Citizens for Alternatives to Animal Research: Research laboratories across the country have been killing off large populations of animals because of staff shortages and closures relating to COVID-19.  At the same time, the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) is allowing laboratories to continue to breed animals despite these mass killings. As reported by the media, many facilities have already killed large percentages of their animal populations amounting to tens of thousands of animals, mostly mice and rats who are killed through cruel methods like carbon dioxide suffocation and neck-breaking. OLAW has ignored requests by animal advocacy organizations and the public to temporarily halt breeding despite the mass killings taking place. This waste of taxpayer dollars and complete disregard for sentient animals is appalling and must be stopped.
>>>Urge Congress to compel the National Institutes of Health to ban the breeding of animals used in research during the pandemic.

Center for a Humane Economy: The night-time slaughter of Australia’s iconic kangaroos adds up to the largest land-based commercial slaughter of wildlife on the planet. And it’s focused on a native species freely ranging in their habitats, living in social groups, raising their young. It’s wrong to kill animals for their skins when we have alternative fabrics and fibers for shoes. The majority of soccer players from youth to pros already wear cleats made from synthetic and plant-based materials since they offer superior performance on the pitch. The kangaroo skin models, because they are so inhumane, are moral relics. When commercial hunters shoot female kangaroos, the Australian Code of Practice instructs shooters to check the pouch for joeys—then to bludgeon them to death. This is the fate of hundreds of thousands of dependent young each year. The 2019-2020 Australian fires killed more than a billion animals, including an unknowable number of kangaroos. Imagine those lucky kangaroos rescued, cared for and now being released back into the wild, only to be shot in the head due to the demand created by your soccer shoes. As one of the two largest purchasers of kangaroo skin in the world, Nike drives the killing. If Nike stopped the buying, the shooters would stop the killing. Nike says it is committed to sustainability, but if it is, how can it participate in the biggest massacre of wildlife in their native habitats in the world? Nike will change its way if consumers revolt over this wildlife-killing policy. Together we will convince Nike that forgoing kangaroo skin is the only sporting decision.
>>>Urge Nike to save kangaroos from being made into soccer shoes and phase out the use of kangaroo skins in their supply chain.

Change: A pregnant elephant was killed in the Indian state of Kerala, after she was fed a pineapple stuffed with explosives by locals. The gentle soul had come out from the nearby forest to the village in search of food. When she ate the pineapple, the firecrackers burst inside her mouth, causing her unbearable pain and agony. She roamed around hungry, unable to eat anything. But even in distress, the gentle giant did not hurt a single villager or damage any homes. To alleviate her pain, she went and stood in a river with her mouth and trunk submerged. Forest officials who were called in couldn’t rescue her and she died standing in a river. This is one of many cruelties that was only brought to light because of a good forest officer who spread the word on social media.
>>>Urge Kerala officials to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of this heinous crime to the fullest extent of the law.

Cause for concern…

• Jane Goodall warns humanity will be ‘finished’ after COVID-19 without ending ‘absolute disrespect for animals and the environment’ (Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams)
• Mass extinctions are accelerating, scientists warn (Rachel Nuwer, The New York Times)
• EPA soot proposal is an assault on communities of color, critics say (Jean Chemnick, E&E News)
• Trump EPA limits states and tribes’ ability to protest pipelines, energy projects (Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis, The Washington Post)
• Trump opens Atlantic sanctuary to commercial fishing, dismissing threats to whales and other marine wildlife (Valerie Volcovici, Reuters)
• Trump administration looks to fast-track logging on public lands (Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill)
• New Trump public land rules let Alaska hunters kill bear cubs in dens (Emily Holden, The Guardian)
• 10 horrible things NIH does to monkeys with your tax dollars (Danny Prater, PETA)
• Animal activist group secretly tapes euthanization of pigs, says they were ‘roasted alive’ (Donnelle Eller, Des Moines Register)
• Black cats turned into paste, sold as coronavirus remedy in Vietnam (Donna Miller, Gruntstuff)
• ‘In what world is that OK?’: 13,000 sign petition to close University of Guelph’s Arkell animal research facility (Jonathan Duncan, Guelph Mercury Tribune)
• British trophy hunters making thousands offering blood-thirsty tours to kill elephants, lions and rhinos (Christy Cooney, The Scottish Sun)
• Outrage over $735 million bullfighting bailout plan to save cruel blood sport(Lucy Connolly, UNILAD)
• The world’s deep oceans are warming, and that’s bad news for deep-sea creatures (University of Queensland)
• Oklahoma tops list of illegal shipping of fighting chickens (Clifton Adcock, Woodward News)

Round of applause…

The Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine has been certified as an International Dark Sky Sanctuary, protecting it from any form of light pollution. Not only does light pollution prevent seeing stars from the ground, but it also negatively impacts wildlife, from nocturnal animals and insects to plants.

