Trump Administration Broke the Law by Disregarding Fisheries’ Impact on Endangered Whales | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Shameful: A judge said that the federal government failed to adequately consider the impact that lobster fishing activities have on endangered whales. (Photo: NOAA)

Care2: The U.S. lobster fishing industry is slowly but surely chipping away at the only 411 North Atlantic right whales left in the entire world. This has all come to light due to a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), a federal agency, which claims that it failed to disclose how many whales were at risk of harm or death due to fishing activities. Although scientists unanimously agree that only one right whale fatality per year can be sustained and still allow their population to survive and grow, the NMFS thought it best to brush over the estimated 3.25 whales being killed per year when they submitted a biological opinion in 2014. The North American right whale is protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), of which the NMFS’s actions are in clear violation. This high death rate for individual whales is a death sentence for the entire species, and the deception that followed is simply shameful. It is estimated that up to 85 percent of all right whales still living have horrendous scars and injuries from entanglement in lobster fishing equipment. The ropes from cages and gillnets slowly and torturously cut into the whales’ skin. The best-case scenario is that they leave with injuries or dragging cumbersome, restrictive and heavy equipment with them. In the worst case, they drown or starve to death. Luckily, a federal judge recently ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, holding the federal agency at fault for the deception. He said this was “as straightforward a violation of the ESA as they come.” But the NMFS says that is a “deeply disappointing decision,” and are currently reviewing their options while consulting their own legal teams. It is clear what that means: The NMFS, worried for the profitability of the lobster fishing industry, will do whatever it takes in order to continue to operate as they please. If this is the course of action, there is hardly a shred of hope for the North Atlantic right whale.
>>>Urge the NMFS to take every necessary action in order to preserve the lives of the remaining 411 North Atlantic right whales.

Creature Crusade: Imagine you’re a coyote going for a walk in the woods you call home. Then you smell them: several frenzied, roaring hounds come bounding out of the undergrowth. You can tell by the look in their eyes that they only know one thing: killing. You run, and run, and run. But you have no hope. There are just too many of them. You are backed into a corner, so you stand and fight. They surround you, then leap in one at a time. Teeth tear open your flesh again and again. At long last, weak from blood loss, you give out. That’s when they go in for the kill. Countless jaws close around you limbs, your throat, your ribs. They tear you apart in all directions. You spend your final moment in excruciating agony. This is what some people consider a “sport.” Hunters do it for fun. In truth, this activity is simply cruel and unethical. But perhaps there is hope. “I believe animals play an important role in our lives and should be protected from cruelty and abuse,” said Congressman Tony Cardenas (D-Calif.), a firm believer in animal rights. “By strengthening our country’s animal welfare policies, Congress can make a big impact on the lives of millions.”
>>>Urge Congressman Cardenas to introduce legislation that would ban hound hunting in the United States.

International Dark-Sky Association: When used indiscriminately, outdoor lighting can have a negative impact on wildlife, as many animals are nocturnal and unnatural lighting alters their nighttime environment by turning night into day. In fact, both plants and animals depend on Earth’s daily cycle of light and dark rhythm to govern life-sustaining behaviors such as reproduction, nourishment, sleep and protection from predators. Is your home dark sky friendly? By following five simple principles for responsible outdoor lighting at home, you can protect nocturnal wildlife, be a good neighbor, and preserve the night sky. Follow this user-guide to certify your home dark sky friendly, and download a certificate.
>>>Do a home lighting assessment to see if your home is dark-sky-friendly.


Cause for concern…

Methane leaking: he Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico is one of the most productive petroleum provinces of North America. Now a new study shows that the methane emitted from these oil fields is the highest ever measured for any oil and gas basin in the nation. (Photo credit: NASA)

Round of applause…

Plant power: “A plant-based diet doesn’t magically protect you from coronavirus, but a well-balanced vegan diet does support better immune functioning,” says Simone Wilson, a registered dietitian based in Philadelphia. (Photo credit: Marco Verch Professional Photography/Flickr)

Parting thought…

Safe haven: Keren Or with rescued friends at the Keren Or Farm Sanctuary in HaSharon, Israel, 2018. (Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals)

“Life is life—whether in a cat, or dog or man. There is no difference there between a cat or a man. The idea of difference is a human conception for man’s own advantage.” —Sri Aurobindo


Earth | Food | Life (EFL) explores the critical and often interconnected issues facing the climate/environment, food/agriculture and nature/animal rights, and champions action; specifically, how responsible citizens, voters and consumers can help put society on an ethical path of sustainability that respects the rights of all species who call this planet home. EFL emphasizes the idea that everything is connected, so every decision matters.

Click here to support the work of EFL and the Independent Media Institute.

Questions, comments, suggestions, submissions? Contact EFL editor Reynard Loki at [email protected]. Follow EFL on Twitter @EarthFoodLife.

To Prevent Future Pandemics, We Must Fix Our Broken, Inhumane Animal Agriculture System | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Kill them, kill us: In one Minnesota study, 65 percent of employees at two live animal markets tested positive for influenza of swine origin. (Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/WeAnimals)

President Trump has issued an executive order requiring that meat processing plants remain open during the COVID-19 crisis. However, this order will only serve to cause further harm to people and animals already suffering in U.S. factory farms. “For decades the powerful meat industry has skirted protections for workers, consumers, animals, and the environment. It’s deeply disturbing they are now being shielded from liability for injuries to their most vulnerable employees during an unprecedented public health crisis,” said Leah Garcés, president of Mercy For Animals, in a statement. “The administration should prioritize using the Defense Production Act to make masks, ventilators and other personal protection equipment to prevent illness and death, not protecting an industry that’s causing it.”

“As we attempt to fight the spread of COVID-19, now is the time to think critically about how we want to continue to feed ourselves here in the U.S. and around the world,” writes Earth | Food | Life contributor Josh Balk, the vice president of farm animal protection at the Humane Society of the United States, on Citizen Truth. “Clearly, this is a serious problem that seems to be of our own making. It’s a cruel irony that as we’re killing animals for food, it’s killing us, too.”

Animal Place: Live animal markets place the public in grave danger, and result in immense cruelty to animals. Most infectious diseases can be traced back to animals, including COVID-19. The original reservoir for SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for causing COVID-19, is likely bat in origin. SARS-CoV-2 may have found a secondary host (e.g. pangolins) before mutating to a human host. The large live animal markets in China provide a perfect breeding ground for a pandemic. So do the livestock auctions and live animal markets of the United States. Auctions confine animals from different farms in overcrowded pens, sometimes for days. Healthy animals are housed with sick ones. The dead may be left for hours or days before removal from a pen. In the U.S., live animal markets sell a variety of species for slaughter, either onsite or privately. Studies show that employees at these markets often test positive for viruses that originate in animals. In one Minnesota study, 65 percent of employees at two live animal markets tested positive for influenza of swine origin.
>>>Demand that the U.S. Department of Agriculture ban live animal markets.

NASA: Video gamers and citizen scientists are invited to embark on virtual ocean research expeditions to help map coral reefs around the world in an effort to better understand these threatened ecosystems. During the past several years, NASA researchers developed new instruments that can look below the ocean surface in more detail than ever before. Using techniques originally developed to look at stars, these “fluid-lensing” cameras use complex calculations to undo the optical distortions created by the water over coral reefs. NASA has deployed these instruments—mounted on drones or aircraft—on expeditions to Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa and elsewhere to collect 3D images of the ocean floor, including corals, algae and seagrass. However, the data alone do not tell the whole story of what’s happening to the corals beneath the waves, which is why NASA needs your help. Enter NeMO-Net, a video game in which players identify and classify corals using these 3D images while virtually traveling the ocean on their own research vessel, the Nautilus.
>>>Become a citizen scientist: Download NeMO-Net from the Apple App store for iOS devices and Mac computers (with a forthcoming release for Android systems) and help NASA map coral reefs.

