data_id
int64 1
1.12M
| id
stringlengths 32
138
| date
timestamp[s] | source
stringlengths 2
24
| title
stringlengths 12
203
| content
stringlengths 32
65.4k
⌀ | author
stringlengths 2
242
⌀ | url
stringlengths 27
244
| published
stringlengths 14
32
| published_utc
int64 1.55B
1.58B
| collection_utc
int64 1.57B
1.58B
| category_level_1
stringclasses 17
values | category_level_2
stringlengths 3
42
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1,026,251 | thetorontostar--2019-06-25--New estimate for an oil leak a thousand times worse than rig owner says | 2019-06-25T00:00:00 | thetorontostar | New estimate for an oil leak: a thousand times worse than rig owner says | WASHINGTON—A new federal study has found that an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico that began more than 14 years ago has been releasing as much as 4,500 gallons a day, not 3 or 4 gallons a day as the rig owner has claimed. The leak, about 12 miles off the Louisiana coast, began in 2004 when a Taylor Energy Co. oil platform sank during Hurricane Ivan and a bundle of undersea pipes ruptured. Oil and gas have been seeping from the site ever since. Taylor Energy, which sold its assets in 2008, is fighting a federal order to stop the leak. The company asserts that the leaking has been slight — between 2.4 and 4 gallons per day. Oil plumes from the seafloor, Taylor executives have said, are from oil-soaked sediment that has formed around the platform, and any gas rising from the bottom is the natural product of living organisms. “The results of this study contradict these conclusions,” the report, issued Monday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Florida State University, concluded. Using sonar technology and a newly developed method of analyzing oil and gas bubbles rising through the water, scientists determined that the plumes are the result of oil and gas released from multiple wells. They also found that as many as 108 barrels of oil, or just over 4,500 gallons, have spilled into the Gulf each day as a result of the episode. “While it is feasible that the heavily oiled sediments in and around the erosional pit could be contributing to oil in the water column, the chemical nature and volume of oil and gas measured precludes sediments from currently being the major source of oil to the marine environment,” the report says. The researchers also noted that their findings indicated lower levels of leakage than a handful of other recent estimates. Government attorneys in a federal court filing last year, for example, estimated that up to 30,000 gallons were leaking daily from the destroyed wells. The study comes as the Trump administration works to roll back a key offshore-drilling safety regulation that was put in place after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. That disaster, the worst oil spill in U.S. history, killed 11 people and released an estimated 4.9 million barrels into the sea. The administration also has moved to significantly expand offshore drilling in U.S. waters. Last year, the Interior Department proposed opening almost the country’s entire coastline to drilling, although that plan now faces delays while court challenges are addressed. The Taylor Energy spill had remained largely out of the national spotlight until researchers monitoring satellite images of the Deepwater Horizon zone noticed “persistent oil slicks that appeared unrelated to the 2010 spill,” according to the report. Taylor Energy said in a statement that it had not been able to study the underlying data in the new government report and that the company wanted “verifiable scientific data about the leak and a scientifically and environmentally sound solution.” Daniel Jacobs, an associate professor of management at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles who wrote BP Blowout: Inside the Gulf Oil Disaster, said the findings showed that the Trump administration “should be treading lightly” on its aggressive efforts in favour of drilling. “This is an unresolved, ongoing leak 14 years later,” Jacobs said. “This is yet another indication that we are not ready to expand offshore drilling.” | Lisa Friedman - The New York Times | https://www.thestar.com/news/world/us/2019/06/25/new-estimate-for-an-oil-leak-a-thousand-times-worse-than-rig-owner-says.html | 2019-06-25 23:55:58+00:00 | 1,561,521,358 | 1,567,538,236 | environment | natural resources |
1,029,409 | thetorontostar--2019-10-09--Brazil minister says oil on beaches likely from Venezuela | 2019-10-09T00:00:00 | thetorontostar | Brazil minister says oil on beaches likely from Venezuela | RIO DE JANEIRO - The oil that has been polluting Brazil’s northeastern beaches since early September is likely coming from Venezuela, according to a report by Brazil’s state oil company cited by the country’s environment minister. The oil sludge has now reached 61 municipalities in nine Brazilian states, contaminating over 130 beaches — a disaster that Brazilian officials called “unheard of.” The oil “very probably comes from Venezuela, as says the Petrobras study,” Brazilian environment minister Ricardo Salles told members of the lower house of Congress’ environmental commission. Salles said the oil was transported on a foreign boat navigating close to the Brazilian coast, but he stressed that the cause of the spill remained unknown. As of late Monday, authorities had retrieved over 130 tons of sludge, which has killed at least 10 turtles. Brazil’s environmental protection agency said that could just be small fraction of the oil spilled, noting there are some 2,000 kilometres (about 1,242 miles) of coastal line to monitor. Environmental experts fear that the oil has come into contact with many more marine animals and that it will damage coral and marine life. Studies are underway. “In such cases of emergency, it is fundamental to identify the source, and then try and mitigate contamination,” said Marcelo Amorim, who is part of the environmental agency’s emergency co-ordination unit. Speaking from the state of Sergipe, one of the hardest hit, Amorim said there was no way to know how much more oil could make its way to Brazil’s shores. Sergipe authorities declared a state of emergency and recommended that swimmers as well as fishermen stay away from polluted beaches. Testifying in congress Tuesday, Petrobras president Roberto Castello Branco called the oil spills a “very worrying disaster” with no signs of receding. Officials say the oil has been particularly hard to track as it floats under the surface of the water and can’t be easily detected from planes. Clouds in the area have also limited the use of satellites images, Amorim said. Brazil’s navy is in charge of the investigation into the origin of the oil spills, while the federal police force is looking into possible criminal charges. Petrobras has been helping authorities in their investigations, examining oil samples and cleaning up beaches. | Diane Jeantet - The Associated Press | https://www.thestar.com/news/world/americas/2019/10/09/brazil-minister-points-finger-to-venezuela-in-oil-spills.html | Wed, 9 Oct 2019 17:36:52 EDT | 1,570,657,012 | 1,570,658,765 | environment | natural resources |
1,030,376 | thetorontostar--2019-11-19--California puts brakes on fracking permits in oil crackdown | 2019-11-19T00:00:00 | thetorontostar | California puts brakes on fracking permits in oil crackdown | SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California Gov. Gavin Newsom cracked down on oil producers Tuesday, halting approval of hundreds of fracking permits until independent scientists can review them and temporarily banning new wells using another drilling method that regulators believe is linked to one of the largest spills in state history. The state Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources announced it will not approve new wells that use high-pressure steam to extract oil from underground. It’s the type of process Chevron uses at an oil field in the Central Valley that leaked more than 1.3 million gallons (4.9 million litres) of oil and water this summer. That process is different from fracking, which uses water and other chemicals at high pressure to extract oil. California has 263 pending fracking permits but has not approved any of them since July. That’s when Newsom fired California’s top oil and gas regulator after learning the state had increased fracking permits by 35% since he took office in January, angering environmental groups. Newsom, a Democrat, called the crackdown necessary to strengthen the state’s oversight of oil and gas extraction “as we phase out our dependence on fossil fuels and focus on clean energy sources.” “This transition cannot happen overnight; it must advance in a deliberate way to protect people, our environment and our economy,” Newsom said. California has been a leader on environmental issues, with Newsom’s Democratic predecessor, Jerry Brown, making climate change his signature effort. Brown was criticized for failing to ban fracking or oil drilling, arguing that the state needed to tackle demand before moving on to supply. The oil industry called Newsom’s changes “disappointing,” with the Western States Petroleum Association saying California’s environmental regulations already lead the world. “Every barrel delayed or not produced in this state will only increase imports from more costly foreign sources that do not share our environmental safety standards,” group president Catherine Reheis-Boyd. California is one of the top five states for oil production, producing more than 161 million barrels last year. Fracking occurs in some of the state’s largest oil fields, mostly in the Central Valley. The steam method is less prevalent but accounted for 8 million barrels of the state’s oil production in 2018, according to the Department of Conservation. But regulators believe it is linked to the oil spill at a Chevron well that began in May. It was the largest oil spill in California since 1990, when a tanker unleashed more than 400,000 gallons (1.5 million litres) of crude oil off the coast of Huntington Beach. But despite its size, the Chevron spill has had minimal effects on the environment. The oil spilled into a dry creek bed, and the company cleaned it up before rains could wash it into fresh water. It also did not significantly harm wildlife, with just a “handful of birds” needing to be euthanized, according to Jason Marshall, chief deputy director of the California Department of Conservation. A second well at the oil field about 35 miles (55 kilometres) west of Bakersfield has been leaking intermittently since 2003. State officials ordered Chevron to stop the leak in April, and the company has been making progress, Marshall said. Regulators have fined the energy giant $2.7 million for the leaks. A Chevron spokeswoman referred comment to the Western States Petroleum Association, whose leader said, “There is nothing more important than the health and safety of the communities where the women and men of our industry work, live and raise their families.“ The moratorium will be in place while two national laboratories — Lawrence Livermore and Sandia — study the high-pressure steam process to see what regulations, if any, can make it safer. Other wells in California use the steam method and have not had any spills. “These oil leaks cannot be the cost of doing business,” California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said. “There needs to be a clear trajectory to eliminate them. Not reduce them in number, but fully eliminate them.” The moratorium will not affect existing wells, which will be assessed individually. Some existing wells have been using high-pressure steam for so long that stopping it could weaken the geology and cause more spills, Crowfoot said. Officials said they would seek an independent audit of California’s permitting process for fracking and other types of oil extraction. In July, advocacy groups Consumer Watchdog and FracTracker revealed the state’s fracking permits had doubled during the first six months of Newsom’s administration. The groups said that of those permits, 45% benefited companies where state officials owned stock. Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, called Newsom’s new orders “an important step toward reining in the most high risk extraction techniques.” “The ultimate test of his tenure for climate change and the public will be simple math about how many fewer permits are issued and how many existing wells are closed,” Court said. “Net zero wells should be his goal.” | Adam Beam - The Associated Press | https://www.thestar.com/news/world/us/2019/11/19/california-halts-fracking-permits-in-oil-producer-crackdown.html | Tue, 19 Nov 2019 18:25:45 EST | 1,574,205,945 | 1,574,208,169 | environment | natural resources |
235,919 | hitandrun--2019-08-28--Forget the Amazon Fires State-Sanctioned Deforestation Is the Bigger Problem | 2019-08-28T00:00:00 | hitandrun | Forget the Amazon Fires. State-Sanctioned Deforestation Is the Bigger Problem. | "Amazon burning at record rate" and variations of the same headline have run on CNN, The Hill, Time, UPI, and The Daily Beast during the last week. Reacting to the dire news reports, French President Emmanuel Macron declared, "The Amazon forest is a subject for the whole planet." He added, "We cannot allow you to destroy everything." At the urging of Macron, the G7 countries meeting in Biarritz, France, offered a $20 million aid package to help fight the fires. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro initially rejected the aid, but now says that his country may accept it if Macron withdraws his "insults." Celebrities also rushed to help. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio's Earth Alliance pledged $5 million to aid various Brazilian nonprofits associated with indigenous peoples in protecting the Amazon rain forest. Good for him. Helping indigenous folks to assert and protect their property rights is certainly a worthy goal. So why are there so many fires burning now in the Amazon region? Chiefly, because local farmers and ranchers have set them to control pests and weeds and to encourage new growth, according to University of Maryland geographer Matthew Hansen. The increase in fires every August to October coincides with the season when farmers begin planting soybean and corn. "The first thing is that they're not wildfires. Almost all of the fires have been set, so they're anthropogenic in origin. A minority are actually in the rainforest," explains Hansen, head of a NASA satellite project that tracks changes in earth's vegetation and forests in an interview in Maryland Today. "The vast majority look like maintenance fires set on already cleared land, which farmers might be burning to reduce vegetation cover in expanding land use, pastures in most cases." Hansen adds, "Overall, fires inside standing rainforest are similar to recent years, the difference being that most have occurred in the last few weeks, leading to a concentrated spike in emissions." Interestingly, the Global Fire Emissions Database, citing a satellite record that begins in 2012, "confirm[s] that the 2019 fire season has the highest fire count since 2012 across the Legal Amazon." The Legal Amazon consists of the nine states that essentially encompass Brazil's rain forests. According to records beginning in 1998, from Brazil's National Space Research Institute, the number of active fires (33,405) detected by satellites for the month of August are indeed more than double what they were in the previous year (15,001). On the other hand, the number of current fires is way down from earlier years. Since 1998, fires exceeded the current number in eight prior years, with 73,683 fires in the peak year of 2005. The bottom line is that the current fires are not a significant threat to the Amazon rain forest, but state-sanctioned deforestation is. Although some fires set by farmers do get out of hand and burn down nearby rain forests, the much bigger problem has been deforestation. The most recent peak year of 2004 saw the loss of 27,772 square kilometers (10,722 square miles) of rain forest. That's an area about the size of Maryland. As always, environmental commons like the Amazon rain forest are vulnerable to shifts in the fickle winds of politics. For example, under the left-leaning administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2003, the deforestation trends began to decline, reaching a record low in 2012 of 4,571 square kilometers (1,765 square miles). That's about the size of Delaware. During that period, the Brazilian government expanded protected areas and, importantly, stepped up against illegal deforestation. However, Brazil revised its Forest Code in 2012 such that it included an amnesty program for illegal deforestation on "small properties" that occurred before 2008. It also reduced forest restoration requirements. Some landowners near the rain forest evidently interpreted the amnesty as a green light for further land clearing. Consequently, under the administrations of Dilma Rousseff and Michel Temer, deforestation rates began trending somewhat upward, rising to 7,000 square kilometers last year (3,050 square miles). As I earlier, a 2012 study on forest transitions found, after parsing data from 52 developing countries between 1972 and 2003, that deforestation increases until average income levels reach about $3,100 per capita. Similarly, a 2016 study by French researchers focusing on Amazonian deforestation calculated that "the point when deforestation starts to decrease, corresponds to an income around 4,600 in [2005 U.S. dollars]." That's about $6,000 currently. As it happens, Brazilian per capita incomes reached $3,600 per capita in 2004, and more than $7,000 per capita in 2007, coinciding with the beginning of downward trending deforestation rates. However, a 2019 article by Colorado State University economist Edward Barbier specifically analyzed how institutions such as the rule of law and greater voice affect deforestation and reforestation trends in tropical countries. Not too surprisingly, the strengthening of the rule of law accelerates the speed with which an economy transitions from deforestation to forest recovery. Somewhat paradoxically, Barbier finds that better voice and accountability diminishes rather than increases the likelihood of a forest transition in tropical countries. He observes that large state-funded settlement projects have been replaced by decentralized decision-making by farmers, land speculators, agri-business enterprises, and ranchers. These local private enterprises join together into an effective lobby. "Evidence for some developing countries has shown that such lobbying efforts may enhance private agents' legal claims to forested land, encouraging land-use policies more favorable to their interests, and thus the profitability of their land clearing activities," suggests Barbier. "The result may well be further postponement of the transition to forest recovery in many tropical developing countries." According to media reports, this dynamic is happening in the Bolsonaro administration. Sadly, crony capitalism can delay the forest transition, but in the long run, rising incomes and urbanization will strengthen the rule of law and deforestation of the Amazon rain forest will likely reverse, as it has already in most of the rest of the world. | Ronald Bailey ([email protected]) | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/reason/HitandRun/~3/IFI2t3FN3r0/ | 2019-08-28 19:05:20+00:00 | 1,567,033,520 | 1,567,543,619 | environment | natural resources |
386,637 | npr--2019-08-21--Tens Of Thousands Of Fires Ravage Brazilian Amazon Where Deforestation Has Spiked | 2019-08-21T00:00:00 | npr | Tens Of Thousands Of Fires Ravage Brazilian Amazon, Where Deforestation Has Spiked | Tens Of Thousands Of Fires Ravage Brazilian Amazon, Where Deforestation Has Spiked Fires in Brazil's Amazon rainforest are proliferating at an alarming rate. That's the gist of an announcement this week by the country's National Institute for Space Research, or INPE. According to the agency, there have been 74,155 fires in Brazil so far this year — most of which erupted in the Amazon. That represents an astonishing leap of more than 80% over last year and by far the most that the agency has recorded since it began compiling this data in 2013. About half those fires, or nearly 36,000 of them, have ignited in just the past month. That's nearly as many as in all of 2018. Smoke from the fires has darkened the skies over major Brazilian cities, such as São Paulo. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has signaled unconcern about the situation. The far-right leader, who took office in January, has repeatedly lambasted Brazil's environmental regulations as an impediment to economic development, and under his tenure environmental agencies have seen diminished staff and funding. That includes INPE itself, whose leader, Ricardo Magnus Osório Galvão, was canned this month because — according to Galvão — he questioned how Bolsonaro was using his agency's data. Asked about the fires by local media, Bolsonaro baselessly suggested that nongovernmental organizations have been setting the fires themselves as retaliation for the scaling back of Brazil's usual funding support for them. He posited that these groups are trying to increase international pressure on his government — but when reporters pressed him on the point, he didn't name any specific NGOs or offer any proof for his assertion. "So, there could be ... I'm not affirming it, criminal action by these 'NGOers' to call attention against my person, against the government of Brazil. This is the war that we are facing," he said Wednesday in a Facebook Live video, according to a translation by the BBC. He added that his government is "not insensitive" to the fires and that his government may look into measures to combat them. In a tweet Tuesday, Brazil's environment minister, Ricardo Salles, attributed the fires to "dry weather, wind and heat" and said federal officials and equipment are available to help and "already in use." But a lot of deforestation has less to do with natural factors and more to do with human activities. INPE says the amount of land that was deforested last month alone represented a nearly 300% surge over deforestation in June 2018. As NPR reported in 2015, deforestation such as this is often tied to subsistence farming and ranching, which uses more than two-thirds of Brazil's deforested land — and which has tripled the number of cattle in the country in the past three decades. "We estimate that the forest areas in the Brazilian Amazon have decreased something between 20 and 30% compared to the last 12 months," Carlos Nobre, a researcher at the University of São Paulo, told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. Fluvio Mascarenhas, who works at a government agency called the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, told NPR's Philip Reeves that operations that the agency usually carries out against illegal loggers and ranchers have been drastically scaled back this year. And that, he says, together with Bolsonaro's comments, only encourages further illegal activity in the rainforest. And that has him afraid. "Every time you look at a satellite image of the forest," he tells Reeves, "you see another little piece missing." | Colin Dwyer | https://www.npr.org/2019/08/21/753140642/tens-of-thousands-of-fires-ravage-brazilian-amazon-where-deforestation-has-spike?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news | 2019-08-21 20:57:00+00:00 | 1,566,435,420 | 1,567,533,885 | environment | natural resources |
427,279 | prepareforchange--2019-08-17--Amazon Deforestation Rate Hits 3 Football Fields Per Minute Data Confirms | 2019-08-17T00:00:00 | prepareforchange | Amazon Deforestation Rate Hits 3 Football Fields Per Minute, Data Confirms | The Amazon rainforest in Brazil is being clear cut so rapidly — a rate of three football fields per minute — that it is approaching a “tipping point” from which it will not recover, according to the Guardian. As trees are lost, researchers said there is a risk that large areas could transition from rainforest to savannah as they lose the ability to make their own rainfall from evaporation and from plants giving off water vapor, according to Newsweek. A transition on that scale could have significant implications for global warming since the rainforestabsorbs vast amounts of atmospheric carbon. Recent research has shown the potential for massive tree plantings to remove excess carbon from the atmosphere. “It’s very important to keep repeating these concerns. There are a number of tipping points which are not far away,” said Philip Fearnside, a professor at Brazil’s National Institute of Amazonian Research, as the Guardian reported. “We can’t see exactly where they are, but we know they are very close. It means we have to do things right away. Unfortunately that is not what is happening. There are people denying we even have a problem.” The alarming rate of deforestation and its acceleration confirms suspicions that new president Jair Bolsonaro has allowed illegal land invasion, logging and burning. Bolsonaro has called his own government’s satellite data lies. The president’s comments followed preliminary satellite data that showed more than 400 square miles of the rainforest had been cleared in the first half of July — an increase of 68 percent from the entire month of July last year, according to the BBC. Bolsonaro, the far right politician who has said he is fulfilling a mission from God, dismissed concerns expressed by European Union members and called it hypocritical since so many European forests have been wiped out. “You have to understand that the Amazon is Brazil’s, not yours,” Bolsonaro said, as the Guardianreported. “If all this devastation you accuse us of doing was done in the past the Amazon would have stopped existing, it would be a big desert.” The DETER-B satellite system that the Brazilian government started to use in 2015 to track deforestation has shown that the record setting July deforestation is on pace to clear enough forest to fit New York City twice by the end of the month. The DETER satellite data is considered preliminary. Detailed figures are released at the end of the year when data from other satellites and observatories is also collected, according to Newsweek. “Unfortunately, it is absurd, but it should not catch anyone by surprise. President Jair Bolsonaro and minister Ricardo Salles are dismantling our socio-environmental policies,” said Carlos Rittl, the executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, an NGO formed by a coalition of environmental groups, as the Guardian reported. After years of conservation, Brazil’s environmental track record has nose-dived in the first seven months of Bolsonaro’s administration. He has given environmental oversight to the agriculture minister, who is the leader of a farming lobby. His foreign minister called climate science a part of a global Marxist plot. The government has invited businesses to register land counter-claims in areas that are protected nature reserves, indigenous territories and areas dedicated to sustainable production by native forest people, according to the Guardian. Disclaimer: We at Prepare for Change (PFC) bring you information that is not offered by the mainstream news, and therefore may seem controversial. The opinions, views, statements, and/or information we present are not necessarily promoted, endorsed, espoused, or agreed to by Prepare for Change, its leadership Council, members, those who work with PFC, or those who read its content. However, they are hopefully provocative. Please use discernment! Use logical thinking, your own intuition and your own connection with Source, Spirit and Natural Laws to help you determine what is true and what is not. By sharing information and seeding dialogue, it is our goal to raise consciousness and awareness of higher truths to free us from enslavement of the matrix in this material realm. | Edward Morgan | https://prepareforchange.net/2019/08/16/amazon-deforestation-rate-hits-3-football-fields-per-minute-data-confirms/ | 2019-08-17 02:09:42+00:00 | 1,566,022,182 | 1,567,534,076 | environment | natural resources |
706,476 | theguardianuk--2019-07-28--The Guardian view on Amazon deforestation Europe must act to prevent disaster Editorial | 2019-07-28T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | The Guardian view on Amazon deforestation: Europe must act to prevent disaster | Editorial | If there is a glimmer of light amid the darkness of recent reports from the Brazilian Amazon, where deforestation is accelerating along with threats to the indigenous people who live there, it could lie in the growing power of climate diplomacy, combined with increased understanding of the crucial role played by trees in our planet’s climate system. The deal agreed a month ago between the EU and the Mercosur bloc of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay (Venezuela is suspended) enhances European leverage with its South American trading partners. Already, the prize of access to EU markets is credited with having convinced Brazil not to follow Donald Trump’s lead by withdrawing from the Paris climate deal. Now the EU must strengthen its environmental commitments, as a letter from 600 scientists demanded before the deal was agreed. Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, made no secret of his plans to promote development, and drew powerful support from Brazil’s agribusiness and mining interests before last year’s election. He scorns conservation and indigenous rights, claiming recently that his foreign opponents want Amazon tribes to live “like cavemen”. Satellite data shows the message is getting through, with clearances up sharply and this month set to be the first in five years in which Brazil has lost an area of forest bigger than Greater London. Illegal gold mining too is spreading. Last week one of the leaders of the Waiãpi people, Emyra Waiãpi, was found stabbed to death on a remote reserve in the state of Amapá, after armed men raided his village. The situation is of critical importance, and all the more disturbing given recent climate projections. Protecting the world’s largest tropical rainforest, thought to contain 30% of all species, has rightly been an important focus for Brazilian and global environmental policies for two decades. But less than a year after Mr Bolsonaro’s election, the national environment agency appears significantly weakened, with enforcement actions during the first half of 2019 down 20% on the same period in 2018. Prosecutors and activists have been intimidated, while public opinion is mostly engaged elsewhere (for example, on pension reforms). Mr Bolsonaro’s pitch to domestic and foreign audiences is the same: the Brazilian Amazon is none of anyone’s business but Brazil’s. With this in mind, the forest’s international defenders must tread carefully. Denunciations of the new government’s pro-business policies in the name of biodiversity could prove counterproductive. Instead, environmentalists, including Green politicians, should work through European political institutions, in the knowledge that the EU is the second-biggest market for Brazilian exports. Firm pressure must be brought to bear in the form of strong environmental regulations, and a refusal to compromise on transparency. Beef or soya farmed on illegally cleared land must not be imported to Europe. At the same time, Brazilian civil society organisations need support to challenge and resist illegal incursions, and to champion their country’s existing commitments – including to reforestation of cleared areas. Climate education must be promoted globally, so that people can better understand what is going on (the murder of a journalist linked to rainforest exploitation is already the subject of a drama on Brazilian TV). Forest clearances may produce short-term gains, but in the longer term they can only bring disaster. Brazil is in a strong position, at the next round of UN climate talks (moved to Chile after Mr Bolsonaro withdrew an offer to host), to demand increased international aid for the vast Amazon region. If we claim this tropical wilderness as a green lung for the world, we cannot expect Brazil to conserve it alone. | Editorial | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/28/the-guardian-view-on-amazon-deforestation-europe-must-act-to-prevent-disaster | 2019-07-28 17:43:57+00:00 | 1,564,350,237 | 1,567,535,555 | environment | natural resources |
714,850 | theguardianuk--2019-11-18--Amazon deforestation 'at highest level in a decade' | 2019-11-18T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | Amazon deforestation 'at highest level in a decade' | Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon has hit the highest annual level in a decade, according to new government data which highlights the impact the president, Jair Bolsonaro, has made on the world’s biggest rainforest. The new numbers, showing almost 10,000 sq kms were lost in the year to August, were released as emboldened farm owners scuffled with forest defenders in Altamira, the Amazonian city at the heart of the recent devastation. The assault on the planet’s biggest terrestrial carbon sink by land-grabbers, agribusiness, miners and loggers is accelerating. In the year until 30 July 2019, 9,762 sq kms were lost, an increase of 29.5% over the previous 12 months, the Brazilian space agency INPE said. The clearance rate – equivalent to about two football fields a minute – is the fastest since 2008, pushing Brazil far off course from reaching its Paris agreement goals to cut carbon emissions. The annual numbers are compiled with information from the Prodes satellite system, which is considered the most conservative measurement of deforestation. Although less steep than the rise suggested by monthly alerts from the Deter system, it confirms an upward trend that Bolsonaro and his ministers said was a “lie”, which the former head of the space agency was fired for repeating. Environmental groups blamed the government for “every inch of the increase because it weakened environmental protections, supported loggers and encouraged land-grabbing”. “It is no surprise this is happening because the president has defended environmental crime and promoted impunity,” said Adriana Ramos of the Socio-environmental Institute. The monitoring NGO, the Climate Observatory, said the rise was the third highest in history (after 1995 and 1998), and was likely to continue. “Proposals like legalising land-grabbing, mining and farming on indigenous lands, as well as reducing the licensing requirements for new infrastructure will show that the coming years will be even worse,” Carlos Rittl, its executive secretary, said. “The question is how long Brazil’s trading partners will trust its promises of sustainability and compliance with the Paris agreement, as forests fall, indigenous leaders are killed and environmental laws are shattered.” The increasingly confrontational tactics of rightwing ruralistas (farming, timber and mining interests) were evident at a civil society gathering in Altamira, in Pará state, on Monday morning. The meeting – titled Amazon: Centre of the World – brought together hundreds of forest guardians and their supporters, including indigenous leader Raoni Metuktire, riverine communities, quilombolas, environmental activists, academics, artists, Catholic bishops, nuns and European visitors from Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for Future. They aim to draw up a forest manifesto that would put nature and the Amazon at the heart of the international debate about the climate and biodiversity crisis. Many powerful interests in this region do not want global attention on their activities. “I call upon landowners, loggers and businessmen to block this document,” said a rallying message from one of the organisers of a counter-demonstration. “This is very important for Brazil.” Dozens of farmers and landowners attempted to disrupt the opening by surging forward, waving Brazilian flags and chanting nationalist slogans. They were rebuffed by indigenous warriors in war paint and women’s groups who formed a human barrier between the speakers and the hecklers. Police intervened to calm the situation, but with the protesters hoping to boost their numbers later in the day, tensions continued. | Jonathan Watts in Altamira | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/18/amazon-deforestation-at-highest-level-in-a-decade | Mon, 18 Nov 2019 16:13:38 GMT | 1,574,111,618 | 1,574,105,076 | environment | natural resources |
760,656 | theindependent--2019-05-28--Deforestation in Amazon has risen by 20 this year monitoring group warns | 2019-05-28T00:00:00 | theindependent | Deforestation in Amazon has risen by 20% this year, monitoring group warns | Deforestation of the Amazon has increased by 20 per cent in the past year, according to a non-governmental group that has been monitoring the rainforest for two decades. Uncontrolled logging and land invasion has been blamed by analysts for much of the loss, some of which occurred in protected areas and Indigenous reserves. Environmental group Imazon said satellite imagery showed the region lost 2,169 square kilometres (837 square miles) of forest between August and April. This is up from 1,807 square kilometres lost over the same period the previous year. The group's monitoring year begins with August, to match Brazil's dry season, when logging rates are usually at their highest. The country's president Jair Bolsonaro and his environment minister Ricardo de Aquino Salles have questioned the reality of climate change and spoken in favour of expanding mining and industrial farming into the Amazon and protected areas. Both believe environmental laws and activist groups often work to hinder Brazil’s economic potential. Mr Salles said earlier this month that he wanted to overhaul the Amazon Fund, an initiative created to contain deforestation in an area of nearly seven million square kilometres (2.7 million square miles). He was scheduled to meet with representatives of the German and Norwegian governments, two of the fund’s main contributors, this week. Mr Salles has said his ministry reviewed 103 contracts awarded by the fund to non-profit groups, about a third of all contracts signed since its launch in 2008. He said the inquiry found “irregularities” in all 103 contracts, but he did not give any specific cases, citing confidentiality clauses until a review by auditors. He reiterated his intention to shake up the fund by tightening rules and supervision over the allocation of contracts and the choice of projects that can get funding in a recent interview with Globo TV. “We want better results to reverse the rise in deforestation,” Mr Salles said, adding that he wanted “measurable” results and a “return on investment.” He could not give more details about the ministry’s proposed changes before discussing them with Norway and Germany, he said. Brazil’s state oil company, Petrobras, is the fund’s third biggest contributor. The fund was created to receive donations to help prevent, monitor and combat deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, a vast area rich in biodiversity and whose preservation is seen as essential to curbing climate change. | Phoebe Weston | https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/deforestation-amazon-20-jair-bolsonaro-a8932746.html | 2019-05-28 09:47:00+00:00 | 1,559,051,220 | 1,567,539,971 | environment | natural resources |
769,512 | theindependent--2019-08-25--Amazon fires Brazil sends in 44000 troops to tackle blazes as Bolsonaro is accused of ignoring ill | 2019-08-25T00:00:00 | theindependent | Amazon fires: Brazil sends in 44,000 troops to tackle blazes as Bolsonaro is accused of ignoring illegal deforestation | Tens of thousands of Brazilian troops are being sent into the Amazon in an “unprecedented” operation to fight wildfires as new analysis points the finger at Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro for causing the escalating environmental crisis. Backed by military aircraft, some 44,000 troops will be available to put out the fires which have created a layer of smoke 1.2 million square miles wide and devastated large swathes of valuable pristine forest. New analysis has revealed that the number of fines handed out to people for unlawful environmental destruction has fallen to a 10-year low. Between 1 January and 23 August, Mr Bolsonaro’s government handed out 6,895 fines, a drop of 29.4 per cent from the previous year, according to an in-depth analysis by BBC Brazil. Yet there have been more than 70,000 fires this year – nearly double the number in the same period last year. Throughout his leadership campaign, Mr Bolsonaro declared support for clearing the jungle to make way for cattle pastures and soybean farms. It seems he has delivered on his promise, according to Mike Barrett, executive director of conservation and science at WWF UK. “The reason why [the number of fires] is higher than before is I think it’s very clear that there has been a change in the political rhetoric within Brazil, and that has led to those who wish to deforest feeling empowered to do so,” he said. “Because of the size of the Amazon, the Amazon actually stores more carbon than any other living body, any other living ecosystem on the planet, so that’s why it plays such a crucial role in tackling climate change. If we lose the Amazon then we will almost certainly lose the fight against climate change,” Mr Barrett said. Brazilian prosecutors are now investigating whether lax enforcement of environmental regulations may have contributed to the surge in the number of fires. In the face of fierce environmental criticism Mr Bolsonaro tried to temper global concern, saying that previously deforested areas had burned and that intact rainforest was spared. Brazil’s justice ministry also said federal police will be deployed in fire zones to assist other state agencies and combat “illegal deforestation”. The military’s first mission into the Amazon will be carried out by 700 troops around Porto Velho, capital of Rondonia, Brazil’s defence minister Fernando Azevedo said. The military will use two C-130 Hercules aircraft capable of dumping up to 12,000 litres of water on fires, he added. An Associated Press journalist flying over the Porto Velho region reported hazy conditions and low visibility. The reporter saw many already deforested areas that were burned, apparently by people clearing farmland, as well as a large column of smoke billowing from one fire. The municipality of Nova Santa Helena in Brazil’s Mato Grosso state was also hard-hit. Trucks were seen driving along a highway as fires blazed and embers smouldered in adjacent fields. The Brazilian military operations came after widespread criticism of Mr Bolsonaro’s handling of the crisis. On Friday, the president authorised the armed forces to put out fires, saying he is committed to protecting the Amazon region. Despite international concern, Mr Bolsonaro told reporters that the situation was returning to normal. He said he was “speaking to everyone” about the problem, including US president Donald Trump, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez and several Latin American leaders. The Amazon fires have become a global issue, escalating tensions between Brazil and European countries who believe Mr Bolsonaro has neglected commitments to protect biodiversity. Protesters gathered outside Brazilian diplomatic missions in European and Latin American cities on Friday, and demonstrators also marched in Brazil. “The planet’s lungs are on fire. Let’s save them!” read a sign at a protest outside Brazil’s embassy in Mexico City. The dispute spilled into the economic arena when French leader Emmanuel Macron threatened to block a European Union trade deal with Brazil and several other South American countries. “First we need to help Brazil and other countries put out these fires,” Mr Macron said on Saturday. The goal is to “preserve this forest that we all need because it is a treasure of our biodiversity and our climate thanks to the oxygen that it emits and thanks to the carbon it absorbs,” he said. In a weekly video message released on Saturday, German chancellor Angela Merkel said the G7 leaders “cannot be silent” and should discuss how to help extinguish the fires. Bolivia has also struggled to contain fires that swept through woods and fields. A US-based aircraft, the B747-400 Supertanker, is flying over devastated areas in Bolivia to help put out the blazes and protect forests. On Saturday, several helicopters, along with police, military troops, firefighters and volunteers on the ground, worked to extinguish fires in Bolivia’s Chiquitania region, where the woods are dry at this time of year. Farmers commonly set fires in this season to clear land for crops or livestock, but sometimes the blazes get out of control. | Phoebe Weston | https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/amazon-rainforest-fires-brazil-bolsonaro-environmental-protection-army-a9078216.html | 2019-08-25 13:45:00+00:00 | 1,566,755,100 | 1,567,533,426 | environment | natural resources |
776,014 | theindependent--2019-11-18--Amazon deforestation accelerates by almost a third in year since far-right Bolsonaro took power, spa | 2019-11-18T00:00:00 | theindependent | Amazon deforestation accelerates by almost a third in year since far-right Bolsonaro took power, space agency reveals | Figures from Brazil’s space agency show levels of deforestation in the Amazon have hit their highest rate in more than a decade. Loss of forest between August 2018 and July this year is up by 30 per cent compared with the same period a year earlier, according to official data released on Monday by the Brazilian Space Research Institute (Inpe). The total level of deforestation recorded was 9,762 km² – the greatest area of rainforest levelled since 2008 – amounting to over 2,000 football pitches a day. However, the data refers to a period ending just before this year’s unprecedented fires were at their height. Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right president of Brazil, has previously described Inpe’s reports as a “lie”. Ricardo Galvao, the former director of Inpe, left his position “involuntarily” in August following publications of reports critical of the government’s handling of deforestation. Mr Bolsonaro’s policies include loosening regulations and protections governing natural reserves and indigenous lands as a means of spurring economic growth. However, environment ministry officials have said they will meet the Amazon region’s governors later this week to discuss ways they can reduce deforestation. In July, the rate of deforestation equated to roughly an area the size of Manhattan every day, with experts warning the vital rainforest is nearing a “tipping point” in which one-third of its ecosystem could be irreversibly damaged, as the region will become permanently drier. In a statement, Greenpeace Brazil’s Cristiane Mazzetti, said: “President Bolsonaro’s anti-environmental agenda favours those who practice environmental crimes, and encourages violence against forest people. His administration is trashing practically all the work that has been done in recent decades to protect the environment and end deforestation. “High deforestation rates and lack of governance costs lives and positions the country against the fight to tackle climate change. It also damages the economy, as the international market does not want to buy products contaminated with environmental destruction and violence.” The world’s largest rainforest is an enormous repository for carbon, which is released back into the atmosphere when trees are felled and burnt. Deforestation is almost always followed by fire as the cut vegetation is left to dry before being incinerated. The new figures come shortly after research into the devastating fires contradicted the Bolsonaro administration’s claims that the blazes were “below the historical average”. More than 72,000 fires were detected across Brazil between January and August – the highest number since records began in 2013 and an 83-per-cent increase on the same period last year. According to the paper published in Global Change Biology Deforestation, scientists found deforestation in July was four times higher than the average in the previous three years. They also found that the number of active fires was three times higher than they were in 2018, reaching their highest levels since 2010. Professor Jos Barlow, lead author of the paper, said: “The marked upturn in both active fire counts and deforestation in 2019 therefore refutes suggestions by the Brazilian government that August 2019 was a normal fire month in the Amazon.” | Harry Cockburn | https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/amazon-deforestation-fires-brazil-bolsonaro-record-highest-level-inpe-a9208106.html | Mon, 18 Nov 2019 18:01:00 GMT | 1,574,118,060 | 1,574,105,899 | environment | natural resources |
1,012,618 | thetelegraph--2019-08-07--Amazon deforestation increases by 278 in a year institute warns climate skeptic president Bolsonar | 2019-08-07T00:00:00 | thetelegraph | Amazon deforestation increases by 278% in a year, institute warns climate skeptic president Bolsonaro | Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon increased 278 percent year-over-year in July, according to official data released Tuesday by a government institute embroiled in a row with President Jair Bolsonaro over the scale of the problem. The National Institute for Space Research, known by its initials INPE, said that deforestation had cleared 870 square miles (around 2,250 square kilometers) of rainforest over the month. The Brazilian president, a climate change sceptic, and his environment minister Ricardo Salles have previously accused the INPE of publishing misleading data, claiming the figures "don't correspond to the truth" and were damaging to the institute and the country. Data from INPE, an institution of international repute, shows that deforestation has increased 40 per cent in the last twelve months compared with the same period a year ago. Amazon rainforest deforestation had increased 88 per cent on-year in June alone. Last week, INPE president Ricardo Galvao was sacked following disagreements with Bolsonaro over deforestation in the Amazon, fueling criticism of the president from environmental groups. The president suggested Galvao was "in the service of some NGOs" before dismissing him on Friday. Bolsonaro was helped in his election last year by support from the powerful agriculture lobby. He has previously floated the idea of opening up protected rainforest areas to agriculture, a highly controversial move given the existing level of deforestation. | Our Foreign Staff | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/08/07/amazon-deforestation-increases-278-year-institute-warns-climate/ | 2019-08-07 08:34:29+00:00 | 1,565,181,269 | 1,567,534,660 | environment | natural resources |
1,013,000 | thetelegraph--2019-08-12--Amazon emergency two-thirds of species are under threat from deforestation dispatch | 2019-08-12T00:00:00 | thetelegraph | Amazon emergency: two-thirds of species are under threat from deforestation – dispatch | When Marco Aurelio Zapata first built his farm named La Flor Del Amazonas (The Amazon Flower) deep in the Colombian rainforest nearly half a century ago, the only sound from his surrounding 288 hectares was that of the wild: howler and capuchin monkeys, macaws, and immeasurable birds, insects and amphibians striking up a cacophony of noise. The modern era has violently interrupted this natural chorus. During the country’s long civil war which ended with a ceasefire in 2017 low flying crop-dusting planes would roar overhead dousing the forest canopy with herbicide in a bid to stem the guerilla’s cocaine production, much of it centred in Guaviare province where Zapata lives and tends to his smallholding. Now it is the distant buzz of chainsaws, growing nearer all the time. Machete in hand hacking a path through the rainforest, the 62-year-old Zapata leads us to a clearing the size of several football pitches recently levelled by a neighbour to sell as cattle pasture. “I feel sad and also angry to see it,” Zapata says. “This is a beautiful place and we want to protect the land but here anybody can do what they want.” This swathe of jungle on the edge of Colombia’s Chiribiquete national park, declared a world heritage site in 2018 and championed by the Prince of Wales as a vital lung of the earth, is part of a rapidly unfolding environmental crisis stretching right across the Amazon basin. | Joe Shute | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/climate-and-people/amazon-emergency-two-thirds-species-threat-deforestation-dispatch/ | 2019-08-12 21:00:00+00:00 | 1,565,658,000 | 1,567,534,351 | environment | natural resources |
1,023,040 | thetelegraph--2019-12-14--Amazon deforestation hits new high according to latest official figures | 2019-12-14T00:00:00 | thetelegraph | Amazon deforestation hits new high according to latest official figures | Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon jumped to the highest level for the month of November since record-keeping began in 2015, according to preliminary government data published on Friday. Destruction of the world's largest tropical rainforest totaled 563 square km (217.38 square miles) in November, 103% more than in the same month last year, according to the country's space research agency INPE. That would bring total deforestation for the period from January to November to 8,934 square km, 83% more than in the same period in 2018 and an area almost the size of Puerto Rico. The data comes as a 15-year-old became the latest indigenous person to be murdered on the edge of heavily deforested fringe of the Amazon rainforest. Erisvan Soares, the fourth from the Guajajara tribe to be killed in recent weeks was found with knife wounds on Friday in Amarante do Maranhão. Murders of indigenous people have risen since hard-Right president Jair Bolsonaro came to power in January on a promise to deregulate and open up the Amazon to farmers and loggers. Deforestation usually slows around November and December during the Amazon region's rainy season. The number for last month was unusually high. Researchers and environmentalists blame Mr Bolsonaro for emboldening ranchers and loggers by calling for the Amazon to be developed and for weakening the environmental agency Ibama. | Telegraph Reporters | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/14/amazon-deforestation-hits-new-high-according-latest-official/ | Sat, 14 Dec 2019 17:30:08 GMT | 1,576,362,608 | 1,576,370,249 | environment | natural resources |
