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

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

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

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

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

Cause for concern…

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

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

Round of applause…

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

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

Parting thought…

(Photo credit: memoki/Flickr)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cause for concern…

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

Round of applause…

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

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

Parting thought…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Letter to the editor…

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

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

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

Cause for concern…

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

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

Round of applause…

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

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

Parting thought…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Reynard Loki, Independent Media Institute

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Light Pollution Harms Wildlife and Is Bad for Stargazing | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Where are the stars? The map above shows the relative amount of light pollution—caused by artificial light reflecting off molecules and aerosols in the atmosphere—occurring across the Earth. Parts of the eastern United States and western Europe (colored red) have an artificial night sky glow over nine times that of the natural sky. In areas marked orange or red, the central band of the Milky Way galaxy is no longer visible. (Image credit: P. Cinzano, F. Falchi, University of Padova; C. D. Elvidge, NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, Boulder. Copyright Royal Astronomical Society. Reproduced from the Monthly Notices of the RAS by permission of Blackwell Science.)

International Dark-Sky Association: In many places across the globe, particularly in major cities, the night sky has been reduced from a breathtaking show of hundreds of stars to a diffuse glow through which only a handful of stars can be seen. Light pollution has been a known issue for decades. But we’ve only recently been able to access the tools and technology to better understand which sources contribute the most to light pollution, what impact it has on the natural world (like changing the resting and feeding behavior of wildlife), and how to develop smarter policies to protect the night. In the coming weeks, citizen scientists can participate in Globe at Night, an annual, worldwide, kid-friendly campaign asking individuals to measure the quality of the night sky where they live. You don’t have to leave your backyard (or porch or patio) to take night sky measurements—and reporting results only takes a moment using the handy Globe at Night online web app. Your reported measurements are added to other reports from around the world where they are held in an open-source database. With these measurements, scientists can see how the quality of the night is changing all around the world. Your measurements will help to develop targeted policies and guidelines to help solve the problem of light pollution.
>>>Take part in the worldwide Globe at Night campaign from March 14-24, 2020.

Lady Freethinker: In China’s cruel and dangerous wild animal trade, millions of bats, civets, snakes, badgers, monkeys and other animals face brutal torture and slaughter each year, putting humans at risk of diseases such as rabies and coronavirus, which may have originated at a wild animal market. These markets also often sell dogs and cats, who are stuffed into tiny cages, transported unbearably long distances and bludgeoned to death or burned alive. Finally recognizing the severity of the situation, China has temporarily halted the trade and human consumption of wild animals, but a temporary ban is not enough. China must ban this practice permanently. These innocent animals are subjected to agonizing suffering as they are snatched from their homes and sold to meat markets. The horrendous wildlife trade is also a severe health threat to humans, and conservationists believe the only way to prevent future virus epidemics is to permanently ban this dangerous and unhealthy industry.
>>>Urge Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai to call for a permanent ban on China’s wild animal trade and the consumption of dog and cat meat.

Care2: Evidence shows that more than 2 million child laborers as young as 10 years old work on cocoa farms in West Africa, helping to produce a significant amount of the chocolate consumed in the U.S. That includes chocolate produced for one of the world’s largest candy companies, Hershey’s. As far as child labor goes, cocoa work is considered some of the worst work. Daily tasks include deploying dangerous pesticides, chopping brush and cocoa pods with machetes, and lifting excessively heavy bags. Impoverished kids who are sent to work on these farms are subjected to body-breaking work and do not attend school. Many of these children are also trafficked and forced to lie about their ages under the watchful eyes of coercive farmers. For two decades, chocolate companies have set goals to eradicate child labor on these farms, but they come up short each time.
>>>Urge Hershey’s CEO Michele Buck to guarantee their chocolate isn’t made using child labor.

