Feeding GMOs to Wildlife and Spraying Bee-Killing Pesticides at National Refuges?
For nearly 10 years, two nonprofits filed lawsuits, legal petitions and countless administrative actions to stop the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in its tracks.
The issue that Center for Food Safety and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) took with the FWS? The regular use of genetically engineered (GE) crops and bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides in national refuge farming programs—which ultimately interfere with the very plants and animals the refuge system is designed to protect.
Today, the FWS announced in an internal memorandum that the agency will ban neonic pesticides and phase out GE feed for wildlife by January 2016.
“GE crops and toxic pesticides violate the basic purposes of our protected national lands,” said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of Center for Food Safety. “We applaud the Fish and Wildlife Service for recognizing what our legal challenges have repeatedly stated and courts have repeatedly held: that they must stop permitting these harmful agricultural practices.”
National Wildlife Refuge System Chief James Kurth acknowledged in the memorandum that the agency has demonstrated its ability to “successfully accomplish refuge purposes over the past two years without using genetically modified crops, therefore it is no longer possible to say that their use is essential to meet wildlife management objectives.” However, the temporary use of GE crops will be considered on a case-by-case basis for habitat restoration purposes.
Kurth also wrote that the FWS will follow a directive to use long-standing integrated pest management principles to evaluate and guide the agency’s pesticide use practices.
“We are gratified that the Fish and Wildlife Service has finally concluded that industrial agriculture, with GE crops and powerful pesticides, is both bad for wildlife and inappropriate on refuge lands,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. “Since refuges have already demonstrated that they do not need these practices, we would urge the Fish and Wildlife Service to make the ban immediate, not wait until 2016, and to eliminate the loopholes in its new policy.”
The Center for Biological Diversity, Beyond Pesticides and Sierra Club have also been involved in petitions and litigation leading up to the FWS’s policy reversal.
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Protestors walk past an image of a Native American woman during a march to "Count Every Vote, Protect Every Person" after the U.S. presidential Election in Seattle, Washington on November 4. Jason Redmond / AFP / Getty Images
By Jessica Corbett
A leading environmental advocacy group marked Native American Heritage Month on Wednesday by urging President-elect Joe Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Kamala Harris, and the entire incoming administration "to honor Indigenous sovereignty and immediately halt the Keystone XL, Dakota Access, and Line 3 pipelines."
<p><span style="background-color: initial;">That call from 350.org U.S. communications director Thanu Yakupitiyage for Indigenous <a href="https://landback.org/" target="_blank">#LandBack</a> came just ahead of Thanksgiving in the U.S. and as the coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate communities across the country — with more than 12.7 million COVID-19 cases and over 261,000 deaths nationwide as of Wednesday afternoon.</span></p>
<p>"As we embark on a just recovery from the compound crises of climate disasters, racist police brutality, economic injustice, and Covid-19, we are in a pivotal moment of reckoning that requires us to ground in the history of the United States as a country built on stolen Indigenous land by stolen Black and African labor," Yakupitiyage said.</p><p>"As we act to stop state-sanctioned violence against Black and Brown communities," she continued, "we also acknowledge the decades and centuries of white supremacy, colonialism, and capitalism that continue to have devastating and genocidal impacts on the lives, livelihoods, and traditions of Native and Indigenous communities across the United States, North America, and around the world."</p><p>The activist drew attention to three controversial pipelines against which Indigenous people <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/25/brutal-memories-standing-rock-stop-line-3-campaigners-wary-rule-barring" target="_blank">have led</a> the opposition, highlighting some of the destructive impacts that such projects have on Native communities and lands, in addition to the climate effects.</p><p>"Fossil fuel executives and racist climate criminals continue to assault treaty rights and Indigenous sovereignty, attempting to ram toxic and unnecessary pipelines like Keystone XL, Dakota Access, and Line 3 through sacred Indigenous land and waters, while perpetuating threats and violence against Indigenous womxn, girls, and two-spirit people," said Yakupitiyage.</p>