1,024,855 | thetorontostar--2019-05-27--Monitoring group Deforestation up 20 in Brazils Amazon | 2019-05-27T00:00:00 | thetorontostar | Monitoring group: Deforestation up 20% in Brazil’s Amazon | Imazon said satellite imagery showed the region lost 2,169 square kilometres (837 square miles) of forest from August through April, up from 1,807 square kilometres lost over the same period the previous year. RIO DE JANEIRO - A non-governmental group that has monitored the Amazon rainforest for two decades said Monday that the pace of deforestation increased 20% in the most recent nine months. Analysts blame uncontrolled logging and land invasion for much of the loss, some of which occurred in protected areas and Indigenous reserves. The group’s monitoring year begins with August, to match Brazil’s dry season, when logging rates are usually at their highest. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his environment minister have questioned the reality of climate change and spoken in favour of expanding mining and industrial farming, including in the Amazon and protected areas. Both believe environmental laws and activist groups often work to hinder Brazil’s economic potential. Environment minister Ricardo Salles said earlier this month that he wanted to overhaul the Amazon Fund, an initiative created to contain deforestation in an area of nearly 7 million square kilometres (2.7 million square miles). He was scheduled to meet Monday with representatives of the German and Norwegian governments, two of the fund’s main contributors. Salles has said his ministry reviewed 103 contracts awarded by the fund to non-profit groups, about a third of all contracts signed since its launch in 2008. He said the inquiry found “irregularities” in all 103 contracts, but he did not give any specific cases, citing confidentiality clauses until a review by auditors. Interviewed before Monday’s meeting by Globo TV, Salles reiterated his intention to shake up the fund by tightening rules and supervision over the allocation of contracts and the choice of projects that can get funding. “We want better results to reverse the rise in deforestation,” Salles said, saying he wanted “measurable” results and a “return on investment.” Salles said he could not give more details about the ministry’s proposed changes before discussing them with Norway and Germany. Brazil’s state oil company, Petrobras, is the fund’s third biggest contributor. The fund was created to receive donations to help prevent, monitor and combat deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, a vast area rich in biodiversity and whose preservation is seen as essential to curbing climate change. | The Associated Press | https://www.thestar.com/news/world/americas/2019/05/27/deforestation-increases-in-brazils-amazon.html | 2019-05-27 20:58:59+00:00 | 1,559,005,139 | 1,567,540,142 | environment | natural resources |
1,093,063 | wakingtimes--2019-06-20--Deforestation of Brazilian Amazon Rainforest Surges to Record High Further Devastation Looms | 2019-06-20T00:00:00 | wakingtimes | Deforestation of Brazilian Amazon Rainforest Surges to Record High, Further Devastation Looms | Environmentalists fear that the trends will accelerate as the Bolsonaro government and its environmental ministry continue to act on behalf of mining and industrial agricultural interests, who have enjoyed free rein to expand their exploitation of the Amazon and protected areas. This has included Indigenous reserves that have ceased being demarcated since Bolsonaro came to power in January. The radically far-right president and his officials have blamed environmental laws, activist groups, and indigenous peoples for hindering Brazil’s economic potential, showing scant signs that they are willing to halt the accelerated deforestation of the Amazon. The 2 million-square-mile rainforest is a vital repository of carbon dioxide and plays a crucial role in the fight against climate change, a reality the president denies. The Amazon is also home to 10 percent of all known plant and animal species. Over the course of the past four decades, the jungle has lost a staggering 18 percent of its territory, according to Greenpeace. Regardless, officials like Bolsonaro’s most senior security adviser, General Augusto Heleno Pereira, have shown little regard for outside concerns, remarking: The president has also blasted the main government monitoring agency as a “fines industry,”forcing it to issue fewer penalties than at any time other over the last 11 years while inspections have reduced by 70 percent from last year. The environment minister, Ricardo Salles, has also failed to appoint regional officials and destroyed morale in the ministry with the sacking of veteran inspectors. Folha reported that Salles plans to privatize the satellite monitoring of the forest. Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the president’s oldest son, introduced a bill last month that would remove the obligation of farmers to designate a minimum percentage of their property to natural vegetation. The measure would open up an area of over 412 million acres—an area larger than Iran—to the extractive industry. A statement from Flavio Bolsonaro and Marcio Bittar, another senator backing the proposal, said: Brazil has also become victim of a “radical, fundamentalist and irrational” environmental movement, they added, noting that “there’s no sense in the ecological clamor manufactured by Europeans, North Americans and Canadians and imposed on the country and its rural producers.” Carlos Rittl, the executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, said: Like Waking Times on Facebook. Follow Waking Times on Twitter. **This article (Deforestation of Brazilian Amazon Rainforest Surges to Record High, Further Devastation Looms) was originally published at The Mind Unleashed and is re-posted here with permission.** | WakingTimes | https://www.wakingtimes.com/2019/06/20/deforestation-of-brazilian-amazon-rainforest-surges-to-record-high-further-devastation-looms/ | 2019-06-20 13:22:02+00:00 | 1,561,051,322 | 1,567,538,568 | environment | natural resources |
1,093,145 | wakingtimes--2019-07-30--Scientists Warn Amazon Is Reaching Deforestation Tipping Point | 2019-07-30T00:00:00 | wakingtimes | Scientists Warn Amazon Is Reaching Deforestation “Tipping Point” | According to the latest data, the Amazon rainforest in Brazil is being cleared at an alarming rate. The numbers suggest that deforestation has increased in the past few years, and things are projected to get even worse under the rule of the new president Jair Bolsonaro. Experts warn that such rapid deforestation could destabilize the entire rainforest since the trees are a vital part of the ecosystem. Philip Fearnside, a professor at Brazil’s National Institute of Amazonian Research, called the current situation a “tipping point.” “It’s very important to keep repeating these concerns. There are a number of tipping points which are not far away. We can’t see exactly where they are, but we know they are very close. It means we have to do things right away. Unfortunately, that is not what is happening. There are people denying we even have a problem,” Fearnside said, according to the Guardian. The numbers come from the National Institute for Space Research, which president Bolsonaro accused of spreading lies. Bolsonaro said that the ministry of science and technology should have checked over the numbers and shown them to him before they were made public so he was not “caught with his pants down,” when they were released. The rainforest in Brazil was already in danger when president Bolsonaro came into power. The region’s rainforest saw an 80% reduction between 2006 and 2012. In 2018, deforestation levels rose to the highest in a decade, with a 13% increase that year alone. Researchers are expecting 2019 to be even worse. Carlos Rittl, the executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, an NGO formed by a coalition of environmental groups, pointed to the policies of the new president. “Unfortunately, it is absurd, but it should not catch anyone by surprise. President Jair Bolsonaro and minister Ricardo Salles are dismantling our socio-environmental policies,” said Rittl. Rittl said that new leadership has stopped enforcing environmental protections, and have allowed logging corporations to clear the rainforest with impunity. This month, the leader of an Amazonian tribe was killed under suspicious circumstances, just before the area was invaded by gold miners. The policies of Brazil’s government were also blamed for encouraging such attacks, which have also been growing more frequent. The new administration has been very clear that they don’t have any interest in protecting the rainforest, and that they see the indigenous population as something that is holding them back from economic progress. John Vibes is an author and journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture, and focuses solutions-oriented approaches to social problems. He is also a host of The Free Your Mind Conference and The Free Thought Project Podcast. Read More stories by John Vibes. **This article (Scientists Warn Amazon Is Reaching Deforestation “Tipping Point”) was originally published at Truth Theory and is re-posted here with permission.** | Phillip | https://www.wakingtimes.com/2019/07/30/scientists-warn-amazon-is-reaching-deforestation-tipping-point/ | 2019-07-30 15:55:46+00:00 | 1,564,516,546 | 1,567,535,346 | environment | natural resources |
1,093,425 | wakingtimes--2019-11-19--Amazon Deforestation Rate Highest in 11 Years | 2019-11-19T00:00:00 | wakingtimes | Amazon Deforestation Rate Highest in 11 Years | The deforestation rate in Brazil‘s Amazon rainforest is at its highest in more than a decade, CNN reported Tuesday. The latest figures come from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). Using satellite data, the agency concluded that the forest lost 9,762 square kilometers (approximately 3,769 square miles) in the year leading up to July 2019. The number represents a 29.5 percent increase compared to the previous year and the highest deforestation rate since 2008. It is also the most conclusive proof to date that deforestation is on the rise under far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, The New York Times reported. Bolsonaro has cut funding for key agencies that help protect the rainforest and reduced enforcement against illegal mining, logging and ranching. Brazilian environmental group Climate Observatory said that the increase was the third highest in Brazil’s history, following spikes in 1995 and 1998, The Guardian reported. But this time, the government seemed less likely to act on the data. In a break with previous denials, Environment Minister Ricardo Salles did acknowledge the deforestation increase and promise action, Reuters reported. He blamed illegal mining, logging and ranching for the rise, and said he would meet with the governors of Amazon states on Wednesday to discuss strategies for fighting deforestation. But he did not outline any detailed plans for curbing illegal forest-clearing, The New York Times pointed out. The news follows a global outcry this summer after INPE reported a record number of fires burning in the forest this August. The new figures do not account for forest lost from August to October, Reuters pointed out, when initial data indicates deforestation rates more than doubled compared to the same time period last year. The Amazon rainforest is considered crucial for fighting the climate crisis because it stores massive amounts of carbon. Some scientists fear that if enough forest is cleared, a tipping point will be reached and the forest will transform into savanna, which does not store as much carbon. However, Climate Observatory Executive Secretary Carlos Rittl told The Guardian he was concerned deforestation would only increase under Bolsonaro. “Proposals like legalising land-grabbing, mining and farming on indigenous lands, as well as reducing the licensing requirements for new infrastructure will show that the coming years will be even worse,” he said. “The question is how long Brazil’s trading partners will trust its promises of sustainability and compliance with the Paris agreement, as forests fall, indigenous leaders are killed and environmental laws are shattered.” | WTStaff | https://www.wakingtimes.com/2019/11/19/amazon-deforestation-rate-highest-in-11-years/ | Tue, 19 Nov 2019 21:15:55 +0000 | 1,574,216,155 | 1,574,209,125 | environment | natural resources |
317,504 | mintpressnews--2019-08-02--Prohibiting Maintenance of Tanker Off Yemeni Coast Saudis Risk Explosion and Environmental Disaster | 2019-08-02T00:00:00 | mintpressnews | Prohibiting Maintenance of Tanker Off Yemeni Coast, Saudis Risk Explosion and Environmental Disaster | HODEIDA, YEMEN — Officials in Yemen’s western port city of Hodeida have expressed concern to MintPress that the deserted Safer FSO vessel, filled with an estimated 1.1 million barrels of crude oil, is vulnerable to an explosion or a leak due to increasing temperature, high humidity, and maintenance failures. They say that ship’s boilers and coolers have been stopped owing to a lack of diesel fuel and the body of the tanker is beginning to suffer from corrosion following multiple failed efforts to unload its cargo of crude oil. According to Yemeni officials, if an urgent rescue operation is not launched, the vessel could create an environmental disaster four times greater than the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in history. In 2015, when the Saudi-led Coalition military campaign began in Yemen, Saudi Arabia prevented the oil-laden vessel from leaving Hodeida port and forced crew members to abandon it, leaving important maintenance work undone and creating what is essentially a floating time bomb. Since the vessel was abandoned, the Coalition has repeatedly prevented other ships from refueling the tanker with diesel to operate its generators used for cooling and to discharge gas emitted by the crude oil. An oil spill in the Red Sea port would potentially destroy marine ecosystems and pose a threat to coastal tourism. Worst of all, officials say, it could leave millions of people in Hodeida district without clean drinking water. Experts at IR Consilium, a consultancy firm focusing on maritime law and security, warned that a spill in the area would force multiple desalination plants surrounding the Red Sea to close, depriving millions of access to drinking water. Reports have warned that if a leak does take place, the fallout could potentially cover an area of 939 trillion square meters (approx. 366,000 square miles), meaning that the effects of the environmental disaster would reach beyond the Red Sea and extend into neighboring bodies of water. Based on current oil prices, the value of crude oil estimated to be stored aboard the Safer FSO is reportedly more than $70 million. Moreover, an oil spill could also shutter Yemen’s Hodeida port, the gateway for 90 percent of the country’s food, medical and aid supplies, by strangling traffic on one of the world’s main waterways, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Such a spill would have a tangible impact on the world economy, according to a recent report published by the Atlantic Council. The ship Safer is a large tanker with a built-in weight of 409,000 metric tons and a capacity of about 3 million barrels of oil. Owned by the Safer Oil Company (SEPOC), it first sailed in 1986, later becoming the world’s third-largest floating port for oil storage and unloading. In 1988, SEPOC anchored the ship permanently off the Ras Essa oil port, 4.8 miles offshore from the Yemeni coast on the Red Sea, and connected it to the 430 km oil export pipeline originating from Marib. The ship was outfitted with equipment to allow the transfer of crude oil to other transshipment vessels. The Safer soon became the main export terminal for light crude oil extracted from Sector 18 in the Safer region of Marib, east of Yemen’s capital city of Sana`a, as well as Sector 9 in the Malik area of the country’s Shabwa governorate. It is designed to undergo constant maintenance in order to prevent the build-up of explosive gases. The Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis blame each other for failing to reach an agreement over the fate of the tanker. The Houthis want guarantees that the revenue from the oil aboard the tanker — estimated at more than $70 million, as noted above — will go to pay the salaries of Yemen’s public-sector employees and be used to restore power to the province of Hodeida. The Coalition wants the revenue to be kept by Coalition countries, much as the oil revenues from Yemen’s southern regions where Saudi Arabia and the UAE are extracting oil from Shabwa, Balahaf and Hadramout and transferring the revenues to the National Bank in Saudi Arabia. Mark Lowcock, the UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, pointed out that this was additionally frustrating because Houthi authorities had actually contacted the UN in early 2018 requesting assistance with the tanker and promising to facilitate their [UN] work. Lowcock stated: In November of 2016, Coalition forces prevented the Safer Company’s Rama-1 ships from entering Rass Issa in Hodeida to unload 300 tons of diesel to supply the Safer FSO enough fuel to operate its generators and safety systems, according to a letter submitted by Middle East Shipping Company Limited to the Yemen Oil Company dated November 7, 2016. Saudi Coalition countries and their local allies have recently revived the controversy surrounding the Safer FSO, claiming that rescue of the ship justifies a military campaign to seize control of the area and blaming the Houthis for ship’s condition. But according to Houthi officials, appeals to rescue the ship made by both the Houthi-led government in Sana`a and the Safer Company to the Coalition and to the international community have been ignored. In 2016, the Safer Company explained to the Coalition the importance of supplying diesel to the floating tanker, stating: “The generation of electricity in the ship [is] made by steam turbines as desalinated water from the sea; steam is also the basis of the floating tank and to get it diesel must be available to run the boiler.” Safer added that supplying the ship with diesel is “the only solution to save the situation.” If the fuel is not supplied, the company expects a fire or explosion on the ship to lead to unprecedented pollution of the Red Sea. For their part, officials in Sana`a have repeatedly warned of potential disaster in the Red Sea. On November 4, 2016. the General Authority for Maritime Affairs sent a letter to its Coalition counterparts confirming the need for the floating ship to be supplied with diesel to restart it and carry out the necessary maintenance work to avoid the occurrence of large-scale pollution from the leakage of oil to the sea, blaming Coalition forces for any consequences of a leak. On December 21, 2016, Yemen’s Minister of Oil and Minerals asked leaders of the oil bodies and institutions to find a solution to the impending crisis. He repeated his warnings in May of 2017; the situation, however, continued to worsen. In April, 2017, the General Authority for Maritime Affairs announced that the cessation of most activities, including maintenance on the floating tanker, threatens a maritime disaster that will affect Yemen and the neighboring countries, but the Coalition showed no interest. Mohammed Matouk, the director of Yemen’s Maritime Affairs Authority, said: Warnings by Yemeni officials have often been accompanied by appeals to the United Nations. On November 2018, Hisham Sharaf, the Foreign Minister in Sana`a, delivered a message to the secretary-general of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, calling on the international body to intervene in order to allow the maintenance of the ship. That plea has yet to be answered. Feature photo | The SMIT Hunter and FSO Safer are pictured off of Yemen’s shore in 1992. Maasmondmaritime | Flickr Ahmed AbdulKareem is a Yemeni journalist. He covers the war in Yemen for MintPress News as well as local Yemeni media. | Ahmed Abdulkareem | https://www.mintpressnews.com/maintenance-fso-safer-tanker-yemen-saudi-arabia-oil-spill/261112/ | 2019-08-02 18:01:01+00:00 | 1,564,783,261 | 1,567,534,984 | environment | natural resources |
568,965 | tass--2019-08-12--Illegal amber extraction in Ukraines north may lead to environmental disaster official | 2019-08-12T00:00:00 | tass | Illegal amber extraction in Ukraine’s north may lead to environmental disaster — official | KIEV, August 12. /TASS/. Illegal production of amber in the north of Ukraine may turn this territory into an environmental disaster area, head of the National Police of Ukraine Sergei Knyazev said at a meeting on combating the illegal amber extraction on Monday. "[There will be] catastrophic consequences for the environment — more than 6,200 hectares of damaged forest land and more than 1,000 hectares of agricultural land," he said. "In the absence of mechanisms for environmental and restoration work, further developments may lead to the need to declare the northern part of our country an environmental disaster area," he concluded. According to Knyazev, the illegal production, which is going on openly, involves local residents, who have repeatedly resisted attempts by state representatives to stop the unlawful amber mining. The head of police also noted that now the issue has for the first time been raised at the national level. The meeting on illegal amber mining was chaired by President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky. In his opening remarks, the president noted that uncontrolled extraction of semiprecious stones has been a serious problem since 2014. | null | https://tass.com/world/1073120 | 2019-08-12 17:41:05+00:00 | 1,565,646,065 | 1,567,534,340 | environment | natural resources |
19,655 | anonnews--2019-10-05--The Locations And Names of the Top 100 People Destroying the Planet | 2019-10-05T00:00:00 | anonnews | The Locations And Names of the Top 100 People Destroying the Planet | The human species has a unique responsibility because they are the only creatures on this earth that possess the power to destroy everything living here. We also have the ability to save the planet too, if we take the correct actions. We are self-aware creatures and when we are paying attention we can actually comprehend the impact that our actions will have on the world around us. We have put this sacred responsibility in the hands of governments and corporations who wish only to exploit the earth and everyone on it. We look in the opposite direction as the most ruthless among us transform our beautiful planet into a toxic wasteland. At this time, we are doing a horrible job as a species in fulfilling our responsibility to our home, but the root of the problem is the greed of a small class of powerful corporations and political organizations. The images below show some of the worst polluters according to the Carbon Majors Report, WRI, and the Forbes billionaire list. For the past century, there has been a consistent trend of manmade disasters resulting in tremendous environmental damage all over the world. These completely avoidable environmental disasters have all been a result of the greed and carelessness of big business and the military industrial complex. Oil companies are the worst offenders in this regard, as their industry is completely obsolete to begin with. Clean, inexpensive energy is a very necessary possibility, so the fact that we are even still bothering with oil when we see all the problems it causes is completely insane from a humanitarian or environmental perspective. The only reason we are still using oil based products is that the people who maintain a monopoly over this resource spend billions to ensure that they are the only game in town. Ironically enough, the same people that are responsible for most of this environmental degradation also set up nature based foundations and other phony environmental organizations. These organizations are used to launder money and to advance eugenics depopulation programs. The ruling class understands that human beings naturally have an interest in preserving the environment and typically will not question or criticize actions taken in the name of environmental protection. The average citizens aren’t responsible for the majority of the world’s environmental destruction, nor are they responsible for the majority of the world’s carbon output. In fact, the 50 largest transport sea vessels produce more carbon than all the cars in the world. These are military vessels, oil tankers and other transport vehicles for corporations and governments. Howard Zinn’s incredible research in his best selling book “A Peoples History of the United States Of America” reveals that “In 1992 more than a 100 countries participated in the earth summit environmental conference in Brazil. Statistics showed that the armed forces of the world were responsible for two thirds of the gasses that depleted the ozone layer. But when it was suggested that the earth summit consider the effects of the military on environmental degradation the United States delegation objected and the suggestion was defeated.” The general public is not to blame for the environmental crisis that stands before us, we have inherited it from the careless governments and corporations who suppress clean energy and are responsible for the vast majority of the world’s pollution. Despite their obvious guilt, the perpetrators of these crimes place the blame on everyone but themselves and use their political power so they can actually benefit from all of the destruction that they are causing. At least knowing who they are is half the battle in the mission of holding them accountable. | Adam Goldberg | https://www.anonews.co/the-locations-and-names/ | Sat, 05 Oct 2019 22:21:13 +0000 | 1,570,328,473 | 1,570,622,698 | environment | natural resources |
538,559 | sputnik--2019-07-24--Floating Bomb UN Warns Deserted Oil Tanker in Red Sea Threatens to Turn Into Major Disaster | 2019-07-24T00:00:00 | sputnik | ‘Floating Bomb’: UN Warns Deserted Oil Tanker in Red Sea Threatens to Turn Into Major Disaster | The United Nations has expressed alarm over the abandoned Safer FSO (which stands for floating storage and offloading) tanker, left unattended off the war-torn Yemeni coast of Al Hudaydah and eroding since 2015, CNBC reports. The UN warned that the vessel, believed to hold 1.14 million barrels of oil, could explode or be torn apart, releasing the crude into the environment, which could result in it becoming one of the worst such man-made disasters. The platform was earlier branded a “massive floating bomb” in the Red Sea by the NATO-linked US think tank the Atlantic Council. They predicted that volatile gases released from the storage tank in the corrosive maritime environment could lead to a blast. At the same time, UN officials are said to be blocked from the vessel despite the potential danger and cannot inspect the situation or do anything to avert a possible catastrophe. Although the Houthi authorities that control the area where the tanker is anchored reportedly requested help and promised to assist in 2018, UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Matt Lowcock recently revealed to the Security Council that access continues to be delayed. “If the tanker ruptures or explodes, we could see the coastline polluted all along the Red Sea. Depending on the time of year and water currents, the spill could reach from Bab el Mandeb to the Suez Canal — and potentially as far as the Strait of Hormuz”, Lowcock said, as cited by the US broadcaster, pointing at the potentially disastrous impact on the environment, regional shipping, and the global economy. Meanwhile, the Saudi-backed Yemeni government has raised alarm that the Safer FSO could explode, triggering an environmental disaster that could be greater than the Exxon Valez oil spill in 1989. The ongoing conflict between the Houthis and the Yemini government, backed by Saudi Arabia and the UN, is said to have complicated the issue, with both sides pointing the finger at the other. The Houthis are reportedly ready to allow inspectors to assess the situation on condition that they receive the profit from selling the oil on board the Safer FSO tanker, which is estimated to be worth more than $70 million. Yemen has been suffering from a military conflict and related humanitarian crisis for several years. It began when Houthi rebels from the country’s north drove the government from power in a protracted mass upheaval between September 2014 and March 2015. | null | https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201907241076347466-oil-tanker-red-sea-disaster/ | 2019-07-24 15:28:37+00:00 | 1,563,996,517 | 1,567,535,989 | environment | natural resources |
227,451 | globalresearch--2019-01-17--Report US Oil and Gas Expansion Threatens to Unleash Climate Pollution Equivalent to Nearly 1000 | 2019-01-17T00:00:00 | globalresearch | Report: U.S. Oil and Gas Expansion Threatens to Unleash Climate Pollution Equivalent to Nearly 1,000 Coal Plants | The U.S. oil and gas industry has the potential to unleash the largest burst of new carbon emissions in the world through 2050, new research released today has found. Without action to curtail this unprecedented expansion of drilling from Texas to North Dakota to Pennsylvania and beyond, new U.S. oil and gas development could enable 120 billion tons of new carbon pollution – equivalent to the lifetime emissions of nearly 1,000 coal-fired power plants. The findings come on the heels of the “Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C” from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the U.S.’s Fourth National Climate Assessment, which both detailed the intensifying human and economic toll of unchecked climate change. Previous research has shown that existing oil and gas fields and coal mines already contain enough carbon to push the world beyond the goals of the Paris Agreement. The permitting of new extraction projects and related infrastructure is completely out of synch with meeting climate targets, and also out of step with a massive movement of communities fighting the fossil fuel industry around the country. “Our findings present an urgent and existential emergency for lawmakers in the United States at all levels of government. The oil and gas industry is expanding further and faster in the United States than in any other country at precisely the time when we must begin rapidly decarbonizing to prevent runaway climate disaster,” said Kelly Trout, report co-author and senior research analyst at Oil Change International. “We’re at this crisis point because of failing political decisions to allow unfettered fracking, permit a massive buildout of pipelines, lift the crude export ban, and subsidize a climate-wrecking industry with billions of taxpayer dollars. If U.S. leaders do not start saying ‘no’ to this industry and put policies in place for a managed decline of fossil fuel production, they could cripple the world’s chances of staving off climate catastrophe.” The report defines a five-point checklist for what U.S. policymakers must do to show real climate leadership: “This report should be a wake-up call for elected officials who consider themselves to be climate leaders. We need a complete overhaul of our economy with a Green New Deal, and that overhaul must include standing up to the fossil fuel industry in order to take us off this path of devastation for our climate and communities. Anything less than a full, swift, and just managed decline of fossil fuel production is too little, too late,” Trout said. The report, entitled Drilling towards Disaster: Why U.S. oil and gas expansion is incompatible with climate limits, was researched and written by Oil Change International and is being released in partnership with the following organizations who have endorsed the findings of the report: Amazon Watch, BOLD Alliance, Center for Biological Diversity, Earthworks, Friends of the Earth U.S., Food & Water Watch, Greenpeace USA, Hip Hop Caucus, Indigenous Environmental Network, Labor Network for Sustainability, Oil Change USA, Our Revolution, People’s Action, Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, Working Families Party, and 350.org. The report can be found here. “This landmark report clearly lays out the grim reality of our addiction to fossil fuels. It’s a reality that Indigenous peoples have been saying for decades: that we are destroying the ecosystems of Mother Earth and placing countless lives at risk because of fossil fuels,” said Dallas Goldtooth, Keep it in the Ground Campaigner for the Indigenous Environmental Network. “It is time for all leaders to wake up! We must keep fossil fuels in the ground and justly transition our society to renewable, sustainable energy right now! The clock is ticking.” “Addressing the climate crisis by only considering fossil fuel demand is fighting with one hand tied behind our back,” said Nicole Ghio, Senior Fossil Fuels Program Manager at Friends of the Earth. “To avert climate disaster, we need a Green New Deal that protects workers, empowers communities, and phases out all fossil fuels.” “It’s clearer by the day that we’re drilling toward a climate catastrophe,” said Shaye Wolf, climate science director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Every new lease, permit and subsidy granted to this dirty industry pushes us closer to disaster. America’s oil and gas production is a carbon bomb we must defuse through a thoughtful phase-out and a just transition to clean energy.” “This report confirms what our indigenous allies have known for decades: we must keep fossil fuels in the ground,” said Kevin Koenig, Climate and Energy Director at Amazon Watch. “We are already in a hole and we cannot afford to dig ourselves any deeper by continuing to expand oil and gas infrastructure – in the United States, the Amazon, or anywhere else. It’s past time for the United States to make a plan to get off fossil fuels altogether and this report provides a road map for policy makers to do just that, providing critical information to ensure sustainable communities and a healthy planet for generations to come.” “To make the most impact on climate change we need to stop all oil, coal, and gas expansion, massively accelerate the growth of renewable energy, and support workers with a just transition to a sustainability-based economy and climate-impacted communities with a just recovery from extreme weather. To make this a reality, we have to hold corporate polluters and political leaders accountable for their role in putting us in harm’s way. Without stopping oil, coal, and gas expansion as soon as possible, though, we won’t get anywhere close to where we need to be to stave off the worst of climate change,” said Janet Redman, Greenpeace USA Climate and Energy Director. “Right now, we’re on a sinking boat, and instead of just scooping water out, we must take immediate action to patch the hole where it’s gushing in,” said Patrick McCully, Climate and Energy Program Director at Rainforest Action Network. “This means we must put a full-stop to fossil fuel expansion, or we all sink into climate chaos. U.S. policymakers – as well as the private sector, like the Wall Street banks that are funding this extraction – must facilitate phasing out extraction while phasing in an equitable transition to renewable energy that supports communities and workers.” “This latest report adds even more urgency to the need for a just transition off of fossil fuels to a renewable energy economy. To prevent the worst impacts of climate change, we must keep oil, coal, and gas in the ground,” said May Boeve, Executive Director, 350.org. “It’s time for public officials at every level to follow the lead of communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis and support bold climate policy.” Note to readers: please click the share buttons above. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc. | Oil Change International | https://www.globalresearch.ca/report-u-s-oil-and-gas-expansion-threatens-to-unleash-climate-pollution-equivalent-to-nearly-1000-coal-plants/5665715 | 2019-01-17 22:42:12+00:00 | 1,547,782,932 | 1,567,551,999 | environment | natural resources |
574,452 | tass--2019-12-02--Scientists study oil products pollution on Franz Josef Land | 2019-12-02T00:00:00 | tass | Scientists study oil products pollution on Franz Josef Land | ARKHANGELSK, December 2. /TASS/. Specialists of the Russian Arctic Nature Park jointly with the Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Geography began the Clean Arctic project to analyze the effect of oil products’ pollution on soils, vegetation and the ecosystem’s other components on the Franz Josef Land Archipelago. The project will continue for three years, the national park’s Director Alexander Kirilov told TASS. "We’ve begun the Clean Arctic project on Franz Josef Land, which will continue for three years," he said. "Scientists will analyze distribution of oil products in the seasonal melt layer in the Arctic." "Researchers will see how much oil products affect components of the ecosystem in high latitudes," he continued. "The results will be applied to plan further revegetation of those territories." Cleaning effort on Franz Josef Land has been underway since 2012, and between 2012 and 2017 more than 45,000 tonnes of waste was removed from the archipelago. Cleaning works have been practically finalized on the Alexandra Land, the Hooker, Heiss and Graham Bell Islands, and cleaning work should yet be carried out on the Rudolf and Hofmann Islands. "Polluted areas still remain in places, where fuel used to be stored <...> and thus quite many oil products still remain in the soil," the Clean Arctic project’s leader, geologist Dmitry Kryukov noted. As part of the project, specialists will take soil samples and compare them with "clean" areas. "Thus, the studies will let us see how the environment may change under the effect of such pollutants," Alexander Dobryansky of the Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Geography commented. The first samples have been taken on the Alexandra Land. Conditions on the islands, where the cleaning took place, are different, and thus specialists used different methods to revegetate the soils. The studies will also show how effective the chosen methods were and what impact they have on the ecosystem. Results of the studies on the Arctic islands will serve as an input into remote analysis of pollution, including by radar imaging. It is very hard to receive good pictures of the high-latitudinal Arctic from satellites as the territory practically always is under layers of clouds, the expert said. "When we study the territory, we are gaining references in order to use space imaging to decipher the objects we need: pollution and structure of landscapes," he explained. "But in order to use radar imaging, which works regardless of clouds, we need to have a database of spectral images in different shooting ranges." "Sets of references and comparison with how objects are represented in optical images will be used to develop a method of decoding radar imaging for the high-Arctic conditions," he added. This method could be employed both on Franz Josef Land’s islands and on other islands as well as on the mainland with similar conditions: for example, on Novaya Zemlya and Severnaya Zemlya archipelagoes. "The technologies could be used practically along the entire northern shore of continental Russia," Dobryansky pointed out. "In the Lena’s estuary in Yakutia, for example, there is still lots of environmental damage. The work there is supported financially by the Rosneft company." The Russian Arctic National Park is Russia’s northernmost and biggest nature reserve, which covers an area of 8.8 million hectares. It was established on June 15, 2009. The Park includes a northern part of the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago’s Severny Island and the entire Franz Josef Land Archipelago. | null | https://tass.com/science/1094851 | Mon, 02 Dec 2019 19:40:41 +0300 | 1,575,333,641 | 1,575,310,616 | environment | natural resources |
662,232 | thedenverpost--2019-04-22--EPA Colorado target oil and gas company HighPoint in federal court accusing company of failing to | 2019-04-22T00:00:00 | thedenverpost | EPA, Colorado target oil and gas company HighPoint in federal court, accusing company of failing to control air pollution at storage tanks | Environmental Protection Agency and Colorado attorneys have filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking millions in damages and a court order to stop polluting against an oil and gas company they accuse of violating requirements to minimize toxic emissions from storage tanks. Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment air pollution control inspectors equipped with infrared cameras allegedly detected the emissions at multiple clusters of storage tanks. The 27-page lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court accuses the HighPoint Operating Corporation of failing to control volatile organic compounds (VOCs), precursors of ozone smog, as well as benzene, toluene, xylene and other pollutants identified under the Clean Air Act as hazardous. Storage tanks at more than a dozen sites north of Denver in Adams and Weld counties — including many that HighPoint’s predecessor the Bill Barrett Corporation had certified to the CDPHE as “controlled” — have emitted excessive pollutants since April 2014, according to the lawsuit. This happened in a Front Range area where air quality for years has flunked federal air quality health standards, worsening the problem, the EPA and state attorneys said. HighPoint failed to design, run and maintain pollution control systems as required by the state to minimize leakage of the volatile organic and other chemicals to the maximum extent “practicable,” the attorneys said. “HighPoint’s failure to comply with these requirements has resulted in excess VOC emissions, a precursor to ground-level ozone. … HighPoint’s unlawful emissions of VOC into the atmosphere contribute to this exceedance of the ozone NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standards) in this area,” the lawsuit says. The EPA and CDPHE have asked a federal judge to block HighPoint from further violations of Colorado regulations, order action to fix and offset harm to public health and the environment, and assess civil penalties of up to $37,500 per day for violations between January 2009 and November 2015 and up to $97,229 per day for violations after November 2015. Colorado’s oil and gas industry inspection program, relying on nine CDPHE air pollution control inspectors equipped with infrared cameras, is designed to spur quick compliance. When inspectors detect leaks, they notify companies that same day. Companies are required to initiate fixes within five days, unless they fill out forms justifying delays. But inspections also can reveal violations of state rules and lead eventually to imposition of penalties. The inspectors drop in unannounced at about 2,000 sites a year and aim the infrared devices at storage tanks, flares and other equipment to determine whether hydrocarbons are leaking. They can’t get to every site. Oil and gas companies have drilled more than 53,000 wells statewide, producing a record 177 million barrels of oil last year. Colorado rules require controls to minimize pollution. While the EPA provides oversight, state officials also have issued companies permits required under the federal Clean Air Act at roughly 11,000 sites — permits that set limits on pollution. During the early stages of production — when companies typically drill and conduct hydraulic fracturing to stimulate production — state inspectors let companies produce for 90 days without the required permits and generally do not visit sites unless they receive a specific compliant, relying on a controversial 27-year-old state exemption. However, CDPHE officials — spurred by U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette and the environmental advocacy group WildEarth Guardians — are reviewing the legality of that exemption. Gov. Jared Polis has signaled intentions to reduce pollution. Tougher enforcement, including the air pollution inspections, has emerged as an option as he and state lawmakers re-focus state oversight of the industry. The latest CDPHE data show that inspectors in 2013 detected leaks at 28 percent of the sites they visited. In 2018, records show leaks were detected at 13 percent of sites visited. | Bruce Finley | https://www.denverpost.com/2019/04/21/epa-colorado-target-oil-and-gas-company-highpoint/ | 2019-04-22 02:10:43+00:00 | 1,555,913,443 | 1,567,542,100 | environment | natural resources |
664,033 | thedenverpost--2019-07-30--Colorado proposes new controls on oil and gas industry in effort to combat air pollution | 2019-07-30T00:00:00 | thedenverpost | Colorado proposes new controls on oil and gas industry in effort to combat air pollution | Colorado health officials on Monday proposed a ratcheting of controls on the oil and gas industry to reduce air pollution — aiming to comply with federal ozone limits, obey lawmakers who ordered a cleanup and sync the state with efforts to contain climate change. The measures that officials with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment unveiled would broaden and strengthen existing regulations. They include: “We’re going to reduce statewide emissions by 80% by 2030,” John Putnam, the state health department’s environmental programs director, told the 70 or so participants at a public meeting in Denver on Monday. “We’re still trying to figure out exactly how to get there. We cannot do it without regulating this oil and gas sector,” Putnam said. Garry Kaufman, director of the state’s air pollution control division, presented the proposed new controls at the first of four public “stakeholder” meetings — ahead of formal Air Quality Control Commission hearings this fall. These measures would take effect starting in 2020, and mark a first step toward the aggressive action Gov. Jared Polis has promised to clean up pollution in a state where air quality increasingly piques public rage. Industry attorneys watched and listened Monday, saying they’ll review the proposed measures before weighing in during upcoming hearings. “This is the first time we’ve seen some of these,” said Andrew Casper, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association’s director of legal and regulatory affairs. “It looks pretty sweeping and extreme.” State data shows that the oil and gas industry stands out as the main source of the volatile organic compounds (172 tons per day) and of the nitrogen oxides (49 tons per day) that, mixing in sunlight, worsen ozone air pollution. Colorado for years has violated federal health standards for ozone and faces a legally required federal imposition of stricter controls. While the state data shows that volatile organic compounds from the oil and gas industry decreased between 2011 and 2017, the levels of nitrogen oxides have increased as oil and gas production surged in recent years. Colorado health officials repeatedly acknowledged at Monday’s meeting that there’s too much pollution, yet faced a barrage from residents demanding more — including a moratorium on the regularly issued permits that allow new oil and gas drilling. Activist Leslie Weise, from Niwot, pointed to recent independent scientific studies showing buildups of cancer-causing benzene and other industry pollution near homes. “There’s not a day I don’t have concerns about inhaling carcinogenic emissions from Weld County,” Weise said. Retired Denver public works employee Gary Norton, 73, pointed to Colorado’s emergence over the past decade as a leading oil and gas producer — worsening the global warming that nations of the world have resolved to contain. “We need to think about how we’ll be doing our part,” Norton said. “All mankind has to reduce” reliance on fossil fuels which, when burned, worsen warming, he said. Environment advocates welcomed the state health department’s proposals, but argued that Colorado lawmakers, in Senate Bill 181, passed last winter, authorized a tougher approach. The measures unveiled Monday reflect rising concern over Colorado’s failure to meet the current federal limit for ozone — 70 parts per billion. Air monitors along the Front Range show levels exceeding 75 parts per billion, and state health officials regularly issue health alerts due to elevated ozone — which worsens respiratory health problems, hitting children and the elderly the hardest. New measures will be developed in concert with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which also is planning “rule-makings” to reflect new state priorities, Kaufman said. “This is a very compelling package of ways to reduce emissions,” he said. “The goal of all of this is to protect public health and the environment.” Future public meetings are scheduled in September — one in Broomfield and another in Grand Junction. State air officials, who deploy a team of 11 inspectors to visit around 2,000 sites a year to verify company compliance, defended their measures as consistent with SB 181 and other state laws. “We are moving forward to protect public health,” Kaufman said. “We were not told to shut down the industry. We were not told to issue a moratorium. We were told to reduce emissions. We are going to see a dramatic decline in emissions from these facilities. That, in turn, is going to protect public health and the environment.” | Bruce Finley | https://www.denverpost.com/2019/07/29/colorado-oil-gas-emissions/ | 2019-07-30 02:19:21+00:00 | 1,564,467,561 | 1,567,535,299 | environment | natural resources |
92,973 | chicagosuntimes--2019-03-11--Blacks Hispanics breathe in far more deadly air pollution than they makestudy | 2019-03-11T00:00:00 | chicagosuntimes | Blacks, Hispanics breathe in far more deadly air pollution than they make:study | African-Americans and Hispanics breathe in far more deadly air pollution than they are responsible for making, a new study said. A study looked at who is exposed to fine particle pollution — responsible for about 100,000 American deaths a year — and how much different races are responsible for the pollution based on their buying, driving and living habits. Scientists calculate that Hispanics on average breathe in 63 percent more of the pollution that leads to heart and breathing deaths than they make. For African-Americans the figure is 56 percent, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. On the other hand, non-Hispanic whites on average are exposed to 17 percent less air pollution than they make. “Even though minorities are contributing less to the overall problem of air pollution, they are affected by it more,” said study co-author Jason Hill, a biosystems engineering professor at the University of Minnesota who is white. “Is it fair (that) I create more pollution and somebody else is disproportionately affected by it?” This pollution comes from gases from smokestacks, tailpipes and other places that then solidify into fine invisible particles small enough to pass through lungs and into bloodstreams. These particles, more than 25 times smaller than the width of a human hair, pose the greatest risk to people’s health, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says. While other studies have shown minorities living with more pollution, this study is one of the first to combine buying habits and exposure into one calculation of inequity, Hill said. Hill and colleagues looked at pollution from highways, coal-fired power plants, hog farms and other sources. They then looked in a large scale at who is driving more, buying more goods and food, spending more on property and using more electricity, then traced those purchases to end users. “On average whites tend to consume more than minorities. It’s because of wealth,” Hill said. “It’s largely how much you buy, not buying different things.” Of 103,000 particle pollution deaths a year, 83,000 can be traced to the activities of people in the United States — not government and not goods exported elsewhere, the study said Several outside experts praised the research. “These findings confirm what most grassroots environmental justice leaders have known for decades, ‘whites are dumping their pollution on poor people and people of color’,” said Texas Southern University public affairs professor Robert Bullard, who was not part of the research. Bullard, often called the father of environmental justice , is African-American. Bullard said his and other past research shows that African-Americans are 79 percent more likely than whites to live where industrial pollution is highest, with people of color overrepresented near Superfund sites and oil refineries. He said there are far more mostly minority schools within 500 feet of major highways than mostly white schools. “Being able to quantify the inequity is a key step toward addressing and reducing inequity,” said Christopher Frey, a professor of environmental engineering at North Carolina State University, who is white and not part of the research. One bright spot is that in recent decades the air has been getting cleaner in general, Hill said. However, his study stopped in 2015 and EPA data shows an uptick in fine particle pollution in 2017. But even with the cleaner air, it is still inequitable, Hill said. | Seth Borenstein | AP | https://chicago.suntimes.com/well/blackshispanics-breathe-in-far-more-deadly-air-pollution-than-they-make-study/ | 2019-03-11 21:10:24+00:00 | 1,552,353,024 | 1,567,546,679 | environment | natural resources |
