AFP UK

The Shinnecock Kelp Farmers harvest seaweed to help reduce carbon and nitrates in their coastal water

In the Hamptons, New York’s playground for the rich and famous, a Native American tribe is battling with the latest threat to what’s left of its traditional land: climate change.

The Shinnecock, whose name means “people of the stony shore,” have lived on Long Island for 13,000 years.

Their villages stretched along the island’s eastern end before land grabs by European settlers and later US authorities reduced their territory to an 800-acre (1.25 square-mile) peninsula.

That low-lying land is now shrinking due to rising sea levels and coastal erosion, and making it increasingly vulnerable to more powerful storms.

“You’re looking at a situation where an entire nation of people who have been here for essentially forever are faced with a devastating reality that we may have to relocate,” Tela Troge, a Shinnecock attorney, told AFP.

The Shinnecock Indian Nation is a self-governing, federally recognized tribe of approximately 1,600 members.

Roughly half live on its reservation, which juts out into Shinnecock Bay beside Southampton, where multi-million-dollar mansions sit behind electric gates.

Also next door is the hamlet of Shinnecock Hills and its famous eponymous golf club, land the tribe says was stolen from them in 1859.

Warming temperatures are causing seas to expand and rise, eating away at the reservation’s coastline.

– Flooding –

Ed Terry, who makes traditional Shinnecock jewelry out of shells found on the beach, remembers the sand going out much further when he was a boy.

“You can see the erosion. Where the land was is now water. It’s like the sea is coming to us,” the 78-year-old told AFP, as he sculpted a mussel shell to be worn as earrings.

Some parts of the shoreline have already receded 150 feet (45 meters), according to studies cited by Shavonne Smith, the nation’s environment director.

She says 57 homes may have to be relocated soon and bodies possibly disinterred from the tribe’s coastal cemetery and moved elsewhere.

“If you’re talking about taking a people that are so dependent on the water — for spiritual health, recreational and sustenance — and now moving them further inland, you’re talking about a very huge, stressful, emotional, dynamic shift in who we are,” Smith told AFP.

The nation estimates its sea levels will rise by up to 4.4 feet (1.3 meters) by the end of the century. Coupled with more intense storms, this would mean frequent devastating floods.

Hurricane Sandy gave a foretaste in 2012, washing away bluffs on the shore, ripping off roofs and flooding basements and the burial grounds.

“There are studies that show by the year 2040 there’s a 100 percent chance the entire Shinnecock Nation region will get inundated by a storm,” said Scott Mandia, a climate change professor at Suffolk County Community College.

– ‘We will survive’ –

In an attempt to preserve their homeland and way of life, which includes fishing and farming, the nation is taking a nature-based approach towards tackling global warming.

It has built an oyster shell reef and placed boulders to try to hold back waves, as well as planted sea and beach grass in a bid to stop sand from shifting.

Tribe members are doing their bit too.

Troge, 35, is director of Shinnecock Kelp Farmers — a group of six Indigenous women who harvest sugar kelp and sell it as a non-chemical fertilizer.

The seaweed helps clean up water pollution, fueled by neighboring development, by absorbing carbon and nitrates that cause toxic algae blooms, which damage marine life.

Wading into the bay waist-high, farmer Donna Collins-Smith says she is inspired by previous Shinnecock generations “and what they have preserved for us.”

“We are maintaining that and bringing it back from a state of near dead,” the 65-year-old told AFP.

Mandia, co-author of a book about rising sea levels, laments that marginalized communities “who are least responsible for” climate change are those “who are going to feel the pain the most.”

He applauds the tribe’s efforts but says they are “just buying time” before their land becomes uninhabitable.

Terry, the septuagenarian jeweler, wonders where future Shinnecock will go, since tribal boundaries are fixed. 

“We have no higher ground,” he says.

Nevertheless, Terry adds, “We are a strong people. We will survive.”

The Datang International Zhangjiakou Power Station is seen in Zhangjiakou, China in November 2021

Beijing is freezing its cooperation with Washington on global warming, but experts are hoping that, for the sake of humanity, the cold spell between the world’s two largest emitters is only temporary.

The unraveling relationship comes not long after China and the United States announced a surprise agreement to strengthen climate action at the UN COP26 climate conference in Glasgow in 2021.

