Carbon emissions up as Trump rolls back climate change work

The Guardian

A coal plant in Wisconsin. US Geological Survey.

Last year’s 3.4% jump in emissions is the largest since 2010 recession and second largest gain in more than two decades. More here.

Could genetic modification be about to give a boost to the war on hunger?

by Larry Powell

A vegetable garden in Manitoba. A PinP photo.

American researchers believe they've found a way to genetically-engineer a dramatic increase in crop production. They've conducted field experiments with tobacco, using a new method which makes the critical process of photosynthesis much more efficient. (Tobacco was chosen because it's easy to modify and test. The same methods are now being tested on other crops including soybean, potato and tomato.) 

Photosynthesis allows plants to convert sunlight into energy and help them grow, increasing crop yield.

To do this, most plants use the world's most plentiful enzyme, Rubisco, to capture carbon dioxide from the air and expel oxygen. But in a strange twist of nature, Rubisco captures more oxygen than it should. This produces a toxic compound in the plant which requires a lot of energy to get rid of.

It could take more than a decade before this new technology can be put into widespread use. But, by fiddling with the internal pathways in the plants' cells, the researchers believe they can increase crop production by a whopping 40 percent! They liken the benefits of their discovery to food production to what the Panama Canal did for international trade many years ago!

The research team was made up of experts from the University of Illinois and the US Department of Agriculture. Their findings were published in the journal, Science.

Among those funding the research were the UK government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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A World Where Leaders Are Childish and Children Are Leaders

2 degrees C

In this post, Silver Don Cameron of The Green Interview highlights the emergence of a worldwide youth climate movement. The rise of youth is being spearheaded by Greta Thunberg, Sweden’s 15-year old climate activist. Greta claims that children are emerging as leaders while world leaders continue to play childish climate games that are compromising their future. More here.

Why eating less meat is the best thing you can do for the planet in 2019

The Guardian

Chickens hang in a market. Photo by Tomás Castelazo

Eating meat has a hefty impact on the environment from fueling climate change to polluting landscapes and waterways. Story here.

Emissions impossible

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.