687,650 | theguardianuk--2019-01-29--The river is dying the vast ecological cost of Brazils mining disasters | 2019-01-29T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | 'The river is dying': the vast ecological cost of Brazil's mining disasters | The Brazilian government has been urged to step up punishments for environmental crimes after the deadliest mining disaster in decades. The torrent of mud and iron ore tailings that engulfed the community of Brumadinho on Friday continues to inflict a toll on residents, river systems and freshwater species. Rescue teams had by Monday recovered 60 bodies near the site, which is operated by Vale, one of the world’s biggest mining companies, but hundreds of people are still missing. Many were eating lunch or resting in a hotel when the tailings dam collapsed and swept them away in a tide of orange sludge. It is the second such calamity to strike a Vale facility in the state of Minas Gerais in less than four years. In 2015, 19 people were killed when a tailings dam burst at an iron ore mine in Mariana that the Brazilian company co-owned with the London-listed BHP Group. The amount of slurry this time is 75% lower, at 13 million cubic metres, but now, as then, the ecological damage is spreading far beyond the immediate area and could potentially persist for many years with grave consequences for local communities, wildlife and the national economy. Over the weekend, TV and social networks were filled with images of emergency workers in helicopters trying to pull people out of the mud. Now many posts have switched to the impact on fish, frogs and other freshwater species. “Rio Paraopeba has started to die,” noted one grim tweet with a video clip of oxygen-deprived fish leaping out of the turbid water and flapping their last on the land. The level of toxicity in the tailings is not yet clear, but iron oxide can choke river sand and poison the surrounding vegetation. It can also compact the soil, preventing new growth of plants on land. Three years after the previous disaster, water from the affected Doce River is still legally unfit for human consumption in 90% of monitoring stations. A second and bigger impact is the amplification by previous manmade environmental problems. The torrent of water stirred up the heavy metals buried in the sediment on the bottom of the river. This is a huge problem in the state of Minas Gerais, which has a long history of poorly regulated resource extraction, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which is working on a series of reports on the ecological impact of the previous tailings dam collapse in Mariana. The immediate threat is to the 280km (174 miles) of Paraopeba River. Vale insists the problem will not spread to the São Francisco basin, but conservationists remain concerned. In this region, 64% of fish species are found nowhere else on Earth, according to the IUCN. Even before the contamination, 10% were already classified as vulnerable, including Simpsonichthys picturatus and Brycon orthotaenia. January is the end of the spawning season, which means the deluge affected fry and small fish in important species for fisheries, such as croakers, curimbatás and surubins. The slurry is expected to reach the hydropower plant at Retiro Baixo by Thursday, where the authorities hope it can be controlled in the reservoir without spreading down to the estuary and into the ocean, as happened in the case of the Mariana disaster. Hydropower generation and water supplies are likely to be affected for years. The costs have yet to be calculated. After the previous calamity, Vale and Billiton paid $1bn into land and river recuperation efforts and more in an out-of-court settlement to affected communities. Fishing is still prohibited so stocks can recover and a dam remains disrupted. A separate lawsuit in now under way in UK courts. Campaigners say it is essential to tighten regulations and punish those involved. “Good environmental regulation isn’t about adding costs to development, it’s about safeguarding people and avoiding massive clean-up costs like the ones we are now seeing,” said Stewart Maginnis, the director of the nature-based solutions group in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Part of the problem is short-termism. A safer alternative to tailings dams is dry stacking of mining waste. This process – which removes water from the slurry so it can be stored in a stable condition – has been used successfully in many other countries. In Brazil, a 2016 test of dry stacking in Pau Branco iron-ore mine found it was safer, better for water-recycling and required less monitoring and maintenance. Over the 20-year life of a mine, it was also far more cost-efficient. But the extra initial investment of $5-$10m appears to have put off many Brazilian mine owners, who are more used to taking advantage of the country’s abundant rivers. Brazil has the most abundant water resources in the world, but they are tapped with often reckless abandon and inadequate regulation. Less than one in five of the country’s 24,092 dams come under the supervision of the 2010 dam safety law, 42 are unauthorised and 570 have no responsible operator, according to the Folha de São Paulo newspaper. With a mere 154 inspectors for such a vast country, only 3% of Brazil’s dams were inspected last year, it said. The problems date back decades, but the risks look set to grow. The new administration of the president, Jair Bolsonaro, has neutered the environment ministry and pledged to ease the licensing system for new projects. Despite the latest calamity, Augusto Heleno, the head of the national security office, insisted the fast-track approval process would go ahead. “Making the process more flexible means having very strict rules, but allowing certain works that depend on licensing to happen. It does not mean loosening environmental licensing. On the contrary, licensing has to be done well, but it can not be delayed without fair grounds,” he said. Campaigners say this should now be unthinkable. “It would be offensive to victims of Mariana and Brumadinho if they fulfil that promise,” said Carlos Rittl, who heads the Climate Observatory umbrella group of environmental NGOs. Public fury is forcing some ministers to shift rhetorical tack. “At this moment, what we need is to make a regulation that ensures, firstly, that best dam practices are implemented, while economic questions stay in second place,” environment minister Ricardo Salles told local TV on Monday. Environmental crimes are often punished with small fines that often go unpaid. As a result, campaigners say transgressions build into “time-bombs” that can explode, as was the case in Brumadinho. To avoid this, they say those responsible should be imprisoned. “This cannot be called an ‘accident’ under any circumstances,” said Malu Ribeiro, the founder of the NGO SOS Mata Atlantica. “Such environmental crimes should be punished with the legal rigour that society expects.” Vale’s chief executive, Fabio Schvartsman, said in a television interview on Sunday that he did everything the law required. “I’m not a mining technician,” he said. “I followed the technicians’ advice and you see what happened. It didn’t work. We are 100% within all the standards, and that didn’t do it.” Police have so far arrested five people, including three mining staff. “We have to investigate and punish, but really punish,” Brazil’s vice-president Hamilton Mourão told reporters. “We have to preserve our planet in every possible way, because if not we’ll have to live on Mars.” | Jonathan Watts Global environment editor | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/29/the-river-is-dying-the-vast-ecological-cost-of-brazils-mining-disasters | 2019-01-29 17:11:44+00:00 | 1,548,799,904 | 1,567,550,419 | environment | natural resources |
232,511 | globalresearch--2019-12-29--The Key to the Environmental Crisis Is Beneath Our Feet | 2019-12-29T00:00:00 | globalresearch | The Key to the Environmental Crisis Is Beneath Our Feet | The Green New Deal resolution that was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives in February hit a wall in the Senate, where it was called unrealistic and unaffordable. In a Washington Post article titled “The Green New Deal Sets Us Up for Failure. We Need a Better Approach,” former Colorado governor and Democratic presidential candidate John Hickenlooper framed the problem like this: The resolution sets unachievable goals. We do not yet have the technology needed to reach “net-zero greenhouse gas emissions” in 10 years. That’s why many wind and solar companies don’t support it. There is no clean substitute for jet fuel. Electric vehicles are growing quickly, yet are still in their infancy. Manufacturing industries such as steel and chemicals, which account for almost as much carbon emissions as transportation, are even harder to decarbonize. Amid this technological innovation, we need to ensure that energy is not only clean but also affordable. Millions of Americans struggle with “energy poverty.” Too often, low-income Americans must choose between paying for medicine and having their heat shut off. … If climate change policy becomes synonymous in the U.S. psyche with higher utility bills, rising taxes and lost jobs, we will have missed our shot. The problem may be that a transition to 100% renewables is the wrong target. Reversing climate change need not mean emptying our pockets and tightening our belts. It is possible to sequester carbon and restore our collapsing ecosystem using the financial resources we already have, and it can be done while at the same time improving the quality of our food, water, air and general health. The Larger Problem – and the Solution – Is in the Soil Contrary to popular belief, the biggest environmental polluters are not big fossil fuel companies. They are big agribusiness and factory farming, with six powerful food industry giants – Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Dean Foods, Dow AgroSciences, Tyson and Monsanto (now merged with Bayer) – playing a major role. Oil-dependent farming, industrial livestock operations, the clearing of carbon-storing fields and forests, the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and the combustion of fuel to process and distribute food are estimated to be responsible for as much as one-half of human-caused pollution. Climate change, while partly a consequence of the excessive relocation of carbon and other elements from the earth into the atmosphere, is more fundamentally just one symptom of overall ecosystem distress from centuries of over-tilling, over-grazing, over-burning, over-hunting, over-fishing and deforestation. Big Ag’s toxin-laden, nutrient-poor food is also a major contributor to the U.S. obesity epidemic and many other diseases. Yet these are the industries getting the largest subsidies from U.S. taxpayers, to the tune of more than $20 billion annually. We don’t hear about this for the same reason that they get the subsidies – they have massively funded lobbies capable of bribing their way into special treatment. The story we do hear, as Judith Schwartz observes in The Guardian, is, “Climate change is global warming caused by too much CO in the atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels. We stop climate change by making the transition to renewable energy.” Schwartz does not discount this part of the story but points to several problems with it: But that hasn’t stopped investors, who see the climate crisis as simply another profit opportunity. According to a study by Morgan Stanley analysts reported in Forbes in October, halting global warming and reducing net carbon emissions to zero would take an investment of $50 trillion over the next three decades, including $14 trillion for renewables; $11 trillion to build the factories, batteries and infrastructure necessary for a widespread switch to electric vehicles; $2.5 trillion for carbon capture and storage; $20 trillion to provide clean hydrogen fuel for power, cars and other industries, and $2.7 trillion for biofuels. The article goes on to highlight the investment opportunities presented by these challenges by recommending various big companies expected to lead the transition, including Exxon, Chevron, BP, General Electric, Shell and similar corporate giants – many of them the very companies blamed by Green New Deal advocates for the crisis. There is a much cheaper and faster way to sequester carbon from the atmosphere that doesn’t rely on these corporate giants to transition us to 100% renewables. Additionally, it can be done while at the same time reducing the chronic diseases that impose an even heavier cost on citizens and governments. Our most powerful partner is nature itself, which over hundreds of millions of years has evolved the most efficient carbon sequestration system on the planet. As David Perry writes on the World Economic Forum website: Perry observes that before farmland was cultivated, it had soil carbon levels of from 3% to 7%. Today, those levels are roughly 1% carbon. If every acre of farmland globally were returned to a soil carbon level of just 3%, 1 trillion tons of carbon dioxide would be removed from the atmosphere and stored in the soil – equal to the amount of carbon that has been drawn into the atmosphere since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution 200 years ago. The size of the potential solution matches the size of the problem. So how can we increase the carbon content of soil? Through “regenerative” farming practices, says Perry, including planting cover crops, no-till farming, rotating crops, reducing chemicals and fertilizers, and managed grazing (combining trees, forage plants and livestock together as an integrated system, a technique called “silvopasture”). These practices have been demonstrated to drive carbon into the soil and keep it there, resulting in carbon-enriched soils that are healthier and more resilient to extreme weather conditions and show improved water permeability, preventing the rainwater runoff that contributes to rising sea levels and rising temperatures. Evaporation from degraded, exposed soil has been shown to cause 1,600% more heat annually than all the world’s powerhouses combined. Regenerative farming methods also produce increased microbial diversity, higher yields, reduced input requirements, more nutritious harvests and increased farm profits. These highly favorable results were confirmed by Paul Hawken and his team in the project that was the subject of his best-selling 2016 book, “Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming.” The project involved evaluating the 100 most promising solutions to the environmental crisis for cost and effectiveness. The results surprised the researchers themselves. The best-performing sector was not “Transport” or “Materials” or “Buildings and Cities” or even “Electricity Generation.” It was the sector called “Food,” including how we grow our food, market it and use it. Of the top 30 solutions, 12 were various forms of regenerative agriculture, including silvopasture, tropical staple trees, conservation agriculture, tree intercropping, managed grazing, farmland restoration and multistrata agroforestry. How to Fund It All If regenerative farming increases farmers’ bottom lines, why aren’t they already doing it? For one thing, the benefits of the approach are not well known. But even if they were, farmers would have a hard time making the switch. As noted in a Rolling Stone article titled “How Big Agriculture Is Preventing Farmers From Combating the Climate Crisis”: Farmers are locked into a system that is destroying their farmlands and the planet, because a handful of giant agribusinesses have captured Congress and the regulators. One proposed solution is to transfer the $20 billion in subsidies that now go mainly to Big Ag into a fund to compensate small farmers who transition to regenerative practices. We also need to enforce the antitrust laws and break up the biggest agribusinesses, something for which legislation is now pending in Congress. At the grassroots level, we can vote with our pocketbooks by demanding truly nutritious foods. New technology is in development that can help with this grassroots approach by validating how nutrient-dense our foods really are. One such device, developed by Dan Kittredge and team, is a hand-held consumer spectrometer called a Bionutrient Meter, which tests nutrient density at point of purchase. The goal is to bring transparency to the marketplace, empowering consumers to choose their foods based on demonstrated nutrient quality, providing economic incentives to growers and grocers to drive regenerative practices across the system. Other new technology measures nutrient density in the soil, allowing farmers to be compensated in proportion to their verified success in carbon sequestration and soil regeneration. Granted, $20 billion is unlikely to be enough to finance the critically needed transition from destructive to regenerative agriculture, but Congress can supplement this fund by tapping the deep pocket of the central bank. In the last decade, the Fed has demonstrated that its pool of financial liquidity is potentially limitless, but the chief beneficiaries of its largess have been big banks and their wealthy clients. We need a form of quantitative easing that actually serves the local productive economy. That might require modifying the Federal Reserve Act, but Congress has modified it before. The only real limit on new money creation is consumer price inflation, and there is room for a great deal more money to be pumped into the productive local economy before that ceiling is hit than is circulating in it now. For a detailed analysis of this issue, see my earlier articles here and here and latest book, “Banking on the People.” The bottom line is that saving the planet from environmental destruction is not only achievable, but that by focusing on regenerative agriculture and tapping up the central bank for funding, the climate crisis can be addressed without raising taxes and while restoring our collective health. Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc. This article was first posted on Truthdig. com. Ellen Brown chairs the Public Banking Institute and has written thirteen books, including her latest, Banking on the People: Democratizing Money in the Digital Age. She also co-hosts a radio program on PRN.FM called “It’s Our Money.” Her 300+ blog articles are posted at EllenBrown.com. | Ellen Brown | https://www.globalresearch.ca/key-environmental-crisis-beneath-our-feet/5698996 | Sun, 29 Dec 2019 14:15:49 +0000 | 1,577,646,949 | 1,577,707,516 | environment | natural resources |
755,108 | theindependent--2019-04-08--Brazilaposs Bolsonaro plans to axe environmental panel that protects Amazon rainforest | 2019-04-08T00:00:00 | theindependent | Brazil's Bolsonaro plans to axe environmental panel that protects Amazon rainforest | Jair Bolsonaro’s administration is considering axing an independent panel for Brazil’s environmental policy in a move that activists warn could lead to increased deforestation, documents have revealed. Brazil’s president proposed creating a “government council” of political appointees to replace the National Council of the Environment (known as Conama), which has almost 100 members, including representatives of independent environmental and business groups. Conama helps protect the 60 per cent of the Amazon rainforest that is in Brazil, which scientists see as crucial for efforts to slow global warming. The new body, proposed in a policy roadmap drafted by Mr Bolsonaro’s transition team, would consist of five presidential appointees and environment minister Ricardo Salles – one of the authors of the plan. The documents, first published by the Brazilian Climate Observatory environmental group, were obtained and verified by the Associated Press. Brazil’s Environment Ministry did not reply to a request for comment. Part of the transition plan has already come into force. The country’s forestry service, aimed at promoting “knowledge, sustainable use and widening of forestry coverage,” was transferred to the agriculture ministry on Mr Bolsonaro’s second day in office. On the same day, the agriculture ministry was given the power to determine the limits of indigenous lands, rather than Brazil’s official indigenous rights agency. As a congressman and candidate, Mr Bolsonaro often questioned the reality of climate change and cast environmental groups as foreign-influenced meddlers restraining Brazil’s economic growth by holding back mining and agriculture. His stance has similarities to the views of Donald Trump, who before taking office described the US Environmental Protection Agency as a “disgrace” that largely should be dismantled. The authors of Mr Bolsonaro’s transition plan say Conama is a “confusing” body that “acts emotionally, without due technique, being subjected to ideological interference”. In another transition team document, lawyer Antonio Fernando Pinheiro Pedro argues that its decisions have led to “the emission of norms and standards that are far from reality”. In an interview shortly after his election, Mr Bolsonaro complained that it could sometimes take a decade to get an environmental licence. “That will not continue,” he said. While officials have not yet formally proposed the smaller council, there has already been increased friction over Conama. Security guards blocked alternate members of the council from joining the main meeting at a March session in the capital of Brasilia, breaking a long tradition of wide-open debate in Brazil’s top environmental council. Carlos Rittl, executive secretary of the Brazilian Climate Observatory, which includes several nonprofit groups, said he believed that chaotic meeting was “more evidence that the plan (for a smaller council) is indeed being implemented”. “Deforestation ended 2018 on the rise. It is on the rise in 2019, but we haven’t heard a word from the minister about that. We have heard about limiting the access to civil society so we can’t have a fair discussion,” Mr Rittl said. Former environment minister Rubens Ricupero speculated the new administration may have delayed creating the new council because of public anger over the collapse of a mine dam near the city of Brumadinho in January that killed at least 223 people, with 70 still missing. Mr Ricupero noted Mr Bolsonaro’s chief of staff suggested closing the environmental ministry during the campaign, but said that the powerful agribusiness lobby was afraid such a move would damage trade and has prevented any such move. The Bolsonaro transition plan also suggested closing the federal agency that oversees conservation zones, such as national parks and biological reserves, and issues fines for violation of environmental laws there. Many of those penalties are never paid, but several Brazilian agribusiness leaders have complained about them over the years. Pinheiro Pedro, the transition team lawyer, wrote that the agency should be folded into the Environment Institute, which enforces other environmental legislation and aims to promote the sustainable the use of natural resources. He said the two have “the same objective” and streamlining environmental governance is key to “avoid international interference”. Mr Rittl, of the Brazilian Climate Observatory, said he believed that change would reduce oversight in key areas by diluting the focus of regulators. Environmentalists also criticised the language used in the transition documents, though the tone echoes Mr Bolsonaro’s own pronouncements. The plan says NGOs involved in climate change discussions are “uncontrollable organisms” that need to be stopped so the system is closer to ministerial control. It also contends Brazil’s environmental governance is crafted to give jobs to political appointees, describing that as “a risk to national sovereignty”. Emilio Bruna, a tropical ecologist focused on the Amazon who is based at the University of Florida, said the transition plan showed the worst fears about Mr Bolsonaro’s presidency were starting to come true. “Scientists are not only concerned about the government not creating new protected areas, but also the downgrading of existing protections in the rainforest,” he said. “There was already a culture of impunity, but now it’s being reinforced.” | Conrad Duncan, Mauricio Savarese | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bolsonaro-brazil-deforestation-amazon-rainforest-a8860311.html | 2019-04-08 16:02:38+00:00 | 1,554,753,758 | 1,567,543,563 | environment | natural resources |
1,010,340 | thetelegraph--2019-07-05--Demand for luxury toilet roll trumping shoppers environmental concerns new analysis shows | 2019-07-05T00:00:00 | thetelegraph | Demand for luxury toilet roll trumping shopper's environmental concerns, new analysis shows | The demand for luxury toilet roll is trumping shopper's environmental concerns, as recycled brands are becoming less popular with the public. The major brands are using far less recycled paper than they did in 2011 amid a growing trend for high quality 'four-ply' toilet roll known for its softness. Only five of the nine major supermarkets, including Sainsburys and Waitrose, are offering their own-brand recycled toilet paper, analysis from Ethical Consumer magazine found. In 2011, just under 30% of total fibre used by Kimberly-Clark, one of the biggest suppliers of toilet tissue worldwide, was from recycled fibre, but by 2017 this figure had fallen to 23.5%. It comes as experts warn that the large-scale use of virgin paper in the production of “luxury” quilted toilet roll is heavily contributing to deforestation rates and destroying animal habitats. Alex Crumbie, a researcher for Ethical Consumer, said: “There is no need to cut down forests to make toilet roll, yet this is precisely what is happening.With consumer attention focused on plastic, some of the big brands have slowed and even reversed their use of recycled paper in the toilet rolls they make.” The UK uses 1.3m tonnes of tissue a year, with the average British consumer getting through 127 rolls every year, according to the Confederation of Paper Industries. | Yohannes Lowe | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/07/05/demand-luxury-toilet-roll-trumping-shoppers-environmental-concerns/ | 2019-07-05 15:41:24+00:00 | 1,562,355,684 | 1,567,536,757 | environment | natural resources |
1,092,009 | vox--2019-10-31--Paper napkins are expensive and environmentally unsound. Now the industry is trying to save itself. | 2019-10-31T00:00:00 | vox | Paper napkins are expensive and environmentally unsound. Now the industry is trying to save itself. | From a high-rise building in downtown Atlanta, a team of five strategists works around the clock to rescue the paper napkin from extinction. The group, dubbed the “napkin team,” is part of the strategy arm at Georgia-Pacific, a paper manufacturing behemoth that owns a host of napkin, paper towel, toilet paper, and tissue brands. Its mission is to rebuff criticisms of paper napkins as an extra expense or a needless source of environmental waste. And at its center is Lisa Silverboard, who has overseen branding for Georgia-Pacific napkins for eight years. After holding branding roles at companies like Johnson & Johnson, Silverboard says, “I kind of landed in paper napkins.” But by the time she walked in the door at Georgia-Pacific, the paper napkin was in the throes of a crisis. Once a mainstay of the American kitchen, paper napkins have rapidly shed market share. Two decades ago, 60 percent of American households regularly purchased paper napkins; today that figure has plummeted to 41 percent, according to Georgia-Pacific statistics. “Our eating habits are changing,” says Silverboard. “There’s a lot more snacking. There’s a lot more on the go. We hear a lot from consumers that they’re eating more in the car, that they’re having smaller meals, and their needs have changed as it relates to napkins.” The plunge has been especially precipitous among young consumers. While 61 percent of people aged 65 and older reported using paper napkins every day, just 37 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds answered the same way, according to a report from market research firm Mintel. Recapturing that youth market might be the only way to ensure a future for the paper napkin. And under the guidance of its “napkin team,” Georgia-Pacific, which owns napkin brands like Vanity Fair, Mardi Gras, and Dixie, is making its last-ditch pivot toward napkins that appeal to young people. Yet to pull in younger consumers, paper napkin makers are taking on the trappings of a longtime enemy — the paper towel — and recruiting celebrities to restore their luster, all in the hope of sparing themselves from going the way of the plastic straw. This isn’t the first time paper napkins have faced an existential crisis. When the first paper napkins reached the US at the end of the 19th century, largely as a result of importing decorative paper napkins from Japan, many Americans objected. Accustomed to reusable napkins, they exclaimed, as one New York City newspaper put it, “Paper napkins! Who ever heard of such nonsense! What good are they?” But paper napkins soon caught on for another reason: They promised, at least superficially, to balance out class distinctions. When cloth napkins were the only game in town, buying single-use napkins had been a measure of wealth — who but the richest could afford to throw out a cloth napkin after each meal? The availability of cheaply available Japanese paper napkins shifted that paradigm. The same newspaper went on to argue that “the introduction of paper napkins” to the poor “will do away with this social stratum.” Another turning point for the paper napkin occurred in the middle of the 1900s, when the rise of the hamburger facilitated a new paper napkin boom — much to the chagrin of one Pittsburgh writer, who lamented in 1960, “My chief pet peeve against hamburgers, cheeseburgers, lottaburgers, et al is that they have ushered in the horrible paper napkins.” By the middle of the 20th century, paper napkins were big business, with etiquette writer Emily Post giving disposable napkins cautious approval and a new crop of high-end paper napkin brands, chief among them Vanity Fair, advertising a “superbly soft” and “luxuriously embossed” napkin. The origins of today’s turn away from paper napkins are complex, but some experts believe that environmental concern is at least a nominal factor. Paper napkins, while certainly not the largest contributor to global waste, are joining the ranks of balloons and plastic straws as casualties of the increasing skepticism of single-use paper and plastic products. “We’re facing major challenges with things like climate change, plastic pollution, and all other kinds of pollution,” says Simon Lockrey, a sustainability researcher at RMIT University in Melbourne. “The napkin debate is just another one of these issues where we’re starting to reconsider reusable versus disposable options.” In one report that linked the use of non-recycled tissue products — a moniker that includes paper towels, toilet paper, and paper napkins — to deforestation in Canada, lead author Jennifer Skene argued that abandoning paper napkins as well as similar products “could considerably slow forest degradation.” It is relatively easy for paper napkins to incorporate recycled paper fibers. The more that paper fibers are recycled, the shorter they become — and because many paper napkins only need short paper fibers, a company could craft napkins from fibers that have already seen five to seven reuses, according to Stanford Magazine. Every napkin in McDonalds, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Starbucks is made entirely from recycled paper As a result, many restaurants have vowed to use 100 percent recycled paper napkins. Napkins in McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Starbucks stores, for instance, are made entirely from recycled paper. But while some napkin companies have specialty lines that promise high proportions of recycled content, like Seventh Generation’s 100 percent recycled napkins, other major brands including Vanity Fair, Mardi Gras, and Kleenex offer little to no recycled content at all. Regarding the lack of recycled paper in Georgia-Pacific napkins, Silverboard notes, “Our fiber is sustainably sourced. We’re using certified wood that is replanted, so it’s not like people are clear-cutting areas.” And to Georgia-Pacific’s benefit, Rosenberg doesn’t think environmental factors are the main reason younger consumers are abandoning paper napkins. “Recycled fiber by itself isn’t a really big consumer driver,” he says. In fact, the main culprit for the precipitous decline of paper napkins is not environmental fears but an old foe: the paper towel. As a series of doomsday headlines have warned, consumers — especially young people — have made the simple decision to cut down on their number of purchases by substituting paper towels for paper napkins. That’s in large part because paper towels are so flexible: They clean spills, wrap up vegetables, and dab lips all in one. “A lot of people have found paper towels to be an acceptable substitute for napkins,” says Silverboard. “They like the absorbency that a paper towel offers. You can fold it and put it next to your plate and it works kind of like a napkin, and that versatility is very appealing to a lot of people.” Meanwhile, brand-name napkins like Vanity Fair and Mardi Gras are losing their cachet. Increasingly, when people do buy paper napkins, they’re opting for the private-label napkins — as opposed to name brands — that they can most cheaply find in stores. ”Consumers don’t care which format they’re using as long as it does the job,” says Jamie Rosenberg, the household products analyst at Mintel. “This value proposition is what Vanity Fair is trying to get back.” Early in 2018, Georgia-Pacific’s high-end paper napkin brand Vanity Fair rolled out Extra Absorbent, a paper napkin that pitches itself as “part paper towel, part napkin” and that a spokesperson says is designed to have “high appeal among millennials.” The product description for Extra Absorbent notes, “There’s no longer an excuse to use paper towels.” Rather than compete with the paper towel, the paper napkin has decided to mimic it. And Silverboard notes there’s more on its way: “We have a team that’s working on a whole host of different innovation options.” To resuscitate the floundering public image of the paper napkin, Georgia-Pacific has attempted to reformulate not just its products but its entire marketing strategy, too. For one thing, the company recruited a rosé-slinging Amy Sedaris to tape ad campaigns for the new line of Extra Absorbent napkins. On Valentine’s Day 2018, Vanity Fair also partnered with Match.com to launch a marketing campaign, #DateANapkinUser, whose poster features a coiffed white man with a napkin pressed to his lips. The company even commissioned its own study that claimed napkin users are “statistically less likely to have broken up with someone over DM.” Most recently, after this year’s Oscars, musician John Mayer teamed up with Georgia-Pacific to host his own afterparty for Vanity Fair, the napkin maker — a play on the magazine Vanity Fair’s famed post-Oscars gathering. In the ensuing days, AdAge dubbed Mayer a “napkin influencer.” In truth, the deck is stacked against paper napkins. Their sworn enemy, the paper towel, is fighting hard against them. While the paper napkin has pivoted to become more like paper towels, the paper towel industry has countered by becoming more like … napkins. Earlier this year, for instance, Brawny released a competing product, called Tear-A-Square, that brings younger consumers paper towels divided into tearable grids. To Rosenberg, the merging of paper towels and paper napkins is part of a larger trend in the household paper industry. Tissues, napkins, paper towels, and toilet paper “are losing their differentiation,” he says, and steadily collapsing into one mega-product. Just as paper towels are looking more like napkins, toilet paper is getting softer and more tissue-like. More so than environmental concerns, the shrinking of the paper market comes down to cost. “People in lower-income tiers are more likely to use paper towels as napkins, toilet paper as facial tissue,” says Rosenberg. “It’s cheaper to use paper towels as napkins than to buy napkins.” “It’s cheaper to use paper towels as napkins than to buy napkins” Still, this war between paper napkins and paper towels cannot help but feel like an exercise in corporate fatalism. Regardless of which product proves to have the greatest consumer staying power, the same small handful of corporate owners are profiting. Georgia-Pacific owns three of the seven most popular napkin brands — Dixie, Mardi Gras, and Vanity Fair — according to the Simmons National Consumer Survey. It also owns the paper napkin’s most formidable foe: the paper towel maker Brawny. Likewise, another conglomerate, Kimberly-Clark, lays claim to both the fifth-most popular napkin maker — Kleenex — and its major paper towel competitor, Bounty. Rosenberg notes that the reason these companies pit their napkins against their paper towels is for market research. Georgia-Pacific might own both Brawny’s Tear-A-Square and Vanity Fair’s Extra Absorbent, but seeing which product is more successful tells the company a lot about the market. “I think it’s really a consumer insights exercise,” he says. It also doesn’t hurt that the financial risks are small. At least in the case of Georgia-Pacific, all of the profits from paper napkins and paper towels alike are in turn fed on to its corporate owner, Koch Industries, which also controls countless household product brands. Even as these individual companies maneuver against each other, the money is all trickling up to the same place. Sign up for The Goods’ newsletter. Twice a week, we’ll send you the best Goods stories exploring what we buy, why we buy it, and why it matters. | Michael Waters | https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/10/31/20921322/paper-napkins-towel-environmental | 2019-10-31T08:30:00-04:00 | 1,572,525,000 | 1,572,537,563 | environment | natural resources |
711,379 | theguardianuk--2019-10-06--Its an enormous act of ecological vandalism the ancient forests under threat from HS2 | 2019-10-06T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | ‘It’s an enormous act of ecological vandalism’: the ancient forests under threat from HS2 | The orange lifebuoys that pop up at random points in the countryside are the first sign of what the naturalist Chris Packham calls the biggest deforestation project in Britain since the first world war. They hang from posts beside shallow, newly dug ponds, surrounded by neat rows of spindly saplings. These new landscapes are “compensation” for the partial destruction of 63 ancient woods that stand in the intended path of HS2, the high-speed rail line being carved through the countryside between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. (According to the Woodland Trust, 108 ancient woods are in the frame, when you also count those indirectly affected.) The idea is that, when the woods are felled after centuries of quiet growth, their wildlife, from great-crested newts to woodcock, may seek refuge in these new habitats. Although HS2 has come under review, after its projected cost rose to £88bn (with the possibility it could be cancelled), “enabling” work for the construction effort continues. According to HS2 Ltd, the government-funded company building the line, it will destroy only a tiny fraction of England’s 52,000 ancient woodlands – with 80% of “affected” woodlands left intact as the new line arrows through them. There will be generous compensation, it claims. But can ancient woods be replaced? And what do the people living beside these imperilled old woods think? South Cubbington wood in Warwickshire, on a hill above the scenic River Leam, has been fenced off in preparation for the chainsawing of old oaks and wild service trees. A deep cutting wider than a motorway will be carved through it. Beside the wood, a 250-year-old pear tree is surrounded by plastic fencing and awaiting execution. It was crowned England’s “tree of the year” in 2015. Now, dumper trucks thunder past. “It breaks my heart seeing all this,” says one local resident, Elaine Barker. “The wildlife won’t have the freedom to go from wood to meadow to river because they’ll have a great big concrete line in front of them. And neither will we. We live in Leamington Spa, one of the most polluted towns in Britain, and I have asthmatic children. These woods are a sanctuary.” South Cubbington is cherished by local people, who tramp its tracks with their dogs, and admire carpets of anemones and bluebells in spring. Breathe the air, says a group of Cubbington residents when we enter the woods: it smells cool, damp, mushroomy. Just 2% of Britain is ancient woodland (older than 400 years, in England and Wales). It often features old trees, dead wood (a habitat for rare beetles) and flora such as native bluebells. But the key, say ecologists, is its soils – even where ancient woodland has been replanted with newer trees, its soil is still undisturbed, chemical-free and rich in fungi, micro-organisms and the seeds of future life. In recent months, despite a continuing review by the retired engineer Douglas Oakervee, HS2 has become increasingly visible to those living near the London-Birmingham route. Roads and footpaths are abruptly closed; rolling countryside is studded with the orange and yellow of diggers, and fences spring up. Construction tracks are laid down; hedgerows are grubbed up. And people have woken up. A week ago, protesters evaded security around South Cubbington to begin a peaceful protest camp. Barker is heartened. “It’s absolutely lovely to see the whole community coming together and saying: ‘We don’t want this.’” HS2 Ltd’s plans to minimise woodland destruction appear impressive. It is planting 7m trees and shrubs, creating 3,300 hectares of wildlife habitat – a third greater than there is today. Ecologists say one crucial part of ancient woodland is its (untouched, chemical-free) soil, and so in South Cubbington the forest floor will be dug up and dumped on to new sites. Ironically, the wood’s imminent destruction is because winter is the most wildlife-friendly time to relocate its soil. But ancient woodland, says Luci Ryan, of the Woodland Trust, is irreplaceable. Every developer threatening ancient woodland (there are 995 examples of development on or beside ancient woodland) claims theirs is just a small slice; a finite resource continues to be eroded. Although the Woodland Trust says no new planting can offset the destruction of such forests, it wants a planting/loss ratio of 30:1. HS2 Ltd has not listed the precise compensation planting for each ancient woodland lost. “If we’re being really generous,” says Ryan, “the planting ratio is about six hectares to every one lost” for phase one of the project (London to Birmingham). “People say: ‘It’s just trees, and people are losing homes and businesses,’ but the problem is the way it was designed – if HS2 Ltd had considered the ancient woods in the beginning we wouldn’t be seen as unreasonable.” The fragmentation caused by the line slicing through ancient woods is highlighted by Mike Pollard of Banbury Ornithological Society, which owns Glyn Davies wood in Northamptonshire. “We don’t have much ancient woodland in this area; only little pockets of it survive,” he says as he shows me its 300-year-old oaks and the skeletons of last spring’s bluebells (another sign of ancient woodland). “There’s all this deadwood, old trees, two species of elm; it’s a really good sample of ancient woodland.” Everyone knows ancient trees can’t move, but even mobile bird species will be affected, Pollard says. The declining marsh tit needs woodland with a high canopy of tall trees. It will take 40 years before HS2’s compensation woods are big enough for it. Further up the line, the largest fragment of ancient woodland to be destroyed by HS2 is at Whitmore in Staffordshire. This is “phase 2a” (Birmingham to Crewe), and work has not yet begun. Whitmore Wood’s owner, Edward Cavenagh-Mainwaring, a thoughtful dairy farmer, points to where the line will “punch into the wood” and through its hidden valleys, where fallow deer run. The line will take one-third of the wood as it cuts through Cavenagh-Mainwaring’s farm, taking up to 100 of his 385 hectares during construction. He tries to be positive and has had some constructive negotiations. “HS2 have been comparatively good and communicative. We took the decision to work with them. They responded, and we believe our outcome is better,” he says. For instance, the height of a tunnel under the line has been raised so that he and his neighbour can get their farm machinery through it. But it’s not just the wood, the hedges or wetlands he has created for wildlife that will be irrevocably changed. “We have to look after the soil – that’s your legacy,” he says. “We’re into the soil and wildlife, and I feel quite annoyed that this bloody thing is coming right through the middle of us. I get compensated for that, but I don’t think it deals with the mental scarring this sort of project has. We live for this land, and we watch the work we have done on it being ’dozed out of the way. For me, the biggest impact of HS2 is on my head. It’s a mental-health thing.” South of Sheffield, Mark Hewitt surveys the gently curving green horizon of Nor wood. Hewitt, a farmer, entrepreneur and God-fearing Yorkshireman, likes this view so much that he is building a church here, where he will be buried. “The view is absolutely astounding. For a monstrosity to go through here, there must be something wrong with the country. They want their heads looking at!” he says. “I hope this church protects the wood. Some views are given to you. You don’t make views like that. God made that. The last thing I will do is stop this train going through this wood.” Hewitt is the kind of larger-than-life character you would not bet against. His childhood was spent in the woods here in Killamarsh. “We lived in this wood, I can show you every rabbit hole, every nook and cranny. This was our back yard. It touches a lot of people’s hearts in Killamarsh,” he says. “It’s beautiful, this wood. There are buzzards nesting here … tawny owls, long-eared owls, crossbills, barn owls, two species of deer … everything.” After making money in farming, plant hire and fishing lakes, Hewitt bought the wood and extended it, planting 40,000 trees and digging ponds. It’s not nimbyism, he says. “If I didn’t live here, my opinion would be exactly the same. I’m just trying to protect what’s left. No money in the world can buy this wood. It belongs to my village, and I’m proud of it. Ask our Queen what she thinks about them destroying her land. She is welcome to visit here. It is her land, and they are ruining it.” For people in Cubbington, hope arrived when HS2 abruptly changed tack last week and announced there would be no chainsawing of ancient trees in South Cubbington or 10 other ancient woodland until the new year. This reprieve came after lawyers for Chris Packham challenged the government on the legality of chainsawing trees while the whole project is under review. Packham, who also organised “Euston, we have a problem”, a protest at HS2’s London terminus, has eloquently linked HS2 to a wider ecological crisis. “It’s just an enormous act of ecological vandalism at a time when we really should know better,” he told Jonathan Pie (the actor/comedian Tom Walker). “It’s like a light has gone on in one part of our brain telling us that there is a climate and environmental emergency, and we’ve all got to make changes to address this issue, but we haven’t yet turned the other one [light] off; the one that tells us we’ve got to make this short-term progress. Will someone please turn that old light off so that we can bathe in the brightness of a new vision for a better future for ourselves and the planet?” For Elaine Barker at South Cubbington, the reprieve is a “sigh of relief”, but she fears the HS2 review will endorse “business as usual”. Like Packham, she sees no sign of the gulf closing between a growing awareness of environmental crises and bad stuff continuing to be done on – and to – the ground in Britain. Yet. “The government is just so far removed from what’s going on in the world,” she says. “We can’t just say they shouldn’t be cutting down forests in Brazil. By cutting down trees here, that’s contributing to climate change. Where do we start if we don’t start at home?” | Patrick Barkham | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/06/its-an-enormous-act-of-ecological-vandalism-the-ancient-forests-under-threat-from-hs2 | 2019-10-06 14:00:22+00:00 | 1,570,384,822 | 1,570,632,941 | environment | natural resources |
188,806 | eveningstandard--2019-11-11--SBTV entrepreneur Jamal Edwards tells young Londoners helping the ecosystem is as 'cool' a | 2019-11-11T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | SBTV entrepreneur Jamal Edwards tells young Londoners helping the ecosystem is as 'cool' as being in the music industry | Entrepreneur Jamal Edwards has said making garden wildlife sanctuaries is as “cool” as being in the music industry. The 29-year-old boss of SBTV, who has made millions from his music video empire and helped launched the career of stars including Ed Sheeran, spoke as he joined TV presenter Chris Packham in building a giant “bug hotel” in Manor House. Edwards grew up in Acton, and spent free time as a child making amateur wildlife films in friends’ gardens. Handling insects with the Autumnwatch presenter at Woodberry Wetlands reservoir and wildlife oasis, he said: “I used to make loads [of bug hotels] when I was younger, if there were loads of ants around. “One of the big things is I think lots of people don’t know they can get involved and do little things in their back garden that will help wildlife. “If there’s an ant’s nest in your garden don’t just trample over it or whatever, make a difference through what you do. It’s important, it’s our ecosystem. People that have been following me for ages know about my wildlife stuff, but a lot found me through music and don’t know, but yeah, they are both cool.” The National Lottery-funded wetlands project has enabled the area to remain a home for kingfishers, bees and dragonflies in urban north-east London. At the event the presenter revealed ten top tips created by The Wildlife Trusts, the Woodland Trust, the RSPB that Londoners can follow to help “make a real difference” to wildlife preservation in the capital. They include putting creating vertical urban gardens on rooftops, putting in a pond if you have a garden - and building a bug hotel. He told the Standard: “Putting in a pond is the most instantly productive. We don’t want people to think they need the space for a lake though. Even a bucket sunk into the ground will attract an abundance of life.” Top 10 tips Londoners can follow to help the capital's ecosytem: • Fill your garden with plants: Trees, bushes, climbers, flowers – the more you can fill your space, the better. For maximum effect, choose those that are known to be winners for wildlife, including a sequence of nectar- and pollen-rich flowers that bloom throughout the year for our pollinators. • Create a pond: Even a tiny container pond can attract a whole host of wonderful wildlife. Always think safety first and ensure there are shallow margins or ramps to allow wildlife to get in and out. Include some native pondweed, and some bog plants around the edge, and it should soon burst with life. • Open your garden or balcony as a bird café: Kick off by making your own bird cake or feeders and don’t forget to provide water in a shallow container for drinking and bathing. Clean your bird feeders regularly to help keep your garden birds safe from disease. • Cherish your dead matter: A dead wood or stick pile provides a home for about 20 per cent of Britain’s woodland insects and is food for wood-boring insects. Build these piles somewhere damp and dark to attract insects, toads and newts or find a sunny dry spot and solitary bees may take up residence. Leaf piles and compost heaps also provide valuable cover, and there is a whole host of life that will munch away at it, helping to fuel the garden food chains. • Open up wildlife highways: Cut out little doorways at the base of fences so that hedgehogs, frogs and toads can get from one garden to the next. A 13cm x 13cm hole is ideal. Make sure to ask your neighbours’ permission and get your whole street involved to create an even better mini highway. • Don't hurt the wider world with your gardening: Choose peat-free compost or make your own, limit your carbon footprint and water use, and keep plastic use to a minimum so that your garden benefits the planet as a whole. • Grow your plants in containers to maximise space: For those with a small outdoor space or no garden at all, growing plants in containers and hanging baskets is a great solution for a balcony, porch or windowsill. • Build a bug hotel: Create a multi-storey wildlife hotel that’s full of all sorts of natural materials, providing safe hidey-holes for creatures galore – anything from toads, to solitary bees to bumblebees, and ladybirds to woodlice. • Join a community group in your area: If you live in an urban area, volunteer in a local community project to improve and enhance wildlife in your public spaces. • Plant a tree: Native trees provide food and shelter for local wildlife and a fantastic habitat to support various species. Birds such as greenfinches will love silver birches and feed on the abundant seeds and insects it hosts, and bees will feast on the nectar and pollen provided by alders. | Naomi Ackerman | https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/sbtv-entrepreneur-jamal-edwards-tells-young-londoners-helping-the-ecosystem-is-as-cool-as-being-in-a4284316.html | Mon, 11 Nov 2019 17:00:18 GMT | 1,573,509,618 | 1,573,518,958 | environment | nature |
335,606 | naturalnews--2019-04-17--Past fire control efforts have interfered with the natural ecosystem of forests increasing the risk | 2019-04-17T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Past fire control efforts have interfered with the natural ecosystem of forests, increasing the risk and intensity of wildfires | (Natural News) In recent years, large raging wildfires have increased in quantity and severity, engulfing the western United States. The year 2017 is on pace to be the most catastrophic year yet for wildfires. In Montana, more than 980,000 acres have been lost, as raging fires burn out forest canopies and destroy pristine areas. More than 578,000 acres have burned up in Oregon, more than 422,000 acres have been consumed in California, and nearly 200,000 have been destroyed in Washington. At the height of this year’s chaos, 76 large fires were burning across nine states, wiping out more than 500 homes and 32 businesses. What is to blame for such widespread chaos? A team of researchers at the University of New Mexico set out to understand the cause and effect scenarios that are exacerbating wildfires in the West. Ironically, one of the biggest factors causing stronger wildfires today is many years’ worth of undiscerning and excessive fire control and suppression efforts. No one wants to see fire blazing free in the forest, so every effort is made to contain the flames. However, small fires are a natural part of the ecosystem and should be left alone. These small fires clear out dry brush throughout the forests. The more mankind interferes to stop these cyclical, necessary fires, the more we create the conditions that feed much larger forest fires. No one wants to see industry cutting down forest trees, so environmental protection efforts are put in place to “save the trees.” However, by not properly logging the forests, wildfires have plenty of firewood to build a stronger, all-consuming blaze in the future. Man’s attempt to control the forest and protect the environment has backfired, giving way to large fires that take advantage of dry climate conditions, thickly-wooded forests with heavy brush. Sponsored solution from the Health Ranger Store: Lab-verified Nascent Iodine solution is a dietary supplement that provides your body with supplemental iodine to help protect your thyroid during radiation exposure. Nuclear accidents such as Fukushima (or nuclear war) can expose your body to radioactive iodine-131, a dangerous radioisotope. Pre-loading your system with stable iodine occupies the iodine receptor sites on your organs, causing your body to naturally expel radioactive iodine you may have been exposed to through air, food, water or milk products. This defensive strategy is recommended by nearly all health authorities, worldwide, including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Discover more at this link. Dan Krofcheck, a post-doctoral fellow in UNM’s Department of Biology, says: For a long time, there’s been this stigma that fire in the landscape is a bad thing. It makes sense, because fire is a destructive process. But, it’s also an integral part of how these ecosystems evolved and we kind of shut that down through heavy fire suppression activity. The result is that fuel that would have been consumed by frequent fire, builds up and accumulates. Subsequently, when you finally have fire move through an area, after it’s been suppressed for 30, 50, 100 years, you have these massive fires that no longer just consume the understory but they’re actually torching crowns and moving through the tree canopy. Krofcheck’s team, along with the USDA Forest Service, looked for ways in which forest management can clear underbrush to lessen the contagious nature of forest fires. They conducted forecast simulations using projected climate data taken from the Dinkey Creek Collaborative Landscape Forest Restoration Project area in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. In one test, they thinned the entire area. In a second test, they cleared two-thirds less underbrush than the first test, choosing the most at-risk areas for wildfires. After examining over a thousand simulations, they found that strategic clearing of underbrush from high risk areas reduced fire severity up to 60 percent. “Even though we thinned about two-thirds less of the forest, we saw the exact same treatment outcomes,” said Krofcheck. This is good news, because thinning an entire forest is unrealistic and expensive. “This research and way of thinking about optimally using your resources, in terms of where you thin, could go a long way in helping these organizations use their dollars most efficiently to achieve their desired outcomes, which is less severe fires,” said UNM Associate Professor Matthew Hurteau. By examining and pinpointing the best places to thin the underbrush, future forest management teams can help prevent deadly forest fires. Healthy logging of the forest is also an integral part of forest management. Discerning when small burns are an appropriate part of the natural ecosystem burn-off is essential to long term prevention of catastrophic forest fires. | Lance D Johnson | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-04-17-fire-control-efforts-interfere-with-ecosystem-forests-wildfires.html | 2019-04-17 18:48:40+00:00 | 1,555,541,320 | 1,567,542,695 | environment | nature |
