COLUMBUS, Ind. — Indiana Conservation Officers are investigating a hunting-related accident that occurred Saturday in Bartholomew County.
Just after 8p.m.,responders weredispatchedtoprivateproperty near the 11000 block of South County Road 800W, for an injured person who fell from a tree stand.
Zachary Burbrink, 33, Columbus, was injured when a cable securing his stand to a tree broke, causing Burbrink to fall approximately 12 feet to the ground. He was not utilizing a full body safety harness at the time of the incident.
Burbrinkwas transported, via helicopter, toIU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapoliswitha back injury.
Assisting agencies weretheSouthwest Fire Department, Harrison Twp. Fire Department, Columbus Regional Hospital EMS, Bartholomew Co. Sheriff’sDepartment.
About the authors:Michael Beckleyis a Jeane Kirkpatrick Visiting Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where his research focuses on U.S.-China competition, and is an associate professor at Tufts University.Hal Brandsis a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he studies US foreign policy and defense strategy, and is the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
President xi jinpingdeclaredin Julythat those who get in the way of China’s ascent will have their “heads bashed bloody against a Great Wall of steel.” The People’s Liberation Army Navy is churning out ships at a rate not seen since World War II, as Beijing issues…
A ghost forest seen on Hunting Island, S.C.Cameron Pollack for NPR
This is a story about a tree, a fisherman and a queen.
Each is profoundly connected to a South Carolina coastal community threatened by rising sea levels caused by climate change. And each uniquely represents what’s at stake: the lives and livelihoods of those who call this area home.
The signs of the impact of rising seas levels are both subtle and clear, and taken together, point to the looming crisis climate scientists have been describing — the kind that world leaders who gathered in Scotland at a global climate summit this week are trying to solve. Representatives from nearly 200 countries are negotiating efforts to cut global emissions to stem the rising sea levels.
A tree slowly poisoned by salt water turns white
About an hour and half south of Charleston, S.C., a chalky white tree stands in the water on a beachfront in Hunting Island State Park. Bare branches stretch out in every direction, as if the Greek priestess Medusa had petrified herself and all the snakes moving on her head had turned to stone.Article continues after sponsor message
Glance up the shoreline, and there are countless dead, white trees. Scientists call it a ghost forest. It is created when high tides push seawater into woodland areas. The salty water slowly poisons the trees, turning them a bleachy white.
Lora Clarke, a Charleston-based marine conservationist working with Pew Charitable Trust, on Hunting Island, S.C.Cameron Pollack for NPR
“[It’s] sort of breathtaking the way that you can look at it and see the direct impacts of sea level rise right here on the coast,” says Lora Clarke, a marine conservationist with the Pew Charitable Trusts, an NPR funder.
The forests can be seen up and down the East Coast, Clarke says, and especially so in recent years. “Ghost forests have happened for thousands of years or so, but we’re seeing more ghost forests occur at a faster rate than before,” she says.
A Duke University study released earlier this year looked at the accelerating growth of ghost forests. It found that nearly 25 square miles of healthy coastal woodlands in the southeast withered into white shadows of themselves over a 35-year period starting in the mid-1980s. More than half of the new ghost forests emerged after 2011 as a result of drought and high tides driven by climate change.
As sea levels rise and salt water seeps into previously unaffected coastal flora and salt marsh areas, the plants wither, and only the thickest parts of trees remain.Cameron Pollack for NPR
Ghost forests are perhaps the most striking signs of climate change on the South Carolina coast. Other signs of trouble require a more experienced eye to spot.
A fisherman with not enough bait
Fisherman Ed Atkins can tell you about climate change’s effect by looking at his fish tanks.
He runs a bait shop not far from the ghost forest. He sells oysters and shrimp used by commercial and tourist fishermen. The shop has two big tanks that can usually hold about 40 pounds of live shrimp, but on a recent visit, the tanks are almost empty.
Ed Atkins, a Gullah fisherman and bait shop owner, launches his boat from Sams Point on Lady Island, S.C.Cameron Pollack for NPR
Climate change has impacted fishermen’s capacity and schedule for harvesting seafood along the South Carolina coast.Cameron Pollack for NPR
“Sometimes we just don’t have enough. Like today, I don’t have enough bait,” he says.