Care2: Pigs of God is a cruel Taiwanese festival and contest where pigs who have been force-fed for years are publicly slaughtered, then put on floats and paraded through the city streets. Getting a pig ready to enter the Pigs of God festival takes up to two years. During this period, the animals are constantly force-fed to a point where they are incapable of standing. This kind of procedure is both psychologically and physically damaging to the pigs, who often suffer from organ failure and pressure sores caused by lying down for long periods of time. Some owners castrate the pigs without anesthesia, in the belief this will help them get even fatter, and then pen them down so they cannot move. The pigs often exceed 1,500 pounds (700 kg) in weight, and there have been reports of some weighing around 2,000 pounds (900 kg).
>>>Urge Taiwanese authorities to ban the Pigs of God festival immediately.


Cause for concern…

Tough slog: Migrant workers pick crops in Hollister, California. (Photo credit: Faith Unlimited/Flickr)

“If we want to end this country’s dependence on desperate people who are willing to do hard physical labor at machine speeds for poverty wages, we need to transform farm work into a respected vocation with living wages, the right to organize, full benefits, health coverage and a pension plan,” writes Earth | Food | Life contributor Elizabeth Henderson, a member of the Board the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) of New York, on AlterNet. “When we replace giant farms with integrated, biodiverse family-scale organic and agroecological farms, no one will need to work like a machine.”


Round of applause…

Unjust and unnecessary: Every year, more than 100 million mice and rats are killed in U.S. laboratories, but the current push to find a vaccine for COVID-19 shows that much of this testing is not needed. (Photo credit: NASA)

Scientists are “utilizing antibodies from recovered people and infusing them into infected patients,” writes Earth | Food | Life contributor Barbara Stagno, president of the nonprofit animal rights group Citizens for Alternatives to Animal Research and Experimentation, in an email. “Several human trials have already shown positive results, even as some labs are trying this method on animals. The urgency of the situation has allowed totally human trials to move forward, demonstrating that the animal tests are unjustified and unnecessary.”


What we’re reading…

In her new book “Voices For Animal Liberation: Inspirational Accounts by Animal Rights Activists,” (Skyhorse Publishing, 2020), Brittany Michelson offers a wide spectrum of activism that is currently driving the growing animal rights movement. Some key contributors include Gene Baur, founder of Farm Sanctuary; Wayne Hsiung, cofounder of Direct Action Everywhere (DxE); Jill Robinson, founder and CEO of Animals Asia; and Earth | Food | Life contributor Karen Davis, founder of United Poultry Concerns. 

Reviewing the book for Sentient Media, Davis writes:

Whether animal liberation is ‘on the horizon’ or an ever-elusive aspiration fortified by shaky victories, the takeaway is that the liberation of oneself and of animals is a work in progress for activists determined to exemplify and deliver our ‘fragile message to the masses.’ Many, including your friends, will dismiss you no matter how you speak about animals and veganism. They will accuse you, says JaneUnchained News journalist Dani Rukin, of ‘flaunting your lifestyle.’ Olympic medalist Dotsie Bausch, founder of Switch4Good, is taunted by her cyclist coaches for her ‘plant-based BS.’ She tells them: ‘I don’t care if I fade away on this diet… and for once in my life I am going to stand up for what’s right.’


Parting thought…

One last drink: Melbourne Pig Save activists gave water to thirsty pigs arriving at an Australia slaughterhouse in 2017. (Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/WeAnimals)

“True benevolence or compassion, extends itself through the whole of existence and sympathizes with the distress of every creature capable of sensation.” —Joseph Addison

The Humane Cosmetics Act Seeks to End Cruel and Ineffective Animal Testing | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

What price beauty? The Humane Cosmetics Act of 2019 would eliminate cruel and ineffective testing of cosmetics on animals. (Photo credit: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences)

In Defense of Animals: For the sake of new lipstick shades, skin creams, or shampoo formulas, animals endure torturous tests and suffer in silence in laboratories. Cosmetics animal testing includes outdated, scientifically unreliable methods of determining the safety of a product. For these tests, innocent animals—including rabbits, mice, rats, hamsters and guinea pigs—are confined, restrained and exposed to finished cosmetic products or ingredients included in a product’s formula. Skin and eye irritation tests include dripping chemicals into animals’ eyes or rubbing chemicals onto their shaved skin to observe the results, which may include burns, lesions, bleeding, ulcers, and loss of vision. Animals are also forced to inhale substances or subjected to force-feeding studies in which they are forced to ingest chemicals over prolonged periods of time to observe the effects, which may range from general illness to cancer, seizures, birth defects, death, or anything in between. For “lethal dose” tests, animals are forced to consume large amounts of a test substance to determine the dose that kills them. The Humane Cosmetics Act of 2019 would eliminate cruel and ineffective testing and would also ban the sale of animal-tested cosmetics throughout the United States. These tests are not only cruel, but they have long been proven to be unnecessary, inefficient, and inconclusive. Although the anatomy of humans and that of other animals appear to be similar, all species respond differently to chemicals.
>>>Urge your U.S. legislators to support the Humane Cosmetics Act.

Stop Adani: Global insurance broker Marsh is helping Adani, a multinational conglomerate based in India, to secure insurance for the climate-wrecking Carmichael coal mine in Central Queensland, Australia. Insurance is critical for Adani: They can’t build their destructive coal mine without it. Sixteen major insurance companies have already said no to Adani, because smart insurance companies know better than to back risky projects that will destroy their business and fuel the climate crisis. Now Adani are desperate to find an insurer willing to trash their reputation for this dirty mine. That’s where Marsh come in. They’re actively hunting down unethical insurers for Adani’s destructive coal project.
>>>Urge Marsh ahead of their annual general meeting on May 21 to insure our future, not the Carmichael project.

PETA: The 2020 Iditarod ended on March 22. More than 220 dogs had been pulled off the trail because of exhaustion, illness, injury and other causes, leaving the rest to have to work even harder. One of those dogs, Cool Cat, developed twisted intestines and almost died of painful bloat. Another dog named Betty was in critical condition with pneumonia, and Thunder and Charlotte weren’t eating, had lost a lot of weight, and had fevers, diarrhea, and persistent coughs. Despite a whole team of dogs vomiting, several with frostbite, and one almost needing stitches, musher Nicolas Petit forced them to continue the grueling race anyway. And Mitch Seavey—already the subject of a recent PETA undercover investigation—reportedly threw a dog down and pinned her muzzle to the ground while on the race’s livestream. In late 2018 and early 2019, a PETA eyewitness worked at two dog kennels owned by former Iditarod champions and found widespread neglect and suffering. Dogs were denied veterinary care for painful injuries, kept constantly chained next to dilapidated boxes and plastic barrels in the bitter cold, and forced to run even when they were exhausted and dehydrated.
>>>Urge Millennium Hotels and Resorts’ Lakefront Anchorage Hotel to stop sponsoring the cruel and deadly Iditarod.