56,078 | birminghammail--2019-02-04--The heartbreaking true impact of litter on animals in Birmingham | 2019-02-04T00:00:00 | birminghammail | The heartbreaking true impact of litter on animals in Birmingham | The RSPCA has declared a “war against litter” - as statistics show the heartbreaking impact of people’s rubbish on animals in the West Midlands. New analysis by the charity has detailed an increase in animals affected by plastic litter - including by becoming entangled in nets, trapped in plastic bags or bottles, or infected through litter-inflicted wounds. The data shows there were at least 80 incidents in the West Midlands county that involved animals affected by general litter in 2018. That’s up from the 64 recorded in 2017 and 70 recorded in 2016 - though lower than the 97 in 2015. However, the incidents involving plastic litter were at a record high of 45. That compares to 27 recorded cases in 2017, 29 in 2016 and 39 in 2015. Over the four years the charity recorded 311 incidents of animals being affected by general litter (including non-plastics) in the West Midlands county alone. The situation in the West Midlands mirrors a national trend when it comes to plastic litter. The number of animals affected by plastic litter in England and Wales is at a record high, with incidents increasing from 473 in 2015 to 579 in 2018. That’s an increase of 22 per cent over the period. Certain animals - particularly those that live in water habitats - are disproportionately affected by plastic litter, according to the charity’s data. There has been a fourfold rise in seals affected by incidents involving plastic litter, with 28 recorded in 2018 compared to only five in 2015. Incidents involving geese have also risen, from 37 in 2015 to 70 last year, and swans, from 40 to 48 over the same four-year period. Despite the rise in animals affected by general and plastic litter, the vast majority of incidents still relate to fishing litter, such as lines and hooks. Across all species, of the 4,579 incidents in 2018 that involved any type of litter, 3,228 were from angling and 1,351 were general litter. RSPCA Head of Wildlife, Adam Grogan said: “This shocking rise in plastic litter incidents suggests that plastic is a growing threat to animals. “Every year, the RSPCA deals with increasing numbers of mammals, birds and reptiles that have become entangled or affected in some way by discarded plastic. “From seals with deep infected wounds caused by plastic frisbees cutting into their necks, to swans and geese trapped in fishing line or netting, plastic is clearly having an increasing impact on animal welfare. “Our latest data sadly reflects the wider litter crisis taking place right now across the globe and action is urgently needed. It’s up to every one of us to do our bit in the war against litter.” | James Rodger | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/heartbreaking-true-impact-litter-animals-15769664 | 2019-02-04 05:30:00+00:00 | 1,549,276,200 | 1,567,549,629 | environment | nature |
59,601 | birminghammail--2019-04-02--Gentleshaw Wildlife Centre overwhelmed by response to fire that killed animals | 2019-04-02T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Gentleshaw Wildlife Centre overwhelmed by response to fire that killed animals | Gentleshaw Wildlife Centre re-opened on Thursday following a devastating fire which killed a number of animals. The blaze broke out at the centre in Eccleshall, on March 25, and was caused by a fault in the electrical heating system. It destroyed three enclosures and volunteers have been working hard to help repair the damage. Nearly 400 people have donated £6,580 to a GoFundMe page to raise cash. Meanwhile fund raising, such as a Facebook fundraising page, has raised £4,745 and a JustGiving page which was set up by Amy Scholey has also contributed £820 to the funds. Meaning that over £12,000 has been raised so far for the centre. Sadly a number of animals died in the blaze - Basil the meerkat died however, his partner Sybil managed to escape and is now searching for a new partner. Other animals that lost their lives in the fire were three giant tortoises and around 15 fruitbats. The fire left 14 homes nearby without power after power cables were involved in the blaze. A neighbouring Garden Centre was also affected by the loss of power. Gentleshaw Wildlife Centre posted on their social media, saying: "Those that have offered help, skills or materials. We will be in touch. Clearing is almost finished. Some trees to be cut back next weekend and then we can get going. Please don't think we aren't utterly grateful for your offers. "If anyone would like any bark chippings for their garden, feel free to come during opening hours. We've tons! A few pennies in the donation pot and your welcome to as much as you like! No need to contact us, just turn up! "We are open 10.30am to 4.30pm daily except Tuesdays." Lesley Smith, Trustee Treasurer for the charity said: "We are overwhelmed with the support. Obviously we need money to rebuild, but the physical help to clear up and the donations of tea and biscuits for the workers and fruit for the animals is important too. "Kind words are also helping us to get through this. The fund raising has been amazing. People have been so generous. From pocket money donated by children to much larger sums donated by those who appreciate the work we do with rescued animals." | Charlotte Regen | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/gentleshaw-wildlife-centre-overwhelmed-response-16060263 | 2019-04-02 06:48:42+00:00 | 1,554,202,122 | 1,567,544,279 | environment | nature |
149,600 | drudgereport--2019-06-30--Vultures eating animals alive on Kentucky farms | 2019-06-30T00:00:00 | drudgereport | Vultures eating animals alive on Kentucky farms... | They'll devour slimy newborn calves, full-grown ewes and lambs alive by pecking them to death. First the eyes, then the tongue, then every last shred of flesh. And there isn't much defense against black vultures and turkey vultures, both of which are federally protected and cannot be killed without a permit. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 covers all migratory birds, their nests and their eggs, which means that the birds can't be harmed without federal permission. Their nests can only be disrupted, as a deterrent, if there are no eggs or young in them. But as the vultures, which are native to Kentucky, have multiplied in numbers nationally over the last two decades, they have become more of a problem for farmers. Each year, Kentucky farmers lose around $300,000 to $500,000 worth of livestock to these native vultures, according to Joe Cain, commodity division director for the Kentucky Farm Bureau. It's not just farm animals. Small pets may be at risk too. Read this: Louisville is the state's 'snakiest city' and all this rain has them slithering out The birds can be valuable contributors to the ecosystem, disposing cleanly of animal carcasses. But their increased numbers have made them more desperate for food in other forms — even alive. "With a vulture, it's like someone came in with a skinning knife," said Derek Lawson, the head herdsman for the 1300-acre biodynamic Foxhollow Farm in Oldham County. "It's all clean cuts. Usually, the hide's completely cut off, whereas with a coyote or dogs, it'll be torn and jagged." People may see the birds more often on the side of the road, pecking at rotting roadkill. They're easy to identify. Black vultures have gray heads and hold their 5-foot wings in a horizontal position when in flight, according to the University of Kentucky Department of Forestry and Natural Resources. Turkey vultures, on the other hand, are true to their name with bright red heads and a V-shaped in-flight profile. Black vultures have historically been the most aggressive of the two and are more likely to feed on live animals. These vultures normally migrate from northern South America, through Texas and along the southeastern section of the U.S. to Pennsylvania. Warmer winters may have increased the number of vultures in the U.S., said Wayne Long, the Jefferson County extension agent for the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. Vultures, he said, take advantage of climate change and hang around more in a spot they like. Kentucky black vulture attacks: How to keep your pets and farm animals safe Lawson said he's noticed more vultures since 2009, when he thinks they started nesting near Foxhollow Farm. He plans his year around the predatory habits of the vultures, which circle the skies in wait of anything dead or vulnerable. He remembers one eerie morning when he saw a flock of 60 vultures perched on adjacent gates in one of his fields. He mainly worries about them during calving season, when they like to feast on easy marks. His 2019 calving season opened with him topping a hill and seeing six vultures pecking a calf to death. They like to play with the newborns, he said. They'll hop around and get the calf comfortable with them before they peck out their eyes. "Then they can't see," he said, "so they can take them over." The whole process, from the playful taunt to the complete skinning, doesn't take long at all, he added. Depending on the size, it may only take minutes. "They're very efficient at what they do." Lawson said Foxhollow hasn't lost any full grown cows to the vultures, but the birds have taken down full-grown ewes while in labor, when both the mother and her baby are vulnerable. He remembers finding a ewe once that had been in the process of giving birth when she was attacked. A full-grown ewe weighs between 160 and 180 pounds. When the vulture got her, he recalled, the skeleton was completely together. "And the hide was in one big cape coming off the back of the ears," he said. "You could pick the ear up and pick the whole ewe up. But there was no meat left on the bones." Long, UK's Jefferson County extension agent, said small pets like cats and dogs may be at risk of attack just by nature of being small animals. Related: How to tell black vultures and turkey vultures apart Special federal permits, which cost $100 each, are required before a person can kill a vulture, and the permits must be renewed each year. In 2015, the Kentucky Farm Bureau began buying the permits through a partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and offering subpermits for free in limited numbers to eligible applicants. Luckily for Lawson, the Foxhollow farmers have maintained permits since 2013 that allow them to kill a small number of both black land turkey vultures each year. Now the farm gets its permits through the farm bureau. Without the permits, they could face a fine up to $15,000 or six months behind bars. Foxhollow Farm first got a permit after it lost a number of ewes, lambs and calves in 2013, the oldest of which was a 2-week-old calf, to vultures. The farmers had already tried to run the vultures off, to no avail. "Thirty minutes later, they're back out there," Lawson said. They decided the best course of action was to get federal permission to defend their herds. Top headlines: You won't need a permit for concealed carry soon. What that means The terms of the permit require that the permit holder use a waterfowl load: a steel shot shotgun between a No. 2 to No. 4 buckshot — the smaller the number, the bigger the projectiles. There are no specific caliber restrictions, but Lawson always uses a 12-gauge shotgun. The farm animals aren't in danger of getting hit by the shells, he said. He's usually shooting at the vultures once they're in the air or trees. Besides, "if they're on a calf, the calf is already dead." The vultures are smart, he added. By the time he sees them attacking an animal, goes to his shop to retrieve the firearm, they're already flying away. That's why during calving season, he keeps his shotgun handy. "You got to catch them by surprise that first time," he said. He usually has to kill a few in the beginning of the calving season, which he schedules for April 1 to June 1, and uses those early kills to deter the others. He hangs the dead vultures upside-down by bright orange haywire on cherry trees for the other birds to see. It works, he said. The wings spread upside down is creepy, an effective deterrent to the others. The vultures will come in to investigate their dead comrade, but they won't eat it. For several months, while bugs and weather give the dead, hanging vultures a taste of their own medicine, the live flocks are more wary. They circle high in the sky and wait before swooping in to attack a young ewe or calf or to dig in a compost pile for the last scraps of decaying flesh. Top headlines: One pool in Louisville will open this summer, lawmaker says Lawson said his feelings about vultures are a constant balancing act. It's hard to watch his livestock attacked, but he knows the vultures are good for cleanup. "You gotta have those lines," he said. "They are a necessary part of the ecosystem. Otherwise we'd just have dead stuff just laying around, slowly rotting over time. They kinda speed things up." But, even with better permit accessibility through Kentucky Farm Bureau, Lawson said it's frustrating to go through paperwork to defend his herds. "It's kind of a hassle," he said. A 5%-10% mortality rate among the newborn calves is considered "lucky," he said, and he has to account for at least that much loss each season. He'd like to find the darn birds' nests to disrupt them and send the vultures on their way. But the vultures stop their hunting about 30 minutes before dusk, making it hard to track them back to their roosts. Lawson will keep trying, though. For now, he'll keep an eye on the tree lines and on his herds, binoculars always by his side, in case the flying fiends get hungry and come in for a kill. Also: Thousands of American flags are retired in Kentucky at a solemn ceremony Reach Sarah Ladd at 502-582-4078 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @ladd_sarah. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/subscribe. | null | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DrudgeReportFeed/~3/6nWUdHinAUE/ | 2019-06-30 22:37:37+00:00 | 1,561,948,657 | 1,567,537,522 | environment | nature |
567,450 | tass--2019-07-04--Researchers ask Russian fishery agency to report sightings of orcas and beluga whales | 2019-07-04T00:00:00 | tass | Researchers ask Russian fishery agency to report sightings of orcas and beluga whales | MOSCOW, July 4. /TASS/. Researchers forming part of the council on the release of orcas and beluga whales held in the Srednyaya Bay in Russia’s Primorsky Region have asked the Russian Federal Agency for Fishery to report all sightings of released marine animals, Deputy Director of the Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO) Vyacheslav Bizikov stated on Thursday. "We have sent a request to the Amur Regional Directorate of the Russian Federal Agency for Fishery with the appeal to instruct all coastal fisher teams to report all sightings of orcas and beluga whales, with a corresponding form to fill out. The on-the-spot signals will help us expand our monitoring network near the marine coast and in the areas of fishing. If we receive a report that a group of orcas has been spotted with a specified time and place, we will have the grounds to state that the animal has returned to the wild, which is our goal," he said. | null | https://tass.com/society/1067122 | 2019-07-04 15:58:43+00:00 | 1,562,270,323 | 1,567,536,881 | environment | nature |
285,320 | latimes--2019-12-30--Video shows whales, dolphins and sea lions playing off Dana Point | 2019-12-30T00:00:00 | latimes | Video shows whales, dolphins and sea lions playing off Dana Point | Whale-watchers off Dana Point got the Christmas gift of a lifetime last week when a trio of gray whales was spotted frolicking with scores of dolphins and sea lions. Capt. Steve Plantz is a lifelong ocean explorer who has led tours with Captain Dave’s Dana Point Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari for the past two years. He said to see the gray whales alone would have been a sight, but to see all the sea creatures floating in unison was a rarity. Plantz took a group of whale-watchers out to sea on Christmas Eve aboard the Manute’a, a 50-foot catamaran sailboat. The goal was to find marine mammals, including gray whales, who are most often spotted between December and May during their annual migration from north of Alaska to the lagoons of Baja California. What the 49 passengers witnessed instead was a water ballet among the animals. “It’s definitely a top-tier kind of sighting,” Plantz said. In a video published Friday, aerial footage captured by drone pilot Grayden Fanning shows the whales swaying from side to side as Pacific white-sided dolphins jump and spin, cruising the pressure wave created by the massive mammals. Nearby, sea lions splash while a flock of seagulls flies overhead. Plantz said there were two adults and one juvenile among the whales. He thinks a courtship was brewing, which piqued the curiosity of the dolphins. The boat includes an underwater viewing area for passengers — whom Plantz described as ecstatic about the water show — to observe the dolphins. It’s not uncommon to see the animals this time of year, he said, when they come in closer to the shore as the waters cool. The tour lasted longer than the typical 2 1/2 hours as the excursion traveled farther from the harbor, following the whales down the coast toward Camp Pendleton. Dana Point was recently deemed the whale and dolphin capital of the world. Plantz said seeing both sea creatures swimming alongside each other really drove that message home. | Colleen Shalby | https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-30/gray-whales-dolphins-and-sea-lions-videotaped-playing-together-off-dana-point | Mon, 30 Dec 2019 16:55:25 -0500 | 1,577,742,925 | 1,577,753,932 | environment | nature |
335,751 | naturalnews--2019-04-29--Convenience for us KILLS them UK study finds ALL of the dolphins whales and seals washed up on | 2019-04-29T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Convenience for us KILLS them: U.K. study finds ALL of the dolphins, whales, and seals washed up on their shores have plastic in their guts | (Natural News) Earth’s once-pristine oceans are now seas of plastic waste. And for marine life, the unending flow of used microplastics and other trash is beyond life-threatening. Scientists recently surveyed 50 dead sea mammals who’d washed up on British shores, and found that every single one had consumed plastic. Ten different species of dolphin, seal and whale were examined, and all had microplastics of some kind in their guts. Toothbrush fibers, food packaging and fragments from plastic bottles are just some of the plastics polluting our oceans and poisoning the creatures who live in them. As if the problem of plastic waste wasn’t bad enough, scientists say that these remnants can actually harbor bacteria, viruses and other potential hazards — which can also make animals sick. Eating plastic in and of itself is quite harmful to animals, and these extra threats make the scourge of plastic waste even more troublesome. Researchers from the U.K.’s University of Exeter and Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) surveyed the corpses of 50 sea mammals found along the shoreline, all the way from Cornwall to Scotland. Every single animal had traces of microplastics in their guts. Microplastics are 5mm or less in diameter. As a press release from Science Daily reports, some 84 percent of the plastics found in the animals were synthetic fibers, which can come from fabric, toothbrushes and fishing needs. The remaining 16 percent was made up of plastic fragments, which can come from an array of sources. Support our mission to keep you informed: Discover the extraordinary benefits of turmeric gummy bears and organic "turmeric gold" liquid extract, both laboratory tested for heavy metals, microbiology and safety. Naturally high in potent curcuminoids. Delicious formulations. All purchases support this website (as well as your good health). See availability here. On average, the scientists say, they found 5.5 pieces of plastic in the animals’ digestive systems. Lead author of the study, Sarah Nelms, says this suggests the animals do eventually “pass” the plastic out of their systems. “We don’t yet know what effects the microplastics, or the chemicals on and in them, might have on marine mammals. More research is needed to better understand the potential impacts on animal health,” she said. One can only assume that the effects of consuming plastic — and all of the chemicals, pathogens and metabolites that will come along with it — is not going to be good for the health of animals (or humans, for that matter). We already know that exposure to plastic chemicals like BPA is extremely dangerous for humans. It would be irrational to believe that there is any scenario where consuming plastic isn’t harmful to marine life. Dr Penelope Lindeque, Head of the Marine Plastics research group at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, adds that across many years of research, PML has seen plastics in virtually every species of marine life they’ve observed. From tiny zooplankton and fish larvae to dolphins and whales, no part of the oceanic ecosystem is safe from plastic waste. “This study provides more evidence that we all need to help reduce the amount of plastic waste released to our seas and maintain clean, healthy and productive oceans for future generations,” Dr. Lindeque added. Professor Brendan Godley, of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation on the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall, stated of the research, “Our findings are not good news.” It is not a secret that plastic waste has created a problem well beyond our ability to deal with. Estimates suggest eight million metric tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean each year. There are mountains of garbage the size of Texas floating across the sea right now. Earth Day reports that by the year 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than there are fish (by weight). Even the Arctic Ocean is overrun with plastic waste. For marine life, there is literally no escape from the problem of plastic. See more coverage of the latest environmental research at Environ.news. | Vicki Batts | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-04-29-dolphins-whales-seals-washed-up-have-plastic-in-their-guts.html | 2019-04-29 19:00:07+00:00 | 1,556,578,807 | 1,567,541,747 | environment | nature |
574,131 | tass--2019-11-22--Scientists say flocks of dolphins in Black Sea shrink, garbage islands grow | 2019-11-22T00:00:00 | tass | Scientists say flocks of dolphins in Black Sea shrink, garbage islands grow | "The first results have been summarized of the first stage of a full-scale aerial survey of cetaceans, carried out in September over a larger part of the Black Sea off the Caucasus shores of Russia - from the Kerch Strait to Adler. The number of dolphins in the observed groups reduced considerably from several hundred animals to 37 at the most. In the meantime, the amount of sea litter grew, the Fund said. MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. An air survey of the Black Sea called Flights with Dolphins - the first one of the past 40 years - has identified a reduction in the number of dolphins in groups and a considerable growth of the amount of garbage, the press-service of the International Ecological Fund Clean Seas told the media on Monday. The deputy director-general of the international ecological fund Clean Seas, Anna Subbotina, told TASS the migration of sources of food was the main reason. Many schools of fish - the main item on the dolphins’ diet - have migrated to other parts of the Black Sea. Special comprehensive research will be carried out to establish the reasons. Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology has agreed to support the project. "Russia has for the first time joined an international project being implemented by two European organizations ACCOBAMC and EMBLAS plus. The project will draft a program for monitoring the Black Sea. It will study all of the sea’s populations - different fish varieties and mammals and the condition of the water and seabed. Only after that it will be possible to realize what measures are to be taken," Subbotina said. The research expedition Flights with Dolphins identified an increase in the amount of garbage, both individual objects (such as ropes, buoys, fishing nets and plastic items), but also some 200 patches of garbage. The worst concentration of garbage is in the area of the central whirlpool and 50-60 kilometers away from the coastline. "Fortunately, there are no giant garbage islands like the ones that can be found in the Pacific. But nevertheless it’s worth giving thought to this, because removing garbage on the high seas is a costly process. At the moment the simplest way of changing the situation is to stop polluting the planet," the Clean Seas fund’s director-general Vasily Bogoslovsky said. On September 18-26, the first phase of research flights over the Black Sea was carried out by a team of leading specialists on mammals from the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution. The La-8 amphibious plane was used in the operation. Test pilot Valery Tokarev was the mission’s chief pilot. The Clean Seas foundation acted in the capacity of the project’s operator. The task of the Flights with Dolphins project was to monitor and count the Black Sea’s sole mammal species the - dolphins. Last time such a survey was carried out in the 1980s. During the six-day mission an area of 48,000 square kilometers was explored. The scientists flew a total of nearly 3,200 kilometers to come across three species of cetaceans - bottlenose dolphins (402 animals), butterflies (about 560), and Azovka dolphins (16). | null | https://tass.com/science/1091951 | Fri, 22 Nov 2019 19:21:31 +0300 | 1,574,468,491 | 1,574,468,456 | environment | nature |
715,980 | theguardianuk--2019-11-27--Most dolphins are 'right-handed', say researchers | 2019-11-27T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | Most dolphins are 'right-handed', say researchers | Dolphins, like humans, have a dominant right-hand side, according to research. About 90% of humans are right-handed but we are not the only animals that show such preferences: gorillas tend to be right-handed, kangaroos are generally southpaws, and even cats have preferences for a particular side – although which is favoured appears to depend on their sex. Now researchers have found common bottlenose dolphins appear to have an even stronger right-side bias than humans. “I didn’t expect to find it in that particular behaviour, and I didn’t expect to find such a strong example,” said Dr Daisy Kaplan, co-author of the study from the Dolphin Communication Project, a non-profit organisation in the US. Researchers studying common bottlenose dolphins in the Bahamas say the preference shows up in crater feeding, whereby dolphins swim close to the ocean floor, echolocating for prey, before shoving their beaks into the sand to snaffle a meal. Writing in the journal Royal Society Open Science, Kaplan and colleagues say the animals make a sharp and sudden turn before digging in with their beaks. Crucially, however, they found this turn is almost always to the left, with the same direction taken in more than 99% of the 709 turns recorded between 2012 and 2018. The researchers say the findings indicate a right-side bias, since a left turn keeps a dolphin’s right eye and right side close to the ocean floor. The team found only four turns were made to the right and all of these were made by the same dolphin, which had an oddly shaped right pectoral fin. However the Kaplan said it was unlikely this fin was behind the right turns: two other dolphins had an abnormal or missing right fin yet still turned left. It is not the first time researchers have found evidence of a right-side bias in cetaceans. Grey and humpback whales tend to roll to the right when foraging on the seafloor, while common bottlenose dolphins tend to lie on their right when beaching themselves to chase fish on to muddy river banks. Dusky dolphins, meanwhile, circle their prey with their right side facing their quarry. The team suggests a number of possible reasons behind the latest findings, including that it might make it easier for the dolphins to swallow prey as their food channel, which splits to pass around their larynx, is wider on the right than the left side. Research has also suggested dolphins produce echolocating clicks with the phonic lips on the right side of their head, meaning it could be advantageous if this side is kept nearer to the ocean floor. While Kaplan said further evidence was needed, she pointed to the Ganges river dolphin, which is practically blind and relies heavily on echolocation. “It turns out they almost always swim right-side down when they are echolocating,” she said. Another possibility is linked to brain processing: as in humans, sensory information picked up by one side of the dolphin body is processed by the opposite side of the brain. The team says if visual and echolocation information is largely processed by the left hemisphere of the dolphin brain, animals might perform better at foraging if information is picked up by the right eye and ear. Dr James Herbert-Read, a biologist at Cambridge University, said the study added to a growing body of evidence that many species show handedness in particular tasks. While he added that further work was needed to unpick whether such biases had benefits, for example boosting foraging success, he said the strength of the dolphins’ preference was notable. “This strength – approximately 99% of turns by individuals were to the left – appears to be stronger than the left-/right-hand preferences in humans,” he said. “It’s rare to see such strong and consistent lateralisation between individuals within a population.” | Nicola Davis | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/27/most-dolphins-are-right-handed-say-researchers | Wed, 27 Nov 2019 00:01:35 GMT | 1,574,830,895 | 1,574,814,235 | environment | nature |
201,911 | fortune--2019-02-08--Were Eating the Earths Biggest Animals Into Extinction Report Says | 2019-02-08T00:00:00 | fortune | We’re Eating the Earth’s Biggest Animals Into Extinction, Report Says | Human activities like hunting for meat are pushing the world’s largest animals into extinction. The effects of the over-exploitation and habitat loss of these “megafauna” species face—combined with disease, pollution, and global climate change—”provide mounting evidence that humans are poised to cause a sixth mass extinction event,” says a new study published Wednesday in the journal Conservation Letters. Human harvesting—including hunting for meat, gathering eggs, and unintended bycatching in fisheries—is the top threat to the nearly 300 species studied, all of which are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of threatened species. The study’s data includes many recognizable species like the whale shark, leatherback sea turtle, African elephant, Chinese giant salamander, and various gorilla, rhinoceros, tuna, and grouper species. According to the study, 70% of all those studied have declining populations, with and 3 out of 5 threatened by extinction. “Our results suggest we’re in the process of eating megafauna to extinction,” William Ripple, the study’s lead author and ecology professor at Oregon State University, said in a statement. These numbers mean bad news for more than just human food sources. Declines in these species will “jeopardize ecosystem services to humans and generate cascading evolutionary and ecological effects on other species and processes,” says the paper. Megafauna are particularly vulnerable due to the fact they typically produce fewer offspring and reproduce less often than smaller species, but education and global cooperation can promote recovery. Most great whales, for example, have seen improvements since the 1986 ban on commercial whaling. “We argue that any successful conservation strategy must consider minimizing the direct killing of megafauna as a priority solution,” reads the study, adding that “the impacts of such a strategy on food supply would likely be minimal, but economic values, cultural practices, and social norms might complicate the picture.” Thus, public education and legal measures are essential. “Preserving the remaining megafauna is going to be difficult and complicated,” said Ripple. “There will be economic arguments against it, as well as cultural and social obstacles. But if we don’t consider, critique and adjust our behaviors, our heightened abilities as hunters may lead us to consume much of the last of the Earth’s megafauna.” | Renae Reints | http://fortune.com/2019/02/08/megafauna-extinction/ | 2019-02-08 19:38:02+00:00 | 1,549,672,682 | 1,567,549,199 | environment | nature |
333,339 | nationalreview--2019-11-23--Killing Animals to Save Them? Hunting as Conservation | 2019-11-23T00:00:00 | nationalreview | Killing Animals to Save Them? Hunting as Conservation | Sportsmen have incentives to do the hard work of protecting endangered species and their habitats. Environmentalists, mainly of the weekend-hiker variety, assume that the only way to save declining species is to “protect” them: ban hunting, put them on endangered-species lists, and otherwise restrict contact between the animal world and the human. Sportsmen have long believed that the best way to save declining species is to kill them: Allowing wild animals to be harvested for food and sport imparts clear value to the species and incentivizes sportsmen to do the hard work of protecting them and their habitat. The connection between hunting and conservation in the United States goes back at least to the early 20th century. The American Fisheries Society, for example, notes that sportsmen’s organizations such as the Izaak Walton League were instrumental in saving a declining black-bass population after a 1925 report warned that the species would vanish if no action were taken. Anglers partnered with legislators to impose federal restrictions on transporting bass across state lines (they used to be fished for food, believe it or not), and state wildlife agencies worked to conserve and stock the popular game species at the behest of sportsmen. Today, bass fisheries churn out millions of smallmouth, largemouth, and other types of bass each year. This conservation model has a time-tested track record, but a new study published in Science offers significant evidence that game species stand a much better chance of survival than their non-game counterparts. The top-line results of the study don’t look promising: According to researchers at Cornell University, since the 1970s the North American bird population has declined by 3 billion birds, or 30 percent. Media reports (rightly) have focused on the “staggering” losses, as the study’s first author, Ken Rosenberg, described them in Science. There is a silver lining, however. Even as species such as sparrows, blackbirds, larks, and finches have sharply declined, the populations of game species including turkeys, grouse, ducks, and geese have grown over the same time period. Conservation organizations such as Ducks Unlimited know that waterfowl populations are healthy. That’s not news. But the fact that these populations have remained stable while other species have taken catastrophic losses testifies to the work of hunters and hunting-related conservation organizations in the United States. Rosenberg agrees. “Waterfowl are without question the biggest success story, and we highlight that in the paper, and I do in all my talks,” he tells me. “It was the hunters who noticed the declines in waterfowl population in the mid 20th century and did something about it. Policies were put in place and billions of dollars raised by Ducks Unlimited. There was a very targeted effort to manage and protect wetlands, restore wetlands, and restore waterfowl populations to have healthy populations for hunting.” Mike Brasher, a waterfowl specialist for Ducks Unlimited, explained that the success of game species can be attributed, in part, to their vocal, persistent constituency. “Certainly, the fact that those species are hunted gives them a very involved constituency that has a strong connection to that resource,” he tells me. “When the waterfowl migration is less than the hunters would like to see, they ring the phone off the hook of their biologists and their legislators.” The numbers testify to the effectiveness of such (nearly literal) grassroots lobbying. According to Rosenberg’s study, while sparrows, blackbirds, and finches have declined by between 30 and 50 percent, the turkey and grouse population is up over 20 percent and the ducks and geese have risen by over 50 percent. ‘Never That Simple’ As with anything in the natural world, the full truth is complicated. All the biologists and other scientists I spoke with riffed on this theme, and it’s important to note that myriad actors contribute to a species’ success. “It’s never one factor that’s driving a decline or a rebound,” Brasher says. He points out, for example, that geese adapt readily to urban and agricultural environments, as anyone can testify who’s been chased off his neighborhood pond by a patrol of Canada geese. Much of the increase in the goose population has been driven by a few specific subspecies that thrive in corn and rice fields, according to Brasher. Mark Hatfield, director of conservation services for the National Wild Turkey Federation, also noted that game species tend to be adaptive by definition — humans hunt the kinds of animals that exist reliably in large numbers. “Game species are typically fairly adaptive. They have a wide geographic range, and they thrive with disturbance and management of habitat,” Hatfield tells me. “One could argue that the reason they are game species is that they are very adaptable. So, we find those species, make them into game, and then figure out how to manage them.” Still, it’s clear that the efforts of hunters have contributed directly to the health of many game species, and waterfowl are the foremost among them. “The populations of the most abundant species of waterfowl have remained very healthy despite the wetland drainage that continues to occur along with the conversion of native grasses,” Brasher says. “That’s where we start to see the value of all the conservation action through the sustained effort of conservation organizations and conservation supporters — and at the core of those supporters are hunters across the U.S. and Canada.” Scientists often point to the northern bobwhite as an exception to hunters’ conservation success, but, in this case, it’s an exception that proves the rule. Commonly hunted in the eastern United States, the northern-bobwhite population experienced a massive, 85 percent decline between 1966 and 2014, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. The efforts of hunters haven’t been enough to slow the decline, and in many places there are no longer enough northern bobwhites to hunt. Despite this failure, the northern-bobwhite decline counters the idea that game species are inherently adaptable. Without sufficient intervention from constituencies that love and respect the species, game animals can fall prey to the habitat loss that has decimated most of the bird species that Rosenberg and his colleagues studied. A Recipe for Success Rosenberg names several factors, including pesticides, that may have contributed to the overall decline in the North American bird population. Habitat loss is likely the biggest culprit. He notes that while bird loss is occurring on many different landscapes, those associated with agriculture appear to have been the hardest hit. “It wasn’t too long ago that there were lots of grassy margins and hedgerows and messiness out there,” he says. “Agricultural areas were full of birds. In the last two decades that’s really changed with the horizon-to-horizon corn and other crops. This clean, intense agriculture has no room for wildlife.” And hunters shouldn’t assume their favorite species are exempt. Hatfield identifies lack of habitat management in an increasingly urban society as the greatest threat to the wild-turkey populations in the U.S. “As we have become more urban, we have lost the connection to rural lands and a land ethic,” he says. “That lack of management will influence wild-turkey populations across the country.” Prescribed burning, for example, is an effective way to manage timber on large properties, but landowners are often reluctant to utilize it for fear of angering their suburban neighbors, more of whom are now much closer than in generations past. Historically, this is where Ducks Unlimited, the National Wild Turkey Federation, and a host of similar organizations have proven their worth. Working with state and federal wildlife agencies, these conservation groups use the millions of dollars they raise each year to preserve, manage, and reclaim habitat for wildlife populations from coast to coast. When I asked for specific examples from Ducks Unlimited, organization reps sent dozens of email attachments highlighting individual projects. Last year, for example, the group partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to transform a 60-acre ditched and drained agricultural field into a “high-functioning habitat for birds.” The field is in Maryland’s Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, which provides 28,000 acres of critical habitat for migrating birds. Ducks Unlimited stepped in because, like many coastal wetlands, the refuge is at risk of being lost to rising sea levels. Same story at the National Wild Turkey Federation. Through partnerships with hunters, as well as with state and national agencies, the NWTF has organized individual conservation projects to increase the turkey population from 1.3 million in the 1970s to 4.5 million in 2014. The NWTF has conserved 20 million acres of land for turkey habitat since tracking began in 1984. (Ducks Unlimited has conserved 14 million acres since 1937.) None of the scientists I spoke with suggested that the solution to the dwindling non-game bird population is to declare open season on sparrows and blackbirds. Still, Rosenberg expressed interest in replicating the strategies of hunting-related organizations to help preserve non-game species. That starts with the grassroots: individuals on the ground working to spend time and money to preserve and maintain habitat. Rosenberg’s team at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology published an article detailing seven simple actions people can take to help preserve the bird population, including making windows safer, keeping cats indoors, and buying coffee from bird-friendly farms. “It seems trivial, but it’s not. If we can increase the market for these products, we can make a difference,” Rosenberg says. On a policy level, Rosenberg hopes bird enthusiasts can follow the lead of hunters and encourage lawmakers to impose robust protections on the wildlife they love. “Just the same way the hunters fought for policies like the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, we need equivalent policies that can provide the resources for agencies to manage land,” he says. While game species will suffer from the same habitat threats that are impacting the larger bird population, the winning recipe for hunters is simple: keep doing what you’re doing. Both Brasher and Hatfield agree that in the conservation eco-system, hunters are the primary producers. Between duck stamps, excise taxes on hunting equipment, private donations, and grassroots advocacy, hunters have fueled our nation’s most successful conservation efforts for nearly 100 years. “Hunters are the base of the food chain, the most important part of what we do,” Brasher concludes. “They’re the fuel that runs the engine.” | Jordan Sillars | https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/11/hunting-as-conservation-sportsmen-incentives-to-protect-endangered-species-habitats/ | Sat, 23 Nov 2019 11:30:01 +0000 | 1,574,526,601 | 1,574,511,245 | environment | nature |
711,104 | theguardianuk--2019-10-01--Most people avoid ugly animals Im obsessed with them Sami Bayly | 2019-10-01T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | Most people avoid ugly animals. I'm obsessed with them | Sami Bayly | The surinam toad __ is an unusual creature to behold: it has an extremely flat, splat-like body, with a posterior packed with large pores full of babies. It’s as though somewhere during evolution, it took a wrong turn – and then got run over. But of course, the adaptation has an intelligent purpose. By carrying her eggs on her back, the mother is able to lay flat against her surroundings, protecting her spawn from predators until they are ready for the world. If you suffer from trypophobia (the fear of small, tightly packed holes), look away now. The surinam toad, as drawn by Sami Bayly. Illustration: Hachette The surinam toad is a perfect example of one of my obsessions: ugly animals. What may be a distressingly hideous feature to humans often belies evolutionary genius, which fascinates me so much that I wrote and illustrated a whole children’s book full of them. Most people spend their lives avoiding being associated with anything regarded as “ugly”; I find myself being drawn towards them. And drawing them. I’m 23 now but I grew up in my family’s home just outside of Port Macquarie in Australia, in the rural suburb of Sancrox. From an early age I found so much joy in the weird and wonderful creatures around me, from the frequent visits of _Antechinus_ marsupials to the bandy-bandy snakes, goannas in the garden, and possums in the trees. We had a vast range of pets too – miniature ponies and donkeys, among them. Our home was always decorated with paintings by Mum, and my sister and I were fortunate enough to inherit her artistic skill. I wasn’t sure what to do with it after studying art in high school – until Mum came across a unique course: I could get a bachelor’s degree in natural history illustration. During my honours year I researched the connections between conservation and aesthetics, to discover the impact of an animal’s appearance on how willing humans were to assist with its survival. The naked mole rat in The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ugly Animals. Illustration: Hachette Large and impressive animals found in safari parks or reservations, including tigers, lions and elephants, are considered “charismatic megafauna” owing to their popularity with the public. As a result, they tend to receive more press, better benefits and more donations – while less popular or “ugly” animals are left behind. In his 2011 article, The New Noah’s Ark, the Canadian veterinary research scientist Ernie Small compared the $2m Coca-Cola had committed to save polar bears – and the [$125m commitment to the whooping crane](https://nationalpost.com/news/too-cute-to-die-experts-say-were-too- selective-about-species-we-choose-to-protect) made by a joint Canada-US recovery plan – with money promised to help endangered frogs and toads, who receive nowhere near that much. “Aesthetic and commercial standards have become the primary determinants of which species in the natural world deserve conservation,” he wrote. “Accordingly, the world’s biodiversity is being beautified by selective conservation of attractive species, while the plight of the overwhelming majority of species is receiving limited attention.” According to superstition, if an aye-aye points at you with its ‘scrawny single finger’, you are doomed to die. Illustration: Hachette Species that possess human tendencies, infant-like features, vibrant colours, symmetry and impressive proportion – or offer something we can use, such as food, medicine or clothing – are almost always going to appeal more to us. But an animal like the endangered aye-aye suffers in comparison. To draw the aye-aye, one must take into consideration their coarse fur, bulging eyes, scrawny single finger and over-all rat-like appearance, while keeping the superstition that surrounds it in the back of one’s mind: if an aye-aye points at you with its long finger, the legend goes, you’ve been cursed with an imminent death. It sounds ridiculous, but myths like these have a direct impact on their population. We need to understand this incredible species, not be afraid of it; we need to educate others on why the creature has evolved like this. It is one of only a few species to use a technique called “percussive foraging”: their large ears help them hear insects inside the trees; their sharp teeth gnaw holes in the wood; and their eerily long index finger and claw helps them spear grubs found in the holes they’ve made, for a tasty meal. The helmeted hornbill is another one: critically endangered owing to land clearing for palm oil plantations, and poaching for its magnificent red ivory casque. In West Kalimantan, 6,000 birds were killed for trade purposes in 2013 alone, to create carved ornaments and jewellery from their horns. The helmeted hornbill is wonderful to illustrate, with its enormous size, outrageous beak and textured neck. I used a range of painting techniques to capturethis weird yet wonderful bird. I hope my book will introduce others to a broader range of species – and help us care about them, regardless of how they look. _• [The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ugly Animals](https://www.hachette.com.au /sami-bayly/the-illustrated-encyclopaedia-of-ugly-animals) by Sami Bayly is out now through Lothian/Hachette _ | Sami Bayly | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/01/most-people-avoid-ugly-animals-im-obsessed-with-them | 2019-10-01 02:03:47+00:00 | 1,569,909,827 | 1,570,221,856 | environment | nature |
766,601 | theindependent--2019-07-23--Risk of mass extinctions as climate changes faster than animals adapt study finds | 2019-07-23T00:00:00 | theindependent | Risk of mass extinctions as climate changes faster than animals adapt, study finds | Animals are not adapting fast enough to keep up with rapid climate change and even populations of common birds such as great tits, blue tits and guillemot could be at risk of extinctions, according to a new study. “These are species that adapt but even they are not adapting fast enough,” Dr Alexandre Courtiol from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research told The Independent. Scientists looked at 13 species in detail and found all but four of them were at risk. The species looked at were common, meaning this research paints an incredibly bleak picture for species that are already rare. “It’s likely that species even less accustomed to human environments may be struggling even more. I don’t think this picture is going to get much better for birds or mammals,” said Dr Courtiol. A team of 64 researchers led by the Leibniz Institute evaluated more than 10,000 scientific studies, according to the paper published in Nature Communications. Out of the 10,000 publications they found only 58 of them contained enough information to be included in the study. On average, the animals they looked at – which turned out mostly to be birds – had been studied in detail for 29 years. Lead author Viktoriia Radchuk said “Our research focused on birds because complete data on other groups were scarce. We demonstrate that in temperate regions, the rising temperatures are associated with the shift of the timing of biological events to earlier dates.” In nature, animals respond to a changing climate by altering the timing of biological events, such as when they hibernate, reproduce or migrate. Change in body size and mass is also another response to climate change. Researchers looked at scientific literature to work out whether changes in these traits were associated with a higher survival rate or increased number of offspring. They found that species could stay in their warming habitat if they evolved fast enough; however most were unable to change in time. Dr Stephanie Kramer-Schadt said: “Adaptive responses among rare or endangered species remain to be analysed. We fear that the forecasts of population persistence for such species of conservation concern will be even more pessimistic.” Researchers hope their analysis will stimulate new work on the resilience of animal populations in the face of global change. This could also help conservations work out the best way to manage vulnerable populations. The most up to date research suggests one million species currently face extinction. | Phoebe Weston | https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/mass-extinction-climate-change-animal-evolution-study-science-nature-a9017591.html | 2019-07-23 21:24:53+00:00 | 1,563,931,493 | 1,567,536,048 | environment | nature |
927,922 | thesun--2019-01-16--Which animals are at risk of extinction and what are the causes | 2019-01-16T00:00:00 | thesun | Which animals are at risk of extinction and what are the causes? | A BRITISH wildlife charity has predicted that tigers will be extinct within a decade. Born Free says the species has seen a 96 per cent reduction in the last century. The tiger has been hunted for its uniquely patterned pelt. Of the nine tiger subspecies, three are already extinct whilst many are endangered. But it is the South China Tiger and the Sumatran Tiger that currently face the biggest threat to their survival. The South China Tiger is actually believed to be extinct in the wild as it has not been spotted since the 70s. The Cross River Gorillas and Mountain Gorillas are both classified as Critically Endangered and Endangered - that's two out of five gorilla subspecies. There are currently only 200-300 Cross River Gorillas left in the wild, and 900 Mountain Gorillas. In the past 100 years, the Hawksbill Turtle has lost 90 per cent of its population, 80 per cent of which has been lost in the last decade. The Leatherback turtle is listed by the IUCN as Vulnerable, yet many subpopulations are facing extinction. The Sumatran Orangutan is a Critically Endangered species with approximately 80 per cent of the population lost in the past 75 years. This is mainly as a result of mass deforestation. This awful trend continues to put pressure on the remaining population of 6,600 Sumatran Orangutans that are estimated to remain on this earth. In the past 25 years, the Sumatran Elephant has lost an astounding 70 per cent of its habitat to deforestation for palm oil plantations, agriculture and human settlements. Less than 2000 are estimated to exist and in 2011, the Sumatran Elephant was classified by the IUCN as Critically Endangered. The Black Rhino, the Javan Rhino and the Sumatran Rhino are among the most endangered species in the world. The Javan Rhino is the most threatened with extinction with the total population of only 60 surviving in one National Park in Java, Indonesia. The Sumatran Rhino is Critically Endangered. It has been estimated that less than 100 exist today in the wild. The Black Rhino is classified by the IUCN as Critically Endangered with three subspecies declared extinct in 2011. Several conditions cause animals to become extinct or risk becoming endangered. These can include new diseases which certain animals do not have immunity against and new predators which pose a threat. New and more successful competitors can also threaten a species, such as the grey North American squirrel which arrived in Britain and almost wiped out the indigenous red squirrel. A change to an animal's environment such as climate change can also pose trouble. Also a single event, such as a volcano or earthquake, can cause a species to become extinct. The last and most avoidable of these risks is poaching in which an animal's fur, horns or meat is targeted. | Harvey Solomon-Brady | https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8212753/which-animals-are-at-risk-of-extinction-and-what-are-the-causes/ | 2019-01-16 21:51:31+00:00 | 1,547,693,491 | 1,567,552,224 | environment | nature |
