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10 Arrested as Deadline to Evacuate Dakota Access Pipeline Protest Camp Passes
The deadline set by North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum for evacuating the Cannon Ball Dakota Access Pipeline protest site passed Wednesday and most protesters peacefully vacated before the 2 p.m. cutoff time.
Authorities arrested 10 remaining protesters refusing to leave the campground and an estimated few dozen people are still at the site. The Chicago Tribune reported this morning that the North Dakota's governor said the remaining people "will have another chance to leave peacefully Thursday."
New polling released from the Pew Research Center Wednesday shows nearly half of Americans oppose building the pipeline.
Despite continued public protest across the country—including divestment movements in several major cities—lawyers for the pipeline estimated in a court filing Wednesday that oil could be flowing as early as mid-March.
"These water protectors inspired people around the world by standing up for the right to clean water and a future free from fossil fuels," Greenpeace USA Climate Campaigner Mary Sweeters said. "Allies around the world acting in solidarity with Standing Rock cannot stop now. We must expose every institution pushing the Dakota Access Pipeline project through and projects like it."
For a deeper dive:
Campground evacuations: AP, ABC, CNN, Washington Post, WSJ, Time, The Guardian, LA Times, InsideClimate News
Divestment: CBS SF Bay, Los Angeles Magazine, FT, Law360, DCist
Polling: Greenwire Oil timing: Energywire Commentary: American Banker, John Heltman analysis
For more climate change and clean energy news, you can follow Climate Nexus on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for daily Hot News.
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Pope Francis delivers his homily on April 9, 2020 behind closed doors at St. Peter's basilica in the Vatican. ALESSANDRO DI MEO / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
Pope Francis spoke about the novel coronavirus, suggesting that the global pandemic might be one of nature's responses to the man-made climate crisis.
<p>In an interview published Wednesday in The Tablet and Commonwealth magazines, the leader of the Roman Catholic church said the world should take stock of what damage the rate of production and consumption has caused to the natural world, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/europe/pope-francis-coronavirus-nature-response-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>"There is an expression in Spanish: 'God always forgives, we forgive sometimes, but nature never forgives,'" the pope said in an interview published Wednesday in <a href="https://www.thetablet.co.uk/features/2/17845/pope-francis-says-pandemic-can-be-a-place-of-conversion-" target="_blank">The Tablet</a>, a United Kingdom-based Catholic weekly, as <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/04/08/pope-says-coronavirus-could-be-a-reaction-to-climate-change/" target="_blank">The New York Post</a> reported.</p>
<p>The pontiff's answers came in response to a question about whether the global pandemic might lead to ecological conversion, where people lead more environmentally conscious lives with the understanding that the natural world is part of God's creation, according to <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/04/08/pope-says-coronavirus-could-be-a-reaction-to-climate-change/" target="_blank">The New York Post</a>.</p><p>"We did not respond to the partial catastrophes. Who now speaks of the fires in Australia, or remembers that 18 months ago a boat could cross the North Pole because the glaciers had all melted? Who speaks now of the floods?" the pope said, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/europe/pope-francis-coronavirus-nature-response-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported. "I don't know if these are the revenge of nature, but they are certainly nature's responses."</p><p>"This is the time to take the decisive step, to move from using and misusing nature to contemplating it," he added, as <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/04/08/pope-says-coronavirus-could-be-a-reaction-to-climate-change/" target="_blank">The New York Post</a> reported.</p>
<p>The Vatican closed Saint Peter's Square and Basilica to the public in early March as the outbreak's effects became more pronounced throughout Italy, according to <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/491734-pope-says-coronavirus-outbreak-may-be-one-of-natures-responses-to" target="_blank">The Hill</a>. The Vatican has reported seven confirmed cases of the virus in its ranks.</p><p>On Palm Sunday, the pope celebrated mass in an empty church.</p><p>The pope, 83, said in the interview that the "Curia is trying to carry on its work, and to live normally," using shifts to avoid crowding.</p><p>Pope Francis has been tested twice for coronavirus. As an elderly man, with a damaged lung from an infection in his 20s and recovering from bronchitis, he is particularly vulnerable to the most severe symptoms associated with COVID-19. Therefore, he is taking particular precaution, according to The Vatican press office. He eats his meals in private, keeps a distance from anyone who might be carrying the virus, and uses hand sanitizer before and after meeting any guests, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/europe/pope-francis-coronavirus-nature-response-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p>
<p>In the interview, Pope Francis addressed what he sees from world leaders. He denounced "the hypocrisy of certain political personalities who speak of facing up to the crisis, of the problem of hunger in the world, but who in the meantime manufacture weapons," as <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/491734-pope-says-coronavirus-outbreak-may-be-one-of-natures-responses-to" target="_blank">The Hill</a> reported.</p><p>In particular, he highlighted the callous way the homeless were treated in Las Vegas.</p><p>"A photo appeared the other day of a parking lot in Las Vegas where they [the homeless] had been put in quarantine. And the hotels were empty. But the homeless cannot go to a hotel," the Pope said, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/europe/pope-francis-coronavirus-nature-response-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported. "This is the moment to see the poor," he said, adding that society often treats those in need as "rescued animals."</p>
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Migrating barn swallows rest on electricity cables in Heraklion, Crete, Greece. Patricia Fenn Gallery / Moment / Getty images
Thousands of swallows and other migratory birds have died in Greece trying to cross from Africa to Europe this spring.
