This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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As we enter the month of June, scorching temperatures are already making deadly heat waves around the world. Data confirmed last month was the hottest May on record, putting the Earth on a 12-month streak of record-breaking temperatures. On Wednesday, the World Meteorological Organization announced there is an 80% chance the average global temperature will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels for at least one of the next five years. “We’re going to see a more chaotic planet as the climate heats up,” says Jeff Goodell, a journalist covering the climate crisis. Goodell describes “the heat wave scenario that keeps climate scientists up at night”: a major power outage that could cut off air conditioning and cause thousands of deaths from extreme temperatures.
In Mexico, it’s already so hot that howler monkeys and parrots are falling dead from the trees. “What we’re experiencing right now goes beyond what is normal,” says Ruth Cerezo-Mota, climate researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. “We have been saying this for many years now.”
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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“Whiskey’s for drinking and water’s for fighting,” a popular adage from the chronicles of the American West that’s starting to come back into vogue.
The world’s megacities are on a knife’s edge of water stress.
Climate change is clobbering water resources and testing the nerves of the world, especially megacities; e.g., Mexico City (pop. 22 million) could run dry this summer. Nearly 90% of greater Mexico City is in severe drought. The country has been in widespread drought since 2021-22. Subsidence is causing the city to sink 20 inches per year because of rapid groundwater extraction supplanting low reservoirs. The Metro is sinking unevenly. The rails are wobbly. The massive city could go dry this year.
Bogotá, a city of 8 million located in a humid patch of the northern Andes Mountains surrounded by cloud forests, has instituted water rationing as of April 15, 2024. The Chingaza Reservoir System is 15% full and if rains do not return soon, it’ll run out of water in two months. The mayor recommended eliminating daily personal showers, with several other suggestions.
Human-caused climate change is enemy number one, and it all starts at the Arctic, influencing the entire Northern Hemisphere, too hot for too long melting reflective ice, upsetting an age-old interchange with jet streams at 30,000 feet that drive weather patterns. Like a drunken sailor, the jet streams don’t know which way to go and neither do weather systems. Result, rains for Mexico City reservoirs are horribly weak, if at all, following years of unprecedented drought.
The United Nations General Assembly, NY was briefed last year by leading scientists: “Conflict, Climate and Cooperation.” It’s been 4,500 years since an actual war has broken out over water rights. It took place between two Mesopotamian city-states in what is now called Iraq.
Like 4,500 years ago, tensions over water are on the rise and climate change is largely to blame as fossil fuels lurk in the background. Major cities of the world are at risk of drying out and climate change is the problem, too hot for too long with drought on a rampage, festering big time trouble of Day Zero, as taps go dry. Leading candidates: Mexico City, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Jakarta, São Paulo, Beijing, Cairo, Bangalore, Tokyo, London, Bogotá, Moscow, Istanbul (Sources: Euronews and World Resources Institute Aqueduct).
Global warming is impacting a very sensitive touch-and-go relationship between major cities and diminishing water resources. Extreme heat shrinks reservoirs combined with decades of neglect as water infrastructure crumbles and climate change shifts precipitation patterns making once wet regions drier than ever.
The 2024 World Water Development Report claims that nearly one-half of the world’s population experiences “at least temporary severe water scarcity.” Meanwhile, tensions over water are exacerbating conflicts worldwide. (Source: Press Release: Water Crises Threaten World Peace, UNESCO, March 2024.) More to the point, 2.2 billion people don’t have access to “safely managed drinking water.” This is a guaranteed formula for trouble as desperate people take desperate measures… to survive.
Recent water wars have spilled bloodshed in India, Kenya, and Yemen. And on the Iran-Afghanistan border, conflict rages over water from the Helmand River.
Based upon studies by the Pacific Institute, over the past 18 months there have been 344 instances of water-related conflicts in the world. According to Peter Gleick of Pacific Institute: “We also see a worrying increase in violence associate with water security worsened by drought – climate disruptions, growing populations, and competition for water.” (Source: “Water Increasingly at the Center of Conflicts from Ukraine to the Middle East”, LA Times, December 28, 2023.)
Climate change is creating a war path, forcing major urban centers to change lifestyles, living with less, and butting heads with a worldwide neoliberal capitalistic economic system that promotes endless growth at any and all costs.
By ignoring the dreadful influence of fossil fuels spewing CO2 whilst powering endless growth that rips apart predictable climate systems of the ages, which has now turned viciously unpredictable, the end may be in sight.
The ineptitude of world leadership to properly judge and deal with human-generated global warming, despite decades of warnings by top notch scientists, and their blatant kowtowing to the fossil fuel interests, is leading down a very difficult pathway. As a result, there are rumblings about how to change direction, for example, The Climate Revolution broadcast on the Climate Emergency Forum featuring Roger Hallam, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, who suggests a changing of the guard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc8KS89lG8Y&t=276s
The post Where’s the Water? first appeared on Dissident Voice.
This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Robert Hunziker.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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In Sanskrit, Maya means illusion or magic. Maya is at work among people and nations who project carefully crafted positive images of themselves. The U.S. and Israel are no different from other countries. They claim self-defense as they launch massive attacks. They invoke international law when it suits them then ignore it when it doesn’t. Then there’s always the standard line about our so-called values which justifies their actions. Most people don’t have a clue about Israel-Palestine because they depend on heavily biased corporate news. Instead, they cling to shopworn myths and fantasies about themselves and their country. The Gaza bloodbath is enabled by the U.S. Are we “good Germans” pretending not to see? Recorded at the Chinook Center.
