The Miraculous Web of Life Sustains ALL Species on Planet Earth – Healthy Ecosystems, Healthy Humans. WITHOUT NATURE WE DO NOT EXIST. PERIOD. To the degree Nature is sick, so are we. We humans must reintegrate into the greater web of life as a species within it and not separate from it, by returning to respect and restoring balance and harmony to that which supports all life on this planet ... Nature ... #GDP should be replaced by #EcoEconomics ... Putting front and center the concerns for how we are destroying and objectifying the natural world for profit #Conservation #Ecosystems #Wildlife #Forests #Environment #Biodiversity #Ecoeconomics #CSR #GDP #Anthropocene
Call it irony, if you will, or call it a nightmare, but Big Oil evidently has no qualms about making its next set of profits directly off melting the planet. Its top executives continue to plan their futures (and so ours), knowing that their extremely profitable acts are destroying the very habitat, the very temperature range that for so long made life comfortable for humanity.
Their prior knowledge of the damage they are doing is what should make this a criminal activity. And there are corporate precedents for this, even if on a smaller scale. The lead industry, the asbestos industry, and the tobacco companies all knew the dangers of their products, made efforts to suppress the information or instill doubt about it even as they promoted the glories of what they made, and went right on producing and selling while others suffered and died.... http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/05/23-4
▶ WILL SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY BENEFIT OR THREATEN WILD THINGS? Will http://sco.lt/6fkVAv
▶ MONSANTO GMO TREES DEVASTATE FOREST ECOSYSTEMS CREATING A POISONED, BIOLOGICAL DESERT http://sco.lt/84F6mn
▶ CONTEMPORARY MONOCULTURE AGRICULTURE IS BURNING UP OUR PLANET http://sco.lt/6xIJJx
▶ GOLD/COAL MINING, DEFORESTATION, FOREIGN LAND GRABS ENDANGERING ENVIRONMENT, ECOSYSTEMS AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES http://sco.lt/6ZK1mj
▶ PHARMACEUTICALS, ANTIBIOTICS, PESTICIDES, CHEMICAL POLLUTION IN OUR FOOD, STREAM, RIVERS AND DRINKING WATER http://sco.lt/8qNmoz
September 15, 2013 The Real News VIDEO REPORT ▶ PHILIPPINE ACTIVISTS FIGHT BACK AGAINST CORPORATE AND MILITARY FORCES DESTROYING THEIR LAND, FORESTS AND LIVELIHOODS Corporate agri-businesses like U.S.-based Dole, Del Monte, Monsanto, along with international and Philippine mines, are polluting waterways and destroying the surrounding farms. Chinese, European, Canadian, and Filipino mines are stripping away the mountains to get at what some estimate to be the largest iron deposit in the world. There also some of the most significant gold, nickel, and copper reserves in Asia. http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10725
We will have enough trouble repairing the centuries of accumulated damage to the environment (to the extent we can) without simultaneously creating more. No matter what, we need to shut down the entire fossil fuel industry as soon as possible, as fast as feasible.
Guardian, December 24, 2014 ▶ BRAZIL'S 'CHAINSAW QUEEN' APPOINTS NEW PRO- AGRIBUSINESS DEFORESTATION MINISTER - Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff has stirred up the wrath of environmentalists by appointing a controversial advocate of agribusiness and weaker forest conservation as her new agriculture minister...
World News Daily Report, December 10, 2014 ▶ LOGGERS "ACCIDENTALLY CUT DOWN WORLD'S OLDEST TREE IN AMAZON FOREST.The giant Samauma tree that is thought to be over 5,800 years old judging on its concentric rings and estimated to be close to 40 meters in height was a major part of the native tribes cultural landscape, countless generations of natives having witnessed the long duration of the tree and having included it in their own culture. There are large portions of this national reserve that are rich in oil and natural gas. There has been committed action by energy corporations to lobby the government to exploit the area for years. http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/loggers-accidentally-cut-down-worlds-oldest-tree-in-amazon/
Investigative Report
Environmental Investigation Agency THE LAUNDERING MACHINE How Fraud and Corruption in Peru's Concession System
Are Destroying The future of It Forests.
Exporters in Peru and importers in the United States and around the world are integral parts of a systematic flow of illegal timber from the Peruvian Amazon... each of the actors and agencies involved in this system are working as gears in a well-oiled machine that is ransacking Peru’s forests and undermining the livelihoods and rights of the people that depend on them. http://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Laundering-Machine.pdf
Thomson Reuters Foundation, December 02, 2014 -▶ IGNORING INDIGENOUS RIGHTS IN AMAZON FUELS GLOBAL WARMING STUDY. More than half the carbon in the Amazon region could be released into the atmosphere unless indigenous land rights are protected.
Indigenous territories and protected natural areas across nine South American countries account for more than half the carbon stored in the Amazon, the study published in the journal Carbon Management reported. http://www.trust.org/item/20141202185859-3guhn/
Mongabay, May 14, 2014 ▶ NEW REPORT REVEALS HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES BY CORPORATIONS, GOVERNMENTS IN THE AMAZON. The report took over six months to complete and gives an in-depth account of the conflicts activists and indigenous peoples (IPs) are having with corporations and governmental agencies. It relays a situation that does not look good. The report details everything from physical attacks to “systematic pressure” by corporations and governments. According to the report, conflicts over land and territories have reached a ten-year peak in Brazil. In Peru, social conflicts have tripled since 2008, with two-thirds of the reported cases defined as “socioenvironmental” conflicts.http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0514-dulaney-regnskogfondet.html
Mongabay, February 11, 2014 ▶ HELPING THE AMAZON'S JAGUAR PEOPLE PROTECT THEIR CULTURE AND TRADITIONAL WISDOM.The process of acculturation transformed once proud cultures into fragmented remnants, their self-sufficiency and social cohesion stripped away, left to struggle in a new world marked by poverty and external dependence. ... Read more at http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0211-matses-fleck-interview.html
June 17, 2013 Amazon Watch: ▶ WE WON'T STOP FIGHTING: Facing enormous setbacks to indigenous rights in Brazil, 400 Kayapo leaders and warriors met on the Xingu River to discuss strategy for upholding their rightshttp://amazonwatch.org/news/blog
UNPRECEDENTED STUDY
LANGUAGE AND CULTURE DISAPPEAR WITH ECOSYSTEM AND BIODIVERSITY LOSS http://sco.lt/8PcKsD
After years of gains against destruction of the Amazon rainforest, Brazil appears to be suffering from an increase in deforestation as farmers, loggers, miners and builders move into previously untouched woodland, according to data compiled by the... http://planetark.org/wen/67719
▶ WILL AMAZON LOGGING THREATEN U.S. FOOD SUPPLY? As deforestation of the Amazon continues, the effects could be felt as far as the western United States. According to a new study, logging could trigger changes in climate that ultimately dry out important farming regions in California.http://conservationmagazine.org/2013/11/will-amazon-logging-threaten-us-food-supply/
VIDEO KarmaTube: HANGING IN THE BALANCE: THE FUTURE OF A FOREST Scientists believe that we are at a tipping point of deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest, the largest contiguous tropical forest in the world http://www.karmatube.org/?op=nletter&id=3239
The Ecologist, October 28, 2014 ▶ INDUSTRIALIZATION OF THE AMAZON AND BRAZIL'S GIANT DAM PROGRAMME IS A CLIMATE DISASTERBrazil's newly elected Dilma Roussef is committed to completing the disastrous Belo Monte dam, writes Helle Abelvik-Lawson. Worse, she looks certain to press ahead with the industrialisation of the Amazon, with 61 hydroprojects in the pipeline. And new scientific findings about the massive climate impacts of tropical forest dams are not about to stop her.http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2606845/brazils_giant_dam_programme_is_a_climate_disaster.html
Guardian Environment, May 06, 2014 -▶ MORE THAN 400 MEGA DAMS PLANNED FOR AMAZON AND HEADWATERSpotentially leading to the "end of free-flowing rivers", contributing to "ecosystem collapse", and causing huge social problems
International Rivers, August 21, 2013 Río Marañon: DAMS AND ECOSYSTEMS
THE GRAND CANYON OF SOUTH AMERICA
