If You’re Not Mad, You’re Not Paying Attention: Black Lives Matter | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Anger in the streets: George Floyd protest demonstration in New York City on June 6, 2020. (Photo credit: Reynard Loki)

The murder of George Floyd by the police in Minneapolis—and the murders of Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and so many others—once again reveals the pervasive and enduring racism that continues to cripple American society. In addition to fueling police brutality, systemic racism is deeply connected to a host of human and ecological crises that are converging across the planet, from the coronavirus pandemic—a result of humanity’s disrespect of nature and wildlife that has disproportionately impacted ethnic minorities and Indigenous communities—to the environmental racism that puts the health of these communities at greater risk from living near poisonous oil and gas wells, mining and deforestation. Today’s anguish must transform into sustained action that results in meaningful, lasting change that ultimately eradicates systemic racism and injustice from our law enforcement and legal system—and all sectors of society. Here are three actions you can take right now to make your voice heard.

Black Lives Matter: George Floyd’s violent death was a breaking point—an all too familiar reminder that, for Black people, law enforcement doesn’t protect or save our lives. They often threaten and take them. People in Minneapolis and cities across our country are angry and are demanding an end to systemic racism, all while we grapple with a pandemic that is disproportionately affecting, infecting, and killing Black and Brown people. We must take this moment in history to finally put an end to the systemic racism that allows this culture of corruption to go unchecked and Black lives to be taken.
>>>Join the call for a national defunding of police, including an investment in our communities and the resources to ensure Black people not only survive, but thrive.

Color of Change: The ability to vote for people and policies that respect Black lives has always been a matter of life and death. But this year, certain accommodations for voters are urgently needed to protect Black health and rights from the COVID-19 outbreak and increases in violent rhetoric and behavior targeting Black people. After years of underfunding our elections infrastructure and administration, many states and communities don’t have the common sense measures long needed to make voting less burdensome for Black voters and increase access to the ballot. Fortunately, there are resources needed to protect Black health and votes this year. The $3.6 billion in the current version of the HEROES Act plus the $400 million from the CARES Act is the minimum states need in order to safeguard elections this year. It’s crucial that we maintain or increase this amount in order to have free, fair, and safe elections in 2020.
>>>Urge your senators to protect public health and the democratic process by voting to fully fund or increase the $3.6 billion dollars included in the HEROES Act to safeguard our elections this year.

The Action Network: While Los Angeles aims to be a national and world leader on environmental issues, there are very few cities in the world with so many active oil wells dangerously close to where people live, work, learn and play. In neighborhoods like Wilmington and South Los Angeles—low-income communities of color already overburdened by pollution from freeways and other dirty industries—children and families experience disproportionately high rates of asthma and suffer from severe nosebleeds, headaches, reproductive harm, and headaches associated with a long list of toxic chemicals used in oil extraction. Oil drilling is simply incompatible with healthy neighborhoods and a sustainable future for Los Angeles.
>>>Urge the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Eric Garcetti to enact a 2,500-foot human health and safety buffer ordinance that would phase out oil and gas production to homes and schools within five years.

Resources for protesters…

No justice, no peace: George Floyd protest demonstration in New York City on May 30, 2020. (Photo credit: Reynard Loki)

Parting thought…

“Fellow animal liberators, I come to you right now—as an exhausted Black man—asking for help working against systemic racism that threatens Black lives. … I only ask that my fellow animal rights activists make their voices heard and show solidarity with Black people now, for this is the moment to do so. Everyone has a moral responsibility to stand against hate and unequivocal violence, no matter who the victims may be.” —Zachary Toliver

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.

U.S. Health Department Recommends Cruel and Ineffective Animal Studies to Fight COVID-19 | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Cruel and unnecessary: Monkeys have been subjected to COVID-19 research, though they fail to develop symptoms when infected with COVID-19. (Photo: Citizens for Alternatives to Animal Research)

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…

In cats’ crosshairs: The piping plover is a small, sparrow-sized shorebird that nests and feeds along coastal beaches in North America. It is globally threatened and endangered, in part due to predation by domestic cats. (Photo credit: Alberto_VO5/Flickr)

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…

Factory farm fail: A new investigation by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group found that manure from Minnesota’s 23,000 animal feedlots threatens to overload nearby cropland with chemicals that can pollute lakes, streams and aquifers, including drinking water sources. (Photo credit: Kent Becker, U.S. Geological Survey)

Round of applause…

Friends for life: Piia Anttonen and a rescued cow at Tuulispaa Animal Sanctuary in Finland, 2015. (Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/WeAnimals)

“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.”