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan this week, however, has prompted Beijing to end cooperation with the United States on several key issues.

“It’s obviously worrying and raises concerns,” Alden Meyer, a senior associate at the E3G think tank told AFP.

It’s “impossible to address the climate emergency if the world’s number one and number two economies and number one and number two emitters are not taking action,” he said. “And it’s always preferable that they do that in a collaborative way.”

Cooperation between the two countries is essential on all of the world’s “most pressing problems,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ press secretary told reporters on Friday.

Above all, China’s announcement raises questions, including what the consequences will be for the COP27 climate conference in Egypt in November.

“What are the conditions to re-open dialogues? Are these conditions climate or geopolitical?” Greenpeace’s Li Shuo asked on Twitter.

“Is this a tactical move or is it a longer term strategic move?” questioned Meyer. “Is China saying the cooperation is impossible as long as there are tensions between the US and China?”

– ‘Total disaster’ – 

Earth’s temperature has risen by an average of nearly 1.2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels, multiplying heat waves, droughts, floods and storms on all continents.

However, the mercury could rise by 2.8 degrees Celsius by 2100 even if countries abide by their commitments, according to UN climate experts at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Apart from the US-China spat, commitments have already been weakened by the economic crises stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which notably led to the relaunch of coal-fired power stations.

IPCC author Francois Gemenne called China’s decision a “total disaster for the climate… comparable to the US withdrawal from the Paris agreement,” which aims to limit end-of-century warming to well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — and preferably not beyond 1.5 degrees.

Former president Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement, but his successor Joe Biden returned the country to the accord in 2021.

The temporary US withdrawal has nonetheless been accompanied by backtracking on domestic and foreign climate policy, experts say.

China’s announcement, on the other hand, is “certainly not a withdrawal from the world stage on climate issues or a rejection of climate action,” David Waskow, director of the World Resources Institute’s international climate initiative, told AFP.

Mohamed Adow, founder of the Power Shift Africa energy think tank echoed that sentiment, adding that “breaking off diplomacy doesn’t mean China is backtracking on its commitments,” particularly as, “in many respects, China is way ahead of the US when it comes to action on climate change.”

Biden has pledged to cut US emissions by 50 to 52 percent by 2030, compared with 2005 levels, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. 

But his ambitions have been thwarted by failure to push green energy projects and climate initiatives through Congress, although some progress has been made in recent days.

For its part, China, which is the leading emitter of greenhouse gases in absolute value but far behind the US in emissions per capita, has committed to reaching peak emissions in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060.

Meanwhile, even if it’s not cooperating with the United States, “there will be pressure on China from others including the EU, including vulnerable countries,” Meyer said.

Vanderlei Weraxunu, a Guarani indigenous leader, is preparing to move with his community to a new home where they will at last have access to water

Clutching a machete and a cell phone, indigenous leader Vanderlei Weraxunu tours his community’s future home, a swathe of tropical forest land north of Rio de Janeiro where his people will finally have water.

Weraxunu is one of around 50 members of the Mbya Guarani people who will soon establish a new home in the middle of what will be Brazil’s first municipal nature reserve, where they plan to live according to their ancestral lifestyle.

The project promises to transform the lives of community members, who have been living in a settlement with no access to potable water in Marica county, in Rio de Janeiro state.

Hailing from different regions of Brazil, the community of Mbya Guarani moved there a decade ago and founded a village, Ceu Azul (Blue Sky) on a plot of land donated by a businessman.

But the land, a former coffee plantation, is too degraded to farm crops, and the village has to have water trucked in by the municipal government.

“A river ran through it 150 years ago. But then the former owner turned it into a coffee plantation and it was devastated,” says the youthful, chiseled Weraxunu, sporting a beaded armband, traditional face paint and long black hair.

“They cut down the forest and that caused the river to dry up,” he adds, as a black- and bronze-furred monkey playfully performs acrobatics on his arms and shoulders.

South America is home to an estimated 280,000 Guarani, divided into several subgroups including the Mbya.

They have a long history of conflicts with non-native farmers, who had often forced them from their ancestral land.

– ‘Guardians of nature’ –

After years of negotiations with the government, Weraxunu’s community is now set to move in the coming months to a 50-hectare (125-acre) plot of public land about 35 kilometers (20 miles) away, donated by the municipality.

