Destruction of Nature Is Triggering Pandemics, Say Leaders of WWF, UN and WHO
Deforestation and wildlife habitat loss in Uganda. Ron Waddington / CC BY-SA 2.0
Leaders from three international NGOs — the United Nations, the World Health Organization and WWF International — teamed up to issue a stark warning that pandemics like the coronavirus are a direct result of the destruction of nature caused by humans.
In an op-ed published by The Guardian, top figures from each organization argued that the wildlife trade, coupled with the destruction of forests and other habitats for wildlife, is causing a large number of animal diseases to migrate to human hosts.
The op-ed was written by Marco Lambertini, director general of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International; Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity; Maria Neira, director of the World Health Organization department of environment, climate change and health.
In their call to action ahead of the UN biodiversity summit in September, the three senior representatives cited examples from prior incidents of environmental destruction that triggered new viruses in humans.
"We have seen many diseases emerge over the years — such as Zika, AIDS, SARS and Ebola — and although they are quite different at first glance, they all originated from animal populations under conditions of severe environmental pressures," they wrote, adding those examples "all illustrate that our destructive behavior toward nature is endangering our own health."
As The Washington Post noted, the novel coronavirus that has led to a global pandemic likely started in a bat — the same host that was also linked to SARS, Ebola and MERS, among other viruses.
The three authors call for a green and healthy recovery in the wake of COVID-19. They note the importance of ending farming practices that destroy nature and the need to reform meat-intensive diets. And yet, they're watching the world go the wrong way.
"Worryingly, while COVID-19 has given us yet another reason to protect and preserve nature, we have actually seen the reverse take place," the authors write. "From the Greater Mekong to the Amazon and Madagascar, alarming reports have emerged of increased poaching, illegal logging and forest fires, while many countries are engaging in hasty environmental rollbacks and cuts in funding for conservation. This all comes at a time when we need it most."
A WWF report titled COVID 19: urgent call to protect people and nature was also published Wednesday. It warns: "The risk of a new [wildlife-to-human] disease emerging in the future is higher than ever, with the potential to wreak havoc on health, economies and global security," as The Guardian reported.
As Oceanographic Magazine reports, the WWF report shows that 60 to 70 percent of new diseases since 1990 started in wildlife. During the same time period, an area of forests measuring roughly seven times the area of the UK has been destroyed.
"We must urgently recognize the links between the destruction of nature and human health, or we will soon see the next pandemic," said Lambertini, in a WWF press release that accompanied the new report. "There is no debate, and the science is clear; we must work with nature, not against it. Unsustainable exploitation of nature has become an enormous risk to us all."
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Aerial view of burnt areas of the Amazon rainforest, near Porto Velho, Rondonia state, Brazil, on Aug. 24, 2019. CARLOS FABAL / AFP via Getty Images
NASA scientists say that warmer than average surface sea temperatures in the North Atlantic raise the concern for a more active hurricane season, as well as for wildfires in the Amazon thousands of miles away, according to Newsweek.
<p><br/></p>
<p>As NASA pointed out in a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/conditions-ripe-for-amazon-fire-us-hurricanes" target="_blank">statement</a>, warm <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans">ocean</a> temperatures near the equator draw the water northward. As the water moves away from the Amazon, the landscape becomes drier and more flammable. That means that fires set for agriculture and clearing land have an increased potential to grow out of control. Meanwhile, the additional moisture traveling north aids the development of hurricanes.</p>
<p>"The fire season forecast is consistent with what we saw in 2005 and 2010, when warm Atlantic sea surface temperatures spawned a series of severe hurricanes and triggered record droughts across the southern Amazon that culminated in widespread Amazon forest fires," said Doug Morton, chief of the Biospheric Sciences Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in the NASA statement.</p><p>Morton, who co-created the Amazon fire season <a href="https://www.ess.uci.edu/~amazonfirerisk/ForecastWeb/SAMFSS2020.html" target="_blank">forecast</a>, analyzes the relationship between climate conditions and active fire detections from NASA satellite instruments to predict fire season severity.</p><p>"Our seasonal fire forecast provides an early indication of fire risk to guide preparations across the region," Morton, noting that the forecast is most accurate three months before the peak of burning in the southern Amazon in September. "Now, satellite-based estimates of active fires and rainfall will be the best guide to how the 2020 fire season unfolds."</p>