Cause for concern…

Hotter and hotter: Global temperature rise from 1880 to 2019. Higher-than-normal temperatures are shown in red and lower-than-normal temperatures are shown in blue. There is a 75% chance 2020 will set a record for the warmest year since instrument records began in 1880. (Image credit: NASA)

Round of applause…

Time to recover: “Plummeting global demand for fish and seafood as a result of the coronavirus crisis is likely to create an effect similar to the halt of commercial fishing during World Wars I and II, when the idling of fleets led to the rebound of fish stocks,” reports Laura Millan Lombrana on Bloomberg Green. (Photo credit: C Watts/Flickr)

Parting thought…

Friend, not food: Pam Ahern, founder and director of Edgar’s Mission sanctuary in Lancefield, Australia, with Red Baron, a rescued rooster. (Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals)

“If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals.” —Albert Einstein


Earth | Food | Life (EFL) explores the critical and often interconnected issues facing the climate/environment, food/agriculture and nature/animal rights, and champions action; specifically, how responsible citizens, voters and consumers can help put society on an ethical path of sustainability that respects the rights of all species who call this planet home. EFL emphasizes the idea that everything is connected, so every decision matters.

Click here to support the work of EFL and the Independent Media Institute.

Questions, comments, suggestions, submissions? Contact EFL editor Reynard Loki at [email protected]. Follow EFL on Twitter @EarthFoodLife.

Earth Day 2020 on Lockdown: Time to Change Our Habits | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Image credit: Travis Morgan/Flickr

From the editor’s desk…

April 22 marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, an annual global event supporting the protection of the planetary environment. Four years ago, on Earth Day 2016, environmentalists and conservationists across the world cautiously celebrated as the landmark Paris Agreement—a global accord aimed at keeping the global temperature rise this century well below 2° Celsius above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst impacts of climate change—was signed by some 120 nations, including the world’s two biggest polluters, the United States and China. But four years on, the prognosis is not good. In November 2019, a panel of climate scientists released a damning report, “The Truth Behind the Paris Agreement Climate Pledges,” in which they warned that the majority of the national pledges to reduce carbon emissions will not be achieved, with some of the biggest emitters even increasing their emissions. 

And while the coronavirus pandemic has given Mother Nature a much-needed breath of fresh air due to sudden and steep declines in global-warming emissions caused by travel restrictions, reductions in public transport and overall economic activity (which I describe in a recent article in Yes! Magazine), there are fears that the COVID-19 crisis may put governmental attention to climate crisis on the back burner for months or even years to come. “It’s going to put a pause on anything climate-related,” said Glen Peters, research director at the Center for International Climate Research in Oslo. “In the policy discussions for the next 6-12 months, climate is probably not going to be mentioned, it is going to be about coronavirus and economic recovery.”

Absent governmental action, individual action must come to the forefront. As Earth | Food | Life contributor Monica Stanton argues in a recent article on NationofChange, individual lifestyle changes can be powerful tools to achieve the kind of grand transformation society needs to save the planet from ourselves. “When we take everyday steps to align our habits with our beliefs, we can be heroes, and we can take action with measurable impact,” writes Stanton (whose forthcoming book, “Earth Daze: Navigating Life in the Climate Age,” will be published by Stone Pier Press this fall). “Even our most basic daily, individual practices, such as cooking and eating, have incredible aggregate potential: according to the World Resources Institute, if the average person on Earth replaced just 30 percent of their red meat intake with plant-based options, we could achieve half the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture necessary by 2050.”

On a planet crushed by human overpopulation—which is depleting finite natural resources and putting as many as one million plant and animal species at risk of extinction—we cannot afford to be careless about our personal consumer choices, a fact that the United Nations is addressing with ActNow, a global call to individual action on climate change. On this Earth Day, let’s take a moment to consider the beautiful Blue Marble that we share with so many other species who also call Earth home, and what we each can do to help sustain it for generations to come. And let’s try to remember, not just on Earth Day, but every day, that in our interconnected world, every decision matters.

Reynard Loki
Editor, Earth | Food | Life
Independent Media Institute


Take Action…

Every decision matters: From the food we eat to the clothes we wear, our individual consumer choices, multiplied by billions of individuals across the world, can help or harm the global environment. (Screenshot: United Nations)

United Nations: ActNow is the United Nations’ global call to individual action on climate change. The campaign is a critical part of the UN’s coordinated effort to raise awareness, ambition, and action for climate change and accelerate implementation of the Paris Agreement. Primarily an online and social media campaign, ActNow will educate and encourage individual actions, mainly by adjusting consumption patterns. By changing our habits and routines, and making choices that have less harmful effects on the environment, we have the power to confront the climate challenge. The ActNow Climate Campaign aims to trigger individual action on the defining issue of our time, urging each and every one of us to make a difference in all facets of our lives, from the food we eat to the clothes we wear. This year, the campaign is focusing on two mini-campaigns around food and fashion.
>>>Take the ActNow challenge to make your food and fashion habits more supportive of the Paris Climate Agreement.

Center for Biological Diversity: On the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, we find ourselves almost back where it all began—fighting for laws that protect our public health, wildlife and the environment. Under cover of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EPA is no longer enforcing some of our nation’s critical environmental laws. A recent study from Harvard University shows that coronavirus patients in areas with high pollution levels are more likely to succumb to the disease. This makes it even more important to enforce laws like the Clean Air Act.
>>>Urge EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to do his job and hold polluters accountable.

University of Huddersfield: Some of the tiniest creatures on the planet are vital to their environment. But there is a worldwide fall in insect numbers and an accelerating rate of extinction. Now, a global group of 30 scientists is highlighting the issue and suggesting practical steps that everyone can take to help halt the decline. Insects make a vital contribution to the environment. “They provide food for other animals and they can also have a significant role in the functioning of freshwater ecosystems, forming a critical component in the diversity of life,” said Dr. Matt Hill, an aquatic environment expert and lecturer at the University of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. But pollution and human impact on habitats mean that insects such as beetles, dragonflies and mayflies—plus other macro-invertebrates such as snails—are in long-term decline across the world.
>>>Support insect life by mowing lawns less often, avoiding pesticides and leaving old trees, stumps and dead leaves alone.


Earth Day picks…

Photo credit: Joe Brusky/Flickr

9 tips for reducing your impact by using what you have: “My family’s defining motto is ‘Siempre usa como lo que tienes’ (‘Always use what you have’),” writes Earth | Food | Life contributor Jazmine Velasquez, a news fellow at Stone Pier Press, in an article on EcoWatch. “To minimize my carbon footprint, I invest more of my money on sustainable shopping practices, like thrifting at second-hand clothing stores and packing my own meals in a lunch bag. I collect recipes that allow me to cook with overripe or wilted foods. The wilted kale in my crisper may not work in a salad, but it’s delicious in my favorite sweet potato hash.” [Click here to learn how to achieve a low-waste lifestyle.]

Kids can celebrate Earth Day with Woodsy Owl: For kid-friendly Earth Day activities, parents and teachers can celebrate with Woodsy Owl song sheets, sing-a-longs, coloring and activity pages and more, all available free at the U.S. Forest Service website. “Caring, friendly, and wise, Woodsy Owl is a whimsical fellow and he’s got his heart set on motivating kids to form healthy, lasting relationships with nature,” writes the U.S. Forest Service, which introduced the icon in 1971. “As Woodsy flies across our land, he encourages youngsters to marvel at and explore the natural world, even in the city. His motto ‘Lend a Hand – Care for the Land!’ encourages everyone to make a positive difference in their world.” [Click here for fun and free Earth Day resources for kids.]

