people who are exposed to high levels of air pollution are more likely to die from COVID-19 than those who are not. Not surprisingly, residents of Cancer Alley are dying five times more often than the national average. Lavigne has seen this up close.

"We have so many people with cancer, so many people. I would have to take a long tablet to write down all the names of the people that I know that died of cancer and the people who have cancer right now."

Sharon Lavigne, founder, RISE St. James

“I’ve seen a lot of people that died with COVID,” she says. “I've seen more, in fact, in St. John Parish. I heard about more over there than over here in St. James. St. James have a lot, too, but St. John the Baptist have the most that I know of. And the cancer rates are very high in Cancer Alley, in St. James. We have so many people with cancer, so many people. I would have to take a long tablet to write down all the names of the people that I know that died of cancer and the people who have cancer right now. I have relatives with cancer. I have a sister-in-law that died with cancer. Two neighbors died, one on each side, died with cancer. … And one man was working in a plant, he died with throat cancer. I don't understand it. I really don’t."

RelatedPrior exposure to air pollution increases risk of death from COVID-19, new research suggests

“It’s sad, it’s really sad. It’s hurtful, it’s really hurtful, and our children have to grow up in this,” Lavigne says. “And when you move to the next town, it's not much better. From Baton Rouge to New Orleans. That's what they call Cancer Alley. It’s sad, it makes you want to cry. I've cried many days. When I found out about all these industries, I didn't know it was that bad until I started doing this work. When I found out, I said, 'How can the people sit in here and let this happen?' They didn't even try to fight to try to stop it. A lot of them are afraid, a lot of them have people that work in industry. I had two brothers that worked in the industry, I have a daughter that worked in industry, but it doesn't mean you have to pollute us and kill us and poison us.”

"I'm afraid that we’re going to die of all these chemicals and nobody do something about it. And it hurts. It hurts so bad, it really does."

Sharon Lavigne, founder, RISE St. James

"It hurts me to know that people are afraid to speak up,” she continues. “Some of them speak without the camera. I don't care if I have a camera, I don't care what it is, I’m gonna speak up. And they’re afraid for me. I'm not afraid for me. I'm afraid that we’re going to die of all these chemicals and nobody do something about it. And it hurts. It hurts so bad, it really does. And I’m gonna keep on speaking up, I’m not gonna stop. The industry will tell you they’re stopping, but they lie. And they still pollute you. They do it a different way without you knowing, but you could smell that stuff. And I'm gonna fight.”

This article is written by Adam Wernick, based on an interview that aired on Living on Earth from PRX.

Listen to Part I of this story here

Diving into infinity with South Africa’s 'Black Mermaid'

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Sodwana Bay in South Africa is one of the top diving sites in the world. Scuba divers and free divers encounter vibrant coral, schools of colorful fish, bottlenose dolphins, turtles, manta rays and sharks.

Another common sight off the waters of the bay is the “Black Mermaid” — Zandile Ndhlovu.

A shot of Zandile Ndhlovu,

A shot of Zandile Ndhlovu, "The Black Mermaid," filming for CNN's Africa Voices feature. 

Credit:

Courtesy of Bruce Buttery

Ndhlovu is not a literal mermaid, but her explosion of blue hair and comfort in the waves reflect her mermaid persona.

Related: Mermaid diving is making a splash in China 

“I definitely do identify very much as the ‘Black Mermaid’ in the physical sense,” Ndhlovu said. “When I was growing up, there [were] no mermaids that looked like me. Who would have thought that in my 30s I would officially become one.”

Ndhlovu is the first Black free-diving instructor in South Africa and the founder of the Black Mermaid Foundation, which aims to change the story of who belongs in the water by spreading awareness online and teaching school kids about the ocean.

“Free diving is when you hold your breath and you go exploring,” Ndhlovu said. “Scuba diving, you have a tank, you have air, you have time. With free diving, that tank is your lungs.”

Ndhlovu vividly recalls free diving off the coast of Sodwana Bay, in the KwaZulu-Natal province in the northwest of South Africa.

“I remember closing my eyes and diving in,” she said. “I dived with these beautiful sounds of whales. When I got to the bottom, I just remember looking around and wondering, 'where are they?' To listen to the song of whales as you dive down, it is wild. You have no breath, but you have eternity, you have infinity.”

Being the country’s first Black free-diving instructor has motivated Ndhlovu to encourage others to follow her example.

“For years here in South Africa, there was no access for Black and brown people to ocean spaces,” she said. “The best beaches — no Black people were allowed on them. Not to sit on them, not to get into the water.”

The history of apartheid and the systems of racial injustice that have perpetuated inequality in South Africa motivates Ndhlovu to encourage more people of color to engage with the water.

Ndhlovu said she is the first person in her family to be drawn to the water.

“My grandmother and I have always had a very difficult relationship around the fact that I've always taken up sports and activities that aren't necessarily traditional."

Zandile Ndhlovu, the "Black Mermaid," Cape Town, South Africa

“My grandmother and I have always had a very difficult relationship around the fact that I've always taken up sports and activities that aren't necessarily traditional,” she said.

Ndhlovu said through time, she and her grandmother have found a common understanding.

“It was the past December for the first time, she actually said to me, ‘You've been given eyes that many of us will never have. It's amazing to witness how fearless you are,’” Ndhlovu said.

Zandile Ndhlovu, enjoying freedives in the kelp forest. 

Zandile Ndhlovu, enjoying freedives in the kelp forest. 

Credit:

Courtesy of Shamier Magmoet

In the short time Ndhlovu has been diving off the coast of Sodwana Bay, she said she has noticed the environment change. For the first time, she's seen, with more frequency, coral dying and turning white — an impact of warming ocean temperatures brought on by climate change.

Related: UNESCO: Great Barrier Reef should be listed as 'in danger.' Australia

She said she also often encounters plastic pollution while diving.

“How I see my work connecting back to conservation is that, essentially, you need to experience something before you can fall in love with it.”

Zandile Ndhlovu, the "Black Mermaid," Cape Town, South Africa

“And what does it mean for us, to recognize that if we are not aware, we're going to kill everything, you know?” she said. “How I see my work connecting back to conservation is that, essentially, you need to experience something before you can fall in love with it.”

Zandile Ndhlovu runs interactive ocean excursions with The Black Mermaid Foundation, taking little kids out to access and explore the ocean, historically inaccessible to disadvantaged communities.

Zandile Ndhlovu runs interactive ocean excursions with The Black Mermaid Foundation, taking little kids out to access and explore the ocean, historically inaccessible to disadvantaged communities.

Credit:

Courtesy of Bruce Buttery

Ndhlovu works in schools and speaks to students about the ocean, telling them about careers that are ocean facing, like marine biology and nature recreation.

Why schools? Because students “become the future that we hope for tomorrow,” she said.

“I want the little people to believe that these oceans are theirs too, because at the end of the day, they're going to be the ones to protect them when we're gone.”

Federal judge blocks major Alaskan drilling project

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A federal judge has blocked a drilling project in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve that would tap 600 million-barrels of oil.

The Willow project would produce as much as 160,000 barrels a day for ConocoPhillips and had the support of both the Trump and Biden administrations.

Judge Sharon Gleason of the US District Court ruled in favor of Indigenous and environmental groups, finding that the permitting process for the Willow oil and gas project failed to fully consider the impacts on the climate and wildlife.

