AFP UK

Damage caused by Fiona on the Burnt Islands in the Newfoundland and Labrador Province of Canada

Parts of eastern Canada were waking up to damage from powerful storm Fiona on Sunday, as meteorologists said the worst weather had passed.

The storm tore into Nova Scotia and Newfoundland on Saturday, cutting power to thousands and washing houses into the sea as it brought fierce winds and rains “like nothing we’ve ever seen,” police said.

Two women were swept into the ocean in Newfoundland, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said. One was rescued, and investigators were looking into the second case.

Mayor Brian Button of Channel-Port aux Basques, on the southwestern tip of Newfoundland, said in a Facebook video Saturday night that at least 20 homes had been destroyed and the community looked like a “total warzone.”

“We’ve got destruction everywhere.” 

A boil water order was in effect, Button said, encouraging residents in need to take shelter at a local elementary school. 

As of late Saturday afternoon, nearly 500,000 homes were without power across the region as the storm hammered a wide area, felling countless trees and ripping roofs from buildings.

“The power lines are down everywhere,” Erica Fleck, assistant chief of Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency, told CBC. “It’s not safe to be on the roads.”

Although downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, Fiona still packed hurricane-force winds of 80 miles (130 kilometers) per hour as it first barreled into Canada after earlier battering the Caribbean, according to meteorologists.

By early Sunday, the storm’s maximum sustained winds had slowed to 50 mph, according to the Canadian Hurricane Centre (CHC), with the government forecasting “strong winds” over northern Newfoundland, southeastern Labrador and southeastern Quebec.

“These winds will diminish later today,” the CHC said.

– Nova Scotia hard hit –

The storm first made landfall in Nova Scotia province around 3 am (0600 GMT), according to the CHC. 

By Saturday night, 294,000 households were still without electricity in the province, Nova Scotia Power reported, though repairs had started on some lines.

The utility’s president said outages could last for days.

In New Brunswick, more than 25,000 were still without power while 82,000 customers were without electricity on Prince Edward Island.

“Trees have come down on homes, trees have come down on cars, there’s buildings that have collapsed,” Fire Chief Lloyd MacIntosh in the Nova Scotia town of North Sydney told CBC.

Police in Charlottetown, the capital of Prince Edward Island, posted images of tangles of downed power lines and roofs punctured by felled trees.

“It’s incredible,” said Charlottetown mayor Philip Brown on Radio-Canada TV. “It’s stronger than Hurricane Juan in 2003.”

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said in a statement that “it will take time for Nova Scotia to recover. I just ask everyone for their patience.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who canceled his trip to Japan for former prime minister Shinzo Abe’s funeral so that he can travel to the affected regions, told Canadians that the “government is standing ready to support provinces with any necessary resources.”

“We’re thinking first and foremost of the people who’ve had a terrifying past 12 hours,” Trudeau said during a press conference Saturday, adding that the country’s military would aid in the recovery effort.

Canada had issued severe weather warnings for swaths of its eastern coast, advising people to lay in supplies for at least 72 hours.

Rainfall of up to 7.5 inches (192 millimeters) was recorded in Nova Scotia, the CHC said, with waves of up to 40 feet (12 meters) hitting Nova Scotia and western Newfoundland.

The CHC said early Sunday the storm had passed Nova Scotia and moved inland to southeastern Quebec, predicting it would continue to weaken as it tracks across southeastern Labrador and over the Labrador Sea.

– Puerto Rico struggling –

Fiona killed at least four people in Puerto Rico earlier this week, according to US media, while two deaths were reported in the Dominican Republic and one in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe. 

President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in Puerto Rico, a US territory that is still struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria five years ago.

The storm had skirted Bermuda on Friday. No fatalities or major damage were reported.

As the Caribbean licked its wounds, Cuba, Jamaica and Florida were bracing Sunday for the arrival of tropical storm Ian, which is expected to gain power in coming days to reach “at or near major hurricane strength,” the NHC said.

In anticipation of the storm, NASA called off the scheduled Tuesday launch of its historic uncrewed mission to the Moon, and Biden approved a state of emergency in Florida.

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Members of the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office prepare rubber boats and life vests ahead of Super Typhoon Noru making landfall

A super typhoon charged towards the Philippines Sunday and was on track to slam into the heavily populated main island of Luzon, forcing the evacuations of vulnerable communities on the coast and in Manila, authorities said.

Super Typhoon Noru was packing maximum sustained winds of 195 kilometres (121 miles) an hour after an unprecedented “explosive intensification”, the state weather forecaster said. 

