Hi,
When waking every morning I hope to have a happy upcoming day naively thinking that something great will happen to help balance out our out of whack world. My dream is quickly dismissed as I listen to early morning radio. The relentless news stories of new and continuing disasters, incredulous waste of tax payers' or investors' money lining the pockets of the rich and horrible, personal tragedy (as in the bus that intentionally slammed into a daycare near Montreal killing two and critically injuring several other children), extreme weather leaving horror in its wake, etc. etc. That over 20,000 are now dead in Türkeyi alone after colossal earthquakes also slammed Syria, adding to misery upon misery, shows how nature can, in an instant, wreak unbelievable damage. It's kind of similar to giant once in a century floods or speeding wildfires, causing their acute damage almost before awareness of what's going on.
On the other hand, there is the slow chronic but accelerating extinction of species and loss of biodiversity, plodding war testing the fabric of global society, and widespread food insecurity, that along with so much else all taking their toll, day after day. They will never fail to appear UNLESS the world and we do something about them. I, for one, am sick of waiting for my government(s), business, bank, sport, media and other leaders to do anything about it. The direction we've pointed our future towards is not one we will be proud of arriving at. The idea that profits and luxury living today are any justification for hurtling life on Earth towards oblivion is disgusting.
Starting a new day often isn’t easy but it must be done, with bravery and determination. Many rise to meet the challenges, acute and chronic; there is no shortage of either. Staving off the numbness of routine life to be alive for the fight is the daily imperative. If I can meet this challenge then, after 12-15 hours, I can easily leave it behind until the next morning.
Wishing you a good read of today’s Planetary Health Weekly (#6 of 2023), which has been produced by our new volunteer Emily Aurora Long. Welcome Emily!
Best, david
David Zakus, Editor and Publisher
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SUNSET OVER EVER MOUNTING SNOW |
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IN COMPLETE SOLIDARITY WITH UKRAINE SEEKING PEACE AND VICTORY |
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Interior of the consulting room of Professor V. Obraztov (1852-1920). Prof. Obraztov was the first in the world to employ palpitation. (Designed by A. Kryzhopolsky. Artist: S. Britan.) In: "The Way Artists See It" (1994) by A. Grando, founder and director of the Central Museum of Medicine of Ukraine in Kyiv. Pg 92. ISBN
5-7707-6698-0
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AND WITH THE BRAVE PROTESTERS IN IRAN |
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CLIMATE AND BIODIVERSITY CRISES UPDATES
GLOBAL HEALTH NEWS
COVID-19 UPDATES
SPOTLIGHT ON HUMAN RIGHTS
SPOTLIGHT ON INDIGENOUS WELLNESS
SPOTLIGHT ON POLICY
SPOTLIGHT ON MEDIA
SPOTLIGHT ON EDUCATION
FIRST FEBRUARY READING - NEW BOOK
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
FYI 1
FYI 2
UPCOMING EVENTS - NEWLY ADDED
ENDSHOTS of "A COLD WONDERFUL DAY OF SKIING"
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CLIMATE & BIODIVERSITY CRISES UPDATES |
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Banks Still Financing New Oil and Gas Projects Despite Carbon Neutrality Pledges |
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Credit: Kevin Dietsch, AFP
Despite joining industry groups committed to reaching carbon neutrality the world's top banks are continuing to finance new oil and gas projects incompatible with that objective, environmental activist groups warned two weeks ago.
The environmental groups took aim at the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), which has emerged as the key climate alliance for finance industry firms committed to reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 and aligning with a 1.5 degrees Celsius increase in global temperatures this century.
But a study by Reclaim Finance, 350.org, BankTrack, Rainforest Action Network, Recommon, Urgewald, Les Amis de la Terre, Sierra Club, and Stand Earth found that many lenders in GFANZ's Net Zero Banking Alliance sub-group are continuing to finance new oil projects, which experts believe to be incompatible with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
"Between their date of joining and August 2022, the 56 top banks in the NZBA provided at least US$269 billion to 102 of the major fossil fuel expanders," said the groups.