The Marañon River is one of the most important water sources in Peru and a key Amazon tributary. The river runs through ten distinct regions of Peru which are home to almost 14% of the Peruvian population and is an area of unique biodiversity with dry forests that extend along the upper river valley and its tributaries. The Marañon River and the critical ecosystems that it supports are threatened by plans to build a series of 20 dams along the river.http://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/r%C3%ADo-mara%C3%B1on-the-grand-canyon-of-south-america-8061
-▶ A PHENOMENON CALLED 'SELECTIVE HARVESTING.A phenomenon called “selective harvesting” is often observed by conservationists who study trophy hunting. Trophy hunters value the biggest, strongest, large-horned animals which leaves a resulting population skewed toward smaller, weaker males and females. A domino effect ensues creating an adverse demographic change in the strength of the gene pool in the population ...Such selective harvesting can destabilize social structures and the dominance hierarchy and may cause loss of social knowledge, sexually selected infanticide, habitat changes among reproductive females, and changes in offspring sex ratio. A common feature of many of the reported mechanisms is that they ultimately depress recruitment and in some extreme cases even cause total reproductive collapse. ..Conservation Biologyhttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.comhttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2006.00591.x/abstract
Wildlife Extra News TROPHY HUNTING IS BACK IN ZAMBIA
WHEN KILLING WILDLIFE BECOMES AN ECONOMIC BOON
Zambia’s 2013 ban on hunting has been lifted, its Minister of Tourism and Arts, Jean Kapata, has announced. This means hunting wildlife, with the exception of big cats, is now legal across the 19 hunting blocks. Hunting elephants, though, will be allowed. This news comes at the same time as new research has revealed that an estimated 100,000 elephants in Africa were killed for their ivory between 2010 and 2012 and elephant population numbers are declining by two per cent to three per cent a year. This effectively means that more of the animals are being killed than are being born.http://www.wildlifeextra.com
Earth Touch News, -▶ SMALL CHANGE TO TROPHY FISHING COULD MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE FOR THREATENED SPECIES. Taking out the largest and strongest weakens the gene pool. For example, removing just one large 61 centimetre long red snapper from the population is the equivalent of removing over 200 smaller 41 centimetre long red snappers," Shiffman adds. Factor in the slow development time of many large fishes, and a small number of catches can turn into a very big problem.http://www.earthtouchnews.com/conservation/human-impact/small-changes-to-trophy-fishing-could-make-a-big-difference-for-threatened-species
-▶ BOTSWANA TO BAN WILDLIFE HUNTING: ENDING TROPHY HUNTING LICENSES FOR WEALTHY WESTERNERS "The shooting of wild game for sport and trophies is no longer compatible with our commitment to preserve local fauna," http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20544251
-▶ ZAMBIA FINALLY BANS THE HUNTING OF ENDANGERED LIONS AND LEOPARDS.Africa has some of the planet’s most beautiful and endangered species, such as rhinos, elephants, leopards and lions. However, over the decades, poaching has severely impacted on these species seeing many of their numbers plummet to an all-time low...http://inhabitat.com/zambia-finally-bans-hunting-of-endangered-lions-and-leopards/
Inhabitat, June 06, 2014 -▶ TEXAS CHEERLEADER, KENDALL JONES, HUNTS THE 'BIG 5' UNDER THE GUISE OF BEING A "CONSERVATIONIST".19-year-old Kendall Jones, a cheerleader from Texas, has been hunting big game in Africa with her father for 10 years. Following in the footsteps of the reviled Melissa Bachman, she claims that her efforts to bag the Big 5 — elephant, rhino, lion, leopard, and Cape buffalo — are in fact “conservation.” With two online petitions currently being waged to either stop her activities or prevent her from promoting them through social media, it is apparent that many others see the situation differently.http://inhabitat.com/texas-cheerleader-claims-hunting-the-big-5-in-africa-is-conservation/
Wildlife Extra News, March 2014 -▶ WORLD MARCHES TO END THE SHOOTING OF TAME LIONS.
“No wonder Canned Hunting is known as South Africa’s Dirty Little Secret. Lionesses are forced into an abnormal number of pregnancies to produce cubs. Then the cubs are raised, often by naïve overseas volunteers, in farms where tourists can come and have their photos taken with the animals, thinking that they are doing their bit for conservation.
“Finally, when the cubs are too old to pet, they are taken off to an enclosed location where they wait for their turn to be shot by some hero. And of course, the hero will want the head as a trophy, so the lion gets shot in the body, probably dying a slow and painful death.”
-▶ Animal advocacy NGO focused on exposing and closing down the canned lion hunting industry in South Africa.There are fewer than 4000 lions left in the ’wild’ in South Africa, but more than 8,000 in captivity, being bred for the bullet or the arrow. Lion farming is a real threat to wild lion prides, for many reasons. ... http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/campaign-against-canned-
The Independent, March 19, 2014
-▶ TIME TO END 'CANNED HUNTING'Canned hunts are nothing more than pre-packaged slaughters. Lions are confined to fenced areas so that they can easily be cornered, with no chance of escape. Most of them will have been bred in captivity and then taken from their mothers to be hand-reared by the cub-petting industry. When they get too big, they may be drugged before they are released into a "hunting" enclosure.
-▶ 500 CANNED HUNTING RANCHES IN TEXAS USA: ‘Exotic hunting’ thrives in Texas. A price list offers a huge choice of rare species charging up to $8,500 a kill. "It’s like picking a lobster out of a tank at a restaurant. It’s not sportsmanship, there’s no fair chase." ...Animals that appeared so tame they did not run away from hunters and even approached them apparently believing they would be fed...When they are shot...the animals usually die a slow and lingering death as hunters do not want to spoil their trophy by shooting them in the head.NOW THE ANIMAL CAMPAIGNERS ARE FIRING BACK AT THE COURTShttp://bigcatrescue.org/500-canned-hunting-ranches-in-tx/
This is not hunting. There ought to be a law against this. Shame on whoever thought up and runs this sick occupation. Shame on the pathetic individuals who condone this and those who actually call themselves 'hunters'. It's a rather sick joke! Animals have feelings too you know. Please show your disgust by supporting the Born Free Foundation and order My Funny Africa today.. or submit YOUR wildlife story here: http://greernoble.com/invitation---non-fiction.html
...HAS ANYONE ASKED THE QUESTION...WHAT HAPPENS TO HUMANS AND OTHER SPECIES SUCH AS AMPHIBIANS, BIRDS, FISH THAT GET BITTEN BY, OR INGEST THESE, GENETICALLY MODIFIED INSECTS? DO THEY, LIKE PIGS AND RATS, TAKE ON DNA DEFORMITIES AND STERILITY?
RT NEWS, January 31, 2016
GMO MOSQUITOES COULD BE CAUSE OF ZIKA OUTBREAK, CRITICS SAY
The latest contagious virus freaking out the globe, particularly women worried about birth defects, may have been caused by the presence of genetically-modified mosquitoes (GMMs) in Brazil.
With international health experts convening in Geneva to discuss possible cures for the Zika virus, questions are being raised as to whether they are actually to blame.
In mid-2012, British biotech company Oxitec released the super bugs with the aim of reducing the overall mosquito population that spreads dengue fever, the Zika virus, and chikungunya in northeast Brazil...
-▶ WAS ZIKA OUTBREAK CAUSED BY RELEASE OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED MOSQUITOES IN BRAZIL?
The Zika virus outbreak currently gripping the Americas could have been sparked by the release of genetically modified mosquitoes in 2012, critics say.
The Creation of Transgene Mosquitoes with Heritable Sex Distortion....Female offspring of transgenic male mosquitoes showed evidence of misrepair and copy number variation in the ribosomal gene cluster in their genome, suggesting chromosomal damage. There was also a significant female-biased sex ratio in the progeny of female survivors crossed to wild type males suggesting that loss of vitality occurred in individuals that had inherited only a damaged X chromosome from the transgenic female....
Reuters, January 26, 2015 -▶ DEADLY JAPANESE ENCEPHALITIS SURGES IN NORTHEAST INDIA,Cases of deadly mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis have risen nearly five-fold in five years in India's northeast Assam state as a result of warming weather and changing rainfall, health experts say http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/26/us-india-encephalitis-idUSKBN0KZ10L20150126
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WILL SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY BENEFIT OR THREATEN WILD THINGS?
