Global warming?

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It is not leading on climate finance. Its updated pledge to the developing world is less, in 2024, than Germany’s – an economy one fifth its size. Last weekend’s G7 summit failed to close the gap to the $100 billion a year collective target.

It is not leading on the neglected sphere of shipping emissions. Despite promising in April to back “ambitious measures” in the International Maritime Organization to deliver zero carbon shipping by 2050, its delegate declined to endorse a serious carbon price on ship fuel this week.

Its most radical contribution, in a week of summitry, was to task Nato with assessing the feasibility of net zero military operations by 2050.

Scrutiny of the hefty carbon footprint of tanks and attack helicopters is long overdue. But the simplest way to decarbonise the military is to have less of it – and that is not in the brief.

On the contrary, in the same 2022 budget in which Joe Biden asked Congress for $2.5 billion in climate aid, he sought to increase defence spending 2% to $753 bn – more than double the defence budget in second placed China.

When John Kerry took the role of climate envoy for the White House, he said “humility” was needed to rebuild trust with the rest of the world. He was right. Offering crumbs to the climate vulnerable while building up America’s arsenal is not it.

What you missed in this week's Climate Daily newsletter...

Climate Daily is your essential daily dose of international climate news, delivered straight to your inbox Monday to Friday. Here's what you missed this week:

• G7 fails climate finance test
• Nato zero: military alliance mulls climate target
• EU and US talk carbon border tax
• Climate talks end in stalemate
• 1.5C is drifting out of view

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This week's news...

• Climate fund considers India, South Africa to pilot $2bn coal transition scheme
• Internship opportunity: Launch your career in climate journalism
• Ministers called in to break deadlock after unproductive climate talks
• Pacific islands make lonely case for carbon price on shipping
• South Korea proposes cutting emissions 40% by 2030
• Nato considers net zero by 2050 target in move to green military operations
• G7 offers ‘peanuts’ to developing world, putting climate ambition in doubt
• Swiss public reject climate law over cost of living fears

 

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Freeing Oysters from a Parasite’s Ho

Parasites, Parachute Science,
and Protecting Bears

As I sit on my patio writing this newsletter introduction, someone has passed by my house singing a haunting song. Singing is a little unusual, but relaxed people streaming by is common. I’ve seen three cyclists cruising by sitting upright—no hands, Ma!—and countless others gripping their handlebars. I like to imagine that those three cyclists are avoiding sticky honey on their handlebars; the others grabbed tight and now can’t let go. I’ve also seen three people who I would have thought were too old to ride e-scooters. They rode achingly slow and wore helmets. Most evenings, I see a man likely in his 70s on a motorized skateboard, with a GoPro on his helmet, zooming down the block. Creatively, I call him Old Skateboard Dude. An hour or so later, he scoots past going the other way. I have seen a man in a wheelchair push himself backward with his foot; when it gets too steep, he stands and pushes the wheelchair until it’s flat again. He is Strong Foot. Coffee Man walks by with a to-go coffee in the early afternoons, crossing the street in front of my house. Until recently, I thought Cigar Man only smoked a cigar on Thursdays, but I’ve seen him every day this week with a cigar. There is Captain Woman, who walks by and waves; she once told me about the years she captained her own sailboat. I have no idea if anyone has a name for me, but I’m sure my husband is Sweeping Man—he sweeps tree litter from the sidewalk in front of our house probably three times a day. I have seen big dogs, little dogs, and dogs in strollers. One 12-year-old golden retriever named Toby nuzzles anyone who brushes by him as his owner walks him around the block. I have seen a little girl learning to ride her bicycle. (The taggers, however, I have never seen, even when I wake up in the middle of the night and look for them out my window. They are that good.)

This is my immediate community within a city. Most people smile and nod when they see me on my porch gazing at the street scene. Some people I know by their actual names. So many of my friends cycle by that I’ve stopped racing out to yell hello; they’ll be back. Most of the cyclists, walkers, and dogs—and the raccoons, deer, squirrels, crows, and occasional raven, that hover around the streetscape—are there because of an investment in community infrastructure. The city closed my street to traffic and built a bike lane and plaza. While the lane was planned all along, the city built it during the pandemic and wow, is it well used. It is enormously different from Before Times, when each day 6,000 cars passed my door.

I was reminded of how built infrastructure can benefit and enhance communities while working on our semi-regular newsletter The Upwell. The newsletter describes how a community needs facilities and supporting technology if it’s going to have a robust local fishing industry. That infrastructure needs government support, just as manufacturing and globalized supply chains have had a massive amount of investment from governments and international bodies over the decades.

Globalization isn’t inherently bad, but economies should be about balance and diversity. Just like my street: before, mostly car drivers were using the road, now it’s full of diverse modes of transportation and people. If you build it, they really will come.

As I end this newsletter—just so no one mistakes my neighborhood for Eden—someone has fired up a wood chipper.

