Humans Produce So Much Junk, We Are Creating a New Geological Layer
The technofossils we leave behind will create a mark on the planet.
According to a conservative geological estimate from a team of international researchers led by the University of Leicester, all this stuff weighs 30 trillion tons. That’s 110 pounds—the weight of a semi-truck’s tire—for every square meter of the earth’s surface. The group also calculated that the sheer diversity of the types of technofossils we as a species have made—it already exceeds the number of biotic species living on Earth now, and may even “exceed the total biological diversity through Earth’s history.”
Creative people physically see and process the world differently
Go for glass, buy in bulk and give yourself time:
Woman, 35, on how she adopted a ‘zero waste’ lifestyle… and how you can too
- Linsday Miles, 35, began her zero waste lifestyle journey in 2012 with a challenge
- Lindsay started with Plastic-free July challenge and has ‘never looked back’
Protectors of the sacred Niyamgiri Hills
http://www.goldmanprize.org/
‘Seed’ Documentary Explores the David-and-Goliath Battle With Food Corporations
Scotland Sets Wind Record, Provides Enough Electricity for 3.3 Million Homes in March
http://www.ecowatch.com/scotland-wind-power-record-2357425827.html
Americans Need to Stop Trashing 15 Million Tons of Clothing Every Year
How businesses are responding to rising demand for chemical transparency
Of foxes, henhouses and TSCA implementation: The chemical industry burrows into EPA’s toxics office
http://blogs.edf.org/health/2017/04/19/chemical-industry-burrows-into-epas-toxics-office/
Climate Change Will Make American Farmers’ Lives More Difficult
‘We can save life on Earth’: study reveals how to stop mass extinction
Free bicycles reducing pollution in China
http://climatenewsnetwork.net/free-bicycles-reduce-pollution-china/
Half of All Species Are on the Move—And We’re Feeling It – As climate change displaces everything from moose to microbes, it’s affecting human foods, businesses, & diseases.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/04/climate-change-species-migration-disease/
How the mainstream economic vocabulary has been turned around in an Orwellian way
Democracy at Work’s Paul Sliker and Dante Dallavalle talk with Michael Hudson, one of the world’s six economists who accurately predicted the 2007-2008 financial crisis. His new book, J is for Junk Economics, reveals how the mainstream economic vocabulary has been turned around in an Orwellian way to mean just the opposite of what words used to mean.
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/40161-economist-michael-hudson-on-junk-economics
Abrupt Climate Change Is Happening Faster Than Before
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/40204-abrupt-climate-change-is-happening-faster-than-before
Pruitt’s Rejection of Chlorpyrifos Ban Seems Based on “Alternative Facts”
http://www.earthisland.org/journal/rejection_of_chlorpyrifos_ban_seems_based_on_alternative_facts/
GROUPS APPEAL EPA’S REFUSAL TO BAN MAJOR PESTICIDE LINKED TO BRAIN DAMAGE IN CHILDREN
Environmental health groups ask court to order EPA to take immediate action to ban chlorpyrifos
http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2017/pesticide-linked-to-brain-damage-in-children%20
Monsanto’s activities have negative impact on basic human rights
http://www.monsanto-tribunal.org/main.php?obj_id=965946583
Stunning drops in solar and wind costs turn global power market upside down
https://thinkprogress.org/renewables-cheapest-new-power-globally-74910c78bbbe
Great Barrier Reef at ‘terminal stage’: scientists despair at latest bleaching data.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/10/despair-latest-coral-bleaching-data
Is soil the great new integrator?
From the drought-plagued Valle del Cauca in Colombia to the High Plains of West Texas, farmers are learning to work with the land instead of against it.
“Improving soil health is like growing an asset”
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2017/march/is-soil-the-great-new-integrator
Suzuki wants journalists to forget the Dow Jones, report on climate every day
Q&A ‘The world shifts’: Gov. Jerry Brown talks California, climate change and President Trump
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-gov-jerry-brown-interview-20170415-htmlstory.html
Death and Life of the Great Lakes
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=17-P13-00015&segmentID=6
Wilder Fires and Rising Waters, Climate Impacts Coming to America’s Door
Pair of new studies show how American climate refugees will ‘reshape’ population landscape of the nation
Anthropocene News:
Trillions of Plastic Bits, Swept Up by Current, Are Littering Arctic Waters
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/climate/arctic-plastics-pollution.html?_r=0
Lake pollution rivals ocean ‘garbage patch’
Dr. Mason is a leading researcher on this topic, and conducted the first ever plastic pollution survey within the Great Lakes.
http://www.westlakebayvillageobserver.com/read/2017/04/18/lake-pollution-rivals-ocean-garbage-patch
Shocking photos reveal plankton consuming microplastics
Every day, millions of tiny plastic fragments, known as microfibres, are released into the seas, where they are eaten by animals.
Scourge of the sea: Florida activists raise awareness of a major threat to our aquatic ecosystems
This widely-circulated image shows the shocking consequences of plastic pollution.