Letter to the editor…

Taste of terror: Firefighters battle a wildfire in Hidden Valley, California. “This is only a taste of the horror and terror that will occur in decades,” said former California Governor Jerry Brown. The climate crisis has increased the size, intensity and burn area of wildfires. (Photo credit: Daria Devyatkina/Flickr)

Replying to “Insurers Should Support People, Not the Fossil Fuel Industry,” by Tony Dunn:

Thank you so much for this very important article. Here in Australia, I haven’t given a thought about the insurance company I’m insured with. This will change with my next renewal, which is due very soon. I will be asking many questions before they receive any payment from me. I live on a tiny farm amongst bushland in Victoria, Australia, and only discovered your posts by accident a few months ago. I try to read all I can on the issue of our climate emergency and do my best to contribute as little as possible to the harm that we humans do, not only to the environment, but to our fellow human beings. I’m afraid that unless things change rapidly there will be only misery for my grandson’s generation. So thank you for waking me up to another issue and I will endeavor to do my best in that area as well. Sadly, I don’t know many people of my generation willing to make the effort as it isn’t easy to take the steps required to live this way. —Susan Brinksma (Victoria, Australia)

Cause for concern…

Bad growth: Relatively developed economies collectively have no projected emissions growth; all of the projected future growth in energy-related CO2 emissions is from developing countries. (Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Outlook 2019, September 2019)

Round of applause…

Protecting Fido: While unrelated to the current coronavirus outbreak in humans, canine coronavirus is a highly contagious intestinal disease that infects dogs. (Photo credit: Canine Journal)

Parting thought…

(Photo credit: Bragi Thor/Flickr)

“To treat a chimpanzee as if he or she had no right to liberty protected by habeas corpus is to regard the chimpanzee as entirely lacking independent worth, as a mere resource for human use, a thing the value of which consists exclusively in its usefulness to others.” —Court of Appeals Associate Judge Eugene M. Fahey

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.

Brazilian President Bolsonaro Wants to Steal Indigenous Lands for Mining and Ranching |Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Unwelcoming committee: Uncontacted people in Brazil, May 2008. Many uncontacted tribes in Brazil are under increasing threat from illegal logging just over the border in Peru. Survival International estimates that there are over 100 uncontacted tribes worldwide. The men in the photo above have painted themselves with red dye, possibly as a show of aggression in response to a plane’s flyover.  (Photo credit: Survival International)

Survival International: Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro is pushing hard to open up Indigenous lands to fossil fuel development, mining and agriculture. If he succeeds, many tribes are likely to be wiped out. His latest move is to appoint a fundamentalist evangelical missionary, Ricardo Lopes Dias, to head the federal department in charge of protecting uncontacted tribes’ territories, which has stirred fears of genocide. Mr. Lopes worked for years with the New Tribes Mission, one of the most extreme missionary organizations, spending ten years evangelizing tribes in the Javari Valley, home to more uncontacted tribes than anywhere else on Earth. The Indigenous organization there has strongly denounced his appointment. If this move isn’t challenged, Brazil’s long-standing policy to protect uncontacted tribes from forced contact will probably be reversed. Entire tribes could be wiped out by genocidal violence—and by diseases like flu and measles, to which they have little resistance.
>>>Urge Brazilian Justice Minister Sérgio Moro to reverse this dangerous appointment.

NRDC: The Trump administration is attacking the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a bedrock environmental law that empowers the American people to have a say in decision making and to speak out against federal projects that would put their families’ health and well-being at risk. If Trump’s proposed rollback succeeds, his administration will be given free rein to hide the environmental and health impacts of dangerous federal projects like dirty oil and gas pipelines and other fossil fuel developments—speeding up climate change and silencing frontline communities in the process. We live in a democracy, not a dictatorship. Americans deserve to have their voices heard before polluters destroy our air and water, our children’s health and our climate. This is more than a fight for environmental law: It is an existential fight for our democracy and the future of our planet.
>>>Tell Council on Environmental Q Chairwoman Mary B. Neumayr, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, Interior Department Secretary David Bernhardt and Department of Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette that you oppose the attack on NEPA.