At the top of the list were two US lenders: Citigroup, with $30.5 billion in financing to groups expanding oil and gas production, followed by Bank of America with $22.8 billion. In third place was Japan's MUFG at $22.7 billion.
The climate groups also pointed to asset managers continuing to hold stocks of oil and gas firms that are developing new projects. They found the top 58 asset managers in alliance held $847 billion in shares and bonds of companies developing new fossil fuel projects.
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Climate Change: No 'Credible Pathway' to 1.5C Limit, UNEP Warns |
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A woman wades through floodwaters in Jakusko, in Yobe State, Nigeria.
Credit: WFP/ Arete/ Ozavogu Abdul
National pledges to reduce harmful emissions offer little hope of avoiding climate disaster, UN climate experts said on Thursday, in an urgent appeal for a radical transformation of the energy sector, before it’s too late.
There’s “no credible pathway to 1.5C in place” today, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) insisted in a new report, despite legally binding promises made at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference to prevent average temperatures rising by more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. “This report tells us in cold scientific terms what nature has been telling us all year, through deadly floods, storms and raging fires: we have to stop filling our atmosphere with greenhouse gases, and stop doing it fast,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP.
“We had our chance to make incremental changes, but that time is over. Only a root-and-branch transformation of our economies and societies can save us from accelerating climate disaster.”
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Annual Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) Emissions Worldwide from 1940 to 2021 |
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Worldwide; Global Carbon Project; Expert(s) (Friedlingstein et al. (2022)); 1940 to 2021
Global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and industry increased 5.3 percent in 2021 to reach a record high of 37.12 billion metric tons (GtCO₂). The two biggest contributors to global emissions that year were China and the United States, who produced 11.47 and 5.01 GtCO₂, respectively. Since 1990, global CO₂ emissions have increased by more than 60 percent.
Where have emissions increased? One of the biggest reasons for rising emissions has been the economic development of countries around the world, especially in Asia. For example, China wasn't always the world's biggest emitter, but rapid economic growth and industrialization in recent decades have seen emissions there soar. Between 1990 and 2021, CO₂ emissions in China increased more than 400 percent. Emissions in India saw a similar growth rate during this period. In comparison, CO₂ levels in the United States have fallen more than six percent since 1990.
Global events caused emissions to drop The outbreak of COVID-19 caused global emissions to plummet five percent in 2020 as a result of lockdowns and other restrictions. However, this wasn't the only time in history when a major global event decreased emissions. For example, the 2009 global recession resulted in CO₂ levels to fall two percent, while the recession in the early 1980s also had a notable impact on emissions. On a percentage basis, the largest reduction was at the end of the second world war in 1945, when emissions decreased by 17 percent.
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As the Colorado River Shrinks, Washington Prepares to Spread the Pain |
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A spillway for the Glen Canyon Dam near Page Ariz., that was last year full of water in the early 1980s. Credit: Caitlin Ochs/ Reuters
The seven states that rely on water from the shrinking Colorado River are unlikely to agree to voluntarily make deep reductions in their water use, negotiators say, which would force the federal government to impose cuts for the first time in the water supply for 40 million Americans.
The Interior Department had asked the states to voluntarily come up with a plan by Jan. 31 to collectively cut the amount of water they draw from the Colorado. The demand for those cuts, on a scale without parallel in American history, was prompted by precipitous declines in Lake Mead and Lake Powell, which provide water and electricity for Arizona, Nevada and Southern California. Drought, climate change and population growth have caused water levels in the lakes to plummet.
“Think of the Colorado River Basin as a slow-motion disaster,” said Kevin Moran, who directs state and federal water policy advocacy at the Environmental Defense Fund. “We’re really at a moment of reckoning.”
Negotiators say the odds of a voluntary agreement appear slim. It would be the second time in six months that the Colorado River states, which also include Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, have missed a deadline for consensus on cuts sought by the Biden administration to avoid a catastrophic failure of the river system.
The crisis over the Colorado River is the latest example of how climate change is overwhelming the foundations of American life — not only physical infrastructure, like dams and reservoirs, but also the legal underpinnings that have made those systems work.
A century’s worth of laws, which assign different priorities to Colorado River users based on how long they’ve used the water, is facing off against a competing philosophy that says, as the climate changes, water cuts should be apportioned based on what’s practical.