Stylish, affordable bags made from recycled plastic: With Solo New York’s Re:cycled Collection, you can help plant trees and recycle plastic, all while sitting at home. Each bag in the collection is made from discarded plastic bottles that are transformed into high quality and lightweight recycled PET polyester yarn. The first run of the Re:cycled Collection alone recycled more than 90,000 plastic bottles. This environmentally-friendly process uses 50 percent less energy, 20 percent less water and causes 60 percent less air pollution than traditional fabrication methods. These eco-friendly bags help to prevent plastic bottles from entering landfills, and all tags, strings, and stuffing are made from 100-percent recycled and biodegradable materials. One of the biggest bag companies in the United States, Solo New York is a leader in sustainability, paving the way for other companies to follow: Its headquarters are completely powered by a rooftop solar array, and for each bag purchased, a tree is planted in partnership with the National Forest Foundation. [Click here to learn more about Solo New York’s Re:cycled Collection.]


Cause for concern…

No social isolation here: Farmworkers “face particular risks during the current pandemic,” writes Michael Haedicke, a sociologist at Drake University who studies agricultural issues. (Photo credit: Bob Jagendorf/Flickr)

Round of applause…

Fast lane: In normal times, the journey that baby sea turtles take from their nest on the beach to the ocean is fraught with peril. “Curious children, leashless dogs, oblivious joggers: The dangers are many. Some never complete their postnatal dash to the ocean,” writes Terrence McCoy of The Washington Post. But with many Brazilian beaches closed due to stay-at-home orders, the baby turtles are getting to the water in unprecedented numbers. (Photo credit: Bureau of Land Management/Flickr)

Parting thought…

Wild water: Nevada Fall is a 594-foot-high waterfall on the Merced River in Yosemite National Park, California. Visitors can take the John Muir trail, named after the famed naturalist, an early advocate of wilderness preservation known as the “Father of the National Parks.” (Photo credit: Udo S/Flickr)

“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” —John Muir


Earth | Food | Life (EFL) explores the critical and often interconnected issues facing the climate/environment, food/agriculture and nature/animal rights, and champions action; specifically, how responsible citizens, voters and consumers can help put society on an ethical path of sustainability that respects the rights of all species who call this planet home. EFL emphasizes the idea that everything is connected, so every decision matters.

Click here to support the work of EFL and the Independent Media Institute.

Questions, comments, suggestions, submissions? Contact EFL editor Reynard Loki at [email protected]. Follow EFL on Twitter @EarthFoodLife.

COVID-19 Outbreak Highlights Threat of Zoonotic Disease Transmission at Zoos | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Captive and sick: Left: Chendra, an elephant diagnosed with tuberculosis at the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA)-accredited Oregon Zoo. Right: A tiger at AZA-accredited Bronx Zoo who contracted COVID-19. (Photo credits: L: Free the Oregon Zoo Elephants; R: Pixabay)

In Defense of Animals: The novel coronavirus pandemic continues to cause global havoc, and in its wake is a growing awareness of the threats of animal-borne zoonotic diseases—those that can jump between humans and other species. At least one tiger has tested positive for COVID-19 at New York’s Bronx Zoo and others are displaying symptoms. Like COVID-19, tuberculosis (TB), a zoonotic disease that can be transmitted from non-human animals to humans, is rampant in the U.S. captive elephant population and this deadly, highly-infectious disease continues to be contracted by human zookeepers. The risk of elephants transmitting TB to humans is generally greater among those who work closely with elephants, though it is thought that TB can spread from elephants to humans through the air, risking the possibility of wider contagion, including to zoo visitors. Close public interactions, such as rides or feedings, are particularly concerning. According to the World Health Organization, TB is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide, killing millions of people each year. One of the reasons TB is so prevalent in U.S. zoos is that captivity compromises elephants’ immune systems, making them more likely to fall ill. The tight confines of captivity are entirely unnatural for elephants and cause a range of well-documented physical and psychological ailments, including chronic illnesses, shortened lifespans and disease proliferation. TB has been a scourge on captive elephant populations in the U.S. for decades, proving that zoos are simply incapable of providing adequate living conditions to prevent the spread of this disease, despite their best efforts, and despite adhering to standards set by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
>>>Urge the the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to phase-out elephant captivity at member zoos across the U.S. to stop the spread of TB.

Citizens for Alternatives to Animal Research and Experimentation: As the coronavirus pandemic continues to grow, it has exposed a chilling disregard for animal life in labs across the country. To prepare for staff shortages, universities are ordering “extraneous” animals to be “euthanized.” Already, thousands of mice have been killed and the situation is likely to worsen as the crisis escalates. Incredibly, labs are still allowed to keep breeding mice, even as they are being killed. One researcher at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine was told to kill 200 mice—more than three-quarters of the lab’s research animals—a job she called “heartbreaking.”
>>>Urge the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare to immediately ban the breeding of mice and other animals while the country remains under lockdown due to the coronavirus.

CNN + AWARE Wildlife Center: Millions of wild animals are inadvertently killed or injured every year in the U.S. due to human activity including traffic, habitat destruction and poisoning. A large percentage are killed by vehicles every year, according to the Department of Transportation, including slow-moving animals like turtles who try to cross a road to reach mating or nesting sites on the other side. It’s the most common cause of injury for animals coming under the care of AWARE Wildlife Center, a nonprofit hospital for injured and orphaned native Georgia wildlife just outside Atlanta. But there are steps we can all take to help reduce these accidental deaths.
>>>Millions of wild animals are killed or injured unintentionally each year in the United States: Here’s how you can help.

Cause for concern…

(Screenshot: CANTV/School of the Art Institute of Chicago via YouTube)

On February 19, five activists with Slaughter Free Chicago flooded the public comment period of a Chicago City Council meeting, presenting gruesome details of the city’s slaughterhouses and how they connect to the climate emergency being voted on that day. They made three demands: 1) the city must cut ties with animal agriculture interests; 2) rapidly develop a plant-based food program, and 3) shut down Chicago’s last slaughterhouses. One of these public comments was delivered by Meghan, an activist, who tells her compelling story of living next to a slaughterhouse.

Round of applause…

Battery life: Grid energy storage technology can provide utilities and their customers with a broad stream of benefits. (Photo credit: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

“Today’s grid-scale batteries can store only a few hours’ worth of energy before they need to be recharged,” writes Earth | Food | Life contributor Elliott Negin of The Union of Concerned Scientists. “That’s enough to accommodate solar or wind power variability but not nearly enough to completely switch from fossil fuels to renewables.” Now new tools based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge will help scientists design more efficient battery systems for grid-scale energy storage.

Parting thought…

Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals.