“Designation as a Dark Sky Sanctuary recognizes this incredible resource that does not in many places today in this country, much less anywhere else in New England,” said Katahdin Woods and Waters Superintendent Tim Hudson. “Experiencing the night skies here will take you back in time to the night skies first experienced by the Wabanaki 11,000 years ago and the many people who have followed in their footsteps since, including John James Audubon, Henry David Thoreau, Theodore Roosevelt, and others.”

• Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine certified as International Dark Sky Sanctuary (International Dark-Sky Association)
• World can likely capture and store enough carbon dioxide to meet climate targets (Caroline Brogan, Imperial College London)
• If leaders want to protect humans from coronavirus, then we need to act quick on animal rights, too (Philip Lymbery, The Independent)
• In targeting animal rights activists, North Carolina violated the First Amendment, court rules (Will Doran, The News & Observer)
• It’s time to rethink the disrupted U.S. food system from the ground up (David R. Montgomery, Jennifer J. Otten and Sarah M. Collier, The Conversation)
• What do humans owe to wildlife in urban spaces? (Alyson Fortowsky, Sentient Media)
• Judge says Trump administration failed to protect endangered sage grouse habitat when it issued energy leases (Matthew Brown, Associated Press)
• Islamabad high court recognizes the rights of nonhuman animals (Nonhuman Rights Project, GlobeNewswire)
• VIDEO: Adorable rat sisters escape horrors of lab and find loving home (Jane Wolfe, Lady Freethinker)
• Vegans have better endurance, new study finds (Eliza Erskine, One Green Planet)
• Vegan seafood: The next plant-based meat trend? (Christine Ro, BBC News)
• 10 vegan books by Black authors to add to your reading list (Mohini Patel, VegOut)

Parting thought…

“Stones grow; plants grow and live; animals grow, live and feel.” —Carl Linnaeus

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.

Citizens for Alternatives to Animal Research: The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has released a Strategic Plan detailing its research priorities for fighting COVID-19.  Unfortunately, the plan recommends ineffective and cruel animal studies while omitting non-animal methods that can provide more efficient, human-relevant data. Additionally, it prioritizes infecting animals with coronavirus even though abundant evidence has shown that animals do not express COVID-19 infections in the same way humans do, if at all. NIAID’s plan ignores cutting-edge non-animal models like organoids and organ-chips that, unlike cruel animal experiments, have been shown to accurately mimic the human response. There are far more effective methods for studying COVID-19 that do not involve harming and killing animals.
>>>Urge NIAID to prioritize superior, human-relevant methods to study COVID-19.

Humane Decisions: Capturing and confining dolphins and orcas in concrete pools is killing them—physically and psychologically. Both captive orcas and dolphins die prematurely from living in restrictive captivity. They experience deep psychological trauma and neurosis from boredom, stress and anxiety. Every day they are denied the company of their families and are prevented from expressing their natural instincts and behaviors. They are also denied the ability to swim up to 100 miles a day as they normally would. In captivity, they live diminished lives where (before the lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic) they must perform tricks, entertain people against their will, or withstand being touched and handled by people nonstop for hours. These dolphins have no choice but to inhabit small and shallow concrete swimming pools, and cannot escape. Because of the constant stress and inability to escape, dolphins have bitten children due to their stress and fear. These businesses endanger both dolphins and the public, and are often in violation of federal laws and animal welfare laws.
>>>Take these steps to help bring an end to marine mammal captivity.

Animal Legal Defense Fund: The life of tigers exploited for profit is no life at all for these majestic creatures. Cubs are taken from their distressed mothers moments after they’re born, and are worked to exhaustion and often physically abused so they can be passed around for tourist photo opportunities. Meanwhile, adult tigers live out their days in cages—most of which are completely inadequate for their needs. Many captive tigers will never see the sky, feel the grass, or enjoy any behaviors that come naturally to them. Because cubs can only be “handled” for a few months, drugging tigers to be compliant and docile is commonplace. When they get too old and their existence is no longer profitable, they are often irresponsibly sold into the pet trade or killed. The Big Cat Public Safety Act (H.R. 1380) seeks to prohibit the private ownership of big cats, direct public contact, and dangerous public interactions with big cats such as cub petting.
>>>Join Joaquin Phoenix, Glenn Close, Anjelica Huston, Christopher Walken, Alan Cumming, Olivia Wilde and dozens of Hollywood stars in urging Congress to pass the Big Cat Public Safety Act.