<p>Their model suggests that the regions that were hardest hit by the 2019 wildfires are at the highest risk again. Furthermore, the depleted resources as South American countries try to combat the COVID-19 crisis will exacerbate the problem by diminishing firefighting and emergency responder capabilities, according to Newsweek.</p><p>"You have a perfect storm: drought, the recent increase in deforestation, and new difficulties for firefighting. 2020 is set up to be a dangerous year for fires in the Amazon," Morton said.</p><p>The COVID-19 crisis has also allowed deforestation in the tropics to surge as environmental enforcement has weakened, according to recent report from <a href="https://www.conservation.org/blog/poaching-deforestation-reportedly-on-the-rise-since-covid-19-lockdowns" target="_blank">Conservation International</a>.</p><p>"Fire season in the Amazon is influenced by ecological, climatic, social, cultural and economic factors, from sea surface temperatures that influence rainfall in South America, to commodity-driven deforestation and the COVID-19 pandemic," said Karyn Tabor, senior director of ecological monitoring at Conservation International, in a <a href="https://www.conservation.org/press-releases/2020/07/07/conservation-international-reports-on-elevated-2020-fire-risk-in-amazonian-region" target="_blank">recent statement</a>. "Some governments have used widespread focus on the pandemic to quietly roll back environmental protections designed to prevent deforestation which in turn fuels the capacity for future fires to take hold."</p>
<p>Despite the COVID-19 crisis, changing conditions as the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate crisis</a> bears down on the planet is the largest risk for wildfires, along with human activity, according to Yang Chen, Earth scientist at the University of California, Irvine, and co-creator of the Amazon fire season forecast.</p><p>"Changes in human fire use, specifically deforestation, add more year-to-year variability in Amazon fires," Chen said in a NASA statement. "In addition, climate change is likely to make the entire region drier and more flammable – conditions that would allow fires for deforestation or agricultural use to spread into standing Amazon forests."</p>
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A baby receives limited treatment at a hospital in Yemen on June 27, 2020. Mohammed Hamoud / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images
By Andrea Germanos
Oxfam International warned Thursday that up to 12,000 people could die each day by the end of the year as a result of hunger linked to the coronavirus pandemic—a daily death toll surpassing the daily mortality rate from Covid-19 itself.
<p>April saw the highest global daily mortality rate for Covid-19 thus far with just over 10,000 deaths per day.</p><p>Oxfam's warning comes in a new report entitled <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/hunger-virus-how-covid-19-fuelling-hunger-hungry-world" target="_blank"><em>The Hunger Virus</em></a>, which the humanitarian group says "shines a light on a food system that has trapped millions of people in hunger on a planet that produces more than enough food for everyone" and that has enabled global food and beverage giants to lavish billions on shareholders since the coronavirus crisis erupted.</p><p>Kadidia Diallo, a female milk producer in Burkina Faso quoted in the report, puts the crisis in stark terms.</p><p>"We are totally dependent on the sale of milk, and with the closure of the market we can't sell the milk anymore," she said. "If we don't sell milk, we don't eat."</p>
<p>The publication says the hunger crisis is set to deepen in already existing "hunger hotspots" like Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Afghanistan, and Syria. In those locations, the pandemic "has added fuel to the fire of an already growing hunger crisis." But millions of people in other countries are poised to be "tipped over the edge" as the virus rages, with nations including Brazil and India likely to emerge as new hunger hotspots.</p><p>"Covid-19 is the last straw for millions of people already struggling with the impacts of conflict, climate change, inequality, and a broken food system that has impoverished millions of food producers and workers," Oxfam interim executive director Chema Vera said in a <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/12000-people-day-could-die-covid-19-linked-hunger-end-year-potentially-more-disease" target="_blank">statement</a>. "Meanwhile, those at the top are continuing to make a profit: eight of the biggest food and drink companies paid out over $18 billion to shareholders since January even as the pandemic was spreading across the globe—10 times more than the U.N. says is needed to stop people going hungry."</p><p><em>Hunger Virus</em> attributes the projected daily death toll to "spiraling unemployment and the economic disruption" as a result of measures to contain the pandemic, citing lost wages; lack of unemployment insurance; an estimated 20% drop in remittances—which are "a lifeline for millions of families that are living in poverty"; insufficient or absent social protection policies; evictions that lead to loss of land on which to grow crops; and restrictions that have slowed or barred the delivery of crucial humanitarian aid.</p>