The outcome of that dispute will shape the future of the southwestern United States.
“We’re using more water than nature is going to provide,” said Eric Kuhn, who worked on previous water agreements as general manager for the Colorado River Water Conservation District. “Someone is going to have to cut back very significantly.”
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Colorado River natural flows are estimated from measurements at Lee's Ferry, Ariz. Values for 2021 and 2022 are provisional. Credit: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
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Hazel McCallion: Clean Air Champion, 1921-2023 |
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Last weekend, we lost a clean air and climate champion with the passing of former Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion.
Mayor McCallion was a key ally in Ontario Clean Air Alliance's campaign to phase out dirty coal power and had the vision to see that we all would be better off without the giant Lakeview coal plant spewing pollution on Mississauga's waterfront. Thanks to her determined advocacy for cleaner air, the provincial government agreed to close Lakeview as a first step in getting rid of all five of Ontario's dirty coal plants.
Hazel led the way as always, and no one at Queen's Park was going to ignore this clean-air Hurricane.
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MORE CLIMATE CRISIS RELATED NEWS |
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Flu, MERS, and Ebola - the Disease Outbreaks Most Frequently Reported |
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Credit: Article
Globally, influenza has been responsible for more outbreaks than any other infectious disease over the past 23 years, followed by Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and Ebola, finds an analysis of disease reports by the World Health Organization (WHO)1. The study also reveals the subjective way in which disease outbreaks are often reported, suggesting that this can affect how resources are allocated.
The researchers found that in most years, influenza, especially the H5N1 variant, was reported at the highest frequency of any infectious disease — 776 outbreaks have been documented since 1996. China reported the most outbreaks — 262 in total, of which 218 were of influenza — followed by Saudi Arabia, which documented MERS 179 times, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which reported 105 Ebola outbreaks (See ‘Disease outbreaks’). Few reports were associated with countries in Eastern Europe.
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Dimsum from Microbes, Anyone?: How Alternative Proteins are Cheaper, Tastier and Going Local |
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Credit: EcoBusiness
Seventy-five percent of our land is used for livestock, but it produces less than a third of our protein supply. We need different guiding principles and different production systems to give us a system that is more intentional about how it uses resources, and those innovations are fuelled by diversification. At the moment, we’re relying on soy and wheat as protein sources, but we need to diversify beyond these. The climate is changing, sometimes those crops aren’t going to grow in those places where they’re growing now. We need to see diversification in products. We have a lot of beef burgers and chicken nuggets in the plant-based sector, but in Asia, we need pork buns and shrimp dumplings, other localized products that fit eating occasions here.
The current global economy poses potential challenges to the growth of the alternative protein industry. However, there is absolutely no doubt that all of these pillars of alternative proteins are drastically more sustainable than the conventional meat, eggs, and dairy that they’re trying to replace. In fact, a report by BCG shows that when you assess impact in terms of market value, in terms of avoided carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions per dollar for mitigation solutions, alternative proteins have the highest emissions savings of any dollar of invested capital, in any sector.
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SARS-CoV-2 & COVID-19 UPDATES |
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The pandemic continues, still affecting many in many countries. However, it is diminishing and becoming more of a background event than a main one. information about Covid-19's presence in our communities and outcomes is hard to find, and many erroneously feel it's over. In Canada, though, it is still infecting many and killing about 37/day, still about double that of flu pre-Covid. Collective action, data reporting and leadership have all but disappeared. The highest rates of Covid-19 related deaths are in: Monaco, Iceland, Taiwan, Finland, Ireland and Sweden (from .73 to .23/100,000 population, respectively).
Over the last week, reported cases are way down by more than half to ~330,000/day; deaths remain at about 2000/day; and vaccinations are stagnating at about 1 million/day.
Vaccination, despite ongoing concerns about waning immunity and much misinformation, along with other proven public health measures, remain the best ways to keep yourself and others safe from serious consequences.