Atkins sees that warmer water temperatures have made it harder to find shrimp and oysters in marshes and shallow waters, where they usually thrive. The state’s Department of Natural Resources has not yet officially connected those dots; its research on the effect of climate change on fish, wildlife and marine resources is early and ongoing.
“You used to be able to go out and catch everything you needed in about 20 or 30 minutes, now, it takes you two or three hours,” he says.
Ed Atkins poses for a portrait outside his bait shop on Lady Island, S.C.Cameron Pollack for NPR
He is worried for his shop, which has been in his family for decades. Atkins, who just turned 70, promised his dad before he died that he’d keep it open as long as he could. But he’s not sure how much longer he can keep going.
Climate change is affecting the area in other ways — from the fish species that fishermen who use Atkins’ bait depend on to the salt marshes that protect the coast. A study by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that even five years ago, warmer water temperatures were driving some fish species further north. That migration, the study says, could have a big impact on the fisherman in the south.
Climate change also erodes salt marshes, an important link between the sea and the land. These grassy wetlands serve as sea life nurseries.
“About 75 percent of our commercial and recreational fish species in South Carolina spend some portion of their life cycle in the salt marsh,” Clarke says.
The marshes also act as guardians of the coastline. They absorb flood waters from intense storms and hurricanes, decreasing property damage by up to 20%, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The U.S. has approximately 3.8 million acres of salt marshes, most of them in the Southeast. NOAA estimates that the U.S. loses about 125 square miles of coastal wetlands each year from rising sea levels and development each year. That’s about the size of Charleston, S.C.
“As sea level rises, the marsh will sort of naturally migrate upland and inland if there’s room available. If there’s not room available or flooding we will lose it, but we have to start planning now to make sure that room is available and to conserve those adjacent areas,” Clarke says.
Salt marshes serve as natural barriers against flooding on the South Carolina coast, with one acre of marsh being capable of absorbing up to 1.5 million gallons of floodwater.Cameron Pollack for NPR
Oysters are seen in the salt marsh on Hunting Island, S.C. Oysters are a natural water filtration system, and their beds help protect against coastal flooding.Cameron Pollack for NPR
The impact of sea level rise has started, but she says it’s going to get worse.
“I think we’re going to see it on a much larger scale in the future,” Clark says, noting that sea level rise could be anywhere from four to seven feet. “That’s a big difference for our coastlines.”
And it will mean dramatic change in the lives of people who have lived along the water for generations.
A queen fights for legacy and history
The Gullah Geechee are descendants of enslaved Africans who lived along the coastline from North Carolina to Florida. They are farmers and fishermen, and their elected leader is a computer scientist named Marquetta Goodwine. Her tribal name is Queen Quet.
She’s fighting to protect her community, the land and the water. She’s been working with the U.N., federal and state officials on a plan that protects the coastline and a million acres of salt marsh. The plan takes in consideration the needs of developers, commercial fishermen and the tourism industry. Queen Quet wants to be sure her people are taken into account as well. The Gullah’s family legacy and history is here on the coast, she says.
“You can’t put a price tag on my ability to sit on my porch, hear the birds chirp, hear cicadas, look up at the sky, see the moon and know my ancestors did the same thing in the 1500s and 1600s on the same spot that I’m sitting on. There’s no price that you can pay for that,” she says. “We want to keep it in the natural environment that’s going to be sustained for hundreds more years to come.
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, at the St. Helena branch library on St. Helena Island, S.C. She points to overdevelopment in coastal communities as a factor exacerbating the effects of climate change.Cameron Pollack for NPR
But there’s another problem: development on the coastline.
There’s been about a 20% increase in development within a half mile of salt marshes since the mid-1990s, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. That concerns Lora Clarke because she says the marshes need room to expand so they can absorb additional water as sea levels rise.
“You want to think about how closely you’re building to the marsh. Are you leaving enough of a buffer? Are you leaving room in the future for marsh to be able to migrate as sea levels move inland? Or are you filling marsh in to build new development?”
Queet Quet says that when it comes to climate change, development and conservation, it’s possible to strike a balance.
“We’ve always known that there’s enough on this land for everybody because we remember to leave enough for the next day,” she says. “The question is whether we will remember to leave enough for the next generation.”