Care2: Every year, nearly 3.5 million foxes, minks and raccoon dogs are killed for their fur in Finland, the world’s biggest producer of fox fur along with China. Cage requirement for a fox and a raccoon dog is 0.8 square meters while for the mink it is 0.25 square meters, without a nest box—spaces so small that they can barely move. Foxes and raccoon dogs are killed by anal electrocution and minks are killed by gas to prevent any damages to the quality of the animals’ skin. Polls show that 74% of Finnish people oppose fur farming in its current form. Additionally, 60% see the killing of animals for their fur as wrong. Animal rights activists have taken plenty of film footage and photographs from a multitude of farms over the course of the last decade. The filmed material shows problems such as eye infections, leg deformations, obesity, open wounds and acute mental stress.
>>>Urge the Finnish Parliament to ban fur farming.

Letters to the editor…

Sy Montgomery interacts with Cleo the octopus at the Oregon Coast Aquarium (Photo credit: Amy Knuze)

Replying to “You’re Not So Different From an Octopus: Rethinking Our Relationship to Animals,” by Leslie Crawford:

Thanks for Leslie Crawford’s interview with “octopus whisperer” Sy Montgomery. I stopped eating octopuses many years ago when I discovered that they are smarter than I. They learn on a one-time experience basis; I’ve been married four times. —Geri Taran (Lawrenceville, Georgia)

All these creatures are our cousins and as we kill them off, we are killing family. —Gini Paulsen (Seattle, Washington)

Sy Montgomery is a real role model for the world for letting us know that, as she said, “nonhuman animals think and know and feel the way we do.” —Dr. Mapa Ha’ano Puloka (Kolomotu’a, Nukualofa, Kingdom of Tonga)

Cause for concern…

Hurricane Katrina battered the southeastern United States in 2005, killing more than 1,800 people and causing $125 billion in damages, making it the costliest tropical cyclone on record. (Photo credit: opacity/Flickr)

Risky business: JPMorgan Chase & Co., one of the largest banking institutions in the United States, has warned that we cannot rule out the most extreme risks of climate change, including the collapse of human civilization. “The response to climate change should be motivated not only by central estimates of outcomes but also by the likelihood of extreme events,” bank economists David Mackie and Jessica Murray wrote in a recent report to clients. “We cannot rule out catastrophic outcomes where human life as we know it is threatened.”

Round of applause…

The cruel cost of bacon: Activists give water to thirsty pigs trapped inside a transport truck at a vigil outside Farmer John Slaughterhouse in Los Angeles (Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals)​​​​​​​

Animal activist Joaquin Phoenix is the executive producer of Gunda, a new dialogue-free documentary that explores the sentience of a pig. “Gunda is a mesmerising perspective on sentience within animal species, normally—and perhaps purposely—hidden from our view,” Phoenix told Screen Daily. “Displays of pride and reverence, amusement and bliss at a pig’s inquisitive young; her panic, despair and utter defeat in the face of cruel trickery, are validations of just how similarly all species react and cope with events in our respective lives. [Director] Victor Kossakovsky has crafted a visceral meditation on existence that transcends the normal barriers that separate species. It is a film of profound importance and artistry.” [Watch the trailer on Vimeo]

Parting thought…

Touching: Elephants have socially complex societies and form lasting, life-long relationships. (Photo credit: Phae/Flickr)

“Witnessing elephants interact with their dead sends chills up one’s spine, as the behavior so clearly indicates advanced feeling … This is one of the many magnificent aspects of elephants that we have observed, but cannot fully comprehend.” —George Wittemyer

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.

110 Million Americans’ Drinking Water May Be Contaminated With PFAS | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

(Photo credit: Jay Hsu/Flickr)

Make Them Pay: As many as 110 million Americans may have drinking water contaminated with toxic nonstick chemicals or PFAS. These chemicals are a health and environmental nightmare created by chemical companies 3M and DuPont (now Chemours), who reportedly had sufficient information decades ago to know that certain PFAS were harmful. PFAS can leave our environment polluted, our water undrinkable, and our bodies sick. Americans were treated like guinea pigs as chemical companies sold more and more PFAS. Taxpayers are now being asked to foot the bill for what could amount to billions of dollars in clean up and health costs. As if that weren’t enough, more PFAS are manufactured every day for products like nonstick and waterproof coatings and for some firefighting foam.  So the contamination cycle continues. It’s time to hold the chemical makers accountable.
>>>Demand that 3M and Chemours discontinue production of PFAS chemicals and pay to clean up their nonstick nightmare.