See below for more global stats and current hotspots:
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Note fewer high risk areas, the best sign in ages. |
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Share of the population fully vaccinated |
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"It is the plague in seemingly all sincerity." Bob Woodward |
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The Rise of Fringe Science, Contrarian Doctors & The Threat to Public Health |
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Credit: Ascannio/Alamy
Even an institution as august as BBC News is not immune to lapses in judgement. Aseem Malhotra’s appearance last week is a resounding example. Ostensibly there to speak about statins, the cardiologist hijacked the interview, propagating myths about COVID vaccines to a profoundly unprepared host. His appearance drew the ire of scientists and physicians for amplifying dangerous fictions.
Antivaccine activists were predictably invigorated, boasting of “going mainstream” with the video acquiring tens of millions of views, boosted by figures like former entertainer Russell Brand. Yet Malhotra’s turn was unsurprising to public health experts, who’ve noted his transformation to a leading UK vector of antivaccine disinformation.
Following a deluge of complaints, the BBC quite rightly apologised for the textbook false balance antithetical to their charter. But the interview fiasco, for all its harms, is a microcosm of a far greater problem – the rise and rise of dubious expertise. Malhotra exemplifies an unedifying trend during the pandemic: the fringe scientist, commanding huge audiences and, in some other cases, substantial profits.
Malhotra’s pivot to antivaccine activism is hardly unique. Throughout the pandemic, fringe scientists and doctors have dominated public conversations, using their credentials to bolster outright falsehoods – and this has left us more divided, and less informed.
Since the very outset of the pandemic, a small but vocal minority of qualified doctors and scientists have embraced conspiracy theories about the pandemic, and its treatment – or propagate unhelpful alarmism. And with doctors and scientists among the most trusted members of society, this has allowed unethical and inept individuals in their ranks to leech vampirically off the legitimacy of science.
This has been evident from the dawn of COVID-19, where bizarre but highly adopted conspiracy theories that 5G caused COVID-19, and that COVID-19 was deliberately engineered, went viral after their repetition in videos by a former physician and scientist respectively. That these canards were utterly devoid of anything remotely resembling evidence was eclipsed by the fact that seemingly qualified individuals were spreading them.
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ADDITIONAL COVID-19 RELATED NEWS |
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Blog #11: "Urban Tree-planting" |
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London Plane tree. Credit: Mick Massie
In midwinter the prospect of a long hot summer may look inviting, but I advise caution: be careful what you wish for. While the thrust of international gatherings like recent COP meetings in Egypt and Canada and headline writers of the popular press are all focussed on far distant dates like 2030 or even 2050. There seems to be little discussion of what needs doing right now, in 2023. Too many ominous trends are already evident upon us; there is no time to waste. Take London for example, my home city. What measures need putting in place starting today?
Climate change will clearly have a big impact, but perhaps there are ways in which we could consider ‘future-proofing’ the metropolis – with implications for all urban areas. Inevitably we must expect not only heatwaves and prolonged periods of drought, but also increasing turbulence; more storms producing heavier and more irregular rainfall, causing local flooding, transport disruption and even threats to life and limb. And that’s on top of some existing problems like urban pollution and rocketing energy use which are both set to worsen.
In too many cities air pollution reduces the life expectancy of large numbers of citizens - even killing some of them directly. Two years ago, when Ella Kissah-Debra (8 years old) of Lewisham, South London, died of an asthma attack, air pollution was recognised as a direct cause of her demise. New studies by King's College, London and University of British Columbia have shown links between levels of air pollution and the prevalence of long-term illness, even ‘impairment’ of brain function. Ella’s family lived close to a major road where air quality had been far below legal minimum standards for years. City authorities frequently express their (overdue) concern about the quality of city air, but at present action seems to be restricted to the wringing of hands and easy measures like penalising users of road vehicles and planning a highly controversial ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) schemes. Like other highly polluted places, the centre of Lewisham is virtually bereft of trees or other greenery, but so far urban tree-planting and hedge installation are not part of the single-track anti-pollution drive.