By Akshat RathiThe parade of announcements this week from world leaders, finance figures and climate diplomats at the COP26 summit culminated in a weekend parade of protesters through Glasgow, Scotland. The message from the thousands carrying placards around the venue of the meeting is one most insiders would agree with: The progress is still not enough to avoid catastrophe.It’s the stark reality of the climate fight. As governments, businesses and money managers increase their ambitions to cut emissions, even taken at face value and assuming maximum follow-through, the pledges being made at COP26 don’t add up to temperatures that remain below the increase of 1.5°C enshrined in the Paris Agreement.“Keeping 1.5 alive” has been an unofficial motto of this year’s climate talks. It appears to be an item on the checklist that will remain unfulfilled. That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been some progress. Let’s do a quick recap of what has been achieved as the climate summit heads into its second and final week. Stronger National Goals Will Curb CarbonAs part of the Paris Agreement, countries agreed in 2015 to set out higher pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions every five years. This “ratcheting” mechanism made it possible for every nation to tackle global warming at the pace that seemed feasible in light of domestic politics and economic development.New national commitments made at COP26 showed progress. Analysis conducted by the Energy Transition Commission in the middle of the summit estimates that commitments countries made during and in the lead up to the conference could reduce annual emissions by 9 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide each year by 2030. That still leaves about 13 billion tons a year that would need to be cut further to keep the world aligned for 1.5°C of warming. A Big Group Moves Against MethaneFor the first time, the Group of 20 agreed that methane emissions contributed significantly to global warming and acknowledged the need for reductions. At COP26, more than 100 countries signed up for the Global Methane Pledge aimed at cuts of 30% by 2030.The pact, however, wasn’t signed by some of the world’s largest methane emitters, including Russia, China, and India. It was also a collective goal, which means not every country would be needed to meet the 30% cut, allowing some to sign up without doing much.And, in any case, the target itself is weaker than what’s needed. The Global Methane Assessment from the United Nations Environment Programmefound that a 45% reduction in methane emissions would be needed by 2030 to be on track for the 1.5°C goal. A Triumph for TreesThe forest pledge proved to be more popular. Countries home to the world’s biggest forests, such as Brazil, Russia and Canada, all signed up to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. All told countries with 85% of the world’s forests agreed to the goal and some $19 billion of funds were committed toward it.But as is typical of large agenda-setting global pledges, small squabbles emerged. Indonesia stepped into controversy by saying it didn’t quite agree to “end deforestation by 2030.” Instead, it promised to keep the forest cover steady—meaning any trees cut down will be replaced. More than two dozen countries also committed to more sustainable agricultural practices. Emissions from that sector are notoriously hard to measure and even harder to cut. Ten new nations, including India, joined a global pledge to protect 30% of the oceans in their territories by 2030, which took the list of countries backing the commitment to over 100. Disappointment for the Anti-Coal AgendaCOP26 President Alok Sharma set a goal for the summit to “ consign coal to history.” The dirtiest fuel still makes up the largest share of global emissions. Pledges to phase out coal did not gather the kind of momentum that had been sought, falling short of getting two dozen countries behind it. The big wins included Vietnam, Chile, and South Korea. The U.S. and China refused to join.Complaints about the pledge came soon after. Indonesia said any phase out of coal power plants earlier than their contractual end date will only happen if it could access the right financing mechanism. Poland argued that it should be treated as a developing country and be allowed to phase out coal in 2040 and not 2030. Climate Finance Gets a Private Sector BoostAmong U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s priorities for COP26 was securing more cash to help speed the global energy transition. Coming into the talks, developed countries had for years failed to secure the annual $100 billion promised by rich nations.While the public financing is seen to be crucial to unlock much larger private sums, at the summit there were positive signs that private money might be preparing to move on its own. Former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney led the formation of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, bringing together asset managers from around the world with $130 trillion under management to accept the goal of zeroing-out emissions by 2050. Big questions remain on how such commitments can be measured and policed.Unfinished Business for Carbon TradingGoing into week two, negotiators will get serious about creating an international carbon market. If there’s an agreement on the details of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, the market could enable countries and companies to trade carbon offsets. That could unlock as much as $1 trillion in financing for developing countries, according to the International Emissions Trading Association.Negotiations on this tricky subject have ended up in failure at previous COPs. This year might be different, in part because Brazil has softened its stance on some of the unresolved issues. But tensions are high going into final days, with the U.S. and the European Union lining up on clauses that could make a global consensus hard. So where do things stand at the end of the first week at COP26? The International Energy Agency found that if all national net-zero pledges—including the surprise move from India for 2070—came to pass then the world could well be on the path to keeping warming below 1.8°C. That’s 0.3°C lower than the IEA’s assessment of pledges published in October, but also 0.3°C higher than the Paris Agreement’s stretch goal.Perhaps the best summation of the talks so far comes from the prime minister who is playing host and, occasionally, channeling climate activist Greta Thunberg: “All those promises will be nothing but blah, blah, blah,” Johnson warned in his opening speech on Nov. 1. That is, of course, unless the goals that have emerged from the talks become real afterwards.
