Building the World

December 3, 2024
by Building The World
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SPACE: Wood – Satellite Innovation

LignoSat will join orbiting satellites, testing the concept of wood in space. Image: “Animation of GPS satellite orbits” by Phoenix 7777, 2018. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

It’s small (just 4 inches/10 centimeters each side) but Japan’s new satellite innovation could change the way we build for, and communicate from, space.

Like Sputnik, pictured above, most satellites are made of aluminum. Image: “Sputnik” by US Airforce photo. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Sputnik began the space age on 4 October 1957; the US followed with Explorer 1 on 31 January 1958. When the world’s telecommunications countries joined together to create COMSAT Corporation in 1963, a new era of space communication began to dot the skies with satellites. Most are fabricated from aluminum. While aluminum is light and strong, it burns when re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, producing aluminum oxides that damage the protective ozone layer. With over 6,000 satellites currently in orbit in the macro cluster of SpaceX’s Starlink (with plans to expand to 42,000), satellites active in 2024 numbered 28,300. When these are decommissioned, the amount of space debris could be dangerous.

Professor Takao Doi, JAXA and NASA astronaut, pioneered a new satellite design using wood. Image: NASA 1997. Public Domain, and included with appreciation to JAXA and NASA, and to Professor Doi.

Enter Takao Doi, former NASA and JAXA astronaut, now a professor at Kyoto University. In a cooperative venture with Sumitomo Forestry, Doi proposed a satellite made of wood. As an astronaut, Doi had witnessed many space vehicles in orbit. Could the aluminum problem be solved with another material, one as old as human building in its earliest times? A special Japanese wood, honoki, from native magnolia trees became the preferred source. Some honoki wood was sent to the International Space Station for testing. It passed; the satellite design was then built. LignoSat 1 (Ligno is Latin for “wood”) launched in November 2024.

Could wood cause fewer problems than aluminum space debris? Image: NASA “Space Debris” 2005. Public Domain.

Advantages to using wood are many. Wood may be better than aluminum space debris, an increasing problem. Wood does not damage the atmosphere. Wood can allow signals to pass through the material. This means communications antennae do not have to be outside the satellite, making the vessel less prone to malfunction.

LignoSat is constructed using Japanese Magnolia Tree wood. Image: “Magnolia Tree Kenosha” by Catholic Laitinen, 2013. Dedicated by the photographer to the Public Domain.

Wood is one of the oldest human building materials, now it may be the newest – in space. Watch LignoSat’s launch video here.

Brooke, K. Lusk and Z. Quinn. “SPACE: Global Connectivity.” Building the World Blog, 30 March 2023. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/2023/03/30/space-global-connectivity/

Brooke, K. Lusk and Z. Quinn. “SPACE: Debris.” Building the World Blog, 18 November 2021. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/2021/11/18/space-debris/

Davidson, Frank P. and K. Lusk Brooke. “COMSAT” Chapter 33 in Building the World, pages 623-639. Westport: Greenwood, 2006. ISBN:031333377412.

Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) https://global.jaxa.jp

JAXA. “Humans in Space Series: Takao DOI – first Japanese astronaut to participate in EVA” https://humans-in-space.jaxa.jp/en/astronaut/doi-takao/

Kyoto University “Professor Takao Doi.” https://kdb.iimc.kyoto-u.ac.jp/profile/en.a60ccd0956b513ef.html

Sumitomo Forestry. https://sfc.jp/english/

Wall, Mike. “World’s first wooden satellite arrives at ISS for key orbital test.” 5 November 2024. SPACE. https://www.space.com/space-exploration-satellites/worlds-1st-wooden-satellite-arrives-at-iss-for-key-orbital-test

Wilson, Despina. “Revealed: Number of operational satellites in orbit, 2024.” CEOWORLD Magazine. https://ceoworld.biz/2024/07/18/revealed-number-of-operational-satellites-in-orbit-2024/

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

November 18, 2024
by Building The World
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TRANSPORT: COP29 – It’s About Time

Passage of the sun determines day, night, and time. Trains gave us time zones. Image: “Sun Animation” by Sfls4309pks and Trekky0623/The Flat Earth Society. Creative Commons 4.0.

As the sun rises and sets, the resulting diurnal rhythm is what we call time. Before the world became connected through high speed transport, local towns set their own clocks. Noon was determined by the high point of sun in the sky: so, noon in Boston might be a bit different from noon in Baltimore, and certainly different from noon in Boise. There were 144 varied “time zones” in North America in the 1880s.

US Transcontinental Railroad used little papers called “flimsies” to alert track workers of coming trains. Time zones soon followed. Image: Transcontinental workers by photographer Andrew Russell, 1869. Public Domain.

Trains changed the world in many ways including time. When the US built the Transcontinental Railroad, collisions on tracks were avoided by runners sent ahead with reports of trains arriving. Using lightweight paper, warnings were called “flimsies” – not too reassuring when the safety of passengers was at stake.

Early rail tracks were laid to haul coal from mines. Image: “Mine Cart” by photographer LoKiLeCh from Berlin Technikmuseum Holzbahn. 2010. Creative Commons 3.0

British rail, emerging from wooden (and then iron) tracks making it easier to convey coal from mines to waiting barges, may have begun the rail era, but it took until 1847 for British rail companies to adopt one time schema across the rail system. It was called “Railway Time.”

Canadian Pacific Railway built snow tunnels and snow galleries (pictured above) to keep working through winter. Canadian Pacific Surveyor Sanford Fleming introduced the idea of time zones, and changed the world. Image: “Snow Gallery at Crested Peak,” by Carleton Watkins, 1868. Public Domain.

Canadian rail surveyor Sanford Fleming, who worked on the development of the Canadian Pacific Railway, that brought the idea of time zones to the world. Fleming proposed four time zones for North America: Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific. The idea changed a continent and then the world.

Concept of a prime meridian predates the 18 November 1883 International Prime Meridian Conference that chose Greenwich as the center of the time cycle. Here, a 1595 illustration by Gerardus Mercator. Courtesy Library of Congress. Public Domain.

On 18 November 1883, Fleming’s system brought the world together for the International Prime Meridian Conference in Washington DC in one of the most important global agreements. Greenwich Meridian was chosen as the “zero” center of longitude, and set the sounding note upon which the harmony of world time became based. Can we agree upon climate goals and timeline, now?

“Analog Clock Animation” by Jahobr. Public Domain.

Noon, 18 November 1883 became known by a special name. Why? At noon that day, all rail stations set their clocks according to the new Prime Meridian system adopted. But because most town clocks and sundials at the stations may have already passed noon, or were about to based on the overhead sun, those systems also hit their mark. So, 18 November 1883 became known in history as the “Day of Two Noons.”

Swatch introduced Internet time – a day has 1000 beats and we all keep that beat at the same time. Image: Swatch Blancpain 0319 by photographer Rama. Creative Commons 2.0.

While the world still works on Fleming’s idea, modern communication systems – a form of transport – like the Internet sparked a new time concept. Swatch watch maker proposed each day be portioned by “beats” as the rhythm of time and perhaps a certain bow to musical time signatures. Internet time has 1000 beats: each lasts 1 minute and 26.4 seconds. Its central meridian was located in Swatch’s office in Biel, Switzerland. They called it BMT (Biel Mean Time). Going beyond Fleming’s view of the world, BMT or Internet time does not have zones: we’re all online simultaneously – on the same beat.

Doomsday Clock, as portrayed in the graphic novel “Watchmen.” Illustration by Kigsz, 2012. Creative Commons 3.0.

