1 Week, 7 Stories #59
Space news to catch up on, sacrificing the eastern slopes to save Albertans some money, and the fallout from using the Internet as your health professional.
Every edition features 7 stories from the past week. I’ll draw on my background in media, journalism, agriculture, biotech, and renewable energy to come up with an interesting selection and to offer some context.
After skipping an edition there is space news to catch up on, so let’s head out on a space walk.
You can only stand being stuck inside for so long before you need to venture out and get some exercise. Or in the case of NASA astronaut Suni Williams, do some chores. Ms. Williams and Butch Wilmore have been houseguests on the International Space Station since June of last year after their Boeing Starliner capsule was deemed unsafe to take them back to good old planet earth. This was her first space walk since arriving on this trip to the ISS, but she has completed seven other walks in previous visits. Williams and Wilmore are now scheduled to return home in late March or early April — ten months after what was supposed to be a one-week mission.
The good news in our next story is that the booster used in this week’s SpaceX mission made a controlled return to earth and was snagged by the giant mechanical arms, nicknamed “chopsticks”. The bad news is that the rest of the rocket is in little pieces after a “rapid unscheduled disassembly”. In more down-to-earth terms it blew to pieces. It is now an ex-rocket ship. The 123-metre-tall (403 feet) rocket is what Elon Musk is touting as the launch vehicle that will take people to Mars. One can only imagine the euphemism the company will use if a crew ends up scattered about the sky after a failed training mission.
On the success side of the ledger, the New Glenn rocket built by Blue Origin, managed to make it into orbit on January 16th. The mission of the Jeff Bezos (of Amazon fame and fortune) owned company was still not a complete success. The booster was supposed to land safely on a specially designed floating platform but “man, we got close”, said a company spokesman. According to Space.com, each New Glenn rocket booster will be reused 25 times to carry 45 metric tons (50 tons) for public, private, and government customers. They just need to stick the landings.
Dementia cases are on the rise. According to a study in Nature Medicine, the number of cases in the United States will double by 2060. The study was lead by researchers at NYU Langone Health and in a media release attributes much of the increase to the overall aging of the population, but adds that unhealthy diets and lifestyle and underestimating previous numbers were also a factor.
The Alzheimer Society says that by 2030, 1 million people will likely be living with dementia in Canada. Their estimates include roughly 771,339 Canadians already with dementia as of January 1st of this year and in the 2040s, there will be 20,000 people diagnosed with dementia every month. Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta will experience the biggest increases.
In a report from last year, Ontario Health said that in 2020 (statistics lag in this one) the economic toll of dealing with dementia in Canada was $40.1 billion when you factor in indirect costs on family and care partners through lost productivity. Hope you are sitting down for the projected costs for 2050: a 275% growth to $110 billon.
Ongoing research to delay the onset of dementia is vital, because the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis estimates that even a 1 year delay reduces the economic costs by 10% and a 5 year delay will save 42%.
Research is discovering biomarkers and behavioural and social indicators that can detect early signs of dementia and The Guardian this week outlined new drugs and even a vaccine which are showing promise for treatment. If we can spot it sooner and reduce wait times for diagnosis, dementia patients in the future can be better taken care of by a health care system already stretched to the limit.
Of course, Alberta had taxpayers like me in mind when they lifted the ban on new coal exploration on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains this month. Apparently the health impacts of those living in the vicinity of coal mining activity or the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide produced by burning coal are minor in comparison to the lawsuits which could be filed against the province if the industry doesn’t get its way. Never mind that the Government of Alberta has 10 cases going to court at taxpayers expense in its ongoing fight with the federal government over gripes ranging from guns to energy.
In a January 16th letter to the Alberta Energy Regulator, the Province’s Minister of Energy and Minerals said,
“I am directing the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) to lift the suspensions of all approvals that were suspended under Ministerial Orders 054/2021, 093/2021 and 002/2022 and extend the expiry dates of approvals suspended under those orders to account for the period of suspension”.
It was done “quietly” said the Toronto Star, via Ministerial Order with no media release and is meant to “reduce regulatory confusion”. As you can see in the image of Danielle Smith as she spoke from Washington, DC to reporters, she was concerned about the seriously liability the province could be facing, and the decision was taken to make sure that “taxpayers are protected”. The government also said in a statement to CTV that the order to AER amounted to” housekeeping”.
The eastern slopes area covered by the decision amounts to 188,000 hectares according to the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.
Heck of a housekeeping job.
No, not going to let the inauguration of #47 slip by entirely. In his inauguration speech he said the border wall (not finished in his term as #45) would be completed and in a follow-up speech expanded on his plans and mused that the governor of Texas would be saying, “Sir, the wall is going up too fast!”. Whether it will come to pass or whether it will affect immigration I’ll leave to you to dissect over coffee, but one concern generally not discussed is how the existing segment of wall and possible expansion affects wildlife. The 3,200km (2,000 miles) U.S / Mexico border is home to more than just people or immigration activity, it is prime habitat for large animals such as bears, pronghorns, jaguars, and wetland species living along the Rio Grande.
