HI,
To start, HAPPY NEW YEAR, all the best to you, yours and all our world in 2023!! I’m cautiously hoping for some good news!! But, as one of my favourite philosophers once said, “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards” - Søren Kierkegaard (1913-1855). Yes, we do live our lives going forward, but experiencing them by looking back gives us the perspective we need to govern our actions.
This seems so appropriate as we head forward into a new year, certainly with lots of yin and yang, to say the least. When we look back at what we’ve experienced in 2022 it’s likely full of lots of good things, some upsets, and vicariously a lot of problems affecting too many millions of fellow Earth citizens. We are so lucky to live in societies that are predicated on sharing the good and the bad. When things are going well there’s lots to celebrate and be happy about and we don’t have any problem paying back a little. But, when disaster strikes or fate takes its toll, there will be tears and feelings of solidarity that someone and our society, including its political system, can help alleviate some of the hurt. We have governments willing to use most of the taxes they collect to help the collective and those less fortunate, though often not to the extent needed. Poverty, too, runs rampant in our societies as it does for too many other billions. That some are systematically taking from the commons so much more than they need, or could ever spend, tells us that our structures are faltering and in need of repair.
But alas, where are the repairpersons? They seem far away as billions in government subsidies are still given to oil and gas companies (are they the poor?), ecosystems, forests and seas are destroyed, our atmosphere gets more polluted, military expenditures rise astronomically, CEOs make >200 times that of their lowest paid employees, infrastructures degrade; and yet there are plenty of resources for planning a vacation to Mars. Inflation is eating at people’s dinner menus and politics seems to care less, with only bandaid patches. Is the model we are looking to build one of endless riches for the very few, a good life for many and despair for the majority. 2023 has got to lead to something different. Life, liberty and nature are all on the line.
As I look forward to how might it go in 2023, I’m indeed driven by what I experienced last year. Fortunately, on a personal level much was good, but on a collective regional and global level I didn’t see the movement necessary to inspire optimism, despite the few exuberant feelings I got at COP15 last month in Montreal. The tasks ahead for the coming year are immense; I hope I’m up to them.
Do read on in the new year's first issue of the Planetary Health Weekly. We strive to bring you information needed to understand the present, make sense of our past and inspire for the future. These are not easy tasks, but ones we need to do, all hopefully facilitated by today’s edition. In it you’ll read about:
- CLIMATE & BIODIVERSITY CRISES:
- EU’s winter energy crisis intensifies pressure on forests,
- Climate change indicators: U.S. and global temperature,
- This innovative ‘sand battery’ may help solve one of green energy’s greatest dilemmas – here’s how,
- ‘It just dies’: yellow-band disease ravages Thailand’s coral reefs,
- Vietnam’s new tour guides were illegal loggers until this innovative program came along,
- Why 2023 will be the year of the climate culture wars,
- 3 climate takeaways from the GOP speaker meltdown
- CORONAVIRUS UPDATES:
- Long Covid: could mono virus or fat cells be playing roles
- Scientists discover key reason why long Covid patients experience long-term smell loss,
- GitHub – Mike/Honey/covid-19-genomes: projects on Covid-19 topic of genomic sequencing – mostly DataViz,
- Covid-19 surge is worse than we expected says Chinese scientist, THEN
- ‘Climate impact’ food labels could encourage consumers to eat less red meat,
- UK study adds to evidence of air pollution link to long-term illness,
- Adults living in areas with high air pollution are more like to have multiple long-term health conditions,
- Energy and food security implications of transitioning synthetic nitrogen fertilizers to net-zero emissions,
- The youngest victims of the fentanyl crisis,
- Citizen scientists join fight to clean up rivers,
- Seal River watershed in Manitoba a step closer towards protection,
- Kenyan protesters aggressively promote disinformation in campaign to scuttle GM crop imports and cultivation,
- U.S. finance faces ESG backlash – more to come in 2023,
- These Indigenous women are fighting big oil – and winning,
- Quote on creating new Indigenous protected and conserved lands,
- Climate misinformation spreads on Musk’s Twitter,
- Ban on single-use restaurant tableware hailed as fast-food ‘revolution’ in France,
- Countering failures of imagination: lessons we learnt from Paul Farmer,
- Can geoengineering fix the climate? Hundreds of scientists say not so fast,
- New book: The Guests of Ants by Bert Hölldobler & Christina Belknap,
- Current free online planetary health course offerings from Coursera, and lastly
- ENDSHOTS of MOODY UNUSUAL WINTER.