“We’ll have more resources, we’ll be able to plant (manioc and sweet potato) and gather medicinal herbs,” says Weraxunu.

They also plan to bring back native crops such as Guarani maize, which they hold sacred, as well as bamboo for the handcrafts that are an important source of the community’s income.

“Until now, we’ve had to bring in bamboo from other places” to make traditional baskets, says Maria Helena Jaxuka, a Guarani cacique, or chief.

The local government has pledged to provide houses, a school, health care and a cultural center for the new village — plus official ownership of the land.

“It will allow us to preserve nature, as well as our culture and way of life,” says Weraxunu.

“The Guarani and all indigenous peoples are the guardians of nature, which gives us life.”

Noxious gas pollution from the eruption could each the capital by Saturday

Noxious gases from an Icelandic volcano threaten to pollute the air of a nearby village and risk spreading to the capital Reykjavik, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said on Friday.

The weather agency said it expected particularly heavy gas pollution in Vogar, a village of some 1,000 inhabitants about five kilometres (three miles) northeast of Fagradalsfjall, the uninhabited valley where the volcano is located.

It said the pollution could reach Reykjavik, 40 kilometres from the volcano, by Saturday.

Concentrations of sulphur dioxide could reach up to 2,600 microgrammes per cubic metre, a level considered “unhealthy for the sensitive”, according to the Environment Agency of Iceland. 

But the IMO warned that their models were uncertain since the “flow from the eruption is very uneven”.

The warning came after measurements showed that activity had halved at the volcanic fissure, which has been spewing glowing lava since Wednesday, and that the length of the crack had shrunk from an initial 360 metres (1,181 feet) to around 130 metres.

Although more powerful than a previous eruption in the same area last year, the initial lava flow of around 32 cubic metres (1,130 cubic feet) per second had decreased by the second day to around 18 cubic metres per second, according to an assessment published late on Thursday.

“This behaviour is very similar to what is usually observed during eruptions in the country — the eruption is powerful at the beginning and then subsides,” the Institute of Earth Sciences said in a statement.

The field of lava from the eruption covered 144,000 square metres on Thursday. 

“The (lava) flow is strongest in the middle of (the fissure) and there are indications that it may extend northwards,” authorities warned.

The pressure in the tunnel feeding the eruption is not balanced, which geophysicists say could lead to a new eruption at a new location. 

“New fissures can open in the immediate vicinity of the eruption site with little notice,” the IMO said.

Visitors have flocked to the eruption in record numbers to marvel at the flow of lava.

According to authorities, more than 4,200 people walked the 14-kilometre round trip to the site on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland on Thursday, about two hours from the nearest car park. 

Stem cell scientist Jacob Hanna holds mouse 'synthetic embryos' grown in a lab

Stem cell scientists say they have created “synthetic embryos” without using sperm, eggs or fertilisation for the first time, but the prospect of using such a technique to grow human organs for transplantation remains distant.

The breakthrough was hailed as a major step forward, though some experts said the result could not fully be considered to be embryos and warned of future ethical considerations.

In research published in the journal Cell this week, scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel said found a way to have mouse stem cells self-assemble into embryo-like structures in the lab.

They started by collecting cells from the skin of mice, then made them return to the state of stem cells.

The stem cells were then placed in a special incubator designed by the researchers, which continuously moved to mimic a mother’s womb.

The vast majority of the cells failed to form anything.

But 50 — 0.5 percent of the 10,000 total — collected themselves into spheres, then embryo-like structures, the researchers said.

After eight days — around a third of the 20-day mouse gestation period — there were early signs of a brain and a beating heart, they added.

They were described as 95-percent similar to normal mouse embryos.

– ‘Time will tell’ –

If human organs could one day be grown in a lab, the technique could provide life-saving transplants for thousands of people every year.

Stem cell scientist Jacob Hanna, who led the research, told AFP, “The big problem for transplantation is that you need to find a matching donor and the DNA is never identical to the patient.”

But using the new technique, one day scientists could take cells from a patient’s liver, for example, use them to make stem cells, grow a synthetic embryo then “transplant them back into the patient”, Hanna said.

