A Glacier That Could Add 11 Feet To The Sea Level Is Dangerously Close To Melting

Totten glacier, the largest in East Antarctica, is being melted from below by warm water that reaches the ice.

Up until now it wasn’t entirely clear what was pushing this warm water towards the glacier however a research team at the University of Texas has made the worrying discovery that it is in fact intense winds that are to blame.

While in the past this wouldn’t be as much of a problem, climate change is expected to see the intensity of these winds increase significantly in the future.

That turns it into a very big problem because Totten just so happens to contain enough ice to raise the global sea level by a staggering 11 feet. It’s also considered the plug that locks in the ice of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.

“Totten has been called the sleeping giant because it’s huge and has been seen as insensitive to changes in its environment,” said lead author Chad Greene, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG).

“But we’ve shown that if Totten is asleep, it’s certainly not in a coma ― we’re seeing signs of responsiveness, and it might just take the wind blowing to wake it up.”

The team discovered that the glacier speeds up its flow towards the sea when winds over Antarctica’s southern ocean are particularly strong.

What happens is that the wind pulls warm water up from the deep ocean and onto the continental shelf in a process that’s called upwelling.

Once the warm water reaches the coast it then starts to circulate under the floating ice portion of the glacier and in turn cause it to melt into the sea.

“It’s like when you blow across a hot bowl of soup and little bits of noodles from the bottom begin to swirl around and rise to the top,” said Greene.

The reason Totten is a cause for such concern is because of the fact that much of the ice that would be melting would be land-locked, so ice that traditionally would never have entered the ocean. Of course climate change is changing that.

“Ice sheet sensitivity to wind forcing has been hypothesised for a long time, but it takes decades of observation to show unequivocal cause and effect,” said Donald Blankenship, a senior researcher at UTIG who contributed to this study and Roberts’ study.

“Now we’re at the point where we can explicitly show the links between what happens in the atmosphere, what happens in the ocean, and what happens to the Antarctic Ice Sheet.”

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/glacier-that-could-add-11-feet-to-the-sea-level-is-dangerously-close-to-melting_uk_59f9ed14e4b00c6145e3373b

Egypt and Russia Must Not Be Allowed To Remove Inclusive Language from UN’s Olympics Resolution

In advance of each Olympics, the United Nations General Assembly passes an “Olympic Truce Resolution” to pledge support for the Olympic spirit, for the athletes and for the host country. The resolution includes a reference to “Principle 6” of the Olympic Charter, which commits the Olympics to not discriminate on the basis of a number of factors, including sexual orientation. This year, however, Egypt and Russia are working to remove all references to Principle 6 from the resolution, because of the language on sexual orientation.   

“Russia and Egypt – two of the world’s worst violators of LGBTQ human rights – are trying to spread their hatred and intolerance and undermine the Olympic spirit,” said HRC Global Director Ty Cobb. “This is not just a fight over words on a piece of paper, this is an attempt to spread their anti-LGBTQ views all around the world, and even into the Olympics, which are supposed to be about equality and inclusion. The UN must stop this and stand for inclusion and tolerance.”

Earlier this month, Egyptian authorities arrested at least six men for “promoting sexual deviancy” after waving a rainbow flag at a concert in Cairo. These arrests have led to a crackdown on LGBTQ people in Egypt, with a group of Egyptian lawmakers proposing a broad anti-LGBTQ law last week which criminalizes LGBTQ people and even speech about LGBTQ issues.

In the Russian republic of Chechnya, authorities have rounded up and detained more than 100 men in secret prisons, under suspicion that they are gay or bisexual. Chechen leaders have denied these accusations, going so far as to deny the very existence of LGBTQ people in Chechnya. It is not clear that the Russian government has done anything to stop the violence,  while there have been numerous verified reports of torture and at least three and possibly as many as 20 men have been killed.

The 2016 Games in Rio were noted for being the most LGBTQ-inclusive Olympics in history, with a record number of openly lesbian, gay and bisexual competitors taking part. This was in stark contrast to the 2014 Sochi Olympics held in Russia, where a hateful “anti-propaganda” law targeted Russia’s LGBTQ community and prohibited public support for equality in the country.  

While Egypt rounds up LGBTQ people for flying rainbow flags and Russia turns a blind eye toward Chechnya’s LGBTQ ‘purge,’ they are attempting to bully the UN into supporting their discriminatory actions. The world community must denounce Egypt and Russia for their actions, and not acquiesce to this hatred.