949,662 | thesun--2019-03-31--The worlds most endangered animals from cute sea turtles to the rarest ape and what humans are d | 2019-03-31T00:00:00 | thesun | The world’s most endangered animals, from cute sea turtles to the rarest ape – and what humans are doing to help them | ANIMALS we know and love, from the rhino to the tiger, are now critically endangered. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has a 'Red List' where it notes down all the animals that could disappear in our life time and says 27,000 of these creatures will go extinct if action isn't taken. The following are six of the most endangered animals in the world and the measures humans are taking to help save them. Less than 60 Javan rhinos are alive in the world today. The horned creatures all live in one National Park in Java, Indonesia The International Rhino Foundation (IRF) and the Rhino Foundation of Indonesia are working together to protect this species and expand its habitat. Five Rhino Protection Units, each consisting of a four person anti-poaching team, watch over the rhinos whilst deactivating traps and arresting poachers. There are less than 300 Cross River gorillas left in existence due to deforestation and poaching. It is the rarest species of ape in the world and was previously thought to have gone extinct in the 1960s as a result of the Nigerian civil war. Efforts to save these animals mainly focus on securing the forest around them. WWF and partners have worked with the governments of Cameroon and Nigeria to create a protected area for the gorillas that spans the border of the two countries. Siberian tigers nearly went extinct in the 1940sSiberian tigers are the world's largest cats but less than 550 remain. Hunting in the 1940s nearly drove the species to extinction with only 40 of them managing to survive the cull. The tigers were saved when Russia became the first country in the world to grant the large cats full protection. Continued conservation and anti-poaching efforts help to keep the small population fairly stable. This cute porpoise is the rarest marine mammal in the worldThis dolphin-like creature is considered to be the most rare marine mammal. Less than 30 vaquitas are known to exist as the population has dropped drastically in the last few years. An organisation called VivaVaquita.org was set up in 2009 with the hope of raising awareness about the porpoise's plight and saving the small creature. A lot of hawksbill sea turtles are now tracked by GPSThese turtles are critically endangered and their coloured shells make them highly valuable to illegal traders. They represent a group of reptiles that have lived on Earth for over 100 million years. Despite their protected status, hawksbill eggs are eaten across the globe and they are often accidentally killed by fisherman. Conservationists are now tracking some of the turtles by satellite to save them from poachers, hunters and traders. These big cats are fast runners and high leapersThere are less than 90 of these solitary big cats left. It has been reported that male Amur leopards stay with the females to help them raise their young and that they can leap more than 19 feet in the air. The number of these leopards has increased fairly recently due to conservation efforts like anti-poaching brigades and educational programmes for humans who live near to the leopard habitat. ‘Worst disease ever recorded’ is flesh eating fungus responsible for ‘frog apocalypse’, scientists find. Some insects could be extinct ‘within a century’ as scientists warn of ‘catastrophic consequences for survival of mankind’. ‘Astronomically small’ micro-frogs the size of STAPLES found in Madagascar – and they terrorise ants and termites. What's your favourite animal? Let us know in the comments... We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours. | Charlotte Edwards | https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/8749041/endangered-animals-world-humans-help/ | 2019-03-31 09:26:38+00:00 | 1,554,038,798 | 1,567,544,576 | environment | nature |
955,541 | thesun--2019-04-17--The leaping lesbian lizard and other endangered animals facing extinction after death of the final Y | 2019-04-17T00:00:00 | thesun | The leaping lesbian lizard and other endangered animals facing extinction after death of the final Yangtze giant softshell turtle | TAKE a good, long look at the incredible creatures on this page – if things don’t change, they might soon all be as dead as a dodo. On Tuesday, The Sun told how the Yangtze giant softshell turtle crawled a step closer to extinction after the death in captivity of the last known female, aged 90. There are now only THREE of these turtles left in the world – a captive male at the same Chinese zoo, where an artificial insemination programme to save the breed failed, and two whose genders are unknown which are living wild in Vietnam. NICK PRITCHARD and GRANT ROLLINGS round up some of the world’s other endangered species. FACT: The largest land mammal creates one tonne of poo per week. DECLINE: Due to ivory poachers seeking their tusks an African elephant population that once stood at 26million is now just 144,000. FACT: It looks like a common shrew, but these rare mammals are far more deadly, injecting venom in prey via their specially modified teeth. DECLINE: It was thought these mammals had gone the way of the dodo until scientists found a few still alive in 2003. WHERE: Central and Southern Africa, India, China, Thailand, Burma, Indonesia and Malaysia FACT: This anteater is the only mammal to be covered from head to toe in keratin scales, the same fibre found in human fingernails. DECLINE: The pangolin is the world’s most illegally traded mammal due a huge market for its scales, with 2.7million killed annually. FACT: Also known as the Asian Unicorn because they have two parallel horns with sharp ends, which can be 20in long. DECLINE: The species was only discovered in 1992. These rarely spotted ox-type creatures only live in the Annamite Mountains of Vietnam and Laos. FACT: The world’s rarest marine mammal was only discovered in 1958, yet is already on the brink of extinction. DECLINE: This type of porpoise often drown in illegal gillnets (vertical walls of netting). Now only 30 can be counted. FACT: Elephant-like sea mammal, a cousin of the manatee, can grow to 11ft in length. DECLINE: Numbers down by 20 per cent in 90 years, disappearing from the waters off Hong Kong, Mauritius and Taiwan. FACT: These primates are considered to be sun worshippers because they need to warm their bellies where their fur is much thinner. DECLINE: Since the turn of this century the population has dropped by 95 per cent to 2,000, due to loss of habitat and hunting. WHERE: Himalayas and Karakoram mountain range in Asia FACT: This big cat’s metre-long (3ft) tail helps with balance, which is important when you live 16,000ft up the mountains. DECLINE: Hunted for fur, herbal medicine and as trophies, the snow leopard has been reduced to just 4,000 in the wild. WHERE: Central and Southern Africa, South Asia, Sumatra and Borneo. FACT: At full pelt these beasts can run at 34mph. DECLINE: Despite a ban on the sale of ivory, hunters have driven the African Rhino to the point of extinction. The Java Rhino and Sumatran Rhino are critically endangered with 67 and less than 80, respectively, left in the wild. FACT: History’s most famous biologist Charles Darwin called them “monstrous” due to their long legs which can span up to a metre (3ft). DECLINE: These crabs can take 60 years to grow to full size. Over-harvesting of them for their meat means they are no longer found on mainland Fiji. WHERE: Mesoamerican Reef, Coastal East Africa, Gulf of California, The Galapagos, Coral Triangle FACT: Leathery-looking shell is actually made up of tough, rubbery skin strengthened by thousands of tiny bone plates. DECLINE: Turtles have been known to die from accidentally swallowing plastic bags and being caught in huge drift nets as they migrate across the ocean. The number of adult females is down to 2,300. FACT: There are more tigers in captivity in the US than the total in the wild globally. DECLINE: Poached for their skins while their parts – such as bones, eyes, whiskers and teeth – are used in traditional Chinese medicines. Numbers have fallen from 100,000 in 1900 to just 3,890 in the wild now. FACT: The name orang-utan means “man of the forest” in the Malay language. DECLINE: Numbers have declined by more than half in the past 60 years, according to the WWF – largely due to hunting and logging. FACT: World’s smallest mammal weighs 2g and its body is about the size of a large bumblebee. DECLINE: Tourism and religious visits to the 35 caves in which they dwell, plus limestone mining, have seen their numbers drop to 6,600. WHERE: Arizona and New Mexico, USA FACT: Got their name because of an ability for an all-female population to reproduce. Also known as the New Mexico Whiptail Lizard. DECLINE: Found in only two places in the world. WHERE: Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda FACT: We share around 98 per cent of our DNA with the mountain gorilla. DECLINE: Destruction of forests and a rise in poaching has seen numbers decline. In 1981 there were just 254 mountain gorillas in the Virunga National Park in Congo, but after stepping up security and increasing protection there are now 880. These animals are still hunted for their fur. | Phoenix Cronin | https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8886579/softshell-turtle-dies-endangered-animals-facing-extinction/ | 2019-04-17 22:10:45+00:00 | 1,555,553,445 | 1,567,542,702 | environment | nature |
1,019,408 | thetelegraph--2019-11-11--Drought-hit Zimbabwe plans mass elephant rescue to save animals at risk of starvation | 2019-11-11T00:00:00 | thetelegraph | Drought-hit Zimbabwe plans mass elephant rescue to save animals at risk of starvation | Zimbabwe is planning an enforced mass migration of wildlife away from a park in the country's south, where thousands of animals are at risk of death due to drought-induced starvation. At least 200 elephants have already died at two other parks due to lack of food and water, along with scores of buffalo and antelope, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) said on Monday. "They will continue (to die) until the rains come. The biggest threat to our animals right now is loss of habitat," Zimparks spokesman Tinashe Farawo told Reuters. The El Nino-induced drought has also taken its toll on crops, leaving more than half of the population in need of food aid. Ms Farawo said Zimparks and private partners planned to move 600 elephants - as well as giraffe, lions, buffalo, antelope and spotted wild dogs - from Save Valley Conservancy in southern Zimbabwe to three other national parks. "This is the biggest translocation of animals in the history of wildlife movement here because we are talking of distances of more than 1,000 kilometres," said Ms Farawo. It will start once the summer rains come. Those are expected to start this week, which would offer major relief for the stricken animals and for farmers who are preparing for the 2019/20 planting season. | Reuters | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/11/11/drought-hit-zimbabwe-readies-mass-wildlife-migration-thousands/ | Mon, 11 Nov 2019 13:43:10 GMT | 1,573,497,790 | 1,573,519,079 | environment | nature |
334,363 | naturalnews--2019-01-29--Conserving biodiversity in active pastures The ecosystem can be preserved with scattered trees acc | 2019-01-29T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Conserving biodiversity in active pastures: The ecosystem can be preserved with scattered trees, according to research | (Natural News) A recent study published in the journal Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment revealed how scattered trees in active pastures promote biodiversity of the ecosystems around the area and help support forest recovery. Forests provide habitats and resources to a wide range of species, but as large areas of forests have been cleared and modified for growing crops and producing livestock, many of these areas are transformed into pastures with scattered trees. Studies have explored the importance of scattered trees in preserving species biodiversity within agricultural systems. One such study, titled How scattered trees matter for biodiversity conservation in active pastures, was conducted by a team from the Federal University of Lavras. The researchers investigated an area of 618.59 hectares in southeastern Brazil composed of active pastures of signal grass(Urochloa decumbens), with scattered trees and forest patches. The researchers surveyed all the scattered trees in the active pastures and in 60 plots measuring 200 square meters within eight forest patches. The team then assessed regeneration, distance of propagules (bud or spore) source, grass cover, microclimate, seed rain, and soil compaction under scattered tree crowns and in samples in the pastures without scattered trees. The findings revealed that scattered tree communities are highly diverse. The researchers associated this with the landowners’ preference for large tree species over small ones during the clearing process for pasture, selecting the trees based on their shading capability, which maintains a highly diverse community of trees. The team found this to be the major difference between forest patches and scattered tree communities. In addition, the researchers found that the scattered trees strongly affect seed rain and sapling regeneration. Only a few tree species are able to regenerate under the scattered trees, although many more are dispersed in the sites. The scattered trees were also found to reduce soil compaction and improve microclimate. The team noted that the positive effects of the scattered trees on these variables depend on the distance from forest remnants. The findings suggested that areas with scattered trees may help support the preservation of ecosystems by providing habitats and resources around the fragmented agricultural landscapes, which could promote forest recovery. A similar study conducted in Costa Rican pastures surveyed the density and species composition of scattered trees occurring in pastures of 24 dairy farms near Monteverde, Costa Rica. The research team interviewed farmers to determine why they leave trees in pastures and how they manage them. The researchers retrieved some common reasons cited by the farmers, such as shade for cattle, timber, fruits for birds and fence posts. Most farmers expressed interest in increasing tree cover within their pastures for the economic and ecological benefits that these trees could provide. Another study took this whole premise on a global scale, with a meta-analysis on the role of scattered trees in conserving biodiversity in agricultural ecosystems. The research team looked into a total of 62 studies that contained suitable data for the quantitative analyses and found that the local abundance of animal species such as arthropods and vertebrates, as well as woody plants was 60 percent to 430 percent greater and overall species density was 50 percent to 100 percent higher in areas with scattered trees than in nearby open areas. The researchers posited that areas with scattered trees can be regarded as keystone structures for animal species and terrestrial plants in landscapes worldwide, promoting greater levels of biodiversity than open areas. For more stories on biodiversity and conservation efforts, visit Ecology.news. | Janine Acero | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-01-29-the-ecosystem-can-be-preserved-with-scattered-trees.html | 2019-01-29 18:03:59+00:00 | 1,548,803,039 | 1,567,550,390 | environment | nature |
784,321 | theirishtimes--2019-02-11--Insect extinction threatens catastrophic collapse of ecosystems | 2019-02-11T00:00:00 | theirishtimes | Insect extinction threatens ‘catastrophic collapse’ of ecosystems | Human activity is causing dramatic declines in insects which could see 40 per cent of species become extinct in a few decades, a scientific study has warned. The global review of declines in insects warned that the world was witnessing the “largest extinction event on Earth” for millions of years, in the face of habitat loss, pesticides, disease and invasive species and climate change. Because of the importance of insects to natural systems and other wildlife, “such events cannot be ignored and should prompt decisive action to avert a catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems”, the scientists warned. The review, published in the journal Biological Conservation, looked at 73 historical reports on insects from around the world, including studies in the UK, and found insects ranging from butterflies and bees to dung beetles were among the most affected. Declines were not just hitting specialist species, for example those which rely on a particular host plant or only live in specific habitats, but also much more “generalist” species. The researchers warned that the intensification of agriculture over the past six decades was “the root cause of the problem” and that the relentless and widespread use of pesticides was having a major impact. The biggest driver in insect declines is the loss of habitat and conversion of land to intensive farming and urban areas, followed by pollution, mainly by chemical pesticides and fertilisers. Insects are also being hit by biological factors, such as pathogens and introduced species, and by climate change, where rising temperatures could affect the range of places where they can live. Insects are key to functioning natural systems, from providing a food source for other wildlife such as birds, mammals and amphibians, to pollinating plants and recycling nutrients. The researchers, Francisco Sanchez-Bayo and Kris Wyckhuys, said: “The conclusion is clear: unless we change our ways of producing food, insects as a whole will go down the path of extinction in a few decades. “The repercussions this will have for the planet’s ecosystems are catastrophic to say the least, as insects are at the structural and functional base of many of the world’s ecosystems since their rise at the end of the Devonian period, almost 400 million years ago.” They called for habitat restoration, a dramatic reduction in pesticides and changes to agriculture to help insects, such as flower-rich strips planted along the margins of fields, or rotating crops with clover to benefit bumblebees. Matt Shardlow, chief executive of wildlife charity Buglife, said: “It is gravely sobering to see this collation of evidence that demonstrates the pitiful state of the world’s insect populations. “It’s not just about bees, or even about pollination and feeding ourselves, the declines also include dung beetles that recycle waste and insects like dragonflies that start life in rivers and ponds. “It is becoming increasingly obvious our planet’s ecology is breaking and there is a need for an intense and global effort to halt and reverse these dreadful trends — allowing the slow eradication of insect life to continue is not a rational option.” He said insects made up more than half the species on Earth, but the research showed they were disappearing much faster than birds and mammals. “There is not a single cause, but the evidence is clear, to halt this crisis we must urgently reverse habitat fragmentation, prevent and mitigate climate change, clean up polluted waters and replace pesticide dependency with more sustainable, ecologically-sensitive farming,” he urged.–PA | null | https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/insect-extinction-threatens-catastrophic-collapse-of-ecosystems-1.3789530 | 2019-02-11 11:15:26+00:00 | 1,549,901,726 | 1,567,548,927 | environment | nature |
19,337 | anonnews--2019-03-22--Rare Scorpion Flies Are Some Of The Most Interesting Insects On Earth | 2019-03-22T00:00:00 | anonnews | Rare Scorpion Flies Are Some Of The Most Interesting Insects On Earth | Have you ever seen a Scorpion Fly? Have you ever heard of one? These strange creatures exist, and they look exactly like their name implies, a small scorpion with wings. However, despite its looks, this strange creature does not behave like a scorpion or a fly. These are one of the most creepy and disturbing insects on the planet, but they are pretty much harmless to humans. The more technical classification for this strange insect is the family Panorpidae within the order Mecoptera. The name of the order is derived from the Greek meco meaning long and pteron meaning wing, referring to the shape of both the front and hind wings in most species. Oddly enough, what appears to be a stinger in these strange flies, is actually the enlarged reproductive organs of the male fly. Luckily, the “stingers” are not actually operational and don’t have the ability to sting or hurt people. It is important to note that the females actually look far less like scorpions than the male specimens, since those stingers are actually just the male reproductive organs, which of course are not present on the females. There are roughly 550 species of Mecoptera worldwide, and the species dates back to over 250 million years ago. It is also speculated by many researchers that these insects are the ancestors of both butterflies and flies. While these incents are rare to spot out in the wild, they can actually be found all over the world, but they are more common in rural areas and have a greater species diversity in Africa. The European scorpionfly was named Panorpa communis by Linnaeus in 1758, then the Mecoptera were named by Alpheus Hyatt and Jennie Maria Arms in 1891. According to Wikipedia, Mecopterans mostly inhabit moist environments although a few species are found in semi-desert habitats. Scorpionflies, family Panorpidae, generally live in broad-leaf woodlands with plentiful damp leaf litter. Snow scorpionflies, family Boreidae, appear in winter and are to be seen on snowfields and on moss; the larvae being able to jump like fleas. Hangingflies, family Bittacidae, occur in forests, grassland and caves with high moisture levels. They mostly breed among mosses, in leaf litter and other moist places, but their reproductive habits have been little studied, and at least one species, Nannochorista philpotti, has aquatic larvae. The video below shows the male Scorpion Fly in action. One of the most creepy things about Scorpion Flies is that although they are no real danger to humans, they do have a habit of feeding on human cadavers. Forensic investigators actually look for Scorpion Flies and examine them to determine how long a body has cold. Scorpion Flies have a taste for living humans too, but just their sweat. Scorpion Flies have been known to be attracted to human sweat, probably because sweat contains sugar, and so does fruit. Adult mecopterans are mostly scavengers, feeding on decaying vegetation and the soft bodies of dead invertebrates, while some species hunt spiders by raiding their webs, which allows them to steal and collect the spider’s prey, as well as the spider itself. Some groups consume pollen, nectar, midge larvae, carrion and moss fragments. According to research conducted at the University of Kentucky: Adult scorpionflies of most species are believed to feed on dead insects, nectar, rotting fruits, and other organic matter. Some scorpionflies may be predatory on live prey, especially wounded or slow-moving insects. Scorpionflies are found in meadows, especially near the forest-edge. As with the adults, the habits of larval scorpionflies are not well-known. Many species are believed to be scavengers and opportunists, feeding on dead insects and decaying organic material. Hangingflies are predators that feed on caterpillars, mosquitoes, flies, moths, and other flying insects. As their name suggests, hangingflies hang and wait in ambush for prey. They use their long, clawed legs to capture insects that get too close. Hangingflies hunt in grassy areas, meadows, and along sheltered cliff-lines. Larval hangingflies are believed to be predators. As abundant as these creatures are, they are still extremely elusive, and researchers have a difficult time finding them. Scientists believe that they are excellent at hiding from humans and do a far better job of staying off the radar than other animals and insects. | David Cohen | https://www.anonews.co/rare-scorpion-flies-are-some-of-the-most-interesting-insects-on-earth/ | 2019-03-22 18:14:05+00:00 | 1,553,292,845 | 1,567,545,187 | environment | nature |
166,643 | eveningstandard--2019-02-28--How to encourage insects into your garden and do your bit for the bugs | 2019-02-28T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | How to encourage insects into your garden and do your bit for the bugs | This is insectarmageddon! Bugs face catastrophic collapse! So declared the headlines above reports of a worrying decline in the number of insects worldwide. Researchers predict that if this decline, recorded over 30 years, is allowed to continue, insects will be extinct in 100 years. Pesticide use, intensive agriculture and urbanisation are all blamed. Londoners are partial to the lazy hum of the bee and the sight of a pretty butterfly. Our urban back gardens, balconies and windowsills might seem small fry in the fight to stop a global decline, but we can all help. Here are some simple ways to encourage insects into your outdoor space and do your bit for the bugs. You don’t need pesticides. If you plant the right flowers you will encourage the “good” bugs — hoverflies, lacewings and ladybirds — that will eat the troublesome ones: greenfly and aphids. Instead of getting out the spray bottle, plant penstemons to attract ladybirds and draw in hoverflies and lacewings by sowing dill, fennel or the delightful, uplifting daisy-like cosmos from mid-spring. For a windowbox or pot, a dwarf cosmos variety such as Sonata or Antiquity (Sarah Raven, £4.25 per packet) will provide months of exuberant colour. For borders Cosmos Sensation Mixed (thompson-morgan.com, £2.69) will give you a stunning chest-high cloud of pink, purple and white flowers for months if you keep deadheading. “Butterflies and moths are particularly vulnerable to extinction because their caterpillars are at the bottom of the food chain,” says Kate Bradbury, author of The Bumblebee Flies Anyway and Wildlife Gardening For Everyone and Everything (available for pre-order). Attract moths with scented honeysuckle or London’s favourite climber, the smart, evergreen star jasmine (trachelospermum jasminoides) with its white scented flowers. Moths are also attracted to the tobacco plant nicotiana alata (the only nicotiana with flower tubes short enough for native moths). Buddleia is a well-known magnet for butterflies, but too big for many urban spaces. Try verbena bonariensis instead, or the perennial wallflower erysimum “Bowles Mauve” which can flower year round in London’s sheltered spots. Any London garden needs climbers to soften the boundaries and provide scent and shelter. And insects rather like them too. “Ivy is the best option as you don’t need to train it,” says Bradbury, “but honeysuckle and clematis work well too.” Dead logs are a favourite refuge for beetles, wood lice and other insects. “Simply pile them up in a corner,” says Bradbury. “If you can, partially bury the logs in the soil as this will provide a habitat for stag beetles.” If no logs are at hand, just leave dead leaves and twiggy prunings in a pile. On balconies or roof terraces, you can provide refuges for solitary bees by stuffing bundles of dead hollow stems such as alliums or bamboo into empty pots or crevices in the wall. Bees particularly like umbel flowers (those that look like umbrellas) such as ammi majus (Chiltern Seeds, £1.86), orlaya grandiflora and fennel all of which bring grace and delicacy to urban gardens. They are also highly partial to daisy-like blooms like rudbeckias, ox-eye daisy, asters, helenium and echinaceas, with their joyful dollops of colour. If you have only a windowsill or balcony, grow Mediterranean herbs in pots, says Bradbury. Thyme, oregano, rosemary, lavender, dill and sweet cicely are “easy, low-maintenance, provide flowers for pollinators and we get to use them too”. Even small spaces could include an apple tree in a pot to provide blossom, bark for insects to shelter in and fruit for you too. Choose a M27 rootstock, and a self-fertile variety to ensure pollination such as Sunset, Red Windsor or Fiesta (Blackmoor Nurseries, Fiesta, 3 year old bare root bush, £23.80, blackmoor.co.uk). If you have the space for a hedge, even a small one, to break up different areas of the garden then plant one. The poet Pam Ayres recently tweeted pictures of her newly planted mixed native hedge to encourage bees and butterflies. From Hedges Direct, the Bee and Butterfly selection includes hawthorn, crab apple, hazel, dog rose, viburnum and rowan and will cost you £155.99 for around 14 metres. | Alex Mitchell | https://www.standard.co.uk/homesandproperty/ditch-the-pesticides-and-grow-herbs-to-encourage-bugs-and-insects-into-your-garden-as-numbers-a4079231.html | 2019-02-28 13:01:00+00:00 | 1,551,376,860 | 1,567,546,983 | environment | nature |
201,957 | fortune--2019-02-11--Insects Are Dying Off at a Scary Rate Putting Humanity at Risk | 2019-02-11T00:00:00 | fortune | Insects Are Dying Off at a Scary Rate, Putting Humanity at Risk | Two-fifths of the world’s insect species may disappear over the next few decades, and we could be looking at a world without any insects at all within a century. Given insects’ importance for sustaining plant and animal life—by pollinating plants and serving as a food source—that’s as dire a prediction as they come. The warning was issued in a global review of insect declines, in which the authors called for a dramatic rethinking of agricultural practices and better strategies for cleaning polluted waters. “Unless we change our ways of producing food, insects as a whole will go down the path of extinction in a few decades,” the researchers wrote, according to a Guardian report. “The repercussions this will have for the planet’s ecosystems are catastrophic, to say the least.” As the Australian researcher Francisco Sánchez-Bayo told the newspaper: “If insect species losses cannot be halted, this will have catastrophic consequences for both the planet’s ecosystems and for the survival of mankind.” The projections are based on the downward trajectory of the world’s insect mass, which is thought to be falling by 2.5% per year. The culprits? Agricultural practices that rely on pesticides, the loss of habitats to growing cities, biological change such as the introduction of new species to habitats, and of course climate change. This is the first global review of its sort, though hardly the first story to point to an alarming decline in insect populations. Pesticides such as neonicotinoids have long been cited as a cause for mass bee deaths in North America and Europe, and last year scientists warned of huge insect losses in Puerto Rico—along with losses of the animals that ate them. | David Meyer | http://fortune.com/2019/02/11/insect-decline-environmental-collapse/ | 2019-02-11 11:25:42+00:00 | 1,549,902,342 | 1,567,548,913 | environment | nature |
214,447 | france24--2019-02-12--Earth seeing catastrophic collapse of insects | 2019-02-12T00:00:00 | france24 | Earth seeing 'catastrophic collapse' of insects | Angela Weiss, AFP | A butterfly is seen during a preview visit of the butterfly conservatory at the American Natural History Museum in New York on October 3, 2018. Nearly half of all insect species worldwide are in rapid decline and a third could disappear altogether, according to a study warning of dire consequences for crop pollination and natural food chains “Unless we change our way of producing food, insects as a whole will go down the path of extinction in a few decades,” concluded the peer-reviewed study, which is set for publication in April. The recent decline in bugs that fly, crawl, burrow and skitter across still water is part of a gathering “mass extinction,” only the sixth in the last half-billion years. “We are witnessing the largest extinction event on Earth since the late Permian and Cretaceous periods,” the authors noted. The Permian end-game 252 million years ago snuffed out more than 90 percent of the planet’s life forms, while the abrupt finale of the Cretaceous 66 million years ago saw the demise of land dinosaurs. “We estimate the current proportion of insect species in decline -- 41 percent to be twice as high as that of vertebrates,” or animals with a backbone, Francisco Sanchez-Bayo of the University of Sydney and Kris Wyckhuys of the University of Queensland in Australia reported. “At present, a third of all insect species are threatened with extinction.” An additional one percent join their ranks every year, they estimated. Insect biomass sheer collective weight is declining annually by about 2.5 percent worldwide. “Only decisive action can avert a catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems,” the authors cautioned. Restoring wilderness areas and a drastic reduction in the use of pesticides and chemical fertiliser are likely the best way to slow the insect loss, they said. The study, to be published in the journal Biological Conservation, pulled together data from more than 70 datasets from across the globe, some dating back more than a century. By a large margin, habitat change deforestation, urbanisation, conversion to farmland emerged as the biggest cause of insect decline and extinction threat. Next was pollution and the widespread use of pesticides in commercial agriculture. The recent collapse, for example, of many bird species in France was traced to the use of insecticides on industrial crops such as wheat, barley, corn and wine grapes. “There are hardly any insects left that’s the number one problem,” said Vincent Bretagnolle, an ecologist at Centre for Biological Studies. Experts estimate that flying insects across Europe have declined 80 percent on average, causing bird populations to drop by more than 400 million in three decades. Only a few species of insects mainly in the tropics are thought to have suffered due to climate change, while some in northern climes have expanded their range as temperatures warm. In the long run, however, scientists fear that global warming could become another major driver of insect demise. Up to now, rising concern about biodiversity loss has mostly focused on big mammals, birds and amphibians. But insects comprise about two-thirds of all terrestrial species, and have been the foundation of key ecosystems since emerging almost 400 million years ago. “The essential role that insects play as food items of many vertebrates is often forgotten,” the researchers said. Moles, hedgehogs, anteaters, lizards, amphibians, most bats, many birds and fish all feed on insects or depend on them for rearing their offspring. Other insects filling the void left by declining species probably cannot compensate for the sharp drop in biomass, the study said. Insects are also the world’s top pollinators -- 75 percent of 115 top global food crops depend on animal pollination, including cocoa, coffee, almonds and cherries. One-in-six species of bees have gone regionally extinct somewhere in the world. Dung beetles in the Mediterranean basin have also been hit particularly hard, with more than 60 percent of species fading in numbers. The pace of insect decline appears to be the same in tropical and temperate climates, though there is far more data from North America and Europe than the rest of the world. Britain has seen a measurable decline across 60 percent of its large insect groups, or taxa, followed by North America (51 percent) and Europe as a whole (44 percent). | NEWS WIRES | https://www.france24.com/en/20190212-science-environment-catastrophic-collapse-insects-extinction | 2019-02-12 07:58:56+00:00 | 1,549,976,336 | 1,567,548,842 | environment | nature |
227,968 | globalresearch--2019-02-11--The Worldwide Threat to the Biodiversity of Insects | 2019-02-11T00:00:00 | globalresearch | The Worldwide Threat to the Biodiversity of Insects | Biodiversity of insects is threatened worldwide. Here, we present a comprehensive review of 73 historical reports of insect declines from across the globe, and systematically assess the underlying drivers. Our work reveals dramatic rates of decline that may lead to the extinction of 40% of the world’s insect species over the next few decades. In terrestrial ecosystems, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera and dung beetles (Coleoptera) appear to be the taxa most affected, whereas four major aquatic taxa (Odonata, Plecoptera, Trichoptera and Ephemeroptera) have already lost a considerable proportion of species. Affected insect groups not only include specialists that occupy particular ecological niches, but also many common and generalist species. Concurrently, the abundance of a small number of species is increasing; these are all adaptable, generalist species that are occupying the vacant niches left by the ones declining. Among aquatic insects, habitat and dietary generalists, and pollutant-tolerant species are replacing the large biodiversity losses experienced in waters within agricultural and urban settings. The main drivers of species declines appear to be in order of importance: i) habitat loss and conversion to intensive agriculture and urbanisation; ii) pollution, mainly that by synthetic pesticides and fertilisers; The latter factor is particularly important in tropical regions, but only affects a minority of species in colder climes and mountain settings of temperate zones. A rethinking of current agricultural practices, in particular a serious reduction in pesticide usage and its substitution with more sustainable, ecologically-based practices, is urgently needed to slow or reverse current trends, allow the recovery of declining insect populations and safeguard the vital ecosystem services they provide. In addition, effective remediation technologies should be applied to clean polluted waters in both agricultural and urban environments. To read the full scientific report click here | Francisco Sánchez-Bayo | https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-worldwide-threat-to-biodiversity-of-insects/5668279 | 2019-02-11 23:21:38+00:00 | 1,549,945,298 | 1,567,548,883 | environment | nature |
333,869 | naturalnews--2019-01-03--Are insects the solution to solving world hunger | 2019-01-03T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Are insects the solution to solving world hunger? | Insects are found far and wide in great numbers. They are a rich source of protein, good saturated fats, fibers, and minerals. Seven out of every 10 people in the world eat them. The United Nations itself officially urged the consumption of insects as a source of nutrition. In addition to being healthy, cultivating insects is considered to be much cheaper and easier than raising conventional livestock. North America has a large number of insects to choose from. Here are the four groups to consider capturing and cultivating as an emergency source of food. Ants are some of the most common and numerous insects. You should not have much trouble finding them. Once you find their anthill, use a container to scoop them up. If you are in a hurry, you can shove your hand into the hill to grab them. Avoid ants that are red in color. These may be fire ants with a painful bite and an even more agonizing sting. Ants have a sour taste akin to vinegar. They are best served boiled, but can be eaten raw and live in an emergency. (Related: Reconsidering your attitude: Surviving on an insect-based diet when SHTF.) Termites are not related to ants. They do behave fairly similarly, being plentiful in number and organized into colonies. Mother Nature's micronutrient secret: Organic Broccoli Sprout Capsules now available, delivering 280mg of high-density nutrition, including the extraordinary "sulforaphane" and "glucosinolate" nutrients found only in cruciferous healing foods. Every lot laboratory tested. See availability here. Outside of North America, termites live in large mounds of earth. Here, they either live underground or in the wood they consume. Termites mostly eat wood. They also like moist places. If you spot damp, dead, and decaying wood, chances are you will find a termite colony. A rule of thumb is that ants and termites cannot coexist. The former will often eat the latter. Butterflies and moths spend the early part of their lives as caterpillars. They have no wings, move slowly, and eat plant matter. Caterpillars are considered to be very nutritious. They will provide you with vitamin B, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and zinc. The hairy ones may prove to be more difficult to down than the hairless ones. Remove the hair if it is keeping you from eating the caterpillar. Certain caterpillars may be toxic due to the poisonous plants they eat. If you want to play it safe, avoid the brightly colored ones, which is Nature’s way of advertising danger. These members of the Orthoptera order are the best edible insects to try out or to turn into a regular part of your diet. They are very common and can be captured with ease. On occasion, large swarms of these insects will arrive. While you will be able to catch a lot of them, they will also eat the contents of your farm or survival garden. Not only do crickets, grasshoppers, and locusts provide you with plenty of protein, but they also taste good. People who have eaten these bugs compared their taste to peanuts. Fry the insects to bring out that nice flavor, or dry them up before grinding them into a fine powder packed with protein. Only collect insects from forests and other wilderness areas. Agricultural and industrialized areas are full of herbicides, pesticides, and other chemicals. If you want to know how to get the most nutrition out of edible insects, visit FoodFreedom.news. | Edsel Cook | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-01-03-are-insects-the-solution-to-solving-world-hunger.html | 2019-01-03 00:21:59+00:00 | 1,546,492,919 | 1,567,554,097 | environment | nature |
336,235 | naturalnews--2019-06-25--Repel insects and bugs around your home using common plants | 2019-06-25T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Repel insects and bugs around your home using common plants | Most of the plants in the list below are aromatic, which helps deter pesky bugs and insects that can damage your crops. Alliums include other plants that belong to the same family as onions, such as chives, garlic, leeks, onions, scallions, and shallots. Alliums are edible, and they offer the added benefit of protecting your garden from flies and slugs. Do take note that alliums may attract moths. Alliums can also be very toxic to dogs and cats. (Related: Stop slugs from ruining your garden with these natural strategies.) Basil is an edible herb that can also keep mosquitoes away. Beautiful chrysanthemums produce pyrethrins, a class of organic compounds often used in commercially manufactured insect repellents. Chrysanthemums can help keep beetles, mosquitoes, roaches, and ticks away from your garden. Chrysanthemums can also help get rid of silverfish, which can destroy books, clothes, and wallpaper using their excrement. You can get rid of silverfish by recycling old books, papers, and magazines that you no longer need. Garlic is a superfood with antibiotic, antifungal, and antiviral properties. Plant garlic in your home garden to help keep away mosquitoes. Mother Nature's micronutrient secret: Organic Broccoli Sprout Capsules now available, delivering 280mg of high-density nutrition, including the extraordinary "sulforaphane" and "glucosinolate" nutrients found only in cruciferous healing foods. Every lot laboratory tested. See availability here. Except for bees, most kinds of bugs will stay away from lavender. You can also use lavender to keep moths away from your clothing: hang some dried lavender in the closet or put it in a dresser to prevent moths from eating clothing. Marigolds bear colorful flowers with a unique smell that is frequently used in insect repellants. Fresh marigolds can also help repel mosquitoes, squash bugs, and tomato worms. Plant the flowers among your vegetable garden to protect your crops from these pests. Plant mint in your garden to repel other insects like mosquitoes. You can also hide mint inside your home to get rid of ants and mice. Petunias are annual flowers that grow best in colder climates. The plant bears flowers that have a licorice-like scent that can get rid of various insects like including aphids, squash bugs, and tomato hornworms. Take note that caterpillars and slugs are attracted to petunias. These plants and herbs repel various insects in your deck or patio, but their effect only lasts as far as their odor reaches. To widen their reach, plant them all around the areas that you want to protect as close to the seating areas as you can. Another option is to add planters on your patio or deck, along with other herbs already planted in the ground. When left unchecked, termites can cause massive damage to your home. Grow these plants to keep termites out of your property. Catnip oil is a natural termiticide, but it breaks down in soil faster than the chemicals used in commercial termiticides. Plant catnip in pots to prevent it from growing wild on your lawn. Chili peppers help repel various crawling insects, like ants and termites. The acid in chili peppers are effective against these insects, but they can be dangerous to children and pets. Keep chili peppers out of reach of small children, pets, and livestock. Vetiver grass can naturally deter termites. Vetiver is related to lemongrass, and it has a pleasant aroma. Vetiver’s deep root system is often used for controlling erosion. This root system is also effective against termites, ticks, and cockroaches because the plant contains chemicals that are toxic to these insects. When using plants to get rid of termites naturally, there are two strategies that you can use. Keep various pests away from your crops by growing pest-repelling plants like alliums, basil, catnip, and vetiver grass. | Zoey Sky | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-06-25-repel-insects-and-bugs-naturally-with-plants.html | 2019-06-25 03:10:55+00:00 | 1,561,446,655 | 1,567,538,175 | environment | nature |
336,323 | naturalnews--2019-07-01--Bee smarts Scientists discover the insects can do basic math | 2019-07-01T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Bee smarts: Scientists discover the insects can do basic math | (Natural News) Animals are able to understand and use numbers on a rudimentary level. They apply this understanding to important tasks, such as foraging and managing resources, which ensure their survival. So far, only humans and a few animal species have demonstrated the ability to do complex arithmetic operations. But a new study conducted by researchers from France and Australia show that honeybees can also do math. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, they reported that honeybees can learn to use colors as symbolic representations for addition and subtraction. According to Adrian Dyer, one of the authors and a professor at RMIT University in Australia, two levels of processing are required to perform numerical operations like addition and subtraction. A person normally makes use of long-term memory to apply the rules for adding and subtracting while mentally manipulating numbers in his or her short-term memory. The brains of most animals are not equipped for these functions, hence they are considered complex operations. While most people won’t think of bees as capable of these, studies show that they have the ability to learn complex rules and concepts. In fact, despite their small brain, bees in nature regularly process information that helps them solve problems involving the addition or subtraction of one element from a group of elements. Over the years, researchers have learned that bees can be trained to perform difficult tasks like counting and discriminating numbers using a reward-punishment approach. Numerical cognition is said to require a more sophisticated level of processing. Support our mission and enhance your own self-reliance: The laboratory-verified Organic Emergency Survival Bucket provides certified organic, high-nutrition storable food for emergency preparedness. Completely free of corn syrup, MSG, GMOs and other food toxins. Ultra-clean solution for years of food security. Learn more at the Health Ranger Store. In their previous study, Dyer and his team discovered that bees can be taught numerical rules like “greater than” and “less than” and the concept of “zero.” As a continuation of this, they designed another experiment that involved introducing two colors, blue and yellow, as representations of addition and subtraction, respectively. The researchers trained individual bees to visit a Y-shaped maze and rewarded them with sugar water for every correct answer. Meanwhile, they punished the bees with a bitter-tasting solution for every incorrect choice. This reward system ensured that the bees would return to the maze as it is in their nature to revisit locations that provide them with food. The researchers set up the entrance to the maze so that before entering, the bees would encounter a sample stimulus containing a set of elements in isolation. The sample stimulus contained either one, two, or four elements if blue, and two, four, or five elements if yellow. The bees would then fly through an opening into a decision chamber where they could choose between two options. If the sample stimulus contained blue elements (addition), the bees were expected to choose the option that has one greater element than the sample. If the elements were yellow (subtraction), the bees were required to choose the option with one less element. The researchers randomly changed the colors of the elements every trial for each bee. It took the bees over 100 trials before they were able to figure out how to solve the problems. The researchers reported that the “bees were able to use color as a symbolic representation of the addition and subtraction signs and learned, during 100 appetitive-aversive trials, to thus add or subtract one element from different samples.” Afterward, the bees “could successfully interpolate the learned operations of addition and subtraction to an unfamiliar sample number and shape during tests.” These results meant that bees have the ability to apply what they have learned to work out other problems. “Our bees also used their short-term memories to solve arithmetic problems, as they learned to recognise plus or minus as abstract concepts rather than being given visual aids,” Dyer said. He believes that their findings hint at the possibility of advanced numerical cognition being more abundant in nature among non-human animals than previously thought. Scarlett Howard, the first author of the study, agrees. She, along with her colleagues, also believe that language and prior understanding of numbers or advanced numerical concepts are not prerequisites for learning how to do addition and subtraction. “Our findings show that the complex understanding of math symbols as a language is something that many brains can probably achieve, and helps explain how many human cultures independently developed numeracy skills,” she said. | Evangelyn Rodriguez | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-07-01-bee-smarts-scientists-discover-the-insects-can-do-basic-math.html | 2019-07-01 14:43:30+00:00 | 1,562,006,610 | 1,567,537,358 | environment | nature |
337,690 | naturalnews--2019-11-21--Thinking, feeling insects? Study reveals paper wasps are capable of a form of logical (deductive) re | 2019-11-21T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Thinking, feeling insects? Study reveals paper wasps are capable of a form of logical (deductive) reasoning | (Natural News) The paper wasp has become the first invertebrate animal that proves capable of transitive inference – the same form of logical reasoning that humans and other, more complex animals use for deduction. Transitive inference leverages known links to reason out unknown relationships. An animal capable of such logic knows that if A is greater than B, and B is likewise greater than C, then A is greater than C. Besides humans, vertebrate animals capable of using transitive inference include birds, fish, and monkeys. A 2004 study by researchers from CNRS and Université Paul-Sabatier evaluated the ability of honeybees to use transitive inference. They reported that the insects failed the logic test – one theory was that the bee’s small nervous system hampered it. A paper wasp’s nervous system is roughly the same size as a honeybee. However, the wasp follows a different type of social behavior than a bee. University of Michigan (UM) researcher Elizabeth Tibbetts believed that the social skills of paper wasps might help them solve the transitive inference test that perplexed honeybees. Her team ran an experiment with two common species of paper wasp. (Related: Bugs for green thumbs: 7 Beneficial bugs that you need in your garden.) “We’re not saying that wasps used logical deduction to solve this problem, but they seem to use known relationships to make inferences about unknown relationships,” Tibbetts clarified. “Our findings suggest that the capacity for complex behavior may be shaped by the social environment in which behaviors are beneficial, rather than being strictly limited by brain size.” Support our mission to keep you informed: Discover the extraordinary benefits of turmeric gummy bears and organic "turmeric gold" liquid extract, both laboratory tested for heavy metals, microbiology and safety. Naturally high in potent curcuminoids. Delicious formulations. All purchases support this website (as well as your good health). See availability here. The UM researchers took paper wasp queens and trained each insect to discriminate between “premise pairs” of colors. The training linked one color in each pair to a mild electric shock while the other did nothing. To Tibbetts’ surprise, the wasps quickly and correctly figured out which color of a premise pair produced the shock. Next, her team presented new sets of premise pairs to the trained wasps. The insects had to determine which color produced an unpleasant shock. The wasps proved capable of organizing data into a hierarchy. Drawing from their experience, they used transitive inference to pick which member of a premise pair might be less likely to shock them. “I thought wasps might get confused, just like bees,” remarked Tibbetts. “But they had no trouble figuring out that a particular color was safe in some situations and not safe in other situations.” Both wasps and honeybees have tiny brains. Despite similar brainpower, they achieved different results. While they are both social insects, honeybees and paper wasps live in different societies. A honeybee colony houses a single queen that rules over many equally ranked female workers. In comparison, a paper wasp colony has multiple founders. The reproductive females compete with each other, leading to the establishment of linear hierarchies. The rank of an individual determines its shares of food, reproduction, and work. If a sudden change – such as the weakening or death of a founder – took place in the hierarchy, the wasps need to figure out the new pecking order quickly. The cognitive abilities associated with transitive inference may help paper wasps make quick deductions about new social relationships. The skill set may also help female paper wasps to organize data spontaneously during the transitive inference tests. The UM study did not find out the specific method by which paper wasps developed and manipulated an implicit hierarchy of data. However, earlier studies by Tibbetts’ team noted that the wasps identified individuals of their species based on facial markings. Visit Discoveries.news for more news and studies on animal behavior and cognition. | Edsel Cook | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-11-21-paper-wasps-are-capable-of-logical-deductive-reasoning.html | Thu, 21 Nov 2019 21:03:03 +0000 | 1,574,388,183 | 1,574,424,820 | environment | nature |
