Latest news with #EdinburghUniversity
Arab News
a day ago
- Science
- Arab News
Clearing Gaza war rubble could release 90K tonnes of greenhouse gases: study
LONDON: Rubble in Gaza caused by Israeli bombardment could cause more than 90,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, a study has suggested. Research using open-source data published in the journal Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability suggested that about 39 million tonnes of concrete debris had been created between the start of the war in October 2023 to December a year later. It added that 2.1 million truck journeys spanning a total of 29.5 million km would be needed to move it, generating about 66,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. Researchers at the universities of Oxford and Edinburgh based their findings on two scenarios, one which assumed 80 percent of the debris was viable for crushing, which with a fleet of 50 industrial machines would take more than half a year and add a further 2,976 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Using the same number of local, smaller crushers could take up to 37 years to complete the task, and generate 25,149 tonnes. The longer the task took, the researchers said, the more additional emissions would be produced, adding that the model did not account for additional emissions caused by other substances left in the enclave such as asbestos, as well as unexploded ordnance. It is believed that about 90 percent of homes in Gaza, as well as a significant proportion of its infrastructure, have been destroyed by Israeli strikes. 'The CO2 emissions from clearing and processing the rubble may seem small compared to the total climate cost of the destruction in Gaza, but our micro-focus unpacks the labor and work required to even begin the process of reconstruction,' said Samer Abdelnour, the study's lead author and senior lecturer in strategic management at the University of Edinburgh Business School. 'While filling the military emissions gap is important, our work can also support Palestinian policymakers, civil engineers, planners and other workers on the ground who are determined to reclaim what was lost, stay on the land and rebuild.' Nicholas Roy, a statistical science student at Oxford University and co-author of the study, said: 'Looking ahead, finer spatial and temporal resolution of satellite images, advances in deep learning for building and damage classification, and methods that integrate information from different perspectives — such as street-level cellphone footage and top-down satellite images — open new opportunities to estimate military emissions across different scopes and better understand the true climate cost of war.' The carbon footprint of global military activity is estimated at about 5.5 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions — more than civil aviation and international shipping combined. The Gulf region in particular is uniquely vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Ben Neimark, a senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London investigating the climate impact of Israeli military activity, told The Guardian: 'The methodological focus on debris is cutting-edge work, highlighting often-missed environmental damage left by militaries after the war is over. It provides a fresh look at the daily images of bombed-out buildings and rubble from Gaza, rather than seeing them as longer-term climate impacts of war.' In June, Neimark's work estimated that the impacts of Israel's war in Gaza could release more than 31 million tonnes of CO2. Stuart Parkinson, executive director of Scientists for Global Responsibility, told The Guardian: 'Militaries and war are large and hidden contributors to the climate crisis … it is important to include the full range of activities from production of the military equipment to fuel use during warfighting, from the damage to carbon stores like forests to cleanup efforts and reconstruction following the end of the war. This study adds to this bigger picture of war-related emissions.'