The United Nations is set to vote on the Olympic Truce Resolution in the coming weeks.

www.hrc.org/blog/egypt-and-russia-must-not-be-allowed-to-remove-inclusive-language-from-uns?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Stranger Things’ Dacre Montgomery addresses rumors that his character is gay
There’s something far more sinister going,” he says.

www.queerty.com/stranger-things-dacre-montgomery-addresses-rumors-character-gay-20171101?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Conor McGregor Apologizes for Using Gay Slur After UFC Fight: ‘I Meant No Disrespect’ – WATCH

Two weeks ago UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor was heard using a homophobic slur twice as he escorted his teammate Artem Lobov to the dressing room after Lobov lost a fight to Andre Fili.

Said McGregor to Lobov: “I thought you were going to sleep him. All I’m saying, he’s a faggot. I never knew he was a faggot.”

McGregor apologized for using the slur in an appearance Tuesday on Ireland’s The Late Late Show.

Said McGregor: “I meant no disrespect. I campaigned when we were trying to get same sex marriage legalized. Things just get blown up. Any chance they get, they love to throw me under the bus. It is what it is. I’d like to say sorry for what I said and try to move on from it.”

Watch:

The post Conor McGregor Apologizes for Using Gay Slur After UFC Fight: ‘I Meant No Disrespect’ – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

Conor McGregor Apologizes for Using Gay Slur After UFC Fight: ‘I Meant No Disrespect’ – WATCH

This Beer Company Want To ‘Make Earth Great Again’

Today, craft beer makers BrewDog have launched Make Earth Great Again, a protest beer (yes, they’re a thing), to bring attention to the glaring climate change issues that we are facing.

Following Donald Trump withdrawing the USA from the Paris Accord, the independent craft brewer decided to release a range of beers that would show their support for the green agenda.

The craft beer contains ingredients from areas most affected by global warming, such as water sourced from Arctic glaciers, as well as endangered cloudberries from the same region. All proceeds from the range will be donated to climate change charity 10:10.

The beer label features a polar bear fighting a robot version of Donald Trump.

Co-founder of BrewDog, James Watt, said: “Beer is a universal language, with the capacity to make an impact the world over, so we decided to make a statement and brew a beer that could have a direct, positive impact on climate change.”

To the pub?

See also:

Talking Sustainable Fashion With People Tree’s Safia Minney

Inside The Sri Lankan Tea Plantation That Has Gotten To Carbon Neutral

Why The Future Of Fashion Is Fair, With Know The Origin

sourced.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2017/11/01/this-beer-company-want-to-make-earth-great-again/

#FightingForAtlanta: Cathy Woolard is the Clear Choice for Moving Atlanta Forward

Post submitted by HRC Board of Governors Member / Atlanta Membership Outreach & Community Events Co-Chair Malik Brown

Cathy Woolard has been fighting on behalf of LGBTQ people since 1987. Let that sink in – 30 YEARS! As someone who hasn’t even lived 30 years yet, her dedication to full LGBTQ equality inspires me.

Woolard first got into the world of LGBTQ advocacy as the Southeast Organizer for the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. As an Atlanta City Council member, she became the first openly LGBTQ elected official in the state of Georgia. As City Council President she became the first openly LGBTQ City Council President in the U.S. and the first female Atlanta City Council President.

Woolard accomplished a lot in her time on City Council. Here are some highlights:

• As City Council President in 2000, Woolard introduced and passed legislation protecting people from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations on the basis of all categories, including sexual orientation and gender identity. It remains the only such law of its scope in the state of Georgia.
• In conjunction with Southface Energy Institute, she launched Atlanta’s first environmental sustainability program, saving the city around $800,000 in its first year and reducing Atlanta’s carbon footprint.
• Woolard, along with Ryan Gravel, championed the Atlanta BeltLine, which has become an economic growth engine of the city. She’s fighting for better transportation and more affordable housing, and her experience managing the rollout of the BeltLine gives her unparalleled experience overseeing the kind of large infrastructure projects the city will need to undertake to achieve those goals.

After her time on city council, Woolard went back to lobbying for social justice organizations, such as Georgia Equality, HRC, Planned Parenthood and CARE. In recent years, Woolard has been the lead lobbyist for Georgia Equality against dangerous anti-LGBTQ bills.