Again, all the best in 2023 from us to you and yours and all the world, david
David Zakus, Editor and Publisher
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IN COMPLETE SOLIDARITY WITH UKRAINE SEEKING PEACE AND VICTORY AND IN TOTAL DISGUST AT WHAT RUSSIA CONTINUES TO DO |
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AND WITH THE BRAVE PROTESTERS IN IRAN |
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CLIMATE & BIODIVERSITY CRISES UPDATES |
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Credit: Karl Adami.
The prospect of a European winter energy crisis loomed from the moment Russia launched its assault on Ukraine in February. In the following weeks, the EU – which in 2021 imported 45% of its gas from Russia – scrambled to find alternative energy sources.
Now winter – delayed by an abnormally warm autumn – is almost here. Amid fears of power cuts and blackouts, curtailing soaring household energy bills is the most pressing negotiation topic among EU Member States, as many Europeans will likely face the stark prospect of having to choose whether to heat or eat, at the expense of their health.
Demand for firewood has surged across Europe, as people return to a pre-industrial means of survival to get them through the winter, like in the “Middle Ages” scoffs Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As demand and prices for firewood rise inexorably, across Europe – from Hungary to Poland to Latvia and Lithuania – governments are loosening forest protection rules to make it easier for people to access wood. Yet despite the war in Ukraine, none of this was inevitable. Read more at Mongabay News
SEE ALSO
At EPA: Climate Change Indicators: U.S. And Global Temperature
- Since 1901, the average surface temperature across the contiguous 48 states has risen at an average rate of 0.17°F per decade (Figure 1). Average temperatures have risen more quickly since the late 1970s (0.32 to 0.55°F per decade since 1979). Nine of the top 10 warmest years on record for the contiguous 48 states have occurred since 1998, and 2012 and 2016 were the two warmest years on record.
- Worldwide, 2016 was the warmest year on record, 2020 was the second-warmest, and 2012–2021 was the warmest decade on record since thermometer-based observations began. Global average surface temperature has risen at an average rate of 0.17°F per decade since 1901 (see Figure 2), similar to the rate of warming within the contiguous 48 states. Since the late 1970s, however, the United States has warmed faster than the global rate.
- Some parts of the United States have experienced more warming than others (see Figure 3). The North, the West, and Alaska have seen temperatures increase the most, while some parts of the Southeast have experienced little change. Not all of these regional trends are statistically significant, however.
At the Cool Down: This Innovative ‘Sand Battery’ May Help Solve One Of Green Energy’s Greatest Dilemmas — Here’s How
At Phys Org: 'It Just Dies': Yellow-Band Disease Ravages Thailand's Coral Reefs
At EuroNews: Vietnam's New Tour Guides Were Illegal Loggers Until This Innovative Programme Came Along
At Independent: Why 2023 Will Be The Year Of The Climate Culture Wars
At E&E News: 3 climate takeaways from the GOP speaker meltdown
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The pandemic continues all over the world. Canada is still experiencing about 225 deaths per week or 32/day (down ~20%). Information about Covid-19's prevalence and outcomes remains hard to find. Many erroneously feel it's over. It's not, but for seemingly most areas of Canada it has sharply declined. Thank goodness!!i What's so sad now is that leadership has mostly disappeared, except for some bright lights on Twitter.
Over the last week, cases are down to about 420,000/day (though this is only registered cases); deaths are up over 20% to about 2100/day (and Canada is up to about 40/day); and vaccinations drop drastically to about 2.1 million/day. Only 26% of those in low income countries have received one dose.
Vaccination, despite ongoing concerns about waning effectiveness, slander against it and new variants, along with other proven public health measures (including the seasonal flu shot), remain the best ways to keep yourself and others safe from serious consequences.
See below for a few global stats and current hotspots.
