Green Humanist

United Auto Workers Strike

The United Auto Workers (UAW) is a union that represents hundreds of thousands of workers in the automotive industry. On 14 September, UAW leadership called a strike when the deadline to make a deal with industry leadership passed. 13,000 auto workers have now walked out on the job from companies General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis. This strike has the potential to be one of the largest in automotive history, and affects plants in Michigan, Ohio, and Missouri. This is the first time that the UAW has gone on strike against all of these companies at once.

One of the demands of the UAW is an end to the wage tier system. The wage tier system at John Deere led 10,000 UAW workers to strike in October of 2021. Wage tier systems are arrangements that many large American corporations are hoping to impose on their workers. Two-tiered systems grandfather in current workers under a system of higher benefits and wages, and then give far lower wages for equivalent work and lower or no benefits to incoming employees.

Over time under these two-tiered systems, therefore, fewer and fewer people working for a company will get the better healthcare benefits and pay, and eventually there will be an entire population of laborers that cost the company much less. Such a system creates animosity between old and new employees, and can discourage new workers from joining unions, weakening the capacity of these organizations.

The UAW also has demanded a 40% increase in wages over the lifespan of the new contract that the union hopes to draw with management. The 40% figure comes from the fact that the salaries of American automotive CEOs has increased by 40% in the past few years. General Motors’ CEO made $29 million in 2022, which is 362 times the median salary of a worker at the company. Meanwhile, many auto workers have seen stagnant wages, which is why the UAW is also asking for cost-of-living adjustments to salaries to counter inflation.

In public statements related to the current strike, the UAW has proclaimed that auto workers in the US were never fully compensated for the sacrifices they made during the Great Recession. While workers agreed to wage and benefit cuts to save their industries, the bailout money largely benefited those at the top of the automotive companies. This strike is meant to deliver the compensation that auto workers have long deserved.

It is uncertain what the Biden administration will do in reaction to this strike. Towards the end of 2022, Biden blocked a railroad strike by signing a bill to make the strike illegal, which would seem at odds with his claim that he is the most pro-union president in history. Although Biden has made public comments in favor of the striking UAW workers, industry power generally prevails in deciding the actions of the US government. We have yet to see what demands the UAW will get from auto manufactures as a result of the strike.

New Illinois Law Makes Plant-Based Meals Available in Schools

As students in Illinois head back to school, a new change has taken place within the state: as of 1 August 2023, if parents submit a request to their district, their child will be provided with a plant-based lunch at school. This plant-based lunch complies with the same federal nutrition mandates as the omnivorous lunches served there.

This change allows parents who follow a vegan diet to find suitable options for their children. Furthermore, plant-based options in schools also ensure that lactose-intolerant students have a healthy meal that will not negatively impact them. More than two-thirds of both Asian and black Americans are lactose intolerant, which is especially problematic when many schools require that students take a carton of milk at lunch.

The mere offering of the plant-based option to children can help normalize this healthy way of eating in schools, rather than stigmatizing children who bring a vegan meal because the school does not offer any suitable options.

Although nutrition guidelines in the US are heavily influenced by industry, offering plant-based meals in schools demonstrates to students that these meals can also be healthy, countering ideas that the plant-based diet is somehow disadvantageous or even harmful to children. If the food is prepared correctly (I think we’ve all heard horror stories about cafeteria food), students will also learn that vegan food can be as delicious as animal-based meals.

A study of plant-based meals given to K-8 students in Washington DC revealed that the plant-based options had no cholesterol (as expected of all plant foods) and contained three times more fiber than the non-vegan meals. 95% of all Americans don’t get enough fiber, a crucial compound which is protective against chronic diseases and also promotes good bacteria in the gut. Fiber only comes from plants, so plant-based meals focusing on whole foods are an excellent source of this nutrient.

The plant-based meals also had more iron, calcium, vitamin A, and Vitamin C, and less fat and saturated fat. Diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol protect against heart disease and atherosclerosis. But those diseases don’t affect children, you say! Actually, by the age of ten, almost all American children have fatty streaks in their arteries, a sign of what will eventually become clogged arteries. The roots of chronic disease occur very early in life.