Because this was a procedural ruling, it’s hard to say how much of a setback this is for the project, says Pat Parenteau, a professor of environmental law at Vermont Law School.

“The judge didn't say, 'You can't drill.’ She really doesn't have the power to do that. But [these are] the kinds of rulings that will take a long time for the Department of Interior to fix."

Pat Parenteau, University of Vermont law professor

“The judge didn't say, 'You can't drill.’ She really doesn't have the power to do that,” he explains. “But [these are] the kinds of rulings that will take a long time for the Department of Interior to fix. You can imagine this challenge of having to actually quantify how much additional carbon is going to result from leasing of this area in Alaska. It's a really complicated thing. It's going to take some time to do that.”

Correcting errors in environmental impact statements requires repeating the entire process, including an opportunity for public comment and a reexamination of the project’s effects under the Endangered Species Act, Parenteau adds. “So, my estimation is, if this decision is not overturned by the 9th Circuit, it's going to take more than a year to go back through all of this review and assessment and outreach before they could move forward again,” he says.

RelatedCan Alaska rely on oil and address climate change? State officials are about to find out.

This gives the Biden administration the opportunity to take a second look at the project and decide if a particular amount of leasing or production is no longer justified, but Parenteau believes that is a long shot.

“This area was set up to be developed,” he explains. “Obviously, there's tremendous political support within Alaska for this development…. So, I think it's very unlikely, honestly, that the Biden administration is going to cancel these leases. Among other things, that would cost a lot of money. I think this leasing actually is probably going to go forward, maybe in a way that has less impact on this sensitive Alaskan area.”

RelatedDrilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is more likely now than ever before

The Biden administration threw its support behind the Willow project, despite blocking other oil and gas activity in the nearby Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, so its overall strategy on oil and gas leasing on federal lands remains a bit muddled. Parenteau believes the Biden administration is sincere in saying it wants to wind down oil and gas leasing, but is finding out it’s more difficult to do than they thought.

“People have to temper their expectations about how quickly we're going to see an end to oil and gas leasing.”

Pat Parenteau, University of Vermont law professor

“There are legitimate legal questions about how far and how fast the Biden administration can go in ‘ending oil and gas development,’ even on federal land, and in offshore waters like the Gulf of Mexico and others,” he explains. "So what I would say is people have to temper their expectations about how quickly we're going to see an end to oil and gas leasing.”

But if the administration wants to meet its targets of creating an energy sector that's carbon neutral by 2035 or 2040, “they're going to have to severely curtail oil and gas development. And then, of course, as that happens, we'll have to see what Congress’s response is — not only the Congress we have today, but the Congress we're going to have after the midterm elections, and of course, ultimately, in 2024.”

RelatedTrump administration tries to sell off Arctic wildlife refuge in its final days

Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has promised to deliver to Congress a report on a review President Biden ordered of the country’s oil and gas program.

“We know that this report is going to contain proposed revisions to the oil and gas leasing program,” Parenteau says. “For example, it's going to require a lot more rigorous analysis of the climate effects of all this leasing. It's going to require imposing what's called the social cost of carbon in the analysis of whether further leasing is justified. It's going to increase the amount of royalties that have to be paid for these oil and gas leases. So, all of that is pointing in the direction of less, not more leasing.”

Nevertheless, the Interior has announced that it will comply with a Louisiana judge’s court order to lift a moratorium on new oil and gas leases — even while it continues to appeal that ruling.

In a statement, the Interior Department said it will "conduct leasing in a manner that fulfills Interior’s legal responsibilities, including to take into account the programs’ documented deficiencies.”

This article is written by Adam Wernick, based on an interview that aired on Living on Earth from PRX.

World Food Program chief warns against famine in Yemen

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Top of The World — our morning news roundup written by editors at The World. Subscribe here.

Yemen
The head of the UN food agency has warned that 16 million people "are marching towards starvation" in Yemen. David Beasley said that without new funding, food rations would be cut in October. He added that a famine had thus far been averted after donor countries stepped in when the World Food Program was running out of money earlier this year. Beasley spoke at a virtual gathering of aid and development ministers on Wednesday. The civil war that started in 2014 when Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, forced President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee to Aden and then to Saudi Arabia. The Saudi-led offensive marked by indiscriminate airstrikes, which began in 2015, has killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions and left 80% of the country dependent on aid.

UK
India and some African nations are furious over Britain’s latest COVID-19 travel regulations that they say unfairly discriminate against them. The new rules that go into effect on Oct. 4 would allow fully vaccinated travelers arriving in the UK from much of the world to take fewer tests and skip quarantine, but only encompasses travelers vaccinated under the American, British and European programs. Even those who received jabs in the banned countries of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the UK itself won’t qualify. The vaccine, manufactured locally by the Serum Institute of India under the name Covishield, has been approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization, and has also been administered within the UK. The leader of India’s main opposition Congress party, Shashi Tharoor, has canceled a UK book tour in protest.

EU
The European Union has unveiled plans to require smartphone makers to adopt a single charging method for mobile devices. The proposed legislation, likely to come into effect in 2024 in EU countries, would mandate the use of USB-C cables for charging, which many manufacturers have already adopted. Android phones already use USB-C ports, but iPhones do not. Apple has pushed back, saying the new rules would limit innovation. The new legislation would need to be approved by the European Parliament and then adopted by manufacturers, and would also apply to cameras, headphones, portable speakers and video game consoles. The European Commission has said the move would “reduce electronic waste” and save European consumers nearly $3 million a year.

From The World

25 years later, the Buena Vista Social Club still connects the world through old-school mambo

A black and white photo of Buena Vista Social Club members Ibrahim Ferrer, Eliades Ochoa, Comapy Segundo and Puntillita Licea.

Buena Vista Social Club members Ibrahim Ferrer, Eliades Ochoa, Comapy Segundo and Puntillita Licea.

 

Credit:

Courtesy of Susan Titleman/BMG 

Recorded in Havana, Cuba, 25 years ago, the Buena Vista Social Club drew together many older musicians and gave their careers a second life. The album quickly became an international sensation.

China's Evergrande crisis a ‘whole different situation’ than US’ 2008 housing collapse, analyst says

People walk by a map showing Evergrande development projects in China at an Evergrande new housing development in Beijing, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021. 

People walk by a map showing Evergrande development projects in China at an Evergrande new housing development in Beijing, Sept. 22, 2021. 

Credit:

Andy Wong/AP

Real estate giant Evergrande, which faces over $300 million in debt, says it will pay interest due Thursday to bondholders in China, but gave no sign of plans to pay on a separate bond abroad. Jeremy Goldkorn, editor-in-chief of SupChina, joined The World's host Marco Werman to discuss the situation.

Bright Spot

A toast to creativity!

Many winery owners have been hard-hit after devastating floods in western Germany. But some people have found an innovative way to bounce back. Bottles of wine muddied by the floods are now being sold as "flood wine" with the proceeds going directly to winegrowers in the Ahr Valley.

In case you missed it

Listen: Biden’s ambitious spending plan

President Joe Biden speaks during a virtual COVID-19 summit during the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Sept. 22, 2021, in Washington.

President Joe Biden speaks during a virtual COVID-19 summit during the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Sept. 22, 2021, in Washington.