The storm, the strongest to hit the Philippines this year, is expected to continue strengthening as it makes landfall around 80 kilometres northeast of the sprawling capital Manila in the afternoon or evening.

“We ask residents living in danger zones to adhere to calls for evacuation whenever necessary,” Philippine National Police chief General Rodolfo Azurin said.

The Philippines is regularly ravaged by storms, with scientists warning they are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer because of climate change.

“The winds were fierce this morning,” said Ernesto Portillo, 30, who works as a cook in the coastal municipality of Infanta in Quezon province where the typhoon could make landfall. 

“We’re a bit worried… We secured our belongings and bought a few groceries so we have food just in case.”

Weather forecaster Robb Gile said Noru’s rapid intensification as it neared land was “unprecedented”. The meteorology agency said its wind speeds had increased by 90 kilometres per hour in 24 hours. 

“Typhoons are like engines — you need a fuel and an exhaust to function,” said Gile.

“In the case of Karding, it has a good fuel because it has plenty of warm waters along its track and then there is a good exhaust in the upper level of the atmosphere — so it’s a good recipe for explosive intensification,” he said, using the local name for the storm.

In Manila, emergency personnel braced for the possibility of strong winds and heavy rain battering the city of more than 13 million people. 

Forced evacuations have started in some “high risk” areas of the metropolis, officials said.

“NCR is prepared. We are just waiting and hoping it will not hit us,” said Romulo Cabantac, regional director for the civil defence office, referring to the National Capital Region. 

– Calm before the storm –

Noru comes nine months after another super typhoon devastated swathes of the country, killing more than 400 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

Ahead of the latest storm, residents in several municipalities in Quezon province were evacuated from their homes, according to the provincial disaster office.

In the neighbouring province of Aurora, residents of Dingalan municipality were forced to seek shelter. 

“People living near the coast have been told to evacuate. We live away from the coast so we’re staying put so far. We’re more worried about the water from the mountains,” said Rhea Tan, 54, a restaurant manager in Dingalan.

Tan said residents were securing the roofs of their houses and boats were being taken to higher ground while the weather was still calm.

“We’re even more anxious if the weather is very calm, because that’s the usual indicator of a strong typhoon before it hits land,” Tan added.

Noru could have wind speeds of up to 205 kilometres per hour when it makes landfall, the weather bureau said. 

It is expected to weaken to a typhoon as it sweeps across central Luzon, before entering the South China Sea on Monday and heading towards Vietnam.

The weather bureau has warned of dangerous storm surges more than three metres high along the coast of Aurora and Quezon, including the Polillo islands, along with widespread flooding and landslides as the storm dumps heavy rain.

It could topple coconut and mango trees, and cause “severe losses” to rice and corn crops in the heavily agricultural region, while inundating villages.

The coast guard reported more than 2,500 people had been left stranded by ferry cancellations as vessels took shelter ahead of the storm. Dozens of flights in and out of Manila were also cancelled.

School classes and non-essential government services have been suspended for Monday. 

The Philippines — ranked among the most vulnerable nations to the impacts of climate change — is hit by an average of 20 storms every year.

Members of the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office prepare rubber boats and life vests ahead of Super Typhoon Noru making landfall

A super typhoon barrelled towards the Philippines Sunday and was on track to slam into the heavily populated main island of Luzon, forcing the evacuations of coastal communities, authorities said.

Super Typhoon Noru was packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 195 kilometres (121 miles) an hour after an unprecedented “explosive intensification”, the state weather forecaster said. 

The storm, the strongest to hit the Philippines this year, is expected to continue strengthening as it makes landfall around 80 kilometres northeast of the sprawling capital Manila in the afternoon or evening local time.

“We ask residents living in danger zones to adhere to calls for evacuation whenever necessary,” Philippine National Police chief General Rodolfo Azurin said.

The Philippines is regularly ravaged by storms, with scientists warning they are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer because of climate change.

Weather forecaster Robb Gile said Noru’s rapid intensification as it neared land was “unprecedented”. The meteorology agency said its wind speeds had increased by 90 kilometres per hour in 24 hours. 

“Typhoons are like engines — you need a fuel and an exhaust to function,” said Gile.

“In the case of Karding, it has a good fuel because it has plenty of warm waters along its track and then there is a good exhaust in the upper level of the atmosphere — so it’s a good recipe for explosive intensification,” he said, using the local name for the storm.

In Manila, emergency personnel braced for the possibility of strong winds and heavy rain battering the city of more than 13 million people. 