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"It is the plague in seemingly all sincerity." Bob Woodward |
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Amy Watson, of Portland, Ore., seen during an iron infusion in December 2022, says she has 'never had any kind of recovery' from COVID-19. Credit: Amy Watson via AP
Nearly three years into the pandemic, scientists are still trying to figure out why some people get long COVID and why a small portion have lasting symptoms.
Millions of people worldwide have had long COVID, reporting various symptoms including fatigue, lung problems, and brain fog and other neurological symptoms. Evidence suggests most recover substantially within a year, but recent data show that it has contributed to more than 3,500 U.S. deaths.
Here's some of the latest evidence:
- Many studies and anecdotal evidence suggest that women are more likely than men to develop long COVID. There could be biological reasons. Women's immune systems generally mount stronger reactions to viruses, bacteria, parasites and other germs, noted Sabra Klein, a Johns Hopkins professor who studies immunity. Women are also much more likely than men to have autoimmune diseases, where the body mistakenly attacks its own healthy cells. Some scientists believe long COVID could result from an autoimmune response triggered by the virus. Women's bodies also tend to have more fat tissue and emerging research suggests the coronavirus may hide in fat after infection. Scientists also are studying whether women's fluctuating hormone levels increase the risk.
- Several studies suggest the ubiquitous Epstein-Barr virus could play a role in some cases of long COVID. Inflammation caused by coronavirus infection can activate herpes viruses, which remain in the body after causing an acute infection, said Dr. Timothy Henrich, a virus expert at the University of California, San Francisco. Epstein-Barr virus is among the most common of these herpes viruses: An estimated 90% of the U.S. population has been infected with it. The virus can cause mononucleosis or symptoms that may be dismissed as a cold.
- Obesity is a risk factor for severe COVID-19 infections and scientists are trying to understand why. Stanford University researchers are among those who have found evidence that the coronavirus can infect fat cells. In a recent study, they found the virus and signs of inflammation in fat tissue taken from people who had died from COVID. Lab tests showed that the virus can reproduce in fat tissue. That raises the possibility that fat tissue could serve as a "reservoir," potentially fueling long COVID. Read more at: CTV News
SEE ALSO:
At CTV News: Scientists Discover Key Reason Why Long-COVID Patients Experience Long-Term Smell Loss
Scientists are working on determining the cause behind one of the most distinctive side effects of earlier strains of COVID-19—losing one’s sense of smell. Although this symptom has become less common as newer variants spread, back in 2020 a sudden loss of smell was an immediate sign to go get tested for COVID-19.
And although this loss of smell has been temporary for many, for others that sense never properly returned, leaving millions struggling with loss of smell for months or even years. In order to find out the mechanisms behind this, a new study looked at olfactory epithelial samples collected from 24 people, including nine people experiencing long-term loss of their sense of smell due to a case of COVID-19.
Researchers found that among those suffering from chronic loss of smell following COVID-19 infection, there was inflammation in the tissue of the nose where the smell nerve cells are located, and that there were also fewer olfactory neurons within the nose overall compared to control groups, which researchers suspect could be due to damage from the inflammation.
At Apple News: Covid-19 Surge Is Worse Than We Expected, Chinese Scientist Says
Covid-19 is spreading in China at a faster speed than expected, the country’s former chief epidemiologist said, as Spain announced that it would join a growing list of countries imposing coronavirus tests on incoming travellers from the world’s most populous nation.
“We didn’t expect the first wave to be this vehement,” said Zeng Guang, formerly of China’s centre for disease prevention and control, in a candid acknowledgement of the effect of lifting President Xi “zero-tolerance” pandemic policy this month.
It came as Professor Andrew Pollard, the chairman of the UK joint committee on vaccination and immunization, today said restrictions on travellers from China were unlikely to stop fresh variants reaching the UK.
At Git Hub: Mike-Honey/Covid-19-Genomes: Projects On COVID-19 Topic Of Genomic Sequencing - Mostly DataViz
Visualise the geographical spread of a selected Covid-19 lineage. Use the play control for an animated view of the spread. Locations are approximate - typically by reporting state/province or country. Bubble sizes are driven by the % of the total set of samples selected.
