Coronavirus Jitters Rattle Businesses, Industries, Organizations — 2020 Olympics, Airlines Included
06 February
Business
Medical staff are seen at a makeshift hospital converted from an exhibition center in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Feb. 5. Xinhua / Xiong Qi / Getty Images
Efforts to contain the Wuhan coronavirus and fears that it can spread and form a global pandemic have slowed industries around the world.
Shipping is delayed, cars and electronics are stalled on the assembly line, and commodity markets around the world are predicting losses because of the virus. Fears around the virus even have Olympic officials worried that it could impact Tokyo's planning for the summer games scheduled for the end of July, according to CNN.
<p>In Japan, 45 people have been infected with the novel virus so far, including 20 on a Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined in Yokohama, Japan. </p>
<p>"I am extremely worried that the spread of the infectious disease could throw cold water on the momentum toward the Games," Toshiro Muto, chief executive of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee, said according to Japanese public broadcaster <a href="https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20200205/k10012273461000.html" target="_blank">NHK</a>, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/06/asia/japan-coronavirus-fears-olympics-hnk-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>. "I hope that it will be stamped out as soon as possible."</p>
<p>While the Olympics are nearly six months away, a more immediate impact is felt in global shipping which has faced a slowdown because of the coronavirus, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/05/business/shipping-coronavirus-impact/index.html" target="_blank">according to CNN Business</a>.</p>
<p>Nearly 80 percent of the world's goods are transported by sea and China is home to seven of the 10 busiest container ports. Nearby, Singapore and South Korea also have large ports. </p>
<p>The lockdown on certain cities and worries over the virus spreading means factories are shut and dockworkers are staying home. That stops many durables like cars and machinery as well as apparel and other consumer staples from getting shipped around the world, meaning the disruption could reach far beyond China, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/05/business/shipping-coronavirus-impact/index.html" target="_blank">according to CNN Business</a>. </p>
<p>Car manufacturer Hyundai has already suspended production at a South Korea plant because it can't get the parts it needs.</p>
<p>"A closure of the world's manufacturing hub impacts container shipping at large, as it is a vital facilitator of the intra-Asian and global supply chains," Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at BIMCO, an international shipping association, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/05/business/shipping-coronavirus-impact/index.html" target="_blank">said to CNN Business</a>. "This will affect many industries and limit demand for containerized goods transport."</p>
<p>The mobile device industry is already feeling the effects. Just this week, industry giants LG and ZTE both announced that they would skip parts or all of the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona this month, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/4/21123169/lg-electronics-mwc-2020-cornavirus-cancel-withdraw-outbreak-concern" target="_blank">according to The Verge</a>. </p>
<p>"With the safety of its employees and general public foremost in mind, LG has decided to withdraw from exhibiting and participating in MWC 2020 later this month in Barcelona, Spain. This decision will prevent needlessly exposing hundreds of LG employees to international travel, which most health experts have advised," an LG spokesperson <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/4/21123169/lg-electronics-mwc-2020-cornavirus-cancel-withdraw-outbreak-concern" target="_blank">said in a statement given to The Verge</a>.</p>
<p>While global industries try to protect themselves from the coronavirus, it may have a positive effect on <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/emissions">emissions</a>. Airlines are cancelling flights between China and the U.S., as well as between Hong Kong and the U.S., <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/02/us/coronavirus-us-travel-restrictions/index.html" target="_blank">according to CNN Travel</a>. There has been a 30 percent decrease in flights to and from China. Key international airlines including British Airways, Lufthansa, American Airlines, United Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines and Austrian Airlines, suspended or reduced flights due to the outbreak, <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/en/research-insights/articles/commodity-tracker-coronavirus-and-commodity-markets" target="_blank">according to S&P Global</a>.</p>
<p>That has led to a decrease in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil">oil</a> demand, sending the price of crude oil plummeting. There has also been sharp declines in the price of liquid <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/natural-gas" rel="noopener noreferrer">natural gas</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/palm-oil" rel="noopener noreferrer">palm oil</a>, <a href="http://ecowatch.com/tag/copper" rel="noopener noreferrer">copper</a> and iron. The reduced demand may actually be a boon to emissions targets.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.spglobal.com/en/research-insights/articles/commodity-tracker-coronavirus-and-commodity-markets" target="_blank">S&P Global noted</a> that even a one percent drop in China's annual CO2 emissions from energy consumption would amount to 96 million metric tons of carbon removed from the atmosphere, which is equivalent to France's annual regulated CO2 emissions.</p>
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The Pteris melanocaulon thrives in abandoned areas after an open pit copper mining operation. Mary Jean Apuan / Mongabay
Filipino scientists have discovered what might be the next big indigenous plant material for rehabilitating a mining site teeming with copper and arsenic — and it's a largely ignored local fern.