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) has lately been the new standard, coordinating time zones with the Earth’s rotation. International Atomic Time (TAI) combines the readings of 400 atomic clocks. Universal Time (UT1) is astronomical time based on the Earth’s rotation: it’s related to the International Meridian Conference’s system, and remains the standard. Another clock we all might watch carefully (see above) is the Doomsday Clock.

As the world meets in Baku for COP29, can we agree on goals? It’s about time. Image: “Baku at noon with vertical shadows indicating precise time of noon,” by Alexey Bogolyubov, 1861. Public Domain.

If the world can agree on time zones, can we hope that we will now find a way to agree upon climate goals and justice? It’s about time.

Brooke, K. Lusk. “Day of Two Noons.” 18 November 2022. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/2022/11/18/transport-day-of-two-noons/

Brown, Lynn. “How railroads inspired the creation of time zones.” 18 November 2024. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20241115-how-railroads-inspired-the-creation-of-time-zones

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. “2024 Doomsday Clock Announcement,” 23 January 2024. https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/

COP29. https://cop29.az/en/home

Davidson, Frank P. and K. Lusk Brooke. “The Transcontinental Railroad,” pages 205-218; and “The Canadian Pacific Railway,” pages 253-287. Building the World. Greenwood, 2006.

International Prime Meridian Conference. For the founding document: https://greenwichmeantime.com

New York Times. “Turning Back the Hands: A Quiet Change to the Standard Time.” 18 November 1883. Digital reproduction of text: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5748

Terrell, Ellen. “The Day of Two Noons.” January 2021. Library of Congress. https://guides.loc.gov/this-month-in-business-history/november/day-of-two-noons

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

October 29, 2024
by Building The World
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ENERGY: Sky’s the (280 ppm) Limit

Let’s keep the sky as blue as it was at 280 ppm. “Clouds Blue Sky” by photographer Kabir Bakle, 2004. Creative Commons 2.5. Included with appreciation.

We hear so much about reducing carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gases) in the atmosphere, it may sound like we are aiming to clear the Earth of carbon. But carbon is the basis of life. Carbon compounds make up 18% of the human body, found in every cell, forming the building blocks of proteins. Plants are also 18% carbon.

“Global Carbon Cycle” by NASA/JPL, 2015. Public Domain.

We don’t need, or want, to eliminate carbon. Rather we need to restore and renew its proper balance. Carbon is a cycle. It moves from land to water to sky. In the sky, it combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is also water soluble, so it is found in lakes and rivers; in the ocean, too much creates acidification, but a smaller amount is natural. When there is too much in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gases like methane that degrades into carbon dioxide) form a kind of blanket causing global warming. Some amount of carbon in the atmosphere, and the ocean, is not only normal but desirable, part of the great circular journey of carbon that nourishes and vivifies the planet.

“Carbon Cycle” by graphic artist Kevin Saff, based on Earth Observatory, NASA, “Carbon Cycle.” Dedicated to the public domain, and included with appreciation.

But how much is carbon is enough, and not too much? Before the Industrial Revolution when we started burning coal, then oil and gas, atmospheric carbon dioxide was 0.028% or 280 ppm. Right now, it’s more than 425 ppm – and growing. So, we don’t have to remove every last bit of carbon, or carbon dioxide. We just have to return from 425 (or so) of atmospheric carbon dioxide to 280.

Cessation of carbon-based (fossil) fuels, transitioning to non-carbon renewable energy, is the first step. Reforestation will help: will programs like the National Trails and Parks support public health? Restoring peatlands and wetlands may contribute: will the Netherlands lead the way? Regenerative agriculture will improve soil and atmosphere. Eventually, excess carbon dioxide in ocean and atmosphere will find its way back to the land, restoring balance. We’ll surely need to pursue both avoidance (not burning carbon-based fuels) and perhaps removal. Nature-based carbon removal systems like forests can remove 15.6 billion metric tonnes of carbon annually. Seaweed can help to remove carbon from oceans. Mineralization and biochar can return, and sequester, carbon in earth. Some say we will need assists like geo-engineering, but we’re not there…yet.

“Carbon sequestration” by LeJean Hardin and Jamie Payne based on Jari Amtzen, 2009. Creative Commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

We are now at 425ppm. It may not be too late to return to 280 ppm, renewing the Earth. Seeing carbon as part of a cycle may help.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “Climate Change Indicators: Atmospheric Concentrations of Greenhouse Gases.” June 2024. https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-atmospheric-concentrations-greenhouse-gases

Global Carbon Budget. “Fossil CO2 emissions at record high in 2023.” 4 December 2023. University of Exeter. https://globalcarbonbudget.org/fossil-co2-emissions-at-record-high-in-2023/

Lindsey, Rebecca and Ed Dlugokencky. “Climate Change: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide.” Based on NOAA Global Monitoring Lab. 9 April 2024. http://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-atmospheric-carbon-dioxide

Ralph, Robin. “Removing carbon from the atmosphere: 6 strategies.” 20 June 2022. Patch. https://www.patch.io/blog/removing-carbon-from-the-atmosphere-6-strategies

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

October 14, 2024
by Building The World
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WATER/LAND: Indigenous Rights and Vision

Indigenous Peoples Day, courtesy of National Indian Council on Aging – NICOA.org. Included with honor and appreciation.

No new worlds are discovered, just met. Indigenous Peoples Day, established by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, reminds us of those who were here, first. In 2024, the UN focus is on those who live as stewards and protectors of the forest, and therefore, the planet. With traditions that promote an environment in balance, indigenous peoples’ land stretches across 28% of the world’s land often farmed with regenerative agriculture, and containing 11% of global forests. Indigenous peoples have defended and sustain water resouces. As protectors of nature, original nations are leading the way.

The Great Lakes Compact protects the rights of 20% of the world’s freshwater resources. Image: “Great Lakes from Space” by NASA. Included with appreciation.

In the United States, the Yesah Tribunal was the first indigenous Rights of Nature Tribunal: 123 nations have signed the declaration. Current initiatives include the case of Haw River vs. Mountain Valley Pipeline. In the United States, the Navajo and other Native Peoples are part of the Colorado River Compact. Great Lakes Compact raised the rights to water and sustainability, as well as land and pipeline permits. The American National Trails System memorializes and recognizes paths forged by fleeing injustice, including the Cherokee. Maori of New Zealand established legal personhood of the Whanganui River. The Guarani River in Brazil and Paraguay gave name and policy to Itaipú.

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics honored scholars who explored the effects of colonization. Image: Nobel Medal. Photographer: Jonathunder. Public Domain, and included with appreciation.

Scholars have explored and helped to define rights of indigenous, especially when affected by more recent arrivals. Ingrid Waldron of McMaster University identified the rights First Nations to water, land, and energy. In México and the US, transboundary water issues for rivers and underground aquifers have been elucidated by Gabriel Eckstein of Texas A & M University. October 2024’s Nobel Prize in Economics honors scholars Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson of MIT and James Robinson of the University of Chicago who explored effects of societal institutions introduced during colonization. Treaties and agreements between and among those who were here first and those who arrived – like Columbus, Cortes, and others – are of both historical and future relevance. The 1497 Treaty of Tordesillas sought to divide the world via an imaginary line in the Atlantic ocean (in 1529, the Treaty of Zaragoza aimed to do the same with claim on Pacific rights). The founding of Singapore, and the creation of Panama, are more recent proclamations. Together with more recent agreements on the rights of nature by New Zealand, Uruguay, and others may offer insights as we consider mineral rights in the ocean, or geothermal rights on land. Will the vision of Jamie C. Beard lead to a new view of access and rights to continuous, carbon-free, and universal energy?