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<p>The group <a href="http://www.ornithologiki.gr/page_cn.php?aID=2039" target="_blank">wrote</a> that the night of April fifth to sixth was especially perilous for the birds. A combination of cold weather, strong winds and few insects exhausted birds that had already crossed the Sahara and the Mediterranean. South-blowing winds pushed the birds to North Africa, where they then faced the north-blowing winds of the Aegean and flew towards eastern Greece for rest. The group described what happened next:</p><blockquote>On April 6th, the morning light revealed a shocking sight: tens of thousands of birds, chilly and exhausted, were unable to move. Swallows and martins had to rest on the ground, on the blacktop, on balconies, on rooftops and any other surface available. Swifts –a purely airborne species that can not rest on the ground or on a wire– found a temporary shelter by grabbing a wall or by hiding in scuppers or air ducts. Flycatchers filled parks and gardens in Athens and other cities. All this happened throughout Eastern Greece, from southernmost Crete to northernmost Macedonia.</blockquote>
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<p>Greece is in the flight path of hundreds of thousands of migratory birds, AFP reported, and storms are a major danger for all migrating birds, <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/natures-home-magazine/birds-and-wildlife-articles/migration/dangers-of-migration/" target="_blank">according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds</a>. Some deaths are sadly to be expected, and birds have evolved to weather harsh conditions to a certain degree, the Hellenic Ornithological Society explained.</p><p>"However, this specific weather combination was unprecedented and pushed entire populations to their limits," the group wrote. "If we take into account all the hardships that human activity brings about during their journey — habitat loss, desertification, illegal killing etc. — these losses could prove devastating."</p><p>They urged concerned bird lovers not to approach or feed the resting birds, to protect them from drivers and cats and to call a wildlife center if they encountered one who needed medical help.</p>
<p>Swallows, which were particularly impacted by the harsh weather, are Greece's most popular bird, according to <a href="https://greece.greekreporter.com/2020/04/09/thousands-of-swallows-and-other-birds-die-in-greece-after-migration/" target="_blank">Greek Reporter</a>. Their arrival heralds spring. They also make an incredible journey.</p><p>"These birds fly up to 350 kilometers (217 miles) a day, with anticyclones favoring them on their journey as they lift them higher up in the sky," associate professor in the Department of Forestry and Natural Environment at Thessaloniki University Dimitris Bakaloudis explained to Greek Reporter.. "They spent the winter months in southern Sahara and as far as South Africa and start migrating in waves from early March on a route of more than 10,000 kilometers (6,213 miles)."</p>
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A ringed seal swims in a water tank at the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan on July 26, 2013. Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP / Getty Images
Ringed seals spend most of the year hidden in icy Arctic waters, breathing through holes they create in the thick sea ice.
But when seal pups are born each spring, they don't have a blubber layer, which is their protection from cold.
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<p>Marine biologist Brendan Kelly is executive director of a collaborative program called the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.searcharcticscience.org/">Study of Environmental Arctic Change</a>. He says the seal pups spend the first months of their lives nestled in snow caves on top of the ice.</p><p>But as the climate warms, that snow is starting to melt earlier in the year, before pups can handle the cold.</p><p>"The pup is suddenly exposed to the elements," Kelly says. "And it tends to get wet at this point. It gets cold at night, or the temperature just goes back down again for a while, and we see freezing deaths to the pups."</p>
<p>Without the protection of their snow caves, the pups are also more likely to be eaten by polar bears and other predators.</p><p>According to regional climate models, snow depth in parts of the ring seals' pupping habitat could be reduced by up to 70% by the end of the century.</p><p>"When you see this kind of massive habitat loss in a short time period, it doesn't bode well," Kelly says. "They're likely to become endangered in the coming decades."</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/04/arctic-warming-puts-ringed-seals-in-peril/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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A volunteer sets up beds in what will be a field hospital in the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine on April 8, 2020 in New York City. The cathedral has partnered with Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital and is expected to have more than 400 beds when opened. Spencer Platt / Getty Images
New York state now has more confirmed coronavirus cases than any single country save the U.S. as a whole.
