Australian blazes will ‘reframe our understanding of bushfire’

Science Magazine

Fire on Cape Barren Is. Australia, 2016. Photo by Planet Labs, Inc.

Summary

Australia is on fire like never before—and this year's "bushfire" season, which typically peaks in January or February, has barely begun. Driven in part by a severe drought, fires have burned 1.65 million hectares in the state of New South Wales, more than the state's total in the previous 3 years combined. Six people have died and more than 500 homes have been destroyed. As Science went to press, some 70 uncontrolled fires were burning in adjacent Queensland, and South Australia was bracing for potentially "catastrophic" burns. David Bowman, a fire geographer and director of the Fire Centre Research Hub at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, spoke with Science about the unprecedented crisis. The flames have charred even wet ecosystems once thought safe, he says. And the fires have become "white-hot politically," with Prime Minister Scott Morrison's Liberal government drawing criticism for refusing to acknowledge any link to climate change.

End the criminalization of land rights defenders. (Video)

Juul spreads over the world as home market collapses in scandal

BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

E-cigarettes. Photo by Ecig Click

The embattled American vape company Juul is pushing foreign governments to ditch strict e-cigarette regulations as it aggressively expands across the globe in an attempt to offset lost profits in the US. Story here.

Fueling Concerns of Approaching Catastrophic 'Tipping Point,' Deforestation of Brazilian Amazon Hit Highest Level in Decade

Common Dreams

Another denizen of the Amazon.
Photo by Tom MacKenzie - U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service

"These figures confirm what we feared, namely that 2019 has been a dark year for the rainforest in Brazil." 

 Story here.

Study counts 1.8 million pieces of trash at the bottom of Canada's Bay of Fundy

The National Observer

Daniels Flat (Bay of Fundy)

A survey estimates more than 1.8 million pieces of garbage are strewn over the bottom of the Bay of Fundy, prompting concerns about potential harm to marine life. Story here.

It's big. It's risky. It's unacceptable!

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society

In the northeast corner of Alberta lies Wood Buffalo National Park. Known for its sheer size and biodiversity, it is Canada’s largest national park and World Heritage Site. Its size and remote location have led many to believe it is untouched by human impacts, but it has sadly been affected by upstream industrial development outside of the Park. It is now additionally threatened by a proposed open-pit oil sands mine just 30-km south of its borders.

If approved, the Teck Frontier oil sands mine would be the largest open-pit mine in North America, with a massive 290 sq-km footprint. This mine would pose serious environmental risks to the approximately 1 million migratory birds that fly over the region, species at risk that depend on the intact boreal habitat, and negatively influence downstream waters on the Athabasca River. 

The federal government has a public comment period open until November 24, 2019 to hear what people think of the proposed environmental assessment conditions that Teck would need to meet.

How strong are these conditions? The proposed mitigation measures do very little to address the startling list of impacts from the mine. It is clear that the conditions are inconsistent with a healthy future for our boreal and the communities that depend on the biodiversity of the region.

Want to speak up but unsure about what you will say? Use our public comment guide as a blueprint to your comment. We provide our key concerns about the mine and the proposed conditions to kickstart your comment. 

Now is our chance to let the federal government know that this project is a serious danger to our boreal forest and poses risks that cannot be ignored. 

Yours in Conservation, 

Gillian Chow-Fraser
Boreal Program Manager
CPAWS Northern Alberta

Brazil supports sugarcane growing in Amazon

SCIENCE MAGAZINE

"Harvesting" by Beegee49 

Brazil has reopened the door to expanding sugarcane plantations in the Amazon, even though it is difficult to grow the crop there. Scientists worry the move will increase deforestation and harm biodiversity and carbon sequestration in the jungle. President Jair Bolsonaro, who has pushed for more economic development in the Amazon, on 5 November revoked a 2009 agricultural zoning plan that prohibited public funding for sugarcane production within the Amazon region, where low yields increase risk for private investors. But Bolsonaro's administration says the ban is unnecessary because other laws require that the cultivation be environmentally sustainable. Brazil is already the world's largest producer of sugarcane, with approximately 10 million hectares of cane fields—only 1.5% of which are now in the Amazon. The region's extremely humid weather and poor soils are not ideal for popular cane varieties, and studies indicate that Brazil has plenty of room to expand sugarcane production elsewhere without competing with other types of food production or conservation. Japan and European countries import Brazilian ethanol, a fuel produced from sugarcane, on the condition that the cane is grown in an environmentally sustainable way.

The next Passenger Pigeon? A uniquely Canadian bird - the Eskimo Curlew - has not been seen for over half-a-century!

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Species in Canada (COSEWIC).

The Eskimo Curlew. Photo credit - the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

The Eskimo Curlew, a bird known to nest only in Canada, has been assessed as Endangered. Given there have been no verified sightings of this wildlife species anywhere since 1963, the Eskimo Curlew is on the brink of becoming the first Canadian bird to be declared Extinct since the Passenger Pigeon nearly 100 years ago. Without a reversal in habitat loss, climate change and direct human impacts, these assessments of Extirpated and Extinct will become more frequent.

Climate change poses 'lifelong' child health risk

Phys Org

It's feared that a changing climate may be providing improved
conditions for the mosquito which spreads the zika virus,
sometimes responsible for severe brain conditions in infants like this.

Climate change will damage the health of an entire generation unless there are immediate cuts to fossil fuel emissions, from a rise in deadly infectious diseases to surging malnutrition, experts warned Thursday. Story here.

New report exposes horror of working conditions for millions of sanitation workers in the developing world

World Health Organization

A community sanitation worker adds water purifying tablets to the
 jerry cans of water just filled by the children at the Pagak Reception Centre. 
UNICEF/Ethiopia/2014/Thompson

Millions of sanitation workers in the developing world are forced to work in conditions that endanger their health and lives, and violate their dignity and human rights, according to a report released today.

Microplastics found in oysters, clams on Oregon coast, study finds. (Last year, Canadian scientists discovered high levels of microplastics in B.C.’s oyster beds). Is our clothing to blame?

EurekAlert

Pacific oysters, farmed in the U.S.
Photo by NOAA.

Tiny threads of plastics are showing up in Pacific oysters and razor clams along the Oregon coast -- and the yoga pants, fleece jackets, and sweat-wicking clothing that Pacific Northwesterners love to wear are a source of that pollution, according to a new Portland State University study. Story here.

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More bad news for the world’s oceans - out of Canada!