A story this week in The Guardian says the 720 kms (450 miles) that were completed broke up wildlife corridors, fragmented ecosystems, and has harmed biodiversity. One ecologist quoted in the article referred to the damage done as an “absolute travesty and a disaster for border wildlife”. Animals are not very handy with ladders or tools so instead of being an insurmountable human barrier, animals larger than a jackrabbit are the ones out of luck. Hilltops have been dynamited and other areas graded which exacerbates the damage to ecosystems located on federal land. Jaguars have been hunted close to extinction in the U.S, but their comeback will come to a shuddering halt if the new administration continues to build, baby, build.
In June of 2023, Parliament passed the Online News Act (ONA) which was drafted to ensure compensation for news organizations whenever their content was re-used on other platforms. Google is the example used most often because it makes billions of dollars in ad revenue by scooping up news and news links and serving it up every time users type in a search term. Globally, Google’s ad revenue is almost $238 billion U.S. dollars. Google and Facebook (Meta) control 80+ percent of the digital ad revenue in Canada and when the ONA came into force, they had very different responses. Meta chose to block news links in Canada and Google opted to enter into the compensation option offered by the Act. It agreed to pump $100 million CDN annually into the non-profit Canadian Journalism Collective to distribute to Canadian news businesses. The first distribution of those funds will be complete by the end of this month.
CBC is set to receive about $7 million from the fund and says it will be adding staff in 22 communities with a focus on Western Canada. In a blog post, Brodie Fenlon, general manager and editor in chief of CBC News outlined those jobs. One and two person bureaus in underserved locations such as the Peace Region in B.C., a new position in Yellowknife to cover communities Old Crow and Sachs Harbour, expanding the Fort McMurray bureau, and a travelling journalist based in northern New Brunswick are a few examples of what we will see and hear.
Canadian print and digital media will receive 63% of the total fund, CBC 7%, and other broadcasters the remaining 30%. Not everyone is happy with the distribution. There was an open call for proposals and the Collective has promised the funding round will be completed by the end of January. However, considering the amount at stake and that the organization is a collection of journalists and media organizations it has an inadequate website with precious little information available.
Stay tuned!
Meanwhile, back at the frontlines of Internet search.
A survey released by the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) this week contained some troubling numbers on how we decide the best ways to take care of ourselves. For a start most of us are either highly susceptible (43%) or moderately susceptible (35%) to health misinformation. The result is more than a third of Canadians says they “avoided effective health treatments due to false information”.
In a Globe & Mail story (should be a free link, if not please let me know) the president of the CMA attributes the growing problem to an increasing lack of access to doctors or health professionals and a crisis of misinformation. While there still seems to be a high level of trust in doctors, if a significant number of people cannot get an appointment quickly, the Internet becomes the option of choice. If that information proves to be of no value or results in an adverse reaction, anxiety goes up as well. The survey also found a generational gap as more younger people turn to social media for answers.
The Lancet didn’t mince words in an editorial last week about misinformation and disinformation. It said the problem is more than a nuisance and is a societal threat that can seriously undermine public health. The CMA survey data would seem it support that idea. The Lancet also took a poke at Facebook and its decision to end fact-checking. Meta said instead of fact checking it would rely on the “community” to correct errors, but as many surveys have shown, we have a tough time separating misinformation, disinformation, and downright bafflegab.
As one of the health experts ABC News interviewed said in this story about health misinformation, “ … we do see people trying to leverage health [misinformation], in particular, toward a political end…”.
Dr. Google it seems, is not the answer.
The final story for this edition is a story about stories, and a tweak to 1 Week, 7 Stories.
Back in my University days when I wanted to change the world with music, writing, and a dash of rock n’ roll all held together with a dollop of idealism, Chris de Burgh released his album, Spanish Train and Other Stories. It was his second album and was a relative success. Some critics and fans consider it his best and I was among that group. I bought it on vinyl when it came out and believed that the “stories” part of the album title was key to its success. The songs told a story if you just closed your eyes and listened.
When I suddenly found myself “retired” last year, I thought it was time to do what I considered doing back in that less than academic phase of my time n university. Turn each one of the songs into a story.
Songs and stories are quite different beasts. One relies on music, musicians, and imagery. The other needs imagery but it does not have a voice, let alone a rock band backing it up. Music can evoke emotions across language and cultural barriers. Putting a tale down on paper or electronic ink requires a different approach to get the job done.
Turning the 11 songs on the album into 11 different stories was a challenge. I wanted to make sure each story stood on its own even if you were not familiar with the album or Chris de Burgh. I took it on as a creative exercise and one that I hoped would bring back my creative edge.
Over the next few months, 1 Week, 7 Stories will alternate between its usual format and a new one of those short stories. You’ll have to subscribe to the stories (free) on Substack if you want to receive them automatically, but the alternating LinkedIn newsletter will include a teaser and a link to the most recent story.
The first short story from Media Margins will drop on February 8th. Hope you enjoy and share.
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I’m available for contract and freelance work with not-for-profits and charities. With 40 years of experience behind me and lots of time ahead of me, I’m here to help you make a difference in your media relations, public relations, and general communications needs.