<p>Published in the peer-reviewed journal Chemosphere, the study by a group of scientists led by Rene Claveria of the Ateneo de Manila University records the unique ability of <em>Pteris melanocaulon</em> to absorb copper in its roots and arsenic in its leaves in large doses.<em></em></p>
<p>"It's not common for ferns to absorb both high concentrates of copper and arsenic," Claveria, an environmental geology expert, tells Mongabay. "Plants don't do it simultaneously in large doses. It's something new."</p><p>The fern was spotted in the mossy areas of an abandoned mining site in the province of Surigao del Norte by the scientists scouring major mining sites across the Philippines to study copper metallophytes under a government-funded research program.</p><p>The study of metallophytes, plants that have the ability to thrive on soils with high concentrations of heavy metals that are too toxic for other plant species, has been a growing interest among scholars, particularly for their possible use in phytoremediation, the process of cleaning up mineral-rich soil and groundwater using plants and trees.</p>
<p>"It's not common for ferns to absorb both high concentrates of copper and arsenic," Claveria, an environmental geology expert, tells Mongabay. "Plants don't do it simultaneously in large doses. It's something new."</p><p>The fern was spotted in the mossy areas of an abandoned mining site in the province of Surigao del Norte by the scientists scouring major mining sites across the Philippines to study copper metallophytes under a government-funded research program.</p><p>The study of metallophytes, plants that have the ability to thrive on soils with high concentrations of heavy metals that are too toxic for other plant species, has been a growing interest among scholars, particularly for their possible use in phytoremediation, the process of cleaning up mineral-rich soil and groundwater using plants and trees.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjUwMjI4Ny9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMTY0NjQ3OX0.3iKZcQz-vGHIsS0z9LvKilNx0cFXNWMIJa4MHUWOdYw/img.png?width=980" id="767f1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3f84b638d1941a4140c76089cdf74a4e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A fern species that flourishes in the mossy slopes of an open pit copper mining site in Surigao del Norte, a province in Mindanao. Teresita Perez / Mongabay
<p>"We are interested in metallophytes … plants that grow on mining areas," Claveria says. "While analyzing all these plants, we decided that fern is the most suitable for our study because they have higher amounts of absorbed copper and arsenic and other metals."</p><p>The decision to narrow down to ferns came with scholarly backing: the <em>Pteris</em> genus, which includes around 300 species of ferns, feature other popular metallophytes that absorb arsenic. But unlike other widely researched species, <em>P. melanocaulon</em> was mostly unknown, in part due to the scarcity of research journals on the plant. Existing surveys conducted by the team across various large- and small-scale mining sites showed that it only proliferates in two areas in the Philippines.</p><p>"When we focused on ferns, there was one that stood out: the <em>P. melanocaulon</em>, which we didn't see in any other mining sites we surveyed," Claveria says. "We found it in Surigao [del Norte] and later on, in Carmen [in Cebu province] … and this fern happens to grow in areas [within these sites] that are supposedly barren."</p><p>The mossy open slopes left behind by open pit mines, notorious for their high levels of arsenic and copper concentrates, were the perfect breeding grounds for <em>P. melanocaulon</em>, which thrive in lush clusters that overpower the other plants in the Surigao del Norte mining site, Claveria says. Curious about the fern, they recovered samples and conducted initial tests to measure its copper absorption capabilities in 2014.</p><p>The results showed that the plant's roots have "anomalously high" concentrations of copper, Claveria says. After publishing their findings in the <em>International Journal of Phythoremediation</em> in 2015, the team expanded their research on the plant and threw arsenic into the mix.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjQ5OTAxMC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMTcyNzY1NH0.AgJ_5hIJp-G_Euq3S1qB15N3Tp-srdgf0gCZUhrHSME/img.png?width=980" id="fdba5" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4e080f211718530294353c23505d6296" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Rene Claveria and Teresita Perez examining plants in Surigao del Norte. Teresita Perez / Mongabay
<p>The logic was since the fern survives alongside other species that are known arsenic metallophytes, maybe it could also absorb arsenic.</p><p>After collecting another set of samples, they conducted a series of tests that verified their hypothesis: the fern does indeed absorb the toxic mineral and stores it in its stems and leaves. They took the research a little further and funded a greenhouse to propagate spores of <em>P. melanocaulon</em> at Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro province, where they experimented with the potted plants.</p><p>They added different concentrations and solutions of arsenic to uncontaminated soil in a series of experiments that lasted for six weeks. The plant's ability to absorb arsenic varied, adjusting to the concentration of the element in the soil, much to the researchers' surprise. The team noted two important observations: that the fern contained more arsenic concentrate than the soil it was planted on, and that despite exposure to high levels of arsenic, it showed no symptoms of toxicity.</p><p>"<em>P. melanocaulon</em> is an accumulator of [arsenic], with the plant having higher amounts of [arsenic] than that of the soil," the study says. The study also noted that while the arsenic concentration increases, the fern can "efficiently absorb and store" arsenic and extract it from the soil, making it an "efficient arsenic accumulator and hyperaccumulator."</p><p>The results, according to Claveria and Teresita Perez, also of the Ateneo de Manila University who headed the research program, prove that the plant can be used to rehabilitate mining sites, especially since its "root system provides good soil cover" and "can ideally immobilize metal contaminants." This means that the plant can filter contaminated water and reduce the spread of heavy metals through the soil.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjQ5OTAxNi9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNzk2MzU5MH0.5-MwFkx1ph0NxJCb84APJFbBtjIw34wj7TNOclmCzrE/img.png?width=980" id="b27f8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="86a64d183e6f270db436ab32cd2419bd" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/philippine-fern-efficiently-absorbs-arsenic-copper-from-toxic-mining-soil/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>Rene Claveria collecting soil samples in Surigao del Norte. Teresita Perez / Mongabay