Nature Journal, September 25, 2013 -▶ GENE TWEAKING FOR CONSERVATION? OR BILLION DOLLAR BONANZA FOR BIOTECH INDUSTRY PATENTING LIFE?
Note: The issue is posed as climate change, when in fact the issue is habitat loss, pollution, poaching and creating imbalance within our natural ecosystems...all man-made. Artificially altering our wildlife and nature will not change these basic essential facts that all life depends upon to survive... and the question arises "Who Will Own These Gene-Altered Animal Patents?" The patenting of seed to control global food and agriculture has shown us that we should not rush into this believing the biotech industry has the well-being of the planet at heart. http://www.nature.com/news/ecology-gene-tweaking-for-conservation-1.13790
BBC Environment, February 25, 2015 -▶ IS THE WORLD READY FOR GENETICALLY MODIFIED ANIMALS?The use of genetically engineered animals could revolutionise (for better or worse) whole areas of public health and agriculture, according to advocates. But is the world ready for modified mosquitoes and GM salmon? http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31604233
May 14, 2013 Food & Water Watch PDF download Full Report ++++BIOTECH AMBASSADORS: HOW THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT PROMOTES THE GLOBAL SEED INDUSTRIES AGENDA http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/05/14-2
THRU THE BACK DOOR: MEGA BIOTECH GIANTS USE NEW USA-EU TRADE DEAL TO DESTROY GMO SAFEGUARDS http://sco.lt/8E3Xsn
GENE GIANTS STOCKPILING PATENTS ON LIFE Nagoya, Japan -- Under the guise of developing “climate-ready” crops, the world’s largest seed and agrochemical corporations are filing hundreds of sweeping, multi-genome patents in a bid to control the world’s plant biomass, according to a report released by ETC Group http://www.etcgroup.org/fr/node/5220
FROM GROWING PROFIT TO GROWING FOOD: CHALLENGING CORPORATE RULE http://sco.lt/7Dg37p
THE NEXT GMO BIOTECH WAVE: EXTREME SYNTHETIC GENETICS: THE IMPLICATIONS. THE ETHICS http://sco.lt/6TyUmv
WHY DOES MONSANTO SUE FARMERS WHO SAVE SEEDS? OWNING THE SEEDS OF LIFE http://sco.lt/7xzzFJ
April 23, 2013 - The South African Civil Society Information Service
IS AFRICA ABOUT TO LOSE THE RIGHT TO HER SEED? Seed and the control of seed lies at the heart of agriculture. In Africa around 80% of seed comes from local and community saved seed resources. This seed is adapted to local conditions. It forms an integral part of community food security and agricultural integrity. This entire traditional system is now under threat.
A broad front of commercial interests, aided and abetted by the World Bank, the American Seed Association and government agencies, along with front groups, academics and so-called philanthropists, are endeavouring to alienate this crucial resource. The international seed industry, owned by massive multinational pesticide companies involved in promoting hybrid and genetically modified (GM) seed, is both a primary beneficiary and protagonist of this thrust. While the motivation is ostensibly to assist the development of African agriculture, the impacts will be widespread and dire. http://www.sacsis.org.za/site/article/1638
-▶ UNPRECEDENTED STUDY: BIOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY LOSS PAINTS DIRE PICTURE FOR FUTURE OF HUMAN SPECIES http://sco.lt/4m6nZJ
May 13, 2013 Mongabay
Even as concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hit 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time in human history last week, a new study in Nature Climate Change warns that thousands of the world's common species will suffer grave habitat loss under climate change... http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0513-hance-climate-habitat.html
▶ Tax evasion, kick-backs, bribery, and corruption all make appearances in a shocking new undercover video by Global Witness that shows how top individuals in the Sarawak government may be robbing the state of revenue for their own personal gain.... http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0320-hance-sarawak-video.html
WorldWire, March 17, 2014 ▶ 65,000 DEMAND THAT ABB CORPORATION WITHDRAW FROM SARAWAK.VIDEO uncovers top level corruption in Sarawak, Malaysia over indigenous forests AND dams http://sco.lt/6fd6C9 ABB is asked to act to conserve the rainforest and to contribute to the improvement of the human rights situation of the indigenous peoples affected by the Murum Dam.http://world-wire.com/2014/03/17/65000-demand-that-abb-withdraw-from-sarawak/
- ▶ PALM OIL COMPANIES IGNORING COMMUNITY RIGHTS, NEW STUDY SHOWS,Members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) are violating the rights of local communities in tropical forests and failing to live up to social and environmental commitmentshttp://news.mongabay.com/2013/1107-dparker-palm-oil-rights.html?n3ws1ttr
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- ▶ SUMATRAN RAINFORESTS RAVAGED WITH ALL LIFE WITHIN IT - FOR INVASIVE PALM OIL: WILDLIFE, ORANGUTANShttp://sco.lt/6Sdg13
May 23, 2013 YES Magazine ▶ MEET THE RAINFOREST-DWELLING MALAYSIAN FARMERS FIGHTING TO KEEP THEIR LAND ABOVE WATERThe dams would cost $105 BILLION, flood an area twice the size of LA, and force the relocation of tens of thousands of indigenous people. Against all the odds, the local forest-dwelling people are coming together and organizing in a way that’s unheard of in this part of the world... http://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/meet-malaysias-rainforest-dwelling-farmers-fighting-to-keep-their-land-above-water
WorldWire November 18, 2013 ▶ SWISS TECHNOLOGY GROUP URGED TO WITHDRAW FROM CONTROVERSIAL MALAYSIAN MEGA-DAM PROJECTS
The planned dam programme would displace tens of thousands of natives and submerge over 1600km2 of rainforest and farmland. ABB’s business partner Sarawak Energy, the Malaysian dam developer, has systematically violated the rights of the affected indigenous people.
▶ MALAYSIA: INDIGENOUS GROUPS PROTEST INT'L HYDROPOWER CONGRESS: A dozen mega-dams in the state threaten to flood traditional lands, force villages to move, and upend lives in the state. The Sarawak hydropower plans are some of the most controversial in the world—http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0522-hance-iha-congress-protests.html
- ▶ MINING, FOREIGN LAND GRABS ENDANGERING ENVIRONMENT, ECOSYSTEM AND LOCAL COMMUNITIEShttp://sco.lt/5M5eLp
▶ FOREIGN CORPORATIONS DESTROYING INDIGENOUS LIVELIHOODS, NULLIFYING LAND RIGHTS, CREATING DEPENDENCY AND POVERTY ON A GLOBAL SCALEhttp://sco.lt/9KW9wn
▶ LAND GRABS: HOW FOREIGN "INVESTMENTS" ARE REDISTRIBUTING WEALTH, LAND AND WATER ACROSS THE GLOBEhttp://sco.lt/96H2yv
▶ THE NEW CORPORATE COLONIALISM. DESTRUCTION OF PLANETARY LIFE, INDIGENOUS LAND AND LIVELIHOODS IN THE NAME OF "GROWTH" http://sco.lt/5nT3OT
June 17, 2013 Guardian Global Development - John Vidal ▶ LA VIA CAMPESINA, WORLD'S LARGEST POLITICAL MOVEMENT, TO CHALLENGE MULTI-NATIONALS ON POVERTY AND INEQUALITY, LAND GRABS AND DEFORESTATION
THIS IS INSANE - HAVE WE SURRENDERED TO THE RAPE AND PLUNDER OF OUR FORESTS FOR MULTI-NATIONAL CORPORATE GAIN?
----NO AMOUNT OF PROFIT JUSTIFIES THIS. IT IS NOT JUST ECOCIDE BUT A SUICIDAL PUSH FOR ALL SPECIES ON THE PLANET, INCLUDING HUMANS
April 6, 2013 - The Sun
THIS terrified orangutan clings tightly to the last tree after its forest home was destroyed by bulldozers. A scared baby gripping its mum's back and a heavily pregnant ape were also caught up in the horrific ordeal. They cowered up trees in part of the Borneo rainforest, which was brutally cleared to make way for a money-spinning palm oil plantation.
