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Science|Reading Time: 9 minutes
Scientific Concepts We All Ought To Know
John Brockman's online scientific roundtable Edge.org does something fantastic every year: It asks all of its contributors (hundreds of them) to answer one meaningful question. Questions like What Have You Changed Your Mind About? and What is Your Dangerous Idea?
This year's was particularly awesome for our purposes: What Scientific Term or Concept Ought To Be More Known?
The answers give us a window into over 200 brilliant minds, with the simple filtering mechanism that there's something they know that we should probably know, too. We wanted to highlight a few of our favorites for you.
From Steven Pinker, a very interesting thought on The Second Law of Thermodynamics (Entropy). This reminded me of the central thesis of The Origin of Wealth by Eric Beinhocker. (Which we'll cover in more depth in the future: We referenced his work in the past.)
The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that in an isolated system (one that is not taking in energy), entropy never decreases. (The First Law is that energy is conserved; the Third, that a temperature of absolute zero is unreachable.) Closed systems inexorably become less structured, less organized, less able to accomplish interesting and useful outcomes, until they slide into an equilibrium of gray, tepid, homogeneous monotony and stay there.
In its original formulation the Second Law referred to the process in which usable energy in the form of a difference in temperature between two bodies is dissipated as heat flows from the warmer to the cooler body. Once it was appreciated that heat is not an invisible fluid but the motion of molecules, a more general, statistical version of the Second Law took shape. Now order could be characterized in terms of the set of all microscopically distinct states of a system: Of all these states, the ones that we find useful make up a tiny sliver of the possibilities, while the disorderly or useless states make up the vast majority. It follows that any perturbation of the system, whether it is a random jiggling of its parts or a whack from the outside, will, by the laws of probability, nudge the system toward disorder or uselessness. If you walk away from a sand castle, it won't be there tomorrow, because as the wind, waves, seagulls, and small children push the grains of sand around, they're more likely to arrange them into one of the vast number of configurations that don't look like a castle than into the tiny few that do.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics is acknowledged in everyday life, in sayings such as "Ashes to ashes," "Things fall apart," "Rust never sleeps," "Shit happens," You can't unscramble an egg," "What can go wrong will go wrong," and (from the Texas lawmaker Sam Rayburn), "Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one."
Scientists appreciate that the Second Law is far more than an explanation for everyday nuisances; it is a foundation of our understanding of the universe and our place in it. In 1915 the physicist Arthur Eddington wrote:
Why the awe for the Second Law? The Second Law defines the ultimate purpose of life, mind, and human striving: to deploy energy and information to fight back the tide of entropy and carve out refuges of beneficial order. An underappreciation of the inherent tendency toward disorder, and a failure to appreciate the precious niches of order we carve out, are a major source of human folly.
To start with, the Second Law implies that misfortune may be no one's fault. The biggest breakthrough of the scientific revolution was to nullify the intuition that the universe is saturated with purpose: that everything happens for a reason. In this primitive understanding, when bad things happen—accidents, disease, famine—someone or something must have wanted them to happen. This in turn impels people to find a defendant, demon, scapegoat, or witch to punish. Galileo and Newton replaced this cosmic morality play with a clockwork universe in which events are caused by conditions in the present, not goals for the future. The Second Law deepens that discovery: Not only does the universe not care about our desires, but in the natural course of events it will appear to thwart them, because there are so many more ways for things to go wrong than to go right. Houses burn down, ships sink, battles are lost for the want of a horseshoe nail.
Poverty, too, needs no explanation. In a world governed by entropy and evolution, it is the default state of humankind. Matter does not just arrange itself into shelter or clothing, and living things do everything they can not to become our food. What needs to be explained is wealth. Yet most discussions of poverty consist of arguments about whom to blame for it.
More generally, an underappreciation of the Second Law lures people into seeing every unsolved social problem as a sign that their country is being driven off a cliff. It's in the very nature of the universe that life has problems. But it's better to figure out how to solve them—to apply information and energy to expand our refuge of beneficial order—than to start a conflagration and hope for the best.
Richard Nisbett (a social psychologist) has a great one — a concept we've hit on before but is totally underappreciated by most people: The Fundamental Attribution Error.
Modern scientific psychology insists that explanation of the behavior of humans always requires reference to the situation the person is in. The failure to do so sufficiently is known as the Fundamental Attribution Error. In Milgram's famous obedience experiment, two-thirds of his subjects proved willing to deliver a great deal of electric shock to a pleasant-faced middle-aged man, well beyond the point where he became silent after begging them to stop on account of his heart condition. When I teach about this experiment to undergraduates, I'm quite sure I've never convinced a single one that their best friend might have delivered that amount of shock to the kindly gentleman, let alone that they themselves might have done so. They are protected by their armor of virtue from such wicked behavior. No amount of explanation about the power of the unique situation into which Milgram's subject was placed is sufficient to convince them that their armor could have been breached.
My students, and everyone else in Western society, are confident that people behave honestly because they have the virtue of honesty, conscientiously because they have the virtue of conscientiousness. (In general, non-Westerners are less susceptible to the fundamental attribution error, lacking as they do sufficient knowledge of Aristotle!) People are believed to behave in an open and friendly way because they have the trait of extroversion, in an aggressive way because they have the trait of hostility. When they observe a single instance of honest or extroverted behavior they are confident that, in a different situation, the person would behave in a similarly honest or extroverted way.
In actual fact, when large numbers of people are observed in a wide range of situations, the correlation for trait-related behavior runs about .20 or less. People think the correlation is around .80. In reality, seeing Carlos behave more honestly than Bill in a given situation increases the likelihood that he will behave more honestly in another situation from the chance level of 50 percent to the vicinity of 55-57. People think that if Carlos behaves more honestly than Bill in one situation the likelihood that he will behave more honestly than Bill in another situation is 80 percent!
How could we be so hopelessly miscalibrated? There are many reasons, but one of the most important is that we don't normally get trait-related information in a form that facilitates comparison and calculation. I observe Carlos in one situation when he might display honesty or the lack of it, and then not in another for perhaps a few weeks or months. I observe Bill in a different situation tapping honesty and then not another for many months.
This implies that if people received behavioral data in such a form that many people are observed over the same time course in a given fixed situation, our calibration might be better. And indeed it is. People are quite well calibrated for abilities of various kinds, especially sports. The likelihood that Bill will score more points than Carlos in one basketball game given that he did in another is about 67 percent—and people think it's about 67 percent.
Our susceptibility to the fundamental attribution error—overestimating the role of traits and underestimating the importance of situations—has implications for everything from how to select employees to how to teach moral behavior.
Cesar Hidalgo, author of what looks like an awesome book, Why Information Grows, wrote about Criticality, which is a very important and central concept to understanding complex systems:
In physics we say a system is in a critical state when it is ripe for a phase transition. Consider water turning into ice, or a cloud that is pregnant with rain. Both of these are examples of physical systems in a critical state.
The dynamics of criticality, however, are not very intuitive. Consider the abruptness of freezing water. For an outside observer, there is no difference between cold water and water that is just about to freeze. This is because water that is just about to freeze is still liquid. Yet, microscopically, cold water and water that is about to freeze are not the same.
When close to freezing, water is populated by gazillions of tiny ice crystals, crystals that are so small that water remains liquid. But this is water in a critical state, a state in which any additional freezing will result in these crystals touching each other, generating the solid mesh we know as ice. Yet, the ice crystals that formed during the transition are infinitesimal. They are just the last straw. So, freezing cannot be considered the result of these last crystals. They only represent the instability needed to trigger the transition; the real cause of the transition is the criticality of the state.
But why should anyone outside statistical physics care about criticality?
The reason is that history is full of individual narratives that maybe should be interpreted in terms of critical phenomena.
Did Rosa Parks start the civil rights movement? Or was the movement already running in the minds of those who had been promised equality and were instead handed discrimination? Was the collapse of Lehman Brothers an essential trigger for the Great Recession? Or was the financial system so critical that any disturbance could have made the trick?
As humans, we love individual narratives. We evolved to learn from stories and communicate almost exclusively in terms of them. But as Richard Feynman said repeatedly: The imagination of nature is often larger than that of man. So, maybe our obsession with individual narratives is nothing but a reflection of our limited imagination. Going forward we need to remember that systems often make individuals irrelevant. Just like none of your cells can claim to control your body, society also works in systemic ways.
So, the next time the house of cards collapses, remember to focus on why we were building a house of cards in the first place, instead of focusing on whether the last card was the queen of diamonds or a two of clubs.
The psychologist Adam Alter has another good one on a concept we all naturally miss from time to time, due to the structure of our mind. The Law of Small Numbers.
In 1832, a Prussian military analyst named Carl von Clausewitz explained that "three quarters of the factors on which action in war is based are wrapped in a fog of . . . uncertainty." The best military commanders seemed to see through this "fog of war," predicting how their opponents would behave on the basis of limited information. Sometimes, though, even the wisest generals made mistakes, divining a signal through the fog when no such signal existed. Often, their mistake was endorsing the law of small numbers—too readily concluding that the patterns they saw in a small sample of information would also hold for a much larger sample.
Both the Allies and Axis powers fell prey to the law of small numbers during World War II. In June 1944, Germany flew several raids on London. War experts plotted the position of each bomb as it fell, and noticed one cluster near Regent's Park, and another along the banks of the Thames. This clustering concerned them, because it implied that the German military had designed a new bomb that was more accurate than any existing bomb. In fact, the Luftwaffe was dropping bombs randomly, aiming generally at the heart of London but not at any particular location over others. What the experts had seen were clusters that occur naturally through random processes—misleading noise masquerading as a useful signal.
That same month, German commanders made a similar mistake. Anticipating the raid later known as D-Day, they assumed the Allies would attack—but they weren't sure precisely when. Combing old military records, a weather expert named Karl Sonntag noticed that the Allies had never launched a major attack when there was even a small chance of bad weather. Late May and much of June were forecast to be cloudy and rainy, which "acted like a tranquilizer all along the chain of German command," according to Irish journalist Cornelius Ryan. "The various headquarters were quite confident that there would be no attack in the immediate future. . . . In each case conditions had varied, but meteorologists had noted that the Allies had never attempted a landing unless the prospects of favorable weather were almost certain." The German command was mistaken, and on Tuesday, June 6, the Allied forces launched a devastating attack amidst strong winds and rain.
The British and German forces erred because they had taken a small sample of data too seriously: The British forces had mistaken the natural clustering that comes from relatively small samples of random data for a useful signal, while the German forces had mistaken an illusory pattern from a limited set of data for evidence of an ongoing, stable military policy. To illustrate their error, imagine a fair coin tossed three times. You'll have a one-in-four chance of turning up a string of three heads or tails, which, if you make too much of that small sample, might lead you to conclude that the coin is biased to reveal one particular outcome all or almost all of the time. If you continue to toss the fair coin, say, a thousand times, you're far more likely to turn up a distribution that approaches five hundred heads and five hundred tails. As the sample grows, your chance of turning up an unbroken string shrinks rapidly (to roughly one-in-sixteen after five tosses; one-in-five-hundred after ten tosses; and one-in-five-hundred-thousand after twenty tosses). A string is far better evidence of bias after twenty tosses than it is after three tosses—but if you succumb to the law of small numbers, you might draw sweeping conclusions from even tiny samples of data, just as the British and Germans did about their opponents' tactics in World War II.
Of course, the law of small numbers applies to more than military tactics. It explains the rise of stereotypes (concluding that all people with a particular trait behave the same way); the dangers of relying on a single interview when deciding among job or college applicants (concluding that interview performance is a reliable guide to job or college performance at large); and the tendency to see short-term patterns in financial stock charts when in fact short-term stock movements almost never follow predictable patterns. The solution is to pay attention not just to the pattern of data, but also to how much data you have. Small samples aren't just limited in value; they can be counterproductive because the stories they tell are often misleading.
There are many, many more worth reading. Here's a great chance to build your multidisciplinary skill-set.
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The Drum is an Australian nightly television current affairs and news analysis program hosted by Julia Baird and Ellen Fanning. The program airs in the primetime slot of 6:00 pm weekdays on ABC TV and is aired later on the ABC News Channel at 9:00 pm AEDT.