“The cell will be made from the patient, so it will be the exact DNA — no need to find donors and there can be no rejection,” he added.

While they were the most advanced synthetic embryo-like structures ever grown, some scientists not involved in the research warned against calling them “embryos”.

“These are not embryos,” French stem cell scientist Laurent David told AFP.

He preferred to call them embryoids, the name for a group of cells that resemble an embryo.

However, David welcomed the “very convincing” research, which he said could allow further experiments to understand exactly how organs form.

Beyond organs, Hanna said the embryoids could also help identify new targets for drugs and potentially help find solutions for a range of issues such as pregnancy loss, infertility, endometriosis and preeclampsia.

“Time will tell,” he said.

Hanna, a Palestinian who led the research at the institute in Israel, said, “Science is my escape from the harsh reality I face while living in my homeland.”

“And I am one of the very ‘lucky’ ones,” he added.

The first author of the Cell study is a PhD student from the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, who needs a special permit regularly renewed to allow him to work at the institute in the Israeli city of Rehovot, Hanna said.

– Ethical implications –

Hanna has founded a company, Renewal Bio, that he said “will be focusing on testing potential clinical applications of human synthetic embryoids”.

He said they had ethical approval for such testing in Israel and it was legal in many other countries such as the US and UK.

“We should remember that synthetic embryos are embryoids and not real embryos and do not have the potential to become viable,” he said.

But researchers not involved in the study said it was very early to consider using such a technique for humans.

Alfonso Martinez Arias of Spain’s Pompeu Fabra University said the breakthrough “opens the door to similar studies with human cells, though there are many regulatory hoops to get through first and, from the point of view of the experiments, human systems lag behind mouse systems”.

And aiming to get similar results from human cells is likely to open an ethical can of worms.

“Although the prospect of synthetic human embryos is still distant, it will be crucial to engage in wider discussions about the legal and ethical implications of such research,” James Briscoe of Britain’s Francis Crick Institute said.

Noxious gas pollution from the eruption could each the capital by Saturday

Noxious gases from an Icelandic volcano threaten to pollute the air of a nearby village and risk spreading to the capital Reykjavik, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said on Friday.

The weather agency said it expected particularly heavy gas pollution in Vogar, a village of some 1,000 inhabitants about five kilometres (three miles) northeast of Fagradalsfjall, the uninhabited valley where the volcano is located.

It said the pollution could reach Reykjavik, 40 kilometres from the volcano, by Saturday.

Concentrations of sulphur dioxide could reach up to 2,600 microgrammes per cubic metre, a level considered “unhealthy for the sensitive”, according to the Environment Agency of Iceland. 

But the IMO warned that their models were uncertain since the “flow from the eruption is very uneven”.

The warning came after measurements showed that activity had halved at the volcanic fissure, which has been spewing glowing lava since Wednesday, and that the length of the crack had shrunk from an initial 360 metres (1,181 feet) to around 160 metres.

Although more powerful than a previous eruption in the same area last year, the initial lava flow of around 32 cubic metres (1,130 cubic feet) per second had decreased by the second day to around 18 cubic metres per second, according to an assessment published late on Thursday.

“This behaviour is very similar to what is usually observed during eruptions in the country — the eruption is powerful at the beginning and then subsides,” the Institute of Earth Sciences said in a statement.

The field of lava from the eruption covered 144,000 square metres on Thursday. 

“The (lava) flow is strongest in the middle of (the fissure) and there are indications that it may extend northwards,” authorities warned.

The pressure in the tunnel feeding the eruption is not balanced, which geophysicists say could lead to a new eruption at a new location. 

“New fissures can open in the immediate vicinity of the eruption site with little notice,” the IMO said.

Visitors have flocked to the eruption in record numbers to marvel at the flow of lava.

According to authorities, more than 4,200 people walked the 14-kilometre round trip to the site on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland on Thursday, about two hours from the nearest car park. 

In a year marked by drought and heatwaves, rockfalls and gaping crevices have made access to the top of Mont Blanc, western Europe's highest mountain, even more difficult and perilous

Authorities in the French Alps said Friday they had closed down two popular mountain shelters used by Mont Blanc climbers because of potentially deadly drought-related rockfalls.