<p>"If you use the ferns to clean up arsenic, which is very toxic, there could be colonization or succession of plants," Perez says. "Eventually, a year after or after one and a half years, you can already plant some high value crops in the area."</p><p>With the protocol in the propagation of the fern species in the books, Perez says the possibility of using the fern to rehabilitate mining soil on a large-scale project is possible. But first, she says, decision-makers should be aware of metallophytes — and that there are indigenous plants that can be used as natural remedies to alleviate mineral-heavy soils.</p><p>"We have to recommend to our policymakers the use of indigenous plant materials to actually clean up arsenic-contaminated areas," Perez says. "In the past, rehabilitating mining sites involved planting invasive species — that was really a wrong move. But now, we're propagating the idea of indigenous and endemic species so these areas can develop new ecosystems."</p>
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Detroit School District Shuts Off Drinking Water After 16 Schools Test Positive for Copper, Lead
30 August 2018
Health + Wellness
Stacey_newman / Getty Images
Less than a week before the new school year, the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) announced Wednesday it would shut off drinking water in all schools after tests at 16 turned up high levels of copper or lead, The Detroit News reported Wednesday.
<p style="">"Although we have no evidence that there are elevated levels of copper or lead in our other schools where we are awaiting test results, out of an abundance of caution and concern for the safety of our students and employees, I am turning off all drinking water in our schools until a deeper and broader analysis can be conducted to determine the long-term solutions for all schools," DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said in a statement reported by <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/education/2018/08/29/detroit-schools-drinking-water/1132514002/" target="_blank">The Detroit Free Press</a>. </p><p style="">Vitti said he immediately turned off water Tuesday at the 16 schools that tested positively and had provided water bottles until water coolers could be delivered, The Detroit News reported.</p><p style="">Vitti began water testing at all 106 of the DPSCD's schools this spring independent of any federal, state or city requirement, The Detroit Free Press reported. He said this round of testing would be the first to evaluate every source of water in the schools, including sinks and drinking fountains.</p><p style="">When test results came back for the initial 24 schools tested, there were already 18 schools where water had been shut off due to water quality concerns. Tuesday's shut-off of the 16 schools that tested positively raises the total tally of schools with shut-off water to 34.</p><p style="">District spokesperson Chrystal Wilson said the remaining schools' water will be shut off before school starts the Tuesday after Labor Day, according to The Detroit Free Press.</p><p style="">Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan's Office and the Detroit Health Department published a statement supporting Vitti's water testing efforts.</p><p style="">"We are fully supportive of the approach Dr. Vitti has taken to test all water sources within DPS schools and to provide bottled water until the district can implement a plan to ensure that all water is safe for use," the statement said, according to The Detroit News.</p><p style="">Officials think the problem comes from old school water fixtures, and not from the water's external source, <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/detroit-schools-shut-off-drinking-water-due-to-lead-copper/" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>.</p><p style="">A report released in May said that the DPSCD would need to spend $500 million now to improve school facilities, and Vitti, who became superintendent in May 2017, has criticized the state-appointed emergency managers who ran the district from 2009 to 2016 for not investing in necessary improvements. </p><p style="">"It's sending the message to students, parents and employees that we really don't care about public education in Detroit, that we allow for second-class citizenry in Detroit," Vitti said in May, according to The Detroit Free Press. "And that hurts my heart and it angers me and it frustrates me that I can't fix it right now."</p><p style="">It was also state-appointed emergency managers who <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-flint-water-crisis-1882149336.html" target="_self">sparked the water crisis</a> in nearby <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flint" target="_self">Flint</a>, Michigan when they decided to save money by sourcing the city's water from the corrosive Flint River, which leeched lead from old pipes into drinking water. </p>
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In a stunning reversal, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it is suspending its effort to reverse an Obama-era plan to restrict mining in Bristol Bay, Alaska based on a controversial mine project's risks to the region's important salmon fisheries and natural resources.