<p>There also appear to be bad actors exacerbating the crisis. From the report:</p><blockquote>There are also worrying signs that some companies are using the pandemic to take advantage of consumers. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Price Index, which tracks the average price supermarkets and other retailers pay for a basket of basic goods, has fallen steadily since January 2020. However, consumer prices are going up in many countries as a result of disruption to local production and supply chains, inflation, panic buying, and potential price gouging (where goods are sold at a much higher price than is considered reasonable or fair). In the USA, for example, consumer prices increased by 2.6% for groceries, on average, but farm income fell.<br></blockquote><p>Many of the issues fueling the fears of starvation existed well before the coronavirus crisis emerged. The report points to "our industrial model of agriculture production, heavily reliant on chemical inputs to grow vast monocrops for export," which "was failing to provide food security and alleviate poverty for millions of people." Further, "the powerful agricultural traders, food and beverage corporations, and supermarkets that dominate the food sector are able to dictate the price and terms of food trade."</p>
<p>The climate crisis was affecting food insecurity before the pandemic, as were conflicts, such as in Syria and Yemen, where millions are facing humanitarian disaster, including insecure, at best, access to food. "Hunger can also be a weapon of war," adds the report. "Warring parties can destroy markets and warehouses, suspend food imports, and cut transportation links to gain power."</p><p>Deep inequality was another standing issue. The report notes:</p><blockquote>[P]rofound inequalities extend to the food system, where unequal access to food rather than insufficient global production is leaving people hungry. Financial investments in large-scale agribusiness are often prioritized, while investments in small-scale producers are woefully neglected. Meanwhile, supermarkets and food and drink companies continue to keep the lion's share of the price consumers pay for their products.</blockquote><p>Urgent action is required, Oxfam says, not only to address the immediate hunger crisis but to "build more resilient and sustainable food systems that work for all people and the planet."</p>
<p>"Governments must contain the spread of this deadly disease," said Vera, "but it is equally vital they take action to stop the pandemic killing as many—if not more—people from hunger."</p><p>The report lays out a number of actions governments should take, including providing emergency assistance; actively engaging women—"the backbone of local food systems"—in joining and leading decisions on fixing food systems; canceling poorer counties' debts, backing U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres's global ceasefire <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/24/fury-virus-illustrates-folly-war-un-chief-calls-global-ceasefire" target="_blank">call</a>; and taking swift measures to tackle the climate crisis.</p><p>"Governments can save lives now by fully funding the U.N.'s Covid-19 appeal, making sure aid gets to those who need it most, and cancelling the debts of developing countries to free up funding for social protection and healthcare," said Vera.</p><p>"To end this hunger crisis," she continued, "governments must also build fairer, more robust, and more sustainable food systems, that put the interests of food producers and workers before the profits of big food and agribusiness."</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/09/last-straw-pandemic-rages-oxfam-warns-12000-could-die-day-hunger" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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The 2006 oil spill was the largest incident in Philippine history and damaged 1,600 acres of mangrove forests. Shubert Ciencia / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
By Jun N. Aguirre
An oil spill on July 3 threatens a mangrove forest on the Philippine island of Guimaras, an area only just recovering from the country's largest spill in 2006.
<p>This latest spill stems from an explosion onboard a floating power barge in the 13-kilometer (8-mile) waterway between the city of Iloilo and Guimaras Island. Operator AC Energy Inc. said the incident spilled 48,000 liters (12,700 gallons) of fuel oil into the Iloilo River and its tributaries before being contained eight hours later. But the Philippine Coast Guard said around 251,000 liters (66,300 gallons) of oil had spread around the waterway. The day after, July 4, the Coast Guard estimated it had collected 130,000 liters (34,300 gallons) of oil.</p><p>Some of the oil was swept out of the containment area by strong waves and carried across to communities in Guimaras.</p><p>"The root cause has yet to be determined," AC Energy said in a statement. "But initial findings reveal that the discharge is due to the ignition of fuel oil in storage which ruptured the barge's fuel tank."</p><p>AC Energy said it took responsibility for the explosion and that the cleanup could take around two weeks.</p>
