Only One Earth
Nature is sending mankind a message, specifically that mankind is on the verge of a breakdown. It is time to wake up. It is time to take notice. It is time to reformulate man’s relationship with Nature. It is time to restore equilibrium between man and Nature.
https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/only-one-earth-1502894622.html
WE’RE BUILDING A MOVEMENT FOR A JUST RECOVERY
Humanity must take this chance to find a new ‘normal’ – and safeguard our planet
Climate risks and opportunities need to be incorporated into the financial system as well as public policymaking and infrastructure
4 ways to protect food workers and the food supply during the pandemic
Pervasive shifts in forest dynamics in a changing world
Forest dynamics are changing because of anthropogenic-driven exacerbation of chronic drivers, such as rising temperature and CO2, and increasing transient disturbances, including wildfire, drought, windthrow, biotic attack, and land-use change. There are widespread observations of increasing tree mortality due to changing climate and land use, as well as observations of growth stimulation of younger forests due to CO2 fertilization.
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6494/eaaz9463
Towards a climate neutral Europe: the land sector is key
https://www.cmcc.it/article/towards-a-climate-neutral-europe-the-land-sector-is-key
Faced with a health crisis, a plea for trees and agroforestry (commentary)
Smart Windows that Self-Illuminate on Rainy Days
http://postech.ac.kr/eng/smart-windows-that-self-illuminate-on-rainy-days/
Global Survey Identifies Learning Opportunities Related to the Health Impacts of Climate Change
Nitrogen Dioxide Levels Rebound in China
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146741/nitrogen-dioxide-levels-rebound-in-china
False Solutions to Climate Change: Agriculture
Editorial Note: This is Part 3 of Mary Wildfire’s series on false solutions to climate change. You can read Part 1 on Electricity here and Part 2 on Transportation here.
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2020-05-07/false-solutions-to-climate-change-agriculture/
No more business as usual: Halt dangerous development projects that put our health at risk (commentary)
https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/no-more-business-as-usual-halt-dangerous-development-projects-that-put-our-health-at-risk-commentary/
Uprooting the farm crisis in times of COVID-19
https://www.iatp.org/blog/202004/uprooting-farm-crisis-times-covid-19
Revisiting Crisis by Design: Three decades of failed farm policy
https://www.iatp.org/revisiting-crisis-by-design
Revisiting Crisis by Design:
The Solutions of Organic, agroecological and regenerative agriculture
That this system would fail was entirely predictable
Our food system is not set up to handle a global crisis
https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2020/05/04/that-this-system-would-fail-was-entirely-predictable/
Return of ‘The Jungle’: Risking Death to Maximize Profits
America’s food processing and meatpacking workers are in extreme danger of contracting COVID-19.
https://progressive.org/dispatches/risking-death-to-maximize-profits-bybee-200504/
To Prevent the Next Pandemic, We Need Meaningful Oversight of Animal Agribusiness
We must act now to protect animals, workers, and public health from the meat industry.
Trends in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide
https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/history.html
We created the Anthropocene, and the Anthropocene is biting back
It’s clear from a recent litany of disasters – from the coronavirus pandemic to America’s deadliest wildfire in a century – there are forces that cannot be domesticated
Covid-19 Is a Reason To Start the Green New Deal Now
We can get out of this depression and save the planet all at once.
Collaborative Feminist Degrowth: Pandemic as an Opening for a Care-Full Radical Transformation
Greenpeace launches $1bn proposal calling for regenerative agriculture
The environmental organisation has drawn up a unique and detailed plan, outlining five key projects that they say the Government should immediately invest in to “begin a transformation of the New Zealand agriculture sector”.
Missouri Ag and Climate Change: Farms May Eventually Have To Switch From Soybeans, Corn To Cotton
Food from a regenerative journey
https://www.farmweekly.com.au/story/6741616/food-from-a-regenerative-journey/?cs=5170
Future forward trends: What’s beyond organic?