Forced evacuations have started in some “high risk” areas of the capital, officials said.

“NCR is prepared. We are just waiting and hoping it will not hit us,” said Romulo Cabantac, regional director for the civil defense office, referring to the National Capital Region. 

– Calm before the storm –

Noru comes nine months after another super typhoon devastated swathes of the country, killing more than 400 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

Residents in several municipalities in Quezon province, where this latest storm could make a direct hit, were being evacuated from their homes, said Mel Avenilla from the provincial disaster office.

In the neighbouring province of Aurora, residents of Dingalan municipality were being forced to seek shelter. 

“People living near the coast have been told to evacuate. We live away from the coast so we’re staying put so far. We’re more worried about the water from the mountains,” said Rhea Tan, 54, a restaurant manager in Dingalan.

Tan said residents were securing the roofs of their houses and boats were being taken to higher ground while the weather was still calm.

“We’re even more anxious if the weather is very calm, because that’s the usual indicator of a strong typhoon before it hits land,” Tan added.

Noru could have wind speeds of up to 205 kilometres per hour when it makes landfall, the weather bureau said. 

It is expected to weaken to a typhoon as it sweeps across central Luzon, before entering the South China Sea on Monday and heading towards Vietnam.

The weather bureau has warned of dangerous storm surges, widespread flooding and landslides as the storm dumps heavy rain.

It could topple coconut and mango trees, and cause “severe losses” to rice and corn crops in the heavily agricultural region, as well as inundate villages.

The coast guard reported more than 2,000 people had been left stranded by ferry cancellations as vessels took shelter ahead of the storm.

Classes have been cancelled and non-essential government services suspended for Monday. 

The Philippines — ranked among the most vulnerable nations to the impacts of climate change — is hit by an average of 20 storms every year.

In 2020, women in Switzerland on average received pensions nearly 35 percent smaller than men

Switzerland votes Sunday on a slew of issues, including a proposed ban on factory farming and divisive pension reform that would raise the retirement age for women.

After aborted attempts in 2004 and 2017, Bern is hoping to garner enough votes to “stabilise” Switzerland’s old-age security system, under pressure as life expectancy rises and the giant baby-boomer generation reaches retirement age.

The most controversial part of the reform would require women to work until the age of 65, the same age as the current retirement age for men, before receiving a full pension. They currently bow out a year earlier at 64.

Parliament approved the key measures, which include a sales tax hike, last year, but left-leaning parties and unions decry the reform “on the backs of women” and pushed the issue to a referendum under Switzerland’s direct democratic system.

– Gender pension gap –

While backers of the reform argue that men and women retiring at the same age is not unreasonable, the move has sparked significant pushback, especially from women.

Opponents argue that women face significant discrimination and a broad gender pay-gap in Switzerland, meaning they receive far smaller pensions than men.

They argue it is unfair to increase their retirement age without first addressing those issues.

In 2020, women in Switzerland on average received pensions nearly 35 percent smaller than men, according to the Swiss economy ministry.

Surveys indicate, however, that Swiss voters, who have twice rejected government pension reform plans, have warmed to the idea, even if a war of the sexes is bubbling.

In a recent Tamedia poll, 55 percent of those questioned supported it. But while 70 percent of men backed the reform, 58 percent of women opposed it, the findings said.

– Ban factory farms? –

Another hotly debated topic on the ballot is a popular proposal to ban intensive livestock farming, essentially eradicating factory farms in largely rural Switzerland.

The animal rights and welfare organisations behind the initiative want to make protecting the dignity of animals like cattle, chickens or pigs a constitutional requirement.

“We believe animal agriculture is one of the defining problems of our time,” animal welfare group Sentience, which presented the initiative, says on its website.

If accepted, the initiative — backed by left-leaning parties, Greenpeace and other environmental organisations — would impose stricter minimum requirements for animal-friendly housing and care, access to outdoors and slaughtering practices.

The new requirements would also extend to imports of animals and animal products.

The government and parliament oppose the initiative, insisting that Switzerland already has among the world’s strictest animal welfare laws.

Under current legislation, farms cannot keep more than 1,500 fattening pigs, 27,000 broiler chickens or 300 calves, basically ruling out the kinds of massive factory farms seen in other countries.

– Farmers opposed –

Bern has cautioned that tightening these rules further would significantly hike prices, while the import clause could impact relations with trading partners.

Such arguments appear to have convinced a growing number of Swiss and the most recent polls put the “no” camp in the lead. Farmers are sceptical and opposition is higher in rural areas then in cities.