In contrast, getting children used to eating nutrient-dense plant-based meals will give them good dietary habits that will serve them well throughout their lifetimes. Although the Illinois law currently only requires plant-based meals to be given to a child upon request, it is a first step towards normalizing plant-based eating in a new generation.

Oatmeal & Diabetes

Sir Harold Himsworth (1905-1993) was a British scientist who did research on liver disease and diabetes, and who first distinguished between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. He also established the concept of insulin resistance and prescribed a high-carb diet to treat type 2 diabetes.

To some modern ears, this might sound like heresy. Wouldn’t a high-carb diet make diabetes worse? To the contrary, before the development of injectable insulin to treat diabetes, it was common to treat the disease with high-carb diets such as all-oatmeal diets. Here is why such a practice worked.

Insulin is the molecule that allows sugar to enter our cells for storage; it sets off the enzyme chain that results in sugar leaving our blood stream. A high-fat diet, however, can prevent insulin from doing its job. Fat from the diet can build up in our cells, stored in the form of intramyocellular lipid. An excess of intramyocellular lipid prevents insulin from communicating to the enzymes that allow sugar to enter the cell. Thus, the sugar cannot get into the cells and instead builds up in the bloodstream. In the long term, high-fat diets such as the ones most Americans eat and high-fat low-carb diets such as the keto diet promote diabetes by blocking insulin action.

Himsworth demonstrated in his experiments that randomizing individuals to a high fat vs high carb diet resulted in the high fat group experiencing much greater spikes in blood sugar and insulin resistance. Decades later, we can explain these experimental results through molecular studies showing how fat inhibits insulin from signaling muscle cells to let in glucose.

Chronic high levels of fat in the bloodstream from a high-fat diet can also harm pancreatic cells in the long term, harming the body’s ability to produce the insulin that it needs. Saturated fat is particularly toxic in this respect. Thus, a diet to ensure proper insulin sensitivity and production would be low in fat, especially in saturated fat. Here is where oatmeal comes in.

Oats are low in fat and high in fiber, with 8.1 grams of fiber per cup of oats. The fiber within oats works to both lower cholesterol and help with blood sugar control and insulin sensitivity. Some of these effects may stem from oatmeal’s ability to encourage the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut. These gut microbiota produce materials that the body can use to manage blood sugar control.

Because oats are also a low-fat food, they don’t provide the fats that clog muscle cells and prevent insulin from working. As a result, over time, intramyocellular fats will decrease and muscle cells will be more sensitive to insulin. Unlike diabetes medications, a change in diet treats the underlying cause of insulin insensitivity.

The hugely beneficial effects of oats on blood sugar control are rarely brought up in conversations about diabetes treatment. Oats are very cheap compared to insulin lowering drugs produced by pharmaceutical giants. But there have been a few new papers examining the positive effects of oatmeal on diabetes treatment, so this knowledge has not died off entirely in the medical field.

Methionine, Longevity, and the Vegan Diet

One common myth about plant protein is that it is inferior to animal protein. This myth arose from a study done on rats a hundred years ago that demonstrated that baby rats don’t grow well when fed only plants. But rats are not humans. Rat milk contains more than ten times the amount of protein as human milk, because rats grow quickly and have a much faster life cycle than humans.

Plant proteins also have all the necessary amino acids for human survival. This idea was debunked decades ago, along with the idea that plant-based diets do not deliver enough protein. It is difficult to devise a diet sufficient in calories that would leave someone with a protein deficiency.

Nevertheless, there are certain differences in amino acid compositions between plant and animal proteins, but these differences turn out to provide evidence that plant-based diets are healthier than omnivorous ones. The concentration of the amino acid methionine differs greatly between plant and animal proteins, and will be the subject of the rest of this post.

Oxidative stress in the body occurs when free radicals damage tissue, and oxidation is part of the body’s aging process. The amino acid methionine has an oxidating effect on the body, and researchers have noted methionine reduction is a way to extend one’s lifespan.

One way that an individual can practice methionine restriction is through caloric restriction – only eating every other day or only eating once per day, for example. Or one could try to eat a low-protein diet, since protein is where methionine is found. However, plant-based diets offer another alternative to these latter two options, because plant proteins are naturally lower in methionine.