Care2: Ninety-five percent of all lemur species could disappear forever if Madagascar doesn’t take action now. Lemurs are native to the east African island of Madagascar and nowhere else. If that country doesn’t take immediate action, nearly every species could be lost forever. More than 100 species of lemur qualify as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable to extinction in the wild. From deforestation-driven habitat loss to illegal poaching and hunting, lemurs are under attack from all sides. Recently, scientists reported that the entire Madagascan rainforest—the lemur’s only home—is under threat of being completely wiped out by 2070. But there is hope. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has a plan—it’s just up to the government of Madagascar to uphold the policies that protect these vulnerable animals.
>>>Urge President Andry Rajoelina of Madagascar to take action to save lemurs.

Change: Legislation is greatly needed in Virginia to require dog owners to keep their pets indoors once the temperature drops below 35 degrees, or exceeds 85 degrees. Currently, there is no protection for dogs left outside, and severe weather poses a fatal threat to these defenseless animals. On the morning of January 12, 2017, a dog was found frozen to death in Accomack County, Virginia, surrounded by snow, ice and vomit. Her neck was bound tightly by a short chain that prevented her from reaching her plastic, uninsulated igloo, and she died an agonizing death, alone. She was posthumously named Rainbow. Her owner Jose Berlanga was charged with one count of animal cruelty and one count of failure to provide proper shelter. He was found guilty of both counts, fined $650 and sentenced to 60 days in jail. However, the entire jail sentence was suspended, as was $500 of the $650 fine. In the end, Berlanga paid a small fine of $150 for Rainbow’s death. It is common to leave dogs outside in extreme weather, but a bill may make this cruel practice illegal in Virginia.
>>>Urge Virginia’s legislators to pass SB 272/HB 1552 to protect dogs in extreme weather.

Letter to the editor…

Past due? Pickering Nuclear Generating Station in Ontario, Canada, is one of the oldest nuclear power stations in the world. (Photo credit: ilker/Flickr)

Replying to “Renewables Are Gaining Traction, but We Need to Be Able to Store the Energy,” by Elliott Negin:

I live in Ontario, where conservative Premier Doug Ford has canceled hundreds of alternative energy projects at a cost of CAD$230 million (USD $173 million) to the taxpayer. Instead, we will cobble up our aging nuclear plants well past their projected life span at a cost several times that of alternative energy, such as hydroelectric power from Quebec. As for storage, in 2014, Harvard researchers announced a breakthrough on “flow batteries” which use an organic molecule similar to one found rhubarb. Since then, nothing. —Paul Whittaker (Ontario, Canada)

Cause for concern…

(Photo credit: State of Queensland/Wikipedia)

Going, going, gone: Yesterday marked the start of the weeklong U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity in Rome. Representatives from nearly 200 nations will address the severe threat facing Earth’s biodiversity, highlighted in a 2019 report warning that one million animal and plant species are at risk of extinction, primarily due to expanded farming and fishing (particularly in highly biodiverse tropical regions) and climate change. Also last year, the Bramble Cay melomys (above), a small rodent that lived only on a Great Barrier Reef island that was submerged by rising seas, became the first mammal declared extinct due to climate change. 