This content originally appeared on AlternativeRadio and was authored by info@alternativeradio.org.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by The Real News Network.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice.
- White House announces $225 million aid package to Ukraine as Biden commemorates D-Day 80th Anniversary.
- Deadly tornadoes touch down in Eastern US.
- Federal judge orders longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon to report to prison on contempt of Congress charges.
- SF judge dismisses several charges against man who assaulted Nancy Pelosi’s husband.
- San Francisco labor rights groups announce $60,000 settlement in immigrant unpaid labor case.
- State Supreme Court OKs University of California to build student housing at People’s Park.
- State Attorney General Rob Bonta issues report on state gun violence protection orders.
The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – June 6, 2024 White House announces $225 million aid package to Ukraine as Biden commemorates D-Day 80th Anniversary. appeared first on KPFA.
This content originally appeared on KPFA – The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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I was 13 when my father moved our family from Libya back to my parents’ hometown of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. It was 1994, a time of optimism. Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization had signed the Oslo Accords and Palestinians were heading toward an independent state. Gaza, with its successful businesspeople and its young, skilled workforce, was a central part of that project.
Palestinians celebrating the signing of the Oslo Accord’s Gaza-Jericho implementation agreement surround an Israeli police car on May 4, 1994 as they wave flowers and olive branches. (Photo: Reuters) But over my 25 years in Gaza – 15 as a journalist – I watched how years of blockade and war eroded life in the strip. Now, with the ongoing war, the place where I grew up, went to school, made friends, fell in love, formed a family, and buried my father has been destroyed. The one place I will always call home is gone
These days, I live and work in London, where I moved in 2019. Like most journalists, my biggest professional worry is meeting deadlines. It’s nothing like Gaza, where handling the stress of life and death calculations and maintaining balanced relations with all the conflicting parties in and around the strip were always my top priorities.
The conflicting parties were Israel, which maintained a stranglehold on Gaza despite the 2005 withdrawal of settlements and troops, and Hamas, the de facto government, which based its legitimacy on its victory in the 2006 Palestinian elections and its claim that it had pushed Israel out. After those elections, amid Western pressure, Hamas and its rival Fatah agreed to form a unity government. But in 2007, Hamas took over Gaza. The Fatah-run Palestinian Authority was yet another conflicting party as it continued to claim that it was the legitimate authority over Gaza and squeezed the strip economically.
Amid all this, I was taking my first steps in journalism. During the Palestinian uprising known as the second intifada, foreign journalists needed help arranging and translating interviews. A local fixer hired me to accompany foreign journalists for $50 per day – very good money for a person my age with no experience. I only worked one or two days a month, but I was learning.
I soon made contact with the local journalist community. I initially thought they were all as wealthy and influential as the foreign correspondents they helped and frequented expensive cafes and restaurants, but I was naïve: journalists in Gaza belonged to the middle class, if not the lower class. Meeting for knafeh, a local dessert, at the Saqallah shop was a luxury.
When the Abu Al Soud knafeh shop opened, I invited a local journalist there to show respect and admiration. But journalists mostly hung out at the Matouq restaurant, at cafes by the beach, and later at the Press House, a media development nonprofit headed by Bilal Jadallah. Jadallah was killed during the ongoing war and the Press House was flattened. So were the knafeh shops in Gaza City.
As a young reporter, it did not take me long to figure out that reporting about Israel-Palestine for foreign media outlets meant there were restrictions on criticizing Israel in terms of content and language. In almost every single article produced from Gaza, I had to include the lines “Hamas, seen as a terrorist group by the West,” or “Hamas took over Gaza by force,” or, “Hamas is dedicated to the destruction of Israel.” To my editors, these additions were simply part of the structure of any article on Gaza. To my local audience, which felt my reporting was too soft and failed to show the brutality and cruelty of the occupation, these lines amounted to bias. And to me, they were a perfect prescription for inducing stress. I soon became a regular customer for Hamas security having to explain my articles and defend myself.
Abu Bakr Bashir covered the 2018 Gaza border protests, known as the Great March of Return. During the protests an Israeli sniper killed his colleague, photojournalist Yaser Murtaja. Ironically, the more times you meet the same people, the more “friendly” your relationships become. The challenge was how to make sure these relationships were as friendly as possible in order to save my life and career and to maintain open channels with the de facto authority. But I also had to keep them as formal as possible because I was reporting for international media, and I was not allowed to get too close to authorities.
My relationship with Abu Mustafa embodied this conundrum; he was the Hamas security officer who always questioned me about my reporting. We met so many times that we became “friends.” He was one of the first people I called every time I needed to avoid the chronic bureaucracy in Gaza; in particular, he helped me get permits for visiting foreign press as he had the authority to approve their entry over the phone in just a few seconds. However, Abu Mustafa was only his nickname. I never felt confident enough to ask his real name and he never shared it during all our years of contact.