Deciduous trees in particular can have an enormous ameliorating effect on air pollution; in London we are fortunate in having large numbers of mature London Plane trees (Platanus x acerifolia) which are well adapted to the urban setting, being robust and resistant to soil compaction, drought and air pollution as well as growing into magnificent and beautiful specimens. Most were planted in the last century when they were one of the few large trees that could thrive in the heavily polluted air. Before the Clean Air Acts in the 1950s coal-burning caused London’s air to be really foul, with days of appalling smog well captured by some of Monet’s famous London paintings. That the plane trees survived at all is remarkable; without them conditions would have been even worse. But actual planting of London planes seems to have stopped a long time ago, as if the problem of air pollution would now go away.
In future, as summer temperatures rise, a second benefit from London’s plane trees may become even more important – providing shade and helping cool the city from the ‘heat island’ effect that increasingly blights urban areas everywhere. In particularly hot conditions the temperature difference between shade and sun may be 10 -15 degrees Fahrenheit; maximising the urban tree-canopy is likely to become more important year by year. In Darwin, northern Australia, the streets were laid out on a north-west/south-east axis to take advantage of prevailing winds both in the dry and wet seasons, and many streets were lined with fine saman
trees, providing shade across the city. Then, astonishingly, they were mostly cut down; I understand Darwin is now dangerously torrid for much of the time. As in many other cities, misguided municipal programmes have resulted in large trees being removed, often in the teeth of local opposition. While it is true that tree roots can damage existing buildings, far too often local authorities seem ready to remove trees rather than find ways to accommodate them. Even now several local authorities in London (including Lewisham) are engaged in battles over tree removal with residents who object to the loss of much-loved local specimens and appreciate their importance.
In fact, the tide is turning and public authorities in cities around the world are starting to shift from tree-cutting to tree planting. At Darwin the local government has had a rethink and now identified 542 vacant sites where it believes trees should be planted, while Bangkok’s new Governor Chadchart Sittipunt has invited city-dwellers to improve their own city by planting a million new trees to replace the ones that were lost during anti-tree drives in past decades. Increasingly, city authorities recognise the need to find natural ways of cooling urban environments while cutting the effects of pollution; some, such as Belfast and Paris plan ambitious tree-planting schemes. In Vietnam, Vo Trong Nghia Architects have pioneered the use of elevated tree-based gardens, and forest trees planted in tall boxes, to bring the cooling advantage of forest tree shade even in the centre of urban areas. In French Colonial times Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon as it then was) benefitted from the inspirational planting of giant dipterocarp trees in the city, which now, eighty to a hundred years later, enhance major streets and turn public parks into airy and cool cathedral-like spaces.
So how much new tree-planting is taking place in London? Not much that I have seen; also there is a tendency to plant small often non-native trees, while it is larger trees offering more shade that will increasingly be needed. Retro-fitting existing cities where greenery has long been discouraged is now a major challenge, not least because the involvement of local communities is essential if the new ideas are to be accepted. Mini community forests, first developed in the 1970s by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, ‘bursting with biodiversity’ are now taking root in some cities around the world, with plots as small as a single tennis court contributing to a new green approach based on local citizen participation. The idea is yet to catch on in London, but it should become a priority, together with the possibility of local seed collection for community tree-nurseries as well as both tree-planting, protection and aftercare for young saplings.
The choice of appropriate tree species also needs new thinking; London planes may offer little in terms of biodiversity but so far they have been largely free of disease. However, since the millennium a fungal infection known as Massaria
has been recorded, which can cause large branches to die and fall, with obvious danger to the public. As with Dutch Elm Disease this vulnerability to disease arises from the limited genetic variability; in this case because it is a single hybrid species. New pests such as the Emerald Ash-borer may be more difficult to counter (although many ash trees are wild sown and therefore genetically diverse) but in principle a diversity of tree species and of seed provenance both for single sites and urban forests should be encouraged. Some species not generally used could also become more important if taller and shade-producing trees are to be encouraged. Native lime, hornbeam, goat willow, wild cherry, alder and wild service are all trees that offer significant shade and could make a valuable contribution to cities like London – boosting urban biodiversity at the same time.