Round of applause…

Eerie Erie: This month marks the one-year anniversary of Lake Erie getting its own bill of rights, courtesy of activists in Toledo, Ohio, who used “rights of nature,” an emerging legal strategy, to develop a ballot measure giving residents the ability to sue on behalf of the lake, which was impacted by an algal bloom (above) that sickened more than 100 people. (Photo credit: NASA)

Parting thought…

Tennis player Novak Djokovic credits a great deal of his professional success to his vegan diet. (Photo credit: Marianne Bevis/Flickr)

“It’s a lifestyle more than just a diet because you have ethical reasons as well, being conscious of what is happening in the animal world.” —Tennis champion Novak Djokovic on being vegan

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’s EPA Is Ignoring America’s Asbestos Problem | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Death by dust: Tens of thousands of Americans die every year due to asbestos exposure, but the Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t care. (Photo credit: shaymus22/Flickr)

Care2: The Trump administration has found a way to “fix” America’s asbestos problem—to just ignore it. For decades, the government has known that inhaling asbestos fibers from insulation in buildings can cause serious illness in adults and children alike, including cancer. Yet Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently rolled back a policy that was intended to keep the public safe from this dangerous substance. Up until recently, the EPA required the monitoring and possible removal of asbestos that were still located in buildings all over the country. Now, only new uses of asbestos—yes, there still are new uses—will require EPA approval and health risk evaluation. This means that existing asbestos will continue to kill people, and the EPA doesn’t care. Studies show that around 12,000 to 15,000 Americans still die every year due to asbestos exposure. Many of them were exposed as children since a large number of public school buildings still contain the toxic insulating fiber.
>>>Urge EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to immediately reinstate the asbestos mandate.

Endangered Species Coalition: Plastic is everywhere. It is difficult to even make it out the door in the morning without using–and potentially discarding–plastic that can go on to cause injury and death to wildlife. The bags we carry groceries in, the bottles we drink out of, and so very many other items in our day-to-day existence are composed of plastic. That plastic has to go somewhere when we are through using it. Every year, billions of pounds of plastic end up in our oceans where it subjects ocean species to injury or death and releases toxins into the water. Thousands of seals, seabirds, turtles, and other marine species are killed every year after becoming entangled in or ingesting plastic. Hundreds of thousands of seabirds ingest this discarded plastic every year, mistaking it for food. Plastic pollution is a crisis. Thankfully, some in Congress have taken notice. The recently-introduced Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, from Senators Tom Udall (NM) and Jeff Merkley (OR) and Representative Alan Lowenthal (CA) would make multiple changes to address this threat.
>>>Urge Congress to support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act.

Change: During his 2018 campaign for governor of the Mexican state of Puebla, Miguel Barbosa signed a document promising to honor seven proposals by animal rights activists including one to “restrict violent events involving animals.” But now, as governor, he has announced the construction of a new bullfighting arena and cockfighting ring in the state’s eponymous capital city. Every year, thousands of bulls are tortured and then slaughtered in bullrings around the world. But global condemnation of this cruel spectacle is growing, with bullfighting now banned in at least 100 towns in Spain. From 2008 to 2013, attendance in Spanish arenas plummeted 40 percent. Argentina, Canada, Cuba, Denmark, Italy and the United Kingdom have imposed national bans, along with the Mexican states of Coahuila, Guerrero and Sonora.
>>>Tell Governor Barbosa to stand by his commitment to animal rights and end plans for a bullfighting ring and cockfighting arena.

Cause for concern…

Deadly traffic: A Philippine Pangolin pup nudges its mother, rolled up in a protective ball. The suspected origin of the COVID-19, the new coronavirus that has claimed more than 1,600 human lives, is a live animal market in Wuhan, China, which sells the critically endangered mammal. The genome sequence of coronavirus in pangolins was a 99 percent match to that of infected COVID-19 patients. Adherents of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) believe, without any scientific evidence, that its scales can treat a host of health ailments, making the pangolin the most trafficked animal in the world. (Photo credit: Shukran888/Flickr)

Round of applause…

Computing climate: This graph, created by the Met Office, the United Kingdom’s national weather service, shows the average global temperature for each month, from 1850 to 2017. The temperature increases as you move away from the center of the circle. (Image credit: Met Office)

Parting thought…

True cost of milk: A dairy farmer pushes a recently separated calf past a line of mother cows, who strain for a view of the baby. (Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/Animal Equality)

“We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal.” —Joaquin Phoenix

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.