<p>The state's caseload skyrocketed by 10,000 on Thursday, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52239261" target="_blank">BBC News reported</a>. It had 161,807 cases as of 4:46 a.m. EST, according to <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">data from Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering</a>. That's more than hard-hit Spain and Italy, which now have 153,222 and 143,626 cases respectively. The Empire State still trails the European countries for deaths, but the virus that causes COVID-19 has claimed more than 7,000 lives in the state, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday, more than double the 2,753 people killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.</p><p>"9/11 was supposed to be the darkest day in New York for a generation," Cuomo said at a Thursday press conference reported by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-state-more-coronavirus-cases-than-any-country-worldwide-2020-4?r=US&IR=T" target="_blank">Business Insider</a>. "And then, in many ways, we lose so many more New Yorkers to this silent killer."</p>
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<p><br>Cuomo said the state saw its highest death toll in a single day Wednesday at 799.</p><p>More than 5,000 of the state's deaths were in New York City, the nation's largest. Also on Thursday, the number of New York City patients being treated at special overflow hospitals more than doubled, from fewer than 100 Tuesday to 242, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/09/831288797/number-of-patients-at-overflow-hospitals-in-new-york-has-doubled?utm_campaign=npr&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_term=nprnews&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR3RIYNTkEKWjXiSa7a8DADbATdZWH2nHafyhgIXD6TQ-fCsOJQSb6zGbeU&t=1586502026809" target="_blank">NPR reported</a>.</p><p>The city has hired contract labor to bury the surge in dead at its potter's field on Hart Island, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-hart-island-idUSKCN21R398?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0bTLixbI91r4fgtPQ6wqyAdd44yRdwnCLG6-kjfPW_SJuHeW2FDiqnpfU" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>. Those with either no family or no family who can arrange a funeral have been buried there since the 1800s. But while typically the city buries around 25 people there per week, that number has jumped to around that many per day Monday to Friday. And while the work is usually done by inmates, the city has hired contractors for public health reasons.</p><p>"For social distancing and safety reasons, city-sentenced people in custody are not assisting in burials for the duration of the pandemic," Department of Correction spokesperson Jason Kersten told Reuters.</p>
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<p>However, the news out of New York this week wasn't all grim. The number of new cases admitted to the hospital fell for a second day in a row to 200, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa/you-cant-relax-vigilance-urged-as-new-york-sees-signs-of-coronavirus-flattening-idUSKCN21R2FM?fbclid=IwAR1z7MQBpSFt7S3NBRLPVetzgWkKaep0VfaMDJ9ndoniRlqUYf83nZjamGY&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook" target="_blank">Reuters further reported</a>. Cuomo said it was a sign that social distancing was working, but said it was far from time to ease restrictions.</p><p>"You can't relax," Cuomo said Thursday. "The flattening of the curve last night happened because of what we did yesterday."</p><p>In another sign that restrictions are working across the U.S. as a whole, projections for the final nationwide death toll fell from at least 100,000 to 60,000.</p><p>The U.S. currently leads the world with 466,299 cases, according to Johns Hopkins. It has the second highest death toll after Italy, at 16,686 to Italy's 18,279. Globally, there are 1,603,330 confirmed cases of the disease. To date, 95,758 have died while 355,983 have recovered.</p>
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Moroccan patients who recovered from the novel coronavirus disease celebrate with medical staff as they leave the hospital in Sale, Morocco, on April 3, 2020. AFP / Getty Images
By Tom Duszynski
The coronavirus is certainly scary, but despite the constant reporting on total cases and a climbing death toll, the reality is that the vast majority of people who come down with COVID-19 survive it. Just as the number of cases grows, so does another number: those who have recovered.
In mid-March, the number of patients in the U.S. who had officially recovered from the virus was close to zero. That number is now in the tens of thousands and is climbing every day. But recovering from COVID-19 is more complicated than simply feeling better. Recovery involves biology, epidemiology and a little bit of bureaucracy too.
How does your body fight off COVID-19?
<p>Once a person is exposed the coronavirus, the body starts producing <a href="https://www.mblintl.com/products/what-are-antibodies-mbli/" target="_blank">proteins called antibodies to fight the infection</a>. As these <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/27/serological-tests-reveal-immune-coronavirus/" target="_blank">antibodies start to successfully contain the virus</a> and keep it from replicating in the body, symptoms usually begin to lessen and you start to feel better. Eventually, if all goes well, your immune system will completely destroy all of the virus in your system. A person who was infected with and survived a virus with no long-term health effects or disabilities has "recovered."</p><p>On average, a person who is infected with SARS-CoV-2 will feel ill for about seven days from the onset of symptoms. Even after symptoms disappear, there still may be small amounts of the virus in a patient's system, and they should stay <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/steps-when-sick.html" target="_blank">isolated for an additional three days</a> to ensure they have truly <a href="https://health.usnews.com/conditions/articles/coronavirus-recovery-what-to-know" target="_blank">recovered and are no longer infectious</a>.</p>What about immunity?