The starving apes were separately searching for food and had started eating bark as they hid. "They are weak from hunger and an increasingly desperate search for food. The only positive note is that, on this occasion, rather than chasing them away or killing them, the palm oil company did the right thing and contacted us so we could move them to a place of safety."...http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4876264/Orangutans-cling-on-to-last-remaining-tree.html
Sustainable Brands, September 11, 2014 ▶ INVESTORS PRESS PALM OIL PRODUCERS TO HALT DEFORESTATION. Institutional investors representing over half a trillion dollars in assets under management are calling on four major palm oil producers to adopt an immediate moratorium on deforestation and join the growing effort within the industry to establish traceable, deforestation-free palm oil supply chains. http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/supply_chain/mike_hower/investors_press_palm_oil_producers_halt_deforestation
▶ PALM OIL SUPPLY CHAIN STAKEHOLDERS - NEW WEBSITE
Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has launched a new web site that aims to provide information on more sustainable palm oil production to all stakeholders.
▶ PLATFORM FOR ALL STAKEHOLDERS IN THE "SUSTAINABLE" PALM OIL SUPPLY CHAINS, from upstream growers right through to downstream consumers. Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has launched a new web site that aims to provide information on more sustainable palm oil production to all stakeholders.http://www.sustainablepalmoil.org/
▶ PREGNANT ORANGUTAN CLINGS TO LAST TREE AS BULLDOZERS DESTROY RAINFOREST AROUND HER. Hundreds of apes are slaughtered every year with guns and machetes in the drive for profits.
PALM OIL COMPANIES IGNORING COMMUNITY RIGHTS, NEW STUDY SHOWS, Members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) are violating the rights of local communities in tropical forests and failing to live up to social and environmental commitmentshttp://news.mongabay.com/2013/1107-dparker-palm-oil-rights.html?n3ws1ttr
▶ GREENING THE WORLD WITH PALM OIL? SUSTAINABLE? CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY?http://sco.lt/8E8wCH
▶ CANADIAN MINING COMPANY TO STRIP INDONESIAN FOREST OF PROTECTED STATUShttp://sco.lt/8ZU6k5
------ THIS IS THE ISSUE ------
Sustainable Palm Oil Platform - One of the largest barriers to forest conservation is the basic economic motivation for oil palm developers and smallholders. It is a lot more profitable to convert (destroy) an area of forest into an oil palm plantation (killing all life within it) than to conserve the forest. Many goods and services produced by forests are limited to informal markets. This has always been the challenge. Right now, standing forests have limited market value so it is hard to put a value on forests. Palm Oil is a monocrop repetitive crop and the original destroyed biodiversity and ecosystem never returns.
We have forgetten that we require a natural, healthy, balanced biosphere for this planet to maintain itself and for all life to survive. All species are equal in their own right and play a crucial role in the great wholistic system. When we commodify life and put the quarterly bottom line above all else, we have set ourselves on a dark, downward trajectory path to extinction.
We should be putting our brilliant brains to work on ways to support and nature life, and creating an entirely new system for living on this planet that is in harmony with, and not at the expense of, that which supports us every minute of every day, -- Nature.
May 2, 2013 International Union for Conservation of Nature
European Union countries should step up their conservation efforts and fully implement the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 to prevent species from going extinct, according to a recent analysis of the European Red List coordinated by IUCN.... http://www.iucn.org/?uNewsID=12904
BATTLE FOR THE BEES: Europe to enforce world’s first continent-wide ban on insecticides harming bees and destroying ecosystems and wildlife http://sco.lt/8teSrB
▶ SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL SHOULD NOT DRIVE DEFORESTATION
If you’ve ever checked product labels or company websites from the brands you buy, you’ve probably come across references to “sustainable palm oil” but what exactly does that mean?
Palm oil, which is currently the world’s most used vegetable oil, is found in thousands of products we use every day. It’s not only used for cooking, but can also be found in everything from candy bars and cookies to cleaning products and shampoo and even fuel. But there is a flip side: palm oil production drives more tropical deforestation (a major contributor to climate change) than any other vegetable oil... “certified sustainable palm oil” can still drive tropical deforestation and still have an enormous carbon footprint.http://blog.ucsusa.org/sustainable-palm-oil-should-not-drive-deforestation/#.ULkM4IdbyMQ.twitter
Thousands and thousands of Orangutans have become "collateral" damage as a result of the corporate palm oil destruction of natural rainforests in which all life and biodiversity are lost as they ravage the terrain for the profits from the burgeoning demand of palm oil. Below is an indepth look at the terrible price we are paying in the rush by some corporations to destroy our forests for palm oil plantations
▶ PALM OIL GIANTS ANNOUNCE DEFORESTATION MORATORIUM - - Five of the world's largest palm oil producers have announced an immediate moratorium on palm oil sourced via clearance of potential high carbon stock forests. On Friday, Asian Agri, IOI Corporation Berhad, Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK) Berhad, Musim Mas Group and Sime Darby Plantation said they will suspend forest clearing until they have completed a year-along study that aims to establish a threshold for defining what constitutes high carbon stock (HCS) forest.http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0920-palm-oil-deforestation-moratorium.html
Inter Press Service, October 03, 2014 ▶ NEW GLOBAL DECLARATION "INSUFFICIENT" TO TACKLE DEFORESTATION. “The 2030 timeline would allow deforestation to continue for a decade and a half. By then the declaration could be self-fulfilling, as there might not be much forest left to save.” -- Susanne Breitkopf of Greenpeace http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/10/new-global-declaration-insufficient-to-tackle-deforestation/
Sustainable Brands, September 11, 2014 ▶ INVESTORS PRESS PALM OIL PRODUCERS TO HALT DEFORESTATION. Institutional investors representing over half a trillion dollars in assets under management are calling on four major palm oil producers to adopt an immediate moratorium on deforestation and join the growing effort within the industry to establish traceable, deforestation-free palm oil supply chains. http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/supply_chain/mike_hower/investors_press_palm_oil_producers_halt_deforestation
Mongabay, November 7, 2013 ▶ RSPO PALM OIL COMPANIES IGNORING COMMUNITY RIGHTS, NEW STUDY SHOWS,Members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) are violating the rights of local communities in tropical forests and failing to live up to social and environmental commitmentshttp://news.mongabay.com/2013/1107-dparker-palm-oil-rights.html?n3ws1ttr
▶ GLOBAL FAST FOOD AND PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS SHUN GREEN PALM OIL – A third of the top 30 global retailers of packaged food, fast food and personal care goods that use palm oil in their products have made no commitment to sourcing it sustainably, while only a fifth have made adequate promises, according to a scorecard issued by a U.S-based alliance of scientists and citizens.http://sustainability.thomsonreuters.com/2014/03/06/global-fast-food-chains-shun-green-palm-oil/
Sustainable Brands, October 31, 2014 - ▶ BUNGE JUMP INTO DEFORESTATION-FREE PALM OIL WITH A SPLASH.Bunge — an agribusiness and food ingredient company based out of White Plains, New York — indicated its intention to ensure the palm oil that it sources will be deforestation- and peat-free. Coming from one of the largest traders of palm oil in the world, Bunge’s announcement is significant for what it means for both the world climate and for ecosystems at risk due to palm oil production. But to me it also signifies that the status quo — palm oil that is linked with deforestation and peatland destruction — is a sinking ship that is increasingly risky to stay aboard.http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/supply_chain/lael_goodman/bunge_jumps_deforestation_free_palm_oil_splash
Ensia, November 03, 2014 ▶HOW DID PALM OIL BECOME SUCH A PROBLEM -- AND WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT? Production of this ubiquitous ingredient is devastating for the environment. Solutions are complex, but they are out there.