Letter to editor…

Replying to “Collisions With Buildings Kill Up to a Billion Birds a Year in the U.S. Alone—but There’s a Solution | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife”:

I am bird-friendly. I do not have a cat. —Paul Whittaker (Ontario, Canada)

(Editor: According to the American Bird Conservancy: “Outdoor domestic cats are a recognized threat to global biodiversity. Cats have contributed to the extinction of 63 species of birds, mammals, and reptiles in the wild and continue to adversely impact a wide variety of other species, including those at risk of extinction such as piping plover.” Cat guardians can make their felines safer for birds by keeping cats inside or on a leash.)

Cause for concern…

• Drinking water in Minnesota threatened by 49 million tons of factory farm waste overload (Environmental Working Group)
• Paper mill still polluting Potomac River in Western Maryland, state attorney general alleges in lawsuit (Jean Marbella, The Baltimore Sun)
• UN climate talks likely be delayed a year due to coronavirus (Somini Sengupta, The New York Times)
• EPA employees allege leaders interfered with science in watchdog survey(Rachel Frazin, The Hill)
• COVID-19 reveals inherent cruelty of agribusiness (Jesse Harris, Sentient Media)
• Counties with meatpacking plants report twice the national average rate of COVID-19 infections (Sarah Graddy, Environmental Working Group)
• Another COVID-like disease from elephants can pose threat to public health(Northeast Now)
• Pesticides disrupt honeybee nursing behavior and larval development (Goethe University Frankfurt)
• New research confirms that modern sea-level rise is linked to human activities—not to changes in Earth’s orbit (Rutgers University)
• Global environmental changes are leading to shorter, younger trees (University of Birmingham)
• A few ‘superpolluters’ spew majority of annual industrial pollution, says new study (Shelly Leachman, Futurity)
• Climate change is making hurricanes stronger, researchers find (Henry Fountain, The New York Times) 

Round of applause…

“Cows tell the difference between people, remember people who have been kind to them and nurse grudges,” writes Indian MP Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, a staunch animal rights activist and environmentalist. “They are easily offended and will ignore you forever until you try very hard to make friends again. But ultimately, they are forgiving. They make friends for life. They can be obstinate, gentle or aggressive. Above all they are wise. If you choose to see a cow the way you see your dog, she can be very good company. They love each other, have friends and enemies. They communicate with people—if you are willing to listen. They like music. They are problem solvers—which means a high degree of intelligence.”

• Why cows are much like humans (Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, Mathrubhumi)
• Recognition of animal sentience on the rise (Ross Kelly, VIN News Service)
• States sue to block Trump from weakening fuel economy rules (Hiroko Tabuchi, The New York Times)
• Renewables top coal in the U.S. for first time in more than 130 years (Rachel Frazin, The Hill)
• ‘We’ve never seen this’: Wildlife thrives in closed U.S. national parks (Jeremy Miller, The Guardian)
• Coronavirus shows we must get serious about the well-being of animals(Kendra Coulter, The Conversation)
• Woman files lawsuit against Chicago poultry market after hearing animals screaming and crying (Eliza Erkskine, One Green Planet)
• Wuhan bans hunting, eating wild animals in response to coronavirus (Kaelan Deese, The Hill)
• A Chinese ban on animal cruelty can be an easy soft power win for Beijing(Kadira Pethiyagoda, South China Morning Post)
• EU protects bees by committing to 50% drop in pesticides by 2030 (Audrey Enjoli, LIVEKINDLY)
• Wildlife ecologist urges gardeners to form one big ‘national park’ (Katherine Roth, Associated Press via ABC News)
• Kate Nash: “I Went vegan after watching ‘Okja’—I never thought I would” (Robbie Lockie, Plant Based News)

Parting thought…

“If you care about the working poor, about racial justice, and about climate change, you have to stop eating animals.” —Jonathan Safran Foer

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.

American Bird Conservancy: Migratory birds are streaming northward at this moment, filling American neighborhoods and yards with song. If you are fortunate enough to spot the Common Yellowthroat (above), it means that once again, these birds have surmounted the myriad threats they face during their journey. Birds contribute nearly $80 billion to the U.S. economy, but collisions with glass windows, walls, and other structures kill up to a billion birds a year in the U.S. alone—making this one of the greatest human-caused threats to bird populations. But there are solutions, and even during these unprecedented times, there’s still much you can do for birds from home, like making your backyard bird-friendly—and telling your elected federal lawmakers you want them to help reduce bird collisions by co-sponsoring the Bird-Safe Buildings Act (H.R. 919), which would reduce these needless deaths by requiring public buildings to incorporate bird-friendly building design and materials, which would also help reduce of energy use and operating costs.
>>>Urge your U.S. senators and U.S. representative to co-sponsor the Bird-Safe Buildings Act.