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Science
- The Guardian
Clearing Gaza rubble could yield 90,000 tonnes of planet-heating emissions
Millions of tonnes of rubble left by Israel's bombardment of Gaza could generate more than 90,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions – and take as long as four decades to remove and process, a study has found. Israel's destruction of Palestinian homes, schools and hospitals in Gaza generated at least 39m tonnes of concrete debris between October 2023 and December 2024, which will require at least 2.1m dump trucks driving 18m miles (29.5m km) to transport to disposal sites, researchers said. Just clearing the rubble is on par with driving 737 times the Earth's circumference, and would generate almost 66,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), according to researchers at the universities of Edinburgh and Oxford, who used evolving open-source tools in remote sensing to detect and analyse conflict-related emissions. The study, published in the journal Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability, is part of a growing movement to account for the climate and environmental costs of war and occupation, including the long-term damage to land, food and water sources, as well as post-conflict cleanup and reconstruction. It is the most detailed examination so far of the carbon and logistical toll of dealing with debris – which in Gaza conceals thousands of unidentified human remains, toxins such as asbestos and unexploded ordnance. Researchers looked at two scenarios to calculate the speed and climate impact of processing the uncontaminated debris – which could then be used to help reconstruct the razed Palestinian territory. Assuming 80% of the debris is viable for crushing, a fleet of 50 industrial jaw crushers, which appear never to have been permitted in Gaza, would take just over six months and generate about 2,976 tonnes of CO2e, the study found. But it would take a fleet of 50 smaller crushers, the type primarily used in Gaza, more than 37 years to process the rubble, generating about 25,149 tonnes of CO2e. In this scenario, the CO2 generated by moving and crushing the debris from Gaza's destroyed buildings would be on a par with charging 7.3bn mobile phones. The longer the contaminated debris remains in situ, the more damage it will do to the air, water and health of the 2 million Palestinians who have now been displaced, starved and bombarded for 21 months. 'The CO2 emissions from clearing and processing the rubble may seem small compared to the total climate cost of the destruction in Gaza, but our micro focus unpacks the labour and work required to even begin the process of reconstruction,' said Samer Abdelnour, lead author and senior lecturer in strategic management at the University of Edinburgh Business School. 'While filling the military emissions gap is important, our work can also support Palestinian policymakers, civil engineers, planners and other workers on the ground who are determined to reclaim what was lost, stay on the land and rebuild,' said Abdelnour, a Palestinian Canadian. Commenting on the study, Ben Neimark, senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London who leads a team researching the total climate cost of Israel's recent conflicts, said: 'The methodological focus on debris is cutting-edge work, highlighting often-missed environmental damage left by militaries after the war is over. It provides a fresh look at the daily images of bombed-out buildings and rubble from Gaza, rather than seeing them as longer-term climate impacts of war.' Gaza is a 25-mile strip of land, only twice the size of Washington DC at 141 square miles (365 sq km). More than 90% of homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, in addition to the vast majority of schools, clinics, mosques and infrastructure. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion The current analysis merges open-source data on building surface area, height, structural damage and road network topology to estimate debris distribution across Gaza – and then calculate the carbon cost of processing and transporting that debris during reconstruction, according to Nicholas Roy, co-author of the study who compiled the data and conducted the analysis. 'Looking ahead, finer spatial and temporal resolution of satellite images, advances in deep learning for building and damage classification, and methods that integrate information from different perspectives – such as street-level cellphone footage and top-down satellite images – open new opportunities to estimate military emissions across different scopes and better understand the true climate cost of war,' said Roy, an MSc statistical science student at Oxford University. Burning fossil fuels is causing climate chaos, with increasingly deadly and destructive extreme weather events forcing record numbers of people to migrate. The Gulf region is among the most vulnerable to extreme weather and slow-onset climate disasters including drought, desertification, extreme heat and erratic rainfall, as well as environmental degradation, food insecurity and water shortages. The total military carbon footprint is estimated at about 5.5% of global emissions – excluding greenhouse gases from conflict and war fighting. This is more than the combined contribution of civilian aviation (2%) and shipping (3%). Researchers are attempting to calculate the climate costs being generated in two of the most deadly conflicts currently – Russia's war in Ukraine and Israel's military assaults in Gaza and the broader Middle East – that could eventually help calculate claims for reparations. In June, a study led by Neimark found that the long-term climate cost of destroying, clearing and rebuilding Gaza could top 31m tonnes of CO2e. This is more than the combined 2023 annual greenhouse gases emitted by Costa Rica and Estonia – yet there is no obligation for states to report military emissions to the UN climate body. Stuart Parkinson, executive director of Scientists for Global Responsibility, said: 'Militaries and war are large and hidden contributors to the climate crisis … It is important to include the full range of activities from production of the military equipment to fuel use during war fighting, from the damage to carbon stores like forests to cleanup efforts and reconstruction following the end of the war. This study adds to this bigger picture of war-related emissions.' The Israeli government did not respond.