▶WORLD BANK AND UN REDD CARBON OFFSET SCHEME 'COMPLICIT' IN GENOCIDAL LAND GRABShttp://sco.lt/5IxW2j
Sustainable Brands, September 11, 2014 ▶ INVESTORS PRESS PALM OIL PRODUCERS TO "HALT" DEFORESTATION. Institutional investors representing over half a trillion dollars in assets under management are calling on four major palm oil producers to adopt an immediate moratorium on deforestation and join the growing effort within the industry to establish traceable, deforestation-free palm oil supply chains. http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/supply_chain/mike_hower/investors_press_palm_oil_producers_halt_deforestation
▶ MAJOR PALM OIL COMPANIES ACCUSED OF ECOCIDE, BREAKING ETHICAL PROMISES IN ASIA AND AFRICAhttp://sco.lt/8TkGjh
- ▶ SUMATRAN RAINFORESTS RAVAGED WITH ALL LIFE WITHIN IT - FOR INVASIVE PALM OILhttp://sco.lt/6Sdg13
100 Reporters, November 21, 2013 ▶ GLOBAL LAND GRAB: RAINFOREST VANISHING IN SHADY DEALS, REPORT SAYS.Spurred by increasing food prices and demand for biofuels in Europe and North America, one of the world’s largest rainforests in Papua New Guinea is quickly disappearing under a voracious land rush that has handed 12 percent of the country’s entire land area to foreign companies over the last decade, according to a new report.http://100r.org/2013/11/global-land-grab-rainforest-vanishing-in-shady-deals-report-says/
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▶ ECOCIDE: A PLAGUE OF DEFORESTATION SWEEPS ACROSS SOUTHEAST ASIA WITH TERRIBLE LOSS OF WILDLIFE AND BIODIVERSITYhttp://sco.lt/4lJ5ZR
WATCH
TED VIDEO
MAKING ECOCIDE AN INTERNATIONAL CRIME AGAINST PEACE
▶ INDONESIA: THE RAPE AND PILLAGE OF SUMATRAN TIGERS' LAST STRONGHOLDhttp://sco.lt/62jf3h
▶ DEFORESTATION AND EXTINCTION: CONFUSED KOALA DISCOVER HE HAS NOWHERE TO GO (PHOTOS)http://sco.lt/6BsWW1
▶ GMO FORESTS CREATE BIOLOGICAL DESERTS: MONSANTO GMO TREES COULD DEVASTATE FOREST ECOSYSTEMS: ERADICATING REAL FORESTS TO PLANT MONOCULTURE BIO-ENGINEERED TREES http://sco.lt/52lFDN
▶ BIOLOGICAL DESERTS: THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF THE GMO MONOCULTURE BIOFUEL AND PALM OIL INDUSTRY The mass clearing of trees for farmland disturbs the ecosystem of the rainforest by decimating rare and exotic flora and fauna. With the planting of a single crop plantation, the natural biodiversity of the rainforest is lost. The mono-crop culture that has long-plagued environmentalists in the west displaces or destroys most of the species in a single sitting, as they are unable to adapt to living within vast acres of a single crop. The environment, habitats and species that are destroyed have lived together since the dawn of the rainforest, and the damage caused by palm oil farming is irreversiblehttp://sco.lt/9AeHbN
“Some trees are being genetically engineered to contain the Bt toxin,” notes Anne Peterman of Stop GE Trees. “This could be a tremendous threat to forest ecosystem soils, in which beneficial fungi are a key component of the forest ecosystem.” http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=12-P13-00035&segmentID=1
Once again, no mention of how this would impact the regional ecosystem or biodiversity, or how the resulting chestnuts would affect the squirrels. Never enough disclosure or peer reviewed independent studies before forcing these genetically modified organisms on nature. Always the heart-tugging aspect of "saving the planet", not restoring it's original health. http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21577033-gm-species-may-soon-be-liberated-deliberately-wildwood
▶ PESTICIDES ARE KILLING OUR PLANET: DECIMATING POLLINATORS, DRAGONFLIES AND OTHER AQUATIC INSECTS - And YOU http://sco.lt/5XzNlx
▶ PESTICIDE/INSECTICIDE REGULATION OVERHAUL NEEDED TO PROTECT WILDLIFE, ECOSYSTEMS AND FOOD CHAINhttp://sco.lt/8NIKcT
▶ ERADICATING ECOCIDE: WHY BUSINESS LEADERS MUST STEP UP TO THE CHALLENGEhttp://sco.lt/56vkOH
Common Dreams
▶ LOOTING THE VERY FOUNDATIONS OF LIFE: CORPORATE FINANCIALIZATION OF NATURE A RECIPE FOR DISASTERhttp://sco.lt/4mAnuD
▶ GENE GIANTS STOCKPILING PATENTS ON LIFE Nagoya, Japan -- Under the guise of developing “climate-ready” crops, the world’s largest seed and agrochemical corporations are filing hundreds of sweeping, multi-genome patents in a bid to control the world’s plant biomass, according to a report released by ETC Grouphttp://www.etcgroup.org/fr/node/5220
▶ THE NEXT BIOTECH WAVE: EXTREME SYNTHETIC GENETICS. THE IMPLICATIONS AND ETHICShttp://sco.lt/6wiNhx
▶ PATENTING LIFE ITSELF - OUR 21ST CENTURY FACTORY OF LIFE: RE-ENGINEERING, PROGRAMMING - IS BIOTECH OUT OF CONTROL? http://sco.lt/7mNce
PlanetSave, February 05, 2015 THE TROUBLE WITH MANGROVES.
For instance, the development of Miami Beach, once a mangrove island off the coast of Florida, turned it into a fabulous coastal resort. We’re only beginning to find out that in the long run, indiscriminate decimation of coastal forests has a hand in shifting the very climate that created them.http://planetsave.com/2015/02/05/trouble-mangroves-video/
The National, December 22, 2014 ▶ MIDDLE EAST : THE LUNGS OF ABU DHABI: A BILLION-DOLLAR ECOSYSTEM. Globally, mangroves are being cleared three to five times faster than terrestrial forests, and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that the destruction costs $42bn in economic damages annually.http://www.thenational.ae/business/economy/the-lungs-of-abu-dhabi-a-billion-dollar-ecosystem#full
ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) December 12, 2014 ▶ OIL SPILL THREATENS RARE DOLPHINS IN BANGLADESH'S SUNDARBANS REGION, OFFICIALS WARN. Thousands of litres of oil spilled into the protected Sundarbans mangrove area, home to rare Irrawaddy and Ganges dolphins. Bangladeshi fishermen using sponges and sacks have begun cleaning up a huge oil spill in a protected area that is home to the world's largest mangrove foresthttp://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-12/catastrophic-oil-spill-in-bangladesh/5963450
VIDEO REPORT
France24 TV Web News, December 16, 2014 ▶OIL SPILL IN BANGLADESH'S SPARKS ONLINE CONTROVERSY A week after the collision between an oil tanker and a cargo vessel in the Sundarbans region in Bangladesh and the authorities are struggling to control the oil spill that is spreading to waterways across the world`s largest mangrove forest. The alarming situation has received widespread commentary online. http://www.france24.com/en/20141216-oil-spill-in-bangladesh-sparks-online-controversy/
Guardian Environment, January 29, 2013
-▶ TIGERS UNDER THREAT FROM RAPIDLY DISAPPEARING SUNDARBANS MANGROVE FOREST. A vast mangrove forest shared by India and Bangladesh that is home to possibly 500 Bengal tigers is being rapidly destroyed by erosion, rising sea levels and storm surges, according to a major study by researchers at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and others....http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/29/sunderbans-disappearing-mangrove-india-bangladesh
Phys.Org, September 29, 2014 ▶ TIME FOR WORLDWIDE FUND TO SAVE MANGROVES: UNEP - More than a quarter of the world's mangroves have already been lost, and the current rate of destruction is more than triple that of land forests
Mongabay, ▶ MANGROVES PROTECT COASTAL AREAS AGAINST STORM DAMAGE . Mangroves reduce wave height by as much as 66 percent over 100 meters of forest providing a vital buffer against the impacts of storms, tsunamis, and hurricanes, according to a new report published by The Nature Conservancy and Wetlands International...http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0907-mangroves-wave-protection.html
UNESCO, February 22, 2012 -▶ MARINE SCIENTIST ALARMED ABOUT INCREASING THREAT TO OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS. In the last 30 years, coastal resources such as mangroves, coral reefs and fishery resources have become depleted on a large scale. For example, more than 60 per cent of Asia’s mangroves have already been converted to aquaculture farms (ESCAP and ADB, 2000). The region is losing its resource bases to support people’s livelihoods and sustain future economic development. http://www.unescobkk.org/news/article/marine-scientists-alarmed-about-increasing-threats-to-ocean-ecosystems/
VIDEO THE BEAUTY OF MANGROVE FORESTS (2:00) A Very Short Film About the beauty and Importance of Manrove ForestsThe Beauty of Mangrovehttp://vimeo.com/57894590
World Environment News, November 15, 2012 ▶ MANGROVES UNDER THREAT FROM SHRIMP FARMS - U.N.http://planetark.org/wen/67139
WATCH QuestScience WETLANDS TIME MACHINE More than 100,000 acres of wetlands are being restored in the Bay Area, but how exactly do we know what to restore them to? QUEST discovers how historical ecologists are recreating San Francisco Bay wetlands that existed decades ago. http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/wetlands-time-machine/
2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of “Born Free” – a book and then a film that changed forever the way we think about wildlife. What has happened to lions since this story? What has happened to the people featured in the film? And what has “Born Free” taught us?... http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/elsas-legacy-the-born-free-story/full-episode/6200/
I met Joy and George Adamson when they visited our old family hotel on the shores of Lake Kariba.. and now my new title My Funny Africa supports the Born Free Foundations. See how you can help too.. all it will cost is a little of your time.. to find out how and to get your FREE copy CLICK HERE>>>
May, 16, 2013 Guardian Environment - Nafeez Ahmed:
US National Strategy for the Arctic Region prioritises corporate 'economic opportunities' at the expense of everyone else..