“We live in a culture that has institutionalized the oppression of animals on at least two levels: in formal structures such as slaughterhouses, meat markets, zoos, laboratories, and circuses, and through our language. That we refer to meat eating rather than to corpse eating is a central example of how our language transmits the dominant culture’s approval of this activity.” —Carol J. Adams, The Sexual Politics of Meat

The COVID-19 Outbreak Makes It Clear: We Need a Worldwide Ban on the Wildlife Trade | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Deadly trade: A vendor butchers a cow at a market in Wuhan, China. the suspected origin of the global coronavirus pandemic. (Photo credit: Lei Han/Flickr)

Rainforest Rescue: The outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, China, cast a harsh light on wildlife markets. Huanan Seafood Market, which offers an appalling variety of live and freshly slaughtered animals, is suspected to be the pandemic’s Ground Zero. In addition to seafood, the meat of 30 terrestrial animal species is available there, including koala bears, wolf pups, pangolins, civets, squirrels, pheasants, scorpions, snakes and a variety of rats. Such markets don’t just spread disease: By selling poached, endangered animals such as pangolins, the trade is driving species toward extinction. Hunting and the wildlife trade, like climate change and habitat destruction, are among the causes of a looming mass extinction, as a 2019 United Nations report warned. Up to one million animal and plant species could soon vanish forever. Some forests are already deemed “empty” in the wake of rampant hunting and poaching. In October, China will host a United Nations conference on the Convention on Biological Diversity, where representatives of nearly 200 countries will seek ways to stop the mass extinction. Now is the time to act.
>>>Urge Chinese President Xi Jinping, Acting Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity Secretariat Elizabeth Maruma Mrema and U.N. member states to push for a worldwide ban on the wildlife trade.

League of Conservation Voters: The Trump administration has announced it would waive enforcement of almost all environmental laws. It’s supposedly due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but there’s no end date and polluting industries had requested this just days before. Right now, polluters can get away with whatever they want. Fracking operations can spill more waste into drinking water. Oil refineries can release more carcinogens. Industrial sites can emit more air pollution, harming respiratory health. We know that this will most impact the air, drinking water and neighborhoods of communities of color and low-wealth communities that are already disproportionately impacted by toxic pollution. This is an unprecedented attack on the health and safety of our communities at the precise moment they are reeling from the economic and health impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak. The consequences will be devastating and will put communities on the frontlines of systemic racism and environmental injustice at an even greater risk.
>>>Urge Congress to restore EPA enforcement immediately.

Fauna & Flora International: The Earth’s oceans look after all living things, every day, in every way. They create the oxygen that supports life, power our cities, swallow our sewage and give rise to the rain that grows the plants that all animals, including us, need to survive. And yet, the marine ecosystem is fragile. From continent-sized currents to chemical cycling by microscopic life, the oceans are fueled by a delicate dance that’s been perfected over eons. Now humans are about to introduce a new threat: deep-sea mining. This new mining method will allow corporations to rip minerals out of the seabed, clawing deep into the crust and releasing all manner of long-buried substances. These are then discharged into that delicate dance with all the finesse of a bull in a china shop. In July, meetings will be held to discuss whether to allow it, with a great many influential parties pushing for a quick approval. If it goes ahead, the effects will be calamitous. It will create sediment swarms large enough to smother entire ecosystems. It will smash the biological pump that sustains the planet’s climate. It will unlock ancient sulfur deposits, potentially leading to runaway ocean acidification.
>>>Demand that global governments place a moratorium on all deep-sea mining.


Cause for concern…

Underprepared: A worker sprays disinfectant during the COVID-19 outbreak in São Paulo, Brazil. (Photo credit: Renato Gizzi/Flickr)

“A first lesson we are drawing from the COVID-19 pandemic and how it relates to climate change is that well-resourced, equitable health systems with a strong and supported health workforce are essential to protect us from health security threats, including climate change,” writes Arthur Wyns, a climate change researcher at the World Health Organization. “The austerity measures that have strained many national health systems over the past decade will have to be reversed if economies and societies are to be resilient and prosperous in an age of change.”


Round of applause…

In 2013, activists from Animal Liberation Victoria in Australia visited the sickbay of a pig farm. Gravely injured or ill piglets were taken from the property. (Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/Animal Liberation Victoria/We Animals)

“Truth, no matter how unfortunate or unsavory, needs to be told,” says Amanda Hitt, a champion for protecting food system whistleblowers and the founder and director of the Food Integrity Campaign of the Government Accountability Project.


Parting thought…

(Photo credit: memoki/Flickr)

“I am glad I will not be young in a future without wilderness.” ―Aldo Leopold


Earth | Food | Life (EFL) explores the critical and often interconnected issues facing the climate/environment, food/agriculture and nature/animal rights, and champions action; specifically, how responsible citizens, voters and consumers can help put society on an ethical path of sustainability that respects the rights of all species who call this planet home. EFL emphasizes the idea that everything is connected, so every decision matters.

Click here to support the work of EFL and the Independent Media Institute.

Questions, comments, suggestions, submissions? Contact EFL editor Reynard Loki at [email protected]. Follow EFL on Twitter @EarthFoodLife.

In COVID-19 Wake, Dogs Rescued From Dog Meat Trade Left Stranded in South Korea | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

In Defense of Animals + Jindo Love Rescue: Travelers are desperately needed in an effort to help dogs rescued from the dog meat trade but left stranded in the wake of COVID-19. With an estimated 2.5 million dogs raised and brutally slaughtered for their meat annually in South Korea, rescuing as many of them as possible is already a daunting feat. Hundreds of dogs have been saved and re-homed in the U.S. and Canada since 2017. However, these efforts are being drastically hampered by fewer travelers, canceled flights and travel bans. These dogs rely on travelers who volunteer to bring them to North America from South Korea, but now dogs who have adopters waiting for them in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, New York City, Seattle, Washington D.C., and Toronto are stuck without a flight. This is affecting dogs waiting to get to their new homes—and stifling rescuers’ ability to save more. Several dogs are currently waiting to fly to their new homes, and many more are available for adoption.
>>>Become a flight volunteer to rehome rescued dogs. If you’re not traveling from Seoul, you can still help this critical program.

Change: The city of Wuhan, China, is now world-famous, having shot into the public consciousness when news of the deadly coronavirus outbreak originating there began appearing in the media. In efforts to control it, Chinese officials shut down the city and forced evacuations, leaving people scrambling to get their affairs in order before they had to flee. Thousands left their homes, friends and places of work—and their beloved pets. Many evacuees didn’t imagine that they would be away for too long, leaving enough food and water to hold their pets over for a few days. But now, nearly a month has gone by and those abandoned pets are now in danger of starving, or worse.
>>>Urge the Chinese government to step in and help rescue pets abandoned during the coronavirus crisis.

Humane Society of the United States: Shark populations are in crisis due to the global trade in shark fins. Every year, fins from as many as 73 million sharks are traded throughout the world to satisfy the hunger for shark fin soup. To provide these fins, fishermen often engage in shark finning—a horrific practice in which they cut off sharks’ fins, then toss the mutilated animals back into the ocean where they drown, bleed to death, or are eaten alive by other fish. The shark fin trade has also played a major role in the steep decline of shark species worldwide, some populations of which have dropped by as much as 90 percent in recent decades. Although shark finning is prohibited in American waters, consumers in most states can still buy shark fins, and the U.S. remains one of the world’s top importers of shark fins, as well as a transit point for international shark fin shipments. Thankfully, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act, H.R. 737, by a wide margin. Now the Senate must take action to pass its companion bill, S. 877.
>>>Urge your Senators to cosponsor S. 877 to protect sharks.