Chicken and fish have the highest rates of methionine (445 and 583 mg/decicalorie, respectively). In contrast, black beans have 81 mg/dcal methionine, and potatoes only 26 mg/dcal. Because methionine restriction has similar lifespan-expanding benefits to total caloric restriction, some researchers have said that vegan diets are a feasible lifespan extension strategy that people could reasonably stick to.

Methionine-restricted diets may also have a major benefit besides lifespan extension: lower rates of cancer. Many types of cancer cells are methionine-dependent, so restricting consumption of this amino acid will prevent proliferation of the cancer cells while not harming normal cells in the body. Methionine is a sulfur-containing amino acid, and when digested by a cancerous cell, produces a gaseous sulfur-containing compound that helps tumors proliferate. Restricting methionine in the diet is an avenue that researchers are examining both for general cancers and for tumors that aren’t regressing in response to chemotherapy.

Humans still need some methionine in their diets. This essential amino acid plays a key role in tissue growth and the absorption of the minerals zinc and selenium. But too much methionine is detrimental to human wellbeing. Similar to how we need Vitamin A but can be poisoned by an overdose of it, there is also an optimal level of methionine that we need to sustain our health. Plant proteins, rather than animal proteins, are the source that provides this balance.

Maui and East Palestine: Americans Left Behind

At of the time of this writing, over 100 people have died from the wildfires on Maui, a disaster which is the deadliest wildfire in the US for more than a century. Although the origin of the fire is unknown, high winds and dried weather undoubtedly intensified the blaze. In addition, the sirens on the island never sounded, giving residents little warning of the fires.

The fire destroyed more than 2,200 buildings in the town of Lahainia, where the largest of the blazes was located. 86% of these buildings were residential, and many historic monuments and places burned as well. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimated that it would take $5.5 billion to rebuild the town, which is only part of the damage wreaked by the fires.

After being shamed by at least some parts of the media for saying that he had “no comment” on the rising death toll, Biden announced that the administration would now be sending a one-time $700 payment to households affected by the disaster. Not $700 per individual – per household.

Compare this figure to the $113 billion given for the purpose of funding a proxy war in Ukraine. This number amounts to $900 for every household in the United States. Yet for the people in Hawaii who have had their homes destroyed and possibly lost loved ones, a mere $700 per household is all they will get through this newly announced payout policy. Even as the fires on Maui continued to burn last week, Biden asked for another $20 billion for the Ukraine war. Such a number could almost rebuild the destroyed city of Lahainia four times over. As always, the war machine receives lavish funds and American people in dire straits are thrown a few scraps.

It should be noted that FEMA has distributed $2 million in aid to fire survivors, yet the aid centers are inaccessible to those who cannot drive to them because their cars burned or because they don’t have gas. In addition, individuals must register on a smartphone app for FEMA aid, when cell phone coverage and electricity are out in many parts of the island. Indigenous Hawaiians are also suspicious of leaving the area of their homes, even if it has burned down, because they are suspicious of their ancestral homes being sold off due to the legacy of colonialism.

They have good reason to worry. Some island residents have said that they have already received real estate calls from speculators wanting to buy their property. Since the median price of a home in Hawaii is over $1 million, it is not a surprise that the vultures are circling to look for some land to sell to the wealthy who want a second (or even third) home in a paradisical setting.

If the federal or state governments do not do anything to stop this land grab, then many middle and working-class Hawaiians will be bought out and be priced off of the island.

Meanwhile, as Hawaiians deal with the aftermath of the fire, residents of East Palestine, Ohio, continue to suffer from the effects of the chemical burn and spill that happened six months ago.

Despite assurances from the EPA that the ground, air, and water of East Palestine are safe, residents continue to report migraines and respiratory issues. Those residents who did independent testing on their homes discovered high levels of dioxins inside.

The EPA and Norfolk Southern have partnered to create a cleaning program that in essence is a way to make people give up relocation benefits they have been promised. The cleaning program focuses on cleaning dust, not chemicals that have permeated the furniture, walls, and basements of many houses. Residents will they be expected to move into their home and be responsible for it after the cursory cleaning.