The program is broadcast nationally across Australia, live from the ABC's headquarters in Sydney, with a special "week in review" episode broadcast on Saturday evening.  It is also streamed live on iview, and broadcast in over 40 countries across the Asia/Pacific region on the ABC's international channel, ABC Australia.

The program brings together a panel of prominent experts and high-profile opinion-leaders to discuss the key issues gripping or confounding Australia.

History
The program premiered in 2010 with the launch of the ABC's 24-hour news channel. In May 2014, The Drum moved from the ABC News Channel to the ABC's primary channel with a new look, new timeslot of 5:30 pm, and a new 30-minute format.

In January 2019 the program was relaunched again, moving to the prime timeslot of 6 pm on ABC TV, ahead of the network's flagship news bulletin.

The relaunch was seen as a push to take on commercial rivals in the primetime slot, and the show was given a new set and look, and a new hour–long format.

The program is hosted by Australian journalists Julia Baird and Ellen Fanning. Stan Grant is the usual fill-in presenter when they are unavailable.

Annabel Crabb, Chris Uhlmann, Hamish Macdonald, Fran Kelly, Peter van Onselen and John Barron have hosted the show in the past.

A lighter, more relaxed summer version of the program is broadcast each January, hosted by Adam Spencer.

See also

 List of Australian television series
 List of Australian Broadcasting Corporation programs
 List of longest-running Australian television series

References

Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming
2010 Australian television series debuts
ABC News and Current Affairs
Australian non-fiction television series
Television shows set in Sydney
English-language television shows