Today, in the United States, what was formerly known as (and still sometimes called) “Columbus Day” was officially named as Indigenous Peoples Day in 2021. Canada introduced Native Land Digital, along with a searchable map of land, languages, and treaties. If you reside in the Americas, find out whose original land you live on and honor those who were here, there, and everywhere, first.

Beard, Jamie C. Project: Inner Space. https://projectinnerspace.org/about/

Brooke, K. Lusk. “Water Laws Database.” Renewing the World: WATER. 2022. ISBN: 979-8-9850359-1-9-51799. FREE DOWNLOAD. https://renewingtheworld.com/files/samples/Renewing-The-World-Water-Database-Laws.pdf

Cherokee Nation. https://www.cherokee.org/about-the-nation/citizen-action/

Davidson, Frank P. and K. Lusk Brooke. “The National Trails System,” Building the World, Volume Two, pages 641-668. ISBN: 9780313333743.

Eckstein, Gabriel, et al., “Conferring Legal Personality on the World’s Rivers: A Brief Intellectual Assessment.” August 2019. Water International and Texas A&M University School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 19-30. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3431344

Indigenous Environmental Network. “The Yesah Tribunal: Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Rights of Rivers.” June 2024. https://www.ienearth.org/yesah-tribunal-the-rights-of-river-and-the-mountain-valley-pipeline/

Kaur, Harmeet. “The Cherokee Nation is again calling on Congress to deliver on a 200-year-old-promise.” 27 September 2022. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/27/us/cherokee-nation-push-for-congress-delegate-cec/index.html

Native-Land.ca. “Our home on native land.” https://native-land.ca/

New Zealand, Government of and Maori Nation. “Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement Bill). 20 March 2017. https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2017/0007/latest-whole.html

Pietrowski, Robert, Jr. “Hard Minerals on the Deep Ocean Floor: Implications for American Law and Policy,” 19 William & Mary Law Review. 43 (1977). http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/smlr/vol19/iss1/5

Treisman, Rachel. “Which Indigenous Lands are you on? This map will show you.” 10 October 2022. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2022/10/10/1127837659/native-land-map-ancestral-tribal-lands-worldwide

United Nations. “International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.” https://www.un.org/en/observances/indigenous-day

United Nations. “Indigenous Languages Decade (2022-2032).” UNESCO. https://www.unesco.org/en/decades/indigenous-languages

United States of America. “A Proclamation on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, 2021.” 8 October 2021. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/10/08/a-proclamation-indigenous-peoples-day-2021/

Waldron, Ingrid R. G., There’s Something in the Water: Environmental Racism in Indigenous & Black Communities. Fernwood Publishing: 2018. ISBN: 1773630571

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

October 1, 2024
by Building The World
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TRANSPORT: Interoceanic Connections

Geography is destiny, some observe. Timing accelerates the pace. And now, climate might be changing both. It is Mexico’s time?

Mexico’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec connecting Pacific to Atlantic might complement the Panama Canal, and offer a number of opportunities for transport. Image: “Isthmus of Tehuantepec” by Kbh3rd, 2007. Creative Commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

Mexico’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec, spanning the Pacific Ocean from Oaxaca to the Atlantic Gulf at Veracruz, has always fascinated visionaries who could see a highway, a railway, or a canal opening a transoceanic route of 188 miles (303 kilometers). Archival records show 16th century sketches of a connection. In 1811, a canal was proposed by Alexander von Humboldt who had traveled to the isthmus from 1799-1804: he also proposed another connective site that is now the Panama Canal. The route chosen by von Humboldt made clear the advantage of geography that can offer connection.

Map of Alexander von Humboldt’s expedition: 1799-1804. Image by Alexrk2, 2009. Creative Commons 2.5. Included with appreciation.

Macro engineering needs the right time and the right leader. The Channel Tunnel, linking England and France, had been envisioned by Napoleon, resisted by General Wolseley, but finally achieved in a design initiated by Frank P. Davidson along with a team of diplomats, engineers, and financiers: it is now the site of Eurotunnel.

Not everyone seeks closer connection. General Wolseley, seen here riding the fleeing lion, opposed the Channel Tunnel. Image: F. Graetz, 1885, from Puck Magazine. Public Domain.

Many tried to optimize the connective advantage of Mexico’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Mexico’s President Anastasio Bustamante proposed an 1837 plan for a railway. In 1842, the government (provisional) of Antonio López de Santa Anna granted José de Garay a fifty-year toll collection privilege in return for a survey leading to construction. (A similar provision was granted to Ferdinand de Lesseps who then built the Suez Canal.) When Porfirio Díaz, who hailed from Oaxaca, rose to the Mexican presidency, he inaugurated the first operation of the Railway from the port of Santa Cruz, carrying sugar from Hawaii. Six years of success ensued: 850,000 tons of cargo traversed the isthmus.

Railway won: Mexico launched the first railway in 1850. More would follow. Image: Announcement of Mexico’s first railway, 1850. Public Domain.

But then, in 1914, disruptive new technology happened: the opening of the Panama Canal. Isthmus rail traffic plummeted by one third; the next year, by 77%. Panama was shorter (just 40 miles or 65 kilometers), easier, and more cost effective because cargo loaded on a ship could remain onboard the same vessel that would carry it on to global ports. As many as 32 -37 ships passed through the Panama Canal every day – in just 8 hours. The Panama Canal widened the route; container ships grew in size and capacity.

Panama Canal, NASA image, 2002. Public Domain.

In 2023, a new situation threatened the Panama Canal: climate change. Drought threatens the region. The waterway, widened to accommodate ever-larger ships, may no longer support the heaviest behemoths. Limiting the number of ships per day began in 2023. If drought is severe, ships have to wait offshore for longer (and more expensive) periods; some buy their way up the line. Image below shows ships queuing up to traverse the Canal in 2023.

Enter Mexico. Observing an opportunity, the government began modernization of the Tehuantepec Railway and Oaxacan port of Salina Cruz. New tracks, re-laying of supportive basalt, advanced welding improved the railway. Construction of a breakwater outside the Salina Cruz strengthened the port. A new name was the cap that would announce a global vision: Corredor Multimodal Interoceánico (Interoceanic Multimodal Corridor). The railway is a centerpiece, both historic and futuristic. But much more is planned.

Railway is central but much more is planned. Image: Logo of Ferrocarril Interoceánico, CIIT, 2024. Public Domain.

The project will include a trans-isthmus pipeline connecting the two ports. In response, Salina Cruz will host a liquified natural gas (LNG) plant; that gas will then power ten new industrial parks. Businesses signing on will reap tax breaks for meeting job creation goals. Mexico’s commitment to natural gas expanded the network of pipelines nationally by 50% in the past decade; yet the South and Southeast receive less of that energy. Along with LNG, an existing oil refinery will turn residue into additional petroleum increasing the fossil fuel production by 70,000 barrels. In an area of the world were solar, wave, and wind may offer more environmentally sustainable opportunities, some question the direction of investment. But new partners like Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners will pursue green hydrogen, as well.

Some of the businesses moving to CIIT industrial parks may include those producing green hydrogen. Image: “NGC 604, ionized hydrogen in the Triangulum Galaxy” by Hui Yang, University of Illinois and NASA, 1995. Public Domain.

While a canal is not planned, cargo ships are invited to offload their cargo on the Pacific side, carry the containers across the railway stretch, and then re-load on the Atlantic side, probably to a partner vessel. With drought compromising the Panama Canal, Mexico may attract maritime shipping traffic, perhaps picking up 5% of Panama’s commerce. That would be a small percentage of a big number: in 2023, the Panama Canal’s revenues reached $4, 968 billion.