At the heart of the White House's new Arctic strategy is an elementary but devastating contradiction between what President Obama, in the document's preamble, describes as seeking "to make the most of the emerging economic opportunities in the region" due to the rapid loss of Arctic summer sea ice, and recognising "the need to protect and conserve this unique, valuable, and changing environment."... http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/earth-insight/2013/may/17/obama-arctic-energy-security-climate
August 3, 2013 Global Possibilities THE CLIMATE TIME BOMB THAT WILL COST US $60 TRILLION: Obama in the US, and Harper in Canada, are turning North America into a petro–imperial and petro–despot continent. This doesn’t bode well for solving the climate crisis... http://www.globalpossibilities.org/the-climate-time-bomb-that-will-cost-us-60-trillion/
NEW CHARGES AGAINST MONSANTO'S "PESTICIDE" ROUNDUP (NEEDED FOR GMO CROPS) - THE ULTIMATE KILLING MACHINE http://sco.lt/5bdPhx
Michael Pollan: "Don't miss this VIDEO, about the next wave of herbicide-tolerant crops from Monsanto-- will make Round-Up look benign" VIDEO: DANGERS OF DICAMBA http://www.fixfood.org/features/276/dangers-of-dicamba
USA TO START 'TRADE WARS' WITH NATIONS OPPOSED TO MONSANTO, GMO CROPS http://sco.lt/52rirp
THRU THE BACK DOOR: MEGA BIOTECH GIANTS USE NEW USA-EU TRADE DEAL TO DESTROY GMO SAFEGUARDS | http://sco.lt/8E3Xsn
March 21, 2013
US GOVERNMENT FUNDING BILL STRIPS FEDERAL COURTS OF THEIR POWER TO RULE OVER BIOTECH INDUSTRY AND GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD AND ANIMALS http://sco.lt/6kO2Xh
March 14, 2013 NEW US GOVT "MONSANTO PROTECTION ACT" CONFIRMS MONSANTO POWER OVER US GOVERNMENT http://ow.ly/iXRqG
The BRAI Bill overrides states’ authority over agriculture and health. It envisages only an advisory role for the states in the form of a state biotechnology regulatory advisory committee. The committee has no powers to enable the state to take any decision on introduction of modern biotechnology...http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/stage-set-gm-crops
GMO GENE GIANTS STOCKPILING PATENTS ON LIFE Nagoya, Japan -- Under the guise of developing “climate-ready” crops, the world’s largest seed and agrochemical corporations are filing hundreds of sweeping, multi-genome patents in a bid to control the world’s plant biomass, according to a report released by ETC Group http://www.etcgroup.org/fr/node/5220
UN-FAO: "GMOs IN THE PIPELINE. LOOKING TO THE NEXT FIVE YEARS INi the crop, forestry, livestock, aquaculture and agro-industry sectors in developing countries" http://www.fao.org/biotech/biotech-forum/en/
-------------------------------- YOUR HEALTH ---------------------------------
WAKE UP AND SMELL THE GMOs - A MOTHER'S VOICE SPEAKS OUT ON CORPORATE BETRAYAL OF TRUST - Tracy Madlener http://sco.lt/9Dv6VF
>>>EXCELLENT READ: "GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS: PROMISES, PERILS, AND THE NEED FOR PUBLIC POLICY" - This booklet will be helpful for understanding biotechnology issues and for guidance on engaging these issues at the level of public policy for the common good. - (QuakerBooks US$9.00) http://www.quakerbooks.org/genetically_modified_crops.php
Visitors to this site and particularly those facing these particular challenges need to study this post more than once. Please share it with your friends.
-▶ THE UNKNOWN ECOLOGY IMPACTS OF THE UNINFORMED MESSING WITH NATURE Friends of the Earth and the ETC Group told the New York Times they expect this to create a “widespread, random and uncontrolled release of bioengineered seeds and plants produced through the controversial and risky techniques of synthetic biology.” Glowing Plants want to publicize a do-it-yourself approach to synthetic biology to “inspire others to create new living things.” VERY DANGEROUS
pdjmoo comment: Nature is not a toy, nor a piggybank for we humans to experiment upon her at will for profit. She is an intricate system of symbiotic relationships that has evolved over the Millennium. Science does not know enough to begin tinkering with its genes and the impact this will have on both environmental and human health. In this case Cross-pollination, human allergies, impacts on birds, bee and other insects interacting with these bioengineered ecosystems. It just amazes me that we don't even ask the basic question" What is Synthetic Biology?" To sing the praises of such an untested, unregulated manipulation of nature without asking some serious questions of how it may impact the greater biosphere, which we humans depend upon for survival, is not just folly, but ignorant, irresponsible and dangerous. EXTREME SYNTHETIC GENETICS. A GRAND EXPERIMENT ON HUMANITY: THE IMPLICATION, THE ETHICS http://sco.lt/6fApV3
This Has Major Implications if interbreeding takes place (accidentally) with natural animals and systems (eg throwing the plant outside into garbage or planting it). Just Because We Can, Does Not Give us the Moral or Ethical Right to let these loose into our biosphere or consumer markets.
May 7, 2014 New York Times -▶ A DREAM OF GLOWING TREES IS ASSAILED FOR GENE-TINKERING
BBC News, September 07, 2014 -▶ WHY DOZENS OF INDIA'S ASIATIC LIONS ARE DYING. Is the last abode of the Asiatic lion turning into a death trap for the big cat? Gir in India's Gujarat state is home to Asiatic lions and has seen 256 lions dying in the past five years. Experts say their population is at risk with the big cats making new homes in human settlements.http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-29009234
Mongabay, August 04, 2014 -▶ WHERE HAVE ALL THE BIG ANIMALS GONE? INDIAN PARK DEVOID OF MANY SPECIES, FURTHER THREATENED BY FOREST LOSS
Everything is interconnected. Common sense tells us that if it impacts the health of our natural world and its incredible and intricate web of life it is impacting we humans, for we depend upon a healthy natural world for our own health and wellbeing. Nature is the key. To restore human health, we must restore Nature's health returning to the natural demands of our environment that it needs to maintain balance and wellbeing. The old industrial, military complex mindset has led us to this brink of planetary ecocide and we must find a new way of living on this glorious planet for the sake of all living species.
Rivers in India, especially the Ganga, Yamuna and Brahmaputra all carry a potent spiritual significance. Not only are these water way responsible for sustenance, they are also believed to be living goddesses blessing the land with their bounties. Immersing one’s ashes in the Ganga is said to free you from the karmic cycle of rebirth. Sadly however, most of India’s numerous rivers are heavily polluted with effluents and toxic waste from industries. Although the government has been spending heavily in the cleanup of water ways, there is not much to show for it. One such tragic story in that of the Yamuna – .... http://focusingonwildlife.com/news/rivers-or-grave-yards-the-woes-of-the-indian-gharial-and-gangetic-dolphin-in-the-yamuna-river/
In what green campaigners in Brussels described as a ‘Eureka moment’IThe European Union adopted a new strategy yesterday (6 May) aimed at promoting green infrastructure, and putting natural processes at the heart of its spatial planning...