Scotsman
2 days ago
- Politics
- Scotsman
Voting at 16 can make elections a habit
Sixteen and 17 year olds in Scotland have been able to vote in Holyrood and council elections for more than a decade. And thanks to last week's announcement by the UK Government, that will now be extended to Westminster elections too. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... It's a logical move and fulfils a Labour election pledge, but UK-wide polls suggest nearly half voters oppose it, so the case will have to be made again. Scotland introduced votes at 16 for the 2014 independence referendum and then extended it to Scottish Parliament and council elections. Those who first got the vote at 16 were more likely to vote in subsequent elections, researchers found Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The year after the referendum, a study found 16 and 17 year-olds in Scotland were more engaged with politics - researching issues, taking part in demonstrations, signing petitions and engaging with elected representatives - than people of the same age elsewhere in the UK. Sadly, the effect did not seem to last. Research by Edinburgh University academics in the context of the last Scottish Parliament elections in 2021 concluded that the lowering of the voting age had not led to any long-term increase in political engagement among young people. But what did last was an increased likelihood of turning out to vote. The research by Jan Eichhorn and Christine Hübner found those who first became entitled to vote at 16 were more likely to turn out at the 2021 election than those who were first able to vote at 18 or older. And this applied not only to those who first got the vote at the referendum, but also those who became eligible at subsequent elections. The researchers say: "This suggests a lasting positive effect of being allowed to vote from 16 on young people's voter turnout as they grow up." Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Opponents will claim that at 16 people are not mature enough to vote. The same argument was made when the voting age was reduced from 21 to 18 in 1969. Indeed, the Speaker's Conference, a cross-party body looking at election rules, recommended only reducing it to 20. But the Labour government had already accepted another committee's recommendations to lower the age of majority to 18, so decided the voting age should follow suit. The latest change will bring England into line with Scotland and Wales, which also has votes at 16 for Senedd and council elections. The next challenge is to increase citizenship education, give young people more opportunities for genuine engagement and show them it can make a difference.
Scotsman
3 days ago
- Politics
- Scotsman
Edinburgh MP Christine Jardine calls for Gaza students and researchers to be given safe passage to Scotland
Edinburgh West Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine has called on the UK Government to take action to ensure the safe passage of students and researchers from Gaza due to come to Edinburgh University. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... She said the UK visa centre in Gaza had been closed since 2023, meaning the scholars were unable to apply for visas and had no safe way to reach Edinburgh. She has written to the Foreign Office, asking for steps to be taken to ensure they can get here. Ms Jardine said: 'France and Ireland have worked to enable the safe passage of scholars from Gaza who hold offers of admission at various universities in their countries, and it is vital the UK Government gets similar structures in place. Christine Jardine said she had personal experience of how social media can quickly turn nasty Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It goes without saying it will be life changing for offer holders to leave Gaza safely and quickly, and begin their studies or fellowships at one of this country's many world-leading universities. 'I have asked the UK Government what steps they are taking to ensure those in Gaza who have been accepted to Edinburgh University get the help they need to travel here as soon as possible.' In her letter, Ms Jardine said she had been contacted by the university on the issue. She wrote: 'I am aware the governments of France and Ireland have recently coordinated with the Israeli government to enable the safe passage of scholars from Gaza who hold offers of admission at various universities in their countries. 'It is vital we do what we can to support safe passage of those who wish to study and contribute to our institutions.'