Organic and Beyond 2020
$15,000.00 $12,500.00
https://www.smartbrief.com/original/2020/05/future-forward-trends-whats-beyond-organic
Regenerative Cannabis Farming – The Solution Right Under Our Feet
https://greencamp.com/regenerative-cannabis-farming/
Free-range pigs: Working the soil and bringing home the bacon
Western Cape farmer Angus McIntosh is showing that pigs can earn their keep through the eco-services they contribute, as well as the bacon they provide. He spoke to Glenneis Kriel about his outdoor pigs, whose movement is carefully controlled to make the most of their foraging habits.
Sugar cane farmer’s five steps to bring his soil back to life
The negative effects of more than 170 years of monocropping with sugar cane in South Africa are starting to appear. KwaZulu-Natal sugar cane farmer Deon Schröder explains what these are, why they should be changed, and how he is going about this on his farm.
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Rod Oram: Nature is showing us the way
We must learn Covid-19’s lessons for our relationship with the planet and help nature restore the living systems on which human life utterly depends, writes Rod Oram
(This is the first of three articles at Newsroom in conjunction with Pure Advantage and the Edmund Hillary Fellowship on the importance of regenerative agriculture. Tomorrow: The Good, the Bad and the Opportunity, by Alina Siegfried.)
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/05/03/1151190/nature-is-showing-us-the-way
What is Regen Ag and why is it big for NZ?
In the second of three articles on Newsroom about the timely promise of regenerative agriculture, Alina Siegfried introduces the term and what it could mean for New Zealand, and details a major project on the subject produced by think tank Pure Advantage.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/05/04/1155648/alina-siegfried-good-bad-opportunity
Until recently, regenerative agriculture was deemed “niche” and the phrase, “you cannot feed the world this way” was repeated over and over.
Nelson, vehemently disagrees.
“We absolutely can change the cycle if we commit to doing so. Food doesn’t have to be shipped all over the country, we just need more farmers, and local meat processors, and dairies,” Nelson said. “That’s our goal. Farm House Naturals carries local meats, food products, local soaps, and other things from your neighbors. Local farmers and artisans that you can look in the eye, know their name, and shake their hand. You know who your doctor is, which you need a few times a year, how come we don’t know who our farmers are?”
https://www.jacksonnewspapers.com/news/20200501/feeding-jackson-county-during-covid-19
Arkansas farmers switch to cover crops and keep the family farming for another generation
The Green New Deal Is the Key to Ending Forever Wars
https://truthout.org/articles/the-green-new-deal-is-the-key-to-ending-forever-wars/
Paradigm Shift: Conceptualizing the circular economy
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/paradigm-shift-conceptualizing-circular-economy
Markets will change: some of this is good:
First recyclable monomaterial pouches developed by Gualapack launched in Germany
https://www.eppm.com/materials/first-recyclable-monomaterial-pouches-developed-by-gualapack/
Pandemic sees growth in compost sales (VT)
https://www.reformer.com/stories/pandemic-sees-growth-in-compost-sales,603873
Rubbish is piling up and recycling has stalled – waste systems must adapt (UK)
There is authentic professional and public confusion, especially
about “value” of recycling materials, vs linear single use.
New research shows public “still confused” about recycling (UK)
Brand new research conducted by YouGov found that only 8% of Brits strongly believe that recycling labelling on products is clear and that only 12% of them trust this recycling labelling on products.
https://www.circularonline.co.uk/news/new-research-shows-public-still-confused-about-recycling/
Pandemic will have a serious impact on recycling (UK)
https://www.explica.co/pandemic-will-have-a-serious-impact-on-recycling/
Plastics Had Been Falling Out of Favor. Then Came the Virus
POLICY EXAMPLES:
Bill Aims to Boost Compost Industry, Prolong Landfill (VT)
https://www.ecori.org/government/2020/3/14/bill-aims-to-boost-compost-industry-help-landfill
It’s simple: Recycling means jobs (NM)
New plastics tax ‘real boost’ for circular economy and recycling infrastructure, says sustainability experts (UK)
5 Sustainable Alternatives to Plastics (USA)
Paradigmatic shift example: “Donut Economics”
Doughnuts to the Rescue of the World Economy
(Int’l Policy Magazine)
https://intpolicydigest.org/2020/05/03/doughnuts-to-the-rescue-of-the-world-economy/
Amsterdam is now using the ‘doughnut’ model of economics: What does that mean?