<div id="ef565" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9cdfa0e287c7703a509672ed361c63a4"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1331660175024001025" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">We are seeing day in and day out black and brown organizers across Minnesota gather to resist the Line 3 pipeline t… https://t.co/FDHSaEDRpJ</div> — 350 dot org (@350 dot org)<a href="https://twitter.com/350/statuses/1331660175024001025">1606327501.0</a></blockquote></div><p>"Transformative climate solutions to truly tackle the root of climate change require systemic action to decolonize from the very systems that have created the crisis in the first place," she added. "Our leap toward a just recovery must start with honoring treaties with sovereign Indigenous nations and returning land back to Native peoples. The time is now for meaningful care and repair."</p><p>For months, 350.org has spearheaded global calls for a just recovery from the pandemic — <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/30/ahead-may-day-500-groups-worldwide-demand-just-and-visionary-recovery-covid-19" target="_blank">demanding</a> that policymakers prioritize human health, provide economic relief directly to the people, help workers and communities rather than corporate executives, work to create resilience for future crises, and build solidarity across borders.</p><p>Yakupitiyage's comments centering Indigenous communities in relation to a just recovery come as Biden is facing calls from Native Americans and climate campaigners to consider appointing Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.), a member of Pueblo of Laguna, as his interior secretary. Two years ago, she and Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.) became the first two Native American women elected to Congress.</p>
<div id="defe7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7f8197a96f6d6b3f20364ebc2044701d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1329136271717851136" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">When we say #landback, it means fundamentally undoing the harm that has been done to Indian Ppl...appointing an Ind… https://t.co/I7y4j0MvdU</div> — NDN Collective (@NDN Collective)<a href="https://twitter.com/ndncollective/statuses/1329136271717851136">1605725755.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Broadly, Biden is <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/20/new-no-corporate-cabinet-campaign-pushes-biden-pick-people-who-will-advance-public" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">facing</a> pressure from progressives — and <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/25/new-poll-shows-68-americans-want-senators-block-any-corporate-biden-nominees" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">public opinion</a> — to stock the next administration, including his Cabinet, with people committed to serving in the public interest rather than corporate insiders. Earlier this month, the Sunrise Movement and Justice Democrats launched a campaign that includes Cabinet suggestions; Haaland is among them.</p><p>"A visionary secretary of the interior has enormous latitude to crack down on giveaways to fossil fuel corporations, like permits to drill for oil on public lands and in public waters. With a progressive leader at the helm, we can make real progress," the groups explain on the campaign website.</p><p>"As the first Native American to hold this position, Rep. Deb Haaland would usher in a new era of Indigenous authority over stolen land," they added. "She is a fierce ally of our movement who has fought for renewable energy job creation in the House as vice chair of the House Natural Resources Committee and chair of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands."</p>
<div id="5b957" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="519eba91a8fc7d7ef319cba86cf1960f"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1331383407255969792" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The Secretary of the Interior oversees the management and conservation of federal lands.