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Pubic Schools Are Giving Up Their Monopoly Control Over The Minds Of Our Children.
December 25, 2020 /in Articles /by Hunter Hastings
It is all too easy to fall into the clutches of despair when contemplating prospects for the rollback of coercive, controlling, and intrusive government. But once in a while, there's a promising development. One may be occurring now as a result of the teachers' unions' collective refusal to open schools. Parents are beginning to examine alternative education options for their children and finding many, from homeschooling to private schools.
Insisting that "the push to reopen schools is rooted in sexism, racism and misogyny," the Chicago Teachers Union is fighting plans to return children to the city's public school classrooms. Not only is the union seeking an injunction to keep kids at home, but it says "all options are going to be on the table"—an implied threat of a strike in an already chaotic year—if it's not happy with the school board's decision.
Amidst a multitude of such battles across the country, it's no wonder that families weary of being held hostage to other people's decisions are abandoning government schools to enroll their kids in private institutions or to teach them at home. That shift is likely to permanently transform education in the United States in a way that lets children experience diverse approaches and viewpoints.
School and union officials in Chicago differ over their reading of public opinion tea leaves. The board points to the 37 percent of students whose families have opted for in-person teaching, while the union flips that around to emphasize that a majority of families want to delay reopening. But both sets of data indicate the same thing: people have different risk tolerances and come to varying conclusions about the right way to educate their children. Uniform, top-down approaches inevitably leave large numbers of them dissatisfied and looking for something that better suits their needs.
With similar battles playing out around the country, many families are heading for the exits. The evidence shows that more children than before the pandemic are learning their lessons from options chosen by their parents and free of the whims of school boards and unions. Public school enrollment is down in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, Minneapolis, Mississippi, and elsewhere.
"Comprehensive national data aren't available yet, but reporting by NPR and our member stations, along with media reports from around the country, shows enrollment declines in dozens of school districts across 20 states," NPR reports.
"The reason is no mystery," according to The New York Times. "With public schools mostly shifting to remote or hybrid learning, parents are pulling their children out entirely, opting to keep them at home or looking for options that offer more in-person instruction."
Where are those kids going? Perhaps some are getting lost in the year's chaos, but it's obvious that many families have embraced education options both traditional and new.
"More families are choosing to home-school or send their children to private schools," notes the Lewiston Sun Journal in Maine.
Homeschooling, in particular, is booming. Once regarded as a fringe choice for hippies and religious families, various approaches to DIY education pushed into the mainstream in recent decades and reached critical mass this year. An estimated 3.3 percent of children were homeschooled in 2016, up from 1.7 percent in 1999, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That share roughly tripled this year to nine percent, in an Education Week survey. Gallup agrees, finding that 10 percent of children are now being homeschooled.
"Home schooling will become more mainstream and socially acceptable, now that so many people are getting experience with schooling their own children from home—whether it's through traditional home schooling or overseeing their children's remote schooling," Christopher Lubienski, a professor of education policy at Indiana University, told Education Week. He predicts that some families will return to public schools after the pandemic passes, but the ranks of homeschoolers will permanently increase.
Many private schools, too, are seeing growth in enrollment. That comes after years of declines because of the Great Recession and the proliferation of charter schools which offer options without charging tuition.
"As the pandemic drags on through the fall, more families are seeking out schools that are fully in-person rather than remote — and, for many, that means switching to an independent institution, despite the cost," CNBC reported last month.
"In a survey of 160 independent schools over 15 states and the District of Columbia, almost half of schools (78) surveyed report they have experienced higher enrollment in the current school year, relative to the prior year," according to Damian Kavanagh, president of the Mid-South Independent School Business Officers association and Ben Scafidi, the director of the Education Economics Center at Kennesaw State University. "Forty-eight schools experienced a decrease in enrollment, while the remaining 34 schools had enrollments 'stay about the same.' Of schools where enrollment essentially was unchanged, the reason that enrollment did not increase at 14 of them was because they were at capacity."
That means that, even as the economy is slammed by pandemic lockdowns and people idled from work in a way that usually decimates private school enrollment, more Americans are digging into their pockets to pay for their kids' education.
Kavanaugh and Scafidi emphasize that independent schools offer "diversity of educational, religious and social offerings in K-12 education." The same can certainly be said of families that tailor their homeschooling approaches according to their own values and their children's needs rather than school board policies.
Perhaps nowhere is this more important than in the range of ideas with which students are presented, and the interpretations that teachers offer to students.
"American history textbooks can differ across the country, in ways that are shaded by partisan politics," Dana Goldstein of The New York Times marveled last January, in a stark summary of the country's curriculum wars. She contrasted different editions of the same textbooks prepared for public schools in California and Texas and found that "classroom materials are not only shaded by politics, but are also helping to shape a generation of future voters."
Deliberately or incidentally, families are leaving those politicized lessons behind as they abandon unsatisfactory institutions that have been paralyzed by pandemic-era battles between school boards and unions. The world they're creating is bound to be more diverse in terms of its ideas and approaches even as it's better suited to the needs of parents and children.
Our School System Was Designed To Produce Obedient Servants Of The State. It Should Be Abolished.
June 10, 2019 /in Articles /by Hunter Hastings
While it's almost universally understood that the American school system is underperforming, "reform," too, is almost universally prescribed as the solution. Yet in other walks of life, bad ideas are not reformed—they are eliminated and replaced with better ones. Our school system is rarely identified as a bad idea.
The system is reflexively left alone while the methods are the bad ideas that get cycled in and out: open concept schools, multiple intelligences, project-based learning, universal design for learning, merit-based pay, vouchers, charters, and most recently, educational neuroscience. Every decade or so we are told by the pedagogic experts that they have found an answer to our school's problems. The trouble is, they're looking right past the problem.
Schooling Monopoly
The problem is the monopoly that schooling has gained over education. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, approximately 97 percent of kids go through traditional schooling (as opposed to homeschooling or unschooling), and just over 90 percent of those attend government schools. That is to say, there is basically one accepted way to educate kids today: school them.
Given the relatively poor performance of American students on international achievement tests, you would think schooling might receive a second look. Quite the opposite, actually. It is instead made mandatory, and taxpayers are forced to subsidize it. This begs the question: Why would the government continue to propagate a system that produces such questionable results? The answer lies in their motives, and their motives are best understood by reviewing a brief history of compulsory schooling.
Roots in Germany
The earliest ancestor to our system of government-mandated schooling comes from 16th-century Germany. Martin Luther was a fierce advocate for state-mandated public schooling, not because he wanted kids to become educated, but because he wanted them to become educated in the ways of Lutheranism. Luther was resourceful and understood the power of the state in his quest to reform Jews, Catholics, and other non-believers. No less significant was fellow reformist John Calvin, who also advocated heavily for forced schooling. Calvin was particularly influential among the later Puritans of New England (Rothbard, 1979).
Considering compulsory schooling has such deep roots in Germany, it should be no surprise that the precursor to our American government school system came directly from the German state of Prussia. In 1807, fresh off a humiliating defeat by the French during the War of the Fourth Coalition, the Germans instituted a series of vast, sweeping societal reforms. Key within this movement was education reform, and one of the most influential educational reformers in Germany at the time was a man named Johann Gottlieb Fichte. Like Luther before him, Fichte saw compulsory schooling as a tool to indoctrinate kids, not educate them. Fichte describes his aim for Germany's "new education" this way:
Then, in order to define more clearly the new education which I propose, I should reply that that very recognition of, and reliance upon, free will in the pupil is the first mistake of the old system and the clear confession of its impotence and futility.
But actual education is an organic process and requires free will; this was not an attempt at education. Schools were to be factories that would churn out the type of obedient, compliant workers the state preferred. Here's Fichte again explaining the desired interaction between teachers and students:
[Y]ou must do more than merely talk to him; you must fashion him, and fashion him in such a way that he simply cannot will otherwise than you wish him to will.
Fichte understood full well that a statist vision could most easily be realized if governments were given kids' minds early on:
Education should aim at destroying free will so that after pupils are thus schooled they will be incapable throughout the rest of their lives of thinking or acting otherwise than as their schoolmasters would have wished … When the technique has been perfected, every government that has been in charge of education for more than one generation will be able to control its subjects securely without the need of armies or policemen.
If such a totalitarian vision were quietly isolated in Germany, or even Europe, it might be of very little consequence. But it would be this Prussian model of control-by-schooling that 19th-century American politicians would bring to our nation—and the one that is still with us today.
Horace Mann's Evaluation
Referred to as the first great American advocate of public education, Horace Mann embarked on a journey to Europe in 1843 to evaluate national school systems. He toured several western European states, but Prussia left the most impressionable impact on him (see his 7th Annual Report of the Board of Education, 1843). Once back in the United States, Mann began to lobby heavily for a taxpayer-funded government school system that largely mirrored that of Prussia's.
Mann was no ordinary, grassroots American activist; he was an extremely influential public figure. He had been a part of the Massachusetts State Legislature, he was the first secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, and he later became a United States congressman. He had enormous reach. In short, Mann's influence worked. His "common school movement," as it would be known, began to spread across the Northeast, with government schooling taking root in Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
By the end of the decade, all states had public schools. Unsatisfied with forcing taxpayers to fund a government school system, Massachusetts also wanted to force everyone to go. What good would an organized system of indoctrination be if people could simply ignore it? They instituted the first compulsory attendance laws in the 1850s, and neighboring states began to follow suit; by the end of the 19th century, 34 states had compulsory school laws.
By 1918, they all did. Over the decades, the number of years kids were forced to go to school slowly increased, as did the number of required school days per year. Fines and penalties would be imposed nationwide for school truancy. Within decades, the federal government passed the ESEA, which thrust the national government into education and shortly thereafter established a federal Department of Education. Mann's vision for a truly national school system would be realized just a little over a century after his initial visits to Prussia.
Pure Intentions?
It is impossible to discuss, or even understand, the failures of our school system without understanding its origins. The motivations were not pure; they were never to educate. That need not be speculation—it is directly from the mouths of the reformers themselves. The objective was to nationalize the youth in a particular mold.
From Luther to Fichte, the idea to use the coercive power of the state to force kids into schools and indoctrinate them was clear. Horace Mann became instrumental in importing this system and helping it spread throughout the United States. Attempts to reform this system amount to an incredible waste of time and resources; discussions of reform are a waste of breath. The system is rotten at its foundation and must be abolished completely.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Q: Как в Python разбить строку по 4 символа и сохранить эти "четвёрки" в списке? То есть есть например строка: "У Маши рыжая корова" и надо разбить строку по 4 символа: "У Ма", "ши е", "сть ", "рыжа", "я ко", "рова". И всё это надо сохранить в списке, например spisok = ["У Ма", "ши е", "сть ", "рыжа", "я ко", "рова"]. И, пожалуйста. с объяснениями, по возможности. Спасибо!

