Deforestation in the Tibú municipality. Colombian Army Vulcano Task Force
By René Mora, Translated by Romina Castagnino
- Catatumbo Barí National Natural Park protects the unique, remote rainforest in northeastern Colombia.
- Satellite data show the park lost 6.2% of its tree cover between 2001 and 2019, with several months of unusually high deforestation in 2020.
- Sources say illegal coca cultivation is rapidly expanding in and around Catatumbo Barí and is driving deforestation as farmers move in and clear forest to grow the illicit crop, which is used to make cocaine.
- Area residents say armed groups are controlling the trade of coca in and out of the region, and are largely operating in an atmosphere of impunity.
The Catatumbo River originates in northeastern Colombia's Norte de Santander Department and flows to Venezuelan Lake Maracaibo. For generations, it has provided passage for fishermen and small farmers; but increasingly, it is being used to transport illegal good like weapons, timber and coca crops, from which cocaine is produced.
<p>The location of the Catatumbo region sits on the border with Venezuela, making it a strategic route for armed groups such as the National Liberation Army (ELN), dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), to traffic drugs out of Colombia. Territorial disputes over coca-producing areas reportedly happen daily, and residents say they live in fear of displacement or even death if they speak out about illegal activities connected to the region's drug trade. Those who agreed to speak to Mongabay did so on the condition of anonymity; their names have been changed in this story.</p><p>"Be very careful with this information," said Pablo*, a farmer.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTI2ODc5MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NTIyNjE0N30.TzMW_mGYslRJ70XrAaDrZ5qbvsZPZozBB7BW7QHcRvg/img.jpg?width=980" id="fce7b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="537ddc73f5964aaa249fde0493f8b5f0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="800" data-height="600" />
Recently cleared land in Catatumbo Barí National Natural Park. Colombian Army Vulcano Task Force
<p>In addition to a threatening environment for local communities, the illegal cultivation of coca and its manufacture into cocaine appears to be coming at the cost of the region's forests. Even areas given the highest level of protection are not immune – including Catatumbo Barí National Natural Park, where satellites are detecting <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation">deforestation</a> creeping deeper and deeper into the park's old-growth rainforest.</p>The Rise of Coca
<p>Today Pablo cultivates legal crops, but until a few years ago he was a coca grower. He said he has watched as coca fields have expanded to the edges of the roads and banks of the Catatumbo River with total impunity, thus breaking with the old practice of growers cultivating coca in more remote, hidden areas.</p><p>"Now people burn pastures to cultivate coca that used to be destined for livestock or growing fruit … They don't respect anything, not even the river," Pablo said.</p><p>Pablo says that since the arrival of coca in 1997, the region has not been the same and that the situation deteriorated further after the signing of the FARC peace agreement in 2016.</p><p>"There are almost no trees left and the wells in the creeks and river where I bathed when I was a child no longer exist because of the landslides," said Pablo, who has lived more than 50 years in the same region.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5dc27b480aaca15992c06af66251fcd0"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JdzvmmDOkFo?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Pablo added that, ultimately, farmers have opted for the money that comes with coca cultivation over the peace of mind of growing legal crops.</p><p>"The business is not bad if you cultivate enough [coca leaves], not like the scraps I had," he said, referencing the less-than 10 hectares (24 acres) of land he once owned. He claims that coca fields tend to be larger now, some hundreds of hectares in size.</p><p>According to Pablo, one kilo of coca paste is selling for approximately 2.7 million pesos ($790). If the buyer is someone from the guerrilla group, they sell it for 2.58 million pesos ($755). Meanwhile, the price of one kilo of cacao – a popular legal crop in the area whose cultivation has been encouraged by the government to combat the coca industry – is just 8,000 pesos ($2.30).</p><p>Government policies and strategies aimed at reducing coca cultivation have been controversial.</p><p>"The programs have only targeted families that grow illicit crops," said Jericó, a cacao producer. "Families who do not have these crops have been displaced and are being indirectly told that they have to grow coca to be beneficiaries of the programs."</p>
Increasing Deforestation
<p><span>Catatumbo Barí National Natural Park is nestled in the foothills of the eastern mountain range in the department of Norte de Santander and covers 158,125 hectares (390,735 acres) with elevations ranging from 70 to 2,000 meters (230 to 6,562 feet) above sea level. Orchids, bromeliads, lianas and heliconias predominate in the park, as well as trees over 45 meters (148 feet) tall. It harbors part of the Catatumbo Moist Forest ecoregion, which is the only area north of the Andes inhabited by Amazonian plants and animals – and which has been heavily degraded by agriculture and oil extraction.</span></p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTI2ODc4OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NjM5MjUwM30.Gcj2XcidosnL2I4W8As-z0yAv2ahMW_ChbUzf_T9z4c/img.jpg?width=980" id="08a50" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6c0e61c933d5fed7436c63d60311366c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="800" data-height="600" />
