Air Pollution From Amazon Fires Is Sickening Thousands of People | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Day into night: In August 2019, smoke from fires in the Amazon reached São Paulo, Brazil’s financial center and one of the world’s most populous cities, blocking out the Sun, turning day into night and poisoning the air. (Photo credit: NASA)

In June, Earth | Food | Life reporter Daniel Ross examined the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s “aggressive deregulation and increased commercial exploitation of the Amazon’s resources.” Now a new report by Human Rights Watch, the Institute for Health Policy Studies and the Amazon Environmental Research Institute reveal that “unchecked deforestation” from human-created fires “are poisoning the air millions of people breathe, affecting health throughout the Brazilian Amazon.”

Care2: The fires blazing in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest this year are beyond anything we’ve ever seen before. Every year—and now, it seems, every month—it gets worse as more and more people intentionally set fire to the lush, rare habitat that is the Amazon to provide the food that you and I eat. But now more than ever, we need the Amazon rainforest, which is frequently referred to as “the Earth’s lungs.” As this critical ecosystem burns to the ground, not only is climate change ramping up, but the air quality is also declining. Now, the pollution has gotten so bad, people in Brazil are getting sick and dying from it. A recent study shows that the situation has intensified so drastically, there are now thousands of air quality-related hospitalizations in the country just because of the fires alone. This could not come at a worse time, since we are already in the middle of a global respiratory pandemic and Brazil is suffering some of the worst COVID-related fatality rates in the world. The report explains that President Jair Bolsonaro, his administration, and their failure to do anything to stop these human-caused fires are directly at fault for all of this sickness and death. Brazilians can’t afford any more illnesses, and the global community can’t afford any more greenhouse gas-emitting deforestation. These fires must end now.
>>>Demand that the Brazilian government bans human-created fires that are destroying the Amazon rainforest.

Environmental Action: Red wolves ended last year on a hopeful note: A federal judge ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is not permitted to capture and kill them. But this story is not over quite yet. We need to make sure the future fulfills last year’s promise that red wolves will be managed in a way that allows them to thrive. One fact hasn’t changed: There are still only a few dozen wild red wolves, and they still need our help. North Carolina’s tiny red wolf population faces terrible threats from natural dangers and humans alike. We know for a fact that the FWS is capable of managing red wolves responsibly—history proves it. Years of hunting once drove red wolves extinct in the wild. But then, over the intervening decades, a remarkable conservation effort took shape: FWS reintroduced them to their natural habitat and protected the delicate new population until their numbers swelled to over 120. But then things changed. Under pressure from private landowners, the FWS altered their management to allow red wolves to be killed. They stopped releasing new animals and monitoring pups’ health. The wild population plummeted again. FWS has not yet announced what its newest revised red wolf management practices will look like. We need to make sure their management plan repeats the proven success of their very first one, or else risk losing these animals forever.
>>>Urge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to use the breadth of their experience and the best possible science in designing their final red wolf management plan.

Change: The city of Denver has a contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Wildlife Services (APHIS-WS) to kill Canada geese under the misconception that geese droppings contain harmful bacteria. No scientific research supports this notion. “Geese feces are no more dangerous than other feces and probably a lot less so than human feces,” says David E. Stalknecht of the University of Georgia, who co-authored a study on bird droppings for The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Geese present no more of a health risk than any other species, including cats and dogs, says Dr. Julia Murphy, public health veterinarian for the Virginia State Department of Health. “Certainly there’s a possibility of pathogens in fecal material, but as a particular risk factor in and of itself, there simply is no direct link,” says Murphy. You would have to ingest droppings to experience discomfort (such as mild gastrointestinal cramps or upset stomach), she adds. “APHIS-WS is a strategically misnamed federal program that wastes millions of taxpayer dollars each year killing wild animals using traps, snares, poisons, gas and aerial gunning,” writes Colorado-based animal activist Ellen Kessler, who started a petition to save the geese. According to their reports, they have slaughtered more than 34 million animals in the last decade alone.
>>>Demand that Denver permanently terminate its contract with APHIS-WS and cease the useless and costly killing of Canada Geese.


Cause for concern…

Losing ground: Transforming land to farming use is putting the future of healthy soil at risk across the world. (Photo credit: wysiwtf/Flickr)

Last year, Earth | Food | Life reporter Daniel Ross investigated an underexplored solution to climate change: healthy soil, which has a powerful ability to sequester carbon, with three times the holding capacity than the atmosphere. Now a new study by the University of Basel has found that climate change and intensive agriculture could greatly increase soil loss across the globe over the next 50 years. The researchers are calling for more sustainable land cultivation.


Round of applause…

Bouncing back: Wolverines are extremely rare, with an estimated 300 to 1,000 individuals thought to exist in the lower 48 states. (Photo credit: Jonathan Othén/Wikimedia Commons)

“Conservationists at Mount Rainier National Park in Washington State have spotted a wolverine mother and her two offspring, known as kits,” reports George Dvorsky for Earther. “A reproductive female hasn’t been seen in this national park for over a century, which suggests ecological conditions in the area are improving.” 