Zapotec civilization flourished in Oaxaca from 700bce – 1521ce. Zapotec culture and values remain strong. Here, Cocijo, Zapotec deity of water. Image: photograph by Yavidaxiu, 2011. Creative Commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

In all of the activity initiated by the Corridor, as it is known in English, and its potential to offer opportunity to southern Mexico, not everyone is sanguine: the First Nation and indigenous communities have expressed concern. Zapotec leaders won a lawsuit protesting land purchase for one of the planned industrial parks. Land payments also troubled a Zapotec activist who had protested the distribution of the funds: when he was found dead, such violence raised more concern – and fear. Human rights violations began to be raised. Mixe community leaders blocked progress on their section of the Railway: arrested protestors were released in response to demands by the National Indigenous Council. Indigenous concerns include disturbance of agricultural soil health and biodiversity.

Mexico’s new President Claudia Sheinbaum, climate scientist, takes office 1 October 2024. Image: “President Elect Claudia Sheinbaum, 2 June 2024” by photographer EneasMx, 2024. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Geography, destiny, and climate change may speed the future of the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT). How will environmental scientist Claudia Sheinbaum, PhD, Mexico’s new president who begins a six-year term on 1 October 2024, work with Oaxaca, and its unique geographical and cultural gifts, to build Mexico’s future?

Bourke, India. “Claudia Sheinbaum: What a climate-scientist turned president might mean for global efforts to tackle climate change” 7 June 2024. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240607-claudia-sheinbaum-mexicos-new-climate-minded-president

Davidson, Frank P. and K. Lusk Brooke. “The Channel Tunnel: England and France,” Chapter 39, pages 761 – 804. Volume II. Building the World. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2006. ISBN: 978313333743.

Matheiros, Gabriel. “Panama Canal’s revenue up 14.9% in 2023 despite lower cargo.” 23 February 2024. Datamar News. https://www.datamarnews.com/noticias/panama-canals-revenue-up-14-9-in-2023-despite-lower-cargo/

Mexico, Government of. “DECRETO por el que se crea el organismo público descentralizado, con personalidad juridica y patrimonio propio, no sectorizado, denominado Corredor Interoceánico del Istmo de Tehuantepec.”14 June 2019. Diario Oficial de la Federación. https://dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo-5562774&fecha=14/06/2019#gsc.tab=0

Wall Street Journal. “Mexico’s Interoceanic Corridor.” 2024. VIDEO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMDCKpmc-uo

Appreciation to Charles E. Litwin for sharing research.

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

September 2, 2024
by Building The World
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CITIES: Labor Day – Unions and Collective Voice

Labor Day is celebrated in Canada and the US on the first Monday of September. The holiday’s history is one of unions and collective voice. Image: Paramount Pictures, 2014. Public Domain.

SEPTEMBER LABOR DAY – Observed in Canada and the US, honors workers and their rights including the right to organize. Those rights were born and nurtured in the nest of cities.

Sign of a glass or glazier guild, from Germany. Image: Cretive Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.

GUILDS, UNIONS, ILO – Unions go back to medieval times. When the feudal system changed to free independent skilled labor, craft workers moved to cities and banded together to form guilds. But when outsiders, non-guild members or not even industry professionals, began to own the companies that hired the workers, unions developed. (Brentano)

International Labour Organization (ILO) logo. United Nations. Public Domain.

The inclusive, and protective spirit of the guilds, and unions, may today be kept in the International Labour Organization (ILO). Founded in 1919 to bring together governments, employers, and workers of the Member States of the United Nations (ILO is its only tripartite agency), the ILO seeks to promote social dialogue among all three, with special attention to Sustainable Development Goals (specifically: SDG 8 regarding work and growth, SDG 10 reducing inequalities, and SDG for justice and peace).

Workers’ hours have been a constant theme in unions, labor, and rights. Image: “Animated clock” by Balti sahib, Creative Commons 3.0.

HOURS – With unions came working conditions. Work days could last as long as 10 hours, and the work week could be six days, until 1593 when Spain became the first nation to declare a law to limit factory and building workers to an eight-hour day. The Ordenanzas de Felipe II included an interesting aspect that applies to today’s emerging worker rights law: a mandatory break between morning and afternoon work periods was ordered – to avoid the sun’s heat. In the 19th century, Robert Owen proposed a day sectioned into three parts: eight hours of labor; eight hours of recreation eight hours of rest. The movement reached farther shores when stone mason workers marched from Australia’s University of Melbourne to Parliament in Australia to establish the law.

Both Peter and Matthew McGuire both advocated the establishment of a holiday to honor the craft and skill of workers. The first Labor Day celebration took place in New York City in 1882: both McGuires were present. Image: Maguire (McGuire) family crest, Creative Commons 3.0.

CRAFT AND SKILL – In the United States, the first proposed Labor Day holiday originally honored labor as art and the skills of craft. Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood (a guild name that needed updating) of Carpenters and Joiners who was also the co-founder of the American Federation of Labor. McGuire proposed the idea of establishing a holiday to honor “those who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.” (US Department of Labor 2024)

A second McGuire – Matthew – is also credited for the holiday. This McGuire, secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists, also proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union of New York. A first Labor Day gathering convened in New York City in 1882: both McGuires were present. A second observation happened in 1883. In 1884, President Cleveland signed a law creating a national holiday to be called Labor Day, to be observed on the first Monday of the month of September annually.

Pullman Strike, Chicago, Illinois, US, 1894. Public domain.

RIGHTS – But in a twist of fate, President Cleveland signed that law in July 1884, just before an uprising of labor caused a national tragedy and forever changed the character of Labor Day. Worker rights for hours and working conditions arose in Chicago, Illinois on several pivotal moments. One involved the transport industry and the innovation of transcontinental rail. Chicago was a known rail center, and headquarters of the Pullman company. The cross-country rail industry created a market for overnight travel. Chicago’s Pullman company (formed by buying up old passenger rail cars and turning them into sleepers) employed “Pullman porters;” hiring practice discriminated racially and enforced extremely long working hour – 400 per month. At the trigger of the 30% layoff, and to protest working conditions and assert worker rights, Pullman workers walked out on strike.

Transcontinental rail established a new order, one that could be disrupted by striking workers with new power. Image: Map showing section of Transcontinental Railroad, 1883. Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, Chicago and Pacific Railroad, C.W. & C. Colton & Company, US Library of Congress. Public Domain.

STRIKE POWER – Travel stalled in 27 states from Chicago’s Illinois to the West Coast. Communications stalled across the country: at that time, trains carried not only cargo and people but the post including commercial transactions. Strikers knew well how to stop a rail car on the line; they halted – and derailed – the locomotive pulling a postal train. The collective voice was heard. But so were gunshots.

Pullman strike erupted into violence; workers overturned rail cars and Illinois National Guard fired shots. Illustration by G. W. Peters, Harper’s Weekly, Volume 38, 1894. Public domain.

VIOLENCE – With the country effectively shut down, President Grover Cleveland authorized the US Attorney General to enact an injunction against the striking workers. The result was an acceleration of the strike into a riot. Protesters derailed more train cars. Escalation into military action ensued when the Illinois National Guard arrived at Blue Island, a Chicago suburb, and used firearms, killing 30 people and wounding many others. This happened in July. Ironically, President Cleveland had just signed the bill, in June, declaring a new holiday to honor workers.