378,485 | newyorkpost--2019-07-06--How insects have played a role in the worlds most significant creations | 2019-07-06T00:00:00 | newyorkpost | How insects have played a role in the world’s most significant creations | When Naoko Takahashi won the gold medal in women’s marathon running at the 2000 Summer Olympics, she had assistance from an unexpected source: hornet juice. The new book, “Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects,” by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson (Simon & Schuster), out now, shows us that however annoying they may be, insects have done much to better our world. Hornet juice — specifically, a jelly-like substance produced by hornet larvae — is believed to increase endurance. Adult hornets feed their larvae small chunks of meat, after which the larvae “regurgitate a kind of jelly that the adults then slurp up.” In time, it was discovered that the jelly “was crucial for the adult hornet’s endurance — they can fly 60 miles a day at a speed of 25 miles per hour,” Sverdrup-Thygeson writes. Some companies have seized on this, marketing the jelly substance as “a miracle product to boost sporting endurance and performance.” “Today,” she writes, “you can buy sports drinks containing hornet larva extract in Japan and similar products in the United States.” Here are a few other ways insects are changing the world: Flies have been helping catch criminals since medieval times. “There is a pattern to when species come to a corpse, and this can be used to help solve crimes,” Sverdrup-Thygeson writes, noting that the first instance of insect-assisted crime-solving was in 1235 in China. “A man was brutally murdered with a sickle, and the local peasants were called into a meeting [and] instructed to bring their sickles with them,” she writes. “The investigator made them wait and since it was a hot, sunny day, it wasn’t long before flies appeared. When all the flies landed on the same sickle, the owner was so shocked he confessed on the spot. With their peerless sense of smell, the flies were drawn to the traces of blood even though the sickle had been cleaned.” These same instincts make insects a valuable crime-solving tool to this day. “Insect species appear in a dead body in a given order and follow a particular logic,” Sverdrup-Thygeson writes. “This fact can be used to calculate time of death and may, in some cases, tell you something about the cause of death.” If you enjoy the writing of Shakespeare or the music of Beethoven, you have the gall wasp to thank. Without it, 700 years of documents may have been lost to history. Early carbon-based inks were impermanent, easily erased or washed away. It wasn’t until around 1100 that the more permanent iron gall ink, taken from the oak-tree-dwelling gall wasp, became commonly used. The gall wasp creates tumor-like growths on oak leaves known as galls, which are “stiff with a form of tannic acid.” This, mixed with iron salt and gum arabic, was used to create ink that was “non-soluble: it ate its way into the parchment or paper it was written on.” “From the 1100s to well into the 1800s, oak gall ink was the most commonly used kind in the Western world,” Sverdrup-Thygeson writes. “If it hadn’t been for the little oak gall wasp, it is far from certain we would have so many well-preserved and legible documents from the great artists and scientists of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.” Without this critter, we would have had to wait decades before being able to listen to music at home. Early 78 rpm records, from the late 1800s through the 1940s, were made with shellac, a substance derived from the lac bug which is also used for everything from varnishing wood to making apples shinier. Found in great numbers on “the branches of various tree species in Southeast Asia,” lac bugs by the thousands congregate on a twig and slurp down plant sap, which they then excrete as “an orange resin-like liquid, which hardens when it comes into contact with air.” This is then scraped from the branches, giving us shellac. These little creatures seem to have a native intelligence regarding the creation of climate-controlled dwellings, a superpower copied by architects. “The enormous termite mounds of Africa can tower several yards above the ground,” Sverdrup-Thygeson writes. “Despite the baking heat outside, it is always pleasantly temperate inside the mound.” “It turns out that an ingenious system of air channels use temperature oscillations outside the mound to create a draft that runs through the construction. This ‘artificial lung’ ensures that cool, oxygen-rich air is drawn down while warmer air, rich in carbon dioxide, is driven out.” The system is so efficient that architects have copied their designs, including for the building of Eastgate Center, one of the largest malls in Zimbabwe. “It doesn’t have any regular air-conditioning or heating; instead it uses passive cooling, applying the principals used by termites,” she writes. “As a result, the building uses only 10 percent of the energy that would be consumed by an equivalent-sized building with standard mechanized air-conditioning systems.” | Larry Getlen | https://nypost.com/2019/07/06/how-insects-have-played-a-role-in-the-worlds-most-significant-creations/ | 2019-07-06 19:50:19+00:00 | 1,562,457,019 | 1,567,536,676 | environment | nature |
383,899 | npr--2019-02-13--Bugs Vs Superbugs Insects Offer Promise In Fight Against Antibiotic Resistance | 2019-02-13T00:00:00 | npr | Bugs Vs. Superbugs: Insects Offer Promise In Fight Against Antibiotic Resistance | Bugs Vs. Superbugs: Insects Offer Promise In Fight Against Antibiotic Resistance Nobody likes a cockroach in their house. But before you smash the unwelcome intruder, consider this: that six-legged critter might one day save your life. That's right. Insects—long known to spread diseases—could potentially help cure them. Or rather, the microbes living inside them could. Scientists have discovered dozens of microorganisms living in or on insects that produce antimicrobial compounds, some of which may hold the key to developing new antibiotic drugs. They can't come too soon. More infections are becoming resistant to common antibiotics, and the pipeline of new antibiotic drugs has slowed to a trickle. "There is a growing demand [for antibiotics], and a diminishing supply," explains Gerry Wright, who directs the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster University. Most antibiotic drugs have been discovered from bacteria living in the soil. But Cameron Currie, professor of bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says that searching the soil for new antibiotics has become increasingly futile. "They keep finding already known antibiotics," Currie says. "There's a common sentiment that the well of antibiotics from soil... is dry." Fortunately, there may be another well. Currie and a team of 28 researchers recently published a paper in Nature Communications showing that some of the bacteria living in insects are really good at killing the germs that make people sick. "There's an estimated 10 million species [of insect] on the planet," Currie says. "That implies a huge potential for a lot of new [antibiotic] compounds." Each insect contains an entire ecosystem of microorganisms, just like the microbiome found in humans. And there's one quality that many of those insect-associated microbes have in common, says Jonathan Klassen, assistant professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of Connecticut and an author on the study. They don't get along with each other very well. And by don't get along, he means they're constantly trying to kill each other through biochemical warfare. Many of the microorganisms in insects make compounds that are toxic to other microbes—essentially, natural antibiotics. Some of those natural antibiotics attracted Currie's attention while he was a student, researching leaf cutter ants. Leaf cutter ants are among nature's most prolific gardeners. They actually don't eat the leaves they cut — instead they use them to cultivate a special type of fungus for food. Still, it's not easy being a fungus farmer. "Like human agriculture, the ants have problems with disease," Currie says. "I found a specialized pathogen that attacks their fungus garden." Fortunately, the ants have a tool to deal with the problem. A species of bacteria living on the ants' exoskeletons produces a toxin that kills the pathogen. Like the pesticides a gardener uses, the toxin keeps the ants' garden disease-free. The discovery inspired Currie's curiosity. If ants could use these bacterial compounds to treat disease in their fungus gardens, could doctors use them to treat disease in people? If so, what other insects might also be carrying disease-fighting microbes? To answer those questions, Currie and his team spent years collecting thousands of insects, including cockroaches, from Alaska to Brazil. "Every few months somebody would be going out somewhere to collect something," remembers Klassen, who was working at the time as a postdoctoral researcher on the project. The team tested bacteria from each insect to determine if they could kill common human pathogens, such as E. coli and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). They then compared the results from strains of insect bacteria to strains drawn from plants and soil. "We were really surprised that [insect strains] were not just as good, but apparently better at inhibiting [pathogens]," Currie says. Once a scientist has discovered that a strain of bacteria can kill germs, the next step in drug development is to determine what bacterial compound is responsible for the antimicrobial activity—like a cook searching for the secret ingredient in a particularly delicious soup. Currie's team had found dozens of promising bacterial strains in insects. And each could yield a secret ingredient that might be a new antibiotic compound. That in itself was a big accomplishment. But the researchers went a step further. They isolated one compound from one particularly promising bacterial strain and showed that it could inhibit fungal infections in mice, an important step in drug development. The compound, cyphomycin, is found on Brazilian fungus-farming ants, close relatives of the ants Currie studied as a PhD student. Though it's far from becoming an approved drug, the research shows that antibiotic compounds new to science can be isolated from insects. Wright, an antibiotic researcher who did not participate in the study, says that previous research has shown that single insect species contained antimicrobial compounds. But this is the first study to comprehensively demonstrate that insects as a group are a promising source of new antimicrobials. "No one's ever done something on this scale before," Wright explains. Currie is hopeful that cyphomycin may one day be approved to treat yeast infections in people. But before that happens, it must undergo years of further testing. "It [cyphomycin] is a million miles away [from approval]," Wright says. "That's the reality of drug discovery." Still, Wright says the researchers have already overcome one of the toughest hurdles in drug development by demonstrating that the compound works in mice. For Klassen, the stakes are too high not to try. "Efforts such as this study are crucial to keeping the antibiotic pipeline flowing so that disease doesn't gain the upper hand," he says. In the end, the consequences of a world without antibiotics are enough to make scientists look for new drugs in unconventional places—even if that means looking in a cockroach. Paul Chisholm is a freelance science writer in Rapid City, S.D. You can reach him on Twitter: @PaulJChisholm. | Paul Chisholm | https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/02/13/694118623/bugs-vs-superbugs-insects-offer-promise-in-fight-against-antibiotic-resistance?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news | 2019-02-13 17:32:09+00:00 | 1,550,097,129 | 1,567,548,697 | environment | nature |
498,900 | sottnet--2019-03-20--Small Wonders Scientists Reveal the Secrets of Amazing Little Insects and Crustaceans | 2019-03-20T00:00:00 | sottnet | Small Wonders: Scientists Reveal the Secrets of Amazing Little Insects and Crustaceans | In biology, the most amazing designs are often found in small things. In fact, it often seems that the closer you need to look, the greater the wonder. It's as if someone set it there to hide, waiting for us. Here are some little guys worth knowing about, from among the insects and the crustaceans."Froghopper insects can perform explosive jumps with some of the highest accelerations known among animals," say three scientists in PNAS . The little hemipterans. They belong in a different suborder and family from the planthoppers that Evolution News wrote about in 2013, whose nymphs have gears on their legs to store elastic energy for their leaps.Anything with "hopper" in its name is a good place to look for design. These scientists wanted to know how froghoppers take off from smooth plant surfaces. How do they get a grip on the slippery surface? The researchers discovered a previously unreported mechanism. It got them thinking about potential applications for engineering.The researchers wanted to know why froghoppers use a different mechanism than leafhoppers, which are members of a different family of hemipterans. Leafhoppers use soft pads, but they have shorter legs, which might make piercing leaf surfaces more difficult. Froghopper spines, enriched with zinc in the cuticle to make them strong, are very effective at piercing without deforming the leaf. Yet they are also finely tuned not to pierce too deep, which would inhibit rapid removal from the surface during takeoff. This track has potential payoffs in the grocery store:Another remarkable insect is the click beetle, able to quickly right itself without using its limbs if it falls upside down. In a class project at the University of Illinois College of Engineering , students went into the woods to collect four species of click beetles and study this unusual mechanism, thinking. Watch the video clip of their class project (but turn off the mismatched epic music; just watch the text). One student is clearly fascinated watching the bug flip high into the air and back down onto its feet. How does it work?The students made a robotic prototype based on the hinge-snapping design. It won second place at "the international BIOMinnovate Challenge, in Paris, France - a research expo that showcases biologically-inspired design in engineering, medicine and architecture."Another paper in PNAS about the "Morphogenesis of termite mounds" finds inspiration for architectural design. Termites exhibit impressive social organization, acting almost like a distributed organism. There's an uncanny feedback between animal and environment.The mounds of different species "display varied yet distinctive morphologies that range widely in size and shape," possibly due to adaptation to different environments.So-called "compass termites" always orient their mounds north/south, indicating a magnetic sense as found in salmon, sea turtles, and other very different animals. "Termite mounds are one of the most remarkable examples of self-organized animal architectures," the authors say, "and the range of shapes and sizes that they exhibit have excited the imagination of scientists for a long time."These tiny crustaceans control the world, in a way. Found in all the world's oceans, they migrate upward at night to feed, and downward in the daytime. A video by the National Science Foundation, posted by Phys.org , shows how vast numbers of krill add up to a mighty force to mix up ocean water, perhaps as significant as winds and tides.Stanford researcher John Dabiri and team studied them in the lab. Because krill are phototactic (moving toward light), the team could control the direction of their motions, and measure the forces they produce in a water column. The individual swimmers generate eddies that are much larger than their body sizes, and those currents add up. They concluded that millions "or trillions" of these tiny organisms, swimming together, "are playing a significant role in ocean mixing, that should impact future calculations about ocean circulation and the global climate."ID proponents might look into this, and consider whether a watery exoplanet would be less habitable without this living stirring machine.You could call them "sea fireflies." Scientists at UC Santa Barbara , wanting to understand the "dazzling light displays" of ostracods, found two mechanisms at work.Reporter Harrison Tasoff remarks, "Evolution is a rich and dynamic process." Yes, indeed. Since Darwin Devolves , as Michael Behe shows in his new book with that title, the ancestors of these animals must have been even better designed!These are just a few among hundreds of examples of biological designs that are inspiring research at labs and universities. Complex, efficient design is found throughout the biosphere, from the tallest mammals and largest whales down to these miniature insects and crustaceans, and all the way down to the molecules in cellular nanomachines. Biomimetics is a cross-disciplinary windfall of an opportunity for mammalogists, marine biologists, botanists, entomologists, ornithologists, cell biologists, and engineers, to name a few.As usual, evolutionary speculation in these reports varied inversely with detailed analysis into the mechanisms behind these little animals' capabilities. Biomimetic research is also attracting funding and winning awards. | null | https://www.sott.net/article/409496-Small-Wonders-Scientists-Reveal-the-Secrets-of-Amazing-Little-Insects-and-Crustaceans | 2019-03-20 18:49:04+00:00 | 1,553,122,144 | 1,567,545,583 | environment | nature |
525,026 | sputnik--2019-02-11--Scientists Predict Catastrophic Consequences for Mankind as Insects Die Out | 2019-02-11T00:00:00 | sputnik | Scientists Predict 'Catastrophic Consequences' for Mankind as Insects Die Out | Insects, which make up two-thirds of all life on earth, could be extinct within a century, according to the first global scientific review published by the Biological Conversation journal. The review, which looked at 73 studies conducted around the world, claimed that more than 40 per cent of insect species are currently declining, adding that the rate of extinction is about eight times faster than the respective rate for birds, mammals and reptiles. "The [insect] trends confirm that the sixth major extinction event is profoundly impacting life forms on our planet. The repercussions this will have for the planet's ecosystems are catastrophic to say the least," the journal warned. Review author Francisco Sanchez-Bayo told The Guardian that if insect species loss cannot be halted, it will also have catastrophic consequences for the survival of mankind. "It is very rapid. In 10 years you will have a quarter less, in 50 years only half left and in 100 years you will have none," he said, referring to the forecast rapid decline in insect populations. "Agricultural intensification" as well as the use of pesticides and herbicides are the main factors driving this decline, according to the expert. He also stressed that the review's unusually strong language aims to "really wake people up", adding that "when you consider 80 per cent of biomass of insects has disappeared in 25-30 years, it is a big concern". | null | https://sputniknews.com/science/201902111072306970-insects-extinction-reseachers-analysis/ | 2019-02-11 09:37:00+00:00 | 1,549,895,820 | 1,567,548,953 | environment | nature |
537,145 | sputnik--2019-07-01--Insects Are Dying Off in Europe in Apocalyptic Wildlife Omen New Study Suggests | 2019-07-01T00:00:00 | sputnik | Insects Are Dying Off in Europe in Apocalyptic Wildlife Omen, New Study Suggests | The Amateur Entomology Society of Krefeld, located in northern Germany near the Dutch border, has conducted research in the Rhine countryside which suggested that the total biomass dropped by drastic 76 per cent over the recent 30 years. The enthusiasts, who gathered over 80 million bugs and various insects, caught them with single traps over certain periods, putting every catch in a certain box. "Since 1982, the traps we manufacture ourselves have been standardised and controlled, all of the same size and the same material, and they are collected at the same rate at 63 locations that are still identical," the society's president Martin Sorg told the website Phys.org. The entomologist illustrated the disturbing trend comparing the haul from 1994 and the recent catch: while the earlier collections from one of the traps weighed 1,400 grams, the newest one weighs a mere 300 grams. "We only became aware of the seriousness of this decline in 2011, and every year since then we have seen it get worse," the enthusiast told the media. The website points at the disturbing findings by ecology professor Hans de Kroon from the neighbouring Netherlands that he made around this time. He has studied the decline of birds, and suggested that this was a result of food shortages, and Krefeld’s enthusiasts offered him their data for the analysis. Although he admits that the exact cause for the alarming trend was not determined, he expressed his belief that "the cause is anthropogenic”. "It is our greatest fear that a point of no return will be reached, which will lead to a permanent loss of diversity," Kroon concluded, pointing at agriculture fields in Western Europe, which are very hostile to insects, which lack food and get poisoned. Scientists from the Australian universities of Sydney and Queensland have used Krefeld’s data in their synthetic research on entomological fauna around the globe. They warned that the planet is facing "the most massive extinction episode" since the dinosaurs vanished. According to them, 40 percent of insect species might die out in a few decades, with one percent added each year. According to them, the process is driven by intensive agriculture, typified by the use of pesticides and fertilisers, as well as urbanization, pollution, the arrival of invasive species and climate change. | null | https://sputniknews.com/science/201907011076115268-insects-dying-off-europe-apocalyptic-omen/ | 2019-07-01 14:15:04+00:00 | 1,562,004,904 | 1,567,537,407 | environment | nature |
580,438 | theblaze--2019-01-12--Massive locust swarm strikes Mecca insects cover mosque and Muslim worshipers | 2019-01-12T00:00:00 | theblaze | Massive locust swarm strikes Mecca, insects cover mosque and Muslim worshipers | Huge swarms of locusts recently descended on Mecca — Islam's holiest site — filling the air and landing on worshippers. Special cleaning teams were brought in to drive out the insects, according to published reports. ### What happened? Videos and pictures posted on social media show the bugs descending on the Great Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where millions of Muslims gather every year. One of the images shows the insects flying at night, illuminated by lighting from the mosque. They are also seen flying in every direction and landing on people. Another picture shows the locusts covering the walls of the mosque, the Daily Mail [reported](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6577871 /Huge-swarm-locusts-descends-Mecca.html). Clean-up crews were seen wearing face masks and spraying insecticide as they worked to sanitize the site. The scale of the infestation required 138 people working in 22 teams with 111 pieces of equipment to clean it up, according to reports. Most of the cleanup effort centered on breeding areas near open water drains. Various reports called the bugs "black grasshoppers" or "night cockroaches." Some social media users asserted that they believe the locusts were "not" a message from God. Locust swarms are viewed as a divine punishment in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. ### Is it a health hazard? Newsweek [reported](https://www.newsweek.com/mecca-grand-mosque-holiest- muslim-site-attack-locusts-swarm-1288391) that the locusts are primarily a nuisance: > While potentially a major nuisance, locusts themselves are not known to carry diseases transmittable to humans, nor do they bite or sting. Hazal bin Mohammed al-Zafar, the head of Plant Protection Department at King Saud University's Faculty of Food and Agricultural Sciences, told the local Sabq newspaper Monday that the "field cockroaches" were actually in the Gryllidae family, and actually more closely related to grasshoppers and crickets than domestic cockroaches. > > Zafar told the outlet that locals should refrain from eating or selling the insects, while stressing that they "do not transmit diseases" and that swarming was a natural phenomenon, likely related to recent rains. He estimated that around 30,000 locusts had descended on Mecca, noting that larger swarms can reach into the hundreds of thousands. > VIDEO | Teri Webster | https://www.theblaze.com/news/massive-locust-swarm-strikes-mecca-covers-muslim-worshipers-with-bugs | 2019-01-12 17:20:54+00:00 | 1,547,331,654 | 1,567,552,836 | environment | nature |
656,984 | thedcclothesline--2019-07-02--Insect Species Are Rapidly Going Extinct Across The Globe All Insects Could Be Gone In 100 Years | 2019-07-02T00:00:00 | thedcclothesline | Insect Species Are Rapidly Going Extinct Across The Globe – All Insects Could Be Gone “In 100 Years” | Even though most people don’t seem to realize it yet, we are in the midst of a major extinction level event. And even though it is happening in slow motion, given enough time we would see most life on this planet completely wiped out. Insects are absolutely critical to the global food chain, and right now we are literally on the brink of an ecological Armageddon. All over the world insect populations have been declining precipitously in recent years, and this has already been causing a chain reaction among birds, reptiles and others that eat insects. Species after species is going extinct, and as you will see below, one environmental scientist is now warning that at our current pace all insects could be completely gone “in 100 years”. This is a true environmental crisis, and yet it is getting relatively little attention from those that call themselves “environmentalists”. But hopefully people will start to wake up, because this is extremely serious. Over in Germany, the Amateur Entomology Society of Krefeld is telling us that the population of flying insects in their area has plunged by 76 percent over the last 37 years… This warning comes from German entomology enthusiasts, or bug catchers, who have collected 80 million insects in the Rhine countryside over the last 37 years. Their collection is now a world-class scientific treasure and also evidence of what is described as one of Earth’s worst extinction phases since the dinosaurs vanished. The total annual biomass of flying insects collected has plummeted by 76 percent since the insect-lovers began their meticulous studies. According to the president of the society, Martin Sorg, they have been using the exact same traps and have been collecting insects in the exact same locations for the past 37 years. So there have been no changes on their end that would explain the dramatic change in the numbers… Interestingly, Sorg says that the decline in the insect population has been getting much worse since about 2011… The iPhone was invented in 2007, and the global use of cell phones has absolutely exploded over the past decade. Many believe that there could be a direct link between the disappearance of the insects and our use of cell phone technology, because without a doubt all of the electromagnetic pollution that we are producing is not good for the bugs. Others point out that pesticide use around the world is far greater than it has ever been in all of human history, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for insects to find habitats that are not affected in some way. We are dumping massive amounts of this poison wherever food is grown, and many of us use it very heavily on our lawns and gardens as well. If we do not do something, species after species is going to continue to go extinct. Earlier this year, a “synthesis of 73 studies” that was published by Australian researchers Francisco Sanchez-Bayo and Kris Wyckhuys came to the conclusion that we are facing “the most massive extinction episode” in the history of our civilization… At this point, we are losing approximately 2.5 percent of all insects each year. That may not sound like a lot to you, but over a number of decades it is absolutely catastrophic. In fact, according to Sánchez-Bayo, it is likely that we only have about 100 years before all the insects are gone… And for some critical insect populations, the end may come a whole lot sooner than that. As I noted yesterday, an astounding 37 percent of all honeybee colonies in the United States died off last winter. So what you are going to do when they are gone? Are you going to go out and start pollinating our crops by hand? In addition, the loss of insects is absolutely disastrous for all of the animals that eat them. According to Sánchez-Bayo, we could see billions of birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish starve to death… Are you starting to get the picture? Unless something truly miraculous happens, our planet is doomed, and the clock is ticking. A lot of people out there keep waiting for a “collapse” to happen, but the truth is that “collapse” is already happening all around us. If we stay on the path that we are currently on, there is no future for our civilization. Unfortunately, right now most people are simply not listening to those of us that are trying to sound the alarm. About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time. | Michael Snyder | https://www.dcclothesline.com/2019/07/02/insect-species-are-rapidly-going-extinct-across-the-globe-all-insects-could-be-gone-in-100-years/ | 2019-07-02 14:34:31+00:00 | 1,562,092,471 | 1,567,537,295 | environment | nature |
695,315 | theguardianuk--2019-04-01--Insects have no place to hide from climate change study warns | 2019-04-01T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | Insects have ‘no place to hide’ from climate change, study warns | Insects have “no place to hide” from climate change, scientists have said after analysing 50 years’ worth of UK data. The study found that woodlands, whose shade was expected to protect species from warming temperatures, are just as affected by climate change as open grasslands. The research examined records of the first springtime flights of butterflies, moths and aphids and the first eggs of birds between 1965 and 2012. As average temperatures have risen, aphids are now emerging a month earlier, and birds are laying eggs a week earlier. The scientists said this could mean animals were becoming “out of sync” with their prey, with potentially serious ramifications for ecosystems. Researchers are increasingly concerned about dramatic drops in populations of insects, which underpin much of nature. In February it was said that these falls could lead to a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems”, and in March there was further evidence of widespread loss of pollinating insects in recent decades in Britain. Other studies, from Germany and Puerto Rico, have shown falling numbers in the last 25 to 35 years. Another showed butterflies in the Netherlands had declined by at least 84% over the last 130 years. James Bell, at Rothamsted Research institute, who led the woodlands research, said: “Under global warming you would expect woodlands to have some protection for insects, a buffer against change. But we didn’t see that. It is the major surprise and is disturbing. There is really no place to hide against the effects of global warming if you are an insect in the UK.” Another surprise was that insects and birds living in farmland are emerging later in the spring, not earlier as expected. “We can only assume this is to do with other, non-climate factors,” Bell said. The loss of wild areas and changing crop types could be among the factors, he said, along with declining food availability leading to delayed breeding. James Pearce-Higgins, of the British Trust for Ornithology, said: “Birds are at the top of many food chains and are sensitive to the impacts of climate change on the availability of their insect prey.” A separate new study found that populations of birds that rely on insects for food fell by 13% across Europe between 1990 and 2015, and by 28% in Denmark, which the scientists used as a national case study. The omnivorous birds assessed did not show a decline. The UK research, published in the journal Global Change Biology, found that the shift to earlier emergence or egg-laying varied considerably according to the type of habitat and how far north the species lives. Aphids breed very rapidly and can adapt to changing temperatures quickly. Their first flight is now an average of 30 days earlier than 50 years ago. Birds, butterflies and moths are appearing one to two weeks earlier. Bell said the changing timings were affecting farming, with aphids arriving earlier but potato crops being planted later due to wetter winters. This combination meant the aphids, which transmit viruses, were attacking much younger plants. “Plants are just like babies, with very poorly developed immune systems, so when a virus is transmitted into a young potato plant it has a much greater effect,” he said. Jon Pickup, of the Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture division of the Scottish government, said: “As pests, it remains a concern that aphid migrations are getting earlier at a dramatic rate and this piece of work shows us that signal across the UK very clearly.” Bell said timing mismatches were also affecting wildlife. “For example, the leafing date of the oak tree determines when the caterpillars will appear, and that determines when blue tits that feed on caterpillars lay their first egg,” he said. “If they become desynchronised, it has cascading effects through the food chain, leading to fewer eggs, and this has been seen.” During February’s exceptionally warm weather there were sightings of rooks nesting, ladybirds mating and dozens of migratory swallows arriving along the south-west coast, all more than a month ahead of schedule. | Damian Carrington Environment editor | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/01/insects-have-no-place-to-hide-from-climate-change-study-warns | 2019-04-01 16:07:44+00:00 | 1,554,149,264 | 1,567,544,497 | environment | nature |
742,181 | theindependent--2019-01-20--Turn off street lights at night to help pollinating insects scientists say | 2019-01-20T00:00:00 | theindependent | Turn off street lights at night to help pollinating insects, scientists say | With streetlights throwing the nocturnal wildlife into disarray, scientists say turning them off late at night could stop this pervasive pollution from harming UK wildlife. Moths pollinating plants, bats hunting prey and spiders that emerge under cover of darkness are all suffering under the glare or artificial lights. Sky brightness is increasing at a rate of around 6 per cent every year around the world, and scientists have warned this disruption of natural dark and light cycles is damaging the health of everything from cells to whole ecosystems. Meanwhile, in a bid to cut energy use and save money, many councils in Britain have begun turning off streetlights as the night progresses. While there are social issues, such as safety, associated with such a decision, a growing body of research suggests it could be having a positive knock-on effect for the environment. A new study published in the journal Ecosphere suggests keeping the lights off between midnight and dawn is enough to prevent the disturbance to animal behaviour that they trigger. Researchers have only recently begun to realise the important role moths play in pollinating plants – potentially including vital crops like peas and oilseed rape – after bees and other daytime pollinators retire for the evening. Past studies have suggested street lighting prevents moths pollinating as they end up flying into the glare instead, exhausting themselves and leaving them vulnerable to predators. To their surprise, the scientists undertaking the new study found pollination actually increased on areas of fields where lights shone throughout the night as moths flocked to there. While this result may seem positive, the scientists emphasised the importance of keeping any disruption to natural systems to an absolute minimum. “Under any environmental change, some things are going to do well and some are going to do badly – but that has the consequence of throwing things out of balance,” Dr Callum Macgregor from the University of York told The Independent. Fortunately, the scientists noted that when lights were switched off for part of the night flower pollination remained normal, indicating minimal harm to the habitat. Given their findings, they suggested the decision being taken by some councils to turn lights off may actually be giving local wildlife a boost. “We have street lighting for a reason, and even as ecologists we are not saying we should turn off all streetlights tomorrow permanently – but where we can reduce the use of them… then it will have a positive impact,” said Dr Macgregor. “Our study suggests that turning off street lights in the middle of the night is a win-win scenario, saving energy and money for local authorities whilst simultaneously helping our nocturnal wildlife.” | Josh Gabbatiss | http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/street-lights-insects-light-pollution-night-moths-pollination-ecosystems-plants-a8735411.html | 2019-01-20 13:09:00+00:00 | 1,548,007,740 | 1,567,551,623 | environment | nature |
768,211 | theindependent--2019-08-05--Thousands of fish and insects killed as unidentified substance pollutes Somerset river | 2019-08-05T00:00:00 | theindependent | Thousands of fish and insects killed as unidentified substance pollutes Somerset river | Thousands of fish have died after an unknown source polluted a 9.3-mile stretch of the River Sheppey in Somerset. The Wessex branch of the Environment Agency said it had tracked the pollution to a “probable source” and were working to protect the lower end of the river. “But the pollution has likely killed thousands of fish and invertebrates,” the agency wrote in a Facebook post. The agency also thanked an unnamed local child, who had noticed the dead fish and alerted them to it. It said in its Facebook post: “We are very grateful to a 12-year-old boy who removed fish from a small stretch of the river, put them in his bucket, then staged a photograph for us.” The agency was spraying hydrogen peroxide and aerating the water in an effort to clean up the river and rejuvenate its oxygen supply. The latest pollution incident is the second such incident in a week. On Thursday, more than 6,000 fish died after a pollution incident on the River Mole in South Molton, Devon. | Corazon Miller | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/river-sheppey-somerset-wessex-pollution-fish-carp-facebook-a9040121.html | 2019-08-05 14:46:00+00:00 | 1,565,030,760 | 1,567,534,810 | environment | nature |
818,065 | theonion--2019-03-01--Ecologists Urge Birds To Avert Global Decline Of Insects By Adopting Seed-Based Diet | 2019-03-01T00:00:00 | theonion | Ecologists Urge Birds To Avert Global Decline Of Insects By Adopting Seed-Based Diet | ITHACA, NY—In an effort to preserve a critical component of the global ecosystem, ecology experts urged the planet’s birds Friday to help avert the rapid, worldwide decline of insects by adopting a seed-based diet. “It is absolutely vital that bird populations wean themselves off of insects in favor of more sustainable options,” said researcher Marcus Drysdale, who has worked at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to develop seed-based avian diets that are high in protein and include options reasonably similar in taste to beetles and grubs. “If these birds don’t change their lifestyle, we could soon have a disaster on our hands. Even if they can’t completely excise bugs from their diet, they at least need to cut down their intake to one or two servings of earwig per week. I realize they’re not all going to become strict granivores overnight, but they can still reduce their overall larvae consumption in the short-term.” Drysdale added the he and his colleagues have launched an “Insectless Sunday” campaign in an attempt to raise awareness in the bird community. | The Onion | https://www.theonion.com/ecologists-urge-birds-to-avert-global-decline-of-insect-1832993144 | 2019-03-01 18:47:00+00:00 | 1,551,484,020 | 1,567,546,894 | environment | nature |
960,437 | thesun--2019-05-08--Florida invaded by millions of love bug insects turning skies black as locals say its never been | 2019-05-08T00:00:00 | thesun | Florida invaded by millions of ‘love bug’ insects turning skies black as locals say ‘it’s never been this bad’ | MILLIONS of lovebugs have descended on Florida in what locals there are calling the worst ever swarms of the insects. The insects get their name because they usually fly around in mating pairs and are particularly attracted to the Sunshine State’s warm, moist weather. Around this time of the year and again in August and September, the insects go on a mating frenzy. Lovebugs are from the same family as flies and hurl themselves toward traffic in suicidal swarms, covering vehicle windshields and bonnets. The insects are oddly attracted to vehicle fumes and hot asphalt, research has shown. The swarms often force outdoor restaurants to close and car washes are busy with drivers anxious to get rid of lovebug remains to stop them corroding paint. While they also congregate in Mississippi they are particularly attracted by Florida’s heat and decomposing plant debris, where they lay their eggs. Across social media, Florida residents are proclaiming this the "worst lovebug year ever", it was reported. A video taken by Shelby Maness showed a swarm so thick that they were turning her blue house black. “This love bug season here in Sebring is no joke. They are bad this year,” she told Fox13. Lovebugs emigrated into Texas and Louisiana from Central America in the 1920s But they didn’t show up in Florida until the 1940s, University of Florida expert Norman Leppla told USA Today. He explained that while this year is particularly bad, there have been larger numbers in the past. “It seems that there are more lovebugs than last year but not nearly the number we have seen in decades past,” he said. Lovebugs live just three or four intense days and their larvae lie dormant for months until the weather is warmer and drier than normal. Males swarm to places where they know females will soon emerging from and up to eight males compete for each female. The females fly into swarms of the hovering males usually from 8 to 10 a.m. and from 4 to 5 p.m, when many are driving to and from work. We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.' | Tariq TAHIR | https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9032564/florida-millions-of-love-bug-insects/ | 2019-05-08 20:24:49+00:00 | 1,557,361,489 | 1,567,540,888 | environment | nature |
1,092,772 | wakingtimes--2019-02-11--Insects Could Go Extinct Within a Century With Catastrophic Consequences for Life on Earth | 2019-02-11T00:00:00 | wakingtimes | Insects Could Go Extinct Within a Century, With ‘Catastrophic’ Consequences for Life on Earth | More than 40 percent of the world’s insects could go extinct in the next few decades, according to a report that lead author Francisco Sánchez-Bayo told CNN was the first global review of the threats facing the class that makes up 70 percent of earth’s animals. A third of insects are endangered species, and they are going extinct at a rate eight times that of birds, mammals and reptiles. That amounts to a loss of 2.5 percent of insect mass every year over the last three decades. “It is very rapid,” Sánchez Bayo told The Guardian. “In 10 years you will have a quarter less, in 50 years only half left and in 100 years you will have none.” Sánchez-Bayo, from the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Sydney, worked with Kris Wyckhuys of the China Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing and the University of Queensland on the report, published in Biological Conservation. Together they examined 73 reports looking at the global decline in insect biodiversity in order to assess its main causes. The chief drivers of the decline are, in order of magnitude: Intensive agriculture has been particularly deadly for insects, Sánchez-Bayo told The Guardian, because it usually leads to the clearing of trees and shrubs surrounding fields. In addition, pesticides like neonicotinoids and fipronil developed in the last 20 years kill all of the grubs in the soil they are used on, effectively sterilizing it. A rapid decline in insect populations would be “catastrophic” for the rest of life on earth, the report authors wrote. Insects are essential as pollinators, food sources and nutrient recyclers in many ecosystems. “It should be of huge concern to all of us,” University of Sussex professor Dave Goulson, who was not involved in the study, told The Guardian, “For insects are at the heart of every food web, they pollinate the large majority of plant species, keep the soil healthy, recycle nutrients, control pests, and much more. Love them or loathe them, we humans cannot survive without insects.” The report calls for a major overhaul of the world’s agriculture system in order to save insects and the rest of the earth’s ecosystems. “A rethinking of current agricultural practices, in particular a serious reduction in pesticide usage and its substitution with more sustainable, ecologically-based practices, is urgently needed to slow or reverse current trends, allow the recovery of declining insect populations and safeguard the vital ecosystem services they provide,” Sánchez-Bayo and Wyckhuys wrote. | WakingTimes | https://www.wakingtimes.com/2019/02/11/insects-could-go-extinct-within-a-century-with-catastrophic-consequences-for-life-on-earth/ | 2019-02-11 14:20:37+00:00 | 1,549,912,837 | 1,567,548,913 | environment | nature |
143,284 | drudgereport--2019-02-05--Gut feeling Depression linked to digestive bacteria | 2019-02-05T00:00:00 | drudgereport | Gut feeling: Depression linked to digestive bacteria... | Anti-depressants are now the most widely-used prescription drug in many countries Anti-depressants are now the most widely-used prescription drug in many countries Bacteria in the gut may affect our mental well-being and could be linked to depression, researchers said on Monday after conducting the largest study of its kind so far. The World Health Organization says an estimated 300 million people suffer from depression, and there are known links between a patient's physical and mental health. Scientists in Belgium now believe that a wide range of gut bacteria can produce chemicals that significantly impact the brain, including several microorganisms linked -- positively or negatively -- to mental health. The experiment, known as the Flemish Gut Flora Project, examined depression data and stool samples from more than 1,000 people and found that two types of bacteria were "consistently depleted" in those who suffered from depression. This held true even if patients were on anti-depressants. Scientists' understanding of how the gut and brain are linked is in its early stages, and the researchers acknowledged that their findings, published in the journal Nature Microbiology, could be considered controversial. "The notion that microbial metabolites can interact with our brain -- and thus behaviour and feelings -- is intriguing," said lead researcher Jeroen Raes, from the department of Microbiology and Immunology at KU Leuven University. "Until now, most of the studies were or in mice or in small-scale human studies, with mixed and contradictory results," he told AFP. The team repeated the study on 1,063 people from the Netherlands and a third group of clinically depressed patients in Belgium, and got similar results. Raes stressed, however, that while the experiment showed a clear link between the levels of certain bacteria in the gut and an individual's mental well-being, that didn't mean that one thing directly caused the other. The two microbe groups, coprococcus and dialister, are know to have anti-inflammatory properties. "We also know that neuro-inflammation is important in depression. So, our hypothesis is that somehow these two are linked," said Raes. Depression -- a treatable but debilitating condition that affects how an individual behaves and feels -- is sometimes referred to as a "silent epidemic", and is a major driver of the some 800,000 suicides that occur each year worldwide. Anti-depressants are now the most common prescribed drug in many countries and Raes said his team's research could pave the way for new, smarter treatments for the illness. "I really think there is a future in this: using cocktails of human-derived bacteria as treatment ?- bugs as drugs, as they say," he said. The team behind the research studied the genomes of more than 500 types of gut bacteria and analysed their ability to produce a set of neuroactive compounds -- chemicals shown to affect brain function. They found several that could produce compounds linked to a variety of mental processes. Raes said recent technological and medical advances had allowed researchers to zero in on the gut when looking into possible causes of mental health issues. "The field went for the obvious diseases first -? obesity, diabetes, colon cancer, irritable bowl syndrome," he said. "But then evidence started coming in from animal studies," he added. "The last few years, the gut-brain axis field really exploded. It's really, really exciting at the moment." | null | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DrudgeReportFeed/~3/tmuHyfPa61U/20190204-gut-feeling-study-links-depression-digestive-bacteria | 2019-02-05 15:40:37+00:00 | 1,549,399,237 | 1,567,549,605 | environment | nature |
199,996 | fortruss--2019-11-13--STUDY: Bacteria May Accelerate Climate Change | 2019-11-13T00:00:00 | fortruss | STUDY: Bacteria May Accelerate Climate Change | LONDON – As bacteria adapt to hotter temperatures, they speed up their respiration rate and release more carbon, potentially accelerating climate change. By releasing more carbon as global temperatures rise, bacteria and related organisms called archaea could increase climate warming at a faster rate than current models suggest. The new research, published today in Nature Communications by scientists from Imperial College London, could help inform more accurate models of future climate warming. Bacteria and archaea, collectively known as prokaryotes, are present on every continent and make up around half of global biomass — the total weight of all organisms on Earth. Most prokaryotes perform respiration that uses energy and releases carbon dioxide — just like we do when we breathe out. The amount of carbon dioxide released during a given time period depends on the prokaryote’s respiration rate, which can change in response to temperature. However, the exact relationship between temperature, respiration rate and carbon output has been uncertain. Now, by bringing together a database of respiration rate changes according to temperature from 482 prokaryotes, researchers have found the majority will increase their carbon output in response to higher temperatures to a greater degree than previously thought. Lead researcher Dr. Samraat Pawar, from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial, said: “In the short term, on a scale of days to hours, individual prokaryotes will increase their metabolism and produce more carbon dioxide. However, there is still a maximum temperature at which their metabolism becomes inefficient.” “In the longer term, over years, these prokaryote communities will evolve to be more efficient at higher temperatures, allowing them to further increase their metabolism and their carbon output.” “Rising temperatures, therefore, cause a ‘double whammy’ effect on many prokaryote communities, allowing them to function more efficiently in both the short and long term, and creating an even larger contribution to global carbon and resulting temperatures.” The researchers compiled prokaryote responses to temperature changes from across the world and in all different conditions — from salty Antarctic lakes below 0°C to thermal pools above 120°C. They found that prokaryotes that usually operate in a medium temperature range — below 45°C — show a strong response to changing temperature, increasing their respiration in both the short term (days to weeks) and long term (months to years). Prokaryotes that operate in higher temperature ranges — above 45°C — did not show such a response, but since they operate at such high temperatures to begin with, they are unlikely to be impacted by climate change. The short-term responses of medium-temperature prokaryotes to warming were larger than those reported for eukaryotes – organisms with more complex cells, including all plants, fungi and animals. The team built a mathematical model that predicted how these respiration rate changes would affect the carbon output of prokaryote communities. This revealed that short- and long-term changes to respiration rate would combine to create a larger-than-expected rise in carbon output, which is currently unaccounted for in ecosystem and climate models. Lead author of the new research, Ph.D. student Thomas Smith from the Department of Life Sciences, said: “Most climate models assume that all organisms’ respiration rates respond to temperature in the same way, but our study shows that bacteria and archaea are likely to depart from the ‘global average’.” “Given that these micro-organisms are likely to be significant contributors to total respiration and carbon output in many ecosystems, it’s important for climate models to take into account their higher sensitivity to temperature change at both short and long timescales.” “Importantly for future climate predictions, we would also like to know how the numbers of prokaryotes, and their abundance within local ecosystems, might change with increasing temperatures.” | Drago Bosnic | https://www.fort-russ.com/2019/11/study-bacteria-may-accelerate-climate-change/ | Wed, 13 Nov 2019 15:00:02 +0000 | 1,573,675,202 | 1,573,689,865 | environment | nature |