Parting thought…

Friends, not food: Gene Baur, president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary in Acton, California, spends quality time with Opie the cow, who was rescued by Gene from a pile of dead animals when he was just a calf. (Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/WeAnimals)

“It’s a small thing to help one animal, but to that one animal it’s a big thing,” —Gene Baur


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.

Climate Crisis Could Wipe Out Polar Bears in 80 Years​​​​​​​ | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Melting away: “Nearly all of the 19 subpopulations of polar bears, from the Beaufort Sea off Alaska to the Siberian Arctic, would face being wiped out because the loss of sea ice would force the animals onto land and away from their food supplies for longer periods,” reports Henry Fountain for The New York Times. (Photo credit: Christopher Michel/Flickr)

Care2: Scientists warn that in less than 80 years, polar bears could go extinct due to climate change. But at the same time when one of the world’s most iconic species is on the brink of extinction, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is fast-tracking rollback after rollback of important environmental protections in order to benefit the fossil fuel and construction industries. It’s hard to keep up, with a new rollback announced almost daily. As of July 15, Trump had successfully taken away 68 regulations, and still has his sights on eliminating 32 more. With these rollbacks, he is increasing the amount of permissible emissions from power plants and vehicles at a time when we know emissions need to shrink. He is also opening up vital wildlife habitat, some of which is the very habitat polar bears rely on, for oil and gas drilling.
>>>Urge the EPA to halt the relentless attack on legislation that was put in place to curb climate change.

Care2: Birdcalls in the morning are becoming quieter. As the sun rises, these chipper friends often rise too, welcoming the start of the day. But now, our morning singers are at risk of disappearing completely—and it’s thanks to Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Determined to protect profits above everything else, the EPA has rolled back restrictions on pesticides that are so toxic, they’re actually illegal in many parts of the world. Neonicotinoids, used in agriculture, have been linked to massive bee population loss, and they’re also taking a toll on our avian friends. Farmers apply poisonous neonicotinoids to their crops by treating the seeds before planting, so birds eating these seeds are immediately exposed to the deadly toxins. Even when the seeds have become a full-grown plant, the noxious chemicals remain in every part of the crop, ready to kill animals. In one U.S. county where neonicotinoids were used, bird populations dropped by more than 2% compared to other areas where safer pesticides were used. The U.S. and Canadian bird populations combined have plummeted by almost 30% in the past 50 years. But because these toxins have long, lasting effects on bird populations like owls, sparrows and meadowlarks, we likely won’t know the true magnitude of the devastation for years.
>>>Demand that the EPA immediately ban the use of neonicotinoids in the U.S.

Action Network
: U.S. researchers are seeking government approval to legalize the widespread release of unproven genetically engineered (GE) trees into forests. This would be a giant open-air experiment. The risks are huge. If approved, these trees, GE American chestnuts, will spread their GE pollen and seeds freely. This would be the first-ever GE tree approved in the U.S., opening the floodgates to others. It would also be the first-ever intentional release of a fertile genetically modified organism (GMO) into wild ecosystems, opening the door to other uncontrollable GMO releases. For years, companies have sought approval to use GE trees in industrial timber plantations, but public opposition has stopped them. Now they are promoting this GE tree for “forest restoration” to try to win public approval of GE trees. This experiment would threaten wild American chestnuts with contamination from GE chestnut pollen. Decades of progress to restore wild American chestnut trees would be lost. There are no long-term risk assessments of this scheme and scientists warn such assessments are not possible. American chestnuts can live hundreds of years and have deeply intertwined relationships with other trees, and with insects, songbirds and other wildlife. In a violation of indigenous sovereignty, tribes and First Nations would have no ability to keep these GE trees out of their territories. Additionally, any town or county that has or wants “GMO-free” status would have the same problem. Farmers who are growing organic and non-GMO chestnuts are also threatened, as chestnut orchards may be contaminated by GE chestnut pollen.
>>>Urge the U.S. Department of Agriculture to reject all genetically engineered trees.


Cause for concern…

In a jam: Scientists have warned that cuts in greenhouse gas emissions would probably not yield visible results until mid-century. (Photo credit: Michael Loke/Flickr)

Round of applause…

Smokescreen: A factory in Philadelphia emits fumes into the atmosphere. (Photo credit: Pay No Mind/Flickr)

On Friday, a coalition of 21 states sued the Trump administration for rolling back what they say is a “rule that is, at its heart, the gutting” of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). For half a century, the nation’s bedrock environmental law has required the government to assess the environmental impact of their proposed actions before approving new factories, pipelines, highways, drilling permits, new factories or any major federal land management actions.


Parting thought…

Safe and loved: Kyle Behrend, the communications manager at Edgar’s Mission, a farm sanctuary outside Melbourne, Australia, shares a loving moment with Mixie, one of the sanctuary’s rescued cows. (Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals Archive)

“Love animals. The way we treat them is a reflection of our own humanity.” —Ahad Raza Mir

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.