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Credit: Sven Brandsma
Climate impact labels could persuade people to choose more climate-friendly foods, a study has found. Providing information about the environmental impact of foods is an effective method of altering consumer choices, the clinical trial by researchers from Johns Hopkins and Harvard universities concluded. It comes after an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report in April that urged country leaders to encourage people to choose less carbon-heavy diets. It placed particular emphasis on meat consumption, especially red meat like beef and pork. Read more at EuroNews
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Credit: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images
Are the impacts from air pollution hiding in plain sight in the everyday aliments that so many of us suffer from? A new study, the largest of its kind, found that people living in polluted areas were more likely to have more than one long-term illness.
Researchers looked at more than 360,000 people aged between 40 and 69 who had health data in the UK Biobank. They found greater chances of multiple neurological, respiratory, cardiovascular and common mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety, even having allowed for differences in income. These long-term problems affect people’s lives and place big burdens on our economy and health services.
Earlier this month the UK government announced a target for the worst particle pollution in England in 2040. It means that England plans to meet the 2005 World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines in 18 years’ time, 35 years after the guidelines were set. The new health study found an extra 20% chance of multiple long-term illnesses for those living with particle pollution that is worse than the 2040 England target. Read more at The Guardian
See also:
At King's College London: Adults living in areas with high air pollution are more likely to have multiple long-term health conditions
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Number of people fed from synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. Synthetic nitrogen fertilizers data are taken from the United Nations food and agriculture organization (26) for year 2019, the most up-to-date year containing information of domestic usage of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. Globally, 107 Mt of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers were used in agriculture in 2019. Credit: Article
By synthetically producing nitrogen fertilizers from ammonia (NH3), the Haber–Bosch process has been feeding humanity for more than one hundred years. However, current NH3 production relies on fossil fuels, and is energy and carbon intensive. This commits humanity to emissions levels not compatible with climate goals and commits agricultural production to fossil fuels dependency. Here, we quantify food and energy implications of transitioning nitrogen fertilizers to net-zero CO2 emissions.
We find that 1.07 billion people are fed from food produced from imported nitrogen fertilizers. An additional 710 million people are fed from imported natural gas feedstocks used for fertilizers production, meaning that 1.78 billion people per year are fed from imports of either fertilizers or natural gas. These findings highlight the reliance of global food production on trading and fossil fuels, hence its vulnerability to supply and energy shocks.
However, alternative routes to achieve net-zero emissions in NH3 production exist, which are based on carbon capture and storage, electrification, and biomass. These routes comply with climate targets while mitigating the risks associated with food security. Yet, they require more land, energy and water than business-as-usual production, exacerbating land and water scarcity and the use of limited natural resources. Transitioning fertilizers to net-zero emissions can contribute to climate and food security goals, although water, land, and energy trade-offs should be considered. Read more at IOP Science
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Sharon Murfin held the blanket of her 17-month-old granddaughter, Serenity Murfin Marusic, who died with fentanyl in her system. Credit: REBECCA STUMPF FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Toddlers are dying after accidentally ingesting the potent synthetic opioid their parents use; a 2-year-old ‘ate mom’s pills’.
Brianna Roush woke from a nap at home on a Sunday afternoon last January to find her 20-month-old son, Leightyn, disoriented and moaning. By the time she got him to the hospital, he wasn’t breathing. Medical staff tried for an hour to revive him before pronouncing him dead.
Read more at the WSJ
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Credit: BBC, GWYNDAF HUGHES
The past year has seen public anger in the UK over pollution in rivers and waterways. According to the environmental charity Earthwatch, people are increasingly taking pollution monitoring into their own hands.
John Pratt used to go fishing on the Evenlode which flows through the Cotswold Hills. Now he takes a chemistry set. A local resident for 33 years, the river has become part of his life. So when one summer the crystalline waters resembled soup, he was determined to take action.
Some might join a protest or post images of polluted rivers on social media, but John became a citizen scientist. He's one of many up and down the country hoping their data will help in the effort to clean up rivers. Read more at BBC
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The Seal River IPCA would protect eight per cent of Manitoba, including habitat crucial for beluga whales, polar bears and seals. Map Credit: Shawn Parkinson/The Narwhal
“People never knew how special it was, before — this place we call home,” Stephanie Thorassie told me on Thursday morning, during a rare break from the COP15 biodiversity conference in Montreal.