<p>Reports from the Iloilo City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (ICDRRMO) state that the oil spill has affected 321 families along the coast. The provincial office has ordered an immediate evacuation.</p><p>The spill comes as a blow to residents of Guimaras, who, nearly 14 years ago, suffered <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/saving-an-island-from-the-worst-oil-spill-in-the-philippines-the-case-of-guimaras/" target="_blank">a similar disaster on a bigger scale</a>. On Aug. 11, 2006, the oil tanker M/T Solar, owned by Sunshine Maritime Development Corp. and chartered by Petron, the Philippines' largest oil company, sank off the southern coast of the island, leaking 500,000 liters (132,000 gallons) of bunker fuel.</p><p>The incident was the largest oil spill incident in Philippine history and also considered the worst environmental disaster to hit the country this century. It damaged 648 hectares (1,600 acres) of mangrove forests and seagrass areas, according to the country's environment department. The mangroves only began to show signs of recovery last year, but are now threatened by this latest incident.</p>
<p>To keep the oil from spreading to the mangroves and to protect its 23 coastal villages, Guimaras Governor Samuel T. Gumarin called an emergency meeting. He later ordered spill booms deployed and clearing operations carried out. "We are also still studying the health and environmental impact of the incident," he told Mongabay.</p><p>The spill has disrupted the area's fishing sector, with fishers no longer going out to sea and aquaculture culture farms contaminated. Residents have reported milkfish and lobsters swimming in the oil slick and have reached out to their municipal offices for support.</p><p>Greenpeace Philippines says the oil spill piles environmental and economic pressure on communities already hard hit by the pandemic lockdown. "This oil spill is a big threat to marine life and to the health and livelihoods of communities in Iloilo and Guimaras," campaigner Khevin Yu said in a statement. "Fisherfolk and coastal communities are already struggling to adjust to the logistic and economic impacts of the pandemic that have caused big losses in their sources of income and food security."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/oil-slick-threatens-philippine-mangrove-forest-recovering-from-earlier-spill/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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People visit Jacksonville Beach on July 4, 2020 in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Public health experts have attributed Florida's growing coronavirus caseload to people gathering in crowds. Sam Greenwood / Getty Images
Florida broke the national record for the most new coronavirus cases reported in a single day on Sunday, with a total of 15,299.
<p>Florida's Sunday caseload was more than any European country reported during the height of the outbreak there, <a href="https://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUKKCN24D0I3" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>.</p><p>"If Florida were a country, it would rank fourth in the world for the most new cases in a day behind the United States, Brazil and India," Reuters wrote.</p>
<div id="95919" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6609e6cc487787d5a8cd3e218c318409"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1282344989419278336" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">MAY 20: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantisFL) brags coronavirus outbreak “hasn’t happened.”
JULY 12: Florida… https://t.co/PPHEMo2twh</div> — Keith Boykin (@Keith Boykin)<a href="https://twitter.com/keithboykin/statuses/1282344989419278336">1594569844.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>It also reported more new cases than did New York when it was the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak. Sources are divided on the previous U.S. record. <a href="https://apnews.com/798f9aab3bb2e5fbf733413a99476d7c" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a> that California held the previous record with 11,694 new cases on Wednesday, while before the record went to New York with 11,571 on April 15. Reuters, meanwhile, gave the previous record to New York with 12,847 new cases on April 10; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/12/us/florida-coronavirus-covid-cases.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> also reported it was held by New York, but with 12,274 new cases April 4. But in any case, the record is an alarming milestone for the Sunshine State with real consequences for its hospitals.</p><p>"It has just been horrifically busy," University of South Florida infectious disease professor John Toney told The New York Times. "It's reminiscent of what everyone dealt with in New York. It's certainly putting a strain on a lot of the systems, even though hospitals are trying to accommodate."</p>
<p>Florida's record comes amidst a surge in cases nationwide and globally. Almost 40 states are seeing cases increase, and the U.S. broke world records by reporting around 60,000 new cases a day for the last four days, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization reported a record of more than 230,000 new cases total Sunday, according to a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/12/world/coronavirus-updates.html" target="_blank">New York Times update</a>. The previous global record was set Friday, with more than 228,000 new cases.</p><p>Public health experts have attributed Florida's growing caseload to people gathering in crowds and moving around once the state began reopening.</p><p>"Bottom line is, more people are mobile and they're not necessarily taking the precautions we think would help," Dr. Marissa Levine, a professor at the University of South Florida College of Public Health, told The New York Times.</p>