Jude Isabella
Editor in chief



This Week’s Stories

Freeing Oysters from a Parasite’s Hold

Armed with traditional knowledge and modern science, a small team hunts for the sweet spot that could save oysters from a parasite that has decimated populations in Cape Breton and beyond.

by Karen Pinchin • 1,900 words / 10 mins

The Sound Aquatic Episode 4: Learning to Speak Whale

Whale clans teach and transmit culture using their own unique dialects.

by Elin Kelsey, Katrina Pyne, and Amorina Kingdon • 26 mins • Listen here or with your podcast app

 

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Whale clans teach and transmit culture using their own unique dialects.

by Elin Kelsey, Katrina Pyne, and Amorina Kingdon • 26 mins • Listen here or with your podcast app

COVID-19 Lockdowns Show a World Without Parachute Science

With international scientists barred from traveling, local scientists in the Pacific islands are taking the chance to lead.

by Ashley Braun • 950 words / 4 mins

Illegal Fishing Is Devastating Kenya’s Sea Turtles

With reduced oversight because of COVID-19, illegal fishers and poachers are taking a heavy toll on the sea turtle populations near Marereni, Kenya.

by Shadrack Omuka • 450 words / 2 mins




What We’re Reading

While many in the science community (and those of us at Hakai Magazine) have long referred to the waters encircling Antarctica as the Southern Ocean, on World Oceans Day 2021 (June 8) National Geographic declared that it will now officially recognize the body of water as the fifth ocean. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration deemed the water body a separate ocean in 1999, but, as of 2021, the International Hydrographic Organization hasn’t formally acknowledged the Southern Ocean. (Washington Post)

Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. On June 11, Michael Packard, a 56-year-old experienced lobster diver, was in the water off Provincetown, Massachusetts, when—like something from a children’s story—he was scooped into the mouth of a humpback whale. Eventually, the whale spat him out and he was taken to a hospital with tissue damage but no broken bones. This was likely “an accident on the part of the humpback” while it was feeding as the whales aren’t aggressive, says Jooke Robbins, a senior scientist at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown. (Cape Cod Times)

A mysterious skin disease affecting whitetip reef sharks in Malaysia has some marine biologists pointing to the rising seawater temperature as a possible cause. (Reuters)

In chillier waters, herring and smelt have adapted to make antifreeze proteins which allow them to survive cold temperatures. The two fish species do so with the same gene and Laurie Graham, a molecular biologist at Queen’s University in Ontario, argues that the gene was passed from a herring into the smelt genome by horizontal transfer, not through crossbreeding. (Quanta Magazine)

Increased marine plastic pollution has created rubbish rafts on which some marine organisms are hitching rides to faraway shores where they pose a threat to native species. This has turned the rare evolutionary process of oceanic dispersal into a far more common occurrence, says Bella Galil, a curator at Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University in Israel. So how can these traveling critters be stopped? Eva Blidberg, former project leader for Blastic, a project aimed at mapping and monitoring plastic in the Baltic Sea, explains that plugging the “marine litter tap” is the only way. (The Guardian)

Christian Santos,17, was spearfishing off the Azores in Portugal this month when he came across a plastic bottle floating nearby. It contained a note written in 2018 by a Vermont teen visiting family in Rhode Island—nearly 3,900 kilometers from where Santos found it. He hopes to get in contact with the writer. (Boston Globe)

Behind the Story

Writer Karen Pinchin reflects on meeting one of her key subjects for this week’s feature story: “Freeing Oysters from a Parasite’s Hold.”

When photographer Darren Calabrese and I first pulled into Joe Googoo’s driveway, it was clear we would be meeting a special person—one of those funny, wise, open-hearted Renaissance people of the world that writers dream of. As he introduced us to his fluffy blonde Shih Tzu–mix dog that he had dyed bright orange so he could safely take it hunting and showed us the gorgeous stretched hide he was curing near the shoreline, Joe radiated with the light of someone who has the freedom to do exactly what he wants when he wants to do it. Lucky for us, he was spending time that day on his oyster lease in an amazing bay known locally as “Joe’s Place,” where he shucks oysters on a floating barge. (He also doesn’t “believe” in Band-Aids: if he leaves his bleeding nicks alone, he says, they’ll be healed by the next day.)

Throughout the day, Joe’s deep love and affection for aquaculturist Robin Stuart, another character who appears in the piece, was undeniable. They have known each other for so long, and established so much mutual respect and understanding, that their sentences flowed together like they would in a buddy comedy. Even when things went wrong, or motors started to break, or our boat got stranded in a shallow channel, they were laughing and joking. It made it easy to forget, for a little while, that elsewhere in the province, Mi’kmaw fishers operating within their moderate livelihood rights were dealing with protests and attacks by non-Indigenous commercial fishers.

This isn’t a white savior story, although it would have been so easy to structure it that way. Instead, I tried to craft a tale about the men and women who never gave up, who found common ground and shared humanity. It was clear that they’re all trying to work in reciprocity with both the creatures they love to eat, as well as with the people who live in struggling Maritime communities that could really use a break. In addition to lots of rainwear—which I’ve learned to never travel without when reporting on the ocean—telling this story required spending time in the Bras d’Or Lake region to understand the landscape and context, and I’m grateful Hakai Magazine made that possible.

When we were leaving Joe’s house at the end of the day, he pulled out a stuffed raccoon and beaver to show them off. Of course, Joe is also a self-trained taxidermist.

Last June, we brought you a story about Sharon Lavigne’s efforts to stop a new plastics factory from being constructed in Welcome, Louisiana. The work was part of the former school teacher and community organizer’s ongoing fight for environmental and racial justice in a region known as Cancer Alley. This week, Lavigne was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, dubbed the “Green Nobel.”