A: x = "У Маши есть рыжая корова"

print([x[i:i + 4] for i in range(0, len(x), 4)])

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Glaciers Get New Protections with Passage of Natural Resources Act
Jasmine Gill
Over 300 glaciers in North Cascades National Park were at risk of mining contamination, but they will now receive increased federal protection aimed at better preserving them.
The largest public lands bill in decades was passed in February by the US Congress with bipartisan support. In the House, the vote was 363-62 and in the Senate 92-8. President Trump signed the bill in mid-March. The Natural Resources Management Act sets forth provisions that aim to protect land, rivers, and ecosystems across US public lands. The bipartisan effort extends protections to over 300,000 acres of land in areas around North Cascades and Yellowstone National Parks. The measure also adds 1.3 million acres of wilderness to the western United States, protecting those areas from resource extraction, such as oil and gas drilling. Utah will be granted 661,200 acres of wilderness land, California 375,500 acres, and New Mexico 272,900. A full list of the expansions of national parks, wilderness areas, and trail extensions can be foundhere.
Doubtful Lake as seen from Sahale Glacier Camp in North Cascade National Park (Source: Brew Books/Flickr).
Advocates for the legislation, including national park visitors, conservationists, and environmentalists, hope that it will reduce or prevent harmful impacts of climate change and water contamination on sensitive environments, such as the glaciers in North Cascades. Mining creates soot that falls onto glacier surfaces, reducing their albedo, which in turn causes greater amounts of melting.
According to the National Parks Service, North Cascades is among the snowiest places on Earth and is the most heavily glaciated area in the United States, outside of Alaska. Glaciers in the park are shrinking due to the impacts of climate change—20 percent of North Cascade National Park's Boulder Glacier has been lost to glacial retreat. North Cascade Glacier Climate Project (NCGCP) has tracked changes on the glacier since 1988. According to NCGCP, Boulder Glacier has retreated about 20 meters per year from 1984-2009, a total of about 515 meters.
The Natural Resources Management Act will provide a larger buffer zone between mining sites and the park.
After the bill was passed in February by the US Senate, Kristen Brengel, vice president of government affairs for the National Parks Conservancy Association stated: "We are one step closer to adding over 2 million acres of parks, wilderness, and conservation lands into protected status."
Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican representing Utah, opposed the bill, fearing land in his home state would miss out on development opportunities.
The bill protects Yellowstone National Park from mining around the area. (Source: Frip/Flickr)
Lisa Dale, a lecturer at Columbia University's Earth Institute, has extensive experience with wilderness designation. Dale, who worked for the Wilderness Society, which was instrumental in the passage of the 1964 National Wilderness Act, explained to GlacierHub the process for expanding wilderness protections on public lands.
The land must not have any roads and must be a minimum of 5,000 acres. And the areas under consideration should, according to Dale, "provide an opportunity for solitude … and not have any presence of modern life." The presence of modern life includes noise and light pollution from nearby cities and towns.
Land under considered for protection must be deemed a valuable and unique ecosystem—North Cascade National Park, for example, which hosts awe-inspiring terrain and hundreds of glaciers.
The process for granting wilderness status is not typically fast or easy. First, it is important to note that land turned into wilderness is not taken from the private sector. Rather, wilderness comes from land that the federal government already possesses. What makes it wilderness, however, is added protection and restrictions of the land. After the land is constituted as wilderness, the area is designated for recreation—fishing, hunting, backpacking, and finding solitude. Mechanized vehicles are prohibited.
Dale said the process often starts with a small, grass-roots organization that has a substantial amount of data on federal areas. These areas are usually designated Wilderness Study Areas. In order to be considered a Wilderness Study Area, it must have been identified by the Land Management Agency, Forest Service, Park Service, or Bureau of Land Management as having "wilderness quality." This wilderness quality will be maintained by organizations such as the Wilderness Society as they wait for wilderness approval.
Colorado's Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness – White River(Source: Colorado Sands/Flickr).
There is much to celebrate with the passing of this bill, and with it comes the protection and conservation of sensitive ecosystems like the glaciers of Northern Cascade National Park.
"To have all of these things happening at once happening in one bill is pretty exciting and worth celebrating because of the bi-partisan nature of the support that came around to support these actions," Dale said.
Read More on GlacierHub:
Not All Iceberg-Generated Tsunamis Are Alike. Here's How They Differ
Measuring the Rise and Fall of New Zealand's Small and Medium Glaciers
Glacier Lessons as a Glacier Lessens
Tags: glaciers, mining, National Resources Management Act, Wilderness
Roundup: East Antarctic Ice Sheet, Mining Impacts and Flood Preparation
Jade Payne
East Antarctic Ice Sheet Has Fast-Moving Margins
From Geomorphology: "The identification of different ice flow configurations, evidence of subglacial water and past ice margin collapse indicates a dynamic ice sheet margin with varying glacial conditions and retreat modes. We observe that some of the described morphological associations are similar to those found in the Amundsen sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) where they are associated with ice sheet and ice stream collapse. Although further studies are needed to assess the precise timing and rates of the glacial processes involved, we conclude that there is enough evidence to support the hypothesis that the EAIS margin can behave as dynamically as the WAIS margin, especially during glacial retreat and ice sheet margin collapse."
Read more about the past behaviors of the East Antarctic ice sheet's glaciers here.
The East Antarctic coastline where the Totten Glacier meets the ocean (Source: NASA).
Environmental Impacts of Mining in Glacier Regions
From the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies: "The ugly side of Kumtor is that an open-cast mine in pristine mountain conditions is bound to have negative environmental consequences. Combined with global climate change, the threat to glaciers and to sustainable water supplies downstream is severe. Kumtor's owners and managers are aware of the issue; the questions are to what extent is the company responsible for countering environmental damage and what is the role of the government in protecting the environment?"
Read more about the Kyrgyz Republic's gold mine here.
An open pit in Kumtor Gold Mine in August 2012 (Source: The EITI/Flickr).
Preparing for Glacier Lake Outburst Floods in India
From Environmental Science and Policy: "Over recent years, at the level of international climate science and policy, there has been a shift in the conceptualization of vulnerability toward emergence of 'climate risk' as a central concept. Despite this shift, few studies have operationalized these latest concepts to deliver assessment results at local, national, or regional scales, and clarity is lacking. Drawing from a pilot study conducted in the Indian Himalayas we demonstrate how core components of hazard, vulnerability, and exposure have been integrated to assess flood risk at two different scales, and critically discuss how these results have fed into adaptation planning."
Read more about translating climate risk in planning for floods in the Indian Himalayas here.
Schematic overview showing how the integrative concept of climate risk as presented by the IPCC (2014) was operationalized for the assessment of flood risk in Himachal Pradesh, Northern India. (Source: Environmental Science and Policy).
Tags: Climate Risk, East Antarctic Ice Sheet, glacier lake outburst flood, Glofs, Ice Flows, Kyrgyz Republic, mining, Totten Glacier
The Glacier Law Conundrum: Protecting Glaciers or Limiting Hazard Response and Adaptation?
Andrew Angle
The environmental and socioeconomic benefits of the world's glaciers, from their role in water storage to their influence in tourism, have led to the development of national laws to protect glacial environments from activities like mining that could adversely alter them. While legal protections aim to safeguard glaciers and the value they generate, the laws often fail to account for the actions necessary to mitigate glacial hazards or adapt to climate change. A recently published study in Ambio examined glacier protection laws in Argentina and Chile in an effort to explore how laws could better address interventions in rapidly changing glacial areas.
Figure detailing the rapid growth of a glacial-dammed lake, highlighting the need for a quick mitigation response to glacial hazards (Source: Iribarren et al. 2018).
The study was part of the Newton Picarte project on Glacial Hazards in Chile, a partnership between Universidad Austral in Chile and Aberystwyth University in the United Kingdom. Its goal, according to author Pablo Iribarren, a glaciology lecturer at Universidad Austral, was to emphasize that glaciers not only provide environmental and socioeconomic benefits but also pose a threat to mountain communities. In addition, Iribarren told GlacierHub that "…this duality must be considered by Glacier Protection Laws (GPLs) to better face challenges associated with a rapidly changing cryosphere."
It might seem impossible to protect glaciers, except by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. But there are other concrete steps that countries can take, particularly in relation to mining. GPLs are a relatively new phenomenon intended to preserve glaciers and their surrounding environments from commercial endeavors. Argentina was the first country to ratify a GPL in 2010. Chile and Kyrgyzstan have also developed GPLs, although these laws have yet to be ratified, due largely to the power of the extractive lobby. The opposition to GPLs from the mining industry and even the government is robust because of the economic benefits of natural resource extraction. For example, in the central Chilean Andes 55.1 billion dollars were generated from 2004 to 2011 and over 60,000 people were employed by the industry.