<p>University of Florida epidemiologist Dr. Cindy Prins also attributed the spread to people gathering in crowds, gyms and some restaurants, as well as reports of illegal raves and clubs in South Florida.</p><p>"I really do think we could control this, and it's the human element that is so critical. It should be an effort of our country. We should be pulling together when we're in a crisis, and we're definitely not doing it," she told The Associated Press. "I know people want to live their lives. There have been a lot of other times, people have made those sacrifices in order to benefit our society. It's almost like a war effort. That's what we need right now."</p><p>Instead, the state is largely persisting with reopening efforts, which began in early May, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/12/890216415/florida-smashes-u-s-state-record-of-daily-new-cases-more-than-15-200?utm_term=nprnews&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=npr&utm_medium=social" target="_blank">according to NPR</a>. Two of Disney World's parks reopened Saturday, and the other two are scheduled to reopen Wednesday. Schools have also been ordered to reopen for in-person classes in August.</p><p>"We know there are huge, huge costs for not providing the availability of in-person schooling," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said, according to The Associated Press. "The risk of corona, fortunately, for students is incredibly low."</p>
<p>The outbreak in Florida is in some ways easier to manage than the outbreak in New York in April, The New York Times pointed out. Some of the increase in caseload is down to increased testing, and hospitals are better supplied and prepared to treat the disease. The state's death rate is also well below New York's at the outbreak's peak there.</p><p>However, daily death totals began rising in the state last week, The Associated Press reported. Health experts predicted this would be the case, since death rates tend to lag behind infection rates by two to four weeks. Florida reported 514 fatalities for this week, an average of 73 per day. It averaged 30 per day three weeks ago.</p><p>The U.S. as a whole reported a seven-day death average of 700 Saturday, up from 471 July 5, but still below the more than 2,200 daily deaths it averaged in mid-April, according to The New York Times.</p><p>Overall, the new coronavirus has sickened 269,811 people in Florida and killed 4,242, the state health department reported.</p>
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Climate Explained: What the World Was Like the Last Time Carbon Dioxide Levels Were at 400ppm
18h
Climate
Marco Bottigelli / Moment / Getty Images
By James Shulmeister
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.
If you have a question you'd like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz
What was the climate and sea level like at times in Earth’s history when carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was at 400ppm?
<p>The last time global carbon dioxide levels were consistently at or above 400 parts per million (ppm) was around <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14145" target="_blank">four million years ago</a> during a geological period known as the <a href="http://www.geologypage.com/2014/05/pliocene-epoch.html" target="_blank">Pliocene Era</a> (between 5.3 million and 2.6 million years ago). The world was about 3℃ warmer and sea levels were higher than today.</p><p>We know how much carbon dioxide the atmosphere contained in the past by studying ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica. As compacted snow gradually changes to ice, it traps air in bubbles that contain <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/annals-of-glaciology/article/enclosure-of-air-during-metamorphosis-of-dry-firn-to-ice/09D9C60A8DA412D16645E6E6ABC1892F" target="_blank">samples of the atmosphere at the time</a>. We can sample ice cores to reconstruct past concentrations of carbon dioxide, but this record only takes us back about a million years.</p><p>Beyond a million years, we don't have any direct measurements of the composition of ancient atmospheres, but we can use several methods to estimate past levels of carbon dioxide. One method uses the relationship between plant pores, known as stomata, that regulate gas exchange in and out of the plant. The density of these stomata is <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/095968369200200109" target="_blank">related to atmospheric carbon dioxide</a>, and fossil plants are a good indicator of concentrations in the past.</p><p>Another technique is to examine sediment cores from the ocean floor. The sediments build up year after year as the bodies and shells of dead plankton and other organisms rain down on the seafloor. We can use isotopes (chemically identical atoms that differ only in atomic weight) of boron taken from the shells of the dead plankton to reconstruct changes in the acidity of seawater. From this we can work out the level of carbon dioxide in the ocean.</p><p>The data from four-million-year-old sediments suggest that <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2010PA002055" target="_blank">carbon dioxide was at 400ppm back then</a>.</p>Sea Levels and Changes in Antarctica