Trump Opens Up Arctic Refuge for Oil Drilling | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Please, not here: Mother polar bear with her two cubs on Barter Island off the north slope of Alaska. The Trump administration has pushed forward with its plan to open up part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, even as two-thirds of American oppose it. (Photo credit: Cheryl Strahl/Flickr)

Environmental Action: The Trump administration is barreling ahead with approvals for destructive oil and gas drilling in the sensitive Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—some of the best polar bear denning habitat in the country. Make no mistake: Drilling is bad for wildlife and the environment. Land near the Arctic Refuge bears the scars from fossil fuel sites that were shuttered decades ago. Spills and accidents still occur at nearby oil and gas sites, damaging delicate ecosystems and the irreplaceable wildlife that makes its home within the refuge. Polar bears den here, but the noise and traffic that could come with new drilling could disturb polar bear moms, causing them to abandon their cubs. Without a mother, cubs have little chance for survival. This special place is not only home to polar bears, but also the world-famous Porcupine caribou herd and other irreplaceable wildlife. It should not be sacrificed for the sake of more fossil fuels that contribute to climate change.
>>>Urge congressional leaders to restore federal prohibition on oil exploration and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Center for Biological Diversity: On the West Coast, Southern Resident killer whales have plummeted to an astonishing new low in the past three decades, with just 76 individuals remaining—the lowest it has been in 34 years. They’re in a dangerous decline because of a lack of food, pollution, and noise and disturbance from boats. But there’s new hope, despite annual surveys showing a severe decline in their condition due to lack of food. New ways to study orcas, like collecting fecal samples from boats with the help of dogs, have given scientists undeniable evidence of the importance of Chinook salmon in orcas’ diets. Now it’s time to use that science to stop overfishing of salmon and leave enough for the whales.
>>>Urge the Pacific Fishery Management Council to pass new measures for reducing the salmon harvest if the health of either the fish or orcas doesn’t meet certain levels.

Change: Chinchillas are notable for their kindness to one another. For example, reports PETA, “if a chinchilla mum has problems producing milk to feed her babies, another female will often step in to assist, while male chinchillas will often help out with babysitting.” Quiet and shy, they have a natural lifespan of 10 to 20 years. But on fur farms, these gentle animals are killed at just eight months old by extremely cruel practices, including electrocution or breaking their necks. No animal should ever be treated like this. It takes over 200 chinchillas to make just one fur coat. Fashion is not worth an animal’s life.
>>>Urge the European Union to ban the farming of chinchillas.


Cause for concern…

Another gift to polluters: The Trump administration has decided to turn a blind eye while methane—a global warming gas more potent than carbon dioxide—leaks from pipelines and drilling sites across the country. (Photo credit: Jeremy Buckingham/Flickr)

Round of applause…

Long time, no see: Declared extinct in Britain in 1979, the large blue butterfly (Phengaris arion) has been successfully reintroduced into the wild, with some 750 individuals hatched from 1,100 larvae released last year in Gloucestershire. (Photo credit: PJC&Co/Flickr)

Parting thought…

Picture perfect: Yellowstone National Park. (Photo credit: stevetulk/Flickr)

“Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty if only we have the eyes to see them.” —John Ruskin


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.

Industrial Aquaculture Is Unsustainable, Inefficient and Wasteful | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Illogical: It takes up to five kilos of edible fish such as anchovies, mackerels or sardines to produce a single kilo of “factory farmed” salmon. (Photo credit: Dane Klinger/Oregon State University/Flickr)

Rainforest Rescue: Fish and other seafood from aquaculture are often touted as an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional fishing, but the reality is much grimmer: Fishing fleets are emptying the oceans to produce fishmeal and fish oil as feed for the aquaculture industry. Global seafood consumption has more than doubled over the past five decades. Every year, 80 million tons—almost half of the seafood on our plates—is produced by aquaculture, an industry that builds floating cages for salmon, artificial ponds for prawns on the coasts, and tanks for seafood in factory buildings—essentially, aquatic factory farms. But aquaculture is not the solution to overfishing that it is often touted to be. In fact, it is worsening the problem. Trawler fleets sweep up vast quantities of wild fish and grind them into fishmeal and fish oil to feed farmed fish. Far from being sustainable, this is an incredibly inefficient and wasteful process: It takes up to five kilos of edible fish such as anchovies, mackerels or sardines, for example, to produce a single kilo of salmon. More than two-thirds of the fish meal produced worldwide and three-quarters of the fish oil are now used as feed for farmed fish. The Dutch foundation Changing Markets has investigated how fishing fleets are emptying the oceans off Africa and Asia to supply fishmeal factories in the Gambia, India and Vietnam. The fishmeal and fish oil produced there is supplied to industrial aquaculture operations in countries such as China, Norway and the UK. The seafood thus produced ends up in the coolers of supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s, ALDI, Lidl, Co-op, Tesco, Asda, Iceland, Morrison’s, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer. Aquaculture pollutes the local marine environment with vast amounts of excrement, chemicals, antibiotics and other waste. The industry occupies bays, coastlines and mangroves, destroying natural ecosystems and ruining the livelihoods of traditional fishing communities.
>>>Urge European supermarkets, including Sainsbury’s, ALDI, Lidl, Co-op, Tesco, Asda, Iceland, Morrison’s, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer to withdraw from industrial aquaculture.