The people of East Palestine, Ohio, never got the aid they deserved, nor did news outlets give adequate coverage to this chemical disaster. Although the fires in Hawaii are still in the news at the moment, in a few months, residents affected by the disaster will probably end up like those in East Palestine. Their suffering will be out of the news cycle and the government will be deaf to their plight.

Fusion Energy Breakthrough in July

On 30 July 2023, scientists at the US’ California-based National Ignition Facility (NIF) produced a fusion reaction that produced more energy than it consumed, leading many to renew speculation as to whether using fusion as an energy source is possible.

Nuclear fusion occurs when two atoms collide to form a heavier atom. For instance, two hydrogen atoms fuse to form a helium atom upon collision. Fusion is the process that occurs in the core of the sun, and produces several times more energy than fission.

Fission, by contrast, occurs when a larger atom breaks apart when being bombarded by neutrons. When the atom splits, it releases energy. In a traditional nuclear reactor, uranium is used as the fissile material, and the energy it releases as it splits atoms heats steam that turns a turbine to generate electricity.

As mentioned earlier, fusion occurs in the core of the sun, and the pressures and temperatures at the core of the sun that cause fusion reactions are difficult to replicate on Earth. Temperatures reach 27 million °F (15 million °C) at the center of our solar system’s star, and the pressure in this location is 3.84 trillion pounds per square inch (psi), compared to 14.696 psi at sea level on Earth.

These conditions are evidently extreme, so create a fusion reaction on Earth, lab experiments in the past have mostly consumed far more energy to create than is released by the subsequent fusion reaction.

At the NIF on 30 July, scientists used a high-energy laser to transform hydrogen into a plasma where fusion can occur, and the resulting fusion had a greater energy output than was used in the laser.

This instance marks the second time that the NIF has managed to create a net gain from a fusion reaction one other time, on 5 December 2022. This experiment required 2.05 megajoules (MJ) of energy input and released 3.15 MJ of energy output. Nevertheless, it should be noted that neither reaction produced enough energy to power the entire reactor in which it took place, and fusion only occurred for a small fraction of a second.

Scientists have been studying fusion since the 1940s in hopes that it could be used as a fuel source. It is often said that “fusion is three decades into the future and always will be” due to the almost century-old prediction that we will have this technology in a matter of 20-30 years. Perhaps this latest experiment at the NIF is only the latest in a long tradition of false hope. Or, it might be another step in harnessing this bountiful energy source for human use.

Today: International Peace Rally in New York City

78 years ago on this day, the United States bombed the Japanese city of Hiroshima, following days later with the dropping of another atomic bomb on Nagasaki. This Sunday, the coalition Humanity for Peace is staging a rally for peace in New York City to remind citizens and lawmakers that nuclear war is not the answer to international conflict.

The demands of the 20+ protesting organizations are as follows:

Cessation of all funding and weapons to Ukraine
Immediate commencement of peace talks with regards to the Ukraine war
The dissolution of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Enacting a new manner of security architecture that takes into account the needs of all nations regardless of power, and that does not divide the world into power blocs

A variety of organizations are participating in the rally, including those that represent many points across the political spectrum. The Peoples Party, Black Hammer Party and Party of Communists, USA, will be organizations on the left. Aaron Day, an anti-war Republican presidential candidate, will be a speaker. Liberty Speaks is a libertarian organization that will take part in the event.

In addition, Scott Ritter, who was a weapons inspector in the USSR (when there was a USSR) and in Iraq as part of a UN force, will speak today. Ritter has warned the US for months of the folly of NATO’s actions in its proxy war with Russia in Ukraine. Jude Elie, presidential candidate in Haiti, is one of the major speakers from outside the US.

Although diverse in their ideologies, the speakers are united by the desire to avoid a devastating nuclear conflict and usher the way to a more peaceful world. In the American government, anti-war legislators are few. The military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about years ago is alive and well.

Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in 2022, Congress has sent $113 in aid to the country, with much of this aid being munitions, meaning that plenty of money has flowed into the pockets of US weapons contractors. The arms industry and the politicians they fund do not care that this money is only prolonging the slaughter of Ukrainian soldiers and risking the possibility of a nuclear escalation.