The entrance to the controversial Pascua Lama mine. Barrick Gold is the Canadian mining company behind the project (Source: infogatecl/Twitter).
Mining and other natural resources extraction activities on and near glaciers in many cases destroy ice or cover it with debris and contaminate water resources. Chiles's unresolved GPL, for instance, stemmed from a mining project known as Pascua Lama developed by Barrick Gold, a Canadian mining company that proposed the removal of glacial ice for mining purposes. However, despite intending to protect glaciers from destruction or alteration, GPLs can also inhibit the mitigation of glacial hazards and climate change adaptation by limiting intervention in glacial environments.
Glacial hazards are primarily caused by three sometimes concurrent processes: glacial advance, glacial blockage of mountain streams, and the growth and subsequent failure of glacial-dammed lakes. In the case of advancing glaciers, their leading fronts can become stranded, blocking streams and creating lakes. These glacial dams are then particularly vulnerable to melting. A well-known glacial disaster occurred through this mechanism in the Argentinian Andes in 1934, when an ice-dam blocking a stream failed. The resultant flood inundated a valley below, killing 20 people. Conversely, retreating glaciers often leave in their wake glacial lakes, some of which can be very large in volume. When the volumes of these lakes increase or when waves from glacial calving strike the dam, damaging outburst floods can occur.
The draining a glacial lake in the Himalayas to reduce the risk of an outburst flood (Source: Renaud Meyer/Twitter).
To reduce the risks posed by glacial hazards, different strategies can be employed. One strategy for an ice-dammed lake is the modification of the ice dam itself through reinforcement methods like increasing its impermeability. Another strategy involves the actual excavation or blasting of ice to prevent glacial advance or to preemptively drain an ice-dammed lake. In another form of intervention, local communities near glaciers might utilize glacial lakes as a water reservoir in response to reduced water availability due to climate change or reduce the risk of outburst floods by lowering lake levels.
However, conflict arises between these glacial interventions and GPLs because interventions usually involve the modification of the glacial environment. Under Argentina's GPL Article 6, activities that modify a glacier's natural condition or result in the destruction or movement of glacial ice are prohibited. Section 6b continues by prohibiting the construction of infrastructure on or near a glacier, although it does allow infrastructure for scientific purposes or to prevent risks.
Glacial hazard mitigation and climate change adaptation would fall under this article, but any proposed intervention would be subject to an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), according to Article 7 of the GPL. Thus, the authors presume that "the most likely scenario for handling a hazard would be to conduct an EIS, yet this procedure may take months or even years." During this possibly time-consuming process, a hazard "could put lives and infrastructure in danger." For another view on this issue, GlacierHub spoke to Jorge Daniel Taillant, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Environment, and author of "Glaciers: The Politics of Ice," who finds it unlikely that preventive action against a potential glacial hazard would be delayed by a GPL and an accompanying EIS.
Why the disconnect between Argentina's GPL and glacial interventions for hazard mitigation and climate change adaptation purposes? For Iribarren, it's a result of the GPL being developed in response to conflict between mining and local communities fighting to protect their water supplies. Glacial hazards were simply ignored in the midst of a seemingly existential fight between international mining conglomerates and local people.
Photo A shows the mine waste that was dumped on top of a glacier in Kyrgyzstan. Photo B shows a road built over a glacier in Chile which was damaged when the ice beneath it crept forward (Source: Iribarren et al. 2018).
The omission of glacial hazards and climate change adaptation during the development of GPLs means intervention into the glacial environment could possibly be impeded or even prohibited altogether. To improve upon this current intersection, the authors argue that GPLs should include allowances for glacial interventions that protect lives or infrastructure. They further argue that the process to authorize intervention should be sped up so that hazards are addressed in a timely manner, reducing the possibility of disaster. Finally, they propose that GPLs should clearly designate the government institutions responsible for glacial interventions.
While these proposals would likely help to improve GPLs, challenges would still remain. The biggest of these, according to Iribarren, is the possibility that GPLs that allow for easier glacial interventions could be used as a loophole for parties to intervene in glacial environments for strictly economic purposes like mining.
With Argentina's GPL, the only one of its kind enacted worldwide, future research is undoubtedly needed to truly assess the conflicts these laws potentially pose. A first step in this process, Iribarren believes, is to study how other glacial countries like Peru or Switzerland have balanced "conflicts between economic interests and the protection of the cryosphere and surrounding landscapes."
Tags: Barrick Gold, glacial hazard, glacier law, mining, outburst flood, Pascua Lama
Activists Say Chilean Glacier Protection Law Falls Short
Syed Sayeed
A recent incident shows the importance of a social movement in shaping a glacier protection law in Chile. Representatives from indigenous and environmental groups testified in April that the draft law— which designates glaciers as protected areas and limits activities that can damage them— has glaring loopholes that would leave glaciers and the people who depend on them unprotected. They urged the Commision on Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples to review the proposed law.
A glacier in southern Chile. Courtesy of Flickr user Piero.
The group, the Coordination of Territories in Defense of Glaciers, is a coalition of organizations from northern and central regions in Chile with glaciers. According to an article posted by the Latin American Observatory of Environmental Conflicts (OLCA), the group's message was received positively by representatives on the commission, which is part of the lower house of the Chilean legislature. The article was signed by several groups advocating for glacier protection, including the Coordination of Territories. It was posted by the indigenous media blog Mapu Express as well.
According to the article, advocates for communities living alongside glaciers argued that these communities need to be able to secure their water rights in order to survive. Central and northern areas are the most dependent on glacial waters, and glaciers there would be left vulnerable by the law, advocates argue. They also point out that Chile is currently experiencing a prolonged water shortage.
The draft law is currently under review within the Environment Ministry, and the group asked the Commission of Human and Indigenous Rights to review it.
A mural protesting the destruction of water resources by mining. Courtesy of Flickr user Amilcar.
These advocates stated in an earlier post that industry interests have ensured that "Ningún glaciar quedará protegido": Not one glacier would be protected. The groups are aligned against mining interests, including the state-owned copper company CODELCO and Consejo Minero, a mining industry group. Representatives on the committee acknowledged the role of mining interests in opposing glacier protection; Deputy Roberto Poblete, who sits on the committee, singled out Barrick Gold, a large mining company that operates in Chile, as an example of the forces at work against the law's efficacy.
Conflict between mining groups and local activists are taking place in other parts of the world as well, including Kyrgyzstan, as GlacierHub recently covered. The issue has also been picked up in American popular culture, on the TV show Madam Secretary.
Chileans have been pressing their government to protect glaciers in law since 2014, when plans were announced to expand Chile's largest mine, further impacting glaciers. Greenpeace started an advocacy campaign called "Glacier Republic" in which it jokingly claimed to declare Chile's glaciers an independent country. Greenpeace's efforts combined with those of a handful of Chilean politicians and grassroots activists. A march of two thousand people called for Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to protect the glaciers in law. Discussion of glacier protection in the law followed, and a group within Chile's legislature advanced a bill to protect glaciers. GlacierHub reported in 2015 that though progress was made in bringing a law to the table, there was uncertainty in how far it would go to protect glaciers.
The Chilean groups testified last month that the draft bill did not go far enough. In January, advocates detailed that the law's impact would be severely limited. That's because the law would require that a glacier be in a "Pristine Region," a park or national reserve, or part of a declared Strategic Glacier Reserve to be protected. They wrote that there are several loopholes that could prevent glaciers that fall under these conditions from being protected. One of these loopholes is a legal provision that parkland can be opened to economic development if permission is granted by the government.
#SiempreTengoLaEsperanzaDe que el gobierno sancione una #LeyGlaciar que proteja a todos mis #glaciares PARA SIEMPRE. pic.twitter.com/3wE261tjOV
— Greenpeace Chile (@GreenpeaceCL) April 28, 2016
These advocates further state that most glaciers would not qualify for protection under these three categories. Small glaciers, found in the northern regions, and types of terrain that function alongside glaciers, such as permafrost, are vulnerable, they argue. They also argue that mining activity in these excluded areas would lead to the fragmentation of glacial ecosystems. Also, the law would not prohibit mining that results in suspended dust or underground activities, which are the most dangerous for these water sources. According to the advocates, at the meeting last month, they argued that the law legalizes and standardizes the destruction of glaciers, rather than protecting them.
The March for Restoration and Protection of Water in 2013. Courtesy of Flickr user Rafael Edwards.