The unexpected move from President Trump's pro-business administration was a blow to Pebble Limited Partnership, a subsidiary of Canadian mining company Northern Dynasty Minerals. The mine developer is proposing to extract one of the world's largest copper and gold deposits from the pristine watershed. Shares fell as much as 26 percent on Monday following the EPA's surprise decision.
<p>
The Obama EPA in 2014 <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/371001-trump-epa-revives-obama-proposal-to-block-alaska-mine" target="_blank">proposed to block</a> the project under the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/clean-water-act">Clean Water Act</a> but the plan was never finalized after a federal court put a hold on the process.
</p><p style="">
Last year, the EPA <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-lawsuit-pebble-mine-2404702705.html">started a process</a> to reverse the decision, and Pebble submitted its first permit application to build the mine last month. But the EPA received more than one million comments from interested stakeholders, most that were fiercely opposed to withdrawing the earlier proposed protections. More than 65 percent of Alaskans, 80 percent of Bristol Bay residents and Native communities, and 85 percent of commercial fishermen oppose the mine.
</p><p style="">
Joel Reynolds, the western director and senior attorney the <a href="http://nrdc.org/" target="_blank">Natural Resources Defense Council</a> noted, "The Bristol Bay fishery is the economic and cultural heart and soul of the region, producing last summer alone some 60 million wild salmon. Every year it generates an estimated $1.5 billion in revenue, supporting some 14,000 jobs in a region that depends on that economic engine for its very survival. According to EPA's own comprehensive assessment of risk, the Pebble Mine's impact on the region could be 'catastrophic.'"
</p><p style="">
<span></span>EPA administrator <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/scott-pruitt" target="_blank">Scott Pruitt</a> said Friday, "We have restored process, reviewed comments, and heard from a variety of stakeholders on whether to withdraw the proposed restrictions in the Bristol Bay watershed."
</p><p style="">
"Based on that review, it is my judgment at this time that any mining projects in the region likely pose a risk to the abundant natural resources that exist there. Until we know the full extent of that risk, those natural resources and world-class fisheries deserve the utmost protection."
</p><p style="">
Alaska Gov. Bill Walker thanked the EPA and the Trump administration for "listening to my input, as well as the input of thousands of Alaskans who oppose rescinding the EPA's Bristol Bay assessment."
</p><p>
Mine opponents cheered the decision. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/01/28/581403241/in-reversal-epa-suspends-alaska-mining-project-to-preserve-watershed-protections" target="_blank">NPR</a> reported:
</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">
"Alannah Hurley with <a href="http://utbb.org/" target="_blank">United Tribes of Bristol Bay</a>, a group opposing the mine, has said members of the tribes she represents are willing to lie down in front of bulldozers to protect the waters. She called the EPA's move huge. 'These proposed protections, the fact that the Trump administration is choosing to keep them on the shelf, is a recognition ... that the Pebble Mine is too toxic, even for the Trump administration,' she said.
</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">
"Hurley spoke by phone from the commercial fishing hub of Dillingham, the seat of resistance to Pebble Mine, where she said activists were jubilant about the EPA's announcement. 'The people of Bristol Bay are really celebrating the fact that the protections that we have fought so long and hard for are not being withdrawn by the EPA and instead could potentially later be finalized,' Hurley said."
</p><p>
But the EPA indicated the project could one day be approved, as the decision "neither deters nor derails the application process of Pebble Limited Partnership's proposed project. The project proponents continue to enjoy the protection of due process and the right to proceed. However, their permit application must clear a high bar, because EPA believes the risk to Bristol Bay may be unacceptable."
</p><p>
"We expect the permitting process for Pebble to advance expeditiously over the next few years, and that a draft and final (Environmental Impact Statement) will be completed upon which final permitting decisions for the Pebble Project will be made," Northern Dynasty CEO Ron Thiessen told <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-usa-alaska-pebblemine/in-reversal-u-s-epa-maintains-restriction-on-alaska-mine-project-idUKKBN1FF2ZO" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.
</p><p>
<span></span>The EPA plans to solicit additional public comment on the impact of the mining application.
</p><p>
Hurley added to NPR, "Ideally we would like these [protections] finalized, and the battle to protect Bristol Bay from the Pebble Mine and mines like Pebble is far from over. But the fact that these protections remain in place and can be used within the process is a very positive step in the effort to protect the Bristol Bay watershed for generations to come."
</p>
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