Now, all eyes are on the Seal River Watershed — that place Thorassie calls home — as it takes one step closer towards being formally recognized as an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area. If established, it would protect eight per cent of Manitoba, and habitat that is crucial for beluga whales, polar bears and, of course, seals.
The watershed is dotted with lakes and wetlands, and sandy hills left behind by glacial rivers, called eskers, snake across the land. “It’s virtually untouched,” Thorassie said. “It’s pretty special.” Read more at: The Narwhal
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Credit: NMG
Are anti-biotechnology advocacy groups honestly engaging in science in their attacks on genetically modified crops?
Professor Richard Oduor, a scientist and chairman of the Kenya University Biotechnology Consortium (KUBICO), says ‘no’. According to Oduor, activists and politicians exploit unprincipled disagreements among scientists on GMOs, to mislead the public that the genetic engineering science isn’t safe and causes cancer.
“It is unfortunate that there are voices giving imaginary side-effects; that this GMO will make you sleepy; this one causes stomachache and that one leads to cancer; it is very unfortunate,” he added.
A riled Oduor added that it is now trendy to hear voices in Kenya that are loud but not helpful in solving threats of virulent pests and diseases, and frequent and prolonged droughts from climate change.
We need public participation and input. As scientists [we recognize] it’s the public that presents their challenges for approvals. [For] 10 years [2012-2022] we’ve been telling the government to allow us to experiment the technology and [we’ve] been getting financing from the National Research Fund [of the Government of Kenya … to develop GM-crops.
Read more at Genetic Literacy Project
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U.S. Finance Faces ESG Backlash, More To Come In 2023 |
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An aerial view shows a power-generating windmill turbine in the middle of rapeseed fields, in Saint-Hilaire-lez-Cambrai, France, May 7, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. Credit: REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo
A movement by financial firms activists to challenge companies over their efforts on climate change and social inequality faced organized and growing push-back in 2022, led by Republican U.S. politicians. Focusing on environmental, social or governance-related issues, ESG in industry parlance, could hit returns to investors, critics said.
A rise in oil prices this year bolstered their case by hurting the performance of many ESG funds that had moved away from energy stocks, responsible for producing a large share of climate-damaging carbon emissions. Despite that, the list of financial firms signing up to industry coalitions aiming to help companies make the shift to a low-carbon economy lengthened as scientists warned time was running out to limit global warming.
Activist shareholders also won significant victories at corporate annual meetings this year such as a call for a human rights report at gun maker Sturm Ruger & Co (RGR.N).
In the eye of the storm for much of the year was BlackRock (BLK.N), the world's biggest money manager, whose chief executive kicked off the year with a defence of ESG investing in a letter to peers.
BlackRock, along with JPMorgan (JPM.N), Goldman Sachs (GS.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), was later barred from winning state business from West Virginia because of its stance on climate change. Other states followed, with Texas accusing BlackRock and banks including Bank of America (BAC.N) of 'boycotting' fossil fuel companies in the transition to a greener economy. Florida said it would pull $2 billion in investments from BlackRock.
Read more at Reuters
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SPOTLIGHT ON INDIGENOUS WELLNESS |
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These Indigenous Women Are Fighting Big Oil — And Winning |
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Credit: Article
Nenquimo, co-founder of Amazon Frontlines and the Ceibo Alliance, is a Waorani leader who has won the Goldman Environmental Prize. Mbuthuma is a leader of the amaMpondo people in South Africa and spokesperson of the Amadiba Crisis Committee, a collective that defends her community’s rights to steward their ancestral land.
We are two Indigenous women leaders writing from the frontlines of the battle to save our oceans, our forests, and our planet’s climate. We have good news to share: We know how to beat Big Oil.