CDC Is Torturing Animals to Study Vaping | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Deadly smokescreen: Beagles and other animals have long been used in cruel tests to study the effects of smoking, though evidence indicates that such studies lack relevance to human health. In addition, a growing number of biotech companies now offer customizable models that have proven to be more human-predictive in inhalation testing. (Photo credit: PETA)

Citizens for Alternatives to Animal Research: In response to the public health crisis involving e-cigarette or vaping associated lung injury, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have made the dire decision to use animals to study the role of vitamin E acetate and other potentially toxic compounds in e-cigarettes. This decision is totally out of step with the current trend to reduce and eventually eliminate animal testing in regulatory toxicology studies. Decades of studies have shown that significant differences in the anatomy and physiology of the respiratory tract of humans and other animals make animal tests unfit for studying human pathologies. Animal testing is so unreliable that in 2018 the U.S. National Toxicology Program released a “Strategic Roadmap” advising regulatory agencies to “provide more human-relevant toxicology data while reducing the use of animals.” Currently, the CDC has numerous options for studying vaping without animals, including in vitro assays, in silico approaches, computational chemistry and a range of sophisticated tissue models that include 3D organoids and organs-on-chips. 
>>>Urge the CDC to use only non-animal alternatives to study vaping risks.

Environmental Working Group: Recent tests by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Environmental Working Group have found asbestos—a known carcinogen—in cosmetics made with talc. Geologically, talc and asbestos can be formed from the same parent rock. Cosmetics companies have known for decades that cosmetics made with talc can contain asbestos. But under pressure from industry, the FDA has for decades allowed voluntary testing methods that are too weak to reliably detect asbestos fibers in cosmetics. To make matters worse, companies have also been able to hide the results of their asbestos tests from the FDA. More than 2,000 cosmetics and personal care products have been found to contain talc, including more than 1,000 loose or pressed powders that could be inhaled. Small amounts of inhaled asbestos can cause mesothelioma and other deadly diseases, even many years after exposure.
>>>Urge the FDA to require the cosmetic industry to use the most sensitive state-of-the-art methods to test for asbestos in cosmetics—and make testing results available to the public.

Ocean Lifeline: How many times have you used your own utensils for take-out or delivered food and the plastic cutlery in the bag just gets thrown in a drawer, recycled or tossed in the trash? Hundreds of fast-food restaurants across the country include single-use plastic cutlery in take-out plastic bags—without asking the customer if they need it. A 2015 study by Ocean Conservancy scientists and their partners found that plastic cutlery is among the most dangerous to ocean animals, such as seabirds and turtles, especially as they break up into smaller to microplastics, which have been found not only in marine environments but also Arctic snow and even human stool. Single-use utensils can take up to 1,000 years to decompose. And most plastic utensils are made of polystyrene, which can release toxic chemicals when heated.
>>>Urge McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Chick-Fil-A, Panda Express, Sonic Drive-In and Whataburger to stop including single use plastic cutlery in every fast food take out bag.

Cause for concern…

In a jam: State-level efforts to become carbon neutral by 2050 or sooner could be thwarted by increasing emissions from the transportation sector, the biggest source of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, a new report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) suggests. “This projection of relentless climate pollution is nothing short of terrifying,” the Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement. “With Trump officials crippling emissions rules, climate-friendly lawmakers must build support for truly bold policies that avert the bleak future predicted by the EIA. We need much stronger measures.” (Photo credit: Eric Demarcq/Flickr)
Dollars and sense: As investors increasingly avoid unethical, unhealthy and polluting industries, markets are responding with new investment vehicles like the US Vegan Climate ETF, an animal- and environment-friendly exchange-traded fund (ETF). (Photo credit: thetaxhaven/Flickr)

Round of applause…

Parting thought…

The feelies: Internet star and ambassador for animals Esther the Wonder Pig was adopted by a Toronto couple who was told she was a so-called “mini-pig” (actually, no such animal exists). Esther is a commercially bred sow who now weighs nearly 700 pounds. After learning about factory farming and deciding to go vegan, Esther’s dads Steve and Derek founded the Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary in Ontario, Canada. (Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals)

“Most of us realize as children that animals are sentient beings. But then, somehow, for so many people, this truth gets overwritten—by schools teaching old theories, by agribusiness that wants us to treat animals like products, by the pharmaceutical and medical industries who want to test products on animals as if they were little more than petri dishes. But thankfully, scientific and evolutionary evidence for animal sentience has grown too obvious to ignore.” —Sy Montgomery

Earth | Food | Life (EFL) explores the critical and often interconnected issues facing the climate/environment, food/agriculture and animal/nature 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.