GREY2K USA WorldwideDog racing has blood on its hands. Live lure training isn’t just a myth—it’s a reality. GREY2K USA investigators have revealed a multi-state conspiracy of cruelty involving the torture and killing of rabbits to “blood” greyhounds. In live lure training, small animals are used to excite and enhance a chase instinct in young dogs. Typically, screaming animals are dangled before greyhounds, dragged in front of them on ropes, or simply set loose to be attacked. They often suffer cruel and miserable deaths. In March 2020, investigators documented at least forty-five greyhounds killing dozens of jackrabbits over a two-day period on a farm in Keota, Oklahoma, and similar activities were witnessed in Elgin, Texas, and Abilene, Kansas, in June and July. The individuals shown “blooding” or baiting greyhounds have business connections with national dog racing activities and fellow participants from multiple jurisdictions. Every person shown in a new undercover video has business connections with dog racing across multiple jurisdictions.
>>>Urge Oklahoma US Attorney Brian J. Kuester, Texas US Attorney John F. Bash, Kansas US Attorney Stephen R. McAllister and West Virginia Governor Jim Justice to enforce federal and state laws to end this cruelty.

New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society: Every year in New Zealand, hundreds of thousands of animals suffer for research, testing and teaching. This is typically for cruel and outdated practices, with animals providing a poor scientific model for humans. Developments in human medicine, science and technology are all possible without the use of animals. From cell-cultured organoids and 3D printing, to the use of human cells and sophisticated computer models, there are many scientific methods that can be used instead of cruel, outdated and unreliable animal experiments. Using animals for science does not start in a lab. It is driven by decisions much further down the track. Funding and policy decisions are a major driver of animal experimentation. A lack of transparency and openness means the public rarely knows what is going on. And laws are often weak and selectively enforced. Regulators must improve outdated sections of law that are sending money to the wrong places, laws that fail to monitor animal experimenters, and laws that do not give enough information about what happens to animals used in science.
>>>Urge New Zealand’s House of Representatives to pass legislation that transitions scientific institutions from animal-based methods to non-animal-based methods for research, testing and teaching purposes.


Cause for concern…

World on fire: 2020 has seen unprecedented wildfires across the globe, and climate change is increasing their likelihood and intensity, and lengthening the fire seasons. (Photo credit: Project LM/Flickr)

Human activities like burning fossil fuels, factory farming and deforestation—tied to a steadily increasing human population—continue to increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Now a major new climate study has ruled out less severe global warming scenarios, estimating that the Earth’s global average temperature will most likely increase between 2.3 and 4.5 degrees Celsius. If the warming reaches the midpoint of this new range, it would be catastrophic, warned NASA physicist Kate Marvel, who called it the equivalent of a “five-alarm fire” for the planet.


Round of applause…

Park life: Underwater view of a coral reef at Biscayne National Park (National Park Service/Wikipedia)

“A bipartisan bill that would spend nearly $3 billion on conservation projects, outdoor recreation and maintenance of national parks and other public lands is on its way to the president’s desk after winning final legislative approval,” reportsMatthew Daly for the Associated Press.


Parting thought…

I love moo: Interspecies friendships are the norm at the Keren Or Animal Sanctuary in Hod Hasharon, Israel. (Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals)

“When going vegan I think the hardest part was my ego giving up ‘the right to eat whatever I wanted.’ As I sat on that thought I realized doing that is simply taking away animals’ rights to live free lives. I personally could never kill an animal so I wasn’t going to let other people do it for me and then just buy them at the store or a restaurant.” —Ethan Dolan


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.

Trump Gives Polluters a Pass by Weakening EPA Enforcement​​​​​​​ | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Power to polluters: Citing the pandemic, the Trump administration moved last month to weaken federal oversight of clean air and climate change rules. (Photo credit: Steve Nelson/Flickr)

League of Conservation Voters: President Trump has ceased enforcement of virtually all environmental laws at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The policy is set to expire next month, but the administration may seek to extend it. EPA enforcement must be restored immediately. Every hour these suspensions are in place, pollution can be ramped up without punishment or accountability for Big Polluters. This is a grave danger to public health, particularly for communities of color, as well as Indigenous and low-income communities already suffering the worst consequences of environmental injustice. “By signing this executive order, Donald Trump is muzzling the voice of environmental justice communities, and continues to make clear his total disregard for those speaking out and fighting for racial justice and a sustainable environment,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York said in a statement.
>>>Demand the EPA to restart enforcement immediately.