Who better to head the de… https://t.co/f1IJwNd1Bt</div> — Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@Sunrise Movement 🌅)<a href="https://twitter.com/sunrisemvmt/statuses/1331383407255969792">1606261514.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Haaland <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/biden-transition-updates/2020/11/23/937756927/rep-haaland-cabinet-pick-would-mean-a-lot-to-indian-country" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">discussed</a> the potential nomination on NPR this week, telling Rachel Martin, "First of all, it would mean a lot to Indian Country."</p><p>"When Sharice [Davids] and I got sworn in, everybody was so happy," said the congresswoman. "It means a lot to a group of people who have been here since time immemorial to know that they're truly being represented. I think it would really change the way people see our federal government."</p><p>"Being able to listen," Haaland added, "being able to move issues forward, bringing people to the table — I think that would make a huge difference."</p><p>From Arizona to Wisconsin, reporters have highlighted in the messy aftermath of Election Day that Native voters were key contributors to Biden's victory over President Donald Trump, who has yet to formally concede even though the transition process is already underway.</p>
<div id="cedbb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fd66c0f753f0ad581dcb839602f0738c"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1329876320470360068" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">NEW from me for @CBSNews: Native American turnout in Arizona surged this year. Biden won Arizona by nearly 12,000 v… https://t.co/sMmk2La1nw</div> — Grace Segers (@Grace Segers)<a href="https://twitter.com/Grace_Segers/statuses/1329876320470360068">1605902197.0</a></blockquote></div>
<div id="e082d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8f5d07fe514d9d2156acd08cd74909c3"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1330489726516793348" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">When we talk about the rural vote, remember that it is incredibly diverse, and that Democrats can and must recogniz… https://t.co/TNDWMHgT0L</div> — John Nichols (@John Nichols)<a href="https://twitter.com/NicholsUprising/statuses/1330489726516793348">1606048444.0</a></blockquote></div><p>After election-callers and major news networks named Biden the winner, Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez <a href="https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/the-native-vote-turned-out-so-today-it-s-celebration-F77qX2eKZ0mGV-SJhcxz9g" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">released</a> a statement noting the significance of the Native vote.</p><p>"The First Americans of this country, including a large majority of Navajo voters, had a major impact in the outcome of the presidential election in several swing states — that needs to be recognized and acknowledged by all," he said. "Both campaigns fought hard for Native American votes, particularly Navajo votes, and that's truly a reflection of the growing influence and power of tribal nations across the country."</p><p>Nez, who met with Biden and Harris to discuss tribal policy, added that "the Navajo Nation now looks forward to working together with the Biden-Harris administration to put that plan into action."</p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/25/biden-urged-honor-indigenous-sovereignty-and-immediately-halt-fossil-fuel-pipelines" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>. </em></p>
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Returning the ‘Three Sisters’ – Corn, Beans and Squash – to Native American Farms Nourishes People, Land and Cultures
3h
Food
Marilyn Angel Wynn / Getty Images
By Christina Gish Hill
Historians know that turkey and corn were part of the first Thanksgiving, when Wampanoag peoples shared a harvest meal with the pilgrims of Plymouth plantation in Massachusetts. And traditional Native American farming practices tell us that squash and beans likely were part of that 1621 dinner too.
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For centuries before Europeans reached North America, many Native Americans grew these foods together in one plot, along with the less familiar sunflower. They called the plants sisters to reflect how they thrived when they were cultivated together.
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Today
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/04/native-americans-stories-california" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">three-quarters of Native Americans live off of reservations</a>, mainly in urban areas. And nationwide, many Native American communities <a href="https://civileats.com/2019/07/24/indigenous-food-security-is-dependent-on-food-sovereignty/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">lack access to healthy food</a>. As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yCZ-SMUAAAAJ&hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">scholar of Indigenous studies</a> focusing on Native relationships with the land, I began to wonder why Native farming practices had declined and what benefits could emerge from bringing them back.