Nearly All U.S. Public Pension Funds Are Invested in Fossil Fuel Companies | Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife

Keep it in the ground: Activists at the Global Climate March in Washington, D.C., on November 29, 2015, calling for divestment of fossil fuels. (Photo credit: Susan Melkisethian/Flickr)

Action Network: Nearly all public pension funds in the U.S. are invested in fossil fuel companies—essentially using Americans’ tax dollars to support the powerful polluters that are causing the greatest threat to our planet and to humanity: the climate crisis. We are already feeling the impact of escalating floods, fires, heatwaves and storms. Public money shouldn’t be used to fund public destruction. To make matters worse, state pension funds’ investments in fossil fuels actually place our pensions at risk. Big coal, oil and gas companies are underperforming compared to the rest of the market, and it is widely expected that the assets of many fossil fuel companies will eventually become stranded and stock values will plunge. This bursting of the “carbon bubble” could cause losses greater than the 2008 financial crisis, according to a recent study. Retirement savings should not be invested in an uncertain and volatile industry—and we certainly do not want to continue to financially support fossil fuel companies, the primary drivers of the climate crisis.
>>>Urge your governor and state legislators to divest state pension funds from fossil fuels.

Total Liberation International: The devastating Australian wildfires, which have killed over one billion animals, have dramatically exacerbated the severe threat to kangaroo populations, possibly driving some species closer towards extinction. Yet Chewy—the largest online pet retailer in the United States—is still selling kangaroo meat dog food and chews. The mass-scale, profit-driven killing of kangaroos for their meat, leather and pelts is the world’s largest land-based wildlife slaughter. It is an Australian government-sanctioned bloodbath and Chewy is complicit. Adult kangaroos are shot. Hundreds of thousands of joeys (baby kangaroos) are clubbed, shot or decapitated after their mothers are killed. And larger young but non-pouched orphaned kangaroos are left to die. Like the African elephant, this massive slaughter could eliminate them. Companies like Pets At Home in Australia and every single supermarket chain in the United Kingdom have stopped selling kangaroo meat for pets and humans. It’s time for Chewy to extend their compassion beyond domesticated dogs and cats, join other international retailers and ban all kangaroo products.  
>>>Demand that Chewy stop selling all kangaroo products immediately.

Voice for the Voiceless: Myan Kumaraya is an elephant who lives his life chained tightly to a tree at the Bellanwila Buddhist Temple in the Colombo District of Sri Lanka. In January 2019, a video surfaced of him being bathed in dirty water and beaten by his mahout or handler. Just recently two more videos surfaced again of him being bathed in dirty water and beaten. “We are very concerned for the welfare of Myan,” said Maneesha Arachchige, an activist from Rally for Animal Rights and Environment (RARE). “He seems to be beaten on a regular basis and the temple seems unconcerned. If action is not taken quickly we fear for the safety of those around Myan, as well as his own safety and wellbeing.”
>>>Urge the government of Sri Lanka to remove Myan Kumaraya from the Bellanwila Temple and place him in an environment free from abuse.

Cause for concern…

Children on a railway damaged by the floods that ravaged Pakistan in September of 2010. (Photo credit: Asian Development Bank/Flickr)

Round of applause…

Eco-nightmare: Half a billion plastic straws are used and discarded every day. Now China is ramping up restrictions on the production, sale and use of straws and other single-use plastic products, which are one of the nation’s biggest environmental problems. (Photo credit: frankieleon/Flickr)

Parting thought…

“Just as we will evolve past racism, sexism, ageism and religious persecution, we will evolve past barbarism toward animals, too.” —Nina Jackel

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.