The fairy slipper is a delicate and deceptive little orchid. Its single bloom mimics the shape, attractive color, and sweet smell of nectar-producing flowers—but it’s all a ruse. Bumblebees are lured to it by these similarities and receive a dusting of pollen when they brush up against the column, a pollen-depositing structure inside the flower. Newly emerged bees appear to be the best pollinators for this trickster—they start out naive but quickly catch on. Successful cross-pollination of a flower only requires a couple of false starts by the bees, anyway, and the flowers do the rest: each orchid can produce tens of thousands of seeds.

This beauty was spotted growing in the middle of a wooded and wildflower-rich disc golf course near Victoria, British Columbia. Naturally, all game play had to stop for a photo, and not just for the ’gram: casual observations of flora and fauna make for valuable data on the community science platform iNaturalist.

If you spend much time in nature, odds are at some point you’ve also made an observation worth sharing with the wider world. So stop and smell the fairy slippers—then snap a photo and add it to iNaturalist.

Photo by Kelly Fretwell

 

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3 of 7,118

Conservation news from Mongabay

Environmental Headlines
Through credible and accurate coverage of conservation and environmental issues, Mongabay inspires, educates, and informs the public, while enabling leaders to more effectively protect our planet's wildlife and ecosystems. Donate here

Excerpts:
From common to captive, Javan pied starlings succumb to songbird trade

The Javan pied starling (Gracupica jalla) is a captive in its own home. Thousands of these endemic songbirds once congregated in the safety of tall trees to roost after spending their days feasting on insect larvae. Today, however, the Javan pied starling is conspicuously absent from the wild, yet readily found caged in markets and […]
Read on »

Rush to turn ‘black diamonds’ into cash eats up Uganda’s forests, fruits

Soaring demand for charcoal, especially in urban areas, is putting intense pressure on Ugandan forests as well as on local fruit trees, which are being cut to make fuel for cooking and small-scale enterprises.
Read on »

Bigger is badder when it comes to climate impact of farms in the Amazon

A 20-year analysis of satellite data shows significant temperature differences in agricultural lands in southern Amazonia, depending on farm size.
Read on »

Never too late to save Earth: Q&A with Leuser forest guardian Rudi Putra

Rudi Putra is well-known in Indonesia’s conservation world. Born in 1977 in Aceh Tamiang district, in Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra, Rudi has been working on preserving the forest and wildlife of the Leuser Ecosystem for 20 years. Known by its Indonesian acronym, KEL, Leuser straddles the northern half of Sumatra, covering […]
Read on »

Will Nevada support renewable energy vs biodiversity & Indigenous rights? (commentary)

Global emissions of carbon dioxide reached 36.8 billion metric tons in 2019, and were on track for the highest levels ever in 2020. But then the coronavirus hit, and the resulting economic slowdown caused carbon emissions to fall by 7 percent. Now that the economy is beginning to hum again, oil consumption is rebounding and is projected […]
Read on »

Environmental benefits or social — but rarely both — under RSPO, study finds

JAKARTA — The world’s leading palm oil sustainability certification scheme may have helped reduce deforestation and pollution in areas where it’s applied, but has had a limited impact on rural development, a study shows. The paper evaluates the trade-offs between the development and environmental impacts of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification on local […]
Read on »

Tanzania’s “Ivory Queen” denied release after appeal

One of the world’s most infamous ivory traffickers will remain in prison in Tanzania after an appeal judge sent her case back to a lower court. The high court accepted there were anomalies in the original written judgment against Yang Fenglan, but declined her attorney’s application for her release. Between 2009 and 2014, poachers reduced […]
Read on »

Poaching declines in Tanzania following prosecution of ivory trafficking ringleaders

Once known as the world’s elephant killing fields, Tanzania appears to have halted the worst ivory poaching within its borders, making more than 2,300 arrests of poachers and traffickers over five years. Investigators say that by the beginning of 2020 they had identified and penetrated at least 11 organised wildlife trafficking syndicates and arrested 21 […]
Read on »

Land dispute turns violent as Sumatran Indigenous groups clash with pulpwood firm

MEDAN, Indonesia — A recent clash between Indigenous community members in Sumatra and workers from a pulpwood plantation company has marred ongoing efforts to resolve a decades-long land conflict. At least a dozen members of the Natumingka Indigenous community in North Sumatra province were reported to have been injured during a clash that broke out […]
Read on »

Malaysian council opens hearing into claims of timber certification flaws

Penan and Kenyah Indigenous communities in Malaysian Borneo will be given a chance to formally air their complaints against a timber company operating in their traditional territory, following the start of a dispute resolution case between the two sides. The Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) launched the process last month after the communities filed complaints […]
Read on »

‘Watered-down’ plan to save India Ocean yellowfin tuna disappoints conservationists

Tuna-fishing nations hammered out a temporary plan to stop overfishing of Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) at a June meeting, but fatal weaknesses may sink it, experts say. The highly prized yellowfin stock is a few years from collapse, scientists warn. Yet, distant-water fishing parties like the European Union and coastal states have struggled […]
Read on »

 