Credit:

Evan Vucci/AP

President Biden is proposing one of the most ambitious spending plans since the 1930s — a $3.5 trillion investment tackling everything from clean energy, to early education, to health care. A total overhaul of the American economy. The big question: How do we pay for it? Also, the cost of energy is hitting record highs in Spain. It's driven by the rising cost of gas and lower-than-usual winds (not pushing Spain's windmills). It's a problem across Europe as the continent transitions toward renewable energies. And, we look back at the legacy and impact of the classic Cuban album, "The Buena Vista Social Club,” which is now 25 years old.

Don't forget to subscribe to The World's Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: RadioPublicApple PodcastsStitcherSoundcloudRSS.

'We are not alone': Volunteers provide critical support for Germans struggling in the aftermath of deadly flood

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As Manuela Schumacher walks through the ruins of her Eifelstube Restaurant in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler in western Germany, she recalls every inch of a place that has been in her family since 1905.

On this patch of concrete, she says, there was a table for six. Beyond here, where a wall once stood, there was a kitchen where her husband would prepare her family’s recipes. The space was “cozy,” and could seat 50-60 people, she adds.

Manuela Schumacher stands amid the ruins of her Eifelstube Restaurant in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler in western Germany in the aftermath of the flood. 

Manuela Schumacher stands amid the ruins of her Eifelstube Restaurant in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler in western Germany in the aftermath of the flood. 

Credit:

Jennie Russell/The World

Everything was damaged beyond repair in mid-July when the Ahr River flooded Schumacher’s town — it's considered to be the country’s worst natural disaster in more than half a century.

“Suddenly, we are standing in the water, and we don’t know why so quickly. We don’t understand it.”

Manuela Schumacher, Eifelstube Restaurant in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany

“Suddenly, we are standing in the water, and we don’t know why so quickly,” Schumacher said in an interview with The World last week. “We don’t understand it.”

Her family survived, but many others in the town and surrounding communities didn’t. At least 189 people died in Germany; many more are still missing.

Those who remain face the daunting task of rebuilding what they have lost. But they have found a consistent source of support from unofficial channels — teams of volunteers who, two months on, continue to travel into the Ahr Valley to assist residents dealing with the flood’s aftermath.

Related: Dubious voting fraud claims in Germany spread online ahead of elections

The volunteers come from all over Germany and sometimes other countries. They clear mud from cellars, remove plaster from damaged homes, deliver essential goods and help local winemakers harvest their grapes.

Stefan Stahl owns a home construction business in Obernburg, Bavaria. It takes him 3 1/2  hours to reach Schumacher’s Eifelstube Restaurant, which he and his colleagues are helping rebuild.

While watching TV reports about the flood, “I [saw] the Eifelstube needs help, and I come here,” he said.

damaged homes up close

Homes in Altenahr, in western Germany, were uprooted by the record flooding in mid-July.

Credit:

Jennie Russell/The World

The first time, Stahl said, he stayed for a week. This is his sixth trip. He said he plans to make four or five more this year — to a town where, initially, he knew no one.

Broken bridges, homes washed away

The scale of the work needed to restore these communities becomes painfully clear as you follow the river west.

Related: A massive security flaw exposed in Germany — then a criminal investigation

The Ahr Valley is stunning: small towns surrounded by lush green hills lined with grapes from local vineyards.

Then, you see the damage.

In Marienthal, a broken railway track is covered in debris: tires, a bike helmet, a teddy bear, a jar of cornflakes.

In Rech, a concrete bridge with the last third sheared off overlooks empty lots where homes simply washed away.

bridge destroyed

A bridge in Altenahr, in western Germany, is in ruins after the flooding. 

Credit:

Jennie Russell/The World

In Laach, another railway track careens into the river like a rollercoaster, the connecting track on the bank about 100 yards away. 

railway careening into the water

A railway damaged by the flooding in Laach, in western Germany, careens into the water.

Credit:

Jennie Russell/The World

Helfer Shuttle sends hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people into these communities every morning to assist residents. The grassroots volunteer group, which operates on donations from individuals and businesses, has set up its base in nearby Grafschaft.

Related: US, Germany seal deal on contentious Russian gas pipeline

There is a doctor’s tent, a canteen, a barbershop, even a forge for sharpening tools. It is like a little town, supported entirely by volunteers.

volunteer bus

Helfer Shuttle sends hundreds, sometimes thousands of people every morning to assist residents in the communities impacted by the flooding in western Germany in July. 

Credit:

Jennie Russell/The World

“They could arrive literally naked here,” said Jürgen Gehring, who helps oversee Helfer Shuttle’s logistics.

“We can give them clothing, we give them safety equipment, we give them machines and tools, and yeah, of course, we feed them. And we give them the jobs to be accomplished down in the valley, and we drive them there.”

Andreas Prengel, a lieutenant colonel with Germany’s federal Defense Ministry, is one of Helfer Shuttle’s volunteer drivers.

After the flood hit, he and his wife discussed how they could help local residents. They took the money they would have donated and rented the van that Prengel uses to transport volunteers in and out of the valley. He calls the work an “addiction,” one that he recognizes in others as well.

“When they just return out of the valley from work, they are dusty, they are sweaty, they stink — but they are so happy. And this is just a great feeling, to see the solidarity.”

Andreas Prengel, a lieutenant colonel with Germany’s federal Defense Ministry and a Helfer Shuttle volunteer

“When they just return out of the valley from work, they are dusty, they are sweaty, they stink — but they are so happy,” Prengel said. “And this is just a great feeling, to see the solidarity.”

Both Gehring and Prengel say Helfer Shuttle and other volunteers perform jobs that local government organizations simply can’t.

“When everybody is safe and sound, and you have to start the work, those structures are not prepared to do some plaster work in the houses, or to shovel mud into buckets,” Gehring said.

Related: A new documentary tracks the latest rise in far-right, neo-Nazism in Germany

They stress more help is needed; Helfer Shuttle would like a few hundred more volunteers on weekdays, especially as colder temperatures approach and more specialized labor is needed to help repair residents’ homes.

‘We are not alone’

Elke Schutzke, sitting with her fellow volunteers on the patio of a Rech winery, reflected on her first day with Helfer Shuttle.

She helped winemaker Otger Schell harvest grapes, work that she said gave her a sense of satisfaction but also a firsthand look at the enormity of the struggles people here face.

“We go home after that,” Schutzke said. “I have a warm shower at home.”

“I know that the people here have to carry this the whole day, and the whole week, and the whole month.”

Schell’s family saw a quarter of their grapes and barrels of wine destroyed in the flood, along with 40,000 bottles of wine.

Otger Schell

Otger Schell’s family in western Germany saw a quarter of their grapes and barrels of wine destroyed in the flood, along with 40,000 bottles of wine.

Credit:

Jennie Russell/The World

Government relief is supposed to cover some of that cost, Schell said.

But he said that help is slow in coming, unlike the people — just that morning, strangers — who spent the day in what remains of his vineyard.

“These people are real,” he said. “They stay here, they give you a hand and they start to help.”

He said the volunteers continue to give much more than manual labor.

“That was so, so important for us to see that we are not alone,” he said.

When asked if he plans to always stay here, on the land where his family has harvested grapes for a century, Schell doesn’t hesitate.

“It’s home,” he said.

The Big Fix special edition newsletter

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Top of The World — our morning news roundup written by editors at The World. Subscribe here.

