Friday, December 28, 2018

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.
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..







Tuesday, December 25, 2018

Why I’m looking forward to my first vegan Christmas


The Guardian
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.

Saturday, December 22, 2018

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.

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

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of other birds are among hundreds of shocking welfare incidents recorded at US slaughterhouses, according to previously unpublished reports.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.

Sunday, December 9, 2018

Private research funders court controversy with billions in secretive investments


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, 

Conscientious investments and the tar sands connection" 
l.p.




by Larry Powell

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


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

Saturday, December 8, 2018

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


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.

Controversial chicken ‘megafarms’ in the UK given millions in government handouts.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism Campaigners call for more sustainable system after revelations that huge farms near the Wye and Sever...