Parting thought…

One fight: Activists make the connection between human rights and animal rights during an animal rights march in Athens, Greece, on October 14, 2019. (Photo credit: Elias Tsolis/Flickr)

“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.

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

Song sung blue: Common Yellowthroat (immature male), Landfill Loop Trail, Contra Costa County, California (Becky Matsubara/Flickr).

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…

Running out of room: Women carry bricks from a boat to a constructions site in China’s Yunnan province. Infrastructure development, deforestation and climate change have reduced wildlife habitat, turning Yunnan into a global hotspot for emerging infectious disease. (Photo credit: Buster&Bubby/Flickr)

Round of applause…

No exhaust: 
The last time daily carbon emissions levels were this low was in 2006, according to a new study by scientists at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom (Photo credit: hyper sapiens/Flickr)

Parting thought…

Friend, not food: Spending time with one of resident pigs at Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York. (Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals)

“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

Congress Has a Chance Protect American Bears From Illegal Global Wildlife Trade | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Bearing up, for now: 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. (Photo credit: Jitze Couperus/Flickr)

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…

Dirty job: In 2017, President Trump announced the approval of two long-term applications to export additional natural gas from the Lake Charles LNG terminal in Louisiana. (Photo credit: White House).

“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.

Plant power: Former chicken farmer Mike Weaver holds a marijuana leaf on his farm in West Virginia. “While animal farmers should continue to provide food for Americans and supporting their families, this can be done by adopting more humane practices like growing plants instead,” writesEarth | Food | Life contributor Lauri Torgerson-White, of Mercy For Animals, on NationOfChange. (Photo credit: Mercy For Animals)

Round of applause…

Parting thought…

Moral failing: Thirsty are frightened cows who are being transported are crammed into a rest station at the Bulgarian-Turkish border in 2018. (Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/Eyes On Animals/We Animals)

“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.

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

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

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

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

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

Cause for concern…

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

Round of applause…

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

Parting thought…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cause for concern…

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

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

Round of applause…

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

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

What we’re reading…

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

Reviewing the book for Sentient Media, Davis writes:

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

Parting thought…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cause for concern…

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

Round of applause…

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

Parting thought…

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

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

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

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

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

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

Image credit: Travis Morgan/Flickr

From the editor’s desk…

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

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

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

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

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

Take Action…

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

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

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

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

Earth Day picks…

Photo credit: Joe Brusky/Flickr

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

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

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

Cause for concern…

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

Round of applause…

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

Parting thought…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cause for concern…

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

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

Round of applause…

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

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

Parting thought…

Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals.

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

Coronavirus Shows Humanity That It’s Entirely Possible to Avert Climate Disaster

Tiny terror: Coronavirus CG illustration (Image credit: Yuri Samoilo/Flickr)

The global lockdown has given Mother Nature a breath of fresh air.

By Reynard Loki, Independent Media Institute

Amidst all the terrible news about the spreading coronavirus epidemic, a scintillating fact has emerged that can energize the environmental movement: The global slowdown in human activity has given Mother Nature some time to take a much-needed breath of fresh air. Between travel restrictions, reductions in public transport and overall economic activity that generates emissions—such as coal burning, refining oil and producing steel—the climate is getting the kind of rest from destructive human activity it hasn’t gotten since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.

The lockdown in China (the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases), for example, has cut the nation’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 100 million metric tons in just two weeks, according to an analysis by Carbon Brief, a UK-based climate policy watchdog. That’s down a quarter from the same two-week period in 2019. Observations made by NASA and European Space Agency pollution monitoring satellites appear to confirm the analysis. They show a sudden and steep decrease in nitrogen dioxide (NO2)—an air pollutant emitted by power plants, factories and vehicles—over China during mid-February when the nation entered a quarantine.

“This is the first time I have seen such a dramatic drop-off over such a wide area for a specific event,” said Fei Liu, an air quality researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Back to nature: The maps above show nitrogen dioxide values across China from January 1-20, 2020 (before the quarantine), and February 10-25 (during the quarantine). (Image credit: European Space Agency via NASA)

While these are significant and sudden reductions and were achieved over a remarkably brief period of time, they are temporary. The long-term effects on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and other atmospheric pollutants are unclear. On one hand, Chinese authorities may try to boost production after the pandemic is over in an attempt to make up for the lost time. On the other hand, the economic impact of the pandemic may suppress the global demand for Chinese goods for months or even years to come.