Estefanía González, a spokesperson for Greenpeace, in an article in the online newspaper El Mostrador, stated that Greenpeace has remained active in advocating for a strong glacier protection law, and issued a call for attendance at a march for the Defense and Restoration ofWater and Lands in Temuco, Chile to denounce it. The march was held on April 23, and was attended by an estimated 4,500 people.
González echoed the indigenous groups' comments and also drew parallels to other nearby countries who were fighting similar battles. In Colombia, activists are fighting to protect tundra as a water resource, and in Argentina, where Barrick Gold, a mining company, is consuming 9 million liters of water per day in the zone where a water emergency was declared, Gonzalez stated in El Mostrador.
Deputy Hugo Gutiérrez spoke about the challenges the law faced. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
Members of the Council expressed their sympathy with the message. The advocates wrote. Deputy Gabriel Boric described access to water as an inalienable human right. However, the representatives pointed out that they fought an uphill battle against big business interests that had a strong hold on Chilean politics. Deputy Hugo Gutiérrez, from the Communist Party, compared the law with the Fisheries Act, which was originally designed to promote sustainable use of marine resources but actually ended up supporting large fishing companies while disadvantaging independent fishermen. Protests erupted in 2015 over this issue.
Council members pledged to do their utmost to take the glacier law under review to examine its human rights impact, even in the face of political and industry pressure. The difficulties which they acknowledge shows the obstacles faced by legislation that favors environmental protection, in Chile as in other countries around the world.
Tags: Chile, human rights, indigenous peoples, ley glaciar, mining, olca
A Glacier Makes a Cameo on 'Madam Secretary'
Glaciers made an unusual appearance on a primetime American television network last month: the television series Madam Secretary aired an episode whose plot involved a conflict between mining interests and an transnational public over the fate of a glacier in Chile.
Téa Leoni plays Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord in the series.
Credit: CBS.
The show, on CBS, stars a fictional Secretary of State, Elizabeth McCord (played by Téa Leoni). In "Higher Learning," Secretary McCord is pulled into a conflict sparked a hemisphere away when protesters bar an American mining company's trucks from entering an indigenous heritage site in the Andes. Viewers learn through protesters' shouts that the miners intend to extract gold that lies beneath the glacier at the site. The miners planned to dig through the glacier to access the gold, and the opponents of the operation say this will destroy the glacier.
The mining company is American, and has a contract with the Chilean government. When an American employee is injured by a protester, the company calls on the State Department to ensure the safety of its workers.
The Secretary attempts to intervene on behalf of the company by negotiating with the Chilean government to shut down the protests. The issue hits her agenda just as she is preparing to leave on a trip with her daughter Alison to visit the fictional Rafferty College, which Alison hopes to attend. Stopping by the office, where she is briefed by her team of four staffers, she points out that she understands the protesters' perspective, saying, "It's not surprising that people would object to moving an entire glacier to dig the gold out."
Mountain glaciers in Magallanes Province, Chile, where the protests are set in the episode. Credit: Neil Moralee, Flickr.
An advisor, Jay Whitman, played by Sebastian Arcelus, also points out that the whole affair has "a strong whiff of neo-colonialism." However, the White House Chief of Staff pressures her to respond to the mining company's interests because the company is based in the home state of a potential ally of the president. Furthermore, the mining company has a legal contract to extract the gold, so the Secretary is left in the position of having to try to protect their right to operate.
The story takes another twist when the Secretary arrives at the college campus she is visiting with her daughter and is confronted by a group of vocal students who demand justice for the Chileans and for the environment. The students jumped on the issue when the media picked up the story of a solo protester who began a hike up the glacier saying he will reach the top to pay tribute to the glacier one last time, or die trying.
Nothing fazes Bess, not even student protestors & a lawsuit. Watch #MadamSecretary now: https://t.co/BxeXmwy2lz pic.twitter.com/6UxTgLrT5B
— Madam Secretary (@MadamSecretary) March 21, 2016
GlacierHub has covered controversy over mining in glaciated areas, for example when state-owned Codelco proposed expanding Chile's largest copper mine in 2014. The expansion, which Codelco announced would continue, albeit with some redesigns, requires major operations near glaciated territory and the removal of six glaciers. The company initially claimed that there would be little environmental damage. Greenpeace responded to Codelco's move by declaring Chile's glaciers an independent "Glacier Republic." This move was a sign of protest against the failure of the state to protect glaciers. Also, in Kyrgyzstan, the Kumtor gold mine's operations has threatened glaciers and water.
As these stories show, the episode of Madam Secretary is fairly realistic in its depiction of geopolitical issues. We see how transnational politics play a role in resource extraction. We also see how a Secretary of State uses political channels, leveraging US trade policy in a conversation with the Chilean ambassador, who she calls on to shut down the protests. At the same time, we see the human aspects of this political role, as the Secretary follows the Chilean protester's hike and handles the confrontation with students on the campus who seek to protest injustice.
A protester demonstrating against gold mining in Chile in 2005. Credit: David Boardman, Flickr.
As the protester continues on his hike, he is lost in an avalanche. The mining company and the Secretary discuss workarounds including the use of an independent monitor group to supervise the operations and the possibility of mining the glacier from a site at a lower elevation, which would avoid destroying it. After this hike put the spotlight on the conflict, reports point out that the Chilean government has violated its own laws by granting indigenous lands to a mining interest. The mining company decides to abandon its plans (it finds another site in Argentina) and the protester is rescued.
The episode can be watched for free online for a limited time, here.
Tags: Andes, Chile, Madam Secretary, mining, Protests, Television
Peru Faces Tensions Over Water
Jingchao Wang
Pastoruri, Peru. Image by Taco Witte/Flickr
Peru will face a "new normal" as greater agricultural and energy demands, population growth and climate change chip away at what is left of its glaciers, according to a recent article in the Yale Journal of International Affairs. Glacial retreat could ultimately lead to conflict in the country, the author found.
"Peru offers an early view of the challenges mountainous regions worldwide may face in coming decades," wrote Peter Oesterling, the author. "The country—if successful—may also provide the world a model for effective policies to mitigate threats to environmental and human security."
For people in Peru, glaciers are the essence of their existence. Most people live on the west coast, an arid region, and rely on glacier meltwater for day to day use, crops, hydroelectric power and mining. But since the early 1980's, Peru's glaciers have shrunk by more than 22 percent. Further loss could lead to increased risk of flooding and water scarcity as well. Already, seven out of nine watersheds in the Cordillera Blanca are already past "peak water," meaning that the glaciers have passed the upper limit of melt water they can release.
At the same time, water demand in Peru is on the rise as water security dwindles. The population is projected to grow by 35 million by 2020, which will put pressure on the country's existing land and water resources. Millions of households rely on the Cañon del Pato hydropower plant on the Rio Santa, but as water availability declines, the plant could lose 40 percent of its power generating capability.
The country's mining industry also consumes a great deal of water. Eleven percent of Peru's land is being mined for minerals. In addition to using water for mineral extraction, mining releases contaminated water back into the watershed.
View to Tocllaraju Summit, 6036m. Photo by Twiga269/Flickr
"Peru's trends in water use and supply are incompatible," wrote Oesterling. "Glacially-fed rivers are already at emergency levels—insufficient for the country's agricultural and hydroelectric demands during the dry season."
The result has been socio-environmental tensions in the country, which have roots in the country's history. Peru's government historically cut indigenous communities off their land and limited their access to water resources for the sake of economic development. Still now local populations are dis-empowered and unable to take part in any decision making processes on their land even though they are the first to suffer from water contaminated by mining. Oesterling discusses a protest in which angry villagers blocked a major highways for several days, even though they were physically attacked by police, in order to bring attention to the concerns over pollution from mines.
To prevent future conflict, the country will need better regulatory processes that shifts the responsibility of environmental impact assessments away from private companies and into the hands of government bodies, said Oesterling. Existing regulatory government bodies could also benefit from being strengthened.
"With a sound response that addresses clean water access, environmental protection, and public participation in resource allocation decision-making, Peru can mitigate the effects of glacial recession and acclimate to new environmental realities," he concluded. "Yet—much like Peru's water supply—the time for effective action against glacial recession is dwindling—and quickly."
Tags: Andes, campesinos, glacier melt, mining, Peak water, Peru
Political Tug of War Over Greenland's Mining Industry
Sophia Hill
Greenlanders are engaging in a fierce ongoing debate about whether to develop the country's onshore mineral resources into a robust mining industry.