Citizens for Alternatives to Animal Research and Experimentation: Boston Children’s Hospital is killing mice and rats to develop an enhanced version of botulinum toxin, a product already in widespread use for cosmetic and medical use. These live animal tests are deadly, harrowing and completely unnecessary. Since 2011 scientists have developed an in vitro alternative to using mice and rats to study the safety and efficacy of botulinum toxin. Called the cell-based assay, it is considered superior to the mouse test, especially when investigating the cellular and intracellular effect of the toxin. Inexplicably, some scientists at Boston Children’s Hospital are still using barbaric animal tests. In one phase of the test, researchers dissected pregnant rats and removed their living embryos so they could extract cortical neurons from their brains. Another phase involved the egregious LD50 test, which injects enough toxin to determine which dose causes death in 50% of the animals. Botulinum toxin, which causes muscle paralysis, was injected into mice to test for local and systemic paralysis. Systemic paralysis causes a slow death as it gradually affects the respiratory muscles, causing mice to gasp hopelessly for air. Some will die by asphyxiation, but other mice will die because they cannot reach food or water. Their death is the result of dehydration and weight loss, and not the toxin per se, making the animal test even more unreliable, in addition to being incredibly inhumane.
>>>Urge Boston Children’s Hospital to stop paralyzing animals to test botulinum toxin and immediately employ the cell-based assay that was developed for this purpose.

PETA: Droughts and bushfires have decimated Australia’s landscapes and the animals living there, and yet the government continues to allow permits to be issued for the slaughter of wildlife. Extensive research by the Kangaroo Roundtable—a partnership of organizations, scientists, researchers and academics concerned about kangaroo conservation—indicates that reported Australian kangaroo populations are already overestimated. This would be concerning at any time, but after some 7.3 million hectares of land were burned in the recent blazes and an estimated 1 billion animals were killed in them, it’s more important than ever that we take the pressure off our native animals by favoring conservation over cruel killing. And make no mistake: the killing is cruel. Kangaroos are hunted after dark, increasing the risk that the shots won’t kill the animals instantly, subjecting them to long, painful deaths. Hunters are required to shoot at-foot joeys (kangaroo babies out of their mothers’ pouches) and decapitate or “crush the skull and destroy the brain” of those still in the pouch. The government must stop issuing permits to landholders and commercial hunters to kill native animals.
>>>Urge the New South Wales and Victoria governments to stop issuing permits to kill wildlife.


Danger zonesSuperfund sites—locations that are subject to the nation’s most hazardous waste—disproportionately affect low-income communities of color, a fact highlighted in a new report by the Shriver Center on Poverty Law. (Image: EPA)

Round of applause…

Check your sunscreen: A green turtle swims among corals at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in Hawaii (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service/Flickr)

Parting thought…

America, the not-so-beautiful: An active open pit mine in Maryland. 
The environmental impact of open mining operations include land degradation, noise, dust, release of poisonous gases into the air, pollution of water sources and destruction of wildlife habitat. (Photo credit: Maryland Department of the Environment)

“Oh Beautiful for smoggy skies, insecticided grain,
For strip-mined mountain’s majesty above the asphalt plain.
America, America, man sheds his waste on thee,
And hides the pines with billboard signs, from sea to oily sea.” 
George Carlin


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.

A Healthy Natural Environment Must Be a Human Right | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Healthy planet, healthy us: To ensure our future and that of the planet, we need to entirely transform humanity’s relationship with nature. (Photo credit: Cristian Ungureanu/Flickr)

BirdLife International: It’s no secret: our natural world is in terrible shape. Our unsustainable system is causing climate chaos and putting over one million species at risk of extinction. As COVID-19 reminds us, the destruction of nature harms people directly. Lest we forget, we are part of nature, and we need a healthy planet to survive together. A post-COVID recovery must be a green recovery with the human right to a healthy natural environment at its core. How can something as fundamental as life on Earth be treated with such neglect? We need to completely change the way we treat our home. We, as do all other living beings, deserve the right to a healthy natural world. It may seem overwhelming, but it’s true: to emerge from these crises, to ensure our future and that of the planet, we need to entirely transform humanity’s relationship with nature.
>>>Urge the United Nations to include the right to a healthy natural environment at the UN Human Rights Council, in the UN General Assembly and as an urgent topic at the UN Summit on Biodiversity in September 2020—and ultimately in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Avaaz: Adani Group, an Indian multinational conglomerate, is planning to launch the new Godda coal plant, which will displace thousands of Indigenous Adivasi people and drain 36 billion liters of water from the Ganges river every year in order to produce dirty energy for Bangladesh. If Adani’s proposal succeeds, coal will be mined on Aboriginal land in Australia, impact the Great Barrier Reef, cause harm to the Gangetic dolphins and olive ridley turtles in India, and take away Indigenous lands and livelihoods, all just to provide expensive, polluting power.
>>>Urge Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to reject Adani’s dangerous coal plant.

In Defense of Animals: To the horror of compassionate people everywhere, the Trump administration has overturned previously banned hunting practices allowing the merciless massacre of unsuspecting bears and wolves in Alaska to begin. Hunters are now able to enter the dens of hibernating mother bears and bear cubs as well as mother wolves and wolf pups to violently kill them in cold blood. The Trump administration’s new rule overturns previously enacted hunting bans which were put into place by the Obama administration in 2015 to prohibit highly controversial and undeniably cruel hunting practices in Alaska’s national parks. The rule took effect on July 9 and will leave the “management” of Alaska’s wild animals to the state rather than the federal government. Under this new rule, unimaginably brutal practices are allowed to destroy animal families living on more than 20 million acres of national preserves in Alaska, including baiting brown and black bears with human food, hunting hibernating mother bears and cubs in their dens using artificial light, killing wolves and coyotes in their dens during the denning season when mothers wean their young, using dogs to hunt black bears, and hunting and shooting of swimming caribou from boats.
>>>Urge former Vice President Joe Biden to publicly pledge to overturn this heartless rule in order to protect sleeping mothers bears and their cubs and denning mother wolves and their pups.