Welcome to a special edition of our Top of The World newsletter. We wanted to take a moment and highlight some of the amazing reporting taking place over at our our environment desk, driven by correspondent and editor Carolyn Beeler and reporter and producer Anna Kusmer.

Every week, they find stories about climate change solutions in a series we call the Big Fix. The stories explore how individuals and organizations around the planet are tackling the climate crisis. We also welcome your questions about solutions to the climate crisis. Email us at climate@theworld.org.

The Big Fix

The Atlantic rainforest in Brazil is a bright spot for restoration

The Atlantic rainforest in Brazil is a beacon for global forest restoration.

The Atlantic rainforest in Brazil is a beacon for global forest restoration. 

Credit:

Courtesy of Laurie Hedges/IPÊ

A new report from conservation group Forest Trends found that tropical forest deforestation has risen about 50% since the early 2000s. An area the size of Tennessee gets cleared every year around the world. But in some places, like the Atlantic rainforest in eastern Brazil, the trend is going the other way, providing a blueprint for what it takes to create a successful forest restoration program.

Amsterdam bans fossil fuel ads from its metro

A scene from an Amsterdam metro subway with a huge TV ad of a white man's face

Amsterdam's subways will no longer feature ads glorifying fossil-fuel-dependent activities like cheap flights and gas-guzzling cars.

Credit:

Courtesy of CS Digital Media

People passing through Amsterdam’s busy metro system will no longer see ads for greenhouse gas-intensive products, such as gas-powered cars and cheap flights around Europe. 

That's because the Amsterdam City Council instituted a ban on these ads in the city’s subway system, which advocates hope will pave the way for larger, more comprehensive ad bans across the Netherlands and beyond.

Global network of young people writes poems to cope with climate crisis

A young woman stands on stage and rehearses her poem.

Jordan Sanchez rehearses her poem about climate change in the New School auditorium where students prepare for final auditions for "Climate Speaks," a social justice spoken word program in New York, May 11, 2019.

Credit:

Kate Ryan/Reuters 

Some people might find it naïve to talk about poetry as a climate solution, but the arts represent one of the more powerful ways that people transform deeply held worldviews and beliefs about the natural world. Over the last 10 years, there’s been a surge of literature about climate change, including poetry. Here's a collection of young, talented poets worth exploring.

Can K-pop stars wield their celebrity to influence climate action?

Women perform on stage in a pop band. One throws her hand in the air.

Lisa, from left, Jennie Kim, Rose, and Jisoo of Blackpink perform at the Coachella Music & Arts Festival in Indio, California, on April 12, 2019. 

Credit:

Amy Harris/Invision/File/AP

Blackpink, one of the biggest pop bands in the world, has garnered billions of views of their music videos on YouTube. In December, they put out another kind of video: a climate change announcement expressing concern for the environment. Watch the video below.

In case you missed it

Listen: China’s season of crackdowns

Over the past few months, China's regulatory crackdowns have impacted almost every corner of Chinese society, with new restrictions targeting everything from entertainment to after-school education to car-share apps and video games. Also, Haitians gathered under the Del Rio International Bridge in south Texas will be allowed to cross the Mexico-US border, but those who make it across often have to scramble for lodging and aid from volunteers. Plus, the National Theater of Somalia in Mogadishu hosted the country's first movie screening in 30 years on Wednesday. The theater opened in 1967, a gift from Mao Zedong, but shut down at the start of Somalia's civil war in 1991.

Don't forget to subscribe to The World's Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: RadioPublicApple PodcastsStitcherSoundcloudRSS.

As energy prices soar in Spain, residents seek renewable alternatives

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Barcelona resident Josefin Ekner is waiting until 2 p.m. to use her dishwasher today. That’s when the price of electricity drops for a few hours, when demand is low. Ever since her electricity bills doubled a few months ago, Ekner said she reorganized her household chores to only consume energy when it’s cheapest.

Related: Norway battles climate change targets with oil production

“At first, we didn’t understand what was going on,”  Ekner said. “But then we started seeing articles about it in the news.”

Across Spain, the price of electricity has steadily risen at historically high rates since early this summer — and it’s expected to climb even higher. Experts say the price hike is due to several factors, primarily the increase of the price of natural gas and CO2 emission costs.

“If we’re paying so much in summer, how will it be this winter?” Ekner asked.

She and her husband don’t have central air conditioning, so their summer bills tend to be the lowest of the year. In winter, their 19th century apartment building gets fairly cold, so they use electric heaters to stay warm — especially now that Ekner works from home. She said they were shocked to see their electricity bills jump to around $120 a month — and she’s worried about prices increasing even more.

So she decided to make a change: Ekner joined a renewable energy coop to ensure all her electricity comes from renewable sources.

“It makes more sense to switch to renewable energies."

Josefin Ekner, Barcelona, Spain

“It makes more sense to switch to renewable energies. The environment is important to me, as well as the future of our planet,” said Ekner, who has a 5-month-old infant. “It’s what we’ll all end up doing in the future anyway, and more so if it’s cheaper.”

Related:Latin America and Caribbean tap volcanoes for geothermal energy

People take part during a protest against the increases in the price of electricity in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021. Gas and electric prices are spiking in Europe.

People take part during a protest against the increases in the price of electricity in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021. Gas and electric prices are spiking in Europe. Consumers are already finding higher bills in their mailboxes and jumps in prices on wholesale markets in recent days are expected to send costs higher still. 

Credit:

Manu Fernandez/AP

Dirk Buschle, deputy director and lead council of the international organization Energy Community, said renewable energies are, in fact, cheaper — and will continue to be in the long-run. That’s becoming clear as soaring energy prices affect, not just Spain, but all of Europe.

“I think we’re witnessing right now a situation where we see several factors coming together and producing an effect which, in this way, was probably not expected,” Buschle said.

For starters, he said, there’s the weather. It was not windy enough this summer to produce sufficient wind power — that meant bringing back old sources of energy, like gas and coal. At the same time, the international price of natural gas is shooting up and, because of a European emissions trading scheme to discourage the use of fossil fuels, so is the cost of CO2 emissions.

In short, Buschle said the price for gas and coal is going up, but there are still not enough sources of renewable energy to make up for that.

“We are in a transition from fossil fuels to renewable fuels in the energy sector. ... I think we would have all been in a different situation right now and probably not suffered from these high prices if the transition had moved much, much faster.”

Dirk Buschle, deputy director and lead council, Energy Community, Spain

“We are in a transition from fossil fuels to renewable fuels in the energy sector, in the European Union that goes by the name of Green Deal,” Buschle said. “I think we would have all been in a different situation right now and probably not suffered from these high prices if the transition had moved much, much faster.”

Related:Climate change complicates nuclear energy after Fukushima

The most expensive part of the transition, Buschle said, is creating a reliable grid for when renewable energies fail — that is, when there isn’t enough sun or wind power. But that costs money, and, he added, it can be difficult to get governments to commit to these long-term investments when they don’t necessarily provide short-term solutions.

In Spain, the government is putting new regulations in place to deal with skyrocketing energy prices, like setting a cap on the price of natural gas and lowering some taxes on electricity bills. And in a televised interview that aired last week, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also mentioned the need to invest more in renewable energies — referring to them as the cheapest way to generate electricity.