334,244 | naturalnews--2019-01-22--This medicinal plant from Iran exhibits significant antibacterial properties and may be a good natur | 2019-01-22T00:00:00 | naturalnews | This medicinal plant from Iran exhibits significant antibacterial properties and may be a good natural antibiotic | (Natural News) A study from the Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman in Iran has found that Semenovia suffruticosa, a member of the parsley family and a plant native to the region, contains significant antibiotic potential. In their study, which was published in the Journal of Dietary Supplements, the team investigated the essential oil of S. suffruticosa, in particular, its antibiotic properties against certain multidrug-resistant bacteria. The team looked at the essential oils of S. suffruticosa that have been grown in different parts of Kerman province in Iran, evaluating each for its ability against the following bacteria: In addition, they also looked at the physicochemical properties of the essential oil of S. suffruticosa, as well as its minimum inhibitory concentration, that is, the lowest concentration of a chemical for preventing bacterial growth. 100% organic essential oil sets now available for your home and personal care, including Rosemary, Oregano, Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, Clary Sage and more, all 100% organic and laboratory tested for safety. A multitude of uses, from stress reduction to topical first aid. See the complete listing here, and help support this news site. Their results found that environmental conditions can impact that amount of yield and the chemical composition of the essential oil. For instance, the greatest yield came from S. suffruticosa grown in the mountainous regions of Laleh Zar in Kerman province. However, the main component for each was different, ranging from Z-beta-ocimene, linalool, and beta-pinene, depending on where it was grown. In particular, this essential oil had a MIC value of 1.25 mg/mL against S. aureus and S. pneumoniae, while that from Bidkhan, another region in the province, had significant antibacterial activity against K. pneumoniae. “The results of this study confirm that the significant antibacterial effects of S. suffruticosa and make it a valuable compound in essential oils for pharmaceutical use and a good replacement for chemical antibiotics,” the researchers concluded in their report. “Environmental conditions can result in a difference in yields and components; this can be considered [a] significant potential for this plant.” (Related: Antibiotic-resistant bacteria on the rise; what can you do NOW to stay healthy?) It’s not just antibiotic resistance that people should be worried about when it comes to using antibiotics. According to the National Health Service, the public health agency of the U.K., at least 10 percent of people taking antibiotics experience an adverse reaction after taking them. In addition, at least one in 15 people are allergic to at least one type of antibiotic. Here are just some natural antibiotics that you can readily use. (h/t to MedicalNewsToday.com.) Learn more about other essential oils with antibiotic properties at EssentialOils.news. | Ralph Flores | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-01-22-medicinal-plant-from-iran-has-significant-antibacterial-properties.html | 2019-01-22 18:07:19+00:00 | 1,548,198,439 | 1,567,551,365 | environment | nature |
334,825 | naturalnews--2019-02-22--Bacteria samples from all over the globe found to have antibiotic resistance genes says research | 2019-02-22T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Bacteria samples from all over the globe found to have antibiotic resistance genes, says research | (Natural News) Researchers warn that infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria will continue to increase each year, especially since these acquire more resistance genes from other bacteria. The effects of such a genetic delineation prompted scientists from the Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg in Sweden to evaluate large numbers of bacterial DNA. Their study looked at DNA sequences of bacterial samples from people and environments from all over the globe. The results of their study, published in the journal Microbiome, concluded that there are at least 76 new types of antibiotic-resistant genes, several of which can give bacteria the ability to degrade carbapenems, the most powerful class of antibiotics used against multidrug-resistant bacteria. “Our study shows that there are lots of unknown resistance genes. Knowledge about these genes makes it possible to more effectively find and hopefully tackle new forms of multi-resistant bacteria,” said Erik Kristiansson, lead investigator of the study and a professor at Chalmers. He added that identifying a resistance gene is difficult, especially if it has not been known in the past. To identify a resistance gene, Kristiansson and his team developed a new computational method to determine patterns in DNA that are linked with antibiotic resistance. Then, they tested the genes they identified in the laboratory to confirm their predictions. “Our methods are very efficient and can search for the specific patterns of novel resistance genes in large volumes of DNA sequence data,” said Fanny Berglund, one of the researchers of the study. 100% organic essential oil sets now available for your home and personal care, including Rosemary, Oregano, Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, Clary Sage and more, all 100% organic and laboratory tested for safety. A multitude of uses, from stress reduction to topical first aid. See the complete listing here, and help support this news site. The researchers plan to identify the genes that influence the resistance of bacteria to other forms of antibiotics. Kristiansson said that the novel genes that they found are “only the tip of the iceberg” and there a still a lot of unknown antibiotic-resistant genes that could lead to major global health problems in the future. People have treated antibiotics as the silver bullet when it comes to treating infections since the 1940s. Yet, recent studies show that bacteria have become antibiotic-resistant: These strains can cause infections that are harder to treat compared to non-resistant bacteria. This is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today, according to the World Health Organization. Ever year, drug-resistant infections end the lives of at least 700,000 people. If not acted on immediately, this number is expected to increase tenfold by 2050. Drug-resistant infections not only lead to increased deaths, but also higher medical costs, and longer stays in the hospital. One of the primary causes of antibiotic resistance is the overuse of antibiotics to treat conditions that do not require antibiotics. Misuse of antibiotics is also common in agriculture, where at least 240 million kilograms of antibiotics are used in livestock every year. (Related: Antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in hospitals likely came from industrial livestock farms.) Infections, such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, blood poisoning, gonorrhea, and foodborne disease, are continually becoming more difficult or impossible to treat because antibiotics are becoming less effective. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every year in the U.S., at least 2 million people are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, with over 23,000 dying as a direct consequence of these infections. Some of the bacteria resistant to medications are methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE), multi-drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB), and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) gut bacteria. Find out more scientific breakthroughs at Research.news. | Michelle Simmons | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-02-22-bacteria-samples-from-all-over-the-globe-found-to-have-antibiotic-resistance-genes.html | 2019-02-22 22:10:52+00:00 | 1,550,891,452 | 1,567,547,666 | environment | nature |
335,437 | naturalnews--2019-04-08--Can Lactobacillus fermentum a good bacteria address glutathione deficiency | 2019-04-08T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Can Lactobacillus fermentum, a "good" bacteria, address glutathione deficiency? | (Natural News) A shortage in glutathione is bad news for the many protective processes of the body that rely on this antioxidant. However, it is possible to replenish the levels of glutathione by taking the Lactobacillus fermentum ME-3 strain (ME-3) as a probiotic supplement. ME-3 is a type of good bacteria that can produce glutathione. This antioxidant is involved in the detoxification of cells, the proper functioning of bodily systems that require a lot of metabolic activity, and the aging process. A deficiency in glutathione has been linked to faster aging. It also increases the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, and other ailments. It is also associated with the steady decline of mitochondrial function due to the degradation of mitochondrial DNA (mDNA). In addition to synthesizing this vital antioxidant, ME-3 can also restore oxidized glutathione to its active state. It can also produce and recycle another important antioxidant – manganese superoxide dismutase. Its recycling abilities also apply to lipoic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, and other oxidation-preventing compounds. (Related: Glutathione could become a major player in the battle against obesity and chronic disease.) Me-3 also reduces the risk of heart disease. A 2011 study by Tartu University researchers said that participants who supplemented with the probiotic bacteria displayed lower levels of oxidized bad cholesterol and triglycerides. At the same time, the concentrations of good cholesterol and paraoxonase enzymes also increased. Paraoxonases perform double duties as antioxidants and detoxifiers for chemical pesticides called organophosphates. The power of the elements: Discover Colloidal Silver Mouthwash with quality, natural ingredients like Sangre de Drago sap, black walnut hulls, menthol crystals and more. Zero artificial sweeteners, colors or alcohol. Learn more at the Health Ranger Store and help support this news site. Organophosphates are widely used as insecticides and pesticides. They are also used in plasticizers, antifoaming agents, hydraulic fluids, and flame retardants. Most humans have been exposed to these chemicals at one point or another. Heavy exposure is believed to affect the mental development of children. Paraoxonase enzymes can break down these organophosphates into harmless substances. ME-3 encourages the production of one such detoxifying paraoxonase, PON1. The Lactobacillus strain also supports the health of the gut microbiome. It produces metabolites that ensure a healthy balance of gut bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. ME-3 helps manage the levels of inflammatory molecules. Furthermore, it decreases the production of glycated hemoglobin, which is linked to inflammation, and increases the release of inflammation-fighting adiponectin. The probiotic bacteria can withstand the acidic conditions of the stomach and the small intestine. This toughness makes it well-suited for living in the highly acidic environs of the gut. A deficiency in glutathione is linked to higher chances of chronic degenerative diseases. Conversely, higher levels of this antioxidant are connected with good health and longer lifespans. Many studies provide evidence in support of a Glutathione Deficiency Hypothesis. The theory suggests that a lack of glutathione is one of the main biochemical mechanisms that cause aging. Glutathione levels can therefore be used as an accurate and reliable way of evaluating aging. Furthermore, glutathione deficiency can be reversed by increasing the amount of the antioxidant in the body, which can slow down the aging process and increase the lifespan of a person. Various tests have shown that L. fermentum ME-3 can improve the amounts of glutathione and other antioxidants in the body. The probiotic bacteria can increase the ratio of active glutathione to its inactive version by nearly half. When combined with its other benefits, such as reducing concentrations of oxidized bad cholesterol by 16 percent and harmful free radicals by 20 percent, ME-3 could be a good way to increase glutathione levels. Supplementing with the antioxidant-producing good bacteria could be the key to living longer and healthier lives. | Edsel Cook | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-04-08-can-lactobacillus-fermentum-address-glutathione-deficiency.html | 2019-04-08 10:15:47+00:00 | 1,554,732,947 | 1,567,543,581 | environment | nature |
336,334 | naturalnews--2019-07-01--Scientists study efficient photosynthetic bacteria to boost crop yields | 2019-07-01T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Scientists study efficient photosynthetic bacteria to boost crop yields | (Natural News) The current population of the world is now at least 7.7 billion, based on the latest data from the United Nations, and it is increasing every single day. It takes a tremendous amount of logistics to feed that many mouths and keep society afloat. While earlier civilizations were built on the abundance of food, humans today have to play catch up due to the sheer amount of people. To cope with this problem, scientists are now trying to find new ways to increase agricultural production. In a study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, a group of researchers from Canada reported on how bacteria could help boost crop yield by improving an enzyme called RubisCO. This enzyme uses light energy to incorporate carbon dioxide into organic molecules that the plant can use to form sugar. RubisCO is an enzyme found in plants and photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria. Scientists believe that the enzyme, which is made of protein sub-units that help with photosynthesis, is a callback to ancient geological times when carbon dioxide was one of the most abundant gases on the planet. These days, the Earth’s condition is different: Oxygen is now the most abundant gas, and carbon dioxide is not as ubiquitous. This makes RubisCO became incredibly inefficient in plants since it cannot differentiate oxygen and carbon dioxide. As a result, it captures both gases. The plant needs the latter to function, but as it processes the former, it generates compounds that plants cannot use. It then has to use extra energy to recycle those compounds. Support our mission to keep you informed: Discover the extraordinary benefits of turmeric gummy bears and organic "turmeric gold" liquid extract, both laboratory tested for heavy metals, microbiology and safety. Naturally high in potent curcuminoids. Delicious formulations. All purchases support this website (as well as your good health). See availability here. In contrast, cyanobacteria work efficiently by trapping carbon dioxide in compartments called carboxysomes. The protein shell of the carboxysome does not allow carbon dioxide to escape. This helps RubisCO in the bacteria to do a better job at performing its function since it only has access to carbon dioxide. The potential of cyanobacteria and other photosynthetic bacteria to boost crop growth does not stop with the study of its enzyme. Researchers are also investigating the effect of using photosynthetic bacteria directly on agricultural products. In a study published in the Journal of Plant Nutrition, researchers from Northeast Forestry University in China studied the effect of spraying photosynthetic bacteria on the growth of Chinese dwarf cherry seedlings. They found that the bacteria had a positive impact on the growth of the plant. Horticulturists, meanwhile, add beneficial bacteria to soil or other grow mediums to help plants grow faster. These microorganisms are capable of breaking down large organic matter into smaller compounds that plants can readily absorb as a nutrient source. Food security is becoming a serious problem every year. A billion people across the world experience the effects of limited food availability. The international community takes extensive measures to ensure that humanity can feed itself in the future. New developments, like those mentioned above, can help humans cope with the explosive population growth. If the agricultural industry can effectively use microorganisms to increase the production of crops, then humanity is one step closer to solving the world’s food security issues. (Related: Global food security at risk as biodiversity is lost.) Over the years, it has become common knowledge that bacteria come in all different sorts: There are good bacteria, and then there are virulent strains. In this case, bacteria can genuinely serve a greater good – food security is an issue of enormous scale if left unchecked. Historically, hunger, malnutrition, and starvation have killed millions of people and decimated many early civilizations; research such as these, applied collectively and cooperatively by all stakeholders, give humanity a fighting chance as it continues to populate the rest of the planet. To learn more about microorganisms and their interaction with the environment, visit Ecology.news. | Stephanie Diaz | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-07-01-scientists-study-efficient-photosynthetic-bacteria-to-boost-crop-yields.html | 2019-07-01 17:58:35+00:00 | 1,562,018,315 | 1,567,537,359 | environment | nature |
336,357 | naturalnews--2019-07-02--Scientists have found ANOTHER major problem with the plastic pollution in the oceans It harbors bac | 2019-07-02T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Scientists have found ANOTHER major problem with the plastic pollution in the oceans: It harbors bacteria that can be transferred up the food chain | (Natural News) Experts predict that there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish within the next century — a serious problem, considering there’s still a lot to be explored in their depths. The adverse effects of plastic pollution have been the subject of many studies, but according to marine scientists from the National University of Singapore, their impact reaches even higher up the food chain. In their study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, they revealed that the microplastics that pollute the ocean harbor microbial communities, including potentially pathogenic ones. “Microplastics form a large proportion of plastic pollution in marine environments. Marine organisms may consume bits of microplastics unintentionally, and this could lead to the accumulation and subsequent transfer of marine pathogens in the food chain,” explained Dr. Sandric Leong, a fellow at the NUS Tropical Marine Science Institute and the lead researcher of the study. “Hence, understanding the distribution of microplastics and identifying the organisms attached to them are crucial steps in managing the plastic pollution on a national and global scale.” The NUS team conducted a six-month field survey and collected microplastic samples along the coastline of Singapore. To determine the relationship between human activity and the microplastic abundance, the team collected samples frpm three types of beaches: a pristine beach on a secluded island (Lazarus Island), a beach located in a seaside park (Sembawang Beach), and a densely populated beach beside the jetty of a sailing club (Changi Beach). After testing the samples, the team found over 400 different types of bacteria across all the areas where microplastics were collected. Some of the bacterial strains found include: 100% organic essential oil sets now available for your home and personal care, including Rosemary, Oregano, Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, Clary Sage and more, all 100% organic and laboratory tested for safety. A multitude of uses, from stress reduction to topical first aid. See the complete listing here, and help support this news site. Despite the presence of putatively toxic bacteria in the samples, the researchers also found some species that can be used to combat plastic pollution. Erythrobacter, the dominant genus in densely populated Changi Beach, can degrade plastics, while Pseudomonas veronii is used for cleaning up oil spills, thanks to its ability to degrade harmful compounds like toluene and benzene. For co-researcher Emily Curren, who is also a doctorate student at NUS, the presence of these beneficial bacteria is promising in the fight against plastic pollution. “Given the predicted increase in plastic waste contamination in oceans, the discovery of such bacteria provides important nature-friendly alternatives for the mitigation of plastic pollution and toxic pollutants such as hydrocarbons,” she added. The study demonstrated that despite microplastics being less than 5 millimeters long, they could be home to diverse bacterial communities — some beneficial and some toxic. Further studies, according to the team, will look at where these bacteria come from and how they end up in the microplastics. The NUS study primarily focuses on the bacterial community found in each piece of microplastic. However, it’s worth noting that these bits of plastic don’t just remain in the oceans — often, they find their way into the creatures that live in those waters, and ultimately, onto dinner tables. Many factors come into play when it comes to how plastics end up in food — sunlight, bacteria, wave motion, and seasonal changes are some of the processes that affect degradation. These factors, collectively called weathering, not only lead to the breakdown of plastics, they also impact how plastics are distributed and ingested by marine animals. “Microplastics can get stuck in the gills, mouth, stomachs and the digestive system, making it hard for fish to breathe and eat,” explained Hans Peter Arp, a principal engineer at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute. Arp, together with his international team, is conducting tests as part of their research to understand the distribution and influence of microplastics in the oceans. The project, called WEATHER-MIC, aims to improve environmental risk assessment, especially when it comes to microplastics. In particular, the project will study how microplastics affect oceans over time and the risk they pose to the ecosystem and the environment. So, how much of these bacteria-laden microplastics make their way onto dinner plates? The estimates may vary, but experts agree that people are still exposed to microplastics from seafood to some degree. In Europe, a portion of consumer-grade mussels may contain around 90 pieces of microplastics, while a serving of canned fish can have up to five microplastics a portion. Sea salt, often touted as healthier than table salt, fares worse. Getting the recommended daily sodium intake from sea salt means eating at least three microplastics (of course, a lot of people eat more than the recommended amount). These figures may look grim; that is, until you find out that bottled water has anywhere between two to 44 microplastics per liter. On average, a person can be exposed to double the amount considering we should all drink at least two liters of water a day, say health experts. These days, plastic might feel like an invasive species, especially in our waters. Fortunately, there are many ways to reduce plastic use or, even better, replace it with more sustainable options. Remember, when it comes to plastic pollution: Out of sight should never be out of mind. | Ralph Flores | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-07-02-another-major-problem-with-plastic-pollution-it-harbors-bacteria.html | 2019-07-02 18:38:47+00:00 | 1,562,107,127 | 1,567,537,211 | environment | nature |
336,415 | naturalnews--2019-07-07--Some bacteria can go into a zombie state to survive starvation | 2019-07-07T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Some bacteria can go into a “zombie” state to survive starvation | (Natural News) A common species of bacteria demonstrated the ability to assume a “zombie” state when faced with inhospitable conditions. This survival strategy might explain why other microorganisms still reappear despite seemingly getting eradicated by antibiotics, starvation, or other factors. Formally called “oligotrophic growth,” the state differs from normal dormancy. The bacteria remain active, but their cellular processes slow almost to a crawl. Although simple unicellular organisms, bacteria possess a lot of complicated abilities. For example, many strains respond to harsh living conditions by forming an endospore around the bacterial body. A coat made of durable materials, the endospore provides protection against antibiotics, cold temperatures, ultraviolet light, and other external factors that may harm or kill the bacterium. Within the protective confines of the endospore, the bacterium enters a dormant state that doesn’t expend energy or needed nutrients. It remains asleep until its surroundings become more benign. Upon sensing a safer environment, the microbe emerges from its spore. The ability to form endospores allows disease-causing bacteria to survive antibiotic treatment. A bacterial infection might subside after a patient took antibiotics, but the disease can return once the remaining microorganisms come out of their spores and begin increasing in number. (Related: Scientists study efficient photosynthetic bacteria to boost crop yields.) Overseen by the University of Amsterdam professor Leendert Hamoen, an international team of researchers studied Bacillus subtilis. A benign strain of soil bacteria, B. subtilis is often used as a model organism. Mother Nature's micronutrient secret: Organic Broccoli Sprout Capsules now available, delivering 280mg of high-density nutrition, including the extraordinary "sulforaphane" and "glucosinolate" nutrients found only in cruciferous healing foods. Every lot laboratory tested. See availability here. The researchers picked a mutant variant that lost the ability to form endospores. As a result, they couldn’t retreat into a dormant state when faced with deadly conditions. For their experiment, the researchers starved the B. subtilis variant and took note of the results. To their surprise, some bacteria survived the lack of food for long periods. Deprived of nutrients and unable to form protective endospores, the bacteria used a different method to protect themselves. They throttled down cellular processes to low levels but didn’t completely shut down. “We saw clear differences between the active state, the dormant state and this state,” explained Hamoen. “Normally, Bacillus is rod-shaped; but the starved bacteria shrank until they were almost spherical.” Dormant bacteria enclosed within their spores did not display any signs of activity. But the mutated B. subtilis continued those activities at much slower speeds. The B. subtilis variant underwent cell division once every four days. In comparison, a normal bacterium reproduces once every 40 minutes. In the research paper published in the science journal Nature Communications, the team described this capability as oligotrophic growth. The zombie-like state allowed B. subtilis bacteria to continue growing in nutrient-poor conditions. “The big question now is: do bacteria other than Bacillus know this trick too?” Hamoen brought up. “If so, this fundamentally changes our outlook on bacteria.” Experts previously thought that bacteria relied on spores to protect them from antibiotics. But the act of creating an endospore uses up a lot of energy. A nutrient-starved bacterium might not be able to pay that steep initial cost. Furthermore, bacteria are not guaranteed to emerge from their spores. Going into a dormant state is a risky option, although it is still better than perishing outright. In contrast, bacteria entered and exited oligotrophic growth with much greater ease. The microbes also had an easier time producing new colonies after ending the zombie state. B. subtilis was the first strain confirmed to undergo oligotrophic growth. If other bacteria possess this ability and use it to survive antibiotic treatment, researchers may need to reconsider the conventional treatment for recurring bacterial infections like cholera. | Edsel Cook | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-07-07-bacteria-go-into-a-zombie-to-survive-starvation.html | 2019-07-07 10:46:41+00:00 | 1,562,510,801 | 1,567,536,568 | environment | nature |
336,748 | naturalnews--2019-08-19--Bacteria may travel around the world using air bridges explaining how superbugs share genes | 2019-08-19T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Bacteria may travel around the world using "air bridges," explaining how superbugs share genes | (Natural News) Bacteria do not need animal or human carriers to spread. A Rutgers-led study suggests that microbes take advantage of natural air currents and use them as bridges to travel from one remote location to another. The genes that encode antibiotic resistance in bacteria appear in many seemingly unrelated bacterial species. Even microbes separated by thousands of miles rely on the same DNA to protect them from antimicrobial agents. Rutgers University researcher Konstantin Severinov oversaw a new study on antibiotic-resistant bacteria. He and his colleagues suspected the existence of a natural transportation method that allows bacteria to move across the planet. “Because the bacteria we study live in very hot water — about 160 degrees Fahrenheit — in remote places, it is not feasible to imagine that animals, birds or humans transport them,” Severinov explained. “They must be transported by air and this movement must be very extensive so bacteria in isolated places share common characteristics.” The results of their study were published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. (Related: Yes, you can be TOO clean – and it’s making you prone to superbugs.) The Rutgers-led study examined the DNA of Thermus thermophilus, a heat-loving bacteria that live in extremely hot areas like geothermal springs. The researchers studied the molecular memories of these microbes from their encounters with bacteriophages. Bacteriophages are viruses that target bacteria. As the most numerous and widespread life forms on Earth, they exert considerable influence on the populations, communal organization, and evolution of bacteria. In their experiment, Severinov and his colleagues took samples of T. thermophilus from different sites around the world — the gravel and hot spring on two different volcanoes in Italy, widely separated geothermal springs in northern and southern Chile, and the Uzon volcanic caldera in Russia. When these bacteria get infected by bacteriophages, they store molecular memories of the viral infection in CRISPR arrays. These highly-specialized DNA regions hold tiny samples of viral DNA so that the cell will remember the event. If a bacterial cell survives a viral infection, it passes those molecular memories to its offspring. By looking at the arrangement of these molecular memories in a bacterial species, researchers are able to follow the bacteria’s history of interaction with bacteriophages over time. The researchers chose T. thermophilus because the heat-loving bacteria live in inhospitable environments found in remote locations. Therefore, the different bacterial colonies present in those environments are completely isolated from each other and have no way of directly exchanging molecular memories. The researchers initially predicted that each isolated bacterial colony will possess unique memories of their previous encounters with viruses. Bacteria that came from the same colony might share the same history, but each colony obtained from separate locations should have different viral-related histories. The researchers also believe that bacteria evolve at a rapid pace and should therefore be quite different from one another. “What we found, however, is that there were plenty of shared memories — identical pieces of viral DNA stored in the same order in the DNA of bacteria from distant hot springs,” Severinov said. “Our analysis may inform ecological and epidemiological studies of harmful bacteria that globally share antibiotic resistance genes and may also get dispersed by air instead of human travelers.” To get further evidence of their “air bridge” hypothesis, Severinov and his team plan to get air samples at various altitudes and locations around the world. He and his team will then identify and compare the molecular memories of the airborne bacteria. | Edsel Cook | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-08-19-bacteria-travel-around-the-world-using-air-bridges-superbugs.html | 2019-08-19 09:51:01+00:00 | 1,566,222,661 | 1,567,534,026 | environment | nature |
337,064 | naturalnews--2019-09-18--Intestinal bacteria help regulate allergic responses Researchers say certain microbes can prevent a | 2019-09-18T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Intestinal bacteria help regulate allergic responses: Researchers say certain microbes can prevent allergic reactions | (Natural News) The good bacteria living in the gut of humans play essential roles in keeping their hosts safe from food allergies. A recent international study showed that gut microbiota taken from human babies and given to mice protected the recipients from developing allergy to milk. The results of the animal experiment suggested that probiotic treatments may be able to stop the development of food allergies in humans. Furthermore, they identified the bacteria Anaerostipes caccae as the species responsible for the protection. An earlier study conducted by The University of Chicago researcher Cathryn Nagler and her colleagues reported that the gut microbiome of healthy human babies do not resemble the gut microbiome of babies with allergy to cow’s milk. They followed up on their finding by looking for a causal relationship between intestinal bacteria and food allergies. “These findings demonstrate the critical role of the gut microbiota in the development of food allergy and strongly suggest that modulating bacterial communities is relevant to stopping the food allergy disease burden,” explained University of Naples Federico II researcher Roberto Berni Canani, who served as a co-author alongside Nagler. “These data are paving the way for innovative interventions for the prevention and treatment of food allergy that are under evaluation at our centres.” (Related: Natural remedies for allergies.) In their latest experiment, Nagler, Canani, and their colleagues acquired gut bacteria from healthy and cow’s milk-allergic human babies. They transplanted these microbes to germ-free mice raised in a sterile environment. To assist the bacteria in colonizing the gut of the animals, the researchers fed them the sources of nutrients, that is, the same formula as the infants before eventually exposing them to cow’s milk. When the mice that received gut microbes from allergic infants drank cow’s milk for the first time, they experienced a severe allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Germ-free mice that did not receive any bacteria and served as controls also had the same reaction. On the other hand, mice transplanted with gut bacteria from healthy infants did not have any severe reactions to cow’s milk. The researchers noted that the mice appeared to be protected from cow’s milk allergy. The results of the experiment led Nagler and her colleagues to surmise that gut bacteria regulate allergic responses to food antigens. They believe that therapies involving the modulation of gut bacterial communities offer a potential natural treatment for food allergies. As part of their follow-up, they analyzed the microbial population in the gut of the mice. They looked for differences in gene expression between the healthy and allergic mice. They identified Anaerostipes caccae as the species of bacteria responsible for protecting the mice from allergic reactions. A. caccae belongs to the Clostridia class which are common gut bacteria. In 2014, Nagler and her colleagues found that other members of the Clostridia class offer protection against food allergies by promoting immune responses that stop food allergens from reaching the blood. “What we see with this work again is how, in the context of all of the different types of microorganisms inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract, one single organism can have such a profound effect on how the host is affected by dietary components,” remarked Dionysios Antonopoulos, who was also a co-author of the study. “We also get a new appreciation for the distinct roles that each of these members play beyond the generalization that the ‘microbiome’ is involved.” | Edsel Cook | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-09-18-intestinal-bacteria-help-regulate-allergic-responses-prevent-allergic-reactions.html | 2019-09-18 18:35:36+00:00 | 1,568,846,136 | 1,569,329,952 | environment | nature |
337,077 | naturalnews--2019-09-19--How can a relatively harmless gut microbe be dangerous to good gut bacteria | 2019-09-19T00:00:00 | naturalnews | How can a relatively "harmless" gut microbe be dangerous to good gut bacteria? | (Natural News) Gastrointestinal health relies on maintaining plenty of beneficial bacteria while keeping the numbers of harmful ones in check. Singaporean researchers warned about a particular gut microbe that might disrupt the composition of good bacteria. The gut contains trillions of microorganisms. Bacteria comprise most of the gut microbiota, but single-celled organisms and viruses are also present in considerable numbers. Also called single-celled eukaryotes (SCE) and protozoans, single-celled organisms don’t draw much attention from researchers. They’re generally considered harmless. However, a recent study by researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) showed that the protozoan Blastocystis might be harming good bacteria. By doing so, the eukaryote undermines gut health and health in general. Blastocystis is a common protozoan and a parasite. It enters the human body either through the consumption of tainted food or water, or via physical handling of infected animals. In the past, several experts hypothesized that Blastocystis can cause infections in the intestinal tract. However, some patients who have the parasitic protozoan still manage to remain healthy. Hence, the NUS researchers focused on a local subtype of Blastocystis designated as ST7. Unlike its relatives, ST7 harms gut bacteria, including beneficial strains that contribute to good gut health. (Related: The “missing link” between gut health and undernutrition: Fermentable carbs and protein.) For their experiment, the researchers took samples of Blastocystis ST7 from the stools of a patient with gastrointestinal issues. They kept two separate cultures of the protozoan: one with benign bacteria like Bifidobacterium longum and Lactobacillus brevis, and the other with bad bacteria like Escherichia coli. The Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus strains count as good bacteria. They help maintain the integrity of the intestinal lining. Bifidobacterium helps break down dietary fiber and prevents infections. Meanwhile, Lactobacillus releases lactic acid that kills harmful bacteria in the intestine. Both strains are popular choices for probiotic supplements. People often take them to improve their gut health. Published in the scientific journal Microbiome, the NUS study reported that the presence of Blastocystis ST7 affects the balance of gut microbiota. The protozoan encourages the growth of some bacteria and kills off beneficial strains. Mixing good gut bacteria with Blastocystis ST7 led to the death of both Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus. This took place in both cell cultures and in animals. The NUS researchers attributed the demise of the good bacteria to the production of reactive oxygen species. These harmful molecules are toxic to cells and bacteria. The body releases reactive oxygen species when it experiences oxidative stress. This kind of stress occurs when free radicals outnumber the natural antioxidants that usually scavenge them. The researchers also reported that Blastocystis ST7 supports the growth of E. coli, a strain of harmful bacteria that can cause deadly infections. In addition, the protozoan damages the intestinal lining. Besides killing off good bacteria that protect this lining, ST7 triggers inflammatory responses in the gut. This leads to ulcers and further weakens the gut lining. “This is the first detailed study to show a causal link between Blastocystis, a common [SCE] of the human gut, and the host microbiota,” stated NUS researcher Kevin Tan. “We reveal how it reduces the numbers of beneficial bacteria, which may, in turn, lead to an unbalanced gut microbiome and poorer gut health.” Blastocystis ST7 infections mostly occur in Singapore, but some cases have also been reported in Denmark and Japan. The NUS researchers recommend more studies to figure out if this harmful protozoan subtype exists in other areas. Conventional treatment involves taking the pharmaceutical drug metronidazole. However, the ST7 subtype resists the effects of the antibiotic. Researchers are now looking for alternative treatments. | Edsel Cook | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-09-19-harmless-microbe-is-dangerous-to-good-gut-bacteria.html | 2019-09-19 18:35:29+00:00 | 1,568,932,529 | 1,569,329,846 | environment | nature |
337,803 | naturalnews--2019-12-03--Rise of the superbugs: Bacteria are outsmarting humans. Will they eventually kill us all? | 2019-12-03T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Rise of the superbugs: Bacteria are outsmarting humans. Will they eventually kill us all? | (Natural News) It is getting hard to keep track of all the recalls and outbreaks associated with foodborne illness lately. In the last month, apples, vegetable products, meat, and fish have all been recalled for possible Listeria contamination. In the same time frame, a Salmonella outbreak that has been linked to ground beef has been making the rounds, and an E. coli outbreak has been linked with packaged salad products (romaine lettuce is once again the suspect). What is the reason for all of these recalls and outbreaks? Cat Ellis summed it up in the article Here’s Why There Are SO MANY Food Recalls Lately: To make matters worse, superbugs are rapidly becoming a serious threat, and we are running out of ways to kill them. Several new studies and reports shed light on just how dire the situation is. In the future, superbugs will kill millions every year. Earlier this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that by the year 2050, 10 million people worldwide could die each year from antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Currently, the WHO estimates that 700,000 people globally die from infection with drug-resistant microbes every year. At that point, these “superbugs” will have surpassed cancer, heart disease, and diabetes to become the main cause of death in the human race. Superbugs are bacteria that have developed resistance to one or more classes of antibiotics, rendering those antibiotics less effective in treating infections. They are also known as antimicrobial-resistant bacteria (ARB). One of the reasons antibiotic resistance is a growing problem is their widespread use in animals raised for food. According to a recent study published in the journal Science, There is a clear increase in the number of resistant bacterial strains occurring in chickens and pigs. Globally, 73% of all antimicrobials sold on Earth are used in animals raised for food. A growing body of evidence has linked this practice with the rise of antimicrobial-resistant infections, not just in animals but also in humans. Beyond potentially serious consequences for public health, the reliance on antimicrobials to meet demand for animal protein is a likely threat to the sustainability of the livestock industry, and thus to the livelihood of farmers around the world. (source). The CDC recently published a report on Antibiotic/Antimicrobial Resistance, which revealed that more than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the U.S. each year, and more than 35,000 people die as a result. In addition, 223,900 cases of Clostridioides difficile occurred in 2017 and at least 12,800 people died. Clostridioides difficile (C.diff) is of special concern because it causes a dangerous infection that is linked to antibiotic use. It can cause deadly diarrhea when antibiotics kill beneficial bacteria in the digestive system that normally keep it under control. When the C. diff. illnesses and deaths are added, the annual U.S. toll of all these pathogens is more than 3 million infections and 48,000 deaths. C. diff., drug-resistant gonorrhea, and carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE) are known as “nightmare bacteria” because they pose a triple threat. They are resistant to all or nearly all antibiotics, they kill up to half of patients who get bloodstream infections from them, and the bacteria can transfer their antibiotic resistance to other related bacteria, potentially making the other bacteria untreatable. Candida auris, a dangerous fungal infection that preys on people with weakened immune systems, is quietly spreading across the globe, as we reported earlier this year: The CDC is concerned about C. aruis for three main reasons, according to the agency’s website. It is often multidrug-resistant, meaning that it is resistant to multiple antifungal drugs commonly used to treat Candida infections. It is difficult to identify with standard laboratory methods, and it can be misidentified in labs without specific technology. Misidentification may lead to inappropriate management. It has caused outbreaks in healthcare settings. For this reason, it is important to quickly identify C. auris in a hospitalized patient so that healthcare facilities can take special precautions to stop its spread. As of August 31, 2019, 806 confirmed cases of C. auris have been reported in the US. Beyond the reported clinical case counts, an additional 1642 patients have been found to be colonized with C. auris. While exact figures are not available (many infected people had other serious health issues that contributed to their deaths), an estimated 30-60% of those infected with C. auris die. (source) One form of Acinetobacter, a group of bacteria commonly found in the environment (like in soil and water) has developed resistance to nearly all antibiotics: Acinetobacter baumannii can cause infections in the blood, urinary tract, and lungs (pneumonia), or in wounds in other parts of the body. It can also “colonize” or live in a patient without causing infections or symptoms, especially in respiratory secretions (sputum) or open wounds. These bacteria are constantly finding new ways to avoid the effects of the antibiotics used to treat the infections they cause. Antibiotic resistance occurs when the germs no longer respond to the antibiotics designed to kill them. If they develop resistance to the group of antibiotics called carbapenems, they become carbapenem-resistant. When resistant to multiple antibiotics, they’re multidrug-resistant. Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter are usually multidrug-resistant. (source) Pigs are one of the most intensively farmed animals in the world, according to a new report from nonprofit World Animal Protection. The organization tested pork products sold in two well-known national retail chains in the US, including Walmart. Here is an excerpt from the report’s summary: | News Editors | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-12-03-bacteria-are-outsmarting-humans.html | Tue, 03 Dec 2019 21:10:35 +0000 | 1,575,425,435 | 1,575,461,708 | environment | nature |
361,855 | newsweek--2019-02-04--Ocean Bacteria Is Making Microplastics Stick Together to Form Bigger More Dangerous Pieces | 2019-02-04T00:00:00 | newsweek | Ocean Bacteria Is Making Microplastics Stick Together to Form Bigger, More Dangerous Pieces | Microscopic pieces of plastic waste floating in our oceans are sticking together to form larger pieces, potentially posing a risk to animals and starving deep-sea ecosystems, scientists have warned. Microplastics measuring 5 mm or less are being fused together by exopolymers, a type of tacky biopolymer let off by organisms such as bacteria, according to research published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin. To investigate how biopolymers and plastics react when they meet, the team took Scottish water from the Faroe-Shetland Channel and the Firth of Forth: an estuary of a number of rivers. They then re-created the ocean surface environment and added polystyrene microplastics and nanoplastics (measuring between 1 to 1000 nanometers or less) to the water. After a few minutes, organic substances including microorganisms and algae fused with the plastics and created masses called agglomerates. It was the biopolymers that caused the biggest formations. Dr. Stephen Summers, an author of the study and research fellow at Nanyang Technical University in Singapore, explained in a statement: “We found that the biopolymers envelop or engulf the nanoplastic particles, which caused the plastics to agglomerate into clumps.” The nanoplastics are 100 to 200 times smaller than the individual bacteria, Summers said, and were “incorporated into the agglomerates, which became visible to the naked eye in our lab experiments.” “The fact that these agglomerates become large enough to see raises concern, as they are likely to be seen as a food source by small marine animals,” he said. Dr. Tony Gutierrez, a microbial ecologist at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, who was in charge of the study, said the “shower of organic detritus” which form agglomerates was comparable to marine snow: where organic matter like carbon and nutrients travel from the ocean surface to the bottom. This feeds the creatures who live in the deep sea. “It will be interesting to understand if these nano- and micro-scale plastics of different densities could affect the food flux from the upper to lower reaches of the ocean,” said Gutierrez. “Heavier plastics could drive marine snow to fall at a faster rate to the sea floor, while the opposite could happen with lighter forms of plastics in making it more buoyant and to fall more slowly. In that case, deep-sea ecosystems could become starved of food,” he warned. "To understand this scenario, we need data on how abundant these invisible plastics are in the ocean." Gutierrez told Newsweek that members of the public concerned about their environmental impact could make a difference by using "more eco-friendly materials" and cutting their use of single-use plastic. Since plastic started being manufactured on a large scale around 1950, humans have created more than 8,300 million metric tons of the stuff. Of that, around 6,300 metric tons is waste, and only 9 percent has been recycled. As much as 79 percent has ended up in landfills or in the natural landscape. As such, scientists are grappling to understand just how this huge amount of material will impact the environment, including Earth’s bodies of water. Last week, researchers published the findings of a separate study where every washed-up sea animal that was tested contained microplastics. The team assessed 50 animals, including dolphins, whales and seals, who were stranded off the coast of the U.K. The team found pieces of plastic at 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) or below in each. Brendan Godley, an author of the study and professor of conservation science at England's University of Exeter, told Newsweek that the research “highlights the magnitude of plastic pollution. We expected to find plastics but were somewhat surprised when we found fibers in every single animal of all species.” This article has been updated with comment from Dr. Tony Gutierrez. | null | https://www.newsweek.com/ocean-bacteria-making-microplastics-stick-together-form-bigger-more-dangerous-1316423?utm_source=Public&utm_medium=Feed&utm_campaign=Distribution | 2019-02-04 12:16:57+00:00 | 1,549,300,617 | 1,567,549,632 | environment | nature |