The Swiss will also vote on a number of regional issues, including a vote in Bern canton that could lower the legal voting age from 18 to 16.

Most people vote in advance in Switzerland’s popular polls and referendums held every few months. On Sunday, ballot boxes will open for just a few hours before closing at noon (1000 GMT).

Initial results are expected by the early afternoon.

Anglers on the River Spey in the Scottish Highlands say salmon numbers are down compared to 50 years ago

In the shimmering rapids of the River Spey that cuts through the Scottish Highlands, Ian Gordon casts his line with a languid swish and waits for a salmon to take the fly.

In the early 1970s, when Gordon first fished the Spey as a “wee nipper”, it never took long to catch a bite. But things have changed.

“I would say there are now 20 percent, maximum, of what there were in the mid-80s,” Gordon told AFP on a stretch of the river near the town of Aberlour, where he runs a tourist fishing company.

Before the numbers started to fall in the 1980s and 90s, hundreds of thousands of young Atlantic salmon or smolts would migrate to sea from Scotland’s rivers.

A quarter would return to their natal rivers to spawn. Today, only around four percent return, according to the Spey Fishery Board.

In Scotland, where anglers abide by a “catch and release” conservation code, the rod catch of 35,693 in 2021 was the lowest number since records began.

The Scottish government, in a report in June, said the numbers were “consistent with a general pattern of decline in numbers of wild salmon returning to Scotland”.

Ecologists and fishermen say multiple factors are behind the decline, including the overfishing of herring and the effect of the warming climate on the salmon’s life cycle.

“Herring used to be abundant around the coastline of the UK,” Gordon says.

“That was a species that all species relied on around the UK. Since the herring got fished out, so the salmon, which come into the ocean as little things, themselves become prey.

“It’s that cycle that gets upset when one species is taken out of the ecosystem. 

“That of course is affected by the climate, there’s no doubt.”

– Trees and weirs –

Further north, outside the town of Bonar Bridge, Andrew Graham-Stewart stands on a bridge surveying a stream.

“We’ve got a real problem happening at sea,” says Graham-Stewart, who is the director of the Wildfish Scotland charity and has fished the local waters since he was a boy. 

“Climate change is obviously the primary factor, and there is very little we can do about that. 

“But when fish go out to sea, they are clearly not finding all the food that they need to find.” 

One factor is the loss of trees around the headwaters of Scottish rivers.

Scotland has lost “probably about 95 percent” of its tree cover over the last few centuries due to agriculture, industry and wars, Graham-Stewart said.

Trees, apart from providing shade for marine life, slow the release of water from the hills, which provides more constant flows through the year. 

“With tree cover and reasonable flows, water remains relatively cool, and salmon need cool in order to survive and thrive,” the charity director said.

Some fisheries boards have already taken action including on the River Dee, which runs along the royal family’s Balmoral estate, where Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8.

The Dee District Salmon Fishery Board and River Dee Trust have planted more than 200,000 native trees along the river banks since 2013.

The aim is to plant a million trees by 2035 to restore water retention and protect salmon and other river species.

On the River Carron in 2019, local groups removed a concrete weir built more than half a century ago to improve water flow and allow salmon a trouble-free journey.

– Farm lice –

For Graham-Stewart, salmon farming in the western Highlands and islands of Scotland has played a “massive” role in the fall in numbers, by spreading sea lice to wild salmon. 

Millions of fish in a concentrated area act as a breeding ground for parasites, he says.

When the sea lice enter the farm they multiply exponentially and are passed on to passing juvenile wild salmon. 

Once that happens, the salmon are eaten alive by the lice.

“The damage they (fish farms) are doing to wild fish and the environment, in general, is massive,” he said, calling for tighter regulations on salmon farms.

Fish farms emphatically deny the allegations, saying that protecting the environment and health of fish are fundamental to their business.

At the Spey River, Gordon exits the water without having caught a fish.

He slides out of his waterproof waders and fixes his rod to the roof of his car.

Salmon, he believes, are a valuable indicator for the health of humanity as a species.

“It gives us an indication on whether the sea is in a good state or not,” he says.

“Right now, they are saying: wait a minute, guys — something’s wrong.”

Members of the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office prepare rubber boats and life vests ahead of Super Typhoon Noru making landfall

A super typhoon barrelled towards the Philippines Sunday and was on track to slam into the heavily populated main island of Luzon, forcing the evacuations of coastal towns, authorities said.

Super Typhoon Noru was packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 195 kilometres (121 miles) an hour after an unprecedented “explosive intensification”, the state weather forecaster said. 