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Palm oil news from Mongabay

Palm Oil Headlines
Through credible and accurate coverage of conservation and environmental issues, Mongabay inspires, educates, and informs the public, while enabling leaders to more effectively protect our planet's wildlife and ecosystems. Donate here

Excerpts:
Never too late to save Earth: Q&A with Leuser forest guardian Rudi Putra

Rudi Putra is well-known in Indonesia’s conservation world. Born in 1977 in Aceh Tamiang district, in Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra, Rudi has been working on preserving the forest and wildlife of the Leuser Ecosystem for 20 years. Known by its Indonesian acronym, KEL, Leuser straddles the northern half of Sumatra, covering […]
Read on »

Environmental benefits or social — but rarely both — under RSPO, study finds

JAKARTA — The world’s leading palm oil sustainability certification scheme may have helped reduce deforestation and pollution in areas where it’s applied, but has had a limited impact on rural development, a study shows. The paper evaluates the trade-offs between the development and environmental impacts of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification on local […]
Read on »

funny how
rhys palm oil has becom as bad or worse than fucken fracking
trees galore destrpoyed
humankind dont deserve the planet
cry for all disasters beserring humans ...

 

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1 of 6

Conservation news from Mongabay

Environmental Headlines
Through credible and accurate coverage of conservation and environmental issues, Mongabay inspires, educates, and informs the public, while enabling leaders to more effectively protect our planet's wildlife and ecosystems. Donate here

Excerpts:
Slick caught on satellite image around sunken ship not fuel oil, Sri Lanka says

COLOMBO — Satellite images have captured a silvery slick spreading on the surface of the sea from the burnt-out wreck of a cargo ship that sank off Colombo earlier this month, but authorities deny there’s been a much-feared fuel oil spill. The images first appeared on June 4, two days after the Singapore-flagged X-Press Pearl […]
Read on »

It’s Juneteenth, but these American companies are still profiting from slavery (commentary)

Juneteenth marks the date in 1865 where an estimated 250,000 enslaved people in Texas were freed, marking the official end of slavery in the Confederacy – two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, and six months before the 13th Amendment to the Constitution finally banned slavery nationwide. As much as Juneteenth is worthy of celebration, liberation […]
Read on »

Deforestation spikes in Virunga National Park, DRC

Virunga National Park’s forests are some the most biodiverse in Africa and among the last bastions of mountain gorillas, okapis, Ruwenzori duikers and many other endangered species. Guarded by some of the highest, most inaccessible mountains on the continent, as well as the international scrutiny afforded by its designations as a national park and UNESCO […]
Read on »

With Indigenous rights at stake in Brasília, a territory is attacked in Paraty

As lawmakers tussle over the future of Indigenous land rights in Brazil’s capital, Indigenous people in a municipality in Rio de Janeiro state are fighting off attacks and threats by settlers who reject their ancestral land rights over a territory being processed for official recognition. Indigenous people in the Tekohá Dje’y territory in Paraty, a […]
Read on »

Myanmar junta’s growing reliance on extractives for cash raises concerns

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — As the military regime entrenches itself in Myanmar following its Feb. 1 coup and forceful crackdown on protesters, activists are calling on companies that operate in the country to sever links with the military junta and its wide-ranging business interests. Extractive industries are a key concern since they provide the bulk […]
Read on »

 

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Celebrating and demanding environmental justice

Message From the Editor
Sharon Lavigne of St. James Parish, Louisiana, is one of six winners of the 2021 Goldman Environmental Prize, in recognition of her work within the “Cancer Alley” community where she was born and now, at 68 years old, continues to mobilize for environmental justice. The Goldman prize, sometimes called the “Green Nobel Prize,” is given annually to six “grassroots environmental heroes,” one from each of the world’s six inhabited continental regions. Sharon Kelly reports.

Meanwhile, Indigenous peoples in Canada and a coalition of environmental groups launched a “Global Week of Action” for June 14-21, aimed at pressuring an array of insurance companies to cut ties with a long-distance tar sands pipeline under construction in Canada. “The Trans Mountain pipeline and tanker project is an existential threat to Tsleil-Waututh Nation. It also fuels the climate crisis, which is a threat to us all,” said Charlene Aleck of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation Sacred Trust Initiative. Nick Cunningham has the story.

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: editor@desmogblog.com.

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. Readers like you make it possible for DeSmog to hold accountable powerful people in industry and government. Even a $10 or $20 donation helps support DeSmog’s investigative journalism.

Cancer Alley Activist Sharon Lavigne Among Goldman Environmental Prize Winners for 2021
— By Sharon Kelly (8 min. read) —
Sharon Lavigne of St. James Parish, Louisiana, is one of six winners of the 2021 Goldman Environmental Prize, in recognition of her work within the “Cancer Alley” community where she was born and now, at 68 years old, continues to mobilize for environmental justice.

Lavigne, who founded the community group RISE St. James in 2018, worked for nearly 40 years as a special education teacher at St. James High School before being drawn into the fight against heavy industry — and its public health and environmental impacts — in her home town alongside the Mississippi River.


READ MORE

Insurance Giants Under Fire from First Nations for Backing Trans Mountain Tar Sands Pipeline
— By Nick Cunningham (6 min. read) —
Indigenous peoples in Canada and a coalition of environmental groups launched a “Global Week of Action” for June 14-21, aimed at pressuring an array of insurance companies to cut ties with a long-distance tar sands pipeline under construction in Canada.