Cause for concern…

Nature strikes back: “Never before have so many opportunities existed for pathogens to pass from wild and domestic animals to people,” said United Nations environment chief Inger Andersen (pictured above, second from right), noting that 75 percent of all emerging infectious diseases come from wildlife. (Photo credit: United Nations)

Round of applause…

Saved by Uncle Sam: Federally protected lands (light blue) stem the loss of endangered species’ habitat compared to private unprotected lands (orange) in the U.S. Inset: Habitat loss (red areas) for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker along the Gulf coast. (Image: Tufts University)

Scientists at Tufts University used more than 30 years of Earth satellite images to discover that habitat loss for imperiled species in the United States over this period was more than twice as great on non-protected private lands than on federally protected lands. “At a time when the planet faces a looming extinction crisis, we need every tool available to protect species and their habitats,” said Jacob Malcom, director of the Center for Conservation Innovation at Defenders of Wildlife and a co-author on the study. “This research illustrates the critical importance of America’s federal lands system for conserving wildlife habitat and the urgent need for better protections on other land ownerships. Biodiversity and the services it provides to society can be conserved through concerted effort and transformative change; protecting habitats must be an essential part of that effort.”

Parting thought…

After Anita Krajnc, while walking her dog, came close to a transport truck full of pigs headed for slaughter, she formed Toronto Pig Save. The group holds signs, hands out vegan literature and bears witness—up close and personal—to the individual animals en route to slaughter. (Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals)​​​​​​​

“All beings tremble before violence. All fear death, all love life. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?” —Buddha

Earth | Food | Life (EFL) explores the critical and often interconnected issues facing the climate/environment, food/agriculture and nature/animal rights, and champions action; specifically, how responsible citizens, voters and consumers can help put society on an ethical path of sustainability that respects the rights of all species who call this planet home. EFL emphasizes the idea that everything is connected, so every decision matters.

Click here to support the work of EFL and the Independent Media Institute.

Questions, comments, suggestions, submissions? Contact EFL editor Reynard Loki at [email protected]. Follow EFL on Twitter @EarthFoodLife.

The Farm Workforce Modernization Act Does Not Solve the Farm Labor Dilemma

Pie Ranch in Pescadero, California, is a highly diverse farm that has both organic and food justice certification. A sustainable farm stand offering fresh pie and organic coffee with a side of food justice and education, Pie Ranch is a place where no workers have to endure the kind of repeated tasks that threaten physical health. (Photo credit: Katie Greaney)

America’s farmworkers deserve better.

By Elizabeth Henderson, Independent Media Institute

8 min read

Farmworkers, farmers and their organizations around the country have been singing the same tune for years on the urgent need for immigration reform. That harmony turns to discord as soon as you get down to details on how to get it done, what to include and what compromises you are willing to make. Case in point: the Farm Workforce Modernization Act (H.R. 5038), which passed in the House of Representatives on December 11, 2019, by a vote of 260-165. The Senate received the bill the next day and referred it to the Committee on the Judiciary, where it remains. Two hundred and fifty agriculture and labor groups signed on to the United Farm Workers’ (UFW) call for support for H.R. 5038. UFW President Arturo Rodriguez rejoiced: 

“Today is a milestone because this bill will help bring stability to the agricultural industry…Agricultural workers will have stability for themselves and their families. No longer will children worry whether their moms and dads are coming home from work. The bill addresses the pervasive fear faced every day by the immigrant farmworkers who perform one of the toughest jobs in America.”

Smaller farmworker organizations, however—Familias Unidas por la Justicia, Community to Community Development, CATA, Farmworker Association of Florida and UFCW, who unite in the Food Chain Workers Alliance—vigorously oppose H.R. 5038. Why the split, and what does it mean for this bill and future steps toward comprehensive immigration reform?

With bipartisan sponsorship, the bill has three titles that address a pathway to legal status for some farmworkers, expansion of the H-2A program—which allows farmers to import seasonal farm labor for up to 10 months if they can show that there is a shortage of resident workers—to year-round work on farms along with many adjustments to make it easier and cheaper for farmers to apply, and a mandatory requirement of e-verify for all agricultural employers. The UFW acknowledges that the bill is a compromise, “crafted with help from a group of Democratic and Republican lawmakers…the result of months of difficult negotiations between Members of Congress from both parties, the United Farm Workers, UFW Foundation, Farmworker Justice and most of the nation’s major grower associations.”

The Agricultural Worker Program Act of 2019 (H.R. 641) seeks to establish a program for alien agricultural workers to obtain temporary resident status (“blue card status”) and procedures to obtain permanent resident status. H.R. 641 is a much kinder bill, granting a blue card after eight years of farm labor with a $450 fee. Even if a person is about the be deported, if they qualify, they can get a blue card and stay. There is nothing about H2A or e-verify. (Image credit: Community Alliance With Family Farmers)

Let’s examine the three sections to see how big those compromises are and who is hurt or benefits from them.

Title One of H.R. 5038 lays out what farmworkers must do to qualify for temporary and then more permanent legal status. If they have records to prove at least 180 days of employment in agriculture over the previous two years and no criminal record, they can apply for five-year renewable Certified Agricultural Worker (CAW) status, which will protect them from deportation, but not allow them to receive any public or tax benefits or health care subsidies. Listing by a Farm Labor Contractor qualifies a worker for CAW. The Secretary of Agriculture “may” (not “shall”) grant approval with similar limitations for a spouse and minor children. To retain CAW status, they must work at least 100 days a year in agriculture. Unlike the earlier Ag Jobs Bill (2009), H.R. 5038 does not allow flexibility for periods of illness or injury. CAW status does allow farmworkers to travel outside the U.S. as long as that travel does not interfere with the required 100 days a year of farm work.

To gain Permanent Resident Status (PRS), H.R. 5038 requires a total of 14 years of farm work: 10 years before the passage of the bill and then four more years before applying for PRS. If a person has done farm work for less than 10 years, they have to work and wait eight more years before applying for PRS. Nothing in H.R. 5038 shelters a worker who has been injured and is unable to work the full 100 days per year required to gain citizenship from being disqualified and deported. The 14-year process to gain permanent legal status with no social safety net and no room for even a single misdemeanor seems like a mixed blessing even for the fortunate farmworkers who can meet these requirements that are much more stringent than the 1986 Immigrant Reform and Control Act (IRCA).

CATA, the Farmworker Support Committee, a small organization with 40 years of history helping to organize and defend farmworkers and other low-income immigrants, convened a discussion of H.R. 5038 among its members. They rejected the proposal for failing to provide a short, clear path to legal status for all undocumented agricultural workers.

Changes to H-2A

From the farmer perspective, Title Two of H.R. 5038 improves the H-2A program. Instead of sequential filings via snail mail with three different government agencies, it consolidates the application process into one online filing, allows farmers to stagger labor requests and post their workers wanted listings in a single electronic registry. (See my blog for a detailed description of how H-2A functions.) Title Two changes the formula for calculating H-2A pay in a way estimated to reduce wages slightly while allowing more flexibility for differentiating among different work assignments, freezes the rate for a year and then caps the percentage increase per year, and allows alternatives to inspected on-farm housing. It sets up a limited number of three-year visas for year-round workers, thus opening the program to dairies and other livestock farms and a pilot program for 10,000 workers who will be allowed to change employers.

On balance for H-2A workers, H.R. 5038 does extend coverage by the Migrant and Seasonal Workers Protection Act to H-2A workers. This act regulates labor contractors, requires full disclosure of wages, hours and work assignments, and provides workers with some protection from retaliation for raising grievances. Section 505(a) of MSPA states that it is a violation for any person to “intimidate, threaten, restrain, coerce, blacklist, discharge, or in any manner discriminate against any migrant or seasonal agricultural worker because such worker has, with just cause, filed any complaint or instituted, or caused to be instituted, any proceeding under or related to this Act, or has testified or is about to testify in any such proceedings, or because of the exercise, with just cause, by such worker on behalf of himself or others of any right or protection afforded by this Act.” While section 505(a) sounds good, it is hard to see how the timing of the grievance process could work for short-term seasonal workers who would probably have to return home before the wheels of justice start turning.