We have an opportunity with this election to elect Atlanta’s first openly LGBTQ Mayor. A victory like that would not only impact the city, but the state and region as well! Historic progress like this would send a clear message of resistance to Donald Trump.

We don’t make progress by sitting around, please consider joining me in supporting Woolard for Atlanta Mayor. Click here for volunteer opportunities.

For more information or questions, please contact Southern Regional Field Organizer Hope Jackson at [email protected].

www.hrc.org/blog/fightingforatlanta-cathy-woolard-is-the-clear-choice-for-moving-atlanta-for?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Paul Manafort Has 3 Passports, is Flight Risk, Says Mueller

New court filings show special counsel Robert Mueller considers the Trump campaign’s former chairman Paul Manafort a “serious” flight risk and that he has multiple passports under different numbers. “The government has also learned that in March of this year, Manafort registered a phone and an email account using an alias,” Mueller’s office wrote in a…

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Paul Manafort Has 3 Passports, is Flight Risk, Says Mueller

The AI Industry Must Embrace Diversity Or Risk Reinforcing The Status Quo
One of the biggest surprises I had when I entered the AI industry was the lack of women that were present within it. It’s not just at the senior levels either, it’s a problem which seems to be present throughout every layer of AI organisations.

It isn’t hard to see where this problem starts either. Although there has been a slight increase in the percentage of girls taking computer science at A level in the UK this year, it still only makes up 10% of entrants. Couple this with only 11% of software developers being women and you can see the problem we’re faced with.

As a company, BenevolentAI has succeeded in achieving an even split of men and women in its life science division, BenevolentBio, which I lead. Achieving that split was much easier than it was for my counterparts in the AI division of the company, BenevolentTech. Simply put, the percentage of female applications for roles was low, making it harder to hit the even split.

Conscious and unconscious bias are the issue

Through my career I’ve witnessed how bias – both conscious and unconscious – has restricted the pipeline of female talent in a variety of sectors – unfortunately the AI industry is no different. If that bias is taken away it can offer a more level playing field on which women can compete. A recent study revealed the potential of this. A San Francisco based open source repository, named GitHub, approved the code women wrote at a higher rate than men. However, there was just one snag; this was only found to be the case when the gender of individual authors was withheld.

This bias can hit at any part of a career, from entry level all the way to the top. It may come as no surprise to hear that I’ve known a female speaker, due to give a keynote address, have AI explained to her by a male colleague, as the assumption was made that her gender meant she wouldn’t know what AI was.

It’s vital that we encourage those already in the industry to become the much sought-after female role models the industry needs to inspire future generations. In addition, these women can help to form a part of how AI is developed for decades and, more importantly, how it is incorporated into our daily lives. If you look at the most well-known examples of ‘AI’ in our society today, these are in the form of chatbots and personal home assistants like Alexa and Siri. Each has a female voice and help to reinforce the stereotypes and bias about what roles each gender should play. It’s common throughout our society, with adults making assumptions about what girls and boys should conform to – it’s this that keeps the bias prevalent.

Gender is not the only issue

It’s not just a gender problem we need to fix, but one of diversity in general. It’s predicted that more than a million computing engineers will be needed in the next 10 years if the UK is to keep its place at the top table in the industry, according to the Royal Academy of Engineering.

It’s well documented that companies with a more diverse workforce are more successful, something I can attest to, with the benefits I see coming out of our company. The AI industry is at a crossroads and needs to tackle the issue of diversity head-on. Looked at from a purely technical point of view, the industry relies on data, so any bias in how data sets are procured or used – as the result of a lack of diversity – has the potential to reinforce the issue I’ve been speaking about with huge negative effects for different groups of people across the globe. If the data is biased, then its output will be too.

The next step

So, what’s the next step to overcoming this problem? There needs to be a concerted and co-ordinated effort in schools, universities and businesses, encouraging people from diverse backgrounds into computer science. There are some programmes that are making a good effort to do this, such as the Science Foundation Ireland funding for Girls Hack Ireland. This is a programme of free science and technology centred events for teenage girls and even their parents can get involved too. It’s this kind of activity that will ensure those role models that the industry desperately needs are developed – in turn bringing greater diversity to the AI industry.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jackie-hunter/the-ai-industry-must-embr_b_18420210.html