Since gaining political autonomy from Kingdom of Denmark in 2009, the government of the world's largest non-continental island has long been brainstorming how to solve its increasing financial woes. When a 2008 US Geological Survey documented the potential for more than 50 billion BOE (barrel of oil equivalent) in the Greenland region, rapid political support emerged for the development of a national mining industry.
Colored houses clustered at the foot of Qaaqarsuaq. Courtesy of BBC.
Indeed, with the rise of temperatures and subsequent melt of icecaps and glaciers, the available surfaces for extraction in Greenland are rapidly increasing, and are being trailed by the arrival of small scale mining companies and exploration wells.
Greenland's particular mining and extraction of fossil fuels would have noticeable ramifications on encouraging the country's long-term use of carbon-emitting energy sources, ensuring and reinforcing an energy dependence that the 2009 European Commission's Market Observatory for Energy study predicts to last for quite some time. However, climatologists warn that fossil fuel extraction will further contribute to rising Arctic temperatures, which are causing the melting of the ice caps and glaciers in the first place.
Nalunaq Gold Mine, Greenland's first gold mine. Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons
Companies are exploring the mining potential of a long list of minerals in Greenland, including iron ore, copper, oil, zinc, lead, uranium, fluoride, gold, rubies, and rare-earth minerals, which are commonly used in the manufacturing of mobile phones, solar panels, and wind turbines.
Greenland's major political parties, all unanimous in support for the development of the mining industry, hope to capture the rich benefits of oil taxes, royalties, employment opportunities, and financial independence, and therefore perhaps increased political independence, from Denmark.
However, elections have proceeded with caution as politicians battle over the pace at which to attract foreign investors to the market and over the employment of uranium mining, which was recently relieved of a decades-old ban on the practice.
Greenland citizens, however, are deeply divided over the ambitious plans to develop the mining industry.
Some believe a robust mining industry development could solve Greenland's struggling economy. The country's locals, historically sustaining themselves through hunting and fishing, have faced a faltering economy and a declining population, particularly in the town of Narsaq. When the its largest employer, a shrimp processing plant, closed a few years ago after the shrimp population fled to cooler northern waters, the town lost over 80 jobs.
Town slaughterhouse manager Henning Sonderup told BBC, "Many people are unemployed," he says. "Lots of families from Narsaq have moved out to other cities, so we have to do something."
Local Susanne Lynge sees mining as a potential solution to the government's financial woes.
"Our local government needs money," she says. "I wish they would open the mining," she told BBC News as she led a protest calling for the local council to speed up the construction of a new school.
Local protest calling for the council to speed up construction of a new school. Courtesy of BBC.
Sonderup added that a stable industry could bring economic prosperity and development back to Greenland.
"New school, bigger hospital, better airport, new harbor, new roads, everything. Greenland will be on the map again," he said.
The site of the Kvanefjeld uranium and rare earth element project in southern Greenland
Other citizens in Narsaq, however, deeply oppose the mining industry's encroaching presence, concerned about environmental impacts such as pollution, radioactivity, and threats to biodiversity.
One resident, Agathe Devisme, remarked, "People coming to Greenland are looking for something pure," she says. "It's the last corner of the world not touched by pollution. If there is any kind of radioactivity in the area, they will not like it."
In addition to these environmental threats, Greenland's extraction industry poses major geopolitical and economic implications onto the hazy future of Arctic oil extraction. A 2015 study estimated there to be 100 billion barrels of oil and natural gas reserves in Arctic, but concluded that Arctic reserves could not be exploited if global temperature increases were to be kept under the generally agreed "safety limit" of 2ºC. With the approach of December's UN negotiations and international climate deal, environmental policymakers will be watching Greenland's move.
Record-speed melting ice in Greenland (Courtesy of Brendan Delaney/Shutterstock)
Greenland Minerals and Energy's operations manager Ib Laursen believes that a mining industry can still adhere to sustainability goals.
"Other countries like Canada and France have uranium mining," he says. "If they can do it, we can do it in Greenland, we can take best environmental standards and put them to work here."
Several recent studies and working papers, most recently a paper on developing energy sectors in the Arctic in the soon-to-be-published Handbook of the Politics of the Arctic, seek to predict the unknown future of Greenland's mining industry and environmental policy. The Energy Security Institute at Brookings offers its own interpretation of the future in a 2014 report, as does MaRS Discovery District in this blog post.
For many, the debate over the development of Greenland's mining industry hinges not on whether to capitalize on the economic benefits of a mining industry, but on whether the industry can balance tense sociopolitical tensions in the Arctic and extract resources in a sustainable and environmentally-safe manner.
Tags: denmark, greenland, mining, Policy
European Bank Says Mining Projects Don't Damage Glaciers
Ryskeldi Satke
For years, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has been involved in the Kumtor mining project, which some experts say is contaminating ground and surface waters. Kyrgyz local communities have been complaining that the gold mine is causing negative environmental and social impacts on the nearby villages. Additionally, international NGOs and Kyrgyz environmentalists believe that the Canadian-operated Centerra Gold mine is triggering rapid glacier melt due to company's mining practices. The EBRD has denied these claims.
In May 2014, I was invited to the EBRD Annual Meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia where I met and interviewed Alistair Clark (EBRD's Managing Director Environment and Sustainability Department), Michaela Bergman (EBRD's Chief Counselor for Social Issues Environment and Sustainability Department), and Dariusz Prasek (Director, Project Appraisal Environment Department).
Here is an excerpt of the interview:
Saruu village community activists in the summer of 2013 when they went to inspect the Kumtor mine with local Kyrgyz government officials.
Ryskeldi Satke: on EBRD audits of the Kumtor mine. It looks like drinking water is the main concern here and it was one of the demands in the villages and this problem was raised during protests as well. My understanding is that EBRD has done due diligence on the impact. Why then there is an issue with the drinking water, still?
Alistair Clark: There shouldn't be an issue with the drinking water. For instance, there are monitoring results for water discharge from the mining site available to the public, I believe.
Ryskeldi Satke: CEE Bankwatch did an investigation into the mine in 2011 and they were trying to get hydrogeologist Robert Moran onto Kumtor premises but Centerra refused to grant access to Mr. Moran for water quality testing. Moran took samples down the local river stream from the mining project and said that "something is in this water that has been added from the mining activity".
Dariusz Prasek: We followed up on that and 50 samples of water were taken near the Kumtor mine. None of these 50 samples confirmed Mr. Moran's findings. ERM firm was the consultant. I don't have all the data in front of me and ERM work never confirmed Moran's findings. These findings were ungrounded. Something that Mr. Moran took for sampling was never confirmed by the independent consultant.
Alistair Clark: We are basing and we took that science in terms of results, you raised that issue. And we've got information that doesn't confirm Mr. Moran's findings. So, we are not trying to discredit it and we have body of data that actually says that water is ok for water supply. We can't comment on why people are protesting. Last time, there was an annual meeting few years ago and issues of Centerra Gold came up. We took claims that were made by Bankwatch and others. We took it very seriously and dispatched two-three people to the mine site to have independent audits done. These claims were not found to be there, company's practice was in compliance with international best practice and policy. And also, according to requirements that we put onto the project as part of EBRD financing. So when we have information from colleagues like yourself, we'll look at that data, we'll look at that information and we would triangulate. We can't really do much more to stage until we see body of evidence.
Ryskeldi Satke: I was recently in Mongolia and we have similar reports from the local people near the Gatsuurt mining project about the drinking water again. What are the odds of having complaints from the local communities in both Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia about the drinking water?
Michaela Bergman: I think people can express concerns and it can also be about perceptions. I think we have to understand what these concerns are. We have worked on projects where the data is within whatever acceptable limits and people still don't accept it as safe. We have to understand exactly what the issue is. Have they've got a proof of them being sick or they don't like the smell of the water. It could be a lot of reasons, in our experience.
Ryskeldi Satke: Was there any comprehensive medical research into long-term health effects in the areas which have generated numerous complaints about the drinking water?
The Gatsuurt open pit gold project in Mongolia is ready to launch mining operations (not a working project yet)
Alistair Clark: There was a medical study in 1998 after spill
Ryskeldi Satke: Was there any study done in recent years?
Alistair Clark: I don't know about now. But there was a study of the impact of that spill and we were dealing with cyanide with half life of days which got down quickly to low concentrations. Company provided clean drinking water. There have been number of claims about injuries and medical conditions associated with that and I understand that the medical reports from the Kyrgyz Republic that most of those reports were not associated with the spill.
Darius Prasek: What we monitor is actually in compliance with the standards of the project we finance and we have our own annual visits to the company, we review all standards on annual basis. So we are happy that the company is meeting standards. We didn't launch any health assessment of the local populace.