“Any sustained impact on fossil-fuel use would come from reduced demand, which initial indicators suggest could have a major impact. For example, February car sales are forecast to fall by 30 percent below last year’s already depressed levels,” writes Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. “If consumer demand is reduced—for example, due to unpaid wages during the crisis cascading through the rest of the economy—then industrial output and fossil-fuel use might not recover, even though capacity is available to do so.”

Still, the findings offer climate activists a tantalizing fact: It is technically feasible to achieve big reductions in pollutants that are fueling the climate crisis. All that’s required is a break in economic production and human activity. But while a global pandemic can instigate a break in human activity, the climate crisis hasn’t been able to make a dent in it. Why is that?

For one thing, the coronavirus pandemic has a clear killer: a microorganism. And the global death toll is rising by the hour as the virus jumps from person to person. The climate crisis, on the other hand, doesn’t have a distinct killer. There have been countless deaths tied to all the human activity that is the cause of the climate crisis: heat waves, hurricanes, droughts, and yes, even diseases, like Lyme disease, the normal range of which has spread due to warming climates. And, course, there is the invisible killer that’s not a microorganism: air pollution, which is caused by a number of toxic chemicals, some of which are greenhouse gases that are heating up the planet. But the fatalities associated with climate impacts are many steps removed from the actual causes, which are simply a matter of degree: too many cars and trucks on the roads, too many planes in the sky, too many bulldozers clearing rainforests, too many factories, air conditioners, large-screen televisions, mansions. Ultimately, too many people consuming too many things.

Let’s say COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, ends up killing seven million people this year. That figure would probably shock most people. But that is the same number of people who die from air pollution—every single year. As Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, writes, “Black carbon, methane, and nitrogen oxides are powerful drivers of global warming, and, along with other air pollutants such as carbon monoxide and ozone, they are responsible for over seven million deaths each year, about one in eight worldwide.”

And that’s just air pollution. Heat exposure, coastal flooding and diseases like malaria and dengue—all increased by climate change—could cause approximately 250,000 deaths annually between 2030 and 2050, according to the World Health Organization. A study led by Oxford University forecast that by 2050, climate-related reductions in food availability (primarily fruits and vegetables) will cause an additional 529,000 adult deaths worldwide.

Sadly, no one knows these statistics, because—tragically for all the people who might be saved, and for the planet—the mainstream news media barely covers the climate. The figures are shocking. Major network news programs devoted barely four hours to the climate crisis over the entirety of 2019, according to a recent study by Media Matters. That amounts to a paltry 0.7 percent of overall evening broadcasts and the Sunday morning news shows.

Clearly, we cannot rely on the media. And we can’t rely on world leaders, either. According to a recent report by a panel of world-class scientists, “The Truth Behind the Paris Agreement Climate Pledges,” the majority of the carbon emission reduction pledges for 2030 that 184 countries made under the international accord aren’t nearly enough to prevent global warming from exceeding 2° Celsius above pre-industrial levels, which is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. The authors further note that some nations won’t even meet their pledges, and some of the biggest polluters will even increase their emissions.

It’s up to you and me, and every single individual who wants a healthy planet for ourselves, our children and future generations. And environmental activists should use this moment in history to help people understand that we can, we should and we must make changes to our behavior, our lifestyles, and our consumption habits.

Across the globe, the coronavirus pandemic has changed daily human life in ways small (like the length of time we wash our hands) and big (like how we work and play). It also demonstrates one salient fact: Our everyday activities impact so many things—not just our own personal health, but the health of our local communities and even the entire planet. Coronavirus is a killer, but it can also be a teacher. Let’s learn all of its lessons.

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

Reynard Loki is a senior writing fellow and the editor and chief correspondent for Earth | Food | Life, a project of the Independent Media Institute. He previously served as the environment, food and animal rights editor at AlterNet and as a reporter for Justmeans/3BL Media covering sustainability and corporate social responsibility. He was named one of FilterBuy’s “Top 50 Health & Environmental Journalists to Follow in 2016.” His work has been published by Truthout, Salon, BillMoyers.com, EcoWatch and Truthdig, among others.

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.