In a year marked by drought and heatwaves, rockfalls and gaping crevices have made access to the top of Mont Blanc, western Europe’s highest mountain, even more difficult and perilous.

The mayor’s office in the Mont Blanc village of Saint-Gervais, said climbers were in “mortal danger” from rocks and shards coming loose because of dry weather and dropping from a height.

“All day long, we still see climbers going on the mountain range, all the time, as if this was Disneyland or the Parc Asterix,” said Saint-Gervais mayor Jean-Marc Peillex, in reference to two popular theme parks near Paris.

Hikers had been advised since last month to stay away because of the danger, but “they just don’t give a damn,” he told AFP. 

The closure of the two mountain shelters — Gouter with 120 overnight spots and Tete Rousse with 74, as well as a base camp accommodating up to 50 people — was to “show clearly that there is no accommodation available”.

The authorities had warned for weeks that falling rocks were a danger, he said, adding that crossing the Gouter mountain corridor represented “a mortal danger”, he said.

Nevertheless, 79 people stayed at the Gouter shelter Thursday night, he said.

The shelters will remain shut until normal weather conditions return, the mayor said, probably not before early September.

Peillex had warned Wednesday that Saint-Gervais would require a deposit of 15,000 euros ($15,200) from each hiker, saying the sum represented the average cost of a rescue operation and a funeral.

He was, however, advised that French law offers no basis for such a move.

A lack of snow during the winter has laid bare vast areas of greyish glacier — yellowish where sand dust from the Sahara has accumulated — riven with fractures on the Mont Blanc.

The heat did the rest, causing the fragile snow bridges to melt that make it possible to cross the crevasses, as well as leading to landslides.

Following several heatwaves, France is in the grip of severe drought, blamed by scientists on climate change.

On Friday, 100 municipalities across the country were without drinking water, Environment Minister Christophe Bechu said.

Calling the drought “historic”, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne called a crisis meeting Friday to seek solutions.

Scientists say human-induced climate change is amplifying extreme weather — including the heatwaves, droughts and floods seen in several parts of the planet in recent weeks — and say these events will become more frequent and more intense.

The international community has agreed that climate change poses an existential threat to human systems and the natural world. 

US pop star Taylor Swift ranked number one on a list of the worst private jet emission offenders among celebrities

From a 14-minute flight by Drake’s private plane to Taylor Swift’s carbon footprint, celebrities are struggling to shake off a firestorm over their jet emissions amid the climate crisis.

Fury erupted in July when reality star Kylie Jenner shared a picture to her 364 million Instagram users of her and her partner, rapper Travis Scott, in front of two jets with the caption: “you wanna take mine or yours?”

Critics on social media swiftly attacked Jenner, calling her a “climate criminal”.

Then last week, British sustainability marketing firm Yard named and shamed the “worst private jet CO2 emission offenders” among celebrities.

Normally used to topping music charts, US pop star Taylor Swift headlined the unenviable list, prompting a torrent of social media outrage, memes and jokes that she was using her jet to pick up food.

Her jet has flown 170 times since January, with total flight emissions for the year reaching 8,293.54 tonnes, or 1,184.8 times more than the average person, Yard said.

In second place was boxer Floyd Mayweather followed by rapper Jay-Z.

Jenner’s half-sister, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, ranked seventh, having recently flaunted her jet’s cashmere-clad interior. Rapper Scott was 10th while Jenner herself was 19th.

Yard cautioned that its list was “not conclusive to the biggest offenders” as it is based on the “Celebrity Jets” Twitter account, which tracks the flights thanks to public data. It was also impossible to determine if the stars were on all the recorded flights.

“Taylor’s jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals,” Swift’s publicist told media. “To attribute most or all of these trips to her is blatantly incorrect.”

While Drake escaped the top 10 list, the Canadian rapper faced heat over a 14-minute flight between Toronto and Hamilton in July, especially after he said that the “Air Drake” plane was empty.

“This is just them moving planes to whatever airport they are being stored at for anyone who was interested in the logistics… nobody takes that flight,” he said on Instagram.

“It’s even worse if it flew empty,” said Beatrice Jarrige, long-distance mobility project manager at Shift Project, a non-profit focused on climate change.

– ‘Fly with climate bombs’ –

The aviation sector is responsible for two to three percent of carbon dioxide emissions.