A herd of Friesian cows grazing in Cork. Ireland relies on farming, alongside multinational investment, to drive its economy. Photograph: David Creedon/Alamy
Up to 1.3 million cattle would have to be culled in Ireland to reach anticipated government targets for reducing greenhouse gases in the agriculture sector, a new report has concluded.
Irish farmers are expecting the worst after taoiseach Micheál Martin described the report by KPMG, commissioned by weekly newspaper the Irish Farmers Journal, as “scaremongering”.
The debate over agriculture’s role in reducing carbon emissions is a hugely controversial topic in Ireland, pitting Dublin against rural communities.
The country has long relied on farming, alongside multinational investment, to drive its economy. Irish beef and dairy brands such as Kerrygold and Pilgrims Choice are among its most successful exports.
But Irish agriculture is under huge pressure: 35% of national greenhouse gases come from the sector, the highest level in Europe, where the average is 11%. And more than 60% of that comes from methane associated with belching by ruminant animals.
More than 100 countries pledged to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030 in Glasgow on Tuesday in an initiative put forward by the US and the EU. Although methane breaks down relatively quickly in the atmosphere, it is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Reducing these emissions has been touted as one of the most immediate opportunities to slow global heating.
Stephen Prendiville, head of sustainability at the EY consultancy in Dublin, said the debate about methane “had been lost” in the narrative about the climate emergency and this would help countries reliant on agriculture to focus on how to “operationalise” reductions.
Irish climate emergency plans
The Irish government is due to unveil its sector-by-sector climate emergency plans on Thursday and is considering a 21% to 30% cut in carbon emissions from the agriculture sector.Advertisementhttps://b60763761ba5496daf84ce90685960f3.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
KPMG looked at four scenarios, concluding that rural Ireland faced a €4bn hit to the economy and the loss of more than 56,000 jobs if the government opted for the 30% target.
It also warned that a 30% cut would require a 20% cut in cattle numbers, 22% of the beef herd and 18% of the dairy herd.
With 6.5 million cattle in the country according to official Central Statistics Office data this equates to a reduction of 1.3 million of the national herd.
The lower target of 21% would mean a reduction of about 5%, or 325,000 cattle, according to the KPMG analysis.
“Farmers desperately hope that it doesn’t come to this [culling],” said Phelim O’Neill, editor of the Irish Farmers Journal. “There is widespread acknowledgement that we need to reduce emissions”, he said but he had commissioned the report to put some facts back into the “heated debate” that is giving famers “climate anxiety” about their futures.
The debate has pitted Dublin versus rural Ireland, with farmers feeling they are being unfairly targeted without government assessments of the impact on their industry.
The president of the Irish Farmers’ Association, Tim Cullinan, said it was “extraordinary” to hear the taoiseach say the report was scaremongering.
Martin told RTE on Tuesday: “I think we need to be very careful of that scaremongering,” after reports that targets at the lower end of the scale would result in 10,000 fewer jobs in agriculture. “Farming will have to change,” he said.
Cullinan said: “We have repeatedly asked for such an exercise to be carried out by our government, but they have refused to do so. Micheál Martin is shooting in the dark and he has no idea what the economic or social impact of these ceilings will be in rural areas.”
Ireland has committed to reducing carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 with a cabinet subcommittee meeting on Wednesday to finalise the sector details.
Martin told RTE the country had “no choice” and if it did not commit to the targets it would affect the country’s “economic sustainability”. He also admitted that over the past decade carbon emissions in the country had increased and “that is problematic”.