In 2015, both NPR and the Wall Street Journal, my biggest clients at the time, invited me to visit Jerusalem. That meant I had to pass the Erez border crossing and meet Israeli security officials in person for the first time. I was very nervous as Israel, like Hamas and Gaza, was at the very center of my reporting. Just like Hamas, Israel had a say over my life and career. At that time, I had already lost several colleagues to Israeli fire in the 2014 war. I would go on to lose several more, including Yaser Murtaja, who got too near the border fence while pursuing a photograph during Gaza’s anti-Israel demonstrations in 2018. Yaser did not know he went too far; there were no signs or instructions warning him away. An Israeli sniper ended his life. In the current war, more than 100 Palestinian journalists have been killed, including Roshdi Sarraj, another colleague of mine and of Yaser Murtaja. So yes, Israel does have a say about the lives of journalists in Gaza and I had every right to fear for my life.
Hamas, too, has its own say on journalists’ lives, safety, and careers. In 2019, Palestinians took to the streets to protest the harsh economic conditions under its control. Hamas police cracked down on the protesters, and arrested and beat up the journalists covering the protests. As a journalist, I had no option but to report on the protests and on the Hamas assaults. It was just one more time when I had to put my life at risk for the sake of my reporting. I survived, but I couldn’t shake the stress for many weeks to follow.
Back to my 2015 trip to Jerusalem through Erez crossing. While I was looking over my previous reporting to prepare myself for potential questions from the Israeli officers at the checkpoint, Abu Mustafa gave me a call. He had seen my name on a list of Gazans planning to cross Erez. He put me in touch with a nameless colleague whose job was to guide people like me, who were making the journey for the first time. That was one of the weirdest situations ever, to be guided by a Hamas security officer whom I did not know or trust and who did not know or trust me. I am the last person to seek advice from Hamas, and yet here he was, advising me on how to deal with the Israeli security, intelligence, and military officers.
I was shocked to learn that everything this nameless man said happened in exactly the way he described it. I was strip-searched by two Israeli officers, and brought into a room with a woman who appeared to be Palestinian who said she wanted to talk to me. On the advice of the nameless man, I told her I was tired. I was later interviewed by a bald Israeli officer, one of the two people Abu Mustafa’s colleague said would interview me. The officer showed me photos of people on his computer and asked me about who they were. The nameless man’s advice was: once you are asked about someone, that meant they knew you had a relationship with them, so don’t lie but give general answers.
In the end, I made it to Jerusalem and back unharmed. I felt thankful for his guidance but also stressed over how much these two fighting parties seemed to know about each other — and about me. Both had the tools to make my life miserable if they wanted, and I only had my press card, a helmet, and a vest — materials that needed Israeli approval to enter Gaza and Hamas permission to be used there.
Palestinians shelter in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, Abu Bakr Bashir’s hometown, as people continue to flee Rafah due to an Israeli ground operation, on May 12, 2024. (Reuters/Ramadan Abed) When I lived in Gaza, I was worried about my life and my children’s future. Now in London, I worry about Gaza and the future of journalism there. In addition to those journalists who have been killed, dozens have fled; these losses are catastrophic to the journalistic profession there. Eight months into the war, I have so many questions: Who will guide the young journalists entering the profession? How objective can they be given the brutal conditions and lack of guidance? Will the world listen to them, let alone believe their narrative? And at the end of this, will there be young men and women willing to go into journalism in Gaza? Who will tell Gaza’s story?
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Abu Bakr Bashir.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Amnesty International and was authored by Amnesty International.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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South Korean activists flew large balloons carrying propaganda leaflets towards North Korea on Thursday, a few days after the North threatened to send more trash-filled balloons across the border in response to such campaigns.
The group, Fighters for a Free North Korea, led by North Korean defector Park Sang-hak, said it floated 10 balloons tied to 200,000 anti-Pyongyang leaflets, USB sticks with K-pop songs and South Korean television dramas, and one-dollar U.S. bills, from a border town.
“We sent the truth and love, medicines, one-dollar bills and songs. But a barbaric Kim Jong Un sent us filth and garbage and he hasn’t made a word of apology over that,” Park said in a statement, referring to North Korea’s leader and balloons the North sent over the South last week.
“Our group, the Fighters for Free North Korea, will keep sending our leaflets, which are the letters of truth and freedom for our beloved North Korean compatriots.”
The group’s new balloon flights followed a South Korean announcement that it will resume all border military activities for the first time in more than five years, ending a 2018 inter-Korean military pact in response to the North sending trash-bearing balloons to South Korea and its jamming of GPS signals.
The South’s suspension of the pact could mean a resumption of South Korean propaganda broadcasts, blasted through giant speakers on the border into North Korea.
North Korea sent waves of trash-filled balloons into the South from last Thursday to Sunday in what it said was a tit-for-tat campaign against South Korean activists who sent balloons carrying propaganda material denouncing the North’s regime.
Separately, the North staged GPS jamming attacks in waters near South Korea’s northwestern border islands for the fifth straight day on Sunday.
The Fighters for Free North Korea last month sent 300,000 leaflets and 2,000 USBs containing K-pop music videos to the North suspended from 20 big balloons.