But a report in May by Transport & Environment, a European non-government group, showed the carbon footprint of private jets is five to 14 times higher per passenger compared with commercial flights, and 50 times bigger than that of train riders.

“We are allowing people to fly with climate bombs,” said William Todts, executive director of the clean transport campaign group.

The usage of private jets has soared since the coronavirus pandemic, with wealthier customers seeking to avoid any cancellations.

Private jet flights increased by seven percent in 2021 compared to 2019, according to aviation data research firm WingX.

In Europe, celebrities using private jets could use the continent’s vast train network for the majority of their journeys instead, Todts said.

– Jets ‘like taxis’ –

The Celebrity Jets account was created by 19-year-old student Jack Sweeney in 2020 after he started following Elon Musk’s private plane.

He now has 30 accounts tracking sports stars, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg and even Russian oligarchs.

Sweeney has inspired copycat accounts.

Sebastien, a 35-year-old aerospace engineer who refused to give his real name, created in April the “I Fly Bernard” account that follows flights by French billionaires including Bernard Arnault, the head of luxury giant LVMH.

“What I wish to condemn is their use of private jets like taxis,” he said, pointing to their multiple domestic and European flights.

Arnault has not yet responded to the online criticism. 

Jarrige hopes the anger on social media turns into political action.

“It is not a question of totally banning such flights, but the richest must make an effort to be more restrained,” she said, calling for more investment in railways.

Todts said celebrities can and should do more to encourage the development of biofuels rather than kerosene.

“If they actually use their power to buy clean fuels, it would encourage the industry to develop them,” he said.

The commercial aviation sector said last year that sustainable fuels are “key” to carbon neutrality objectives that it has set for 2050.

From a 14-minute flight by Drake’s private plane to Taylor Swift’s carbon footprint, celebrities are struggling to shake off a firestorm over their jet emissions amid the climate crisis.

Fury erupted in July when reality star Kylie Jenner shared a picture to her 364 million Instagram users of her and her partner, rapper Travis Scott, in front of two jets with the caption: “you wanna take mine or yours?”

Critics on social media swiftly attacked Jenner, calling her a “climate criminal”.

Then last week, British sustainability marketing firm Yard named and shamed the “worst private jet CO2 emission offenders” among celebrities.

Normally used to topping music charts, US pop star Taylor Swift headlined the unenviable list, prompting a torrent of social media outrage, memes and jokes that she was using her jet to pick up food.

Her jet has flown 170 times since January, with total flight emissions for the year reaching 8,293.54 tonnes, or 1,184.8 times more than the average person, Yard said.

In second place was boxer Floyd Mayweather followed by rapper Jay-Z.

Jenner’s half-sister, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, ranked seventh, having recently flaunted her jet’s cashmere-clad interior. Rapper Scott was 10th while Jenner herself was 19th.

Yard cautioned that its list was “not conclusive to the biggest offenders” as it is based on the “Celebrity Jets” Twitter account, which tracks the flights thanks to public data. It was also impossible to determine if the stars were on all the recorded flights.

“Taylor’s jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals,” Swift’s publicist told media. “To attribute most or all of these trips to her is blatantly incorrect.”

While Drake escaped the top 10 list, the Canadian rapper faced heat over a 14-minute flight between Toronto and Hamilton in July, especially after he said that the “Air Drake” plane was empty.

“This is just them moving planes to whatever airport they are being stored at for anyone who was interested in the logistics… nobody takes that flight,” he said on Instagram.

“It’s even worse if it flew empty,” said Beatrice Jarrige, long-distance mobility project manager at Shift Project, a non-profit focused on climate change.

– ‘Fly with climate bombs’ –

The aviation sector is responsible for two to three percent of carbon dioxide emissions.

But a report in May by Transport & Environment, a European non-government group, showed the carbon footprint of private jets is five to 14 times higher per passenger compared with commercial flights, and 50 times bigger than that of train riders.

“We are allowing people to fly with climate bombs,” said William Todts, executive director of the clean transport campaign group.

The usage of private jets has soared since the coronavirus pandemic, with wealthier customers seeking to avoid any cancellations.

Private jet flights increased by seven percent in 2021 compared to 2019, according to aviation data research firm WingX.

