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.

RELATED:

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

Drug resistance likely to kill 400,000 Canadians by 2050, report predicts

CBC News

Superbugs are likely to kill nearly 400,000 Canadians and cost the economy about $400 billion in gross domestic product over the next 30 years, warns a landmark report.  Story here.

A Canstock photo image.

PinP: As is too often the case, a big piece of the information puzzle is left out of stories such as this. Antibiotics have been overused almost everywhere in the world for a long time, often to raise animals for food. Among other things, it makes them grow faster and fattens them up to fetch a better price at market time. Yet governments forge ahead, like Manitoba's is doing, to expand the very style of livestock production that spawns such problems. 

Please read:

"In Hogs We Trust." Part 1.

Could the Manitoba government’s return to a deregulated hog industry actually contribute to a world health crisIs?

Hurricanes have become bigger and more destructive for the U.S. and Canada, study finds

Phys Org

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A new study at the University of Copenhagen shows that hurricanes have become more destructive since 1900, and the worst of them are more than three times as frequent now than 100 years ago. A new way of calculating the destruction, compensating for the societal change in wealth, unequivocally shows a climatic increase in the frequency of the most destructive hurricanes that routinely raise havoc on the North American southern and east coasts. Story here.

After its ravages through the Bahamas, Dorian proceeded along the coasts
of the Southeastern United States and Atlantic Canada, (above) leaving
behind considerable damage and economic losses in those regions. 
Photo by Coastal EliteHalifax, Canada