</p>
<p>To answer these questions, I am working with <a href="https://www.agron.iastate.edu/people/marshall-mcdaniel" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">agronomist Marshall McDaniel</a>, <a href="https://www.hort.iastate.edu/directory/ajay-nair/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">horticulturalist Ajay Nair</a>, <a href="https://www.globe.iastate.edu/staff/donna-winham/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nutritionist Donna Winham</a> and Native gardening projects in Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Our research project, "Reuniting the Three Sisters," explores what it means to be a responsible caretaker of the land from the perspective of peoples who have been balancing agricultural production with sustainability for hundreds of years.</p>
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Abundant Harvests
<p>Historically, Native people throughout the Americas bred indigenous plant varieties specific to the growing conditions of their homelands. They selected seeds for many different traits, such as <a href="https://emergencemagazine.org/story/corn-tastes-better/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">flavor, texture and color</a>.</p><p>Native growers knew that planting corn, beans, squash and sunflowers together produced mutual benefits. Corn stalks created a trellis for beans to climb, and beans' twining vines secured the corn in high winds. They also certainly observed that corn and bean plants growing together tended to be healthier than when raised separately. Today we know the reason: Bacteria living on bean plant roots pull nitrogen – an essential plant nutrient – from the air and <a href="http://www.tilthalliance.org/learn/resources-1/almanac/october/octobermngg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">convert it to a form that both beans and corn can use</a>.</p><p>Squash plants contributed by shading the ground with their broad leaves, preventing weeds from growing and retaining water in the soil. Heritage squash varieties also had spines that discouraged deer and raccoons from visiting the garden for a snack. And sunflowers planted around the edges of the garden created a natural fence, protecting other plants from wind and animals and attracting pollinators.</p><p>Interplanting these agricultural sisters produced bountiful harvests that sustained large Native communities and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/eam.2015.0016" target="_blank">spurred fruitful trade economies</a>. The first Europeans who reached the Americas were shocked at the abundant food crops they found. My research is exploring how, 200 years ago, Native American agriculturalists around the Great Lakes and along the Missouri and Red rivers fed fur traders with their diverse vegetable products.</p><div id="b473d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="02bce33cbe23b74661e1a9279fef31bc"><blockquote class="instagram-media"
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Displaced From the Land
<p>As Euro-Americans settled permanently on the most fertile North American lands and acquired seeds that Native growers had carefully bred, they imposed policies that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/87.2.550" target="_blank">made Native farming practices impossible</a>. In 1830 President Andrew Jackson signed the <a href="https://guides.loc.gov/indian-removal-act" target="_blank">Indian Removal Act</a>, which made it official U.S. policy to force Native peoples from their home locations, pushing them onto subpar lands.</p><p>On reservations, U.S. government officials discouraged Native women from cultivating anything larger than small garden plots and pressured Native men to practice Euro-American style monoculture. Allotment policies assigned small plots to nuclear families, further limiting Native Americans' access to land and preventing them from using communal farming practices.</p><p>Native children were forced to attend boarding schools, where they had no opportunity to <a href="https://doi.org/10.5749/jamerindieduc.57.1.0145" target="_blank">learn Native agriculture techniques or preservation and preparation of Indigenous foods</a>. Instead they were forced to eat Western foods, turning their palates away from their traditional preferences. Taken together, these policies <a href="https://kansaspress.ku.edu/978-0-7006-0802-7.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">almost entirely eradicated three sisters agriculture</a> from Native communities in the Midwest by the 1930s.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDgyNzYyMi9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NzM2MjkwOX0.kTWQ0TwFFU0ZF3yKNzQn9zq_ouX0TpVY2oZUE-XvPbM/img.png?width=980" id="a58aa" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4d5f239c5d47ebaf3157af1fe8bb54ba" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Native American tribes in the Great Lakes region pre-European settlement. Milwaukee Public Museum / CC BY-ND
Reviving Native Agriculture