EU money will now encourage green solutions to infrastructure problems, such as allowing natural wetlands to absorb excess water from heavy rain, instead of building concrete flood protection infrastructure.
"Building green infrastructure is often a good investment for nature, for the economy and for jobs,” Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik said. “We should provide society with solutions that work with nature instead of against it, where that makes economic and environmental sense.”
-▶ THE DAWN CHORUS IS DYING OUT AS BIRD NUMBERS DECREASE AT ALARMING RATE ANYONE awakened by bird song this morning should cherish the moment.... While town birds are increasing the decibels to compete with urban noise, the countryside is slipping slowly towards an eerie silence.
MIGRATING BIRDS BEING MASSACRED BY THE MILLIONS AROUND THE WORLDhttp://sco.lt/6pozuT
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National Geographic, October 3, 2013 -▶ CAN LONG-DISTANCE MIGRATING SHOREBIRD SURVIVE.Rufa red knot faces depletion of its food sources and its Arctic breeding grounds. Twice a year, the rufa red knot performs one of the planet's most amazing migrations. After wintering in the southern reaches of Argentina and Chile, the red knot will fly roughly 9,300 miles (15,000 kilometers) north, eventually reaching the Canadian Arctic for a summer of mating and breeding. Come fall, it will return south, this robin-size bird with a mere 20-inch (51-centimeter) wingspan flying without rest for stretches of up to 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers)http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/10/131003-rufa-red-knot-threatened-endangered-migrating-birds/#close-modal
▶ EUROPE'S VULTURES UNDER THREAT FROM DRUG THAT KILLED TENS OF MILLIONS OF BIRDS IN ASIA.After an ecological disaster in India, wildlife groups call for ban on vets using diclofenac in Italy and Spain. Wildlife groups have launched a Europe-wide campaign to outlaw a newly approved veterinary drug that has caused the deaths of tens of millions of vultures in Asia. They say that the decision to allow diclofenac to be used in Spain and Italy not only threatens to wipe out Europe's vultures but could harm other related species, including the golden eagle and the Spanish imperial eagle, one of the world's rarest raptors.http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/07/european-vultures-threat-diclofenac-vets-spain-italy
July 30, 2013 Focusing on Wildlife
-▶ THE U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE HAS ISSUED A PERMIT TO THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE TO KILL OVER 90 SPECIESOF BIRDSwithin New York State this year, ANIMAL has learned. The birds slated for killing include owls, herons, hawks, and woodpeckers, in addition to the slaughter of Canada geese that has been widely publicized... http://focusingonwildlife.com/news/dozens-of-bird-species-could-be-slaughtered-in-new-york/
Guardian Environment, July 09, 2014 -▶ CRIMINAL: NEONICOTINOID AGRICULTURAL INSECTICIDES, DESTROYING ECOSYSTEMS, BIODIVERSITY AND YOUR HEALTH - LINKED TO RECENT FALL IN FARMLAND BIRD NUMBERS.Peer-Reviewed Research, published in the leading journal Nature has revealed pervasive pollution by these nerve agents now threatening all food production.http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/09/neonicotinoids-farmland-birds
-▶ PESTICIDE REGULATION OVERHAUL NEEDED TO PROTECT WILDLIFE FROM PESTICIDES. The National Research Council today issued a report finding that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must do more to ensure that pesticides do not harm threatened and endangered fish and wildlife.
Among the report's, Assessing Risks to Endangered and Threatened Species from Pesticides recommendations are that EPA more broadly account for pesticides’ direct and indirect harm to wildlife—including harm that is not immediately lethal, and impacts to food supply and habitat—and better consider the combined effects of exposure to multiple pesticides mixing in the environment....
Summit County Citizens Voice, March 01, 2015 -▶ NEW GLOBAL MAP IDs PESTICIDE POLLUTION HOT SPOTS. The world has a long way to go to come to grips with pesticide pollution say scientists who recently created a global map showing which areas are most susceptible.Their modeling suggests that streams across about 40 percent of the planet’s surface are at risk from the application of insecticides, with the Mediterranean region, the USA, Central America and Southeast Asia among the hotspots...On average, farmers apply about 4 million tons of agricultural pesticides annually,...We know from earlier investigations for example that pesticides can reduce the biodiversity of invertebrates in freshwater ecosystems by up to 42 percent...
Guardian Environment, February 03 2015 -▶ 'SUPPRESSED' EU REPORT COULD HAVE BANNED 31 HARMFUL HORMONE-DISRUPTING CHEMICALS/PESTICIDES WORTH BILLIONS, UNDER PRESSURE FROM BIG CHEMICAL FIRMS
Summit County Citizens Voice, February 09, 2015 -▶ LAWSUIT HIGHLIGHTS HERBICIDE/PESTICIDE 'DEATH SPIRAL" .Hoping to forestall a DDT-type disaster, environmental groups and farmers last week moved to block the EPA’s approval of a new herbicide that could threaten endangered species and human healthhttp://summitcountyvoice.com/2015/02/09/environment-lawsuit-highlights-herbicide-death-spiral/
Summit Voice, September 17, 2014 PESTICIDE POLLUTION RISING IN URBAN STREAMS AND RIVERS.Streams in agricultural areas are polluted at about the same level as they were 1990s, but pesticide pollution is increasing in urban streams, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study spanning about 20 years. A huge number of rivers and streams around the country are still polluted with pesticides that can kill bugs and other aquatic organisms at the base of the food chainhttp://summitcountyvoice.com/2014/09/17/environment-pesticide-pollution-rising-in-urban-streams/
▶ IT'S TIME THE PESTICIDE/CHEMICAL INDUSTRY OWNED UP: THE WORLD'S MOST POPULAR PESTICIDES ARE CAUSING AN ECOLOGICAL CATASTROPHEhttp://sco.lt/7qvjPt
March 29, 2013 EWG Environmental Working Group ▶ A LOOPHOLE FOR PESTICIDES PUTS PUBLIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AT RISK - the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved roughly 11,000 pesticides, with little or no safety tests, intended for use in agriculture, inside homes, on lawns, in hand soaps, on clothing and other consumer goods, according to a multi-year investigation by the Natural Resources Defense Council.http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2013/03/loophole-pesticides-risks-public-health
▶ THE CHILD VICTIMS OF AGRICULTURAL PESTICIDE POISONING - PESTICIDE INDUSTRY DISMISSIVEhttp://sco.lt/8KO8GH
Environmental Health News, September 02, 2014
▶ TOXIC GULLS: QUEBEC'S CONTAMINATED BIRD COLONY OFFERS CLUE ABOUT FLAME RETARDANTS Flame retardants are the 21st century’s PCBs, and Great Lakes birds still are the victims. These chemicals in the gulls of Deslauriers Island off Montreal are altering their hormones. In kestrels, they are causing aggressive behavior.http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2014/aug/wingedwarnings5flame-retardants
PESTICIDES ARE KILLING OUR PLANET:
DECIMATING POLLINATORS, DRAGONFLIES AND AQUATIC INSECTS -- AND YOUhttp://sco.lt/7kLGj3
The Ecologist, July 02, 2014 -▶ NEONICOTINOIDS ARE POISONING NOT JUST BEES AND HUMANS BUT ENTIRE FARMLAND ECOSYSTEMSThe world's most widely used insecticides have contaminated the environment across the planet so pervasively that global food production is at risk, according to a comprehensive scientific assessment of the chemicals' impacts.http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2459001/neonicotoids_are_poisoning_entire_farmland_ecosystems.html
▶ PHARMACEUTICAL, ANTIBIOTIC, CHEMICAL, PESTICIDE POLLUTION IN OUR STREAMS, RIVERS AND DRINKING WATERhttp://sco.lt/6c3dcf
Ag Professional, August 01, 2014