From the Amazon rainforest to the shores of the Indian Ocean in South Africa, we have led our communities to mighty victories against oil companies who hoped to profit off our territories. In September 2022, we succeeded in getting a court to revoke a permit that would have allowed Shell to despoil Indigenous farming communities and fishing grounds along the pristine Wild Coast of South Africa. Just a few years earlier in April 2019, we organized Indigenous communities deep in the Ecuadorian rainforests to resist the government’s plans to drill in pristine rainforests and were victorious, protecting half a million acres of forests and setting a legal precedent to protect millions more.
Both were David vs. Goliath victories—and both were opportunities for us to learn where to point that fabled slingshot. Read more at Amazon Frontlines
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Stephanie Thorassie said part of building the Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area and Guardians program in the Seal River Watershed (in northern Manitoba) is supporting youth with education and Traditional Knowledge to set them up as “forces to be reckoned with.” Credit: Jordan Melograna / Seal River Watershed Alliance
With this new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area in the Seal River Watershed (in northern Manitoba), the communities’ leadership has been at the forefront of decision-making, and will continue to be. And to Stephanie Thorassie, this protected area is centred in healing and the good of the community.
“All I can really think about is how can we change the narrative for people in the communities who are still really struggling to break free from the trauma bonds that hold them together?”
She said the other next steps are creating jobs and training so youth can take on those jobs — many youth who don’t see themselves taking on these “science-y” positions.
"It’s our job now to make sure that they can see themselves doing this work"
-Stephanie Thorassie
Thorassie spoke to The Narwhal on the phone from COP15, while she was doing Christmas shopping, her first time actually walking around Montreal amid her busy schedule. She’s given 10 presentations so far, with two more planned. She said the alliance and two levels of government were negotiating right up until the evening before the feasibility study was announced.
It’s a lot of work and requires being in spaces like COP15 — but she said she remains grounded focusing on the communities’ needs.
She brought up the experience of her community, Tadoule Lake, just one generation ago. The government forcibly moved the Sayisi Dene to Churchill in 1956, separating them from the land and caribou they relied on.
“We lost one-third of our community during the 17 years we lived in Churchill,” Enie Bussidor, a member of the Sayisi Dene First Nation and senior advisor for the Seal River Watershed Initiative, told The Narwhal in a previous interview. He was born in Churchill and only returned home later in life.
Healing from these experiences is top of mind for Thorassie as she does this work. “We’ve been in situations where it’s outsiders making decisions for us,” she said. “Governments making decisions for people that they have no connection to causes real harm to people.”
After years of pushing for an Indigenous protected area, the Seal River Watershed Alliance will work with the Canadian and Manitoba governments to do a feasibility study — a big step towards recognition.
Read more at: The Narwhal
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FYI#1 SPOTLIGHT ON MEDIA |
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Climate Misinformation Spreads On Musk's Twitter |
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Credit: Claudine Hellmuth/POLITICO (illustration); Britta Pedersen-Pool/Getty Images (Musk); iStock (Twitter icons)
At Tesla, Elon Musk helped kick-start an electric vehicle revolution that will meaningfully cut greenhouse gas emissions. Now, as Twitter’s CEO, he’s overseeing one of the world’s most popular social media platforms that’s rife with climate change misinformation.
And it appears to be getting worse.
Since Musk’s purchase of Twitter two months ago, some prominent climate deniers have returned to the platform after being banned for pushing misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic. There also are signs that scientists have left Twitter after their posts depicting global warming research were swarmed by critics.
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Credit: Julien de Rosa/AFP/Getty Images
Fast-food chains in France are preparing for one of the biggest changes to their restaurants in decades as the government bans disposable plates, cups and tableware for anyone eating or drinking on-site. Chains such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Starbucks and Subway are facing what environmentalists have called a “revolution” on 1 January as pioneering new measures come into force in France to combat waste.
Much of the fast-food industry uses an economic model built on throwaway boxes, cups and packaging which customers tip from their tray into a bin straight after eating.
Under the new rules, any restaurant with more than 20 seats – including work canteens, bakery chains, fast-food and sushi outlets – will have to provide reusable, washable cups, plates, dishes and cutlery for customers eating in. French environmental groups called it a “complete paradigm shift” for the sector.