Haymarket Square, Chicago, circa 1905. Image from postcard. Public domain.

In 1886, Chicago again was the center for a gathering to promote the eight-hour work day, overtime pay, and fair hiring practices. Child labor was reported in some areas. Workers went on strike at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. Police were present, and one person was killed and others wounded when police opened fire. The next day, protestors assembled in Haymarket Square. Police were again present. Someone, it is still unknown who, threw a bomb; police began shooting. Seven officers died, several civilians, and many dozen people were wounded. The episode became known in the history of labor as the Haymarket Massacre or the Haymarket Affair. A campaign to find the bomber resulted in hunt for perpetrators and later in several hangings, one suicide, one prison sentence and a later pardon.

UNIONS AND PEACE – In ancient times, the Netherlands organized climate response unions to gather if a dike overflowed. Today, a proposed Climate Conservation Corps could involve unions in the shared effort that all professions must contribute to our common future. The voices of unions as part of the International Labour Organization might support cooperative vision. Because firearms and violence have been a tragic part of strikes such as Pullman and Haymarket, unions might take up the issue of gun violence. Could unions use their collective voice and global power to unite justice and rights with peace?

Labor binds the world together in a connected, collective system of craft, rights, and honor. Image: Animation by TED-43, 2018. Creative Commons 3.0. With appreciation.

LABOR UNITES THE WORLD – Labor circles and unites the world in a connective, collective system of craft, rights, and honor. This month, in the United States, Labor Day finds 10,000 hotel workers striking to call attention to working hours and conditions. Political candidates and present leaders are appearing and speaking at rallies. The campaign for work and justice will always be new, and needed. Factory workers still labor in unhealthy and even lethal conditions; miners (in some locations, including children) suffer health and injury; health care workers endure long hours. Reparation for enforced labor, in some places continuing, still needs justice. Recently, new regulations on hours of outdoor workers during increased heat of climate change now address worker health, rights, and safety.

If you are reading this in a country that celebrates Labor Day today, make it more than just a long weekend. And, if you live in an area that honors workers at another time, perhaps we can all make September a month when we recognize the farmers whose harvest graces our tables, those workers who create seasonal goods and services, the health care professionals who offer fall influenza protection, the teachers that welcome students for a new year, the transport systems that bring us all to the places where we work and that special place we call home. This month, how will you honor craft, justice, rights – and the fruits of our individual, and collective, labor?

Brooke, K. Lusk. “Labor Day,” 2 September 2022. Building the World Blog. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/2022/09/02/transport-origins-of-labor-day/

Davidson, Frank P. and K. Lusk Brooke. “The Transcontinental Railroad,” Chapter 17, pages 205-238. Building the World. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2006. ISBN: 0313333734

International Labour Organization. https://www.ilo.org/about-ilo

International Labor Rights Forum. “Women’s Rights and Global Labor Justice.” https://laborrights.org/issues/women’srights

Langley, Winston E. and Vivian C. Fox. Women’s Rights in the United States: A Documentary History. Praeger: 1994. ISBN: 978-0313287558.

Library of Congress, United States. “Hawmarket Affair.” 2024. https://guides.loc/gov/chronicling-america-haymarket-affair

Loomis, Erik. A History of America in Ten Strikes. The New Press, 2018. ISBN-10: 1620971615

Brentano, Luis. “From the Gilds to the Trade Unions.” English Gilds: The Original Ordinances of more than One Hundred Early English Guilds. Oxford University Press. Digital facsimile by University of Michigan at https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/EGilds?rgn=main;view=fulltext

Terkel, Studs. Working. Pantheon Books, 1974.

US Department of Labor. “History of Labor Day.” 2024. https://www.dol.gov/general/laborday/history

Zraick, Karen. “What is Labor Day?” A History of the Workers’ Holiday.” 4 September 2023. New York Times. https://www.nytimescom/article/what-is-labor-day.html

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

August 7, 2024
by Building The World
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ENERGY: Nuclear Decisions – Part I

The only building left standing in Hiroshima, Japan, after 6 August 1945 is now a peace memorial. “Genbaku Dome” photographed by Oilstreet, Creative Commons 2.5.

This week marks the 79th year since the tragedy of nuclear warfare. Japan, only country to have experienced the effects of nuclear warfare, has always pledged non-participation in nuclear arms development. While the US has traditionally included Japan and South Korea in its protection, recent geopolitics in the area (and elsewhere) may encourage self-protection. With fear rising in Seoul due to its nuclear northern neighbor, 71 per cent of South Koreans surveyed expressed belief that self-protection may be necessary.

Tragic bombing of Japan in August 1945. Left image: Hiroshima (6 August 1945) by George P. Caron. Right image: Nagasaki (9 August 1945) by Charles Levy. Image from U.S. Department of Energy. Public Domain.

Japan may be less inclined. There are still 106,823 survivors who are a testament to the tragedy of August 1945. And the present generation who experienced the 2011 Fukushima disaster have grown wary of nuclear danger: not just in war but in energy production. In the Fukushima tragedy, 47,000 people fled their homes, ocean water near the plant became contaminated, and 80 square miles (207 square kilometers) were declared uninhabitable. Loss and damage remediation cost: estimated at $660 billion (71 trillion Yen). Those who visit Fukushima, or the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, may reflect upon past – and future- nuclear decisions.

Einstein stated the letter to FDR was his life’s biggest regret. Image: “Albert Einstein, 1947” by photographer Jack Oren Turner, 1947. Public Domain.

Einstein, whose letter to then-president Franklin D. Roosevelt led to the development of the Manhattan Project that resulted in the bombs, said it was his life’s biggest regret. Is it finally time for the world to join and support Hiroshima’s declaration, this week, that we must move from “ideal” to real action in nuclear disarmament. Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki of Hiroshima Prefecture noted that once a weapon is invented, likelihood of use becomes a problem that may never resolve. If you want to support nuclear disarmament, lift your voice here or here.

Wyoming is the location of TerraPower’s civil nuclear energy and electricity plant with a new, safer design: will it change nuclear decisions? Image: “John Moulton Barn at base of Grand Tetons, Wyoming” by photographer John Sullivan, 2004. Dedicated to the public domain.

But what about nuclear power as a non-carbon source of energy in a world seeking to stop carbon-caused climate change? Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates invested in TerraPower in 2008: in 2024, the company developed a new design for a power plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming, USA. Gates noted that former nuclear designs use water to cool the system (a problem in the Fukushima disaster), but the Wyoming project will use liquid sodium. The medium can withstand eight times more heat than water, and does not require pumping back into the system. It still uses uranium, however.

“Uranium electron shell diagram” by graphic designer Pumbaa80. Creative commons 2.0.

Uranium is radioactive in all its isotopes; U-235 is fissile, and is the basis for most of the world’s nuclear power stations. As a mineral, uranium decays into other, lighter, elements: but it takes time. The half-life of U-235: 704 million years. Storage of spent fuel continues to be an issue. The world’s biggest deposits of uranium are in Australia, Canada, and Kazakhstan: these countries therefore may influence world nuclear policies.

Not all countries have signed, and ratified, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). How can you help to advance support? Image: “CTBT Participation as of 2022” by graphic designer Allstar86. Creative Commons 3.0.

Even more influence comes from those who have not signed, or have resigned from, the global Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Russia pulled out; the US has signed but never ratified. India, North Korea, and Pakistan have not yet signed. While 187 nations have agreed, only 36 have ratified. In addition to the US, China, Egypt, Iran, and Israel have not yet ratified. If you live in a country that has not signed or ratified, your action and encouragement can make a difference.