Roxbury Farm CSA, a community-supported farm in Kinderhook, New York, is large enough to feed a lot of people, yet not so large that anyone has to work like a machine. (Photo credit: Elizabeth Henderson)

From the perspective of both H-2A and undocumented workers, most of the changes to H-2A do not look like improvements. Except for those in the pilot program, H-2A workers are still locked in to the employer who invited them and cannot switch jobs unless the employer is a multi-farm association, and they are left without the legal right to organize. According to USDA statistics, the number of H-2A positions has increased “from just over 48,000 positions certified in fiscal 2005 to nearly 243,000 in fiscal 2018.” By making it easier for farmers to hire “guestworkers,” the bill threatens the job security of farmworkers already working on U.S. farms.

The members of CATA denounce the H-2A program for leaving all the power in the hands of the employer. In CATA’s words: “If a worker loses their job, they lose their visa and must return immediately to their home country. We have documented extensive lack of compliance with the workers’ rights regulations included in the current H-2A program. Despite this, workers in the program are extremely reluctant to report issues with their job orders and problems in the workplace because their status and their ability to return through the program depends on their employers.”

Mandatory E-Verify

The final title makes electronic verification of employment eligibility, known as “e-verify,” mandatory for the entire agricultural sector. No other industry sectors are saddled in this way. The goal is to close all pathways to farm work for undocumented people and to provide due process for authorized workers who are unfairly rejected by the system. However, despite the bill’s assurances of fairness and accuracy, so far, the e-verify system has not reached that high bar, and in its current form makes many misidentifications thus disqualifying qualified workers and the reverse. Contested cases take days to straighten out, threatening new hires. A large farm would have office staff assigned to sort this out, but for small farms, appealing a mistaken finding can turn into a lengthy and expensive legal tangle. According to USDA, close to 50 percent of all farmworkers are still undocumented.

To see if a newly hired employee is authorized to work in the United States, employers use E-Verify, an electronic worker-verification system. While the system’s error rate was unacceptably large when it was initially developed, it has improved, and the error rate is now small. However, because of the sheer number of individuals checked by E-Verify, mistakes negatively affect many thousands of workers and employers. (Graphic: National Immigration Forum)

I have combed UFW public statements for an explanation for the compromises in H.R. 5038, but I have not been able to find a UFW analysis of the details of the bill, and none of the UFW staffers I have reached out to have responded to my queries. Their press releases crow about a victory and urge supporters to contact the Senate to pass the same bill. By contrast, the Food Chain Workers Alliance, which includes all the smaller farmworker organizations, urges calls and letters to the Senate in opposition to H.R. 5038: “As an Alliance,we believe that regardless of immigration status, all farmworkers deserve dignity, respect, and full protection on the job and in the communities in which their families reside. It is our belief that our movement should be guided by this vision of expanding access to rights and protection for all workers, especially the right to organize…we should oppose any legislation that does not provide stronger rights on the job for farmworkers and guestworkers and oversight over their conditions.”

A close reading of H.R. 5038 leads me to the same conclusion. If we want to end this country’s dependence on desperate people who are willing to do hard physical labor at machine speeds for poverty wages, we need to transform farm work into a respected vocation with living wages, the right to organize, full benefits, health coverage and a pension plan. When we replace giant farms with integrated, biodiverse family-scale organic and agroecological farms, no one will need to work like a machine.

Take action: Urge your senators to oppose H.R. 5038 — The Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2019.

This article was produced by Earth | Food | Life, a project of the Independent Media Institute.


Earth | Food | Life (EFL) explores the critical and often interconnected issues facing the climate/environment, food/agriculture and nature/animal rights, and champions action; specifically, how responsible citizens, voters and consumers can help put society on an ethical path of sustainability that respects the rights of all species who call this planet home. EFL emphasizes the idea that everything is connected, so every decision matters.

Click here to support the work of EFL and the Independent Media Institute.

Questions, comments, suggestions, submissions? Contact EFL editor Reynard Loki at [email protected]. Follow EFL on Twitter @EarthFoodLife.

Jane Goodall: Wild Animal Markets Have Unleashed New Viruses | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Voice of reason: Famed primatologist Jane Goodall delivers a video message for the world in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

“My heart is with all who are sick, all who have lost loved ones. I just hope and pray that the nightmare will soon be over. I also hope and pray that the nightmare may end for the wild animals who are captured and kept in horrible conditions for food, all because some people believe that various animal parts can be used to cure diseases or give people strength or virility. Because animals—bears, pangolins, civets, bats, rhinos and so on—they all have feelings just like us, they suffer pain like us. They know fear, loneliness and despair. All over the world we’ve been destroying the places where animals live in order to get materials to build our homes, our cities, and to make our own lives more comfortable. And as a result, we’ve brought the climate crisis on ourselves. Many species of animals and plants have become extinct. And our too-close relationship with wild animals in the markets, or when we use them for entertainment, has unleashed the terror and misery of new viruses.” —Jane Goodall, March 16, 2020

Change: There are more than 7.75 billion humans on Earth. And two-thirds of all animal species are being wiped out. 100,000 elephants were killed in the last three years. Too many species with once robust populations have now been reduced to a few thousand, a few hundred or even less. Humans are rapidly destroying the natural world in a blood-soaked pursuit of greed, false power, ego, ignorance and stupidity. We are witnessing the Sixth Extinction: Tigers, elephants, bears, rhinoceros, wolves, leopards, jaguars, cheetahs, gorillas, orangutans, so many bird species and sea life are on the brink of total annihilation, and in a few years may be gone forever—unless mankind takes drastic measures immediately.
>>>Urge Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres to take steps toward a ban on international travel for trophy hunting and importing/exporting animal parts.

Citizens for Alternatives to Animal Research and Experimentation: For the estimated 300 million people around the world suffering from depression, there is a need for safe, effective therapies. Sadly, vast resources go toward using animals to study depression, a macabre and unscientific pursuit in the guise of medical research. A notorious example is the “forced swim test,” in which researchers drop mice and rats into inescapable tanks of water and watch as they struggle to stay afloat. The animals, who no doubt experience tremendous fear and distress, are said to be depressed if they “give up” and stop swimming sooner than others. This assumption is unfounded, as there are countless reasons why a mouse or rat might stop swimming. Shockingly, this has gone on for decades, even though many scientists and doctors have admitted the test is without merit. There are new and emerging methods for studying the causes and treatments of depression that are far superior to flawed animal experiments. For example, a recent study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University used “mini-brains” to demonstrate that a common antidepressant drug may actually damage developing neurons in the fetus.
>>>Urge the National Institute of Mental Health to call for an end to funding studies using the forced swim test.

In Defense of Animals: As herds of camels roamed into rural communities in Australia’s arid central Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara region in a desperate search for water amidst drought, extreme heat and the deadly bushfires that have claimed the lives of more than one billion animals, the Australian government yet again initiated and tried to justify its inhumane plan to shoot thousands of camels by using the ridiculous excuse that camels are drinking too much water. In January, more than 5,000 terrified camels were needlessly and horrifically gunned down, with many left to suffer for hours or even days after being wounded before dying. Mass camel executions have been done many times over the years in regions throughout Australia with the end result always being unsatisfactory. Expensive and ineffective, these cruel culls fail to address the real cause of water shortages: livestock, which consume nearly half of the country’s agricultural water supply. The nation’s long-term, sustainable solution to water conservation requires a reduction in livestock agriculture and a move to plant-based diets, which will save enough water to hydrate the entire continent—including unfairly vilified camels.
>>>Urge the Executive Board Members of Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara and the South Australian government to permanently end to camel culls and address the real cause of water shortages: animal agriculture.