Letter to editor…

Dirty work: Stevedores unload a coal ship at the Karnaphuli River in Chittagong, Bangladesh. (Photo credit: Adam Cohn/Flickr)

Replying to “Japanese Banks Violate Own Climate Policies in Push for Coal in Bangladesh”):

“Thank you for sharing so much, please do keep up the important work.” —Steve De Quintal (Toronto, Ontario)


Cause for concern…

Uphill climb: Farmers evaluate sorghum varieties in Hombolo, Tanzania, in 2014. (Photo credit: J.van de Gevel/Bioversity International/Flickr)

“Though researchers have known for decades that climate change will roil farming and food systems, there exists no clear global strategy for building resilience and managing risks in the world’s food supply, nor a coherent way to tackle the challenge of feeding a growing global population, on a warming planet where food crises are projected to intensify,” reports Georgina Gustin for InsideClimate News.


Round of applause…

Sunnier days ahead? In 2009, then-President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden visited solar panels at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in Denver, Colorado. (Photo credit: Pete Souza/GPA Photo Archive/Flickr)

A unity task force composed of supporters of former Vice President and Senator Bernie Sanders has devised a broad environmental plan for Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. The recommendations include eliminating carbon pollution from power plants by 2035, achieving net-zero emissions for all new buildings by 2030, upgrading up to 4 million buildings and 2 million households within five years to save more energy, and building sustainable, resilient energy grids in rural America and in tribal areas lacking energy infrastructure. 


Parting thought…

Pond life: Ducks at Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, a lake made famous by Henry David Thoreau’s book “Walden,” published in 1854, which criticized Western consumerism and celebrated man’s closeness to the natural world. (Photo credit: Andrews Dai/Flickr)

“We need the tonic of wildness… At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.” —Henry David Thoreau


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.

Japanese Banks Violate Own Climate Policies in Push for Coal in Bangladesh | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Extreme living: Residents of Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, during a flood in 2019. New coal power stations in Bangladesh will fuel more extreme weather conditions. (Photo credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan/U.N. Women Asia Pacific/Flickr)

Market Forces: In the wake of the fiercest storm Bangladesh has experienced this century, Japanese financial institutions and coal developers are trying to push three new coal power stations, fueling extreme weather and climate change. Locals on remote Matarbari Island on the southeastern coast of Bangladesh are still dealing with the devastation of super cyclone Amphan, which has displaced over two million people. But these communities are also contending with a massive build-out of coal power which threatens their lives and livelihoods, and will worsen the extreme weather conditions caused by climate change. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI), Sumitomo Corporation (Sumitomo), and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) are pursuing proposed new coal power stations totaling 3,100 MW of capacity. These projects have displaced local communities, destroyed livelihoods and violated workers’ rights. They would worsen air pollution, killing thousands of people over the lifetime of the projects, and would increase climate impacts on the already vulnerable Bangladesh, releasing over 506 million metric tons of CO2 throughout the plants’ operational lifetimes—five times more than the entire country’s carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and industry for 2018—and violate the climate policies of JICA, NEXI, SMBC and Sumitomo.
>>>Urge JICA, NEXI, SMBC and Sumitomo to withdraw from these dirty and dangerous coal projects.

ChangePulau Kukup (Johor) National Park in Malaysia was established in 1997 to protect the world’s second largest mangrove island, a biodiverse habitat that supports a number of rare and threatened species, including migratory waterbirds that use the park as a stopover site during their the perilous journey along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, one of the world’s great bird migration routes. In 2018, however, the Johor government revoked its legal status, thereby paving the way for large-scale development, which will cause the loss of biodiversity and critical ecosystem services and release the carbon from the mangrove forests.
>>>Urge the Johor government to save Pulau Kukup National Park.

GREY2K USA: Commercial dog racing is cruel and inhumane and should be outlawed. In a welcome move last week, Gulf Greyhound Park in La Marque, Texas, the biggest greyhound track in the state,  announced its immediate closure. Citing poor revenues—and in response to growing outrage over the terrible number of racing injuries—management has decided to surrender its gambling license. But there are still two licensed tracks remaining. Racing greyhounds are kept in small stacked cages for long hours each day. They have little ability to interact with each other and are afforded just brief “turn-outs” in closed pens to relieve themselves. When taken out to race, they suffer broken legs, fractured spines, seizures and paralysis. Some dogs are even electrocuted. Texas must do better.
>>>Urge Governor Greg Abbott to support legislation to prohibit dog racing in Texas.