Opportunities for plastics in a circular world
Plastic is an amazing material, with so many good uses, but its afterlife, in the form of plastic pollution, Is creating …
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/opportunities-plastics-circular-world
How a Warming Planet Drives Human Migration
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/magazine/how-a-warming-planet-drives-human-migration.html?_r=0
Kentucky Coal Museum Goes Solar
The Kentucky Coal Mining Museum will always commemorate the past, but now it’s also looking to the future by switching to solar power.
http://www.ecowatch.com/kentucky-coal-mining-museum-solar-2347877632.html
Court Orders EPA to Close Loophole, Factory Farms Required to Report Toxic Pollution
http://www.ecowatch.com/epa-factory-farm-report-pollution-2355997089.html
Regenerative agriculture: Bringing our soil back to life
https://www.optimistdaily.com/2017/04/regenerative-agriculture-bringing-our-soil-back-to-life/
Soil Carbon Alliance White Paper presents first calculations of how fast climate can be stabilized at safe levels
What is a ‘smart city’?
Definitions vary, but one goal is constant: to develop more sustainable and livable communities for all ages and abilities.
http://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/what-is-a-smart-city/439839/
Mitigating Climate Disaster Will Require Both Systemic and Lifestyle Changes
Climate change action is good for the economy – and Britain is the proof
CLIMATE CHANGE IS MORE THAN A TECH PROBLEM, SO WE NEED MORE THAN A TECH SOLUTION
Climate change mitigation requires systemic social change, not just technological optimism
https://ensia.com/voices/climate-change-social-fix/
Climate Change as Genocide Inaction Equals Annihilation
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176269/climate-change_catastrophe/#more
3 Big Myths about Modern Agriculture
Myths get in the way of our ability to restore degraded soils that can feed the world using fewer chemicals
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/3-big-myths-about-modern-agriculture1/
Large, high-intensity forest fires will increase
Wildfire experts predict that by 2041, there will be four large, high-intensity forest fires for every three that occur now, with the number of days when conditions are conducive to fires increasing.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170410085510.htm
Climate Change will increase Turbulence on Flights
Dr Paul Williams, University of Reading
Scientists Fear Climate Data Gap as Trump Aims at Satellites
Vital groundwater depleted faster than ever
http://climatenewsnetwork.net/groundwater-depleted-faster/
Catastrophic Antibiotic Threat from Food
http://www.ipsnews.net/2017/04/catastrophic-antibiotic-threat-from-food/
THIS POLLUTED LAKE SHOWS WHY WE ARE ALL STAKEHOLDERS WHEN IT COMES TO CLEAN WATER
When environmental protection gets short shrift, the price we pay can be staggering.
https://ensia.com/voices/onondaga-protect-environment/
Trump’s climate demands roil U.S. allies
Documents show the administration pushed other G-7 countries to embrace larger roles for nuclear power and fossil fuels. They refused
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/trump-fossil-fuels-g7-tension-237129
Non-Profits Sue Monsanto Over Misleading Labeling of Popular Herbicide Roundup
Solar hits big, brief milestone in California
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Solar-hits-big-brief-milestone-in-California-11063785.php
California Leads the Way in Solar Power
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/california_leads_the_way_in_solar_power_20170415
Nuclear giants limp towards extinction
http://climatenewsnetwork.net/nuclear-giants-limp-towards-extinction/
When climate change was part of the Farm Bill
https://www.iatp.org/blog/201704/when-climate-change-was-part-farm-bill
SNOW, WATER, ICE, PERMAFROST IN THE ARCTIC
SUSTAINABLE FOODS SUMMIT: THE NEED TO LOOK BEYOND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
How To Be A Climate Optimist
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-to-be-a-climate-optimist_us_58f8e237e4b086ce58980e7c
The Regenerative Economy: A New Approach to Capitalism
https://nextbillion.net/the-regenerative-economy-a-new-approach-to-capitalism/
Urban farmer turns town garden plot into permaculture experience
Fighting climate change on the farm
http://www.stalbertgazette.com/article/Fighting-climate-change-on-the-farm-20170426
Iowa Producer Warns Of Corporate Risks
http://www.yankton.net/community/article_e2d7fb9c-2968-11e7-b65d-1399330a0bca.html
The Day You Changed The Economy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-day-you-changed-the-economy_us_5900cb65e4b06feec8ac9292
HOW THIS NEW FOOD LABEL MAY KEEP YOU FROM BEING POISONED
2017 Will Be Hottest Year In History As Global Warming Temperature Rises
Permaculture – towards making life patterns sustainable
http://www.fairviewpost.com/2017/04/12/permaculture—towards-making-life-patterns-sustainable
Forest Gardening in Practice book launch – Painstakingly researched yet highly readable, and totally packed with fruity stories and lessons.
https://www.permaculture.co.uk/news/forest-gardening-practice-launch
How our plastic bag ‘greenwash’ plastic bag recycling story triggered a government investigation
The department of environmental affairs has launched an investigation into claims that “recyclable” plastic shopping bags
cannot actually be recycled‚ following a Sunday Times report at the weekend.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2017/04/12/How-our-plastic-bag-‘greenwash’-plastic-bag-recycling-story-triggered-a-government-investigation
Transition Town artists will be part of Northern Spark
http://www.parkbugle.org/87726-2/
Villar proposes extended producer responsibility to limit plastic wastes
Tender awarded for services to enhance Aboriginal participation in Queensland carbon farming
Assessing the ROI of EPR
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