This article was amended on 4 November 2021 to remove an incorrect suggestion that Ireland does not have a significant manufacturing sector.
Climate activists march in Sydney during a COP26 protest on Saturday that was one of several demonstrations held around the world.Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
Thousands of people gathered in Glasgow, Scotland, and around the world on Saturday to protest a lack of global action to combat climate change.
“It’s kind of a cornucopia of different groups,” NPR’s Frank Langfitt reported from Glasgow, the site of the COP26 climate conference. “You have farmers, trade unionists, climate activists, even Scottish independence advocates. A wide-ranging coalition of people coming together for what they consider a common cause.”
Among those coming together for change were Indigenous activists and young people from Brazil and Ecuador, as seen in photos shared via Twitter. Many young people from the global south were in Glasgow on Saturday. Despite low emissions from those areas, they are among those hit hardest by the effects of climate change, Langfitt noted.
Glasgow is the host city of the United Nations COP26 summit, which started Oct. 31. The gathering has drawn more than 100 world leaders for talks that are slated to last for another week.
Protesters attend the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice march Saturday in Glasgow, Scotland, where the COP26 conference is being held.Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Activists are pushing global leaders to take action to ensure that the planet does not warm more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with pre-industrial levels. It’s a goal that was laid out in the Paris Agreement, but in the years since, the world has not been on track to meet that standard.Article continues after sponsor messagehttps://9ad36b7cda06b8da6e16f319bb598ccf.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
Activists say global pledges to reduce carbon aren’t enough
In the first week of the conference, more than 20 nations committed to move away from coal in favor of clean energy. A number of prominent banks pledged to halt their support of plants that run on coal.
Slowing the loss of forests is another goal that’s been a focus of the conference. Thus far, 26 countries have agreed to enact policies that would make agricultural practices more sustainable.
“If we are to limit global warming and keep the goal of 1.5C alive, then the world needs to use land sustainably and put protection and restoration of nature at the heart of all we do,” Alok Sharma, COP26 president, said in a statement Saturday.
But some are concerned that not enough action is taking place at the summit, and many young activists feel that their concerns are not being taken seriously. During a rally in Glasgow on Saturday, famed activist Greta Thunberg called out world leaders for slow-walking progress.
“It is not a secret that COP26 is a failure,” she said. “It should be obvious that we cannot solve a crisis with the same methods that got us into it in the first place, and more and more people are starting to realize this and many are starting to ask themselves, ‘What will it take for the people in power to wake up?’ “
She described the conference as a “PR event” and a “global greenwash festival,” during which leaders can say all the right things without their governments actually taking action.
“We need immediate drastic annual emission cuts unlike anything the world has ever seen,” she said.
The elusive and resilient creatures are found only at high altitude, in the rugged terrain of the Sierra Nevada and the Southern Cascade Range of Oregon and California. These foxes are almost never seen by humans, and scientists estimate their population at fewer than 100.
So as the Dixie Firebore down on Lassen Volcanic National Parkand Lassen National Forest — which comprises some of the fox’s extremely limited habitat — wildlife biologists were apprehensive.
“We were very concerned about them,” says Pete Figura, a wildlife management supervisor with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Northern Region. Of the four Sierra Nevada red foxes that CDFW has been monitoring via GPS collar…
Ray Martin, left, and his son Jay. (Provided photo — Emily Lauren Martin)
TUPPER LAKE — Several hundred forest rangers, volunteers and members of Adirondack Mountain Rescue are currently combing the woods in Tupper Lake in search of Ray Martin, an experienced hunter who’s been missing since Tuesday morning.
Ray, 65, is a Certified Public Accountant in town. Jay said he set out hunting at 7 a.m. on Tuesday but hasn’t returned yet. He said Ray was last seen wearing all camouflage — his hunting gear.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation has not identified Ray as the subject of its search in Tupper Lake, but wrote in an email that a hunter was reported overdue from a trip by his wife at around 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Martin’s son, Jay Martin, said around 300 people showed up Thursday morning…
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley listens to a question during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on September 28, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
Iranians burn a U.S. flag during a demonstration against American “crimes” in Tehran on January 3, 2020, following the assassination of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Major General Qassim Suleimani in a U.S. strike on his convoy at Baghdad international airport.