<p>Today Native people all over the U.S. are working diligently to <a href="https://www.oupress.com/books/15107980/indigenous-food-sovereignty-in-the-united-sta" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reclaim Indigenous varieties of corn, beans, squash, sunflowers and other crops</a>. This effort is important for many reasons.</p><p>Improving Native people's access to healthy, culturally appropriate foods will help lower rates of <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/aian-diabetes/index.html" target="_blank">diabetes</a> and <a href="https://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/ethnicity-health/native-american/obesity" target="_blank">obesity</a>, which affect Native Americans at disproportionately high rates. Sharing traditional knowledge about agriculture is a way for elders to pass cultural information along to younger generations. Indigenous growing techniques also protect the lands that Native nations now inhabit, and can potentially benefit the wider ecosystems around them.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="82270cf0c87ca398f9818159ccc7e015"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IooHPLjXi2g?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>But Native communities often lack access to resources such as farming equipment, soil testing, fertilizer and pest prevention techniques. This is what inspired Iowa State University's Three Sisters Gardening Project. We work collaboratively with Native farmers at <a href="https://gardenwarriorsgoodseeds.com/2015/01/19/tsyunhehkw-oneida-nation-wisconsin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tsyunhehkw</a>, a community agriculture program, and the <a href="https://www.wisconsinlife.org/story/the-lands-we-share-laura-manthe-the-oneida-white-corn-growers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ohelaku Corn Growers Co-Op</a> on the Oneida reservation in Wisconsin; the <a href="http://72.15.165.18/index.php/en/nebraska-indian-community-college/about-nicc-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nebraska Indian College</a>, which serves the Omaha and Santee Sioux in Nebraska; and <a href="https://dreamofwildhealth.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dream of Wild Health</a>, a nonprofit organization that works to reconnect the Native American community in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, with traditional Native plants and their culinary, medicinal and spiritual uses.</p><p>We are growing three sisters research plots at ISU's Horticulture Farm and in each of these communities. Our project also runs workshops on topics of interests to Native gardeners, encourages local soil health testing and grows rare seeds to <a href="https://doi.org/10.17953/aicrj.41.3.hill" target="_blank">rematriate them</a>, or return them to their home communities.<br></p><p>The monocropping industrial agricultural systems that produce much of the U.S. food supply <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-agriculture-needs-a-21st-century-new-deal-112757" target="_blank">harms the environment, rural communities and human health and safety in many ways</a>. By growing corn, beans and squash in research plots, we are helping to quantify how intercropping <a href="https://doi.org/10.14237/ebl.7.1.2016.721" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">benefits both plants and soil</a>.</p><p>By documenting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2016.1227750" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">limited nutritional offerings at reservation grocery stores</a>, we are demonstrating the need for Indigenous gardens in Native communities. By interviewing Native growers and elders knowledgeable about foodways, we are illuminating how healing Indigenous gardening practices can be for Native communities and people – their bodies, minds and spirits.</p><p>Our Native collaborators are benefiting from the project through rematriation of rare seeds grown in ISU plots, workshops on topics they select and the new relationships they are building with Native gardeners across the Midwest. As researchers, we are learning about what it means to work collaboratively and to conduct research that respects protocols our Native collaborators value, such as treating seeds, plants and soil in a culturally appropriate manner. By listening with humility, we are working to build a network where we can all learn from one another.</p><p><em>Christina Gish Hill is an associate professor of Anthropology at Iowa State University.</em></p><p><em>Disclosure statement: Christina Gish Hill receives funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.</em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/returning-the-three-sisters-corn-beans-and-squash-to-native-american-farms-nourishes-people-land-and-cultures-149230/" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. </em><br></p>
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Climate Coalition Pressures Biden to Reject 'Corporate Shill' Ernest Moniz as Energy Chief
19h
Politics
Former U.S. Sec. of Energy Ernest Moniz listens during the National Clean Energy Summit 9.0 on October 13, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Isaac Brekken / Getty Images for National Clean Energy Summit
By Jake Johnson
Amid reports that oil industry-friendly former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz remains under consideration to return to his old post in the incoming Biden administration, a diverse coalition of environmental groups is mobilizing for an "all-out push" to keep Moniz away from the White House and demand a cabinet willing to boldly confront the corporations responsible for the climate emergency.