On Wednesday, the Braided Warriors, an Indigenous youth group in British Columbia, held a rally in front of Chubb Insurance Canada in Vancouver, B.C. On Friday, activists in London are set to protest outside Lloyd’s of London — one of the world’s largest insurers of fossil fuels. Other acts of solidarity are planned as far away as the Pacific Islands and Sierra Leone.

 

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Insurance Giants Under Fire from First Nations for Backing Trans Mountain Tar Sands Pipeline
— By Nick Cunningham (6 min. read) —
Indigenous peoples in Canada and a coalition of environmental groups launched a “Global Week of Action” for June 14-21, aimed at pressuring an array of insurance companies to cut ties with a long-distance tar sands pipeline under construction in Canada.

On Wednesday, the Braided Warriors, an Indigenous youth group in British Columbia, held a rally in front of Chubb Insurance Canada in Vancouver, B.C. On Friday, activists in London are set to protest outside Lloyd’s of London — one of the world’s largest insurers of fossil fuels. Other acts of solidarity are planned as far away as the Pacific Islands and Sierra Leone.


READ MORE

Norwegian Arctic Oil Drilling Targeted by Campaigners in New Legal Action
— By Isabella Kaminski (3 min. read) —
Climate campaigners are again taking Europe’s second largest oil and gas producer to court over the climate impacts of fossil fuel extraction in the Arctic, after a previous attempt failed at the country’s Supreme Court in December.

Six climate activists, alongside Greenpeace Nordic and Young Friends of the Earth Norway, have filed an application at the European Court of Human Rights claiming the Norwegian government’s approval of new licences for offshore oil drilling in the fragile Arctic region violates their human rights.


READ MORE

The ‘Big Con’ Revealed: Report Details Fossil Fuel Industry’s Deceptive ‘Net Zero’ Strategy
— By Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams (5 min. read) —
A new report published Wednesday, June 9, by a trio of progressive advocacy groups lifts the veil on so-called “net zero” climate pledges, which are often touted by corporations and governments as solutions to the climate emergency, but which the paper’s authors argue are merely a dangerous form of greenwashing that should be eschewed in favor of Real Zero policies based on meaningful, near-term commitments to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.


READ MORE



From the Climate Disinformation Database: Independent Women’s Voice (IWV)

Independent Women’s Voice (IWV) is a 501(c)(4) “advocacy” group that operates as the sister organization to the 501(c)(3) Independent Women’s Forum (IWF). According to the IWV website, IWV.org, the group works to “educate and persuade those who don’t already share our understanding of the benefits of liberty and free markets, so their policy and political choices will be based on better information and understanding.” IWV has received at least $250,000 from the Center to Protect Patient Rights (CPPR), now American Encore, a group founded and run by Koch strategist Sean Noble. In September 2019, Independent Women’s Voice director Tammy Bruce posted an article at IWV.org titled “Climate Change Activism: The Left’s New Power Play.” According to Bruce, “Climate activism is a new power-play by the left, taking on a fanatical religious facade making manipulation of its followers even more assured.”

 

[rbkwp]

Rohingya artists tackle COVID-19 fears as refugees wait for vaccines
From muralists to musicians, Rohingya artists are helping to address social problems and allay vaccination fears in the world’s largest refugee settlement

Songs, stories, pottery: Refugees preserve their heritage in digital archives
With more displaced people around the world than ever before, digital tools are helping them preserve their culture and stories

Cambodians brave COVID-19 impact with small plots of land
Pandemic changes fortunes for some Cambodians forced to swap city labour for farming

Yemen's famed beekeepers feel the sting of climate change
War-torn Yemen has had its troubles compounded by climate change - and that is hurting one of the country's most precious commodities: Sidr honey

Indonesia travel agencies offer queue-beating U.S. 'vaccination tours'
With rich nations rolling out vaccinations far more quickly, wealthier residents in developing countries are prepared to head abroad to get a shot more quickly

NZ weightlifter Hubbard to become first transgender athlete to compete at Olympics
New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard has been eligible to compete in the Olympics since 2015, but some question the inclusion of transgender athletes

Business-savvy Bangladesh fabric factories take on a greener hue
Activists say the global fashion industry should cut climate-heating emissions - and Bangladeshi factory owners say renewables and recycling can help save them money




* Feel free to republish as long as credit is gi

The race to save African-American cemeteries from being 'erased'
Missing deeds and weak laws means Black and Native American burial sites around the country have been neglected, forgotten or targeted by developers

 

[rbkwp]

Deforestation news from Mongabay
Inbox

Mongabay Newsletter via gmail.mcsv.net
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Latest environmental headlines from Mongabay.com
View this email in your browser

Deforestation Headlines
Through credible and accurate coverage of conservation and environmental issues, Mongabay inspires, educates, and informs the public, while enabling leaders to more effectively protect our planet's wildlife and ecosystems. Donate here

Excerpts:
It’s Juneteenth, but these American companies are still profiting from slavery (commentary)

Juneteenth marks the date in 1865 where an estimated 250,000 enslaved people in Texas were freed, marking the official end of slavery in the Confederacy – two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, and six months before the 13th Amendment to the Constitution finally banned slavery nationwide. As much as Juneteenth is worthy of celebration, liberation […]
Read on »