The storm, the strongest to hit the Philippines this year, is expected to continue strengthening as it makes landfall around 80 kilometres northeast of the sprawling capital Manila in the afternoon or evening local time.

“We ask residents living in danger zones to adhere to calls for evacuation whenever necessary,” Philippine National Police chief General Rodolfo Azurin said.

The Philippines is regularly ravaged by storms, with scientists warning they are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer because of climate change.

Weather forecaster Robb Gile said Noru’s rapid intensification as it neared land was “unprecedented”. The agency said it increased by 90 kilometres per hour in 24 hours. 

“Typhoons are like engines — you need a fuel and an exhaust to function,” said Gile.

“In the case of Karding, it has a good fuel because it has plenty of warm waters along its track and then there is a good exhaust in the upper level of the atmosphere — so it’s a good recipe for explosive intensification,” he said, using the local name for the storm.

– Calm before the storm –

Noru comes nine months after another super typhoon devastated swathes of the country, killing more than 400 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

Residents in several municipalities in Quezon province, where this latest storm could make a direct hit, were being evacuated from their homes, said Mel Avenilla from the provincial disaster office.

In the neighbouring province of Aurora, residents of Dingalan municipality were being forced to seek shelter. 

“People living near the coast have been told to evacuate. We live away from the coast so we’re staying put so far. We’re more worried about the water from the mountains,” said Rhea Tan, 54, a restaurant manager in Dingalan.

Tan said residents were securing the roofs of their houses and boats were being taken to higher ground while the weather was still calm.

“We’re even more anxious if the weather is very calm, because that’s the usual indicator of a strong typhoon before it hits land,” Tan added.

Noru could have wind speeds of up to 205 kilometres per hour when it makes landfall, the weather bureau said. 

It is expected to weaken to a typhoon as it sweeps across central Luzon, before entering the South China Sea on Monday, heading towards Vietnam.

The weather bureau warned of dangerous storm surges, widespread flooding and landslides as the storm dumps heavy rain.

It could damage farmlands in the heavily agricultural region, as well as inundate villages. 

Classes in some areas have been cancelled for Monday.  

The Philippines — ranked among the most vulnerable nations to the impacts of climate change — is hit by an average of 20 storms every year.

Damage caused by Fiona on the Burnt Islands in the Newfoundland and Labrador Province of Canada

Powerful storm Fiona lashed into eastern Canada on Saturday, cutting power to thousands and washing houses into the sea as it pummeled the area with fierce winds and rains “like nothing we’ve ever seen,” police said.

Two women were swept into the ocean in Newfoundland, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said. One was rescued, and investigators were looking into the second case.

Mayor Brian Button of Channel-Port aux Basques, on the southwestern tip of Newfoundland, said in a Facebook video Saturday night that at least 20 homes had been destroyed and the community looked like a “total warzone.”

“We’ve got destruction everywhere,” he said. 

A boil water order was in effect, Button said, and he encouraged residents in need to take shelter at a local elementary school. 

As of late afternoon, nearly 500,000 homes were left without power across the region as the storm hammered a wide area, felling countless trees and ripping roofs from buildings.

“The power lines are down everywhere,” Erica Fleck, assistant chief of Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency, told CBC. “It’s not safe to be on the roads.”

Although downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, Fiona still packed hurricane-force winds of 80 miles (130 kilometers) per hour as it first barreled into Canada after earlier battering the Caribbean, according to meteorologists. 

By late Saturday, the storm’s maximum sustained winds had slowed to 68 mph, according to the Canadian Hurricane Centre (CHC), with the government reporting individual gusts seen at more than 100 mph in Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as Nova Scotia.

– Nova Scotia hard hit –

The storm first made landfall in Nova Scotia province around 3:00 am (0600 GMT), according to the CHC. 

By Saturday night, 294,000 households were still without electricity in the province, Nova Scotia Power reported, though repairs had started on some lines, with the utility’s president saying outages could last for days.

In New Brunswick, more than 25,000 were still without power while 82,000 customers were without electricity on Prince Edward Island. 

“Trees have come down on homes, trees have come down on cars, there’s buildings that have collapsed,” Fire Chief Lloyd MacIntosh in the Nova Scotia town of North Sydney told CBC. 

Police in Charlottetown, the capital of Prince Edward Island, posted images of tangles of downed power lines and roofs punctured by felled trees. 

“It’s incredible,” said Charlottetown mayor Philip Brown on Radio-Canada TV. “It’s stronger than Hurricane Juan in 2003.”