<p>On Tuesday night, climate campaigners <a href="https://twitter.com/greenpeaceusa/status/1331405987425685506" target="_blank">projected</a> onto the primary Department of Energy building messages urging President-elect Joe Biden to say "yes to a sustainable future" and no to Moniz, who currently serves on the board of the polluting utility giant Southern Company.</p>
<p>Following the demonstration, the coalition on Wednesday morning debuted <a href="https://nomoniz.org/" target="_blank">NoMoniz.org</a>, a website that warns the policies of Obama's former energy secretary "might be good for his friends in the coal, oil, and gas industries, but they're a death sentence for us and our planet."</p><p>"It's unacceptable that Ernest Moniz is being considered for a role in the Biden administration — his policies, his financial ties to fossil fuel companies, his contempt for youth climate activists, and his overall unwillingness to do what it takes to protect our future should disqualify him immediately," reads the site, which was launched by Oil Change U.S., Greenpeace USA, Sunrise Movement, the Climate Justice Alliance, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth U.S., and dozens of other groups.</p>
<div id="a6564" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d27a41c6b56d432ce974b11d22bbe6e6"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1331587846411603968" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">It is absolutely imperative that @JoeBiden keep @ErnestMoniz out of his cabinet, and any of his protégée like Liz S… https://t.co/7x2WN6nxgs</div> — Evan Weber 🌅🔥 (@Evan Weber 🌅🔥)<a href="https://twitter.com/evanlweber/statuses/1331587846411603968">1606310256.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Previously an <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/159357/ernie-moniz-biden-energy-gives-climate-nightmares" target="_blank">adviser to major companies</a> such as BP and General Electric, Moniz's tenure as head of Obama's energy department as well as his public statements since leaving office make clear that he is opposed to the kind of sweeping climate action that environmentalists and scientists say is necessary to avert planetary catastrophe.</p><p>Speaking to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last year, Moniz endorsed what he <a href="https://www.axios.com/ernest-moniz-green-real-deal-climate-change-policy-4090206b-3f36-4747-9b3c-2655e15402d5.html" target="_blank">dubbed</a> a "Green Real Deal" that would welcome a "broad coalition" of supporters — including the fossil fuel industry. In an interview months earlier, Moniz — a proponent of <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/30/gas-loser-and-its-time-move-report-debunks-big-oil-myth-natural-gas-can-help-fight" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">natural gas</a> as a bridge to a clean energy future — <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/23/joe-biden-fight-climate-crisis-ernest-moniz" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">denounced</a> what he described as "often completely unrealistic proposals for the pace at which we can decarbonize."</p><p>"With his deep ties to the fossil fuel industry and promotion of false solutions like carbon capture and sequestration, Ernest Moniz is not a forward-thinking choice for the cabinet," Anthony Rogers-Wright, policy coordinator for the Climate Justice Alliance, said in a statement Wednesday. "The Department of Energy must be led by someone open to concrete ideas for a fossil-free future, not continued dominance by a corrupt, heavily-subsidized industry whose existence hinges on maintaining an antiquated all-of-the-above strategy."</p><p>Janet Redman, climate campaign director at Greenpeace USA, warned that Moniz's fossil fuel connections "spell danger for the nation's efforts to mitigate the climate crisis" as atmospheric carbon dioxide <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/23/no-time-lose-climate-action-atmospheric-co2-continued-rise-2020-despite-covid-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">continues to rise</a> in 2020 despite widespread coronavirus lockdowns.</p><p>"We need a true climate leader who understands that we must phase out fossil fuels, not a corporate shill with 'all of the above energy' policies who wants to prop up fracked gas and pipelines," said Redman. "The American people have given Joe Biden a mandate to take bold action in service of climate justice, public health, economic prosperity, and racial equity. Moniz would only be holding him back."</p><p>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/25/planet-stake-climate-coalition-pressures-biden-reject-corporate-shill-ernest-moniz" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>. </p>
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How To Talk To People About the Climate Crisis When Scary Facts Are Not Enough
20h
Insights + Opinion
Climate change can evoke intense feelings, but a conversational approach can help. Reed Kaestner / Getty Images
Anger, anxiety, overwhelm … climate change can evoke intense feelings.
