Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Advocates say workers risk their health and fear speaking out about conditions amid Trump’s immigration crackdown On a sunny day in February three workers swept up the piles of ash left behind on an Altadena driveway from when the Eaton fire raged through the Los Angeles neighborhood the month before. The flames of the blaze had consumed nearly every home on the street, leaving only brick chimneys and charred vehicles. Red signs at the entrances of properties warned in English: “Unsafe, do not enter or occupy … entry may result in death or injury.” Hazards such as lead paint, asbestos and batteries were strewn amongst the ashes, but few workers cleaning the neighborhood that day wore masks or other personal protective equipment (PPE). Continue reading...

In Kansas, Panasonic and two community colleges scaled up training fast. But jobs in the EV industry could be affected by Trump’s war on clean energy In a Kansas City classroom, 20 students were learning how basic circuit boards work. They fiddled with knobs, switches, levers and wires; if they got the connections right, tiny light bulbs glowed. The students, recruited for the opportunity by Panasonic, were participants in an eight-week apprenticeship course that involved classes at the community college and on-the-job training. When they’re done, they will be among the first workers at the company’s new electric vehicle battery factory in nearby De Soto, Kansas. The $4bn manufacturing plant – touted as the largest EV battery factory in the world – is expected to open in early summer and eventually employ roughly 4,000 people. Panasonic also paid for the students’ tuition, as well as the instructor’s salary. Continue reading...

Solar storms as intense as a 1921 superstorm have the potential to cause a nightmare scenario – and we are unprepared On 14 May 1921, a powerful solar storm – called the New York Railroad storm – caused the northern lights to illuminate New York City’s night sky. On Broadway, crowds lingered, enjoying “flaring skies” that remained undimmed by city lights. The following morning, excess electric currents shut down the New York Central Railroad’s signal and switching system in Manhattan, stopping trains. A fire broke out in a railroad control tower that was located at Park Avenue and 57th Street. Smoke filled the air. Along a stretch of Park Avenue, residents “were coughing and choking from the suffocating vapors which spread for blocks”. When a solar storm’s electrically charged particles envelop Earth, they cause geomagnetic storms that generate electric fields in the ground, inducing electric currents in power grids. Solar storms as intense as the 1921 superstorm have the potential to cause a nightmare scenario in which modern power grids, communication systems, and other infrastructures collapse for months. Such a collapse of power grids would likely also lead to nuclear power plant accidents, whose radioactive emissions would aggravate the overall catastrophe. Mark Leyse is a nuclear power safety advocate with a degree in nuclear engineering Continue reading...

Chinese national, 27, reportedly returned to Japan’s highest mountain days after first rescue to retrieve his phone A university student has been rescued from the slopes of Mount Fuji twice in the space of a week – the second time during an attempt to retrieve his mobile phone. The hapless climber, a 27-year-old Chinese national who has not been named, was airlifted from Japan’s highest mountain last week, only to be the subject of a second search four days later. Continue reading...