Lady Freethinker: In a devastating step backward for animal rights and public health, China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs could reclassify mink, raccoon dogs, and foxes as “livestock” rather than wild animals, likely in an effort to skirt the country’s recently imposed wildlife trade ban and allow the fur industry to continue to operate uninhibited. Every year, over 50 million animals are needlessly tortured and killed at fur farms in China, where innocent creatures are crammed into dirty, overcrowded cages. They waste away in their own feces, malnourished and suffering, awaiting death from electrocution, toxic gases or bludgeoning. These conditions are similar to those that experts believe sparked the COVID-19 pandemic. Humans and potentially disease-ridden animals come within unnaturally close proximity to one another, giving deadly diseases the chance to spill over onto a human host. Two fur farms in the Netherlands were recently quarantined after several mink tested positive for COVID-19, serving as a sobering example of just how interconnected animal cruelty and human health are. China has recently taken steps in the right direction—including banning the dangerous wildlife trade—but these policies must be enforced.
>>>Urge China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to keep mink, raccoon dogs and foxes classified as wildlife, not livestock.

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine: In response to COVID-19, Wayne State University in Detroit announced on March 25 that it was sending most staff and faculty home and cutting back to a “minimal operational level.” In response to the Physician Committee’s request that Wayne State release any dogs in the study and end the experiments once and for all, university president M. Roy Wilson, MD, responded. Dr. Wilson wrote that five dogs are currently assigned to the experiments, and the university is finding homes for two dogs who aren’t yet “instrumented”—in other words, they haven’t yet had devices implanted in their hearts and around major blood vessels. But the other three dogs have had devices implanted and “are completing their studies,” which means they are being forced to run on treadmills while heart failure and/or hypertension are induced. Even when they are not running on treadmills, the dogs often have their hearts artificially “paced” at more than twice the upper normal rate. The heart failure and hypertension experiments have been conducted at Wayne State since 1991 and cost taxpayers $11.6 million. While legislation is pending in the Michigan legislature that would outlaw such experiments, now is the time for the university to end them once and for all.
>>>Urge Wayne State University president M. Roy Wilson to release any dogs currently in the studies and end the experiments.

Cause for concern…

• Climate change contributes to skyrocketing rates of infectious disease (Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica)
• Sea level could rise by more than 1 meter by 2100 if emission targets are not met (Jonathan Watts, The Guardian)
• ‘Stealth bailout’ shovels millions of dollars to oil companies (Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Bloomberg)
• Trump signs order easing regulatory enforcement on businesses (Cheryl Bolen, Bloomberg Environment)
• Shocking video shows Asian wet markets still selling bats, monkeys (Adam Schrader, New York Post)
• Journalist arrested for reporting on palm oil tycoon’s alleged land grab in Borneo (Hans Nicholas Jong, Mongabay)
• Russian supertrawlers off Scottish coast spark fears for U.K. marine life (Karen McVeigh, The Guardian)
• Food workers handling meat eventually experience psychological numbness and decreased empathy for the animals who died in the process (Lancaster University)
• Trump administration denies Endangered Species Act protection to Pacific fisher, a weasel-like woodland mammal (Steve Gorman, Reuters)
• New Zealand bails out cruel greyhound racing industry with $44 million COVID-19 emergency support package (Zane Small, Newshub)
• Lack of insects in cities limits breeding success of urban birds (British Ecological Society)

Round of applause…

• COVID-19 crisis causes unprecedented 17 percent plunge in global carbon emissions (Victor Tangermann, Futurism)
• Vegan diet can help prevent pandemics like COVID-19, 300 doctors say(Totally Vegan Buzz)
• California animal sanctuary sent two planes to Iowa to rescue 1,000 chickens who were going to be euthanized (Amanda Jackson, CNN)
• ‘Happy Cows’ advertisement ruled misleading (Lisa Isaacs, Independent Online South Africa)
• Activists use social distancing to draw attention to animal confinement (Dylan Forest, Animal People Forum)
• Emissions from road construction could be halved using today’s technology(Green Car Congress)
• Scientists successfully develop ‘heat resistant’ coral to fight bleaching (BBC News)
• Could lockdown be the death of bullfighting in Spain? (Ashifa Kassam, The Guardian)
• Another dog meat farm closes in South Korea (Kitty Block, Humane Society of the United States)