Myanmar junta’s growing reliance on extractives for cash raises concerns

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — As the military regime entrenches itself in Myanmar following its Feb. 1 coup and forceful crackdown on protesters, activists are calling on companies that operate in the country to sever links with the military junta and its wide-ranging business interests. Extractive industries are a key concern since they provide the bulk […]
Read on »

Rush to turn ‘black diamonds’ into cash eats up Uganda’s forests, fruits

Soaring demand for charcoal, especially in urban areas, is putting intense pressure on Ugandan forests as well as on local fruit trees, which are being cut to make fuel for cooking and small-scale enterprises.
Read on »

Bigger is badder when it comes to climate impact of farms in the Amazon

A 20-year analysis of satellite data shows significant temperature differences in agricultural lands in southern Amazonia, depending on farm size.
Read on »

Never too late to save Earth: Q&A with Leuser forest guardian Rudi Putra

Rudi Putra is well-known in Indonesia’s conservation world. Born in 1977 in Aceh Tamiang district, in Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra, Rudi has been working on preserving the forest and wildlife of the Leuser Ecosystem for 20 years. Known by its Indonesian acronym, KEL, Leuser straddles the northern half of Sumatra, covering […]
Read on »

Malaysian council opens hearing into claims of timber certification flaws

Penan and Kenyah Indigenous communities in Malaysian Borneo will be given a chance to formally air their complaints against a timber company operating in their traditional territory, following the start of a dispute resolution case between the two sides. The Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) launched the process last month after the communities filed complaints […]
Read on »

Banks increased deforestation-linked investments by $8B during Covid-19: report

The world’s 50 largest financial institutions increased their investments in deforestation-linked commodity companies by more than $8 billion since the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new report has found. The research, published last week by Forests & Finance, a coalition of non-governmental groups, also ranked more than 50 financial institutions based on their […]
Read on »

Forest advocates press EU leader to rethink views on biomass and energy

In lead up to EU forest biomass “carbon neutrality” decision, European Commission Exec. VP Frans Timmermans argues in favor of forest conservation, while also favoring burning wood to make “transition” energy.
Read on »

Illegal logging in Philippines’ Palawan stokes fears of a mining resurgence

Pala’wan indigenous community leader Simpio Mata trudges through the natural forest of Mount Domadoway, in the southern part of the Philippines’ Palawan province, at least twice a month. He does this primarily to check on the presence of towering trees the Pala’wan consider sacred homes for tau’t kekeywan (forest spirits). Recently, the 42-year-old Mata says […]
Read on »

Meet the 2021 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners

The prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, also known as the “Green Nobel Prize” will be awarded today to six environmental activists, one from each of the world’s inhabited continents. This year’s winners include a special education teacher whose activism stopped the construction of a billion-dollar plastics manufacturing plant along the Mississippi River; a woman whose efforts led […]
Read on »

Illegal miners block Indigenous leaders headed to protests in Brazil’s capital

Illegal miners attacked and tried to block Indigenous leaders in Brazil’s Amazon from traveling to the country’s capital to protest invasions of their lands and violence against their people, in a fresh flare-up that spurred calls on the federal government to step in and protect the Munduruku people. On June 9, the miners slashed the […]
Read on »

Paid in Blood: Standing up to private interests often turns deadly in Brazil

This piece was originally published on Atmos as Paid in Blood on June 7, 2021. It has been republished here with the permission of Atmos. Fernando dos Santos Araújo woke up alongside his love, Bruno Pereira Gomes, on May 24, 2017. They were camping together in the Pau D’Arco jungle, a municipality in the Amazonian […]
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Irrigation dams threaten Thailand’s tiger forests, say conservationists

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — A plan to construct seven dams in one of mainland Southeast Asia’s last intact forest systems could cause widespread habitat loss and sever important wildlife corridors, activists warn. The Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai (DPKY) Forest Complex is a vast and biodiverse region that spans six provinces in eastern Thailand. It was declared […]
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[rbkwp]

Latest environmental headlines from Mongabay.com
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Climate Headlines
Through credible and accurate coverage of conservation and environmental issues, Mongabay inspires, educates, and informs the public, while enabling leaders to more effectively protect our planet's wildlife and ecosystems. Donate here

Excerpts:
Rush to turn ‘black diamonds’ into cash eats up Uganda’s forests, fruits

Soaring demand for charcoal, especially in urban areas, is putting intense pressure on Ugandan forests as well as on local fruit trees, which are being cut to make fuel for cooking and small-scale enterprises.
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Coal phase-out plan gets pushback in power-hungry Indonesia

JAKARTA — Officials have cast doubts on a government plan that would somehow see Indonesia phase out all its coal-fired power plants while at the same time build more than a hundred new ones, while activists have welcomed the move. A key criticism of the plan is what to do with the 117 under-construction or […]
Read on »

Forest advocates press EU leader to rethink views on biomass and energy

In lead up to EU forest biomass “carbon neutrality” decision, European Commission Exec. VP Frans Timmermans argues in favor of forest conservation, while also favoring burning wood to make “transition” energy.
Read on »