Ryskeldi Satke: You referred to the independent consultants hired by Centerra Gold.
Dariusz Prasek: Paid by Centerra Gold but hired in agreement with EBRD in terms and references preferred by the bank.
Satellite imagery of Kumtor (1975-2014) in the attached file. Compiled by GEUS's William Colgan.
Ryskeldi Satke: Prizma LLC. is one of them which went as far as stating that Kumtor mine glaciers are melting primarily due to climate change. And I have contacted PhD William Colgan glaciologist with Geological Survey of Greenland and Denmark (GEUS) to clarify Prizma's claim on effect of the global warming on Kumtor glaciers and according to Colgan's expertise, climate change is not the only reason, although it is undeniable that climate change is effecting glaciers globally. Kumtor case is very specific, the GEUS researcher says "local mining activities are clearly a larger factor in the recent wastage of the Lysyi and Davydov glaciers than regional climate change". William Colgan's finding was also demonstrated on satellite imagery pulled from archives from 1977 to 2014.
Alistair Clark: If you look at the number of glaciers around the world and see how many are retreating, the vast majority are indeed retreating. Prizma was looking at specific issues. We have our own experts in climate change team, many geologists. So this issue of melting is of concern and for instance, Centerra Gold had a habit of putting waste rock on one of the glaciers at Kumtor and EBRD has stopped such practice. We did that. Now, what's the consequence of saying that glaciers are melting. is it due to mining activity? Maybe glaciers are retreating with nothing to do with mining, if you take rock off the ground and putting the waste rock on the glacier which is also slowly moving, I think that's an argument to say that one affecting the other. But if there's no rock placed on the glacier which still retreating, well, it's not gonna be due to the mining activity. It will be due to long-term geological issue.
Grandmother with her grandchild about 4-5 miles away from Gatsuurt mine.
Ryskeldi Satke: Given the subject of melting, that is the reason for growing in size of the Petrov lake. And people have been raising the issue of outburst at Petrov lake which may wash away the cyanide tailing pond and contaminate the Kumtor river which is a tributary to Syr Darya river. You might heard of the dam spill disaster at Mount Polley mine in Canada, last year. Conditions are somewhat similar between the Kumtor and Mount Polley sites, both with over 50 million tons of waste chemical material. Is there any plan in place that would safeguard the area from disaster scenario similar to Mount Polley spill?
Alistair Clark: Yes, they are putting in an engineering design. That aspect is monitored by the company, I think they have done land forming to channel any sudden breaks. So they have been engineering that issue out.
Dariusz Prasek: And they have been assessing the worst case scenario. In terms of what would have really happened. The modelling showed that it's even with the outburst falling into the tailing pond and the contamination would not be significant. They did modelling but they are not ignoring the issue but implementing measures to prevent it from happening.
Tags: central asia, glacier, gold, kyrgyzstan, mining
Dam Spill Threats at a Gold Mine in Kyrgyzstan
In light of the Mount Polley tailings dam spill in British Columbia, Canada, environmental activists in Kyrgyzstan are ringing alarm bells over a possible scenario of a similar outburst at Petrov Lake near the Kumtor gold mine project. At Mount Polley, the tailings dam at a copper and gold mine burst in August last year, spilling 25 million cubic meters of toxic waste into nearby lakes. The British Columbia provincial government appointed a commission to probe into the disaster. The commission has concluded that a "dominant factor in the breach of the Mount Polley tailings dam was a failure in the dam's foundation". All the while in Kyrgyzstan, the main concern has been and still is the Kumtor project's chemical waste tailings pond, managed by Centerra Gold. Coincidentally, the very same engineering firm of record for the Mount Polley dam, AMEC, was hired to investigate the Centerra Gold's environmental record at Kumtor mine in 2013.
Kumtor Mine (source: Ryskeldi Satke)
The most worrisome issue at Kumtor has been evolving with the stability of the glacial Petrov Lake, which is situated in direct proximity (7 km) above the tailings pond. The northwestern perimeter of Petrov Lake, where the dam is the narrowest, has become a major cause for concern in the Kyrgyz environmentalist community. The length of this particular section is approximately 30 meters. A Petrov Lake outburst could be expected to wash away the Kumtor tailings. where 60 million tons of cyanide liquid waste has been collected and stored so far. Just as in the case with the design of the Mount Polley dam, Kumtor tailings pond's flawed feasibility has led to the instability of the dam and to seepage of toxic substances into the groundwater. The first report of the movement of the Kumtor tailings dam was recorded in 1999. And it was found that in the initial stages of the construction, the active layer of relatively unstable alluvial deposits had not been removed from the base of the tailings pond. That has made the remaining loamy interlayers (at depths of 4 to 6 meters) alsovulnerable to instability. The Prague-based group CEE Bankwatch has indicated that "in spite of measures to stabilize the dam in 2003 and 2006 (so-called shear keys and toe berm), the dam is still continuing to move."
As this statement suggest, the company's plans have not solved the issue of the tailings dam stability. An underlying issue is that the plans to store and manage the tailings from Kumtor did not include a hydrogeological study of the chosen location. The storage pond was built on the riverbed of the Arabel creek. It was later discovered that an old bed aquifer remained at a depth of 6.85 meters. This active bottom (underflow) is contributing to the instability of the tailings dam. Dr. Robert Moran, a hydro-geologist who visited the Kumtor mine in 2012, said that the tailings dam instability was "enhanced by the relatively high temperatures of the tailings when they come from the process plant (a highly contaminated mix of about 50% solids, 50% liquids), which would increase permafrost melting [in this high-elevation location]. Such deformation and movement of the tailings structure, combined with the partial melting of the permafrost raises concerns about a catastrophic failure of the tailings impoundment — especially if a severe earthquake were to occur [in this seismically-active region]."
Expansion of tailings pond from 1977 to 2014 (source: William Colgan)
Dr. William T. Colgan, a researcher with Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, believes that Petrov Lake presents an "additional geotechnical hazard confronting the Kumtor tailings pond". According to Colgan's analysis, "glacial moraine and till is often a poorly consolidated material, outburst floods from proglacial lakes due to berm breaches present a non-trivial hazard. Petrov Lake is one of approximately fifteen proglacial lakes in Kyrgyzstan for which the moraine dam has been classified as 'at risk of rupture' by previous researchers. The stability of the lake is important for the stability of the Kumtor tailings pond, as an outburst flood could result in failure by over topping of the downstream Kumtor tailings pond. The lake has grown in size from an area of 1.8 to 3.4 km² between 1977 and 2014. In 1957 it was just 0.96 km2 in area. This growth is due to climate change, which has enhanced both the retreat and melt of Petrov Glacier. This multi-decadal growth indicates that the volume of Petrov Lake is not in steady-state (whereby lake inflow is balanced by lake outflow), and thus the forces being exerted on moraine and till berms are likely changing over time."
Kumtor tailings pond (source: Flickr/anonymous)
The threat of the environmental disaster over Kumtor tailings pond was highlighted at the United States House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing by Dr. Amanda Wooden (Associate Professor of Environmental Politics & Policy, Bucknell University) in November 2014. Wooden's testimony has indicated that the "changes in the permafrost underneath this extensive tailing pit at the headwaters to the Naryn River and breach threats to Petrov Lake above the tailing pond are concerns that should be monitored". Moran believes that in the scenario with Kumtor tailings dam failure, it would rapidly release "masses of contaminated water and sediments (the tailings) into the Kumtor river, endangering downstream people, facilities, downstream rivers, and would likely kill much of the mountain trout population and other aquatic organisms. Such a collapse could negatively-impact waters throughout much of the Naryn River basin, which flows into Uzbekistan."
In sum, the tailings pond at Petrov Lake, with large quantities of toxic substances in an unstable glacial environment, represents a serious threat to the ecosystems and human populations in two countries. The efforts of environmental activists may serve to bring this serious risk to attention within these countries and beyond, pressing for tighter and more effective regulations.
For other stories on mining risks in glacier regions, look here and here.
Dinara Kutmanova: PhD in Environmental Law from Kyrgyz State Law Academy; leading environmental expert and member of the Kyrgyz State Commission probe into Kumtor mine operations in 2012-2013: co-chairman of the Green Party of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Ryskeldi Satke: contributing writer with research institutions and news organizations in Central Asia, Turkey and the U.S. Contact e-mail address: rsatke at gmail dot com
Tags: activism, Kumtor, kyrgyzstan, lakes, mining, pollution, tian shan


Ive been a longtime follower on hogville and finally decided to join. The future is looking pretty bright for the hogs with the way Coach BB and staff are recruiting and it is starting to show. Just keep building depth and these close losses will turn turn into wins in the near future. WPS!!!
--- Quote from: DeltaHog82 on October 12, 2014, 08:26:36 am ---Ive been a longtime follower on hogville and finally decided to join. The future is looking pretty bright for the hogs with the way Coach BB and staff are recruiting and it is starting to show. Just keep building depth and these close losses will turn turn into wins in the near future. WPS!!!
Welcome aboard..... lived in the delta for years.


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