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said in a statement that “it will take time for Nova Scotia to recover. I just ask everyone for their patience.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who canceled his trip to Japan for former prime minister Shinzo Abe’s funeral so that he can travel to the affected regions, told Canadians that the “government is standing ready to support provinces with any necessary resources.”

“We’re thinking first and foremost of the people who’ve had a terrifying past 12 hours,” Trudeau said during a press conference Saturday, adding that the country’s military would aid in the recovery effort.

Canada had issued severe weather warnings for swaths of its eastern coast, advising people to lay in supplies for at least 72 hours.

Rainfall of up to 7.5 inches (192 millimeters) was recorded in Nova Scotia, the CHC said, with waves of up to 40 feet (12 meters) hitting Nova Scotia and western Newfoundland. 

The CHC said conditions were improving in parts of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and areas of Quebec and Newfoundland late Saturday, but warned of ongoing “strong winds and large waves” in the eastern Gulf of the St. Lawrence region into the night. 

– Puerto Rico struggling –

Fiona had skirted Bermuda a day earlier, with residents battening down and authorities calling for people to remain inside as strong winds raked over the British territory. No fatalities or major damage were reported as the storm passed roughly 100 miles to the west of the island.

Fiona killed at least four people in Puerto Rico earlier this week, according to US media, while two deaths were reported in the Dominican Republic and one in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe. 

President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in Puerto Rico, a US territory that is still struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria five years ago.

In the Dominican Republic, President Luis Abinader declared three eastern provinces to be disaster zones.

As the Caribbean licked its wounds, Cuba, Jamaica and Florida were bracing Saturday for the arrival of tropical storm Ian, which is expected to gain power in coming days to reach “at or near major hurricane strength,” the NHC said.

In anticipation of the storm, NASA called off the scheduled Tuesday launch of its historic uncrewed mission to the Moon, and Biden approved a state of emergency in Florida.  

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A cab is lowered on the frame of a battery-powered F-150 Lightning truck at Ford's Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan

Construction crews are back at Dearborn, remaking Ford’s century-old industrial complex once again, this time for a post-petroleum era that is finally beginning to feel possible.

The manufacturing operation’s prime mission in recent times has been to assemble the best-selling F-150, a gasoline-powered vehicle.

The truck plant churns out a new pickup truck every 53 seconds in a well-oiled process that will continue for the foreseeable future.  

But in September 2020, Ford broke ground on a smaller facility on neighboring land, tasking the new operation with building a battery electric cousin to the internal combustion engine (ICE) F-150. 

The F-150 Lightning is part of a growing fleet of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) hitting the roadways from established automakers and upstarts.

At the Detroit Auto Show last week, President Joe Biden proclaimed that “the great American Road Trip is going to be fully electrified.”

After racking up some 200,000 reservations for the Lightning, Ford has announced expansions to quadruple output over the next year.

Will there be a tipping point where the Lightning could overtake the ICE model? That is a question on the minds of officials at Ford and rival Detroit automakers that are investing billions of dollars in BEVs while still producing millions of ICE vehicles.

“The industry is changing so quickly, I don’t think anybody has a good prediction of where it’s going to be,” Ford’s Chris Skaggs told AFP.  

“But we are reacting and getting the right resources to build batteries and scaling so that we can meet demand whatever that is,” said Skaggs, a veteran Ford operations manager who is leading the BEV plant expansion.  

“I’ve been doing this for 29 years, and I thought I would be retired before we even got to this point.”

– Storied history –

The Lightning marks the latest reinvention of the Dearborn Rouge industrial complex south of Detroit near the Rouge River.

The Rouge factory was built between 1917 and 1928 and originally planned to comprise all the components in car production, including tire-making, vehicle assembly, steelmaking and engine building. 

Peak employment topped 100,000 in the 1930s, a decade that also saw visits by artist Diego Rivera for his famed murals of auto workers.

The complex was enlisted to build fighter jet engines for the Allies’ World War II before assembling such iconic Ford vehicles as the Thunderbird and the Mustang, which was launched in the 1960s and is now assembled at a different Michigan factory.

The Rouge site — long emblematic of the moving assembly line that changed manufacturing history — began to look like a white elephant as Ford streamlined later in the twentieth century and pollution rendered it a brownfield site.

But William Clay Ford Jr., the great-grandson of Henry Ford, refused to shutter it, authorizing a $2 billion upgrade soon after becoming chairman in 1999.

Dearborn Truck plant opened in 2004 following extensive environmental cleanup and the installation of a “living roof” to make heating and cooling more efficient.