Despite the immense propaganda of the war machine, there are still many who are willing to work for peace. The Humanity for Peace rally today represents a gathering of the courageous individuals who are willing to speak out against the madness of military escalation between nuclear powers.

In the words of President John F Kennedy:

“Peace does not rest in the charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people. So let us not rest all our hopes on parchment and on paper, let us strive to build peace, a desire for peace, a willingness to work for peace in the hearts and minds of all of our people. I believe that we can. I believe the problems of human destiny are not beyond the reach of human beings.”

What Does the US Fish and Wildlife Service Do?

Many Americans are familiar with the activities of the National Park Service, but there are several other major agencies in the US that oversee various aspects of the environment. One such agency is the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).

The USFWS can trace its roots back to the late 1800s. In 1871, Congress created the US Commission on Fish and Fisheries to investigate the decline of American fisheries and to come up with solutions to increase fish stocks. The other parent organization of USFWS was created in 1885. The Office of Economic Ornithology was a part of the Department of Agriculture, and studied the behavior of birds, especially if their behavioral patterns affected agriculture in some manner. This agency evolved over the next two decades to become the Bureau of Biological Survey, which controlled predators, protected migratory birds, and managed the US’ nascent wildlife refuges.

The 1930s were an important decade for the Bureau of Biological Survey. Several pieces of legislation gave new responsibilities to this agency, and the bureau was managed by an individual who upheld a strong ecological mission. Jay Norwood Darling was Chief of the Bureau during this period, and fervently directed the agency to protect wetlands and other critical habitats throughout the nation. The Bureau partnered with the Civilian Conservation Corps on infrastructure and habitat restoration projects in 50 wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries. The Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act, more widely known as the Duck Stamp Act, used revenue from duck stamps purchased by hunters to acquire wetlands. This program has acquired 4.5 million acres of wetlands throughout its existence. One notable employee of the Commission on Fish and Fisheries was Rachel Carson, author of the seminal environmental book Silent Spring. She began her career with the Commission in 1936, and during her 15-year service she wrote a prolific number of pamphlets, bulletins, and articles for the agency.

In 1939 the Commission on Fish and Fisheries and the Office of Economic Ornithology were combined to create the USFWS. This bureau was now under the management of the Department of the Interior. Since its creation, the USFWS has remained the main federal agency for wildlife and fisheries research. Scientists working under the agency conducted investigations on the effects of DDT in the 1940s, and also developed captive breeding techniques that are still used for critically endangered species today. The agency enforces international treaties such as the Migratory Bird Treaty of 1918, and provides scientific personnel to states and tribes requesting help. The USFWS now has over 9,000 employees and 700 field offices distributed throughout the states.

One of the major responsibilities of the USFWS is managing the nation’s 562 national wildlife refuges. In a link to the USFWS’s origin in ornithology, NWRs mainly exist to protect migratory birds. However, an abundance of species exists in these protected areas, and an elk, white-tailed deer, and bison refuge also exist in our country. The primary goal of NWRs is conservation, although certain refuges allow hunting or fishing within their borders. Much of the land that makes up NWRs has been purchased, not ceded, from public domain. In addition, as an alternative to buying land, the USFWS partners with farmers who purchase easements that protect wetlands.

Another key role of the USFWS in conservation is the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The ESA was enacted in 1973, and categorizes species at various levels of endangerment (endangered, threatened, and vulnerable), creates a recovery plan for these species, and protects critical habitat. USFWS partners with states or counties to identify critical habitat for species and to develop habitat conservation plans (HCPs) for that particular plant or animal. As of 2012, there were 2,052 species on the endangered or threatened list. It is likely that many more species would meet the criteria for being endangered or threatened, but budgetary restrictions restrict the USFWS from generating a more complete list.

Although the ESA has many notable success stories, such as the bald eagle and whooping crane, only a small fraction of the species listed by the ESA have recovered enough to be delisted. One criticism of the ESA is that it encourages farmers who fear losing their land over the presence of an endangered species to destroy the habitat rather than become involved with USFWS officials. This perverse incentive is colloquially referred to as “shoot, shovel, and shut up.”