<p>"It's easy to feel dwarfed in the context of such a global systemic issue," says psychologist Renée Lertzman.<br/></p><p>She says that when people experience these feelings, they often shut down and push information away. So to encourage climate action, she advises not bombarding people with frightening facts.</p>
<iframe style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/16550327/height/45/theme/standard/thumbnail/yes/direction/backward/" height="45" width="100%" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>"When we lead with information, we are actually unwittingly walking right into a situation that is set up to undermine our efforts," she says.<br></p><p>She says if you want to engage people on the topic, take a compassionate approach. Ask people what they know and want to learn. Then have a conversation.</p><p>This conversational approach may seem at odds with the urgency of the issue, but Lertzman says it can get results faster.</p><p>"When we take a compassion-based approach, we are actively disarming defenses so that people are actually more willing and able to respond and engage quicker," she says. "And we don't have time right now to mess around, and so I do actually come to this topic with a sense of urgency… We do not have time to not take this approach."</p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/11/why-frightening-facts-dont-always-move-people-to-action-on-climate-change/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em></p>
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A rare North Atlantic right whale is seen off Cape Cod Bay on April 14, 2019 near Provincetown, Massachusetts. Don Emmert / AFP / Getty Images
An extremely rare North Atlantic right whale calf was found dead off the North Carolina coast on Friday.
<p>The male calf was also the first documented birth this calving season, a development the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) called devastating.</p><p>"Each new right whale calf brings so much hope for this critically <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a>, and losses like this have a substantial impact on their recovery," NOAA wrote in a <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/first-known-north-atlantic-right-whale-calf-season-washes-dead-north-carolina" target="_blank">press release</a>.</p><p>National Park Service workers discovered the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/whales" target="_self">whale</a> on <a href="https://npplan.com/parks-by-state/north-carolina-national-parks/cape-lookout-national-seashore-park-at-a-glance/cape-lookout-national-seashore-the-islands/cape-lookout-national-seashore-north-core-banks/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">North Core Banks</a>, the northernmost of three barrier islands that comprise the Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina. On Saturday, a team of biologists came to conduct a necroscopy on the animal and take a DNA sample in order to determine its mother, Cape Lookout National Seashore explained on its <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CapeLookoutNPS/posts/3608024915884969" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Facebook page</a>.</p><p>"Right Whales are critically endangered and are one of the rarest marine mammals," the seashore wrote.</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="24c36ab7f041f96875677ba1e9dc1944"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/CapeLookoutNPS/posts/3608024915884969"></div></div>
<p>The cause of death is not yet known, but NOAA said that there was no evidence human activity was a factor, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/23/us/rare-right-whale-washed-ashore-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>. Initial reports suggest the baby died either during birth or soon after.</p><p>The sad discovery comes little less than a month after a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/endangered-right-whale-population-2648532928.html" target="_self">grim NOAA report</a> found there are no more than 366 North Atlantic right whales left. The whales have been suffering from an "unusual mortality event" since 2017, NOAA said Monday. The agency has documented at least 32 deaths and 13 injuries during this event, more than 10 percent of the whales' remaining population. The leading causes of these deaths are vessel strikes and entanglements in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fishing" target="_self">fishing</a> gear.</p><p>The endangered whales also struggle to reproduce. Female whales give birth to only five or six calves per year, according to the Cape Lookout National Seashore. There are about 100 female whales left, CNN reported.</p>
<p>Female right whales usually reach maturity after 10 years and then give birth every three to five years. However, in recent years, the time between births has increased to six to 10 years. Scientists think that females are giving birth less often partly because of the stress of getting entangled in fishing gear. There have been just 22 births total during the past three calving seasons, about one-third of the previous annual average.</p><p>The right whale calving season extends from mid-November to mid-April. In winter, the whales migrate more than 1,000 miles from the waters of Canada and New England to warmer waters around South Carolina, Georgia and Florida's east coast, NOAA <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/news/watching-migrating-right-whales-more-important-ever" target="_blank">said</a>. This is also where they give birth and nurse their young. NOAA urged boaters and fishers to watch out for the whales as their migration begins.</p>"NOAA is cautioning all boaters to be vigilant, slow down, and give these endangered whales plenty of room," NOAA wrote. "This will avoid accidental collisions and disturbing the whales as they migrate south. The agency is also asking fishermen to remove their unused gear from the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ocean" target="_self">ocean</a> to help avoid entanglements. Vertical lines with required markings, weak links, and breaking strengths are also required by law."
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