France has the largest share of civil nuclear power for electricity generation. It is also home to ITER, site of development of fusion energy. Image: “Nuclear plants map of France,” by graphic designer Sting, 2006. Public Domain.

But as the Atomic Energy Act reminds us, nuclear power is an energy form with environmental (and medical) benefits. Advocates of nuclear power, including Gates, speak of its potential to help the world achieve a carbon-free, net-zero goal as we transition away from coal, gas, and oil. Many join Gates in supporting nuclear energy for a carbon-free world. Today, there are nuclear power plants supplying energy and electricity in over 50 countries. The US, France, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, Canada, and Ukraine (in that order) are the top producers; France has the largest share of energy generation from nuclear. Germany, however, decided to phase out and decommission its nuclear energy infrastructure.

Global Zero is an international organization dedicated to a world without nuclear weapons. Image: “Global Zero” by Global Zero. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

But even if new civil nuclear designs like that of TerraPower are safer operationally, are nuclear power plants still a danger as potential targets? Ukraine would say this is sadly true, as evidenced by recent threats to Zaporizhzhia. Bombing or otherwise exploding a civil nuclear facility built to generate electricity would result in two disasters: disabling energy infrastructure and triggering a radioactive explosion that would cause immediate casualties and lingering contamination. A database of nuclear terrorism is maintained by the Monterey Institute of International Studies, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, and the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. Organizations like Global Zero offer ways to get involved. The United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, 7 July 2017, offers a vision.

In the next part, we’ll look at possibly safer forms of civil nuclear energy. Using uranium may be dangerous, but could small modular nuclear reactors (SMR) be less of a threat? And will the work of Jean-Louis Bobin and other physicists developing nuclear fusion independent of uranium change the field – and the world?

When learning that this week marks the 79th anniversary of the use of nuclear weapons in war, a student remarked: “By next year, the 80th, how can we reach complete nuclear disarmament?”

Image: “Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament,” by photographer Marshall Colman, 2010. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Take action here or here. This week, especially, honor peace.

Bobin, Jean-Louis. Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion. World Scientific: 2014. 978-9814590686

Brooke, K. Lusk. “Oppenheimer,” 22 July 2023. Building the World Blog. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/2023/07/22/energy-oppenheimer/

Davidson, Frank P. and K. Lusk Brooke. “The Manhattan Project,” Chapter 26. pages 477-514. Volume II. Building the World. Greenwood 2006. ISBN: 0-313-33374-2.

Gates, Bill. “Nuclear Power.” VIDEO. 16 June 2024. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/16/business/video/bill-gates-nuclear-power-gps-sot-digvid

Global Zero. https://www.globalzero.org/take-action/chaosnewstart/index.html

Holdren, John P. “Threats to Civil Nuclear-energy Facilities,” chapter, Science and Technology to Counter Terrorism: Proceedings of an Indo-U.S. Workshop. 2007. National Academies Press. https://nap.nationalacademicies.org/read/11848/chapter/8

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). Nobel Peace Prize 2017. “How to stop nuclear weapons.” https://www.icanw.org/take_action_now

Jiangtao, Shi. “Could Japan and South Korea join the nuclear club? Cold war fears put the prospect in play.” 6 August 2024. South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3273440/could-japan-and-south-korea-join-nuclear-club-cold-war-fears-put-prospect-play

Kingsbury, Kathleen, Editor, with W.J. Hennigan, and Spencer Cohen. 2024. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/05/22/opinion/nuclear-weapons-nytimes.html

Langley, Winston E. Abolishing War. Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2024. ISBN: 978-1-962551-25-0

Nicholls-Lee, Deborah. ” ‘It was the one great mistake in my life’: The letter from Einstein that ushered in the age of the atomic bomb.” 6 August 2024. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240801-it-was-the-one-great-mistake-in-my-life-the-letter-from-einstein-that-ushered-in-the-age-of-the-atomic-bomb

Nolan, Christopher. “Oppenheimer.” IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title-tt15398776

United Nations. “Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.” 7 July 2017. https://disarmament.unoda.org/wmd/nuclear/tpnw/#:~:text=The%20Treaty%20on%20the%20Prohibition,threaten%20to%20use%20nuclear%20weapons

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. “TerraPower, LLC, Submittal of the Construction Permit Application for the Natrium Reactor Plant, Kemmerer Power Station, Unit 1,” Accession number ML24088A059, 10 April 2024. https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2408/ML24088A059.html

World Nuclear Association. “Uranium mining overview.” 16 May 2024. https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/mining-of-uranium/uranium-mining-overview

Yamaguchi, Mari. “Hiroshima governor says nuclear disarmament must be tackled as a pressing issue, not an ideal.” 6 August 2014. Associated Press. https://www.conchovalleyhomepage.com/news/ap-hiroshima-governor-says-nuclear-disarmament-must-be-tackled-as-a-pressing-issue-not-an-idea/

Great appreciation to colleagues who suggested nuclear disarmament paths.

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

August 1, 2024
by Building The World
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ENERGY: UNESCO Peat Protection

Scotland’s Flow Country Peatland is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Image: “Wetland in the Flow Country” by Andrew Tryon, 2017. Creative Commons 2.0. With appreciation.

Peatlands occupy only 3% of global terrain, yet hold more than 30% of land-based carbon. But when harvested (for fuel or industrial use), peat releases ten times more greenhouse gases – including powerful methane – than cut forests. Another danger when peat is cut: wildfires. Disturbing peat punctures holes in connected bogs, triggering a drying process that too often leads to conflagrations.

Cut peatlands quickly dry surrounding bogland, often resulting in wildfires. Image: “Borneo fires and smoke from burning peatland, 2002” by Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team of NASA/GSFC. Public domain. With appreciation.

How to protect peat has become one of the quests of our era. Scotland, abundant in peat, may lead the way. The Flow Country of Caithness and Sutherland is home to one of the world’s most important peat bogs stretching 469,500 acres (2,000 square kilometers). In addition to the Flow’s carbon sequestration benefits, the peatland is also home to wildlife including otters, voles, and the aerial balletic hen harrier birds.

Harriers and Plovers live in protected Flow Country Forsinard Preserve, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, 2004. Creative Commons 2.0. With appreciation.

Scotland’s government policies allow purchase of land, including peatlands, and also may provide reimbursement (up to 80%) of bog regeneration costs. After the peatland is certified as renewed, carbon credits may follow. Fast-fashion mogul Anders Holch Polvsen purchased 200,000 acres of peatlands adjoining stately manor houses with a plan for new enterprise “Wildland” offering ecotourism. One of the homes: Glenfeshie, may be familiar to Netflix viewers as site of “The Crown.”

Glenfeshie, featured in “The Crown,” is now part of an eco-tourism program preserving peatlands. Image: “The Crown,” fair use. With appreciation.

Speaking of royalty, King Charles visited Flow peatland recently to dedicate Scotland’s Flow peat bog as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The program preserves significant world treasures such as the Eiffel Tower and the Place de la Concorde (now hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics), but only 121 landscapes have achieved such recognition. Other landscapes thus protected include the Great Barrier Reef, and Galapagos Islands.

Here is a map of the world’s peatlands. What can you do to help protect these global treasures, so important in our time of climate change? Image: “PeatMap” by Jiren Xu, et al., 2017. Creative Commons 4.0. With appreciation.

Flow Country’s preservation was a 40-year effort: its culmination was coordinated by Rebecca Tanner, whose studies at the University of Manchester in Science Communication resulted in the UNESCO success. If you have access to a peatland, what actions can you take to protect and preserve these landscape treasures, so important in our time of climate change?