The balloons from the south infuriate the North and have long been another source of tension between the two Koreas, which are still technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
On Sunday, North Korea said it would temporarily suspend its cross-border balloon campaign, though it also threatened to resume it if anti-Pyongyang leaflets were sent from South Korea.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Taejun Kang for RFA.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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China gifted 3,000 metric tons of Tibet’s glacial water to the island nation of the Maldives in two separate batches in March and May — the same months it unveiled and implemented water conservation regulations at home.
The Water Conservation Regulations set limits on water usage within administrative regions and prioritizes water conversation work in Tibet and other parts of China.
They were issued by China’s State Council on March 20, a week before it sent the first delivery of 1,500 metric tons of water in jugs to the Maldives, which is experiencing a scarcity of fresh water.
The regulations then went into effect on May 1, weeks before China donated the second batch of water jugs.
China finalized the deal with the Maldives during a November 2023 visit by Yan Jinhai, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, to the low-lying archipelago threatened by rising sea levels.
The Maldives has forged strong bilateral relations with China and is a beneficiary of the Belt and Road Initiative, under which it has borrowed more than US$1 billion from Chinese banks in the past decade, according to Western think tanks.
Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu signed 20 agreements, including one for financial and military assistance, with Beijing during his inaugural state visit to China in January 2024.
The Maldives thanked the people of Tibet for their “generous donation,” which it expects will greatly support its island communities. Its freshwater resources are affected by erratic rainfall patterns and rising sea levels.
Water shortages in Tibet
But Tibetans inside Tibet said they face water shortages themselves because Chinese authorities have implemented systematic water conservation and management campaigns across various Tibetan villages and towns for over a decade.
This has occurred while authorities have restricted the availability of water and set limits on water usage at the local level.
Maldivian security personnel load a water tank onto a military vehicle to fill it with treated water in Malé, capital of the Maldives, Dec. 5, 2014. The capital is located on a low-lying island in the Indian Ocean that has no natural water source and depends entirely on treated seawater. (Sinan Hussain/AP) 
“I have heard that China is donating bottled water from Tibet to other parts of the world for free for political gain,” said one source from the Tibet Autonomous Region, where Chinese authorities have carried out water conservation campaigns for over a decade.
“However, in Tibet, the local Tibetans do not have enough drinking water,” he said. “At times there isn’t enough water to even brush our teeth.”
On March 27, the same day the Maldives said it received the first batch of water, the Water Conservancy Bureau of Ngari Prefecture, or Ali in Chinese, the birthplace of key South Asian rivers, began a series of year-long events for the general public to promote water conservation.
In Nyingtri city, or Linzhi in Chinese, authorities have implemented the strictest water resources management system over the past several years and boast of its effectiveness.
“The water used to wash rice and vegetables can be used to mop the floor and water the flowers. … Nowadays, water-saving behaviors like this have become a conscious action of many citizens,” said a 2023 announcement by the city government.
Meanwhile, Tibetans who have grown up on their ancestral land in Gangkar township in Dingri county, called Tingri in Chinese, are being forced to relocate to make way for the expansion of China’s water bottling facilities and industry, two sources said.
“Gangkar is known for its fertile pastureland and significant water resources from glaciers with 15 water springs in the region, which the local Tibetans have always relied on for their livelihoods,” said the first source.
Chinese authorities plan to move about 430 residents to take control of the water resources from the land, he said.
Weaponizing water
China’s move signals it is engaging in “water politics” and playing the long game for geopolitical gains in South Asia, experts said.
The Chinese government has projects underway to extract clean, clear and mineral-rich water to support the expansion of its premium mineral bottled water industry, they said.
H.E. Yan Jinhai (L), chairman of China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, pays a courtesy call to Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu in Malé, capital of the Maldives, Nov. 21, 2023. (President’s Office/Republic of Maldives)
Beijing also wants to control water flows to lower riparian states such as India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, to further its own aspiration of regional dominance, experts said.
“The imperative to address the threat of China weaponizing water in Tibet cannot be overstated,” wrote scholars Neeraj Singh Manhas and Rahul Lad in a March report titled “China’s Weaponization of Water in Tibet A Lesson for the Lower Riparian States” in the Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs.
With approximately 87,000 dams built, China poses a historic threat, having already dammed most internal rivers, they add, while calling for proactive measures to implement enduring policies to protect these vital Tibet’s water resources.
Tibet is at the forefront of China’s “water wars” in the region, said Anushka Saxena, a research analyst at the Takshashila Institution, a public policy think tank in India.
Tibet’s eight major transboundary river systems have the capacity to turn China into “Asia’s water hegemon,” given that their water can be used for both domestic economic and foreign policy-related interests, as well as can be weaponized to cause harm to lower riparian states, she said.
“In that light, China’s moves vis-à-vis export of water to Maldives cannot be isolated from the larger approach China is adopting to using Tibet’s water resources,” she added.
Additional reporting by Dorjee Damdul for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Lobsang, Tenzin Pema and Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by The Real News Network.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice.
- Senate Republicans block bill that would have protected contraceptive access nationwide.
- Georgia appeals court pauses Trump election interference trial to review lower court ruling allowing DA Fani Willis to remain on case.
- President Biden in France to commemorate 80th anniversary of D-Day landings with other Western leaders.
- UN aid official for Haiti delivers stark assessment of food insecurity situation.
- Police clear Stanford Pro-Palestinian demonstrators from building they had occupied, 13 arrested.