Parting thought…

“Mainstream religions continue to limit their potential and responsibility to serve the common good because they are human-centered. The spiritual core is corrupted and displaced by materialism and objectification, especially of animals; so many species are treated as objects and commodities and everything in the natural world as an exclusive human resource.” —Dr. Michael Fox

Appalachia Georgia Friends of the Bears: In Georgia, there are three distinct populations of black bears: North (aka Appalachia), Central and South Georgia. The population estimates are 3,000, 30 and 800 respectively, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resource’s Strategic Management Plan for Black Bears in Georgia (2019-2028). Although the American black bear is no longer on the Endangered Species List, the worldwide black market for bear parts and bear bile remains, putting Georgia on the front line of this illegal trade. But there is hope in the form of bi-partisan legislation: H. Res. 2264 – The Bear Protection Act of 2019, and the Senate companion bill. The bill calls for the conservation of global bear populations by prohibiting the importation, exportation and interstate trade of bear viscera and items, products or substances containing, or labeled or advertised as containing, bear viscera.
>>>Urge the Georgia U.S. Congressional delegation to support the Bear Protection Act.

Total Liberation International: Mattress company Casper brought Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss to join their board of directors in 2019. Casper has been praised by PETA for advertising their mattress as “vegan,” using no animal-based materials. In their ads, Casper also uses photos of happy dogs enjoying the comfort of Casper dog beds. As a company that has used vegan messaging and makes products that benefit animals, Casper should make the ethical decision to cut ties with Dani Reiss, since Canada Goose profits from and supports the mass suffering and death inflicted on countless animals, including coyotes caught in traps, and ducks, geese and sheep held captive inside farms, torn away from their families and denied any comfort in their brutally shortened lives. “While Canada goose has committed to using only “reclaimed” fur for the trim on their $$1,000 parkas beginning in 2020, PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said that the company “is attempting to ‘humane wash’ its image by switching from fur taken from coyotes whom trappers have recently caught in steel traps to fur that may already be on the market, which is also a product of the cruel actions of trappers.”
>>>Demand both Capser and Canada Goose be held accountable by immediately ending the use of all animals, including down and wool.

Earth Institute at Columbia University: Your carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases—including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, fluorinated gases and others—that you produce as you live your life. The Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project determined that in order to hold the global temperature rise to 2˚C or less, everyone on Earth will need to average an annual carbon footprint of 1.87 tons by 2050. Currently, the average U.S. per capita carbon footprint is 18.3 tons. By comparison, China’s per capita carbon emissions are 8.2 tons. We all have a ways to go to get to 1.87 tons. (Renee Cho)
>>>Use the EPA’s carbon footprint calculator to find out how much carbon and money you will save by changing some daily actions.

Cause for concern…

“During the COVID-19 lockdown, U.S. federal agencies have eased fuel-efficiency standards for new cars; frozen rules for soot air pollution; proposed to drop review requirements for liquefied natural gas terminals; continued to lease public property to oil and gas companies; sought to speed up permitting for offshore fish farms; and advanced a proposal on mercury pollution from power plants that could make it easier for the government to conclude regulations are too costly to justify their benefits,” reports Emily Holden for The Guardian.

• Trump dismantles environmental protections under cover of coronavirus (Emily Holden, The Guardian)
• Trump’s farm relief won’t protect essential farmworkers from COVID-19 (Scott Faber, Environmental Working Group)
• Potentially fatal combinations of humidity and heat are emerging across the globe (Earth Institute at Columbia University)
• Climate change will expose agricultural workers to unsafe conditions, warns study (Sam Mehmet, New Food Magazine)
• Suffocating healthy farmed animals during pandemic is not “euthanasia” (Dena Jones, Sentient Media)
• Corporate TV news largely ignored the relationship between environmental justice and COVID-19 (Elvondo Cooper, Media Matters)
• ‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic was found guilty of 17 counts of wildlife-related federal crimes, including killing five endangered tigers (Danny Prater, PETA)
• More mountain lions to be killed under proposed hunting plan in Colorado (Breanna Sneeringer, OutThere Colorado)
• Food wrapping, fishing gear and plastic waste continue to reach the Antarctic (British Antarctic Survey, ScienceDaily)
• High microplastic concentration found on ocean floor (Jonathan Amos, BBC News)