<p>During colder periods in Earth's history, ice caps and glaciers grow and sea levels drop. In the recent geological past, during the most recent ice age about 20,000 years ago, sea levels were at least <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/292/5517/679.abstract" target="_blank">120 meters lower</a> than they are today.</p><p><span></span>Sea-level changes are calculated from changes in isotopes of oxygen in the shells of marine organisms. For the Pliocene Era, <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2004PA001071" target="_blank">research</a> shows the sea-level change between cooler and warmer periods was around 30-40 meters and sea level was higher than today. Also during the Pliocene, we know the West Antarctic Ice Sheet was <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature07867" target="_blank">significantly smaller</a> and global average temperatures were about 3℃ warmer than today. Summer temperatures in high northern latitudes were up to 14℃ warmer.</p><p>This may seem like a lot but modern observations show strong <a href="https://journals.ametsoc.org/jcli/article/23/14/3888/32547" target="_blank">polar amplification</a> of warming: a 1℃ increase at the equator may raise temperatures at the poles by 6-7℃. It is one of the reasons why Arctic sea ice is disappearing.</p>Impacts in New Zealand and Australia
<p>In the Australian region, there was no Great Barrier Reef, but there may have been <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/BF02537376.pdf" target="_blank">smaller reefs along the northeast coast of Australia</a>. For New Zealand, the partial melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is probably the most critical point.</p><p>One of the key features of New Zealand's current climate is that Antarctica is cut off from global circulation during the winter because of the big <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3402/tellusa.v54i5.12161" target="_blank">temperature contrast</a> between Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. When it comes back into circulation in springtime, New Zealand gets strong storms. Stormier winters and significantly warmer summers were likely in the mid-Pliocene because of a weaker polar vortex and a warmer Antarctica.</p><p>It will take more than a few years or decades of carbon dioxide concentrations at 400ppm to trigger a significant shrinking of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. But recent studies show that <a href="http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/521027/" target="_blank">West Antarctica is already melting</a>.</p><p>Sea-level rise from a partial melting of West Antarctica could easily exceed a meter or more by 2100. In fact, if the whole of the West Antarctic melted it could <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.695.7239&rep=rep1&type=pdf" target="_blank">raise sea levels by about 3.5 meters</a>. Even smaller increases raise the risk of <a href="https://www.pce.parliament.nz/publications/preparing-new-zealand-for-rising-seas-certainty-and-uncertainty" target="_blank">flooding in low-lying cities</a> including Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.</p>From Your Site Articles
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Luxy Images / Getty Images
By Jo Harper
Investment in U.S. offshore wind projects are set to hit $78 billion (€69 billion) this decade, in contrast with an estimated $82 billion for U.S. offshore oil and gasoline projects, Wood Mackenzie data shows. This would be a remarkable feat only four years after the first offshore wind plant — the 30 megawatt (MW) Block Island Wind Farm off the coast of Rhode Island — started operating in U.S. waters.
<p>According to the Department of Energy (DOE), there are 28 US offshore wind projects in the planning stage, with the biggest clusters along the East Coast, from Massachusetts to Virginia. There are also 15 active commercial leases for offshore wind development in the U.S. and if they are fully built, there is the potential to support approximately 25 GW of offshore wind capacity.<span></span></p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/offshore-us-wind-power-blown-on-course/a-54121338" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2646394500#/" target="_self"></a></em><em></em></p>
<p>Wind energy, both onshore and offshore, is now the US's top choice for new power, with 39% of new utility-scale power sector additions at 107 GW — enough to power 32 million homes. It is also the largest renewable energy source in the country, supplying over 7% of the nation's electricity.</p><p>The domestic offshore wind market is smaller than the onshore sector, where capacity is now over 100 GW, but growing. "The shift of investment towards offshore wind in the US is due to a decreasing amount of leasable space on land because an increasing number of landowners and communities are objecting to local siting," says Annie Hawkins, Executive Director, Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA).</p><p>"From an environmental perspective, there is a limited amount of space that can reasonably be developed without significant impacts to ocean ecosystems and the existing ocean resource economy," Hawkins adds.</p><p><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/has-the-wind-been-taken-from-the-sails-of-europes-renewable-future/a-50886866" target="_blank">Europe has long been the global leader in offshore wind generation</a>, with the U.S. focused on developing land-based wind facilities. According to industry body WindEurope, overall offshore capacity for European nations is 22 GW, with 4,000 offshore wind turbines erected in the waters of 11 countries, with a combined power generation capacity of 15.8 GW, enough to supply around 15 mid-size cities.</p>