- Pro-Palestinian protesters greet Vice President Harris at two Bay Area fundraising events.
- South Africa’s ANC falls short of majority in national elections.
The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – June 5, 2024 Senate Republicans block bill that would have protected contraceptive access nationwide. appeared first on KPFA.
This content originally appeared on KPFA – The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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The vision
“I think science is the perfect way to solve this issue. Because a lot of innovation and invention happens in science, and technology is always changing. And so I think, if I really wanted to make a big impact, this would be the way to go.”
High schooler and science fair winner Victoria Ou
The spotlight
Last month, around 2,000 high school students from all over the world traveled to Los Angeles for the annual Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, or ISEF. Reading the list of winning projects is … well, intimidating, even for a 30-year-old who technically has a degree in science. The top prize (of $75,000 — this is not the science fair from your high school gym) went to Grace Sun for her project “Novel Chemical Doping Strategy to Enhance N-Type Organic Electrochemical Transistors.” Another top award went to a project titled “Solving Second-Order Cone Programs in Matrix Multiplication Time.”
This year’s entrants included several climate-related projects as well: an AI approach to wildfire detection; a palm tree-inspired prototype for disaster-resilient building; a new energy-smart approach to optimizing indoor temperatures.
Youth climate activists get a lot of attention. We see them taking to the streets, demanding action, and holding policymakers accountable, and we believe their passion could change the world. But looking at these ISEF projects, it struck me that we often overlook this very different form of youth leadership.
These are not kids being pushed into crazy science projects by strict parents or overzealous teachers. They want to change the world, too — through research and innovation. And talking to them just confirms that.
“I want to help make sure that future generations can still have the same planet that we live on — that they don’t have to constantly worry about their health just because of what we have done in the past,” said Victoria Ou, another of this year’s top winners.
Victoria and Justin Huang, two 17-year-olds from The Woodlands College Park High School in Texas, designed a system that filters microplastic particles out of water using ultrasound waves. Their project received the Gordon E. Moore Award for Positive Outcomes for Future Generations, which comes with a scholarship prize of $50,000.
Victoria and Justin pose with their award at ISEF. Society for Science / Lisa Fryklund
They’ve competed in science fairs before, starting in middle school. Justin notes that it’s a part of the culture in their school system — they both attend the Academy of Science and Technology within College Park High School. But this was their first time teaming up, and their first time going to ISEF. They’ve both been interested in environmental science for some time (Justin cites the Pixar movie WALL-E as an early influence) and constructed their device themselves, doing the research in their own homes.
In their experiments, the device they built was able to successfully trap up to 94 percent of the microplastic particles present in the system, letting clean water flow out the other side. They’re keen to continue working on the invention, refining the design and ultimately looking toward scaling it up. But in the meantime, they’re hopeful that their success can serve as an inspiration to other young scientists, or anyone wondering how they can make a difference on an issue as thorny as the microplastics crisis.
Talking to them was like talking to any passionate youngsters (if those youngsters used a lot of terminology you had to google on the side and also invented a device with the potential to change one of the biggest problems facing our planet). I spoke with them a couple weeks after their ISEF win about their project, their experiences at the science fair, and what they’ve learned along the way. Their responses have been edited and condensed for clarity.
Q. Do you want to start by telling me a little bit about yourselves, and your interest in science?
Victoria: OK, I can go first. I’m Victoria Ou, I’m a current junior — well, ongoing to senior, in high school. We’ve actually been in school together since elementary. So we had the same sixth-grade science teacher, and she was kind of our big inspiration for getting into science. She really showed a lot of passion for it. And she was the one who had us do a science project that was really similar to a science fair. For my project that year, I actually did plastic pollution, which is how this kind of all started. I first read about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and microplastics that we’re getting into our water and our food. And I was like, This is definitely a huge problem.
Justin: Ms. Caldwell was really the first one who raised the issue about the environment, and how we have one Earth and what we’re doing to it is really not good. So moving forward into our future, we wanted to be able to help with this issue. That’s how we got involved with this environmental aspect of science. She was the big inspiration for both of us.
Q. I’m sure that must mean a lot to her. So tell me more about your research, and how you got started with this project.
Victoria: So, we know microplastics are a huge issue, right? They get into all of our food and water and produce a lot of harmful health issues. We were looking into some possible ways to filter them out of our water. And there are a lot of current methods that we were looking at, but they all have their own disadvantages. Some of them are too expensive or too slow to work. And some of them also added chemicals that could be harmful to our health, which we definitely don’t want.
We were thinking of a more noninvasive approach. And we came upon two main studies for this — the first showed how ultrasound could be used to get red blood cells within your bloodstream to clump together. And we thought, ”Oh, this is kind of a similar concept to microplastics in water.” So we kept digging a little more into that and found another study that showed how they could focus microplastics within the water. So you would have water flowing and the microplastics would gather into streams in the water. We used these two as a big inspiration for our own project.
Victoria and Justin hold up their invention in front of their booth at ISEF. While it looks a little like two pens taped together, it is not, in fact, two pens taped together. Why would you even think that. Society for Science / Chris Ayers Photography
Q: How exactly does your invention work (for a nonscience person)?