The benefits of trees for psychological as well as climate-related benefits are well known, and direct involvement in what might be termed arboricultural care and maintenance is increasingly popular, especially among younger citizens. Can I urge everyone to put pressure on local politicians to support urban tree-planting and community involvement? Many politicians may still be behind the curve, but the multiplicity of tree welfare and tree-appreciation organisations, from tree huggers to seed collectors, tree-planters to tree growers suggests there is enormous public support for making cities greener and healthier right now, and not just as targets for arbitrary dates like 2030 and 2050. It’s never too soon to start planting.
Edward Milner, London, February 9, 2023
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SPOTLIGHT ON HUMAN RIGHTS |
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Should the North Sea Have the Same Legal Rights as You? Campaigners Want the North Sea to be Given Legal Rights. How would it work? |
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Credit: Euronews
They propose that the sea should be recognized as a legal person - just like humans, companies, or states. The Embassy of the North Sea aims to present the Dutch government with “concrete proposals” by 2030 due to concerns about the impacts of the climate crisis and biodiversity loss on the sea.
Between 1969 and 2017 the average surface temperature of the North Sea rose by 1.3°C. An estimated 600,000 cubic meters of waste lies on the seabed, and underwater noise from shipping, coastal industries, off-shore oil rigs, and wind farms is growing louder. All of this alters the ecosystem and endangers marine life. While scientists warn that the climate crisis has other impacts on the North Sea and surrounding coastlines that we are only just starting to understand.
What difference would legal personhood make?
Granting legal personhood to the North Sea would enable the sea - with the aid of human proxies - to sue those who violate its rights in court. Currently, Dutch civil law does not currently protect nature for its own sake. The Embassy believes ‘The North Sea should have a say’. Its work is based on the idea that the North Sea is not an object over which people can decide. It is a subject and should have a say in whether fishing is limited, whether more wind farms are built, or how fossil fuels are extracted.
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SPOTLIGHT ON INDIGENOUS WELLNESS |
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Illegal Road Found in Yanomami Land Accelerates Destruction |
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Credit: Mongabay
In December, Greenpeace and the Socio-Environmental Institute (ISA) discovered a 150-kilometer- (93-mile-) long illegal road, as well as four hydraulic excavators in the Yanomami Territory, in Brazil’s northern Amazon region. The road and use of heavy machinery could make mining activities 10-15 times more destructive. The road was built by illegal gold miners, and the road’s presence in an Indigenous reserve where there shouldn’t be roads means the miners will now have much easier access to the area. While the illegal mining activities are usually run by people with few opportunities, as well as by politicians and people with a lot of capital, what has made the situation more complicated is the presence of organized crime and narco-trafficking groups operating in a border region that has few controls and is difficult to police.
Impacts on Yanomami Communities
Although Brazil’s Constitution bans mining in Indigenous territories, between 2010 and 2020, illegal mining increased by 495% in these territories. The Yanomami reserve is one of the three worst-affected Indigenous territories in the country, with an estimated 20,000 illegal miners operating there. Illegal mining in the Yanomami reserve had nearly tripled over the past three years, destroying more than 3,272 hectares (8,085 acres) as of December 2021. Additionally, 27,000 Yanomami inhabitants have been directly impacted by the illegal mining. Communities within 10 km (6 mi) of the illegal mining sites have been affected by rampant sexual violence, rape, murder, organized crime, malaria, and child malnutrition, while Indigenous youth have been lured into mining and have been dying from malnutrition at a rate 191 times greater than Brazil’s average.
Newly elected President Lula has issued several decrees to protect Indigenous lands and the environment, most recently declaring a state of emergency in the Yanomami Territory.
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Debt-for-Nature: Portugal is Trading Cape Verde's National Debt for Climate Investments |
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Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa has announced a debt-for-nature swap with Cape Verde
Credit: Photo/ Armando Franca
Cape Verde owes around €140 million to the Portuguese state and over €400 million to its banks and other entities. Initially, €12 million of debt repayments scheduled until 2025 will be put into an environmental and climate fund established by Cape Verde, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Monday. Ultimately “the entire amount of debt repayments” will end up there, allowing Cape Verde to invest in energy transition and the fight against climate change.
What are 'debt-for-nature' swaps?
