Page 5 - August 2022 News On 7

BELOVED MONARCH BUTTERFLIES NOW LISTED AS ENDANGERED
Courtesy of City News Toronto
The monarch butterfly fluttered a step closer to extinction Thursday, as scientists put the iconic orange-and-black insect
on the endangered list because of its fast dwindling numbers. “It’s just a devastating decline,” said Stuart Pimm, an ecologist
at Duke University who was not involved in the new listing. “This is one of the most recognizable butterflies in the world.”
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) added the migrating monarch butterfly for the first time to
its “red list” of threatened species and categorized it as “endangered” — two steps from extinct. “Today’s Red List update
highlights the fragility of nature’s wonders, such as the unique spectacle of monarch butterflies migrating across thousands
of kilometres,” said IUCN Director General Dr. Bruno Oberle.
“To preserve the rich diversity of nature we need effective, fairly governed protected and conserved areas, alongside
decisive action to tackle climate change and restore ecosystems. In turn, conserving biodiversity supports communities by
providing essential services such as food, water and sustainable jobs.” The IUCN estimates the population of monarch
butterflies in North America has declined between 22 per cent and 72 per cent over 10 years, depending on the
measurement method.
“What we’re worried about is the rate of decline,” said Nick Haddad, a conservation biologist at
Michigan State University. “It’s very easy to imagine how very quickly this butterfly could
become even more imperiled.”
Haddad, who was not directly involved in the listing, estimates that the population of monarch
butterflies he studies in the eastern United States has declined between 85 per cent and 95 per
cent since the 1990s. In North America, millions of monarch butterflies undertake the longest
migration of any insect species known to science.
After wintering in the mountains of central Mexico, the butterflies migrate to the north, breeding multiple generations along
the way for thousands of miles. The offspring that reach southern Canada then begin the trip back to Mexico at the end of
summer. “It’s a true spectacle and incites such awe,” said Anna Walker, a conservation biologist at New Mexico BioPark
Society, who was involved in determining the new listing. A smaller group spends winters in coastal California, then
disperses in spring and summer across several states west of the Rocky Mountains. This population has seen an even more
precipitous decline than the eastern monarchs, although there was a small bounce back last winter. To read more go to:
https://toronto.citynews.ca/2022/07/21/monarch-butterflies-endangered/

BIG PIT ENERGY: AN OLD MINE COULD BRING RENEWABLES AND NEW LIFE TO AN EASTERN ONTARIO TOWN

There’s a pit in the small eastern Ontario town of Marmora that could nearly swallow Toronto’s financial district. Narrow
roadways ring around its edges, rising up from the bottom where hundreds of thousands of tons of iron ore was extracted.
The pit fills naturally with cool cyan water that draws in tourists, occasionally enticing trespassers to take a dive. Now, the
former open-pit mine offers an opportunity for hydroelectric energy production and — perhaps even more exciting —
storage of fleeting renewable energy. And a lot of it.
“The horseshoe at Niagara Falls would cover maybe a third of this, you’d probably have to wrap it around four-to-five times,”
says John Wright, director of business development at Northland Power. His company is hoping to work with Ontario Power
Generation to transform the site. “That’s why you can store so much energy: it’s massive, it’s just massive.” The former iron
ore mine altered the landscape in Marmora, Ont., creating a new elevation and a new depth.
The pit left from the former Marmoraton mine is 850 metres long, 450 metres wide and 213 metres deep. A few years ago,
back in the financial district, Wright gave a presentation on the site’s green energy potential, on the 45th floor of the
Scotiabank Plaza. If that building were seated in Marmora’s pit, he told the audience, gazing out the window at the city below,
they’d all be looking up at waste rock cliffs.
In 2011, Northland first proposed converting the former Marmoraton site so it could do two things: generate hydroelectricity
and become a battery. The second would be done using a process called “pumped storage” in which excess renewable energy
pumps water into a reservoir — in that way, charging it — so it can be released to generate hydroelectricity when needed. In
the next year, Wright says, he hopes to get the go-ahead from the government of Ontario to move on with environmental
assessments and various permits.
To read more go to: https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-marmora-mine-pumped-storage/