Victoria: So imagine you have your tube, and water’s flowing this way. We have a transducer [Editor’s note: That’s a device that converts energy into something else] attached to one section of the tube that’s producing ultrasound. So as water is going this way, the ultrasound produces a force that pushes microplastics back the opposite way, but the water is still able to get through. So at the end we have water coming out, but the microplastics, they all kind of get stuck in the upper half of the tube, and that’s where they eventually accumulate. And we can clean them out afterwards.
Justin: You can think of it as invisible filtration — because you can’t really see the sound waves. But the microplastics are still getting blocked within the system, within the tube itself.
One of the things that we thought of here was, if we’re looking at physical filters, they’re really easy to get clogged. We wanted to make sure we didn’t have the same problem. In our experimentation, we did tests with high concentrations of microplastics, like, thousands of times higher than what we would see in real life, as well as really high volumes of water. And our system was still able to work really well. In the end, the microplastics are clumped together in the entry part of the tube — and we would have to clean it out eventually, but it doesn’t really run into any of the problems that physical filters do.
Q. What was it like testing your device? How did you build the experiment?
Justin: So first, to create the system — there’s actually equipment out there to generate ultrasound, but it’s really expensive.
Victoria: We found that there are three main components, which are the signal generator [Ed: an electronic device that produces electrical signals, or currents], power amplifier [Ed: does what it sounds like], and piezoelectric transducers [Ed: basically, converting electricity into vibrations].
So the signal generator and power amplifier we were able to borrow from Electronics and Innovation [Ed. an equipment manufacturer in New York]. They were actually really generous because we emailed them, we were like, “Hey, could we maybe rent this for this amount of money?” But once they heard we were high school students trying to do research, they were like, “Actually, we can give you this old model for free.” And we were super blown away, definitely could not have done it without them. Once we had the signal generator and power amplifier, we could produce the electrical impulses needed for our transducers to convert into ultrasound.
Justin: How we collected our data was we had microplastic samples that we created, whether that be shavings of objects around the house that were plastic, or cutting up plastic straws or that kind of stuff. And then we would put it in water and then we would have a syringe pump that we could slowly push the water through. That’s how we tested the system. We collected the water at the end, and then we did some analysis to see how much we filtered.
Q. How do you envision your device being used in the real world?
Victoria: We were thinking of two main applications for our device. One would be in water-treatment plants, since that directly impacts us and the water we use. And we were also, based on previous studies in the field, thinking of using this for laundry machines, to clean up the synthetic textile particles that come out of the laundry machines. Because they actually contribute to around 35 percent of primary microplastics pollution. So being able to clean up the laundry water before it goes back into the environment would help a lot, since we cut them off at the source instead of having to continuously clean them up from the environment.
Q. What do you feel like you learned going through the process of inventing this device and then taking it to ISEF?
Justin: Definitely something that I would’ve liked to hear when I was back in eighth grade doing science fair for the first time, is to always stay curious. Because you never know if something that you’re going to learn now is going to be useful in the future. I remember when I was in fifth grade, I built some LED lights with my grandpa — and that engineering skill really translated over to actually building the system here. So just stay curious and don’t give up.
Victoria: I guess on that note, I could also add to not be afraid of failure. When I went to ISEF, I was actually super intimidated by everyone else. I’d talk to a person, they’re like, “Oh, I’m going to Harvard, I’m going to MIT,” and I was like, “Oh my gosh, how could I ever measure up to these people? They’ve probably been successful their whole lives.” And I think having gone through the whole ISEF process, I just never realized that they put in a lot of hard work, too. Everything you see is only just the surface, right? You don’t see all the late nights, hundreds of hours of hard work that everyone puts in, and you don’t see the parts where they fail, either. Because no one ever wants to talk about that. But I think going through failure at some point is super important, because we failed a lot of times throughout our project, and each time it helped us learn something that could help us achieve the next step of being able to reach our goal. So I think just don’t give up, and learn from your mistakes, but keep going.
Q. On the note of never giving up — does doing this work make you feel more hopeful about our future, and more empowered to act on big issues like pollution and the climate crisis?
Justin: Yeah, definitely. You always see these things on the internet or on TV about how so-and-so invented whatever, to cure some disease or to solve some environmental issue. It’s really surreal being the ones who were able to create this, because we thought it took like, decades and decades of research. And of course it does, and what we have is just kind of a small step in our journey. But being able to see how just two high schoolers, from their own home, without even a lab, could make a difference in the world — I feel like that was truly something that inspired us, that can inspire us to go even further in the future.
Victoria: For me, going to ISEF was already super fun and I think that was fulfilling enough. And for other people, they don’t necessarily have to feel like you have to win an award or do something super famous to make a difference. I volunteer with our township sometimes to clean up trash. And every time I do that, I still feel almost as fulfilled as standing on that stage, you know? So I think just seeing the little things in life also is super fulfilling, and seeing how you can help the people next to you.
— Claire Elise Thompson
More exposure
- Read: more about Justin and Victoria and their award-winning project (Fox 26 Houston)
- Read: recent Grist coverage on the ubiquity of microplastics and their effects on human health
- Read: about the advantages and drawbacks of bioplastic alternatives (BBC)
- Read: a few tips on how to avoid consuming microplastics as much as possible (Wirecutter)
A parting shot
In the U.K., environmental artist and activist Rob Arnold invented a filtration device (pictured here) that separates bits of plastic from sand and other natural detritus, using a filtering system that involves water flotation. He and other volunteers use the machine on beach cleanups to collect “nurdles,” tiny plastic pellets that are used to manufacture a range of plastic materials, but often end up as waste themselves.