Related: How one Danish energy company went from black to green in 10 years 

In this June 15, 2017 file photo, a man carries a boxed electric fan in Madrid, Spain. Spanish consumers are fretting over record-high power prices. 

In this June 15, 2017 file photo, a man carries a boxed electric fan in Madrid, Spain. Spanish consumers are fretting over record-high power prices. 

Credit:

Paul White/AP/File 

Professor José María Yusta, who specializes in energy markets at the University of Zaragoza, said Spain has been moving faster than other European countries in transitioning to renewable energies — especially since 2018, when the socialist government came into power and lifted a law that previously taxed individuals who wanted to set up solar panels.

“In the last year alone, hundreds of solar panels have been installed on residential buildings and warehouses equaling up to 700 megawatts,” Yusta said.

He hopes the recent electricity price hike will not only push governments to act faster, but influence consumers to switch to renewable energy by installing their own solar panels or joining existing collectives.

“It’s no longer a political or socially conscious issue, but an economic one. ... In the end, money may be the defining factor for boosting the renewable energy sector.”

José María Yusta, professor, University of Zaragoza, Spain

“It’s no longer a political or socially conscious issue, but an economic one,” Yusta said. “In the end, money may be the defining factor for boosting the renewable energy sector.”


'Finding the Mother Tree' explores the intricate communication networks within a forest

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Ancient forests are awe-inspiring. But no less amazing is the complicated network of life beneath the forest soil. There, an intricate web of roots, insects, fungi, and bacteria is teeming with life, and contains twice as much carbon as the trees themselves.

In her new book, “Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest,” ecologist Suzanne Simard reveals what she’s discovered about these connections through decades of experiments with trees. Simard teaches forest ecology at the University of British Columbia.

Simard grew up in a province of forests in British Columbia, and multiple generations of her family were horse loggers. After she became a forester at age 22, she says, she started to learn that “horse logging wasn't at all what the forest industry had become.”

“It had become this clear-cutting machine that wouldn't just take out the odd tree here and there, wasn't selective logging, it was clear-cut logging,” Simard says. “And that means taking every tree out. My job at the time was to replant these forests with trees — seedlings — and try to help them recover, but what I found was that when you don't have surrounding trees and good soil, it's harder to get trees growing.”

“The trees actually seem to need these native plants around them as part of their successional process of healing the land. … That started to get me to look below ground at what we might be doing wrong."

Suzanne Simard, author and  professor of forest ecology

Simard noticed that forestry practices like spraying native plants with herbicide to make way for seedlings was having a detrimental effect on the trees. “The trees actually seem to need these native plants around them as part of their successional process of healing the land. … That started to get me to look below ground at what we might be doing wrong,” she says.

RelatedAustria’s ‘close-to-nature’ forests may hold secrets to fire prevention

Simard noticed that some trees would do well, but others would suffer from pathogens and insect infestations, especially a root pathogen that infected many of the Douglas firs. This pathogen would spread from fir to fir and affect the whole plantation.

“So I thought, well, if it's a root pathogen, I need to look below ground at what's going on here,” she explains. “These root pathogens — these fungal pathogens — really were attacking the big roots of the trees and then girdling them — in other words, infecting the base of the tree — and then [the trees] would just die within a year or two. And so I thought, well, we're disrupting the soil balance.”

Simard started looking at the fungal communities below ground. There are thousands of species of fungi, roughly divided into three or four main groups, including pathogens, which kill trees; saprotrophs, which decay things; and mycorrhizal fungi, which are helper fungi. Mycorrhiza literally means fungus root.

“It's a relationship, a symbiotic, mutualistic relationship between trees and fungi, where the tree provides photosynthate, or carbon energy, to the fungus,” Simard explains. “The fungus then uses that energy to grow mycelium through the soil. And as it does that, it kind of coats all the particles and soil pores and draws out the nutrients and delivers [them] back to the plant or the tree in exchange for this photosynthate. So they both are benefiting from this.”

Related: 'The Hidden Life of Trees' asks us to rethink our relationship to the world's forests

These fungi can also connect trees together, Simard discovered. Through mycorrhiza, ancient “mother trees” and other plants send nutrients and warning signals back and forth for the benefit of the entire forest ecosystem.

Mycorrhiza can connect trees of the same species or of different species, Simard says. She found, for example, that the paper birch, which was thought to be a competitor of the Douglas fir, is also a sort of a collaborator that helps deliver carbon to the fir trees.

“Anything that happens to forests affects the global carbon budget, and we are affecting our forests every single day.”

Suzanne Simard, author and  professor of forest ecology

This insight into how carbon moves between trees in a forest with the help of fungi could have profound implications for how humanity addresses climate change. Forests contain about 80% of Earth’s terrestrial carbon, so they’re hugely important in the global carbon budget, Simard points out. “Anything that happens to forests affects the global carbon budget, and we are affecting our forests every single day.”

Simard’s research showed that saving old trees, the so-called mother trees, which are the linchpins of forest recovery, from any kind of disturbance, whether it's fire or logging or insect infestations, is essential to the regeneration of a forest.

Old growth forests, which hold some of Earth’s most ancient trees, store a tremendous amount of carbon in the soil and in their trunks, and they're rich hubs of biodiversity — from the fungi in the soil to the lichens in their crowns and the birds and animals that live in them.

“But we're logging them at this incredible rate right now,” Simard points out. “Where I live, in British Columbia, we really only have 3% of our valley bottom, huge old growth forests left. And this isn't just happening in British Columbia, it's happening around the world.”

RelatedRegrowing Australia's forests may require human intervention

“[T]o keep the biosphere in balance, we need to maintain forest cover across the globe,” she continues. “And we're losing it really quickly, not just because of logging, but wildfire and insect infestations that are driven by climate change. And so trees are not going to be able to migrate or adapt as quickly as they need to, to keep up with the velocity at which climate is changing.”

Unlike in trees, however, evolution in fungi doesn't take long. Because fungi have a shorter lifespan and reproduce within a year, they can mutate and be different from one year to the next. “They can actually serve as an interface between the rapidly changing climate and the more slowly changing trees,” Simard says.

Maintaining a healthy microbiome around the trees, including the fungi, can help trees survive and perhaps migrate a little further and faster to keep up with the speed of climate change and “to make sure that in the new environments that they're in that they're able to cope as best as they possibly can,” she adds.

This article is written by Adam Wernick, based on an interview that aired on Living on Earth from PRX.

Analyst on center-left gains in German election: 'It was time for a change'

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German voters have spoken, and the country is taking a slight turn to the left.

The Social Democratic Party won the most seats in the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, by the slimmest of margins on Sunday. The party's head, Olaf Scholz, could now become Germany's next chancellor — if he can form a ruling coalition.

Scholz's party is pushing for a quick agreement on a coalition government, but Europe’s biggest economy could still be in for weeks of uncertainty.

Related: 'We are not alone': Volunteers provide critical support for Germans struggling in the aftermath of deadly flood

Sholz called for outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right Union bloc to go into opposition after its worst-ever result in a national election. Both parties finished with well under 30% of the vote.

During Merkel’s 16 years in office, she was seen abroad, not just as Germany’s leader, but in many ways, as Europe’s leader.

Related: How a team of musicologists and computer scientists completed Beethoven’s unfinished 10th Symphony

Constanze Stelzenmüller is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. She joined The World's host Marco Werman from Washington to analyze the election results and discuss their significance.