Round of applause…

• Why this farmer went from raising chickens to growing industrial hemp (Lauri Torgerson-White, NationofChange)
• New proposed legislation aims to help at-risk farmers switch from animal to plant-based agriculture (Anna Starostinetskaya, VegNews)
• Worldwide bee population buzzing back thanks to coronavirus lockdown (Dana Kennedy, New York Post)
• Conservationists sue Trump administration over border wall (Rachel Frazin, The Hill)
• COVID-19 crisis set to eradicate demand for fossil fuels, says IEA (Jillian Ambrose, The Guardian)
• Rather than cull millions of livestock, let’s end animal agriculture (Joseph Winters, Harvard Political Review)
• The story of Charlotte, the rescued calf who was born in a slaughterhouse (Michelle Blake, Sentient Media)
• Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing (Matthew P. White, et. al., Nature)
• Thai elephants, out of work due to coronavirus, return to their natural habitat (Associated Press)
• Vegans and vegetarians have a 9% lower risk of death compared with omnivores (Alina Petre, Healthline)
• Meet the octogenarian taking care of Lebanon’s abandoned dogs during the coronavirus crisis (Sunniva Rose, The National)
• Fundamental animal rights must be written down in Finnish Constitution, argues researcher (Mari Peltonen, University of Helsinki)
• Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track closing after race with no spectators (Greg Hardwig, Naples Daily News)

Parting thought…

“I hope that some of the ways we currently still treat animals, the way that we factory-farm them, for instance, will seem [in the not-too-distant future] completely unbelievable and unacceptable.” —Miranda Fricker

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.

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…

• Permian oil fields leak enough methane for 7 million homes, may account for 10% of global methane pollution growth (Bobby Magill, Bloomberg Environment)
• Glaciers more likely to break apart, unleash destructive waves of debris in warming climate (Jan Wesner, The Weather Channel)
• Trump administration seeks to relax rules on radioactive waste (Daniel Ross, The Guardian)
• Recent Australian wildfires made worse by logging (University of Queensland, Phys.org)
• Animal-to-human disease transfer in intensive farming poses ‘huge public health risk’ (Amy Barrett, Science Focus)
• Thousands of miles of planned Asian roads threaten the heart of endangered tiger habitat (Neil Carter, The Conversation)
• India sees coronavirus threat to fragile population: tigers (Gloria Dickie, The New York Times)
• Poachers are taking advantage of the pandemic to kill more animals (Hanna Kozlowska, Quartz)
• Mass animal sacrifice in the name of God stubbornly continues in Nepal (Saprina Panday, Global Voices)
• 24 Chinese firms exposed for using leopard bones in traditional “medicines” (Environmental Investigation Agency, Animal People Forum)
• Dramatic loss of food plants for insects (University of Bonn, ScienceDaily)

Round of applause…

• You can make vegan bacon using carrots according to this TikTok hack (Anna Lewis, Delish)
• Wall Street is bending to activist pressure seeking to halt Arctic-oil loans (Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Bloomberg Green)
• Silence is golden for whales as lockdown reduces ocean noise (Karen McVeigh, The Guardian)
• Iceland whaling industry shuts down for good (Audrey Enjoli, LIVEKINDLY)
• Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix pen essay calling for the closure of North American wet markets (Jamie Samhan, ET Canada)
• PETA offers to retrain slaughterhouse workers to produce vegan meats (Zachary Toliver, PETA)
• Chicago bans horse-drawn carriages beginning in 2021 (Rebecca Klar, The Hill)
• Canada Goose to stop buying fur from freshly killed coyotes (Lisa Fickenscher, New York Post)
• Increasing green spaces in cities could prevent many premature deaths every year (Fermin Koop. ZME Science)
• U.K. government announces plans to phase out badger cull (Animal Aid, Animal People Forum)

Parting thought…

“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.

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…

“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.”

• What if food and farm workers all get sick at the same time? (Scott Faber, Environmental Working Group)
• Coronavirus pandemic proves that we must change our relationship with animals (Staci McLennan, The Parliament Magazine)
• Millions of farm animals culled as U.S. food supply chain chokes up (Sophie Kevany, The Guardian)
• Environmental destruction brought COVID-19: The next pandemic could be far worse (Jimmy Tobias and Chris D’Angelo, HuffPost)
• Expansion of world’s cities creating ‘new ecological niches’ for infectious diseases (Press Trust of India, Business Standard)
• With no tourism income, thousands of captive elephants in Thailand could starve to death (Bobins Abraham, India Times)
• Nearly half of U.S. breathing unhealthy air; record-breaking air pollution in nine cities (American Lung Association)
• Arctic ocean will be ice-free in summer before 2050 even if emission cutting goals are met (Ian Randall, Daily Mail)
• Warmest oceans on record could set off a year of extreme weather (Brian K. Sullivan, Bloomberg Green)
• Hydropower project imperils world’s rarest great ape (Annette Gartland, Animal People Forum)
• Oregon Health and Science University conducting ‘barbaric’ experiments on ferrets (Kale Williams, The Oregonian)
• Rare bees serve as a major warning about the impact of human-induced climate change and loss of biodiversity for different species (Flinders University, Phys.org)

Round of applause…

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.”