Cause for concern…

Gone tomorrow? Once widespread in Costa Rica and Panama, the variable harlequin frog (Atelopus varius) is now critically endangered after being exposed to a fungus from Asia that has decimated its populations. (Photo credit: 
Brian Gratwicke/Flickr)

Analysis of thousands of vertebrate species reveals that extinction rates are likely much faster than previously thought. Researchers are calling for immediate global action, such as a ban on the wildlife trade, to slow what is known as the “sixth mass extinction.” “What we do to deal with the current extinction crisis in the next two decades will define the fate of millions of species,” said study lead author Gerardo Ceballos, a senior researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s Institute of Ecology. “We are facing our final opportunity to ensure that the many services nature provides us do not get irretrievably sabotaged.”


Round of applause…

Coal no more: A train transports coal in Devon, England. In 2015, Britain’s last deep-pit coal mine was shuttered. Now, the dirty fuel is set to disappear from the nation’s electric system.. (Photo credit: Roger Marks/Flickr)

Parting thought…

(Photo credit: Duncan C/Flickr)

“Consumption of affluent households worldwide is by far the strongest determinant—and the strongest accelerator—of increased global environmental and social impacts.” —Lorenz Keysser


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.

This Farm Roasted Its Pigs Alive | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

No rights, no hope: Factory farming operates on the foundation of cruelty to sentient beings who feel emotion and pain. (Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/WeAnimals)

Care2: Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the meat production industry has faced major difficulties. From massive outbreaks of the virus amongst employees at meat processing plants, to roadblocks in food distribution chains causing massive product waste, proof that the industry is built too feebly to withstand a crisis has been abundant. Many meat farmers have responded to the crisis by “depopulating” their animals. This is a rather sterile term for mass, gruesome murder, the details of which were unclear—until now. A May 2020 investigation into a large pork producer in Iowa and its depopulation methods revealed that pigs—animals that are known to have the emotional and cognitive intelligence of dogs—are being roasted and suffocated alive. Workers at Iowa Select Farm, where this mass slaughtered took place, essentially closed all ventilation points and then pumped in heat and steam. There is video footage of the poor animals crying and screaming while they slowly died. Those who didn’t die from torture were forced to lay among their family members until workers came by with bolt guns to finish the job. The piglets were reportedly ripped from their mothers and killed in barns filled with gases. For too long, the United States meat industry has operated on the foundation of cruelty and the hope that the public would turn a blind eye.
>>>Urge the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to investigate this merciless massacre, and hold whoever is responsible accountable for egregious animal cruelty.

Center for Biological Diversity: The Togo wolf pack in Washington is on the verge of annihilation. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has recently issued a new kill order for members of this wolf family. Since 2012 the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has killed 31 wolves, wiping out the Wedge pack, Profanity Peak pack, Sherman pack and Old Profanity Territory pack. The Togo pack could be next. The vast majority of these killings have occurred on public lands and on behalf of the same for-profit livestock operation, which refuses to adequately watch over its cattle. Science shows that nonlethal measures work best to deter wolf-livestock conflicts. But the department has ignored this. It just keeps killing wolves, sometimes destroying whole packs. Wolves and packs can flourish, if the state just gets out of the wolf-killing business.
>>>Urge Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife director Kelly Susewind to stop the slaughter of Washington’s gray wolves.

Rainforest Rescue: A proposed land reclamation project and sand mining in Malaysia threaten a nesting ground of vulnerable Olive Ridley turtles and a marine biodiversity hotspot. Gertak Sanggul is a vital landing site in the Malaysian state of Penang for the Olive Ridley turtle, which migrates thousands of kilometers around the Indian Ocean between its feeding and nesting sites. It is the smallest and most rarely sighted marine turtle in Malaysian waters and listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This marine biodiversity hotspot would be destroyed by the Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project to create three artificial islands for the development of condominiums. The lack of public consultation and availability of detailed information is shocking in view of the project’s scale: 1,821 hectares (4,500 acres or 7 square miles). The project is expected to generate 3.2 million tons of carbon emissions annually.
>>>Urge Malaysian Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to reject land reclamation and save the Olive Ridley turtles.


Cause for concern…

Science take a beating: The American Federation of Government Employees held a rally on April 25, 2018, outside of EPA headquarters, to protest the degradation of the agency under the Trump administration. (Photo credit: AFGE/Flickr)

Round of applause…

Suck it, store it: Capturing and storing carbon is critical to achieving the goals of the Paris climate agreement. (Photo credit: U.S. Department of Energy)

“It won’t be enough to simply slash carbon emissions to zero,” writes Earth | Food | Life reporter Daniel Ross, in Truthout. “We’ll also need to suck up to 1 trillion metric tons of carbon from the biosphere over the 21st century.” Now, Australian researchers have set a record for carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) using new technology that looks like a sponge filled with tiny magnets.