The ESA under the Biden administration is making moves to reinstate regulations that create standard protections for a species once it has been classified as threatened. This rule was rolled back in 2019, and USFWS Assistant Director Gary Frazer says that the reinstatement of the protections will prevent numerous US species from being pushed further to extinction. Thus, the USFWS will continue its mission to “conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.”

Dolphin Mothers Use Baby Talk with Calves

Baby talk is a cultural universal among humans. Speaking to infants in high pitches, soft tones, and almost unintelligible words are common to societies around the world, according to a study by researchers from Harvard’s Music Lab. There are several theories for why talking to babies in such a manner is a commonality among humans. Baby talk might accentuate vowels and help babies learn speech, or it could help socialize them by controlling their emotions during interactions with adults.

But could this human universal extend to other species? As it turns out, bottlenose dolphins may also have this trait. Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts have studied recordings of wild bottlenose dolphin speech and have concluded that dolphins speak differently when they are with their calves.

When they were nearby their offspring, the dolphins’ whistles rose in frequency compared to when they were with other adults. The calves then copied the higher-frequency whistles that they heard from the adults around them. This is similar to how human babies imitate the baby talk spoken to them by adults.

Although the researchers can’t state the purpose of the different pitches of whistles in dolphins, it is possible that the vocalizations serve the same purpose as baby talk does in humans.

Dolphins are highly intelligent and social animals, with a brain size to body ratio that is close to that of humans. They can solve problems, plan for the future, and have a complex communication system with other members of their pod. They also pass the mirror test, demonstrating their self-awareness.

Dolphins also have significant long-term memory and use tools, more indicators that their cognitive capabilities are not radically different from humans’.

Finally, these animals have distinct personalities, and the fact that they push dead pod members’ bodies for days suggests that they feel the advanced emotion of grief. The latest study from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is another interesting demonstration of the striking parallels between humans and their distant aquatic mammalian cousins.

Ancient Natural Nuclear Reactor – How Did it Work?

Uranium-based nuclear reactors rely on the isotope uranium-235 to make energy. Currently, there is far more uranium-238 (146 neutrons) than 235 (143 neutrons) in naturally occurring ore, where the isotopes vary greatly in their stability. Therefore, uranium goes through a process of enrichment to extract the U-235, since this isotope makes up only about .72% of natural uranium.

Go back 1.7 billion years, however, and the composition of ore looked different. U-235 has a half-life of 703.8 million years, so almost 2 billion years ago, it was far more abundant in uranium ore. In fact, uranium-235 was 3.7% of all uranium at that time, and only 3% is needed to sustain a fission reaction.

As a result, conditions on earth were sometimes just right 1.7 billion years ago to create natural nuclear reactors underground. In 1972, a French scientist found 17 different sites in the Oklo mines of Gabon where this process had occurred.

Another necessary ingredient for a sustained nuclear reaction is water. Water acts to moderate the speed of the neutrons in a nuclear reactor so that they are more likely to collide with other U-235 atoms and continue a sustained reaction.

In the Oklo mines, oxygen-rich groundwater was able to dissolve uranium and is the medium in which the U-235 fission occurs. As fission occurs, the area would heat up and eventually the water would boil away, bringing the sustained reaction to a halt. However, over time, the area surrounding the ore would cool down and water could flow back in, starting the reaction again. By examining the isotopes in the present-day surrounding rock, scientists suggest that this process repeated itself on a roughly 3-hour timeline.

After hundreds of thousands of years, however, the uranium-235 in the deposits would be depleted below 3% and the sustained fission reaction would no longer be possible.

Scientists know that a natural nuclear reactor existed at Oklo by examining the U-238/235 ratios in the ore there. In comparison to the .72% U-235 found in most ore, the Oklo ore contains only .7157% to .7168%. That doesn’t seem like a large difference, but it is enough of disparity that an explanation was needed.

So far, the Oklo mines are the only location on Earth where a historical nuclear reactor has been found. It’s likely there are others, but until some new scientist makes a grand discovery, we have just one example of this fascinating snapshot of our planet’s past.