-▶ CHINA ADOPTS STRICTER PESTICIDE RESIDUE STANDARD.The new standard includes 3,650 indices detailing the maximum allowable residue for 387 pesticides on 284 types of food, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Health and Family Planning Commission, which jointly issued the standard. Compared with the current standard that took effect in 2012, the new standard contains 1,357 new indices covering 65 new pesticides and 43 new types of food. The standard covers vegetables, fruits, grain, edible oil, sugar, soft drinks, nuts, eggs and meat. It includes juice and preserved fruits for the first time.http://www.agprofessional.com/news/China-adopts-stricter-pesticide-residue-standard-269591991.html
WATCH Link TV (27:17) UNSAFE: THE TRUTH BEHIND EVERYDAY CHEMICALS They contribute to disease and are linked to conditions such as asthma, autism, ADHD, diabetes, cancers, infertility, cognitive disorders, obesity, reproductive disorders and birth defects. Earth Focus looks at endocrine disruptors, ubiquitous chemicals that affect development, metabolism, fertility and intelligence at extremely low doses and at what measures could be taken to better ensure public safety. http://www.linktv.org/video/9214/unsafe-the-truth-behind-everyday-chemicals
-▶ FRACKING SECRETS BY THE THOUSANDS KEEPS U.S. CLUELESS ON WELLS, LEAVING TOXIC CHEMICAL MINEFIELD IN THEIR WAKE - FOR TAX PAYER CLEAN UPhttp://sco.lt/8JGKy9
April 23, 2013 Chicago Tribune
▶ FEDERAL LAW MAKES IT PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO BAN HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS - The 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, the only major environmental law that hasn't been updated since it was enacted, allows chemical manufacturers to skip evaluating the safety of their products before putting them on the market. http://www.scoop.it/t/agriculture-gmos-pesticides?q=chemicals+in+your+body/
Al Jazeera America, June 27, 2014
▶ WHY 28 YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE THE EPA'S LAST CHEMICAL RISK REVIEW. Tens of thousands of chemicals have not been reviewed by the EPA, and people are starting to ask questions
▶ PESTICIDES IN EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE ARE WEAKENING AS INSECTS ADAPT The Colorado potato beetle is a survival expert, developing resistance to just about every pesticide growers adopt. Even the neonicotinoids that provided an astonishingly long 16-year respite are now showing signs of weakness.... http://ganaderiamexico.blogspot.com/2012/01/adopt-resistance-management-to-save.html
April 11, 2012 Climate Central ▶ NATURAL PESTICIDES: LADYBUG, LADYBUG, FLY AWAY HOME -Climate Change could be disasterous for Ladybugs. They are important because THEY ARE A NATURAL PESTICIDE, controlling insect crop pests like aphids, moths, mealybugs and caterpillars.http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/image-of-the-day-ladybug-ladybug-fly-away-home1
▶ UN CONFERENCE TAKES HISTORIC STRIDES TO STRENGTHEN CHEMICAL SAFETY GLOBALLY.FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said that in many countries intensive crop production has depleted agriculture's natural resource base, jeopardizing future productivity. "To fight hunger and eradicate poverty, we will need to find more sustainable ways to produce 60 percent more food by 2050," he said. However, he recognized that chemical pesticides would continue to be part of farming in many parts of the world in future. ...http://www.unep.org/newscentre/default.aspx?DocumentID=2716&ArticleID=9501&l=en
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WHAT'S KILLING THE BEES? --
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SILENCING THE SCIENTIST TARGETED BY HERBICIDE FIRM SYNGENTA - "ALTRAZINE" http://sco.lt/8VIcAz
▶ PESTICIDE LOBBY SPENDS MILLIONS TO DEFEND CHEMICALS TIED TO BEE AND HUMAN HEALTHhttp://sco.lt/8nhcsT
▶ BEE-KILLING CHEMICALS LURK INSIDE YOUR FOOD: AGROCHEMICALS THREAT TO WILD BEES, FOOD SECURITY AND BIODIVERSITYhttp://sco.lt/8mGvg1
▶ PESTICIDES, CHEMICALS NOW SO WIDESPREAD IN ENVIRONMENT DISRUPTING BRAIN FUNCTION IN BEES (AND US)http://sco.lt/7PcIeP
BATTLE FOR THE BEES
Dying Bees Raise Alarm For Humans - Europe Bans Pesticide
TREE HEALTH, FOREST HEALTH LINKED WITH HUMAN HEALTH - OUR INTERCONNECTED LIVES http://sco.lt/85WZ2v
June 17, 2013 Guardian Global Development - John Vidal LA VIA CAMPESINA, WORLD'S LARGEST POLITICAL MOVEMENT, TO CHALLENGE MULTI-NATIONALS ON POVERTY AND INEQUALITY, LAND GRABS AND DEFORESTATION
Zainab Kamara is one of several thousand farmers in Sierra Leone whose lands have been taken over by the Swiss company Addax Bioenergy for a 10,000 hectare sugar cane plantation to produce ethanol for export to Europe. "Now I don’t have a farm. Starvation is killing people. We have to buy rice to survive because we don't grow our own now," she says.1 In neighbouring Guinea, peasants are trying to understand how their government could have possibly signed off 700,000 ha of their lands to an Italian company to grow jatropha for biodiesel.2... http://www.grain.org/article/entries/4653-land-grabbing-for-biofuels-must-stop
Environmental News Network, September 11, 2014 ▶ ILLEGAL LAND CLEARING FOR COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE RESPONSIBLE FOR HALF OF TROPICAL DEFORESTATION. A comprehensive new analysis says that nearly half (49%) of all recent tropical deforestation is the result of illegal clearing for commercial agriculture. The study also finds that the majority of this illegal destruction was driven by overseas demand for agricultural commodities including palm oil, beef, soy, and wood products. In addition to devastating impacts on forest-dependent people and biodiversity, the illegal conversion of tropical forests for commercial agriculture is estimated to produce 1.47 gigatonnes of carbon each year—equivalent to 25% of the EU's annual fossil fuel-based emissions.http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/47822
▶ CROP-BASED BIOFUELS IS UNSUSTAINABLE. GROWING PALM OIL COULD SPEED UP CLIMATE CHANGE , WHILE DEVASTATING BIODIVERSITY AND NATURAL ECOSYSTEMShttp://planetark.org/wen/67793
June 17, 2013 Guardian Global Development - John Vidal ▶ LA VIA CAMPESINA, WORLD'S LARGEST POLITICAL MOVEMENT, TO CHALLENGE MULTI-NATIONALS ON POVERTY AND INEQUALITY, LAND GRABS AND DEFORESTATION
▶ BIOFUELS: BIODIESEL BOOST FOR PALM OIL INDUSTRY - THE CORPORATE RACE FOR PROFITS, DESTROYING FORESTS AND ECOSYSTEMS AS THEY GO http://www.thesundaily.my/news/605492
▶ “SUSTAINABLE” BIOFUELS AND PALM OIL SHOULD NOT DRIVE DEFORESTATIONhttp://sco.lt/7N5vU1
▶ REPLACING NATURAL FOREST SYSTEM WITH GENETICALLY MODIFIED TREES LEAVES BIOLOGICAL DESERTS: MONSANTO GMO TREES COULD DEVASTATE FOREST ECOSYSTEMShttp://sco.lt/52lFDN
FOOD OR FUEL? THE PROBLEM WITH BIOFUELS, AGROFUELS, BIODIESEL:
No Matter which way you cut the case the idea of biofuels, although glowing, is not "sustainable" and is tied to big profits in commodity trading, agriculture and the devastating global landgrabbing.
Nature requires a balanced, biodiverse ecosystem in order to maintain her balance and support for all life on this planet.
Monoculture crops destroy biodiversity with it's genetically engineered gene-altering technology that requires lashings and lashings of pesticides and chemicals to produce, creating a sterile environment where no life but the crop can survive.
The land grab issue is of deep concern, for once you own the land you can do what you want with it, including redirecting water rights and poisoning the soil (and water). The end result: the local environment, biodiversity and ecosystems (including animal life) is disappeared, leaving a barren rotating, monoculture crop designed for export.
This type of thinking destroys cultures, local communities and our biosphere contributing to climate change, more poverty, higher food prices and fueling the commodity markets for profit and quarterly bottom lines.
So let's rethink what we are doing with the rush for more biofuels.
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We will have enough trouble repairing the centuries of accumulated damage to the environment (to the extent we can) without simultaneously creating more. No matter what, we need to shut down the entire fossil fuel industry as soon as possible, as fast as feasible.