Scotsman
16-07-2025
- Health
- Scotsman
Scotsman Obituaries: Nancy Blaik MBE, charity volunteer who helped found first children's hospice in Scotland
Nancy Blaik MBE, charity volunteer. Born: 30 May 1936. Died: 10 May 2025, aged 88 Sign up to our History and Heritage newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Nancy Blaik was a prolific charity volunteer from Edinburgh and a driving force behind the creation of Scotland's first children's hospice in the 1990s. Nancy died from pneumonia, after living her final years with the progressive neurodegenerative disorder, Lewy Body Dementia. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Born in Wallyford, East Lothian, to Agnes and Angus Geekie, Nancy had two siblings, Christina and James, both of whom predeceased her. Nancy Blaik with her beloved son Daniel Growing up near Canonmills, Edinburgh, where she went to school, Nancy entered employment at 15, working as an office assistant in the National Farmers Union. She later became a highly skilled audio typist in the Medical Microbiology Dept of Edinburgh University. Despite a difficult start in life due to deprivation and wartime family stress, Nancy, who was blind from childhood, achieved so much in working for others. In 1977 Nancy welcomed her son Daniel into the world. Unfortunately, at the age of two Daniel was diagnosed with, and profoundly disabled by, the metabolic disease Leighs Encephalopathy, a severe, progressive, neurological disorder which meant he could move only his eyes and mouth. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad As a result, Nancy took on the role of Daniel's full-time carer throughout his childhood. Shortly after Daniel's diagnosis Nancy became involved with, and actively raised funds for, a small charity called Children Living with Inherited Metabolic Diseases (CLIMB). It was through CLIMB that she became aware of Martin House children's hospice in Yorkshire, which she started visiting with Daniel and her husband Jack for respite. In 1988, Nancy and Jack got together with other parents who regularly travelled the hundreds of miles from Scotland to Martin House for care and respite for their seriously ill children to discuss the logistics of opening such a facility closer to home. So passionate were Nancy and her group to achieve this that in September 1991 they held their first public meeting in Edinburgh University and less than six months later a group was formally incorporated, becoming the registered charity that is known today as Children's Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS). Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Nancy never let herself be held back by her vision loss, and her dedication and commitment to the charitable causes close to her heart led to her being named Disabled Scot of the Year in 1991. In the years that followed Nancy played a key role in raising the £10 million needed to build the first CHAS children's hospice. Thanks to a major appeal from the Daily Record which attracted many generous donations from the Scottish public and other sources, the dream of Nancy and many others for a children's hospice in Scotland was eventually realised in 1996 when Rachel House opened its doors in Kinross. Daniel enjoyed 13 wonderful years of visiting Rachel House with Nancy and Jack before he sadly died in 2009, aged 31, long outliving the prognosis of a few years given when he was aged two. Before and after his death, Nancy remained active in raising funds for CHAS and she received an MBE for her work as a Founding Director of CHAS in 1997. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Over the last three decades Nancy's legacy has helped CHAS to ensure no family faces the death of their child alone, providing unwavering care and support to thousands of families in its two hospices, Rachel House in Kinross and Robin House in Balloch (which opened in 2005), in hospitals or at home – giving children and families the gift of choice in their palliative care journeys. Alongside her work at CHAS, Nancy inspired the creation of Leith Home Start, a support service in Edinburgh, and she was also an active and dedicated fundraiser for RNIB and Guide Dogs for the Blind. Other notable achievements of Nancy's included being a participant in the Lothian Birth Cohorts 1936 research group study run by the University of Edinburgh. She also featured in a BBC Scotland programme in the Focal Point series in 1988 entitled 'Nancy's Story', which was about her life as a fundraising powerhouse and about the life of Daniel also. In her later years Nancy became profoundly disabled herself by Lewy Body Dementia and was cared for by her devoted husband Jack and a small team of personal assistants, who made her life as active and as independent as it could be, in her own home and community of 50 years. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Jack followed in Nancy's footsteps 25 years after her good example by being awarded an OBE in the 2025 New Years Honours list for services in support of the Independent Living Fund Scotland. Jack said: 'I was 25 years well behind but in eventually catching up with Nancy she was the proof that women are invariably a good influence on men. Nancy was much loved by many, not least by Daniel and I.' CHAS CEO Rami Okasha also paid tribute to Nancy, saying: 'Nancy was a true inspiration for many staff and families at CHAS. She had a clear ambition for what CHAS should offer young people, children and their families. She showed true commitment and spoke with real passion, holding true to her values over many years. 'Nancy, along with the other founders, had the vision of what palliative care for babies and children could look like, along with strong determination, resilience and courage to turn their vision into a reality. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "With love and compassion, their mission has led to CHAS now offering unwavering care to children who may die young and to their families, at every step on this hardest of journeys, in hospices, hospitals and in their homes.' Nancy Blaik's legacy will forever live on in all the valuable work of CHAS in supporting children with life-shortening conditions and their families right across Scotland. Obituaries