– ‘Flex’ capacity –

The younger Ford, who identified Rouge as “our heritage,” faced pushback internally on the Dearborn investment, which coincided with a trying period financially.

But it would be difficult to find fault with the staying power of the F-150, which has been the best-selling vehicle in the United States for four decades.

Three shifts populate the 4,500-employee Dearborn truck assembly plant, working around the clock.

The vehicle assembly process starts when the aluminum coils are stamped into panels on-site. The panels are assembled at the body shop and then painted before making their way to the assembly line.

The truck then proceeds through hundreds of work stations where the engine and other components are installed, and is then put through testing including wheels and headlamp alignment, camera-based inspections and electronic computer once-overs before shipping to the customer.

Ford does not release daily output figures, but each vehicle is assembled in hours once it arrives at the factory, Skaggs said.

In contrast to the ICE truck factory, which clanks with activity, the BEV plant operates at a modest hum, a quality partly due to the company’s focus on ergonomics. 

The BEV assembly process is also organized around production lines, but there are fewer work stations in an operation that is still gearing up for bigger things. The Rouge Electric Vehicle Center currently employs about 500.

The expansion will double the size of the BEV factory and add more workers and work stations, taking output to 150,000 annually by next fall, Skaggs said.

But the added productivity will be “flex,” Skaggs said, meaning it could be used for either ICE or BEV depending on demand.

“If we don’t call it right, we can build more ICE units… or if BEV really takes off like we all expect it to, we can scale this up.”

Pangolins, usually prized for their scales, brave a different danger in conservation-conscious Taiwan — a surging feral dog population

In most of its habitats, the heavily trafficked pangolin’s biggest threat comes from humans. But in Taiwan, the scaly mammals brave a different danger: a surging feral dog population.

Veterinarian Tseng Shao-tung, 28, has seen firsthand what a dog can do to the gentle creatures during his shifts at a hospital in Hsinchu.

Last month he worked to save the life of a male juvenile pangolin who had been lying in the wild for days with half of its tail chewed off. 

“It has a big open wound on its tail and its body tissue has decayed,” Tseng said as he carefully turned the sedated pangolin to disinfect the gaping injury.

It was the fifth pangolin Tseng and his fellow veterinarians had saved this year, all from suspected dog attacks.

Chief veterinarian Chen Yi-ru said she had noticed a steady increase of pangolins with trauma injuries in the last five years — most of them with severed tails.

Pangolins are covered in hard, overlapping body scales and curl up into a ball when attacked. The tail is the animal’s most vulnerable part.

“That’s why when attacked, the tail is usually the first to be bitten,” Chen explained.

Wildlife researchers and officials said dog attacks, which account for more than half of all injuries since 2018, have become “the main threat to pangolins in Taiwan” in a report released last year.

– Most trafficked mammal –

Pangolins are described by conservationists as the world’s most trafficked mammal, with traditional Chinese medicine being the main driver. 

Although their scales are made of keratin — the substance that makes up our fingernails and hair — there is huge demand for them among Chinese consumers because of the unproven belief that they help lactation in breastfeeding mothers.

That demand has decimated pangolin populations across Asia and Africa despite a global ban and funded a lucrative international black market trade.

All eight species of pangolins on both continents are listed as endangered or critically endangered.

Taiwan has been a comparative conservation success story, transforming itself from a place where pangolins went from near-extinct to protected and thriving.

Chan Fang-tse, veterinarian and researcher at the official Taiwan Endemic Species Research Institute, said the 1950s to 1970s saw massive hunting. 

“Sixty thousand pangolins in Taiwan were killed for their scales and hides during that period,” he told AFP. 

A 1989 wildlife protection law ended the industry, while rising conservation awareness led the public to start embracing their scaly neighbours as something to be cherished, rather than a commodity.

The population of the Formosan or Taiwanese pangolin, a subspecies of the Chinese pangolin, has since bounced back with researchers estimating that there are now between 10,000 to 15,000 in the wild.

But the island’s growing feral dog population — itself a consequence of a 2017 government policy not to cull stray animals — is hitting pangolins hard, Chan warned. 

“Pangolins are most affected because they have a big overlap of roaming area and pangolins don’t move as fast as other animals,” Chan said.

– Picky eaters –

Pangolins are also vulnerable because of how few offspring they have.

The solitary Formosan pangolins mate once a year and only produce one offspring after 150 days of pregnancy. Captivity breeding programmes have had little success. 

“It may be more difficult to breed pangolins than pandas,” Chan said.

The rise in injured pangolins has created another challenge for animal doctors: finding enough ants and termites to feed the picky eaters who often reject substitute mixtures of larvae. 