This story was originally published by Grist with the headline A different kind of youth activist: Meet the high schoolers who invented a microplastics solution on Jun 5, 2024.
This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Claire Elise Thompson.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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The website of the Columbia Law Review was taken down by its board of directors on Monday after student editors refused a request from the board to halt the publication of an academic article written by Palestinian human rights lawyer Rabea Eghbariah titled “Toward Nakba as a Legal Concept.” The article argues for the Nakba to be developed as a unique legal framework, related to but distinct from other processes defined under modern international law, including apartheid and genocide. This is not the first time that Eghbariah’s legal scholarship has been censored by an Ivy League institution. The Harvard Law Review last year refused to publish a similar, shorter article it had solicited from Eghbariah even after it was initially accepted, fully edited and fact-checked. Eghbariah calls the abrupt rejection of his work “offensive,” “unprofessional” and “discriminatory,” and says “it is really unfortunate to see how this is playing out and the extent to which the board of directors is willing to go to shut down and silence Palestinian scholarship. … What are they afraid of? Of Palestinians narrating their own reality, speaking their own truth?”
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Blogothèque and was authored by Blogothèque.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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A claim emerged in Chinese-language social media posts that the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, or HKETO, in Washington has been closed down.
But the claim is false. U.S. lawmakers proposed a bill to close HKETO offices in the United States but it has not been passed. Keyword searches found no credible statements or reports to back the claim.
The claim was shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, on May 13, 2024.
“The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in the United States has officially closed its doors. The bridge and link between China and the world has collapsed, and an era has come to an end,” the post reads in part.
HKETOs promote Hong Kong’s trade outside the territory. There are 14 such offices across the world with three in the U.S.
Hong Kong has full autonomy in the conduct of its external commercial relations. The city’s Basic Law, which is often referred to as its constitution, provides that it shall be a separate customs territory and may, using the name “Hong Kong, China”, participate in relevant international organisations and international trade agreements, such as the World Trade Organization.
Similar claims have been shared on X here and here as well as some media outlets as seen here.
Claims of the supposed closure of the HKETO office in Washington spread across social media (right) before being quoted in reports published by Taiwanese media (left). (Screenshots/Yahoo News and X) However, the claim is false.
The U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs introduced the HKETO Certification Act in November 2023 calling for the removal of privileges and the potential closure for all HKETO offices in the U.S.
But the bill has not been passed.
An AFCL journalist visited the HKETO branch in Washington and found it was open as normal.
AFCL staff visited the HKETO branch in Washington in mid May and found it was open as normal. (Rita Cheng/RFA) Keyword searches found no credible statements or reports to back the claim.
Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Shen Ke and Taejun Kang.
Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Zhuang Jing and Rita Cheng for Asia Fact Check Lab.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Convicted felon Trump must go to prison for the safety of every American, the world, and our future. Sending Trump to prison would send a strong message to Putin: no one is above the law. And it will remind Putin that The Hague is waiting for him.
Several recent polls show a majority of Americans, including Independents, want convicted felon Trump to drop out of the race. Yet here we are, with Trump still running and Biden’s approval ratings scraping the bottom of the historical barrel. Why? Merrick Garland, Biden’s Attorney General, is the worst possible choice for this critical moment in American history.
We all saw Trump and his family try to overthrow our democracy, tailgating before their violent attempted coup and setting up a war room just steps from the White House at the Willard Hotel. Yet, they’re still free, enriching themselves, and gearing up to finish the coup they started with Kremlin support back in 2016. None of this is normal.
The cynicism is palpable. Americans expect Trump to walk free, maybe get probation, and continue his campaign for president. This absurdity erodes our faith in already crumbling institutions. The bottom line? A Russian asset should never have come near the White House in 2016. Trump’s presidency is a catastrophic failure of the FBI, CIA, Obama’s foreign policy team, and Republican leaders who shielded him during two impeachment trials. The establishment wants us to forget this because many now profit from book deals and TV appearances, even though they’re part of the problem.
And now, to some good news! Congratulations to Mexico for electing your first female and Jewish president, Claudia Sheinbaum. This gives hope that another world is possible, one built on accountability and justice. Here’s to a better future.
Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you! To join our community of listeners, get bonus shows, and all episodes ad free, invites to exclusive events, submit questions to our regular Q&As, and more, subscribe at the Truth-teller level or higher on Patreon.com/Gaslit!
Cult Expert Dr. Janja Lalich Live-Taping – July 11 8pm ET
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July 15th kicks off the Republican National Convention/Hitler rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. To help us cope with the mainstream media, especially the New York Times, continuing to normalize Trump and his MAGA cult, we’re producing a live taping with cult expert Dr. Janja Lalich. Bring your questions about how to navitage this perilous time of rampant disinformation and manipulation, learn the signs of cult grooming, and how to help loved ones who have fallen victim. This will be Dr. Lalich’s second time on the show. You can listen to the interview with her from April 2022 here.