• Animal rights groups unite in support of COVID-19 research without animal experiments (New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society, Scoop)
• Rebuking Trump, judge vacates oil and gas leases on 145,000 acres in Montana (Coral Davenport, The New York Times)
• Over 70 lawmakers join suit challenging Trump administration for rolling back Obama-era power plant regulations (Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill)
• Slaughterhouse workers can now get free job training to become florists (Anna Starostinetskaya, VegNews)
• Doctors urge Surgeon General to shut down U.S. live animal markets (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Animal People Forum)
• Link between factory-farmed animals, COVID-19 and preventing the next pandemic (Carter Dillard and Michael Shank, The Hill)
• Greyhound racing is over at Birmingham Race Course in Alabama (William Thornton, AL.com)
• Dolphins play in empty shipping lanes, lizard wallows in Thai hotel pool: Animals take advantage of coronavirus lockdowns (Sophie Tanno, Daily Mail)
• Fish have feelings too (Freedom for Animals, Animal People Forum)
• Why some farmers are ditching livestock and growing plants instead (Tom Levitt, MSN)
• Over 13 million Brits cut meat consumption amid coronavirus pandemic (Robbie Lockie, Plant Based News)
• Urban farming is flourishing during the coronavirus lockdowns (Thomson Reuters Foundation, EcoWatch)

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…

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

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…

• 2020 on track to be Earth’s warmest on record, NOAA says (Andrew Freedman, The Washington Post)
• Trump rolls back fuel economy standards in biggest step backward for climate (As You Sow)
• Climate-driven megadrought is emerging in western U.S.: Warming may be triggering era worse than any in recorded history (Earth Institute at Columbia University)
• White House moves to weaken EPA rule on toxic compounds (Ellen Knickmeyer, The Associated Press)
• A decade later, Gulf residents suffer from BP’s toxic legacy (Rocky Kistner, HuffPost)
• Farmworkers deserve a raise, not a pay cut (Scott Faber, Environmental Working Group)
• Poor animal welfare laws may lead to more global epidemics like coronavirus (World Animal Protection, Animal People Forum)
• Bears, “milked” and killed for their bile, are one of the least-known victims of COVID-19 pandemic (Wayne Pacelle, Animal Wellness Action)
• Thailand’s elephant community caught in coronavirus fallout (Ron Gluckman, Nikkei Asian Review)
• Poachers kill more rhinos as coronavirus halts tourism to Africa (Annie Roth, The New York Times)
• A study at zoos shows that 42% of the animals were infected with Toxoplasma gondii (University of Córdoba, Phys.org)
• One in five giant marine species will become extinct within century, scientists predict (Lucy Connolly, UNILAD)
• Climate change could trigger sudden, potentially catastrophic losses of wildlife in regions around the world over the coming decades (Matthew Green, Reuters)
• New maps of Malaysian Borneo reveal worsening carbon losses along forest edges (Cosmos Magazine)

Round of applause…

• With fishing fleets tied up, marine life has a chance to recover (Laura Millan Lombrana, Bloomberg Green)
• U.S. delays oil pipeline approvals after environmental ruling (Matthew Brown, The Associated Press)
• Major blow to Keystone XL pipeline as judge revokes key permit (Nina Lakhani, The Guardian)
• Stopping animal abuse will prevent future pandemics, says leading scientist (Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, Animal People Forum)
• China reclassifies dogs as pets instead of livestock (Kaelan Deese, The Hill)
• Eating cats and dogs banned in a second city in China in wake of COVID-19 pandemic (Aristos Georgiou, Newsweek)
• Coronavirus pandemic is creating a novel opportunity for Spain to abolish bullfighting once and for all (Despina Parthemos, Sentient Media)
• The uplifting tale of these tiny island foxes, nearly wiped out by disaster (Michael Parfit, National Geographic)
• Monarch butterfly gets protection in ‘historic’ deal (Michael Doyle, E&E News)
• Coronavirus: Here’s how you can help voiceless furry friends affected by the lockdown (Anju Ann Mathew, YourStory)
• Veganism finding its path even in meat-loving Hungary (David Holzer, Budapest Business Journal)
• Vegan backyard foraging: 7 simple steps to start today (Graceann Barrett, VegNews)

Parting thought…

“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.