Piling into a truck with three other vets, Tseng headed to a tree to retrieve an ant nest he had recently spotted.

“We have to be constantly on the lookout and go search for ants nests every couple of days now because we have more pangolins to feed,” Tseng said.

A pangolin can eat an ant nest the size of a football each day. 

The government has also called for residents to report nest locations to help feed the pangolins until they can be released back into the wild.

But the injured pangolin in Tseng’s care will likely have to be sent to a zoo or government facility for adoption after it recovers.

“It will have difficulty climbing up trees and won’t be able to roll itself into a ball shape,” Tseng said.

“It has lost the ability to protect itself in the wild.”

A man uses a makeshift raft to cross s stream of flood waters near his damaged house in Jaffarabad, Pakistan

Pakistan’s catastrophic floods have led to renewed calls for rich polluting nations, which grew their economies through heavy use of fossil fuels, to compensate developing countries for the devastating impacts caused by the climate crisis.

The currently favored term for this concept is “loss and damage” payments,  but some campaigners want to go further and frame the issue as “climate reparations,” just as racial justice activists call for compensation for the descendants of enslaved people. 

Beyond the tougher vocabulary, green groups also call for debt cancellation for cash-strapped nations that spend huge portions of their budgets servicing external loans, rather than devoting the funds to increasing resilience to a rapidly changing planet. 

“There’s a historical precedent of not just the industrial revolution that led to increased emissions and carbon pollution, but also the history of colonialism and the history of extraction of resources, wealth and labor,” Belgium-based climate activist Meera Ghani told AFP.

“The climate crisis is a manifestation of interlocking systems of oppression, and it’s a form of colonialism,” said Ghani, a former climate negotiator for Pakistan. 

Such ideas stretch back decades and were first pushed by small island nations susceptible to rising sea levels —  but momentum is once more building on the back of this summer’s catastrophic inundations in Pakistan, driven by unprecedented monsoon rains. 

Nearly 1,600 were killed, several million displaced, and the cash-strapped government estimates losses in the region of $30 billion. 

– Beyond mitigation and adaptation –

Campaigners point to the fact that the most climate-vulnerable countries in the Global South are least responsible — Pakistan, for instance, produces less than one percent of global greenhouse emissions, as opposed to the G20 countries which account for 80 percent.

The international climate response currently involves a two-pronged approach: “mitigation” — which means reducing heat-trapping greenhouse gases — and “adaptation,” which means steps to alter systems and improve infrastructure for changes that are already locked in.

Calls for “loss and damage” payments go further than adaptation financing, and seek compensation for multiplying severe weather impacts that countries cannot withstand.

At present, however, even the more modest goal of adaptation financing is languishing. 

Advanced economies agreed to channel $100 billion to less developed countries by the year 2020 — a promise that was broken — even as much of the funding that was mobilized came in the form of loans.

“Our starting point is that the global North is largely responsible for the state of our planet today,” said Maira Hayat, an assistant professor of environment and peace studies at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. 

“Why should countries that have contributed little by way of GHG emissions be asking them for aid –- loans are the predominant form –- with onerous repayment conditions?”

“If the language is upsetting for some, the next step should be to probe why that might be -– do they dispute the history? Or the present-day implications of accepting certain historical pasts?”

– Point scoring? –

Not all in the climate arena are convinced. 

“Beyond a certain rhetorical point-scoring that’s not going to go anywhere,” said Daanish Mustafa, professor in critical geography at King’s College London. 

While he mostly blames the Global North for the world’s current predicament, he says he is wary of pushing a narrative that may excuse the actions of the Pakistani leadership and policy choices they have taken that exacerbate this and other disasters.

The World Weather Attribution group of climate scientists found that climate change likely contributed to the floods. 

But the devastating impacts were also driven “by the proximity of human settlements, infrastructure (homes, buildings, bridges) and agricultural land to flood plains,” among other locally driven factors, they said.

Pakistan’s own emissions, while low at the global scale, are fast rising — with the benefits flowing to a tiny elite, said Mustafa, and the country should pursue an alternative, low-carbon development path rather than “aping the West” and damaging itself in the process. 

The case for “loss and damage” payments received a recent boost with UN chief Antonio Guterres calling for “meaningful action” on it at the next global climate summit, COP27 in Egypt in November.

But the issue is sensitive for rich countries — especially the United States, the largest emitter of GHGs historically — which fear it could pave the way for legal action and kept language regarding “liability and compensation” out of the landmark Paris agreement.