Corporates Shift
<p>Helping to drive offshore growth, U.S. corporate buyers <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/cities-leading-the-transition-to-renewables/a-42850621" target="_blank">are increasingly relying on wind energy to power their businesses</a>. Walmart and AT&T are the two top corporate wind buyers, while 14 newcomers entered the wind market in 2019, including Estée Lauder and McDonald's.</p><p>"Oil and gas companies have jumped into the U.S. offshore wind market, where they can transfer expertise in offshore fossil fuel development to clean energy investments," says Max Cohen, principal analyst, Americas Power & Renewable research at Wood Mackenzie. Many international oil and gas companies have already recognized this huge potential and entered the US offshore wind market, including Orsted, Equinor and Shell.</p><p>"Given the recent tumult in oil prices, fossil fuel companies may more and more be looking to diversify their portfolios, particularly with assets that are contracted or offer returns uncorrelated with oil and gas," Cohen says. "Offshore wind is an area where they may have a comparative advantage, and they can then leverage the experience with that technology to make the leap to onshore wind, solar, and other renewable technologies," he says.</p>East Coast leads the way
<p>"There is enormous opportunity, especially off the East Coast, for wind. I am very bullish," said former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. "Market excitement is moving towards offshore wind. I haven't seen this kind of enthusiasm from industry since the Bakken shale boom," he said.</p><p>Offshore wind initiatives require excessive upfront spending: a 250 MW venture costs about $1 billion, based on International Energy Agency data, but as costs fall the tipping point after which costs fall faster gets nearer</p><p>"The opportunity has been created by Northeastern states seeing the large price declines for offshore wind in Europe," says Cohen. Onshore wind is historically the lowest cost renewable resource, but is at its most expensive in the Northeast, he adds. "But costs are falling slower than for other technologies," he says.</p><p><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/german-firms-welcome-says-new-jersey-governor/a-45961888" target="_blank">In New England and New York the intense "Not-In-My-Backyard" culture</a> (NIMBYism) also makes offshore wind potentially easier to build, Cohen adds. States along the East Coast are aiming to develop over 28 GW of offshore capacity by 2035, with 16 GW of new targets announced in 2019 alone. To help meet these targets, states and utilities selected 4,404 MW of offshore wind capacity through state-issued solicitations in 2019.</p><p>Offshore wind has also benefited from targets set by east-coast states for electrical energy. New York state aims to have 9,000 MW of capability by 2035. New Jersey has dedicated to have 7,500 MW, while Virginia's governor in April signed the 'Clean Economy Act' which requires at the least 5,200 MW of offshore wind by 2034. Massachusetts is committed to purchasing 1,600MW of offshore wind by 2027.</p><p>"The US has a vast offshore wind energy resource with a technical potential of more than 2,000 gigawatts (GW), or nearly double the nation's current electricity use," says Samuel Brock of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).</p>
Jobs and Coastal Revitalization
<p>U.S. wind energy now supports 120,000 US jobs and 530 domestic factories. A study by the University of Delaware predicted that the supply chain needed to build offshore turbines to feed power to seven East Coast states by 2030 would generate nearly $70 billion in economic activity and at least 40,000 full-time jobs. An American Wind Energy Association's (AWEA's) March 2020 report estimated that developing 30,000 MW of offshore wind along the East Coast could support up to 83,000 jobs and $25 billion in annual economic output by 2030.</p><p>Having said that, not all of the jobs are American jobs. The offshore wind developers with commercial leases in the US are all foreign companies. There is growing interest from the shipbuilding sector in the Gulf of Mexico in partnering with offshore wind companies to provide services. As a result, some of the US oil trade associations have submitted comments supporting certain aspects of offshore wind. "However, it is unclear to what extent offshore wind developers plan to use US vessels and crew, and the existing projects did not incorporate US vessels or labor at all," Hawkins says.</p>From Your Site Articles
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The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed both the strengths and limitations of globalization. The crisis has made people aware of how industrialized food production can be, and just how far food can travel to get to the local supermarket. There are many benefits to this system, including low prices for consumers and larger, even global, markets for producers. But there are also costs — to the environment, workers, small farmers and to a region or individual nation's food security.