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…

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…

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…

• How coronavirus threatens the seasonal farmworkers at the heart of the American food supply (Michael Haedicke, The Conversation)
• Animal viruses are jumping to humans: Forest loss makes it easier (Catrin Einhorn, The New York Times)
• Third environmental activist killed this year In Mexico (The Associated Press)
• Air pollution linked to dementia and cardiovascular disease (Karolinska Institutet, Neuroscience News)
• Eating fish is killing off 90% of this ocean’s dolphin population (Charlotte Pointing, LIVEKINDLY)
• Federal government failed to protect endangered whales from lobster fishing activities, judge rules (Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press)
• Lobster digestion of microplastics could further foul the food chain (American Chemical Society, Environmental News Network)
• Octopus farming: Another step towards an environmental catastrophe (International Organization for Animal Protection, Animal People Forum)
• Mississippi River flood management could cause another devastating Gulf Coast toxic algae bloom this year (Sarah Graddy, Environmental Working Group)
• Climate change may be making migration harder by shortening nightingales’ wings (American Ornithological Society)

Round of applause…

• As humans stay indoors, wild animals take back what was once theirs (Terrence McCoy, Washington Post)
• Indigenous knowledge could reveal ways to weather climate change on islands (A’ndrea Elyse Messer, Pennsylvania State University via Phys.org)
• Standing Rock Sioux tribe prevails as federal judge strikes down Dakota Access Pipeline permits (Earthjustice)
• Lawmakers to introduce bills to ban live animal markets, wildlife trade in California and New York (Anna Starostinetskaya, VegNews)
• Coronavirus lockdown could boost wild flowers (Roger Harrabin, BBC)
• Coyotes deserve our respect, not our fear (Kat Jercich, Tenderly)
• Kenya has banned the slaughter of donkeys for the vile ejiao trade (Dan H., PETA)
• Researchers use big data to identify biodiversity hotspots that could become the first generation of high seas marine protected areas (University of California – Santa Barbara, ScienceDaily)
• 3D-printed corals could improve bioenergy and help coral reefs (University of Cambridge, ScienceDaily)
• Local pig farmer transforms into vegan activist (PETA)
• 10 Tips: How to help your animal companions and others during the COVID-19 outbreak (In Defense of Animals)

Parting thought…

“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.

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…

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.

• Chicago resident tells city council what it’s like to live next to a slaughterhouse (Free From Harm)
• New research links air pollution to higher coronavirus death rates (Lisa Friedman, The New York Times)
• Air pollution shortens the lives of people around the world by an average of almost three years (Kristin Toussaint, Fast Company)
• EPA sidesteps normal public process to approve BASF’s cancer-linked pesticide (Johnathan Hettinger, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting)
• Human impact on wildlife to blame for spread of viruses, says study (John Vidal, The Guardian)
• Pigeons at risk of starvation over coronavirus empty streets (Nik Martin, Deutsche Welle)
• Sewage sludge spreading leads to farm groundwater PFAS contamination (Elizabeth Gribkoff, VTDigger)
• How animals lost out to humans (Susan Miller-Davis, Stone Pier Press)
• The fossil fuel industry is driving polar bears to cannibalism (Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch)
• Roundup weed killer is harming biodiversity, warns new study (McGill University)
• One truckload of plastic waste is dumped into our ocean every minute (Winnie Lau, Pew Charitable Trusts)
• Cow farts makes butter three times worse for the planet than plant-based spread (Madeleine Cuff, iNews.uk)

Round of applause…

“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.

• New tools show a way forward for large-scale storage of renewable energy (University of Cambridge)
• Ban wildlife markets to avert pandemics, says U.N. biodiversity chief (Patrick Greenfield, The Guardian)
• Bryan Adams: Humans are the most dangerous creature on earth (Anna Starostinetskaya, VegNews)
• Oil companies are collapsing, but wind and solar energy keep growing (Ivan Penn, The New York Times)
• Food in uncertain times: How to grow and store the five crops you need to survive: An interview with Carol Deppe (Makenna Goodman, Chelsea Green Publishing via AlterNet)
• Tiny island off Maine coast may hold answer to future of electricity (Stephanie Bouchard, Ensia)
• Canada to release captive whales to new home at Nova Scotia sanctuary (Anna Starostinetskaya, VegNews)
• London School of Economics students vote to ban beef after PETA says ‘cows form close friendships’ (Darren Boyle, Daily Mail)
• Eating a vegetarian diet rich in nuts, vegetables, soy linked to lower stroke risk (American Academy of Neurology, ScienceDaily)
• Man’s tiny picnic table for squirrels goes viral, prompts people in quarantine to build their own (Daily Mail)
• Explore the world from your couch with these animal and nature live cams (Explore.com)

Parting thought…

“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