Climate change isn’t fueling algal blooms the way we think, study shows

It started in October 2017. A swarm of microscopic algae called Karenia brevis amassed in the waters off Florida’s southwest coast, turning the ocean a rust-red hue. The algae, which are toxic to most marine life as well as humans, transformed Florida’s sea into a watery graveyard as the bodies of fish, manatees, dolphins and […]
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Meet the 2021 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners

The prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, also known as the “Green Nobel Prize” will be awarded today to six environmental activists, one from each of the world’s inhabited continents. This year’s winners include a special education teacher whose activism stopped the construction of a billion-dollar plastics manufacturing plant along the Mississippi River; a woman whose efforts led […]
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Rocky Mountains are burning more now than ever, and it could get worse

High up in the Rocky Mountains, forests are burning more frequently than any time in the past 2,000 years. The overarching reason: climate change. Warmer and drier climate conditions mean the vegetation is also drier, making it easier for fires that ignite to spread, as the saying goes, like wildfire. Researchers from the University of […]
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Scientists call for solving climate and biodiversity crises together

The push to halt climate change too often neglects the interconnected issue of biodiversity loss, according to a recent report from a panel of scientists with the United Nations. “What we want to emphasize here is how relevant biodiversity conservation is for climate change mitigation,” said Anne Larigauderie, executive secretary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform […]
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Mammals Conservation Headlines
Through credible and accurate coverage of conservation and environmental issues, Mongabay inspires, educates, and informs the public, while enabling leaders to more effectively protect our planet's wildlife and ecosystems. Donate here

Excerpts:
Tanzania’s “Ivory Queen” denied release after appeal

One of the world’s most infamous ivory traffickers will remain in prison in Tanzania after an appeal judge sent her case back to a lower court. The high court accepted there were anomalies in the original written judgment against Yang Fenglan, but declined her attorney’s application for her release. Between 2009 and 2014, poachers reduced […]
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Poaching declines in Tanzania following prosecution of ivory trafficking ringleaders

Once known as the world’s elephant killing fields, Tanzania appears to have halted the worst ivory poaching within its borders, making more than 2,300 arrests of poachers and traffickers over five years. Investigators say that by the beginning of 2020 they had identified and penetrated at least 11 organised wildlife trafficking syndicates and arrested 21 […]
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Podcast: It’s an ‘incredibly exciting’ time for the field of bioacoustics

Today we take a look at the growing world of bioacoustics research and listen to a number of recordings of wildlife, from owls, lemurs, and elephants to seals, right whales, and humpbacks. Listen here: Many of the bioacoustics researchers who have appeared on this podcast in the past were supported by the Cornell Lab of […]
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Two new Javan rhino calves spotted in the species’ last holdout

JAKARTA — Conservation officials in Indonesia have reported a sighting of two new Javan rhinoceros calves, boosting hopes for stable population growth of the nearly extinct species. The calves, a female and a male, were spotted on different occasions in March by camera traps in Ujung Kulon National Park on the western tip of Indonesia’s […]
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Marbled cat: Candid Animal Cam meets the mini clouded leopard

Camera traps bring you closer to the secretive natural world and are an important conservation tool to study wildlife. This week we’re meeting a wild cat that looks like a miniature version of the clouded leopard: the marbled cat. The marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata) is a small wild cat native from the eastern Himalayas to […]
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Scientists call for solving climate and biodiversity crises together

The push to halt climate change too often neglects the interconnected issue of biodiversity loss, according to a recent report from a panel of scientists with the United Nations. “What we want to emphasize here is how relevant biodiversity conservation is for climate change mitigation,” said Anne Larigauderie, executive secretary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform […]
Read on »

Irrigation dams threaten Thailand’s tiger forests, say conservationists

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — A plan to construct seven dams in one of mainland Southeast Asia’s last intact forest systems could cause widespread habitat loss and sever important wildlife corridors, activists warn. The Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai (DPKY) Forest Complex is a vast and biodiverse region that spans six provinces in eastern Thailand. It was declared […]
Read on »


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[rbkwp]

rgy news from Mongabay

Energy Headlines
Through credible and accurate coverage of conservation and environmental issues, Mongabay inspires, educates, and informs the public, while enabling leaders to more effectively protect our planet's wildlife and ecosystems. Donate here

Excerpts:
Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam: Struggle for the Volta Grande enters a new phase (Commentary)

On June 17th a judicial decision marks a new phase for the struggle over water flow to the “Volta Grande” (“Big Bend”) of Brazil’s Xingu River between the two dams that make up the Belo Monte complex. The outcome will be consequential for the Indigenous people and ribeirinhos (traditional Amazonian riverside dwellers) who depend on […]
Read on »

Myanmar junta’s growing reliance on extractives for cash raises concerns

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — As the military regime entrenches itself in Myanmar following its Feb. 1 coup and forceful crackdown on protesters, activists are calling on companies that operate in the country to sever links with the military junta and its wide-ranging business interests. Extractive industries are a key concern since they provide the bulk […]
Read on »

Will Nevada support renewable energy vs biodiversity & Indigenous rights? (commentary)

Global emissions of carbon dioxide reached 36.8 billion metric tons in 2019, and were on track for the highest levels ever in 2020. But then the coronavirus hit, and the resulting economic slowdown caused carbon emissions to fall by 7 percent. Now that the economy is beginning to hum again, oil consumption is rebounding and is projected […]
Read on »