Parting thought…

Deep thoughts: Iridigorgia deep sea coral in the Gulf of Mexico. (Photo credit: Aquapix and Expedition to the Deep Slope 2007, NOAA Photo Library/Flickr)

“Science and poetry are, in fact, inseparable. By providing a vision of life, of Earth, of the universe in all its splendor, science does not challenge human values; it can inspire human values. It does not negate faith; it celebrates faith.” —Jacques-Yves Cousteau


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 Climate Equity Act Takes Aim at Environmental Racism | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Dirty air: It’s no accident that communities of color are commonly located near areas of high pollution. (Photo credit: Ian Barbour/Flickr)

Change: Environmental racism is a reality in the United States: Decades of systemic racism, in the form of unfair housing policies and government-sanctioned segregation means that “frontline communities”—poor communities, Indigenous peoples and communities of color—are commonly located in the nation’s most polluted environments and locations that are vulnerable to risks associated with the climate crisis. U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris (D-CA) and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) have drafted legislation to address environmental racism: the Climate Equity Act, which holds the government accountable to frontline communities when it considers a policy, regulation or investment with a climate or environmental nexus. “Climate change is an existential threat—it’s critical we act now to achieve a cleaner, safer, and healthier future. But it is not enough to simply cut emissions and end our reliance on fossil fuels. We must ensure that communities already contending with unsafe drinking water, toxic air, and lack of economic opportunity are not left behind,” said Sen. Harris.
>>>Urge Congress to end environmental racism and pass the Climate Equity Act.

Animal Recovery Mission: The coronavirus outbreak has created a crippling domino effect on farmed animals: Big Ag and Big Dairy have deemed them commercially worthless. With the food supply chain out of sync with consumer demands, unprecedented numbers of farm animals are being subjected to agonizing deaths and mass extermination. And because of a mounting surplus, their ‘products’ are literally being poured down the drain. Innocent animals of the animal agriculture industry are living an unspeakable nightmare, and their fates are being altered far beyond their existing torment, torture and exploitation. Thousands of pigs have been inhumanely steamed to death. Millions more are being euthanized and dumped in landfills. Two million chickens were “depopulated” at just one company. Now mother dairy cows and their calves are next on the chopping block.
>>>Urge Dairy Farmers of America to spare cows from mass extermination.

Care2: The COVID-19 pandemic struck just as the bullfighting season would have begun in Spain, a country hit particularly hard by the crisis. Animal rights activists see this as a glimmer of hope for the innocent animals who are tortured and killed every year just for human entertainment. But while Spain’s cruel bullfights are not being held due to the lockdown, ranchers have been slaughtering bulls who would have otherwise been making them a profit during the bullfighting season. One breeder allegedly slaughtered 400 bulls who could have instead gone to sanctuaries or farms throughout the European Union. There are at least 7,000 bulls who were destined for 2020’s bullfighting season who need to be rescued before they meet the same fate.
>>>Urge Spanish President Pedro Sánchez to pass a ban to end bullfighting, and send the thousands of bulls to accredited sanctuaries.


Cause for concern…

Dirty fuel crossing: The Appalachian Trail is longest hiking-only footpath in the world, ranging from Maine to Georgia. (Photo credit: Jimmy Emerson/Flickr)

In a blow to environmentalists, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on July 15 that the federal government can go forward with a proposed $7.5 billion natural gas pipeline to cross under the historic Appalachian Trail in rural Virginia.

“Nothing in today’s ruling changes the fact that the fracked gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline is a dirty, dangerous threat to our health, climate and communities, and nothing about the ruling changes our intention to fight it,” said Kelly Martin, who heads the Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign at the Sierra Club, one of the groups who sued to stop the pipelines.


Round of applause…

Safe now: Rescued hens explore the outdoors and their new home at Farm Sanctuary in New York. (Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals)

When Leah Garces, a vegan and CEO at the animal rights organization Mercy for Animals, sat down with Craig Watts, a factory farmer she had spent years campaigning against, she did not expect to find much common ground. But they became unexpected allies in the fight to improve the lives of animals.

“The work I want to do is reaching across the aisle and sitting down with those in control, because I’m not in control of a single chicken,” said Garces. “These companies are. The farmers are. So if I really want to make progress, if I want to make it as fast and efficiently as possible, the best way to do that would be to convince those in control of the lives of these animals to be on board with the change.”


Parting thought…

Caught in the crossfire: Spot-winged grosbeak in Mongar District, Bhutan. Insurgents at the border between Bhutan and India are poaching wildlife and smuggling illegal timber to fund their operations, using forests as pathways to their bases. (Photo credit: David Cook/Flickr)

“In a few decades, the relationship between the environment, resources and conflict may seem almost as obvious as the connection we see today between human rights, democracy and peace.” —Wangari Maathai


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.

Research Labs Are Killing Countless Animals Due to COVID-19 Staff Shortages​​​​​​​ | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

No rights: Due to coronavirus-related staff shortages at labs across the United States, mice and rats are being killed in large numbers through cruel methods like carbon dioxide suffocation and neck-breaking. (Photo credit: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)

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…

Fair warning: “Our disrespect for wild animals and our disrespect for farmed animals has created this situation where disease can spill over to infect human beings,” said renowned primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall, in a recent webinar. (Photo credit: Milken Institute/Flickr)

Round of applause…

What the ancients saw
View of the Milky Way from the Katahdin Loop Road Overlook at the “Stars Over Katahdin” event in 2019. (Photo credit: John Meader/National Park Service)

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.”


Parting thought…

Friends for life: Piia Anttonen, director of Tuulispää Animal Sanctuary in Finland, with a rescued hen in 2015 (Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals)

“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.