It’s a simple way to illustrate an economic system where the city doesn’t let anyone fall into poverty, while also living within a sustainable environmental footprint.
In ocean biodiversity hotspots, microplastics come with the currents
In a First, Renewable Energy Is Poised to Eclipse Coal in U.S.
The coronavirus has pushed the coal industry to once-unthinkable lows, and the consequences for climate change are big.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/13/climate/coronavirus-coal-electricity-renewables.html
Farm pioneers mixture of ‘rewilding’ and sustainable agriculture
Beavers have been introduced into an enclosure on a Norfolk farm as part of a ‘three-pronged’ approach to managing land.
“Carbon Cowboys”: new documentary series shows farmers’ lives turned around by working with nature
https://www.investorideas.com/news/2020/renewable-energy/05151CarbonCowboys.asp
Can Winters Be the Town That Nature Saved?
https://www.wintersexpress.com/opinion/letters/can-winters-be-the-town-that-nature-saved/
Newsom sides with anti-pesticide activists in a CalEPA directive. But what does it mean?
Island sustainability conference to focus on circular economy
‘Carbon neutral computing’: Intel plots path to zero waste, zero carbon computers
How Jack Landsmanas creates sustainable food security for Mexico
Rebuilding recycling to go circular
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/rebuilding-recycling-go-circular
Make a Resilient, Localized Food System Part of the Next Stimulus
Do fuels made from plastic make eco sense?
Several companies have come up with pilot plants to convert plastic waste into crude oil, diesel or other fuels. It is sold as a way to get rid of trash and help the environment. But is it?
The New Cash Crop: Carbon (podcast)
But it’s important that they are pulling carbon out of the atmosphere above what would normally happen– a concept called “additionality.” Nori has developed a Dynamic Baseline that isolates the specific practices that increase carbon in the soil, to eliminate climate or weather patterns that naturally increase carbon in some soil types.
https://www.agprofessional.com/article/new-cash-crop-carbon
Farms to Feed Us
https://orfc.org.uk/farms-to-feed-us/
We are in the midst of a global biodiversity crisis1,2 with severely limited resources for conservation action3. At current extinction rates, we are set to experience unprecedented losses of species and their phylogenetic diversity (PD).
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16410-6
Big Oil loses appeal, climate suits go to California courts-
“They should not be able to stick taxpayers with the bill for the damage they knew they were causing.”
https://apnews.com/90beb424c3b6b9988d1fb91000d0518b
STILL DIGGING:
G20 GOVERNMENTS CONTINUE TO FINANCE THE CLIMATE CRISIS
http://priceofoil.org/content/uploads/2020/05/G20-Still-Digging.pdf
Pandemic offers glimpse into a carbon neutral future
The data has been collected on behalf of the Devon Climate Emergency Response Group
https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/pandemic-offers-glimpse-carbon-neutral-4163436
In Wake of Global Shutdowns, Researchers Expect Water Quality to Improve
Since air and water quality are linked, researchers expect to see signs of cleaner water in the short term.
https://news.ncsu.edu/2020/05/water-quality-to-improve-after-covid-19-shutdowns/
Coronavirus is the voice of the Earth
Satish Kumar
Countries Restarting Economies Have Rare Chance to Solve Ocean Plastic Pollution
Duke University analysis discusses strategies to stop the flow
Australian Federal Government’s Warning on use of fracking chemicals in Queensland’s water channel country
Unconventional gas projects use chemicals that are of ‘potentially high concern’ for sensitive region, report finds
It said of 116 chemicals known to be used in drilling and fracking, 33 were assessed as being of “potentially high concern” and 41 were of “potential concern”.