Letter to the editor…

Committed to cruelty: On any given day, hundreds of millions of chickens experience physical pain and mental suffering in factory farms across the United States. (Photo credit: Andrew Skowron/Open Cages)

Replying to “Corporate ‘Cage-Free’ Commitments Are Only Meaningful With Accountability,” by David-Coman Hidy:

I have eight laying hens who live in the Ritz Carlton of coops in my backyard. They have a door to their own space outside (protected from hawks with a chicken wire roof) to scratch and sun. Although I live in a subdivision, after 17 years here, my property and all the things in it are organic. I sell my eggs to neighbors for $5 a dozen. The eggs are pink, blue, green, tan and brown, and one of the hens every now and then lays a huge double-yolked egg, which I eat, myself! Just saying… —Geri Taran (Lawrenceville, Georgia)


Cause for concern…

UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the COP24 climate change conference in Katowice, Poland, in December 2018. (Photo credit: James Dowson/United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat)

“Climate change is the defining challenge of our time. Time is fast running out for us to avert the worst impacts of climate disruption and protect our societies from the inevitable impacts to come,” said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in his foreword to the World Meteorological Organization’s recently released annual Statement on the State of the Global Climate. “We need more ambition on mitigation, adaptation and finance in time for the climate conference (COP26) to be held in Glasgow in November. That is the only way to ensure a safer, more prosperous and sustainable future for all people on a healthy planet.” During the COP24 climate conference in 2018, Guterres warned that failing to agree on climate action would “not only be immoral” but “suicidal.”


Round of applause…

Bad science: Ninety percent of drugs or therapies considered successful after undergoing animal tests fail in human trials. Thankfully, ground-breaking non-animal alternatives show promise. (Photo credit: NASA)

“Mice are naturally resistant to coronavirus, so scientists are scrambling to genetically alter them to be susceptible, although their infection will not resemble the human illness,” writes Barbara Stagno, president of Citizens for Alternatives to Animal Research and Experimentation.  “A recent study examined non-animal models for developing vaccines for certain viruses and determined that ground-breaking human-mimetic approaches, such as induced pluripotent stem cell models, organoids and in silico mathematical modeling, are more likely to result in a successful vaccine than experiments on mice and monkeys.”


Parting thought…

Dominated: A captive fox in Shanghai, China. (Photo credit: calwhiz/Flickr)

“A just transition will require working through ‘systems of separation,’ more commonly known as ‘systems of oppression,’ which is another way of saying systems of domination, hierarchy, or superiority. Based on myths and lies, these systems purport that one group is more normal, superior, and/or powerful, and empower it to dominate another set of living beings. For example, patriarchy, class or caste hierarchies, and human domination over animals are all systems of oppression.” —Kritee (“Why Bodhisattvas Need to Disrupt the Status Quo,” Lion’s Roar)


Earth | Food | Life (EFL) explores the critical and often interconnected issues facing the climate/environment, food/agriculture and nature/animal rights, and champions action; specifically, how responsible citizens, voters and consumers can help put society on an ethical path of sustainability that respects the rights of all species who call this planet home. EFL emphasizes the idea that everything is connected, so every decision matters.

Click here to support the work of EFL and the Independent Media Institute.

Questions, comments, suggestions, submissions? Contact EFL editor Reynard Loki at [email protected]. Follow EFL on Twitter @EarthFoodLife.

Could Coronavirus Spread Been Lessened If We Let a Cute Animal Alone?| Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Do not disturb: A Philippine pangolin pup nudges its sleeping mother. (Photo credit: Gregg Yan/Wikipedia)

The coronavirus pandemic was likely sparked by the illegal trade in critically endangered pangolins.

By Reynard Loki, Independent Media Institute

Seventy percent of Chinese people falsely believe that consuming pangolins, scale-covered mammals native to Asia and Africa, can cure rheumatism and skin disorders and heal wound infections, according to a 2015 survey. This belief is primarily rooted in traditional Chinese medicine; there is no scientific evidence backing up these claims. 

Though it is illegal to poach them, this ongoing demand for their scales and meat has led to steep declines in their numbers, as poachers continue to capture them in the wild and sell them on the black market, like the live animal “wet market” in Wuhan that was the likely origin of the coronavirus outbreak. Scientists believe that the virus originated in bats, then moved to an intermediary host before jumping to a human. That intermediary host was likely a pangolin that was illegally for sale at that market in Wuhan.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates that a pangolin is illegally taken from the wild every five minutes, a shocking statistic that has earned the docile creature the title of “world’s most trafficked animal.” Today, all eight species of pangolin are listed as critically endangered by the IUCN.

“Poachers are killing thousands of pangolins a week, so these unique, scaly mammals desperately need help,” said Sarah Uhlemann, international program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “If we don’t halt the massive trafficking of pangolin parts, they could vanish in decades.”

Pangolins are easy to capture. They are nocturnal, solitary, and when threatened, they instinctually curl into a ball instead of trying to escape. To make matters worse for them, they are particularly vulnerable to the pressures that come with being poached, as they are sensitive to the stress of being captures and have a slow reproductive rate.

In response to a petition filed by a coalition of wildlife conservation groups in 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that protections for pangolins may be warranted. But the agency has failed to take any further action—despite mounting evidence of threats to the species. In November, the coalition filed a notice of intent to sue the Trump administration for failing to propose pangolin protections under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

“The U.S. has to do its part to shut down the global pangolin trade and save these extraordinary animals,” said Uhlemann.

Cruel contraband: Pangolin scales that were seized by Hong Kong customs authorities in June 2014, part of a seizure of 2,340 kilograms of scales worth more than $1.5 million on the black market. (Photo credit: Alex Hofford, USAID Asia/Flickr)

Clearly, international legislation is not enough to protect pangolins due to a lack of enforcement. “This is, in part, due to a lack of political will and a lack of funds,” says Friends of the Earth, an environmental nonprofit fighting to save the pangolin. “Local populations are also not aware or engaged in the drive to conserve these unique animals. Though poaching is the main threat to these species, habitat loss is also negatively impacting populations in both Asia and Africa, mainly because of deforestation.”

Last month, in response to the outbreak, China permanently shut down its $74-billion wildlife-farming industry. This is a positive step, as 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases come from nonhuman animals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But there are concerns that the demand is too high to make the trade in wild animals go away completely. 

“A total ban on trading wild animals would criminalize a substantial proportion of the Chinese population, and be untenable,” said Zhao-Min Zhou, a Chinese wildlife-policy researcher, who noted that shutting down animal markets would simply move the trade to the black market. In addition to the ban, authorities must enforce it.

TAKE ACTION: Urge the Chinese and Vietnamese government to enforce the trade ban on pangolins.

Earth | Food | Life (EFL) explores the critical and often interconnected issues facing the climate/environment, food/agriculture and nature/animal rights, and champions action; specifically, how responsible citizens, voters and consumers can help put society on an ethical path of sustainability that respects the rights of all species who call this planet home. EFL emphasizes the idea that everything is connected, so every decision matters.

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