Marco Werman: So, voters did not give outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party a victory. Were these the results that many expected in Germany?
Constanze Stelzenmüller: I think all of us were really expecting to be surprised, rather than to have something confirmed. For one, we've had a historic number of mail-in votes, something that made the polls more unreliable than normal. We had a very high percentage of people, by German standards, over a third, saying that they intended to make up their mind at the last moment. I think all of us sort of sat back and said, "Well, we'll have to see what happens on the day." But I'm not surprised that the CDU came out relatively badly because they had been showing distinct signs of electoral and political exhaustion.
Right, those are the Christian Democrats, that was Angela Merkel's party. So, tell us a bit about Olaf Scholz, the man at the head of the victors here, the Social Democrats.
So, Olaf Scholz is one of the three candidates running for chancellor in this election, probably the one with the most executive experience. He was mayor of Hamburg and he was finance minister in Angela Merkel's coalition. The other thing is that he had campaigned very shrewdly, I think, on his being a sort of Social Democratic male version of Angela Merkel — no surprises, nothing to be jittery about, calm, no inclinations to sort of revolutionary policies.
So, what has the reaction been in Germany to this victory by Olaf Scholz and the Social Democrats of the party?
There is a sense in Germany that after 16 years of Angela Merkel, who literally at this point is Germany's longest-serving postwar chancellor — and with her, the Christian Democrats, the center-right party — it was time for a change. That is, I think, the prevailing mood.
So, the Green Party, they came in third, and that is not a win, but in a parliamentary system, third is good news, at least in this case. Explain how the Greens could become a kingmaker here when Scholz tries to form a coalition government.
So, there are two kingmakers, really, and it's the Greens and the Liberals. So, I think more than the Greens, really, the Liberals are the kingmaker. I'll tell you why. The Greens and the Christian Democrats are psychologically, to some degree, the losers here. Although the Greens have their best result ever. But they had been expected to get about as much, or more, as the two centrist parties — the Social Democrats and the Christian Democrats — and they didn't. Whereas the Liberals have the strongest showing that they've had in a very long time. And so, they and the Social Democrats, I think, see themselves as the winners of this election.
There are a couple of big issues for Germans in this election. Among them was climate change. How did that impact the vote?
Every German was, you know, you'd have to have lived in a cave to have not heard about the disastrous flooding in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia a couple of weeks ago. And German forests also have been suffering from repeated droughts. I mean, this is not something that ordinary Germans aren't aware of at this point. So, the Greens, I think, thought they had Germany's and German voters' attention on this issue. But I suspect that they underestimated the degree to which voters would be willing to follow them on this as the only issue that they were going to vote on.
How will the White House see this vote, do you think?
I think the White House has made it very clear that it sees Germany as a central element of its Europe strategy. And the Biden administration's bilateral deal, not sanctioning Nord Stream 2, I think is proof of that.
One last thing, a little detail I noticed, Germany votes by paper ballot. I saw a picture of a vast hall postvote just filled with people, I mean, were those election officials counting paper ballots by hand? Is that how it works?
I've never seen exactly how they are counted. I suspect that they are machine read and machine counted. They are certainly marked by hand and then folded and put into an envelope and taken out of that envelope by election officials, which has the great advantage of it being very difficult to hack the system. And as you saw last night, the results are available pretty quickly.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.AP contributed to this report.

China's power cuts may foreshadow shortages of global goods

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Global shoppers face possible shortages of smartphones and other goods ahead of Christmas after power cuts to meet official energy use targets forced Chinese factories to shut down and left some households in the dark.

In the northeastern city of Liaoyang, 23 people were hospitalized with gas poisoning after ventilation in a metal casting factory was shut off following a power outage, according to state broadcaster CCTV. No deaths were reported.

Factories were idled to avoid exceeding limits on energy use imposed by Beijing to promote efficiency. Economists and an environmental group say manufacturers used up this year's quota faster than planned as export demand rebounded from the coronavirus pandemic.

A components supplier for Apple Inc.'s iPhones said it suspended production at a factory west of Shanghai under orders from local authorities.

The disruption to China's vast manufacturing industries during one of their busiest seasons reflects the ruling Communist Party's struggle to balance economic growth with efforts to rein in pollution and emissions of climate-changing gases.

"Beijing's unprecedented resolve in enforcing energy consumption limits could result in long-term benefits, but the short-term economic costs are substantial," Nomura economists Ting Lu, Lisheng Wang and Jing Wang said in a report Monday.

They said the impact might be so severe that they cut their economic growth forecast for China to 4.7% from 5.1% over a year earlier in the current quarter. They cut their outlook for annual growth to 7.7% from 8.2%.

Global financial markets already were on edge about the possible collapse of one of China's biggest real estate developers, Evergrande Group, which is struggling to avoid a default on billions of dollars of debt.

Manufacturers already face shortages of processor chips, disruptions in shipping and other lingering effects of the global shutdown of travel and trade to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Residents of China's northeast, where autumn temperatures are falling, report power cuts and appealed on social media for the government to restore supplies.

The crunch comes as global leaders prepare to attend a UN environmental conference by video link on Oct. 12-13 in the southwestern city of Kunming. That increases pressure on President Xi Jinping's government, as the meeting's host, to show it is sticking to emissions and energy efficiency targets.

China is one of the world's biggest emitters of climate-changing industrial gases and consumes more energy per unit of economic output than developed countries.

The ruling party also is preparing for the Winter Olympics in the Chinese capital, Beijing, and the nearby city of Shijiazhuang in February, a period when it will want clear blue skies.

Scores of companies have announced power rationing could force them to delay filling orders and might hurt them financially.

Apple components supplier Eson Precision Engineering Co. Ltd. said Sunday it would halt production at its factory in Kunshan, west of Shanghai, through Thursday "in line with the local government's power restriction policy."

Eson said the suspension shouldn't have a "significant impact" on operations.

Apple didn't immediately respond to a question about the possible impact on iPhone supplies.

China's energy consumption and industrial emissions have surged as manufacturers rush to fill foreign demand at a time when competitors elsewhere still are hampered by anti-coronavirus controls.

China's economy is "more driven by exports than any time in the past decade," but official energy use targets fail to take that into account, economists Larry Hu and Xinyu Ji of Macquarie Group said in a report.

Some provinces used up most of their quotas for energy consumption in the first half of the year and are cutting back to stay under their limits, according to Li Shuo, a climate policy expert at Greenpeace in Beijing.

Utility companies, meanwhile, are being squeezed by soaring coal and gas prices. That discourages them from increasing output because the government limits their ability to pass on costs to customers, said Li.

Prices have risen "past the range of what China's electricity industry can bear," Li said.

China has launched repeated campaigns to make its energy-hungry economy more efficient and clean up smog-choked cities.

City skies are visibly clearer, but the abrupt way the campaigns are carried out disrupts supplies of power, coal and gas, leaving families shivering in unheated homes and forcing factories to shut down.

Shopping malls in the northeastern city of Harbin have announced they will close stores earlier than usual to save power.

In Guangdong province in the south, the government told the public to set thermostats on air conditioners higher even as temperatures rose above 34 degrees C (93 degrees F).

State Grid Corp., the world's biggest power distributor, issued a pledge to ensure adequate supplies.

Meanwhile, state media say local governments have signed long-term coal contracts to ensure adequate suppliers.