<p>In general, once you have recovered from a viral infection, your body will keep cells called lymphocytes in your system. These cells "remember" viruses they've previously seen and can react quickly to fight them off again. If you are exposed to a virus you have already had, your antibodies will likely stop the virus before it starts causing symptoms. <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.5114%2Fceji.2018.77390" target="_blank">You become immune</a>. This is the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK27158/" target="_blank">principle behind many vaccines</a>.</p><p>Unfortunately, immunity isn't perfect. For many viruses, like mumps, immunity can wane over time, leaving you <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160421145747.htm" target="_blank">susceptible to the virus in the future</a>. This is why you need to get revaccinated – those "booster shots" – occasionally: to prompt your immune system to make more antibodies and memory cells.</p><p>Since this coronavirus is so new, scientists still don't know whether people who recover from COVID-19 are <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/faq.html" target="_blank">immune to future infections of the virus</a>. Doctors are finding antibodies in ill and recovered patients, and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/clinical-guidance-management-patients.html" target="_blank">that indicates the development of immunity</a>. But the question remains how long that immunity will last. Other coronaviruses like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.25685" target="_blank">SARS and MERS produce an immune response</a> that will protect a person at least for a short time. I would suspect the same is true of SARS-CoV-2, but the research simply hasn't been done yet to say so definitively.</p>Why have so few people officially recovered in the US?
<p>This is a dangerous virus, so the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is being extremely careful when deciding what it means to recover from COVID-19. Both medical and testing criteria must be met before a person is <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/disposition-in-home-patients.html" target="_blank">officially declared recovered</a>.</p><p>Medically, a person must be fever-free without fever-reducing medications for three consecutive days. They must show an improvement in their other symptoms, including reduced coughing and shortness of breath. And it must be at least seven full days <a href="https://health.usnews.com/conditions/articles/coronavirus-recovery-what-to-know" target="_blank">since the symptoms began</a>.</p><p>In addition to those requirements, the CDC guidelines say that a person must test negative for the coronavirus twice, with the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/care-for-someone.html" target="_blank">tests taken at least 24 hours apart</a>.</p><p>Only then, if both the symptom and testing conditions are met, is a person officially considered recovered by the CDC.</p><p>This second testing requirement is likely why there were so few official recovered cases in the U.S. until late March. Initially, there was a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/health/coronavirus-test-shortages-face-masks-swabs.html" target="_blank">massive shortage of testing in the U.S.</a> So while many people were certainly recovering over the last few weeks, this could not be officially confirmed. As the country enters the height of the pandemic in the coming weeks, focus is still on <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/hcp/clinical-criteria.html" target="_blank">testing those who are infected</a>, not those who have likely recovered.</p><p>Many more people are being tested now that states and private companies have begun <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/testing-in-us.html" target="_blank">producing and distributing tests</a>. As <a href="https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200406/coronavirus-in-ohio-from-its-rocky-start-testing-for-covid-19-slowly-ramping-up" target="_blank">the number of available tests increases</a> and the pandemic eventually slows in the country, more testing will be available for those who have appeared to recover. As people who have already recovered are tested, the appearance of any new infections will help researchers learn <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/24/we-need-smart-coronavirus-testing-not-just-more-testing/" target="_blank">how long immunity can be expected to last</a>.</p>Once a person has recovered, what can they do?
<p>Knowing whether or not people are immune to COVID-19 after they recover is going to determine what individuals, communities and society at large can do going forward. If scientists can show that recovered patients are immune to the coronavirus, then a person who has recovered could in theory <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/3/30/21186822/immunity-to-covid-19-test-coronavirus-rt-pcr-antibody" target="_blank">help support the health care system</a> by caring for those who are infected.</p><p>Once communities pass the peak of the epidemic, the number of new infections will decline, while the number of <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/china-says-passed-peak-coronavirus-epidemic-covid-19-1491863" target="_blank">recovered people will increase</a>. As these trends continue, the risk of transmission will fall. Once the risk of transmission has fallen enough, community-level isolation and social distancing orders will begin to relax and businesses will start to reopen. Based on what other countries have gone through, it will be <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00154-w" target="_blank">months until the risk of transmission is low</a> in the U.S.</p><p>But before any of this can happen, the U.S. and the world need to make it through the peak of this pandemic. Social distancing works to slow the spread of infectious diseases and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/what-you-can-do.html" target="_blank">is working for COVID-19</a>. Many people will <a href="https://www.yalemedicine.org/stories/2019-novel-coronavirus/" target="_blank">need medical help to recover</a>, and social distancing will slow this virus down and give people the best chance to do so.</p>From Your Site Articles
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