Debt-for-nature deals are financial transactions in which a portion of a developing country's foreign debt is forgiven in exchange for commitments to invest in environmental policies. "Climate change is a challenge that takes place on a global scale and no country will be [environmentally] sustainable if all countries are not sustainable."
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Vancouver Protesters Call for Deep-sea Mining Ban at Ocean Conservation Conference |
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Protesters in Vancouver Saturday demand that delegates at the Fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress, or IMPAC5, push for a moratorium on deep sea mining. Credit: Janella Hamilton/CBC News
Protesters in Vancouver called for a ban on deep sea mining on Saturday at a global ocean conservation conference where delegates from 123 countries are working to figure out how to protect 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030.
Advocates hope that delegates will also make it a priority to call for a moratorium on deep sea mining — pitting the desire for a rich source of critical minerals against fears of destroying what may be an important area of global biodiversity.
Vancouver's The Metals Company (TMC) is leading the charge to unearth critical metals, some up to six kilometres below the water's surface, for use in technologies such as electric vehicles.
TMC and other firms eager to mine argue that deep-sea metals are urgently needed for the clean-energy transition. Those opposed, including environmental groups and some Pacific nations, say moving too quickly is likely to risk a sea floor ecosystem that too little is known about.
"This could potentially be one of the largest carbon sinks on our planet, and yet we want to move forward with destroying it without having the scientific backing," said Mark Haver with Sustainable Ocean Alliance. "That is a critical misstep on a planet that is already experiencing so much vulnerability."
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On Campuses in Mexico, Will Protests Eclipse Classes? |
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At 8:00 pm on Feb. 28, 2020, a group of students at the School of Economics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, known as UNAM, in Mexico City convened in a bathroom and decided it was time to take over their school’s grounds. The dean opted to retreat in order to avoid a violent clash. This protest at UNAM’s School of Economics was one of at least 18 such takeovers within a year by students denouncing violence in the UNAM system. Such activism has recently gained new force, as fewer students and faculty are choosing to remain silent about the violence that women in particular face at Mexico’s institutions of higher education. Instead, they are protesting.
List of Demands
This past September, when students of the Autonomous University of Queretaro shut down their entire university for a month, the students’ list of demands sought to address a wide range of issues, including amending university protocol for a prompt response to allegations of violence; providing legal, psychological and medical attention to alleged victims of sexual violence; the resignation of four administrators and faculty members; and better lighting, cameras, security presence and panic buttons on campus. Protesters also demanded that all changes to protocol apply to allegations of violence against LGBTQ+ students.
Takeovers Appear to Have Been an Effective Tool for Student Protestors
UNAM’s School of Economics created a “gender unit” to address violence against its female students, which was one of the protesters’ demands. The unit consists of a lawyer, a social worker, and a psychologist, among other positions. Additionally, inside the classroom male professors are more cautious about making sexually charged comments, while female students have become emboldened.
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FEBRUARY READING - NEW BOOK |
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"Saving the Planet Without the Bullshit" by Assaad Razzouk |
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Credit: Book Cover
Have you heard that you should go vegan to save the planet? Or carbon offset your flight to mitigate its effects? Or invest in an ethical pension plan? What if you were told that such actions make little difference at all? In Saving the Planet Without the Bullshit, Assaad argues that for too long green activism has been unfocused and distracted, trying to go in too many directions, focusing on individual behaviour. But all these things, are dwarfed by the one big thing that simply has to happen, very soon: namely, massively curtailing the activities of the hydrocarbon and petrochemicals industry. Full of counter-intuitive statistics and positive suggestions for individual and collective action, this ingenious book will profoundly change how you view the climate crisis.
Individual action to curb your carbon footprint barely makes a dent in the struggle against climate change, according to the Singapore-based author of a controversial new book on the climate crisis.
Speaking at an event to launch his book, Saving the Planet Without the Bullshit, Lebanese-British investment banker turned clean energy entrepreneur Assaad Razzouk said that while individual efforts to be eco-friendly are important from a moral perspective, they make little actual difference – and may even exacerbate the problem in some cases, for instance, buying carbon offsets.
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ADDITIONAL BOOK RECOMMENDATION |
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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres speaks at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on February 6, 2023.
