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Showing posts from December, 2018

Emissions impossible

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Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy A confined animal feeding operation in the U.S. Photo by the E.P.A. How big meat and dairy are heating up the planet. Story here. RELATED: "In Hogs We Trust -  Part 1V - The health and environmental costs of an expanded hog industry in Manitoba, Canada."

Fort St. John, B.C. earthquakes were caused by fracking: BC Oil and Gas Commission

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CTV News B.C's Oil & Gas Commission (OGC) has concluded that three earthquakes in the area around Fort. St. John at the end of November were caused by hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations.          Details here. A fracking operation in New York State. Photo by US Geological Survey. Please also read my story from 2015: Is the "Dubious Duo" of Fracking & Earthquakes More Common in Canada Than we Know? PinP Wonders.    l.p.

Industrial farms in Britain receive millions in subsidies

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The Guardian The Guardian and Bureau of Investigative Journalism establish that intensive farms in the UK received nearly £70m in two years. Details here. Dead pigs in a dumpster outside a Manitoba factory farm await  removal to an unknown destination.  A PinP photo. Please read related:  "In Hogs We Trust - Part 11  -   The price Manitobans pay for corporate pig$."  

Farm workers sicken as Trump slashes regulations meant to protect them.

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New York Times Ordinary people suffer because of Trump's deference to powerful interests. Details here. RELATED:  Manitoba Family Believes it was Poisoned by Crop Spray  (like the one referred to in the Times story) Watch video here from Sept. 2006..

Why I’m looking forward to my first vegan Christmas

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The Guardian Damian Carrington   I won’t be eating turkey this year because of meat’s environmental impact. More here. A turkey farm in Missouri. Photo by  Billy Hathorn .

As Polar Bear Attacks Increase in a Warming Arctic, a Search for Solutions

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Yale Environment 360 An almost ice-free Northwest Passage, Aug. 2016. Photo by NASA. With sea ice reduced, polar bears in the Arctic are spending more time on land, leading to increased attacks on people. Concerned Inuit communities want to increase hunting quotas, but researchers are testing new technologies they hope will reduce these often deadly confrontations. Details here.

Chickens freezing to death and boiled alive: failings in US slaughterhouses exposed

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The Guardian. Chickens slowly freezing to death, being boiled alive, drowned or suffocating under piles of other birds are among hundreds of shocking welfare incidents recorded at US slaughterhouses, according to previously unpublished reports. Story here. An American broiler (meat) chicken house. USDA photo by Joe Valbuena.

Private research funders court controversy with billions in secretive investments

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Science Magazine Cruise ships often burn bunker fuel, the very kind warned about in this story. A Wikimedia image. A few years ago, scientists funded by the Wellcome Trust, one of the world's wealthiest private philanthropies, published sobering findings about the deadly effects of air pollution. In a long-term study of elderly residents of Hong Kong, China, those exposed to higher levels of smog—especially tiny particles of soot produced by burning fossil fuels—were more likely to die of cancer than people who breathed cleaner air. Details here. RELATED: Please read my blog-story,  "How Ethical Are Ethical Funds? Conscientious investments and the tar sands connection"   l.p. by Larry Powell

US and Russia ally with Saudi Arabia to water down climate pledge

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The Guardian Move shocks delegates at UN conference as ministers fly in for final week of climate talks.  More here

DDT in Alaska meltwater poses cancer risk for people who eat lots of fish

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Science Today -  University of Maine Mt. Jarvis, Alaska. Photo by R. McGimsey, U.S. Geological Survey Children in Alaska whose diet includes a lot of fish from rivers fed by the Eastern Alaska Mountain Range may have a long-term elevated risk for cancer because of insecticides -- including DDT -- in the meltwater. Story here. RELATED: " Research Suggests Our Past, Prolific Use Of The Insecticide DDT May Still Be Contributing To A Scourge Of Modern-Day Diseases Related To Obesity.  -  Is a world-wide ban now the only ethical thing to do?"

Greenland ice sheet melt 'off the charts' compared with past four centuries

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PHY ORG An aerial shot of mountains in Greenland. 2006. Photo by  TĆŗrelio . Surface melting across Greenland's mile-thick ice sheet began increasing in the mid-19th century and then ramped up dramatically during the 20th and early 21st centuries, showing no signs of abating, according to… More here.

Modern slavery promotes overfishing

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More details here.

Adaptation, speciation and extinction in the Anthropocene

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B An Oxfam photo. Humans have dramatically altered the planet over the course of a century, from the acidity of our oceans to the fragmentation of our landscapes and the temperature of our climate. More here.

Snowpack declines may stunt tree growth and forests' ability to store carbon emissions

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ScienceNews Hoar frost coats trees of the boreal forest in Manitoba, Canada.  A PinP photo. Researchers conducting a 5-year-long study examining snow cover in a northern hardwood forest region found that projected changes in climate could lead to a 95 percent reduction of deep-insulating snowpack in forest areas across the northeastern United States by the end of the 21st century. The loss of snowpack would likely result in a steep reduction of forests' ability to store climate-changing carbon dioxide and filter pollutants from the air and water. Story here.

The world needs more kids like this! (Video - PLEASE WATCH)

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