By Joe McDonald and Zen Soo/AP

Soo reported from Singapore. AP writer Huizhong Wu in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.

Top Pentagon leaders in the hot seat over Afghanistan withdrawal

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Top of The World — our morning news roundup written by editors at The World. Subscribe here.

Afghanistan
Top Pentagon officials are expected to face tough questions from Congress on Tuesday in their first public testimony since the US completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan last month. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee, followed by the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. Gen. Frank McKenzie, who oversaw the withdrawal as head of US Central Command, is also scheduled to testify. Lawmakers are poised to press the officials on President Joe Biden’s rushed withdrawal, which they argue makes the US more vulnerable to terrorism. Milley will likely also be questioned about reports of secret phone calls with his Chinese counterpart during the final months of the Trump administration.

China
Power cuts and blackouts have forced factories in China to slow production, or even close down, in recent days to avoid exceeding limits on energy use that have been imposed by the government to promote efficiency. Economists and environmentalists say manufacturers used up this year’s quota faster than anticipated as export demand started to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation could further delay already backed-up global supply chains as Western countries head into busy holiday shopping seasons as well as slow down China’s economy. Power shortages have also hit the major industrial and shipping hub of Guangdong in the south.

Sweden
A powerful explosion at an apartment building in Sweden’s second-largest city of Gothenburg has injured around 20 people, four of them critically, and forced the evacuation of hundreds more. Police suspect the blast was sparked by some type of explosive device, but have not yet confirmed the cause. Firefighters worked for hours as fires spread to several apartments. One resident said he saw people climbing over and hanging from balconies. Authorities are investigating the situation. In recent years, Sweden has faced growing problems with rival gangs using explosives and other violent weapons.

From The World

How Haitians respond in times of deep crisis according to writer Edwidge Danticat

Many around the world are still processing the images of Haitian migrants being chased by border guards on horseback on the US-Mexico border, along with crowds packed with virtually no food or water under the international bridge in Del Rio. Writer Edwidge Danticat told The World's Marco Werman that in conversations she's had with friends and family in Haiti, they, too, were shocked.

"People are starting to arrive in Haiti now and are telling their stories, and many of them speak of that harrowing journey, some of them going to 10 countries and walking on foot across that Darién Gap," Danticat said. "And then many of them said they were woken up in the night and taken on a plane and then deported to Haiti, some of them shackled on the plane, not being able to hug their babies across the aisle, some have said."

Cambodia is now better vaccinated than many US states

Cambodia’s population of 15 million people, when it comes to COVID-19 vaccinations, is far ahead of US states such as Alabama, Texas and Ohio. Its full vaccination rate is on par with that of New York state.

Double Take

It's one thing to see the occasional raccoon rummaging through your trash can, but residents of Rome 🇮🇹 now have a wild boar invasion. The animals are taking to the streets in search of food in the Eternal City's notoriously overflowing garbage bins. 🐗 And, the booming boar population has even become a line of attack in the city's upcoming local election.

In case you missed it

Listen: Huawei incident signals evolution of US-China relations

The Huawei brand logo is seen on a building in the sprawling Huawei headquarters campus in Shenzhen, China, Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021.

The Huawei brand logo is seen on a building in the sprawling Huawei headquarters campus in Shenzhen, China, Sept. 25, 2021.

Credit:

Ng Han Guan/AP

The return to China of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in an apparent exchange for two detained Canadians offers clues into the evolution of US-China relations — one that may require uncomfortable compromises. And four weeks after the US left Afghanistan, America and its allies are still keeping a close eye on the country, with counterterrorism and national security top of mind. How will the US gather intelligence in Afghanistan without being there? Also, most young people in South Sudan have faced conflict and displacement their entire lives. The Baobab House, an art gallery in the capital, Juba, offers young people the chance to use music as a form of social healing.

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Landsat 9 will capture satellite images of a radically changing Earth, NASA scientist says

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The latest in a series of US satellites that has recorded human and natural impacts on Earth’s surface for decades was launched into orbit from California on Monday to ensure continued observations in the era of climate change.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the Landsat 9 satellite onboard launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, on Monday, Sept. 27, 2021.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the Landsat 9 satellite onboard launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, on Sept. 27, 2021. 

Credit:

Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP

Those detailed pictures of houses and neighborhoods are thanks to Landsats — along with just about everything else you can see on Earth and at sea. 

A project of NASA and the US Geological Survey, Landsat 9 will work in tandem with a predecessor, Landsat 8, to extend a nearly 50-year record of land and coastal region observations that began with the launch of the first Landsat in 1972.

Landsat 9 carries an imaging sensor that will record visible and other portions of the spectrum. It also has a thermal sensor to measure surface temperatures.

Capturing changes in the planet’s landscape ranging from the growth of cities to the movements of glaciers, the Landsat program is the longest continuous record of Earth observation from space, according to NASA.

Related: Researchers found a way to track tiny plastic particles in the ocean

Josh Willis, who works at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab at Caltech in Pasadena, California, has used these satellite images in his own work. 

He says that Landsats are really exciting because, unlike the human eye that can only see in three main colors, the Landsat can actually see 11 colors. 

Landsat satellites have been able to capture images of basically every part of the Earth's surface — every 16 days. Looking back at those images can help humans understand the trajectory of the Earth's changes over time. 

Related: Chinese crew enters new space station on 3-month mission

"We are changing our planet in really radical ways. ... Really, the entire world is changing. And one of the things I think that leaps out when you look down at the Earth from space over a period of several decades is just how big an influence humans are having on reshaping our planet."

Josh Willis,NASA Jet Propulsion Lab

"We are changing our planet in really radical ways," Willis said. "I mean, you can see land-use changes. You can see changes in the glaciers and ice sheets. Really, the entire world is changing. And one of the things I think that leaps out when you look down at the Earth from space over a period of several decades is just how big an influence humans are having on reshaping our planet." 

This photo provided by NASA shows the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with the Landsat 9 satellite onboard at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, on Monday, Sept. 27, 2021.

This photo provided by NASA shows the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with the Landsat 9 satellite onboard at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, Sept. 27, 2021. A project of NASA and the US Geological Survey, Landsat 9 will work in tandem with a predecessor, Landsat 8, to extend a nearly 50-year data record of land and coastal regions that began with the launch of the first Landsat in 1972.

Credit:

Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP

Various versions of Landsats have circulated over the past half-century, but Landsat 9 uses advanced technology, with better thermal imaging.

"Turns out that the thermal imaging is really important and these newer satellites have two different bands so you can tell the difference of the temperature of the atmosphere from the temperature of the ground. And that really helps you tease out what farmers are doing, for example, how much we're watering our lawns, things like that. And these are really important for water use." 

Related: Got space junk? Wooden satellites may be the solution. 

These images have been able to help humans understand the biggest challenges we face when it comes to climate change, from vegetation to water supply.

This Monday, July 30, 2019 natural-color image made with the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite shows meltwater collecting on the surface of the ice sheet in northwest Greenland near the sheet's edge.

This July 30, 2019, natural-color image made with the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite shows meltwater collecting on the surface of the ice sheet in northwest Greenland near the sheet's edge. A hotter world is getting closer to passing a temperature limit set by global leaders five years ago and may exceed it in the next decade or so, according to a new United Nations report released on Sept. 9, 2020.