Brooke, K. Lusk. “3% for 30%?” 8 March 2024. Building the World Blog. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheowlrd/2024/03/08/energy-peat-3-for-30/

International Peatland Society (IPS). https://peatlands.org

Global Peatlands Initiative. “COP 28 Virtual Peatlands Pavillion.” 2023 https://storage.net-fs.com/hosting/61470bb/18/

Rowlatt, Justin. “Scottish bog gets world heritage status,” 27 July 2024. BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/atticles/cv2gz1p2v12o

UNESCO. “Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.” 1972. https://whc.unesco.org/en/conventiontext/

Ward, Sarah. “King tours peat bog recently given world heritage site status.” Independent. 31 July 2024. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/the-king-royal-society-for-the-protection-of-birds-charles-ian-murray-unesco-b2588839.html

Appreciation to Cherie E. Potts for contributing research to this topic and post.

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

July 26, 2024
by Building The World
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CITIES: Olympian Innovations and Climate Change

“Eiffel Tower” by photographer Tommie Hansen, 2013. Creative Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.

Paris opens the Olympics today. One hundred years ago, in 1924, the city of lights last hosted the world’s games. What has changed? Each Olympic city endeavors to introduce innovations: this summer, many will reflect responses and solutions to climate change.

River Seine from Bercy by photographer Mortimer62, 2010: Creative Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.

Beach volleyball will take place at the foot of the Eiffel Tower ( on a temporary beach of imported sand). Real sand will greet Olympic surfers who will ride the waves in Teahupo’o, Tahiti. For the opening ceremony, athletes will float down the Seine (the city’s mayor swam in the river to prove its cleanliness).

The 1964 Tokyo Olympics featured the new Shinkansen rail transit system -profitable from day one. Image: Shinkansen Series N700a at Mt. Fuji by photographer Maeda Akihito, 2021. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Hosting the Olympics is both a financial danger and an opportunity for upgraded infrastructure. When Tokyo opened the 1964 Olympics, a new transit system debuted. Shinkansen, Japan’s famed train system, was completed just 10 days before. Timing was ideal: the new train line was profitable from day one, according to financial analysis by Japanese historian of technology Hoshimi Uchida. After the Olympics, Shinkansen expanded its reach: in 2022, there were 16,347 miles (27,245 kilometers) of tracks for trains carrying 382 billion passengers.

When Rio de Janeiro hosted the 2016 Olympics, supermodel Gisele Bündchen graced the opening ceremony. Image: Agéncia Brasil, 2016. Creative Commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

But past performance is not a guarantee of future profits. When Tokyo opened the 2020 Olympics (held in 2021 due to the global pandemic) there were no tourists to ride the rails. Hosting was heroic but unprofitable, costing $20 billion. Athens hosted in 2004, building a stadium that not only racked up debt but, some economists state, may have ushered in a financial meltdown. Rio 2016 featured Gisele Bündchen strolling the opening ceremony to “The Girl from Ipanema.” But the city later had to sell off the newly-built Olympic Village at a financial loss. Looking at the numbers from past Olympics, Denver, Colorado bowed out of the running for the 1976 winter Games. Is hosting the Olympics worth it?

Barcelona improved urban infrastructure during its hosting of the Games. Image: “1992 Summer Olympics” logo. Included with appreciation.

Barcelona emerged, in 1992, as a model of success through Olympian planning. New beaches, new transport including rail and a new airport, new telecommunications systems were so effective that a new term in architecture and urban planning emerged: “the Barcelona Effect.” London’s 2012 Olympics proved a new environmental technology: the renovated West Ham tube station offered renewable electricity created by movement of people crossing floors that lighted the entire metro station. Laurence Kemball-Cook, then a graduate student at Loughborough University, designed the technology plan and later formed PaveGen to offer electric floors to offices, hospitals, schools, and other buildings (including dance clubs) with ample foot traffic.

Dominque Perrault, chief architect for the new Olympian facility at Seine-Saint-Denis, also designed the above pictured Hippodrome de Longchamp in Paris. Image: Madeira78, 2018. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Will Paris 2024 be a success? Some see renovations in Seine-Saint-Denis – a cluster of 40 small towns – as a means to improve an area plagued by joblessness and crime. After the Games, the area may emerge reborn as a “mixity” of residential and business activity: 40 architects who worked with central planner Dominique Perrault will see if that vision endures. Some worry displaced residents could return only to be priced out. Sustainability is part of the plan: seats for an aquatic center are made from recycled plastic bottle caps collected by children in Seine-Saint-Denis schools. (Kimmelman 2024)

Among the many innovations Paris will bring to the 2024 Olympics is an underground cooling system that will keep athletes comfortable amid the rising heat levels related to climate change. The water-cooled (recycled) technology, part of the Paris vision to be carbon-neutral by 2050, is based on advanced geothermal technology.

Paris: city of COP21 the “Paris Agreement” and city of the 2024 Olympics. Image: “2015 Climate Conference poster,” public domain. Included with appreciation.

The Paris Olympics 2024 will take place in the same city that achieved the COP21 Paris Agreement; this summer’s Games may set new examples of how cities can respond to climate change for a more sustainable, renewable world.

Will Paris light the way for innovations that cities can adopt in climate change? Paris 2024 Summer Olympics Logo. Included with appreciation

Brooke, K. Lusk. Renewing the World: WATER, 2022. ISBN: 9798985035919. https://renewingtheworld.com

Davidson, Frank P. and K. Lusk Brooke, “Shinkansen – National High-Speed Railways,” Chapter 35, Building the World, Volume II, pages 669 -680, 2006. ISBN: 9780313333743.

Kimmelman, Michael. “Hosting the Olympics costs billions. What does a city get back?” 22 July 2024. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/22/magazne/olympics-city-redevelopment-paris.html

Pavegen.https://www.pavegen.com

Runnerstribe Admin. “Paris Olympics: A Cool Solution to Summer Heat.” 26 March 2024. https://runnerstribe.com/news/paris-olympics-a-cool-solution-to-summer-heat

Shadbolt, Peter. “Future cities may harvest energy from human footsteps” 2014. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2014/12/30/tech/innovation/tomorrow-transformed-energy-harvesting/index.html

July 15, 2024
by Building The World
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ENERGY: Maximizing Minerals Part 3 – Graphite (and Graphene)

Minerals like graphite (and graphene) may be rewriting our energy future. Image: “Electromagnetic induction” animation by Ponor, 2005. Creative Commons 4.0.

Graphite may be one of the answers to the carbon transition. Carbon in its purest crystalline form, graphite is rewriting energy, especially in its related form of graphene. Graphite is basically thousands of layers of graphene. What are these two and why are they named after writing?

If you have ever taken a test or made notes with a pencil, chances are it is No. 2 “lead”. In fact, it is not lead (as was originally thought, hence the name) but made with graphite. Because graphite comes in a variety of options: H markings designate its hardness (2 or even 3 for a harder core) or B for blackness of resultant writing.

Graphite is commonly used in pencils. Some say the pencil was an early enabler of widespread education. Image: “HB pencils” by photographer Dmgerman, 2007. Creative Commons 3.0.

What is graphite and why it is called by that name? Around 1550, in Borrowdale, Cumbria, England, sheep farmers who discovered a large deposit of the mineral found it very effective for marking sheep, identifying those in their herds and flocks.

Graphite was originally used in Borrowdale, England, to write on lambs and sheep. Image: “Sheep, Stodmarsh, Kent, England” by photographer Keven Law, 2008. Creative Commons 2.0.