5,595 | activistpost--2019-09-16--Yale Study Wild Mosquitoes Retained Genes Of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes | 2019-09-16T00:00:00 | activistpost | Yale Study: Wild Mosquitoes Retained Genes Of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes | In Brazil a genetic engineering test of mosquitoes appears to have failed, with genes from the mutant mosquitoes now mixing with the native population, Nature reported. This comes as mad scientists in the U.S. are finding they are getting bitten back by messing with nature after running their own program to genetically modify mosquitoes. The experiment involved a company called Oxitec which took male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and genetically engineered them to have a dominant lethal gene. The idea was first proposed in 2016, according to an article by Science Magazine that discussed the plans to release the GM insects. According to the hypothesis when the genetically modified mosquitoes mated with wild female mosquitoes, the gene was supposed to drastically cut down the number of offspring they produced. Further, the few that were born should have been too weak to survive a long period of time. A team of Yale students then studied the genomes of both the GM strain and the wild species before the release, then again six, 12 and 27 to 30 months after the release began. Around 450,000 modified males were released in Jacobina, Brazil every week for 27 months straight, totaling tens of millions, according to the Yale study. Sure enough, by the end of the test there was clear evidence that genes from the transgenic insects had been incorporated into the wild population. Although the GM mosquitoes only produce offspring about three to four percent of the time, it seems that those that are born aren’t as weak as expected. Some appear to make it to adulthood and breed themselves. In theory, if the experiment worked it would have cut down the population of mosquitoes in an area estimated up to as much as 85 percent. This of course if successful would translate to fewer bug-borne diseases, like — dengue, yellow fever, Zika, and malaria in humans and animals alike. However, that’s not what the final results were according to Yale University. Yale explains that some of the native bugs, they found, had surprisingly retained genes from the engineered mosquitoes; and even worse, the experiments made them more resilient. According to New Atlas there are now three different strains of mosquitoes mixed together in Jacobina and other places of Brazil. “The claim was that genes from the release strain would not get into the general population because offspring would die,’’ Jeffrey Powell, senior author of the study said. “That obviously was not what happened.” Other researchers released genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes in a controlled environment, into a high-security laboratory in Terni, Italy earlier this year, NPR reported. Another research firm called Target Malaria research consortium also released 6,400 GM mosquitoes in West Africa, Burkina Faso, this year, which was condemned by the Civil Society, a group of organizations. The tests were funded by organisations linked to the Gates Foundation, Facebook, and – indirectly – the Pentagon, as part of a project to eradicate malaria, The Guardian reported. The release of GM mosquitoes in the village was an unethical experiment, as Target Malaria acknowledges that there are no direct benefits to the local population of this particular GM mosquito release, in terms of malaria control. This was not an early stage trial of the GM mosquitoes intended to be tested later for their impact on malaria, but a release of an entirely different GM mosquito. Thus, there was no justification for making the releases. According to the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki, which is based on the Nuremberg Code and outlines the internationally agreed ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects, such research “may only be conducted if the importance of the objective outweighs the risks and burdens to the research subjects” (Article 16). Indeed, the release of the GM mosquito in Burkina Faso poses risks, including the incidental release of some biting female GM mosquitoes during the experiments. While Target Malaria claims that the number will be small, nevertheless, since GM female mosquitoes can bite humans and spread disease, the release of biting females still poses some risk to local people.[ii] Yale’s study is especially alarming because here in the U.S. the same company Oxitec was approved in the U.S. by the Food Drug Administration (FDA) in 2016, to genetically modify mosquitoes to fight against the Zika virus. This trial allowed the release of mosquitoes in the state of Florida for testing purposes in Key Haven, Monroe County. Oxitec also obtained funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop the GM insects. It’s worth noting that Bill Gates has said just this year that “mosquitoes are the number one killer.” Gates also released a swarm of mosquitoes on an unsuspecting audience at a TED conference in 2009 to prove a point. But Oxitec’s experiments don’t end in the U.S. and Brazil, the lab was also approved to release its hellish X-Files like mosquitoes in France and the Netherlands in 2017. Christoph Then for TestBiotech commented about the study stating, Florida isn’t the only state that we may have to worry about releasing GM mosquitoes. In 2017 it was reported that the EPA officially registered another company named MosquitoMate’s Asian Tiger mosquito with a five-year license to sell their lab mosquitoes in as many as 20 states, Nature reported. In 2017, that same year, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that mosquitoes carrying disease could invade as much as 75% of America in a paper published in the Journal of Medical Entomology. Last year, the CDC stated that the number of illnesses caused by mosquito, tick, and flea bites has tripled in the United States over the last 13 years, CBS reported. It’s of particular interest to express that a mosquito-borne virus that causes brain swelling and can be fatal in humans was recently detected in Florida, according to the Florida Department of Health in Orange County. It may be a coincidence, but the research by Yale indicates that it may not be, but this was after Florida released GM mosquitoes in 2017-2018. After being bitten by an infected mosquito, it takes four to 10 days to develop symptoms of the Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In severe cases involving brain inflammation, symptoms start with the sudden onset of headache, high fever, chills, and vomiting. The infection can then progress, causing disorientation, seizures, and coma, Yahoo News reported. If that’s not enough, in 2018, the first reported mosquito-borne disease called the Keystone virus was thought only to be transmitted to animals, but jumped to infect humans according to doctors. Where there have been negative results, there have also been positive results achieved by researchers at London’s Imperial College using “gene drive” technology to successfully eradicate a whole population of malaria-carrying mosquitoes in their lab by making the insects infertile. However, as Hellen Wallace wrote in Scientific American in 2011, “the release of genetically modified (GM) insects should follow a precautionary approach, because what appears well understood in the lab can have unintended consequences when released on a large scale into the environment.” It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time that GM mosquitoes has come into question in Brazil. In 2016, the Mirror reported in a brave headline: “Was Zika outbreak caused by release of genetically modified mosquitoes in Brazil?” | Aaron | https://www.activistpost.com/2019/09/yale-study-wild-mosquitoes-retained-genes-of-genetically-modified-mosquitoes.html | 2019-09-16 13:15:29+00:00 | 1,568,654,129 | 1,569,330,155 | environment | nature |
337,883 | naturalnews--2019-12-08--It's not climate change: Our DISPOSABLE society of plastic trash is killing the natural world, as ov | 2019-12-08T00:00:00 | naturalnews | It's not climate change: Our DISPOSABLE society of plastic trash is killing the natural world, as over 70 gray whales have died on West Coast beaches | (Natural News) The trouble with a dogmatic belief in global warming is that it tends to color the believer’s view of every situation involving the environment. When hurricanes strike, it must be global warming; when there’s a flood somewhere, it must be global warming; when a species becomes extinct, it must be global warming. And somehow that has become the narrative that explains every single crisis facing the environment. This obsession with global warming diverts our collective focus from the fact that the Earth is under tremendous strain from multiple different directions, none of which have anything to do with so-called climate change. The truth is, our planet is drowning in plastic and other pollution, our oceans are overfished, our food is contaminated with pesticides and other toxic chemicals, and the global population is growing at a pace that cannot be matched by the Earth’s supply of natural resources. Environmental crises are happening around us, all the time, for the most part ignored or simply lumped in with everything else that gets blamed on global warming. One example of this is the recent unexplained death of more than 70 gray whales along the west coast of America – a disaster so alarming that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has labeled these strandings an Unusual Mortality Event (UME). This will allow the government to dedicate additional resources to finding out exactly why so many whales are dying. (Related: Massive whales mysteriously wash ashore on New Zealand beaches.) At one time it seemed certain that whales would become extinct. Back in 1946, after years of whaling, only 2,000 gray whales were left in nature. Support our mission to keep you informed: Discover the extraordinary benefits of turmeric gummy bears and organic "turmeric gold" liquid extract, both laboratory tested for heavy metals, microbiology and safety. Naturally high in potent curcuminoids. Delicious formulations. All purchases support this website (as well as your good health). See availability here. In the late 1800s, the gray whale breeding grounds were discovered, and whalers killed a large percentage of the population. The drop in population made it no longer profitable to hunt gray whales; they were left alone and their numbers recovered. However, the early 1900s brought the invention of factory ships, which processed whales aboard the vessels. This new technology allowed intensive hunting on the grays once again, and their population again dangerously dropped to probably fewer than 2,000 individuals. Protection finally came in 1946 through an international agreement to stop hunting them. Whale populations recovered and everything seemed fine until 1999/2000, when another UME was declared after the whale population dropped all the way down to 16,000 and nobody could figure out why. Now something is once again killing gray whales, and scientists are at a loss to explain it. There are clues as to what could be going on, however, and while some scientists have (as usual) blamed global warming, others point to other causes. Back in 2015, there was another spate of whale deaths and scientists commented on some of the likely causes. The Guardian reported at the time: Oceans attorney for the environmental law organization Earthjustice Andrea Treece says the most common causes of whale deaths in recent years are the result of ships and the mammals being tangled in fishing gear and nets. While numbers are limited due to scientists’ unwillingness to give definitive causes of death, collisions with ships are a serious threat to some species. Of the North Atlantic right whale, the International Whaling Commission says: “It is thought that mortality due to ship strikes may make the difference between extinction and survival for this species.” [Emphasis added] And ships are not the only threat to the giants of the sea. Scientists warn that commercial fishing lines also pose a serious threat. Multiple sightings have been reported of whales entangled in fishing lines, with many dying as a result. And experts have also expressed grave concerns about the effects of the military’s increased use of sonar along the Pacific coast on whale populations. Likewise, recent whale deaths in the UK were found to be caused by the ingestion of plastics and trash from the oceans. Clearly, global warming – if you choose to believe in it – is just the tip of the iceberg. Mankind is facing serious problems, most of them of our own making. And we ignore these environmental dangers at our peril. Learn more about the real issues facing our planet at Environ.news. | Tracey Watson | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-12-08-our-disposable-society-plastic-trash-is-killing-the-natural-world-whales.html | Sun, 08 Dec 2019 12:00:37 +0000 | 1,575,824,437 | 1,575,850,413 | environment | nature |
338,057 | naturalnews--2019-12-20--Manmade toxins are destroying the natural world and will lead to ecological collapse | 2019-12-20T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Manmade toxins are destroying the natural world and will lead to ecological collapse | (Natural News) Talk of a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems” is not hyperbole; that’s the exact terminology used in the first global scientific review of the world’s insect populations. Overall, more than 40 percent of insect species are seeing declines, while a third are considered endangered. The extinction rate of insects is eight times that of reptiles, birds and mammals. If they continue at their current rate of 2.5 percent decline per year, they could disappear completely within the next 100 years. Speaking to The Guardian about the insect losses, review author Francisco Sanchez-Bayo said: “It is very rapid. In 10 years, you will have a quarter less, in 50 years only half left and in 100 years you will have none.” Experts believe our planet is starting its sixth period of mass extinction, and tremendous losses have already been noted in bigger animals that can be studied more easily. However, insects are a greater indicator of overall problems in the environment because they’re the most numerous and varied creatures on our planet, outnumbering humans by 17 times. Their loss is something that will be deeply felt by all of us as they’re vital parts of all ecosystems, serving as nutrient recyclers, food for other creatures, and pollinators. Certain species have been hit especially hard. Topping the list is caddisflies, who have seen their numbers decline by 68 percent in the past decade. Butterflies have experienced a drop of 53 percent, while beetles and bees have seen drops of 49 and 46 percent, respectively. Insects such as mayflies, dragonflies, stoneflies and flies have also seen declines of more than 25 percent. The analysis was published in the journal Biological Conservation. Sponsored solution from CWC Labs: This heavy metals test kit allows you to test almost anything for 20+ heavy metals and nutritive minerals, including lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, aluminum and more. You can test your own hair, vitamins, well water, garden soil, superfoods, pet hair, beverages and other samples (no blood or urine). ISO accredited laboratory using ICP-MS (mass spec) analysis with parts per billion sensitivity. Learn more here. These numbers make it quite clear that human toxins are ruining the planet and setting us on the path toward collapse. The study’s authors identified intensive agriculture as the main reason for the declines, singling out heavy pesticide use as being a major contributor. Sanchez-Bayo said: “The main cause of the decline is agricultural intensification. That means the elimination of all trees and shrubs that normally surround the fields, so there are plain, bare fields that are treated with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.” He believes that it’s some of the newest insecticides that are the most damaging. Neonicotinoids and fipronil, which were only introduced in the past 20 years, have been especially damaging given their persistence and widespread use. He said they essentially sterilize the soil. Certain places are experiencing especially big losses. For example, in Puerto Rico, a 98 percent drop in ground insects has been reported over the past 35 years, while the number of butterfly species on farmed land in England dropped by 58 percent. In fact, the UK has seen the greatest drops in insect numbers overall, although it’s important to keep in mind that it’s one area that has been studied in more depth than many other places. In Oklahoma, only half of the bumblebee species that were present in 1949 could still be found in 2013, while the U.S.’s overall honeybee colony numbers have dropped by 3.5 million since 1947. For some insects, there is a lack of data. While we don’t have a lot of specific figures for ants, shield bugs, crickets, and aphids, experts suspect they are experiencing a similar fate to that of the studied species. If we don’t stop destroying our planet with toxic pesticides, humans will pay the ultimate price – and according to this report, it’s not going to take long for the insects that all life on Earth depends on to disappear completely. | Isabelle Z. | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-12-20-manmade-toxins-destroying-the-natural-world-collapse.html | Fri, 20 Dec 2019 07:49:47 +0000 | 1,576,846,187 | 1,576,887,208 | environment | nature |
707,155 | theguardianuk--2019-08-03--We are silencing the natural world can the turtle dove be saved | 2019-08-03T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | ‘We are silencing the natural world’: can the turtle dove be saved? | Under the torrential rain of a fickle British summer, 25 soggy pilgrims gather in front of the Plough, an ancient oak-beamed pub in the West Sussex village of Rusper. Above the drone of planes bringing travellers into Gatwick, the walkers – variously devotees of trekking, folk music or wildlife – raise their voices to sing an old English folk song that is told from the point of view of a globetrotting visitor to these shores: “Fare you well, my dear, I must be gone / And leave you for a while / If I roam away, I’ll come back again / Though I roam 10,000 miles, my dear / Though I roam 10,000 miles.” The song, The Turtle Dove, was discovered by Ralph Vaughan Williams when the Plough’s publican sang it to him more than 100 years ago. It is a forgotten lament for a bird that has inspired writers, musicians and country-dwellers for centuries. This small, delicate wild dove, with grey feathers blushed pink and ginger, is a symbol of renewal in the Old Testament and an emblem of love and constancy for Shakespeare. The romance embodied by the turtle dove has fluttered into countless songs, from The Twelve Days of Christmas to Elvis Presley’s Baby If You’ll Give Me All Your Love and Cliff Richard’s Bachelor Boy. But this celebrated bird is slipping towards extinction in Britain. The turtle dove is a global citizen, spending winter in the Sahel region of Africa before flying to Europe to breed. The Victorians observed great flocks of turtle doves assembling to begin their migration south. As recently as the 60s, there were 125,000 pairs in Britain. Between 1967 and 2016, their numbers plummeted by 98%. Each year, population estimates are revised downwards: there may be fewer than 2,000 pairs left. Most worryingly, there is no agreement about how we can reverse the decline. The pilgrims, led by the singer Sam Lee, are beginning a two-day walk from the Plough to one of the turtle dove’s last strongholds, the Knepp estate in West Sussex. In a quixotic act of faith, they plan to sing the song to the doves. If we all paid more attention to this enigmatic bird, thinks Lee, perhaps we could save it from disappearing. “We’re casting a magical spell,” says Lee. “Vaughan Williams was passing this pub on his bicycle 113 years ago and he popped in and said: ‘Anyone know any songs?’ The landlord sang him The Turtle Dove, which he’d never heard before. He took it away to London and he made a global hit.” Vaughan Williams’ arrangement of the song has been recorded, in different forms and with different titles, by artists including Joan Baez, Marianne Faithfull and Nic Jones, yet the song’s original meaning has been forgotten, explains Lee, especially in its Sussex heartland. “We’re going to rewild this song,” he says. “The amazing connection is that the song itself is about extinction.” The turtle dove sings of its migration, its disappearance and its devotion to its unnamed love, which could be for a place as well as a person. The turtle dove is a symbol of the extinction crisis unfolding in Britain. Our intensively farmed, densely populated country can still look pretty, but experts agree that lowland Britain – the turtle dove’s home – is one of the most nature-depleted landscapes in the world. More than half of Britain’s plant and animal species are in decline and one in 10 is severely threatened. More than 40 million birds have vanished from this country in 50 years. The Victorians may have seen flocks of turtle doves, but today they are elusive; the best chance of encountering one is to hear a calling male, which makes the soft “tur-turr” that gives the dove its name. The sound is gentle, summery and somnolent – one of the most soothing in nature, according to Victorian admirers. When I search for it this summer, I hear it only beside the old walled courtyard at Pensthorpe, a Norfolk nature reserve that has run a trial to breed the doves in captivity. “It’s so sad that the only place to hear them is in our aviary,” says Chrissie Kelley, head of species management at Pensthorpe Conservation Trust. “It used to be a common sound.” Kelley takes me through the turtle dove’s troubled recent history. It has been affected badly by recent droughts in Africa and the Mediterranean penchant for shooting migrating birds each spring and autumn (traditionally for food, but now more for fun). It has been estimated that 3 million turtle doves are shot each year. While EU law bans the hunting of birds during periods of breeding and migration, the turtle dove is still shot in many countries during autumn. In addition, BirdLife International estimates that 600,000 are killed illegally each year. But these trends do not explain entirely the loss of British turtle doves. Although the bird is declining across Europe (down more than a third this century), only in the similarly intensively farmed Netherlands is there a decline to match Britain’s. Turtle doves eat mostly grains, living on wild plant and weed seeds. Since the 50s, Britain has destroyed almost all its wildflower meadows, while chemical pesticides have removed arable weeds. “Back in the day, when turtle doves were very numerous, they’d feed on farmers’ grain spills,” says Kelley. “Fifty years ago there was a lot more mess – stubble fields and open barns. We’ve got so clean in our farming practices now, that there’s no spillage, no waste.” Britain has also lost dense hedgerows where the turtle dove likes to nest. “They need thick, scrubby hedgerows, because as far as turtle doves are concerned they think a couple of twigs is a nest,” says Kelley, pointing out the feeble construction her captive doves have made in a thicket inside the aviary. “They need food and water fairly close by, sucking up water to make crop milk for their young.” Pensthorpe is working with a group of mid-Norfolk farmers to preserve hedgerows, restore farm ponds and offer the birds supplementary food. It is a formula being repeated across the turtle dove’s last strongholds in the south-east and Yorkshire, as part of Operation Turtle Dove, a partnership by charities including the RSPB and Natural England, the government’s advisory body on the environment. But earlier, similar, schemes have not worked. One Norfolk farmer who planted field margins with wild seed mixes succeeded in boosting bird populations, but not turtle doves. Isabella Tree, the co-owner of the Knepp estate, is critical of recent attempts to provide the doves with additional food. Knepp is one of the few places where turtle doves are increasing: from none at the start of the century, the 1,400-hectare (3,500-acre) farm now has 20 calling males. In the book Wilding, Tree’s account of how she and her husband, Charlie Burrell, returned their farm to nature over two decades, she argues that our categorisation of the turtle dove as a “farmland” bird is misleading. What did it eat before there were farms? What does it eat in sub-Saharan Africa? Tree believes turtle doves that have been observed eating spilled arable grains in Britain are starving and desperate. Any dove breeder will tell you about the dangers of feeding wheat and corn to the birds: cracked grain can tear the throat, while in the gut it absorbs moisture and can cause fungal diseases. When Operation Turtle Dove launched in 2012, the RSPB wanted to scatter a mix of wheat, oilseed rape, millet and canary seed at sites including Knepp. Tree and Burrell politely refused. Knepp’s farm produces no such seeds, yet their turtle doves are thriving. “Why can’t modern conservationists go back to the meticulous records of the Victorians to find out what turtle doves were actually eating?” asks Tree. While conservationists agree that turtle doves love weed seeds such as common fumitory (which has returned to rewilded Knepp), most weeds do not produce seeds until the middle of summer; the turtle dove arrives in Britain, undernourished, in April and May. In fact, says Tree, there are old accounts of turtle doves eating snails. They may peck at hawthorn shoots, too. Ornithologists have observed continental turtle doves eating berries, fungi and invertebrates. One theory is that Knepp’s turtle doves are thriving because they can easily find seeds on the bare ground created by the rootling of the wild pigs that Tree and Burrell have restored to their farm. “We know the turtle doves like bare earth, where their little legs aren’t having to cope with anything too scraggy or long,” says Tree. “They want areas where they can see what’s coming and fly off quickly.” Turtle doves at Knepp this summer are being caught and fitted with a radio tag that should help scientists identify where they have been feeding and deduce precisely what they need. Increasingly, however, conservationists fear there are other, even more complicated causes for their demise. Carles Carboneras, an RSPB research scientist who specialises in migratory birds, says that global heating is causing quail, another migratory “farmland” bird, to move further northwards. But the turtle dove is showing no sign of expanding its range. “Everybody agrees the main cause for the decline is the transformation of landscape,” says Carboneras. “The increase in monocultures is very, very bad for the species. In this country, you either have very intense agriculture or very dense woodlands – and neither of these is good for turtle doves.” But Carboneras points out that this shift to a “simplified” landscape in Britain occurred 50 years ago. So why have turtle dove populations fallen so dramatically more recently? Carboneras fears that the rapid accumulation of nitrogen from farm fertilisers and traffic pollution in the soil is causing vegetation to grow too quickly for turtle doves. “If the grass is too high, they can’t access the food. In the south-east, we’re probably seeing the effect of nutrients, but it’s a hunch. We don’t have the evidence for that yet.” It will be difficult to save the turtle dove without understanding the reasons for its decline but, some conservationists warn, endangered species have been “studied to extinction” in the past. We cannot always afford to wait. At Pensthorpe, Kelley and her team have successfully demonstrated how to breed turtle doves in captivity. Here, turtle dove eggs are fostered by Barbary doves, because these common birds are less sensitive and happy to be kept inside smaller cages. Releasing captive-bred turtle doves into the wild, says Kelley, could be “an insurance policy for British wild birds before they go extinct”. The RSPB is opposed to breeding turtle doves in captivity, saying captive-bred birds are unlikely to possess a migratory instinct; they would not depart every autumn and return each spring. “This is like the British solving their own problem – and so what? You still have a declining population internationally. You cannot have millions of captive-bred turtle doves being released across Europe and expect them to behave naturally and link breeding and wintering areas as they have done since they evolved. It might solve the problem for this island, but not for the species,” Carboneras says. Other conservation scientists disagree. Carl Jones has used captive breeding to save the pink pigeon and other critically endangered birds from extinction on Mauritius. Now, as chief scientist for Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, an international charity, he is looking at whether he can help save British turtle doves with a similarly intensive rescue plan. The RSPB is, he thinks, being “narrow-minded” and cites other examples of the successful release of captive-bred migratory birds, from the white stork across Europe to the orange-bellied parrot in Tasmania. “There’s no better way of understanding these animals than breeding them in captivity and really getting hands on with them, rather than just standing back and observing decline or putting fences around things,” says Jones. He argues that a captive-breeding programme, alongside the management of wild populations through supplementary feeding, is the best way of saving endangered species and quickly understanding their needs. Back at Knepp, the pilgrims arrive, wet and exhausted, at their journey’s end. At 4am, they rise from their bell tents and head to great green pillows of sallow and blackthorn scrub in the rewilded landscape. Here they finally hear the tur-turring of the turtle dove and softly sing Vaughan Williams’ folk song. “There’s something immensely calming about the turtle dove’s song,” says Lee. “It has this low frequency that suddenly appears and disappears. It’s almost the flicker of a film – and such a metaphor for its own situation. The silence around it is as powerful as its presence.” Singing about this bird, he says, makes it “become more powerful and significant. Suddenly the bird is fuller and you realise every creature has that potential – we’ve just stopped listening”. Most of us will never notice if this one small bird with its soft song disappears from Britain. How would we lose if it does? “There are so many ways,” says Lee. “The disappearance of its song is part of a greater silencing of the natural world. Losing the turtle dove is to lose the intelligence of that creature, which understands the landscape around it and plays a part in it.” He pauses. “It’s the burning down of a library. To take these books off the shelves and lose them would be to weaken us as human beings.” • If you would like a comment on this piece to be considered for inclusion on Weekend magazine’s letters page in print, please email [email protected], including your name and address (not for publication). | Patrick Barkham | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/03/silencing-natural-world-can-turtle-dove-be-saved | 2019-08-03 10:00:53+00:00 | 1,564,840,853 | 1,567,534,956 | environment | nature |
813,727 | thenewyorktimes--2019-05-06--Civilization Is Accelerating Extinction and Altering the Natural World at a Pace Unprecedented in H | 2019-05-06T00:00:00 | thenewyorktimes | Civilization Is Accelerating Extinction and Altering the Natural World at a Pace ‘Unprecedented in Human History’ | Want climate news in your inbox? Sign up here for Climate Fwd:, our email newsletter. WASHINGTON — Humans are transforming Earth’s natural landscapes so dramatically that as many as one million plant and animal species are now at risk of extinction, posing a dire threat to ecosystems that people all over the world depend on for their survival, a sweeping new United Nations assessment has concluded. The 1,500-page report, compiled by hundreds of international experts and based on thousands of scientific studies, is the most exhaustive look yet at the decline in biodiversity across the globe and the dangers that creates for human civilization. A summary of its findings, which was approved by representatives from the United States and 131 other countries, was released Monday in Paris. The full report is set to be published this year. Its conclusions are stark. In most major land habitats, from the savannas of Africa to the rain forests of South America, the average abundance of native plant and animal life has fallen by 20 percent or more, mainly over the past century. With the human population passing 7 billion, activities like farming, logging, poaching, fishing and mining are altering the natural world at a rate “unprecedented in human history.” At the same time, a new threat has emerged: Global warming has become a major driver of wildlife decline, the assessment found , by shifting or shrinking the local climates that many mammals, birds, insects, fish and plants evolved to survive in. | BRAD PLUMER | https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/climate/biodiversity-extinction-united-nations.html?partner=rss&emc=rss | 2019-05-06 13:09:36+00:00 | 1,557,162,576 | 1,567,541,046 | environment | nature |
1,112,162 | yahoonews--2019-07-31--Ethiopia plants 353 million trees in one day to restore forests and fight climate change | 2019-07-31T00:00:00 | yahoonews | Ethiopia plants 353 million trees in one day to restore forests and fight climate change | The government of Ethiopia announced Monday that its citizens had planted 353 million trees in a single day as part of an effort to reverse decades of deforestation and help fight climate change. It is believed to be the largest one-day mass planting in history, exceeding an effort in 2017 in India in which 1.5 million volunteers planted 66 million trees in just over 12 hours. Ethiopia has joined 20 other African nations in a pledge to restore almost 400,000 square miles of forest on the continent. According to the United Nations, forest cover in Ethiopia has declined from 35 percent in the last century to just 4 percent today. The 426,000-square-mile country in the Horn of Africa plans to plant a total of 4 billion trees by the beginning of the rainy season in October. With a population of about 100 million people (including children), that goal would require every person in the country to plant at least 40 seedlings. Government workers and students were given the day off to participate. Earlier this month, a study published in the journal Science calculated that planting a forest nearly double the size of the United States could save the planet from the worst consequences of global warming. Those new forests would be capable of storing about 205 metric tons of carbon, which is roughly two-thirds of the excess carbon human beings have added to the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution. Reforestation has increasingly come to be seen as a means for addressing what scientists have begun calling a climate crisis caused by human carbon emissions. In the United Kingdom, for example, government officials have estimated that the country will need to plant 1.5 billion trees if it hopes to reach its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. But setbacks to reforestation goals abound. In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro has reversed government protections of the Amazon rainforest, opening the region to development. Since Bolsonaro took office seven months ago, 1,330 square miles of forest cover have been lost, the New York Times reported. Fifty years ago, the Amazon forest was itself as big in area as the lower 48 U.S. states. Since that time, it has been reduced by 16 percent, largely due to logging, PRI reported. Excess carbon in the atmosphere has also made equatorial forests less viable. Whether tree planting can stay ahead of deforestation will help determine whether people can avert the worst consequences of global warming. Download the Yahoo News app to customize your experience. | null | https://news.yahoo.com/ethiopia-plants-353-million-trees-in-a-day-in-effort-to-turn-back-climate-change-205122658.html | 2019-07-31 20:51:22+00:00 | 1,564,620,682 | 1,567,535,226 | environment | nature |
19,421 | anonnews--2019-04-23--Brazilian Couple Plants Over 2 Million Trees To Restore A Destroyed Forest | 2019-04-23T00:00:00 | anonnews | Brazilian Couple Plants Over 2 Million Trees To Restore A Destroyed Forest | When the rain forest around their home was destroyed, a Brazilian photographer and his wife took matters into their own hands and slowly reforested the area, planting over two million trees throughout the course of many years. When Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado went off to travel the world and pursue a career in journalism several years ago, his home was deep in a tropical forest, and a habitat for many exotic plants and animals. Sadly, when he returned, he found that his home had been destroyed. The rainforest that he lived in had been entirely cut down, and the lush tropical forest that he once knew and loved had become a barren wasteland. Seeing his homeland in this state sent him spiraling into a deep depression. Then one day, his wife Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado, got an amazing idea. She suggested that they try to replant the forest all on their own, and she truly believed that it could be done. The couple quickly got to work on replanting the forest that they once knew and loved. The job wasn’t easy, but eventually, they were able to reforest the area around their home. Miraculously not long after the plants begin to bloom again, the animals started to come back also, giving new life to the region. “The land was as sick as I was – everything was destroyed. Only about 0.5% of the land was covered in trees. Then my wife had a fabulous idea to replant this forest. And when we began to do that, then all the insects and birds and fish returned and, thanks to this increase of the trees I, too, was reborn – this was the most important moment,” Salgado told The Guardian back in 2015. “Perhaps we have a solution. There is a single being which can transform CO2 to oxygen, which is the tree. We need to replant the forest. You need forest with native trees, and you need to gather the seeds in the same region you plant them or the serpents and the termites won’t come. And if you plant forests that don’t belong, the animals don’t come there and the forest is silent,” he added. 20 years later, the area is nearly unrecognizable because there are so many trees and so much wildlife. Once the project really started to pick up steam and show promise, the couple founded Instituto Terra, an organization through which they hired other members who care about the environment just as much as they do. “We need to listen to the words of the people on the land. Nature is the earth and it is other beings and if we don’t have some kind of spiritual return to our planet, I fear that we will be compromised,” Salgado explained. The feats that have been achieved by this couple show that individuals really can make a difference if they put in the effort. The average person today feels very disempowered and they don’t believe that they can do anything to make a difference in this world. However, the people who actually try to make a difference, oftentimes end up with some incredible results. The couple responsible for this incredible restoration worked very hard to make it happen, but all of that hard work is only necessary because very few others are doing their part. With so many people not paying attention to the state of the environment, it requires a great deal of effort from dedicated people to actually make a change. It doesn’t have to be like this though, because the more people that chip in, the less work we all have to do. If every single person in the world planted just one tree, we would have billions of new trees. Sadly it doesn’t seem like the global population is up to the task yet, so the job rests on a few dedicated people, who will try to show the rest of the world that change is possible. | David Cohen | https://www.anonews.co/brazilian-couple-plants-over-2-million-trees-to-restore-a-destroyed-forest/ | 2019-04-23 19:31:49+00:00 | 1,556,062,309 | 1,567,541,997 | environment | nature |
171,691 | eveningstandard--2019-04-12--Tree-planting drones could help restore the worldaposs forests | 2019-04-12T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | Tree-planting drones could help restore the world's forests | British engineers have created a seed-planting drone which could help restore the world’s forests. Biocarbon Engineering, a start-up based in Oxford, designed the drones to fire seed missiles across fields, planting hundreds of potential trees in a matter of minutes. In September 2018, the drones were deployed in a field just south of Yangon, Myanmar. The seeds they sowed have since grown into tiny mangrove saplings, about 20-inches tall. Irnia Fedorenko, co-founder of Biocarbon Engineering, told Fast Company: “We now have a case confirmed of what species we can plant and in what conditions. “We are now ready to scale up our planting and replicate this success.” Around half of the world’s mangrove forests have been lost. The trees, which grow along coastlines, can store more carbon than trees on land. Mangrove deforestation is responsible for 24 million tons of CO2 emissions each year, according to a 2018 study. Biocarbon Engineering is collaborating on the project with Myanmar non-profit the Worldview International Foundation, which has been planting trees by hand across the country since 2012. The Foundation works with local villagers, who have helped plant more than six million trees in the past seven years. But human-only methods are time-consuming, and the non-profit has turned to the Oxford engineers for help. “Obviously, planting a billion trees will take a long time without the help of drones,” Bremley Lyngdoh, a partner on the project, told Fast Company. Roughly 350,000 hectares of coastal forest need to be restored, which translates to more than a billion trees. Ten drones, operated by two operators, can plant 400,000 trees a day. The drones work by flying across a specified area, collecting data about soil conditions and determining the prime locations for planting. They then fire biodegradable pods, filled with a germinated seed and nutrients, into the ground. Organisers say the project benefits both the environment and local communities, by helping provide new economic opportunities. “It’s all about creating livelihoods,” said Mr Lyngdoh. “We have to create jobs that are long-term that can sustain the family, then they see the benefit of the project, and they get engaged in the long term.” | Harriet Brewis | https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/treeplanting-drones-could-help-restore-world-s-forests-a4116376.html | 2019-04-12 11:30:00+00:00 | 1,555,083,000 | 1,567,543,057 | environment | nature |
426,576 | prepareforchange--2019-02-21--A Brazilian Photographer Restored An Entire Forest With 27 million Trees In 20 Years | 2019-02-21T00:00:00 | prepareforchange | A Brazilian Photographer Restored An Entire Forest With 2.7 million Trees In 20 Years | A Brazilian photojournalist was utterly stunned on his return home, to a town of the inland state of southeastern Brazil, Minas Gerais. What was once a paradise of tropical forests, filled with birds and wildlife, no longer existed. Can you imagine going away from your home town and on your return, you see all the trees have disappeared? In the 1990s, Salgado’s parents gave the land to Sebastião and Lélia. Which they don’t own anymore. Today it is recognized as a nature preserve and a nonprofit organization which trains young ecologists and raises millions of tree seedling. Salgado and his wife Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado, recruited partners and teams to collect funds, and in 1998, Salgado founded Instituto Terra. This institute was formed to recover 1,502 acres of rainforest in the Bulcão Farm in Aimorés, Minas Gerais. After the deforestation, the ranch was dubbed as a Private Natural Heritage Reserve. The Instituto Terra also created the Center for Environmental Education and Restoration (CERA), a place for research and education which focuses on environmental restoration In December of 1999 Salgado planted his first seed. He clearly stated that the trees be native to the land so that the wildlife would return. Over two million seedlings of 290 species of trees were planted. The results were incredible! Due to the replanting process, the eight natural springs that were hosted by the forest had started flowing and the fauna returned. With close to 700 educational projects, 170 municipalities and 65,000 people who work in the Valley of the River Doce by December 2012. The River Doce covered both states of Minas Gerais & Espírito Santo, extending to the states of Rio de Janeiro & Bahia. Salgado stated that climate change occurs due to carbon dioxide and planting trees would be the solution. We as individuals need to make a change to our planet, plant a tree today! Disclaimer: We at Prepare for Change (PFC) bring you information that is not offered by the mainstream news, and therefore may seem controversial. The opinions, views, statements, and/or information we present are not necessarily promoted, endorsed, espoused, or agreed to by Prepare for Change, its leadership Council, members, those who work with PFC, or those who read its content. However, they are hopefully provocative. Please use discernment! Use logical thinking, your own intuition and your own connection with Source, Spirit and Natural Laws to help you determine what is true and what is not. By sharing information and seeding dialogue, it is our goal to raise consciousness and awareness of higher truths to free us from enslavement of the matrix in this material realm. | Edward Morgan | https://prepareforchange.net/2019/02/20/a-brazilian-photographer-restored-an-entire-forest-with-2-7-million-trees-in-20-years/ | 2019-02-21 01:59:27+00:00 | 1,550,732,367 | 1,567,547,757 | environment | nature |
19,552 | anonnews--2019-06-24--Horrifying Video Shows Nestle Wiping Out A Rainforest | 2019-06-24T00:00:00 | anonnews | Horrifying Video Shows Nestle Wiping Out A Rainforest | Activists with the environmentalist group Greenpeace, have accused the corporations, Pepsico, Unilever, and Nestlé of destroying Sumatra’s last remaining rainforest region. This means that numerous species of elephants, orangutans, rhinos, and tigers have lost their habitat and many of them are facing extinction. Experts say that the reason behind this deforestation is large corporations in search of palm oil. It is estimated that an area roughly half the size of Paris, or 5000 hectares, has been destroyed in this ongoing deforestation. According to a study by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), if action is not taken soon, there will be no more rainforest in the area, and the animals that live there will disappear with it. “If more immediate action is not taken to enforce ‘no deforestation’ policies, these brands will be remembered as the corporate giants responsible for the destruction of the last place on earth where Sumatran elephants, orangutans, rhinos and tigers roamed side by side,” the study said. To collect the data, researchers used photos and GPS coordinates from satellites to determine how quickly the forest was shrinking. Gemma Tillack, RAN’s agribusiness campaigns director, pointed out that the crimes of these corporations are well known, but it is just not currently possible to hold them accountable. “Relying on NGOs to uncover the truth is simply not good enough. If RAN, with our relatively limited budget, can figure it out, then multibillion dollar, multinational corporations certainly can. The fact that they haven’t demonstrates that it is not a lack of ability holding them back, but a lack of will,” she told the Guardian. “We believe that there was a rush to clear land because the [logging] companies knew that there would be government intervention to stop forest clearances. Global brands like Pepsico can no longer hide behind paper promises and simply blame their international partners for forest crimes. The Leuser ecosystem will die a death of a thousand cuts if brands don’t start taking urgent action to address the root cause of this crisis,” she added. In 2004, a group called the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil was formed to work with palm oil companies to address these concerns, but very little progress has been made in the years since. In fact, the Roundtable organization ended up becoming a lobby group that worked with the government to defend the extraction of palm oil. Palm oil plantations produce 38 percent of the world’s total vegetable oil supply. A 2018 study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) concluded that palm oil is “here to stay” because its cultivation is nine times more productive per unit of land when compared with other vegetable oils. In 2016, the global production of palm oil was estimated at 62.6 million tonnes, which is 2.7 million tonnes more than in 2015, according to Wikipedia. In the year of 2016, palm oil production earned an estimated $39.3 billion in revenue, which is an increase of $2.4 billion (or +7%) from the year before. Indonesia and Malaysia are the largest producers of palm oil in the world. | David Cohen | https://www.anonews.co/nestle-wiping-rainforest/ | 2019-06-24 21:57:53+00:00 | 1,561,427,873 | 1,567,538,279 | environment | nature |
220,851 | freedombunker--2019-04-22--If You Love Forests Let Them Burn | 2019-04-22T00:00:00 | freedombunker | If You Love Forests, Let Them Burn | [This post was co-authored by Brian Isom.] Today marks 49 years since Earth Day was first established by Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-WI). Since then, the United States has made great strides towards improving the nation’s collective impact on the environment. Air pollution has fallen drastically. Efforts to clean up Superfund sites have removed toxic contaminants from hundreds of lands and rivers. One place where we are failing, however, is healthy management of our forests. Nearly a century of anti-wildfire sentiments has damaged forest ecosystems and driven up the cost of preventing and controlling wildfires. It’s time to embrace fire as a natural part of the American landscape and a crucial means of preventing devastating blazes. Following the Great Fire of 1910, which devastated large swathes of timberland in Northern Idaho and Western Montana, fire management policy began to focus largely on fire prevention and suppression. The US Forest Service (USFS), the main public agency charged with managing wildfires, established a policy to put out all fires before they consumed 10 acres. About a decade later, USFS updated that policy to have all fires out by 10 am the morning following the discovery of a new blaze. That policy endured for decades before its repeal in 1978, when fire managers began to realize that not all forest fires needed to be doused immediately. That recognition was progress in the right direction, but a suppression-heavy focus on fire management has continued to drive policy even today. Fire suppression, however, is an expensive answer to stopping wildfires and it has taken a major toll on the budgets of US fire management agencies like the USFS. Twenty years ago, in 1998, US spending on wildfire suppression totaled a little more than $400 million. By 2008, those costs had risen to nearly $1.6 billion. Just last year, fire managers spent a combined $3.1 billion on suppression efforts. That spending also failed to stop states like California from suffering the most destructive wildfire season in recent history. Suppression efforts not only increase the cost of fighting fires, but they deprive ecosystems that have adapted to the considerable benefits of wildfires. Fire confers a number of important positive ecological advantages on forests, like clearing out dead brush, preventing overgrowth, and eliminating disease and invasive pests. Fast forward to today and it is easy to see the negative effects of the fire-suppression mindset. Side-by-side comparisons of forests from a century ago and today show that forests have become much denser since we began to aggressively suppress fires. In some parts of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, more than 90 percent of the trees are dead. The lack of fire as a cleansing mechanism has turned many western forests into veritable tinderboxes ready to go up in flames at the first spark. So how do we fix a century of bad forest management? We get back to what worked. We let forests burn. That isn’t to say we need to start letting fires burn out of control. Tens of millions of Americans currently live in at-risk fire areas, and ways must be found to protect those communities. But one of our best options for doing so—from an ecological and economic standpoint—lies in preventative, controlled burning. Controlled burning is a method of preventative management by which managers actually set up, start, and actively monitor fires to reduce dead brush buildup and overgrowth in forests. This method of prevention provides two key benefits over suppression—it reintroduces fire to fire-adapted landscapes, and it reduces wildfire risk at a fraction of the cost of suppression. Controlled burning, after all, is how Native Americans managed western lands for centuries Public perceptions of wildfire danger and environmental regulation, however, have created barriers to implementing controlled burns in western landscapes. The Clean Air Act, for example, regulates emissions from controlled burns but does nothing to regulate emissions from wildfires, even though wildfire smoke contains three times as much particulate matter as smoke from controlled burns. Policymakers need to re-evaluate the effectiveness of controlled burning for managing future forest fires. Removing barriers to managed burns in western forests not only will reduce the cost and scope of wildfire disasters, but will restore an ecologically important practice to western landscapes. Brian Isom is a research manager at the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University and a policy fellow at the Independent Institute. | William F. Shughart II | http://freedombunker.com/2019/04/22/if-you-love-forests-let-them-burn/ | 2019-04-22 20:10:24+00:00 | 1,555,978,224 | 1,567,542,101 | environment | nature |
229,476 | globalresearch--2019-05-27--Where the Forest Has No Name | 2019-05-27T00:00:00 | globalresearch | Where the Forest Has No Name | Driving up the Pacific Coast Highway from San Francisco, you approach the world’s largest contiguous temperate rainforest. But don’t look for any markers or directions. There aren’t any. In fact, the rainforest, which stretches 2,500 miles from Northern California all the way to Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska – almost as far as the distance as from New York to Los Angeles – doesn’t even have an official name. But what should we call it? We asked James Meacham, a professor of geology at the University of Oregon and an author of the Oregon Atlas. “Great question,” he said. “I don’t have definitive answer for you.” Only parts of this anonymous rainforest have any legal protection from logging and other development, including Redwood and Olympic National Parks in California and Washington, the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia and 5 million roadless acres in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. One of the largest, most protected areas of North American temperate rainforest is found in Washington’s Olympic National Park. But outside these protected areas, most of the rainforest was cut down over the last century and replaced with industrial tree farms, which possess none of the diversity of a natural forest. The rainforest’s scant remaining unprotected old growth is rapidly disappearing from ongoing logging on Vancouver Island. The losses will likely accelerate if the Trump administration allows logging in roadless areas on the Tongass, which would require eliminating a policy on the books since 2000, as it plans to do. About two hours north of the Golden Gate Bridge you cross the Russian River, which the Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center, an arm of the University of Alaska, defines as the coastal rainforest’s southern perimeter. Ecotrust, a conservation group based in Portland dedicated to protecting the rainforest, draws a similar boundary. Massive ancient redwoods, some soaring 350 feet above the ground, tower overhead. Redwoods are the world’s tallest trees, but as you drive further up the coast, you encounter Douglas fir, cedar, hemlock and spruce trees almost as grand. This mammoth of a rainforest, however, is much more than just a place where majestic trees grow. It helps cool global temperatures, a service the planet desperately needs as the climate spins out of control. Forests remove about a quarter of the carbon dioxide (CO ) humans add to the atmosphere, keeping climate change from getting even worse. For decades, forest advocacy groups like Oregon Wild and the Sierra Club demanded protection for rainforest-dependent species like wild salmon, the marbled murrelet and the northern spotted owl. Now they are refocusing their advocacy through the lens of climate change. Building public support behind strategies to protect the rainforest might be easier if it shed its anonymity. There are plenty of suggestions for a name. The Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center calls it the “Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest.” Ecotrust also calls it the “Rainforest of Home,” the title of an atlas it published in 1995. Others call it the “Cascadia” rainforest after the bioregion of the same name. None of these names, however, appear to have caught on. Last summer, for example, an article in High Country News called it “an ecosystem that runs from Northern California to the Tongass National Forest in Alaska.” That’s like calling the Amazon Rainforest “an ecosystem that runs between the Andes Mountains of Peru and the east coast of Brazil.” Since 2004, deforestation in the tropical rainforest has slowed down dramatically, as Mongabay reports, thanks in part to worldwide pressure to “save the Amazon.” Meanwhile, we are still waiting for someone to launch a campaign to “save the coastal ecosystem running from Northern California to Alaska.” It seems a grassroots campaign to save the entire rainforest might have a better chance at success if it had a globally recognized name. The future of the planet might depend on it. Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc. Paul Koberstein and Jessica Applegate are editors of Cascadia Times, an environmental journal based in Portland, Oregon. All images in this article are from Mongabay | Paul Koberstein | https://www.globalresearch.ca/where-forest-has-no-name/5678655 | 2019-05-27 12:43:36+00:00 | 1,558,975,416 | 1,567,540,091 | environment | nature |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.