In the Shadow of Stalin Book Launch – September
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Gaslit Nation will host a live taping at a book launch in New York City for In the Shadow of Stalin, the graphic novel adaptation of Mr. Jones. It includes scenes that didn’t make it into the final cut of the film, or it would have been three hours long! The evening will include a special meet-up just for Patreon supporters. We look forward to sharing more details as we get closer. If you want a book event/live taping of Gaslit Nation in your town or city, let us know!
Indivisible x Gaslit Nation Phonebank Party! – June 20th 8pm ET
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Open to all, Gaslit Nation and Indivisible are kicking things off early this year, really early! When there’s such a thing as Project 2025, there’s no time to waste. Come join us for our first phone bank party of the season, as we make calls to our fellow citizens in Republican hostage states, to refuse to abandon those on the frontlines of American authoritarianism, and to plant seeds of change. We’re going in! RSVP here to join us! https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/628701/
Show Notes:
Israel and Evangelicals https://www.patreon.com/posts/israel-and-102272065
The Voice of Harvey Milk https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/the-voice-of-harvey-milk
Clip: Harvey Milk – “Give Them Hope” Speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9vol-8HYEc
Opening Clip: Outside Trump Tower in 2016 https://x.com/billyd3_/status/1795954011708735826
CLIP: Bill Maher’s All Male Panel (Breaking Points) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoSODlSKOqc
Clip: CNN – Netanyahu Undermining Ceasefire Deal https://x.com/JordanUhl/status/1797764019652370536
‘No One Could Believe It’: When Ford Pardoned Nixon Four Decades Ago https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/08/us/politics/nixon-ford-pardon-watergate.html
Judge orders Manafort to jail while awaiting money laundering and fraud trials https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/06/15/judge-orders-paul-manafort-jail-wake-new-obstruction-charges/701199002/
‘No Blame?’ ABC News finds 54 cases invoking ‘Trump’ in connection with violence, threats, alleged assaults. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/blame-abc-news-finds-17-cases-invoking-trump/story?id=58912889
She is set to be Mexico’s first female president. But who is Claudia Sheinbaum?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_Sheinbaum
Congress braces for “large” boycott, disruptions of Netanyahu speech https://www.axios.com/2024/06/04/democrats-boycott-benjamin-netanyahu-speech-congress
This content originally appeared on Gaslit Nation and was authored by Andrea Chalupa.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by The Real News Network.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice.
- Biden announces executive order cracking down on the number of asylum seekers at the border.
- Trial of Hunter Biden gets underway in Delaware with opening statements.
- Wisconsin latest state to file charges in Trump campaign fake elector scheme.
- Indian PM Modi claims victory in national election.
- Arizona immigration measure headed for November ballot.
- Attorney General Merrick Garland defends himself at House hearing against Republican attacks.
- Democrats in Congress defend contraceptive rights.
- Coalition of military veterans announce campaign calling on Congress to end Israel support.
The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – June 4, 2024 Biden announces executive order cracking down on the number of asylum seekers at the border. appeared first on KPFA.
This content originally appeared on KPFA – The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by The Real News Network.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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More than 15,000 Palestinian children have been killed over the past eight months of Israel’s assault on Gaza, and Palestinian officials are warning over 3,500 children are at risk of death due to starvation. “The trauma is unimaginable,” says Janti Soeripto, the president and CEO of Save the Children US, who is calling for a ceasefire, the protection of humanitarian workers and the allowance of aid into the besieged territory. “Over these past couple of weeks, it has even gotten worse.” Soeripto also calls for more international attention on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where over 7 million have been swept up in one of the world’s largest displacement crises as armed groups fight across the country. “The DRC should play a much more important, critical role for the international community, and it should get attention and the support its population deserves,” says Soeripto, who asks the U.S. to support a peace process and fund humanitarian relief.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Preliminary results from the world’s largest election suggest Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP party will have a reduced majority in Parliament, with the opposition alliance known by the acronym INDIA doing better than expected. During India’s six-week election, voters and poll workers endured deadly heat waves, and vocal critic Arvind Kejriwal was sent to prison on corruption charges. This comes as Modi’s opponents have accused the prime minister of using hate speech after he described Muslims in India as “infiltrators.” Meanwhile, journalists who are critical of Modi have been expelled, investigated and raided by his government. The “massive reduction” in power, despite holding “one of the most undemocratic elections,” demonstrates “the anti-Muslim rhetoric has not quite worked for Modi,” says Indian journalist Rana Ayyub in New Dehli. “This election result, it might still give Modi a third term, but it has punctured the hubris around Modi.”
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice.
- Hunter Biden’s Delaware gun charge trial seats a jury.
- Israel declares four Hamas held hostages dead.
- Mexico chooses first female President in the country’s 200 year history.
- House introduces new bipartisan Presidential code of ethics bill.
- Pro-Palestinian activists announce a campaign to boycott Maersk shipping line over Israel shipments.
- Police arrest dozens of protesters after they occupy lobby of building housing San Francisco Israeli consulate.
- UN expert warns of Gaza humanitarian problems as war drags on.
- State bill would issue permits to SF street vendors.
The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – June 3, 2024 Hunter Biden’s Delaware gun charge trial seats a jury. appeared first on KPFA.
This content originally appeared on KPFA – The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