Writing on sheep soon expanded to centering this new material in casings of wood to be used as a writing instrument. We can credit Abraham Gottlob Werner for coining the term graphite (“writing stone”). Thus was born the pencil. It was so effective at writing, and so abundant in nature (along with wood to encase it), that some historians credit the invention of the pencil with the expansion of public education. No longer would a quill be needed.

Before graphite pencils, quills and ink were needed for writing. Image: “The Bookkeeper” by Philip van Dijk, circa 1725. From Gallery Prince Willem V, The Hague, Netherlands. Creative Commons0 1.0: public domain.

Graphite proved versatile. Resistant to heat, yet malleable, it came to be used in lining molds for cannonballs. It could be fashioned into a crucible, a container for mixing metals at high temperatures. Graphite became so important in England that it was controlled by the Crown.

Cannonballs may not be used in modern warfare, but persist in mythology. Here, Marvel Comics “Cannonball” from X-Men, 2007. Image: fair use. With appreciation to Marvel Comics.

Because graphite is resistant to heat, and also can conduct electricity, it entered a new era in the 1970s for use in batteries. Graphite is an excellent anode (the electrode of a polarized electrical device through which a positive current enters the device). Its partner, the cathode, is where current leaves the device. These words, too, were coined. In 1834, William Whewell and Michael Faraday discussed the need for a name. They decided upon the inspiration of nature, following the path of the sun. Anode was patterned on Greek for “ano = upwards” + “odos = the way” – it was a model of the sun rising. Cathode was from the Greek “kath = down” + “odos = the way.”

Anode and Cathode were named after the rising and setting of the sun. Image: “Sun Animation” by designer Sfls4309pks, 2018. Creative Commons 4.0.

Graphite is a dominant anode material in lithium-ion batteries. Manufacturers of batteries and related applications continue to develop innovations for graphite use. Graphite is so important in industry that more than 60,000 patent applications for graphite technologies were filed in the decade 2011 to 2021: China filed 47,000.

“Lithium cobaltate vs graphite lithium-ion battery schematic” by Sergey WereWolf, 2016. Donated by the graphic artist to the public domain, Creative Commons0 1.0. Included with appreciation.

Generally, graphite is mined. Most comes from China, India, Brazil, Turkey, and North Korea; it was also once mined in the United States. World reserves of graphite can be found in Turkey, China, Brazil, but also Madagascar, Mozambique, Sri Lanka and Tanzania. Purity varies: Sri Lanka has deposits with a purity of 99%. Ride a Sri Lankan graphite mine elevator here.

Graphite Mine in Kmegalle, Sri Lanka, circa 1897. Image from Cassell & Co. This image is in the public domain.

Graphite can also be synthesized: Edward G. Acheson was the first to do so Like many scientific discoveries, it happened by accident. But the patent Acheson received in 1896 opened a new industry for synthetic graphite.

Acheson Process for synthesizing graphite. Image: “Acheson furnace” by graphic artist Quasihuman. Creative Commons 3.0.

Graphite can be recycled, with the resultant powder used to amplify the carbon content of molten steel. Recovering graphite from batteries or lubricants (or the core of nuclear reactors) involves sulfuric acid curing, leaching, and calcination to separate reusable graphite. In current practice, recycling of the cathode part of batteries has been common, but less so the spent anode graphite. But with scarce new resource supply and environmental trends, regneration of spent graphite anodes from electric vehicle batteries will increase (Shang, et al., 2014). The global market for recycled graphite is still small: $45 million in 2021 projected to grow to $110 million by 2031 – maybe much more.

Graphite may be most valuable as the parent source of graphene, which is extracted from the mineral. Graphite is composed of layers with rings of carbon atoms that are spaced in horizontal sheets. Graphene is derived from Some herald graphene as the future of sustainable materials. It is used in applications as diverse as mobile phones and solar panels. It’s pure carbon and it is strong – more than 200 times stronger than steel. And it’s light – five times lighter than aluminum. It has thermal properties, it conducts electricity. In batteries, graphene could increase battery life by 10 times, shorten charging time. Because it is so light, yet powerful, graphene is ideal for batteries that power drones. Because it is heat resistant, graphene could lessen the danger of batteries overheating.

Graphene nanoribbon band structures. Graphic by Saumitra R. Mehrotra and Gerhard Klimeck, at www.nanoHUB.org. Creative Commons 3.0.

So, is graphene the same as graphite? No, but they are related. the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) made the key differentiation. Graphite is three-dimensional. While scientists knew about it, graphene was difficult to isolate. In 2004, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov succeeded at the University of Manchester. In 2010, they received the Nobel Prize in Physics. Their process involved pulling graphene layers from graphite. The Prize noted “groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene.” (Nobel Prize 2010) It should be noted that subsequent discussion revealed the omission of Philip Kim of Columbia University; Geim responded he would gladly have shared the Prize with Kim.

Identification of graphene from graphite merited the Nobel Prize in 2010. Image: “Nobel Medal” by photographer Klaviaturka, 2018. Creative Commons 4.0.

Graphite is the crystalline form of carbon. It comes in three forms: amorphous, flake, and vein. It can be found in coal and shale. Flake carbon has the highest carbon content : 85-98 percent. Vein carbon is rare. but pure carbon up to 99 percent (it is now mined in Sri Lanka). Back in the early days, graphite was burned but in 1779 it was found to emit carbon dioxide under combustion. So, is graphite part of the carbon problem? Perhaps. Graphite is the most stable form of carbon, but it can release carbon emissions during a process called spheroidisation during which carbon flakes are placed in a mechanical process that rounds the particles. It’s a process that improves anode performance, but some flakes are lost and produce emissions. Most carbon emissions associated with graphite, however, come from the carbon-based fossil fuels that power the processes of its manufacturing into products.

“Graphite” by photographer Alchemist hp, 2014. Creative Commons 3.0.

Because it is pure carbon, graphite can become coal, and could theoretically be used as a fuel. But it is so valuable in so many other applications, like batteries, that its future as a fuel is most unlikely and environmentally undesirable. But there is one other high value thing that graphite, under very high pressure and intense heat, could become – a diamond.

A diamond is carbon. Image: “Tacori 2620 Round Diamond” by TQ Diamonds, 2010. Creative Commons 3.0.

Karn, Raushan and Eswara Prasad. “Graphite Recycling Market: 2022 – 2031.” Allied Market Research Report A31811. https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/graphite-recycling-market-A31811

Nobel Prize. “The Nobel Prize in Physics 2010.” https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2010/summary/

Novoselov, K. S. et al., “Electric Field Effect in Atomically Thin Carbon Films.” 22 October 2004, Science, Volume 306, Issue 5696, pages: 666-669. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1102896

Shang, Zhen, et al. “Recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries in view of graphite recovery: A review. 2024. eTransportation, Volume 20, May 2024, 100320. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2590116824000109

Smallman, R. E. (CBE), et al. “Carbon Range.” Modern Physical Metallurgy and Materials Engineering (Sixth Edition), 1999. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/carbon-range

Pencils.com. “What is a No. 2 Pencil?” https://pencils.com/pages/no-2-pencil

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Graphite and its Applications. 2023. ISBN: 978-92-805-3513-6. https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo-pub-1083-en-patent-landscape-report-graphite-and-its-applicatinos.pdf

Zhang, Y, Small, J.P., Pontius, W.V., Kim, P. “Fabrication and electric-field-dependent transport measurements of mesoscopic graphite devices.” Applied Physics Letters. 86 (7): 073104. https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0410314

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U