Credit: United Nations
"No more baby steps. No more excuses. No more greenwashing. No more bottomless greed of the fossil fuel industry and its enablers."
Guterres called for an end to "the merciless, relentless, senseless war on nature" that "is putting our world at immediate risk of hurtling past the 1.5°C temperature increase limit and now still moving towards a deadly 2.8°C."
"I have a special message for fossil fuel producers and their enablers scrambling to expand production and raking in monster profits: If you cannot set a credible course for net-zero, with 2025 and 2030 targets covering all your operations, you should not be in business."
António Guterres, U.N. Secretary-General
Read more at Common Dreams: UN Chief Unleashes on Fossil Fuel Giants: 'Your Core Product is Our Core Problem'
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United in Science 2022: A Multi-Organization High-Level Compliation of the Most Recent Science Related to Climate Change, Impacts, and Responses |
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Credit: WMO
This excellent report has been compiled by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) under the direction of the United Nations Secretary-General to bring together the latest climate science-related updates from key global partner organizations – WMO, Global Carbon Project (GCP), UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Met Office (United Kingdom), Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN), UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), World Climate Research Programme (WCRP, jointly sponsored by WMO, IOC-UNESCO, and the International Science Council (ISC)) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The content of each chapter is attributable to each respective organization.
Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Budgets State of the Global Climate: 2018–2022 Global Climate Predictions: 2022–2026 Emissions Gap Tipping Points in the Climate System Climate Change and Cities Extreme Weather Events and Socioeconomic Impacts Early Warning Systems: Supporting Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction IPCC Boxes
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Climate Graphic Of The Week |
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The Science - How Acidification Impacts Ocean Chemistry |
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Credit: Andrew Yool. Adapted from HS Findlay and C Turley 2021. Ocean acidification and climate change. In: TM Letcher (Ed), Climate change: observed impacts on Planet Earth (Third Edition)
When reaching the ocean surface, CO2 dissolves and reacts with water molecules to form carbonic acid (H2CO3). CARBONIC ACID depletes the carbonate that some marine organisms need to form the hard outer structures which protect them from predators It can reduce organisms’ fitness, altering their growth, reproduction, and life span.
Ocean acidification poses an existential threat to many forms of marine life, and thus to food chains, livelihoods, and economies. What is it, and what can we do to avoid its worst impacts?
See also a 15-minute video at The Economist
https://www.economist.com/film...
The Ocean’s chemistry is changing at an unprecedented rate. By the end of this century, the ocean is expected to be 150% more acidic than it is now. Acidification is threatening marine life. It’s killing baby oysters, deep-sea coral reefs, and pteropods, tiny creatures, known as the potato chips of the sea. Human livelihoods are also in jeopardy. This film explores the alarming effects of ocean acidification, drawing on the expertise of scientists and the first-hand experiences of a Native Alaskan community. The film also looks at what can be done to lessen the problem.
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- February 3-9, 2023: Fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress (Vancouver, Canada)
- April 14-16, 2023: CUGH Annual Global Health Conference - Global Health at a Crossroads: Equity, Climate Change and Microbial Threats and other side events (Washington, D.C. and virtual). In Conjunction With: The World Health Summit Regional Meeting 2023 & The AAHCI Global Innovation Forum 2023
- May 23-25, 2023: The Battery Show Europe (Stuggart, Germany)
- June 22-23, 2023: Positive Zero Transport Futures and Mobility Network will host the Emerging Mobility Scholars Conference at the University of Toronto. Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows across Canadian institutions are invited to join in person at the University of Toronto to exchange ideas and showcase research relative to mobility and climate change. https://www.mobilitynetwork.ut...
- June 25-30, 2023: The third World Non-Communicable Diseases Congress (WNCD 2023) (Toronto, Canada).
- Women Plus Water 2023 Lecture Series
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A COLD WONDERFUL AFTERNOON SKI |
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Georgian Nordic Outdoor Activity Centre Parry Sound, Ontario |
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After four hours and 15 km I was so happy to see this sign! |
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Photo Credits: David Zakus |
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THANKS FOR READING THE FREE
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Current News on Ecological Wellness and Global Health
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