Credit:

NASA via AP

In Greenland, where Willis works on a mission called Oceans Melting Greenland, they have used Landsat images to gauge significant changes in the landscape. 

"I work on the ice there and we can watch the glaciers as they retreat, as they speed up, dump more ice into the oceans and cause sea-level rise around the globe. 

Just a few weeks ago, they used an image that showed a small green dot at the edge of a glacier. 

"This turned out to be a plume of water that was rising up from underneath the glacier, opening a little hole in the ice. And when we flew past it, we actually saw this little plume of water and we're able to drop a sensor in it. So, we've actually used these kinds of data in real time for doing better surveys of the Earth," Willis said. 

The plume opened a hole in the ice that was about 100 yards wide, Willis explained.

"And we flew all the way across the ice sheet and dropped a sensor right in the middle of it. It was just spectacular." 

The AP contributed to this report. 

Fumio Kishida set to become Japan’s next prime minister

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Top of The World — our morning news roundup written by editors at The World. Subscribe here.

Japan
Fumio Kishida, Japan’s former foreign minister, has won the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership election, all but assuring he’ll become the country’s next prime minister in the coming days. Kishida, 64, known as an establishment candidate with little public backing, replaces outgoing party leader Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who is stepping down after just one year after public sentiment soured over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kishida will be selected as Japan’s prime minister because of the LDP's majority in the lower house and has vowed to counter China's growing influence in the region, the pandemic-battered economy and the nation’s declining population.

Elsewhere in election news, Tunisia has named the country’s first female prime minister, Najla Bouden Ramdhane, to lead a transitional government after the country's president removed the previous prime minister and suspended parliament.

Washington
Senators in Washington on Tuesday grilled top Pentagon officials Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Mark Milley and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, over the chaotic and violent US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Gen. David Petraeus reacted to the hearing, telling The World’s host Marco Werman that there is a need to see Washington's inability to recognize how rapidly the collapse of the Afghan government would be and its consequences. “Now, even though there will be plenty of this relitigation that has gone on all day today ... I would hope that what we could do now is put some of that on hold a bit to focus on the immediate need, which is to ensure that the remaining US citizens and green card holders are evacuated,” Patraeus said. The Pentagon leaders will also appear before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.

United Kingdom
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seeking to ease concerns over fuel shortages in the country by placing army troops on standby to help distribute gasoline. The recent fuel drought in the UK has been triggered by a shortage of truck drivers and panic buying among some motorists. Gas stations around Britain have been forced to close over the past five days after running out of fuel, leading to long lines. Government officials said Wednesday that they are now seeing signs of the crisis starting to let up despite many stations remaining shut.

From The World

Landsat 9 will capture satellite images of a radically changing Earth, NASA scientist says

Josh Willis, who works at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab at Caltech in Pasadena, California, has used Landsat satellite images in his own work. He joins The World's host Marco Werman to discuss the power of Landsats to understand climate change.

Gen. David Petraeus: The US has a 'moral obligation' to help those left behind in Afghanistan

Gen. David Petraeus, the former commander of US and allied forces in Afghanistan during the war, and a former CIA director, spoke with The World's host Marco Werman about the Capitol Hill hearings on the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan last month.

Double Take

If you go to the Kunsten Museum in northern Denmark, you may see an art installation of ... nothing!

Danish artist Jens Haaning had an agreement with the musem to replicate some of his previous work that used cash to display the annual incomes of an Austrian and a Dane. Instead, Haaning pocketed the $84,000 and changed the name of the art to “Take the Money And Run” to represent his own working conditions. The museum has given him until Jan. 14 to return the money by the time the exhibition ends.

In case you missed it

Listen: US-Saudi meeting hints at new diplomatic approach

In this photo released by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, left, speaks with his father, King Salman, right, at a meeting of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

In this photo released by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, left, speaks with his father, King Salman, right, at a meeting of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 9, 2018.

Credit:

Saudi Press Agency via AP

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan heads to the Middle East to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as well as officials in the United Arab Emirates, to talk about Yemen and Iran. What is the significance of this trip? And top US Army officials faced sharp questioning on Tuesday on Capitol Hill about the US’ chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. We hear from retired United States Army Gen. David Petraeus about his reaction. Plus, Swedish musician José González was first inspired by the Brazilian bossa nova and Latin folk his parents played at home in Argentina. On his latest album, “Local Valley,” he turned to the sounds of Ghanaian highlife.

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Lava from La Palma eruption reaches the Atlantic

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A bright red river of lava from the volcano on Spain's La Palma island finally tumbled over a cliff and into the Atlantic Ocean, setting off huge plumes of steam and possibly toxic gases that forced local residents outside the evacuation zone to remain indoors on Wednesday.

The immediate area had been evacuated for several days as authorities waited for the lava that began erupting Sept. 19 to traverse the 6.5 kilometers (4 miles) to the island's edge. On the way down from the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge, the lava flows have engulfed at least 656 buildings, mostly homes and farm buildings, in its unstoppable march to the sea.

The meeting of molten rock and sea water finally came at 11 p.m. on Tuesday. By daybreak, a widening promontory of newborn land could be seen forming under plumes of steam rising high into the area.

Even though initial air quality reading showed no danger in the area, experts had warned that the arrival of the lava at the ocean would likely produce small explosions and release toxic gases that could damage lungs. Authorities established a security perimeter of 3.5 kilometers (2.1 miles) and asked residents in the wider area to remain indoors with windows shut to avoid breathing in any gases.

No deaths or serious injuries have been reported from the island's first eruption in 50 years, thanks to the prompt evacuations of over 6,000 people after the ground cracked open following weeks of tremors.

The flattening of the terrain as it approached the coast had slowed down the flow of the lava, causing it to widen out and do more damage to villages and farms. The local economy is largely based on agriculture, above all the cultivation of the Canary plantain.

Just before it poured down a cliff into the sea at a local point known as Los Guirres, the lava rolled over the coastal highway, cutting off the last road in the area that connects the island to several villages.

"We hope that the channel to the sea that has opened stops the lava flow, which widened to reach 600 meters (2,000 feet) at one point, from continuing to grow, because that has caused tremendous damage,"Ángel Víctor Torres, president of the Canary Islands regional government, told Cope radio.

Torres said his government is working to house those who have lost their dwellings. Authorities have plans to purchase over 100 currently unoccupied homes. Torres cited one village, Todoque, home to 1,400 people, which was wiped out.

La Palma, home to about 85,000 people, is part of the volcanic Canary Islands, an archipelago off northwest Africa. The island is roughly 35 kilometers (22 miles) long and 20 kilometers (12 miles) wide at its broadest point.

Cleaning crews swept up ash in the island's capital, Santa Cruz, while more small earthquakes that have rumbled under the volcano for weeks were registered by geologists.

Favorable weather conditions allowed the first flight in five days to land at airport on La Palma, an important tourist destination along with its neighboring Canary islands, despite a huge ash cloud that Spain's National Geographic Institute said reached up to 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) high.

Laura Garcés, the director of Spain's air navigation authority ENAIRE, said she does not foresee any major problems for other airports on the archipelago due to the ash.

While the red tongue of lava lolled off the coast, the two open vents of the volcano continued to belch up more magma from below.

Experts say it's impossible too early to determine how long the eruption will last. Previous eruptions in the archipelago have lasted weeks, even months.

By Daniel Roca and Joseph Wilson/AP






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