Coal phase-out plan gets pushback in power-hungry Indonesia

JAKARTA — Officials have cast doubts on a government plan that would somehow see Indonesia phase out all its coal-fired power plants while at the same time build more than a hundred new ones, while activists have welcomed the move. A key criticism of the plan is what to do with the 117 under-construction or […]
Read on »

Forest advocates press EU leader to rethink views on biomass and energy

In lead up to EU forest biomass “carbon neutrality” decision, European Commission Exec. VP Frans Timmermans argues in favor of forest conservation, while also favoring burning wood to make “transition” energy.
Read on »

Meet the 2021 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners

The prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, also known as the “Green Nobel Prize” will be awarded today to six environmental activists, one from each of the world’s inhabited continents. This year’s winners include a special education teacher whose activism stopped the construction of a billion-dollar plastics manufacturing plant along the Mississippi River; a woman whose efforts led […]
Read on »

 

[Jdubyaa007]

rgy news from Mongabay

Energy Headlines
Through credible and accurate coverage of conservation and environmental issues, Mongabay inspires, educates, and informs the public, while enabling leaders to more effectively protect our planet's wildlife and ecosystems. Donate here

Excerpts:
Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam: Struggle for the Volta Grande enters a new phase (Commentary)

On June 17th a judicial decision marks a new phase for the struggle over water flow to the “Volta Grande” (“Big Bend”) of Brazil’s Xingu River between the two dams that make up the Belo Monte complex. The outcome will be consequential for the Indigenous people and ribeirinhos (traditional Amazonian riverside dwellers) who depend on […]
Read on »

Myanmar junta’s growing reliance on extractives for cash raises concerns

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — As the military regime entrenches itself in Myanmar following its Feb. 1 coup and forceful crackdown on protesters, activists are calling on companies that operate in the country to sever links with the military junta and its wide-ranging business interests. Extractive industries are a key concern since they provide the bulk […]
Read on »

Will Nevada support renewable energy vs biodiversity & Indigenous rights? (commentary)

Global emissions of carbon dioxide reached 36.8 billion metric tons in 2019, and were on track for the highest levels ever in 2020. But then the coronavirus hit, and the resulting economic slowdown caused carbon emissions to fall by 7 percent. Now that the economy is beginning to hum again, oil consumption is rebounding and is projected […]
Read on »

Coal phase-out plan gets pushback in power-hungry Indonesia

JAKARTA — Officials have cast doubts on a government plan that would somehow see Indonesia phase out all its coal-fired power plants while at the same time build more than a hundred new ones, while activists have welcomed the move. A key criticism of the plan is what to do with the 117 under-construction or […]
Read on »

Forest advocates press EU leader to rethink views on biomass and energy

In lead up to EU forest biomass “carbon neutrality” decision, European Commission Exec. VP Frans Timmermans argues in favor of forest conservation, while also favoring burning wood to make “transition” energy.
Read on »

Meet the 2021 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners

The prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, also known as the “Green Nobel Prize” will be awarded today to six environmental activists, one from each of the world’s inhabited continents. This year’s winners include a special education teacher whose activism stopped the construction of a billion-dollar plastics manufacturing plant along the Mississippi River; a woman whose efforts led […]
Read on »

But they just built it somewhere else. Don't accept the false comfort of nimbyism

 

[Jdubyaa007]

But they just built it somewhere else. Don't accept the false comfort of nimbyism

And as coal emissions are concerned then you ought to be aware of Arizonas coal fired plants.

 

[rbkwp]

Shutterstock
Australian government was ‘blindsided’ by UN recommendation to list Great Barrier Reef as in-danger. But it’s no great surprise

Jon C. Day, James Cook University; Scott F. Heron, James Cook University; Terry Hughes, James Cook University

The development is significant for several reasons – not least that Australia's progress under the Paris Agreement is being linked to

 

[rbkwp]

But they just built it somewhere else. Don't accept the false comfort of nimbyism

true

given up years ago,trying to find reasons for our behaviour

 

[Jdubyaa007]

Humans are territorial AF. I dont like how we or others try to think we aren't animals. I think if you are aware that we are animals then our behaviors make a lot more sense.

 

[rbkwp]

Hi Graham,

Between getting our heads around vaccination roll-out dates and electric car subsidies, it’s been a busy old week. Which is why you’re going to love our latest line-up of informative, kick-back reads.

First-up – food! Celebrate bees and enjoy natural sweetness with our delicious easy-peasy, sugar free banana biscuits recipe, then learn how to grow free winter freshness in the comfort of your very own living room.

Heading away on holiday – or wondering if you can afford to? Either way, we take the headache out of accommodation costs, with advice on how to score a house and pet-sitting gig. We also guide you through how to protect your fabulous holiday snaps from loss or damage and point you in the direction of techies who can help.

But wait, there’s more! Just when you thought you couldn’t face another piece of pandemic predicament news, we turn the tables with a close-up look at the silver lining emerging from the Covid crisis.

Plus: games, horoscopes, and giveaways are just around the corner – watch this space!

Take care until next time, from the GrownUps Team.

ED

pollinate our world please
no chemicalls permitted

 

[rbkwp]

keep life real
keep our planety real