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FYI #3 |
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Countering Failures Of Imagination: Lessons We Learnt From Paul Farmer |
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Dr. Paul Farmer at the Butaro Hospital built by Partners In Health for the Rwanda Ministry of ... [+]CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES
Paul Farmer, physician, activist, academic, humanitarian, and teacher died in Rwanda on February 21, 2022. Few people in the field of global health have had a bigger impact than him. After his death, people all over the world took to social media and blogs, and wrote about how his life inspired them. My (i.e., Madhukar Pai) favourite was this tweet from Arcade Fire, the Canadian rock band: “Paul Farmer changed our lives forever. He showed us how to work harder for others than for yourself. He was the punkest m... f... WE ever met.”
I’ve had the privilege of interviewing him twice, once on stage in 2018 when he visited my university (McGill University), and, more recently, for Forbes, about his 2020 book on Ebola in West Africa. Both times, I was blown away by how much time Paul gave me, and the words of encouragement he had for my work on tuberculosis.
Recently, for a global health course that I teach at McGill, I tried to summarize my big learnings from Paul, and posted that as a tweet. Inspired by the responses to my tweet, I interviewed 20 people from around the world, asking them for their biggest learnings. By sharing them in this post, we hope to keep his legacy and teachings alive.
Lesson 1: Every person matters
Lesson 2: Practise accompaniment
Lesson 3: Approach everyone with a hermeneutic of generosity
Lesson 4: Make equity the core of global health practice
Lesson 5: Resist socialization for scarcity on behalf of others
Lesson 6: Tackle structural and social determinants of diseases
Lesson 7: Engage communities
Lesson 8: Irrigate clinical deserts
Lesson 9: Be in it for the long haul
Lesson 10: Counter failures of imagination
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FYI #4 |
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Can Geoengineering Fix The Climate? Hundreds Of Scientists Say Not So Fast |
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Proposed geoengineering methods include pumping salt water into clouds to make them more reflective of sunlight, or to place ice particles in clouds to stop them from trapping heat. Photograph: Charlotte Observer/MCT/Getty Images
As global heating escalates, the US government has set out a plan to further study the controversial and seemingly sci-fi notion of deflecting the sun’s rays before they hit Earth. But a growing group of scientists denounces any steps towards what is known as solar geoengineering.
The White House has set into motion a five-year outline for research into “climate interventions”. Those include methods such as sending a phalanx of planes to spray reflective particles into the upper reaches of the atmosphere, in order to block incoming sunlight from adding to rising temperatures.
The work is required by Congress. It is “not new research, but a report that highlights some of the key knowledge gaps and recommendations of priority topics for relevant research”, said a spokesperson for the White House’s office of science and technology policy, adding Joe Biden’s administration wants “effective and responsible CO2 removal” as well as deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.
Several American researchers, somewhat reluctantly, want to explore options to tinker with the climate system to help restrain runaway global heating, even as they acknowledge many of the knock-on risks aren’t fully known. “Until recently, I thought it was too risky, but slow progress on cutting emissions has increased motivation to understand techniques at the margins like solar geoengineering,” said Chris Field, who chaired a National Academies of Sciences report last year that recommended at least $100m being spent researching the issue.
“I don’t think we should deploy it yet and there are still a ton of concerns, but we need to better understand it,” Field said. “Climate change is causing widespread impacts, it’s costing lives and wrecking economies. We are in a tough position; we are running out of time, so it’s important we know more.”
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FYI #5: FIRST OF 2023 READING |
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The Guests of Ants by Bert Hölldobler & Christina L. Kwapich Belknap |
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Credit: Book Cover
Ants are “easily fooled”, write Bert Hölldobler and Christina Kwapich in their profoundly researched, gloriously illustrated treatise on ant symbiosis. Other organisms — including bacteria, butterflies, fungi and spiders — “can circumvent or break their code and exploit the social acquisitions of ant societies”, for example by entering colonies and masquerading as ants, so their hosts cannot distinguish friend from foe. Hölldobler’s erstwhile co-author E. O. Wilson, who died last year, admired this enchanting book as a “true classic”.
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December 30, 2022 - January 4, 2023
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A brief shadowy sunrise, January 3, 2023 |
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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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AND PLEASE PASS IT ON TO FAMILY & FRIENDS
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