<p>These costs have led many people to look once again at the benefits of small farms and locally produced fruits, vegetables and meat.</p>
<p>Of course, farmers on relatively small plots producing for local markets are the norm in developing countries. While it has many benefits, small-scale agriculture is far from idyllic. It often translates into low incomes and even poverty.</p><p>But it doesn't have to.</p><p>There are many successful initiatives to help farmers raise their productivity and incomes, improve their communities and amass capital to expand agricultural output and start small businesses. All of this can be done in an environmentally sustainable manner that builds resilience to external shocks, including climate change and even pandemics. As Edd Wright, World Neighbors Regional Director for Southeast Asia notes, "In Timor-Leste, to control the spread of the virus the government called a State of Emergency, which included the closing of all markets where people would normally buy and sell their weekly basic goods. Small-scale farmers have continued to have a secure supply of food during this emergency as they predominantly live off what they grow on their own land." These holistic community-based development programs also improve health and sanitation, teach literacy and help develop local leaders who plan and advocate for their communities.</p><p>Successes in farming communities in Nepal, India, East and West Africa, Guatemala, Peru, Burkina Faso, and several other countries hold lessons for those in the US who look to small farms as a way to build resilience and food security. "Small-scale agricultural producers have a strong capacity for innovation," notes Do Christophe Ouattara, World Neighbors Senior Program Officer in West Africa. "In Burkina Faso, indigenous soil and water conservation techniques improve production and contribute considerably to food security."</p>
<p>While each community success story is different, they have a few essential commonalities:</p><p><strong>Organic Methods. </strong>Vegetables, fruit, eggs and meat produced using organic and sustainable techniques is healthier, due to the lack of pesticides and other chemicals. It's also safer for farmers, who do not have to handle dangerous chemicals. Finally, organic production has far less impact on the environment.</p><p>For small farms, the advantage of organic agriculture is clear — higher profits. Replacing chemicals with organic pesticides and fertilizers can significantly reduce costs. Because of consumer willingness to pay a premium for "cleaner" food with a smaller environmental footprint, farmers can charge more. According to Binu Subedi, a World Neighbors Senior Social Mobilizer in Nepal, "Organic farming is based on the insight that there really is no such thing as 'waste.' Finding a use for byproducts is the easiest way to cut input costs and raise returns."</p><p>While organic techniques are becoming well-established throughout the world, there are still many techniques to learn from farmers in developing countries. These include animal-derived pesticides, closed loop aquaculture, simple low-water irrigation systems, and more.</p><p><strong>Cooperatives.</strong> There are many successful cooperatives in the US and other countries. By banding together, small holder farmers cut out middlemen and gain leverage with purchasers. They also provide the resources to invest in marketing, government advocacy and other activities that build markets and increase sales.</p><p>Cooperatives are especially helpful — even necessary — in countries in where agricultural production is highly concentrated among a relative handful of dominant companies. The COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on this reality in the United States' meat processing industry. A handful of transnational companies dominate and have a monopoly on the industry. When meat processing workers got sick and meat production went down, the costs fell on workers and livestock farmers. The profits, in the form of higher meat prices to consumers, went to the handful of meat processing companies.</p><p>Small scale livestock farms, as well as processing plants, organized into cooperatives, could help address this. While the final products would likely be a bit more expensive, the meat is far less likely to become contaminated with E. coli, salmonella or other contaminants. In addition, smaller processing plants tend to be safer and have less environmental impact on surrounding communities.</p><p>Successful cooperatives in Kenya and other developing countries have a lot to teach, including how to generate capital through savings and credit groups. These groups pool savings of small holder farmers and loan to members at very low rates. They eliminate onerous loan conditions and show forbearance if borrowers encounter setbacks. Savings and credit groups are often the first step to larger, more comprehensive cooperative relationships. It's time to introduce these mechanisms in the US so that small scale farmers can thrive.</p><p><strong>Heritage Varieties. </strong>Industrial farming has resulted in consistent and attractive produce and meat. But to achieve this, and at the scale necessary for profitability, the variety has been greatly reduced. In most stores in the U.S., there are relatively few types of each fruit or vegetable. And these tend to have fewer nutrients and flavor than varieties grown and eaten prior to the domination of industrial farming. The same is true with meat. Factory farmed chicken and turkey are all but flavorless compared to traditional breeds.</p><p>The desire for more variety, flavor and nutrition is the reason many consumers are slowly rediscovering heritage or heirloom varieties. Produced on small farms, these products are often available at high end restaurants, farmer's markets and specialty supermarkets. Of course, this is just how organics started.</p><p>Like organics, heritage produce and meat often command a higher price. When produced organically, that translates into higher profits for small farm owners.</p><p>Peru, Guatemala and many other countries in the Global South have a great deal of experience with indigenous produce.</p><p>The need to grow more of it is especially pressing now, as large food companies successfully market highly processed food in these countries. The result has been the worst of all worlds: Chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity have reached epidemic proportions. Small scale organic farmers have experience cultivating produce that is healthier and can counter these diseases. A resurgence of these traditional varieties brings increased self-sufficiency and food security as well. This expertise — as well as the heritage varieties themselves — can and should be put to use on American small farms. As Olga Chivalan, a single mother who farms her own small vegetable garden in Guatemala said, "My neighbors and I grow a variety of fruits and vegetables, including those native to our region. We believe the reliance on indigenous varieties contributes to our community's good health."</p>
<p>Globalization — of ideas, goods, capital and cooperation — is a significant achievement. It can also have downsides. They include how food is produced, transported and consumed on a large scale. Ironically, those downsides are best addressed by more globalization. Specifically, small holder farmers in developing countries sharing their innovations with like farmers in developed countries. There's never a downside to learning how to improve incomes, health and security in responsible and sustainable ways.</p>
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