In Europe, celebrities using private jets could use the continent’s vast train network for the majority of their journeys instead, Todts said.

– Jets ‘like taxis’ –

The Celebrity Jets account was created by 19-year-old student Jack Sweeney in 2020 after he started following Elon Musk’s private plane.

He now has 30 accounts tracking sports stars, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg and even Russian oligarchs.

Sweeney has inspired copycat accounts.

Sebastien, a 35-year-old aerospace engineer who refused to give his real name, created in April the “I Fly Bernard” account that follows flights by French billionaires including Bernard Arnault, the head of luxury giant LVMH.

“What I wish to condemn is their use of private jets like taxis,” he said, pointing to their multiple domestic and European flights.

Arnault has not yet responded to the online criticism. 

Jarrige hopes the anger on social media turns into political action.

“It is not a question of totally banning such flights, but the richest must make an effort to be more restrained,” she said, calling for more investment in railways.

Todts said celebrities can and should do more to encourage the development of biofuels rather than kerosene.

“If they actually use their power to buy clean fuels, it would encourage the industry to develop them,” he said.

The commercial aviation sector said last year that sustainable fuels are “key” to carbon neutrality objectives that it has set for 2050.

Stem cell scientist Jacob Hanna of Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science holds mouse 'synthetic embryos' grown in a lab

Stem cell scientists say they have created “synthetic embryos” without using sperm, eggs or fertilisation for the first time, but the prospect of using such a technique to grow human organs for transplantation remains distant.

The breakthrough was hailed as a major step forward, though some experts said the result could not fully be considered to be embryos and warned of future ethical considerations.

In research published in the journal Cell this week, scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel described mouse stem cells self-assembling into embryo-like structures in the lab.

The research built upon 2018 research that had a bundle of mouse stem cells self-organised into something resembling the beginnings of an embryo — but with far fewer cells.

The Weizmann team led by Palestinian stem cell scientist Jacob Hanna went much further.

They started by collecting cells from the skin of mice, then made them artificially return to the state of stem cells.

The stem cells were then placed in a special incubator, which continuously moved to mimic a mother’s womb.

The vast majority of the cells failed to form anything.

But 50 — 0.5 percent of the 10,000 total — collected themselves into spheres, then embryo-like structures, the researchers said.

After eight days — around a third of the 20-day mouse gestation period — there were early signs of a brain and a beating heart, they added.

They were described as 95 percent similar to normal mouse embryos.

“The embryo is the best organ-making machine and the best 3D bioprinter — we tried to emulate what it does,” Hanna said in a Weizmann statement.

– ‘Not embryos’ – 

While they were the most advanced synthetic embryo-like structures ever grown, some scientists not involved in the research warned against calling them “embryos”.

“These are not embryos,” French stem cell scientist Laurent David told AFP.

“Until proven otherwise, they do not result in a viable individual capable of reproducing,” he added.

He preferred to call them embryoids, the name for a group of cells that resemble an embryo, emphasising that they showed only the very beginnings of organs.

However, David welcomed the “very convincing” research, which he said could allow further experiments to understand exactly how organs form.

Hanna said the team’s “next challenge is to understand how stem cells know what to do — how they self-assemble into organs and find their way to their assigned spots inside an embryo”.

– Ethical implications – 

If human organs could one day be grown in a lab, it could provide life-saving transplants to thousands of people every year without the need for donors.

There has been progress in this new field — several years ago researchers managed to develop an artificial intestine in the lab that could be implanted into a mouse. 

For humans, however, such organ implants remain science fiction.

Still, Hanna has founded a company, Renewal Bio, that aims to find a way to use the technology for therapeutic purposes.

Researchers not involved in the study said it was very early to consider using such a technique for humans.

Alfonso Martinez Arias of Spain’s Pompeu Fabra University said the breakthrough “opens the door to similar studies with human cells, though there are many regulatory hoops to get through first and, from the point of view of the experiments, human systems lag behind mouse systems”.

And aiming to get similar results from human cells will likely open an ethical can of worms.

“Although the prospect of synthetic human embryos is still distant, it will be crucial to engage in wider discussions about the legal and ethical implications of such research,” James Briscoe of Britain’s Francis Crick Institute said.