Much of the forest of the Catatumbo region has been fragmented. Colombian Army Vulcano Task Force
<p>Catatumbo Barí is more than six hours from Cúcuta, the capital of Norte de Santander Department, and there is little, if any, passable road access. The best way to get there is by boat with the help of the Barí, the Indigenous group that occupies a sector of the park across two reservations: Motilón Barí which comprises 108,900 hectares (269,097 acres) and Gabarra-Catalaura of 13,300 hectares (32,865 acres).</p><p>Along the way to the park, fields of coca crops are easy to see.</p><p>"The crops are reaching Cúcuta," said an inhabitant of the region.</p><p>Tibú is one of the municipalities that has jurisdiction over the park. It's also the municipality with the highest deforestation rate in Norte de Santander. According to the latest report from the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (Ideam), 7,103 hectares (17,551 acres) were cleared in Tibú in 2019, representing 72% of its area.</p><p>According to the United Nations' Integrated Illicit Crops Monitoring System (SIMCI), 41,711 hectares (103,070 acres) of coca crops were cultivated across the region in 2019, an increase of more than 76% over 2016 when SIMCI recorded 24,831 hectares (61,358 acres) of coca cultivation.</p><p>Norte de Santander lost 11% of its tree cover between 2001 and 2019, according to satellite data from the University of Maryland (UMD), while Catatumbo Barí National Natural Park <a href="https://www.globalforestwatch.org/map/aoi/5ff740a7cb55fc001ba83567/?category=summary&gladAlerts=eyJ3ZWVrcyI6NTJ9&mainMap=eyJzaG93QW5hbHlzaXMiOnRydWV9&map=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%3D&mapMenu=eyJtZW51U2VjdGlvbiI6Im15LWdmdyJ9%27" target="_blank">lost 6.2%</a>. In both areas, preliminary UMD data for 2020 showing several spikes of deforestation that were "<a href="https://www.globalforestwatch.org/dashboards/country/COL/22/?category=summary&gladAlerts=eyJ3ZWVrcyI6NTJ9&location=WyJjb3VudHJ5IiwiQ09MIiwiMjIiXQ%3D%3D&mainMap=eyJzaG93QW5hbHlzaXMiOnRydWV9&map=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&mapMenu=eyJkYXRhc2V0Q2F0ZWdvcnkiOiJsYW5kQ292ZXIifQ%3D%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">unusually high</a>" compared to years past.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTI2ODc1NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNzMyODIwMH0.UssCVZOGdXi7ugY59mJTkVRiwD6nz0YgF3fro0bOxhk/img.jpg?width=980" id="05b06" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="59894ea9a53f6dfefea75f56f497576b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="2000" data-height="1347" />
Catatumbo Barí National Natural Park protects some of the last primary rainforest in the region. But satellite data show deforestation continued to whittle it away in 2020 — including inside the park.
<p><span>National Natural Parks of Colombia (PNN) is the environmental authority that oversees Catatumbo Barí. The areas outside the park are overseen by the Regional Autonomous Corporation of the Northeast Frontier (Corponor), which manages renewable natural resources in Norte de Santander. Sandra Gómez, deputy director of Corponor, explains that high deforestation rates outside the park are due largely to the expansion of the agricultural frontier, illicit crops, illegal mining and timber trafficking.</span></p><p>"Entering is difficult and inaccessible because of (the lack of) roads, the ongoing conflict and security issues. All this makes illegal activities easier," Gómez said.</p><p>The latest report from SIMCI found 1,448 hectares (3,578 acres) of coca cultivation inside Catatumbo Barí in 2019, representing 15% of the area deforested between 2001 and 2019 and a 60% jump over 2018. However, this may pale in comparison to 2020; according to a government source who studies the area, and who spoke on condition of anonymity, 90% of the deforested land in Catatumbo Barí has now been planted with coca crops, with the remaining 10% used as cropland for plantains and yucca, or as livestock pasture.</p><p>According to SIMCI figures, coca crops had reached two indigenous reservations within Catatumbo Barí as of 2019, with 411 hectares cultivated in the Motilón Barí reservation and 43 hectares in the Gabarra-Catalaura reservation. Totaling 454 hectares (1,121 acres), this marks a 66% increase in coca cultivation in the two reservations compared to 2018.</p><p>Juan Carlos Quintero, president of the Catatumbo Small Farmers Association (Ascamcat), said that coca cultivation, as well as the expansion of large-scale oil palm plantations, is worrying. He added that the departure of government oversight after the signing of the 2016 FARC peace deal has created an atmosphere of impunity in the region.</p><p>"The national government is only present with the army," Quintero said, adding that armed groups soon invaded territory left vacant by the FARC and unprotected by the government.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="44b0df60252ff809d28729b0db73ce42"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9QeAIdB3G2k?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Gómez said the situation in the Catatumbo region stems from a structural problem that facilitates land grabbing. Under a law that dates back to 1959, the government earmarked territories for forest protection; however, they did not formally register the land, which would have avoided land use disputes and help mitigate environmental degradation of protected areas.</p><p>"The problem is land grabbing and illegal land-use change … as there is no physical registration, people buy land and then cultivate coca," Gómez said. "If it goes bad, they sell it. [These lands] are vacant lots and they belong to the nation."</p><p>Rodrigo Botero, director of the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development (FCDS), says that the Colombian government wants to officially map the tenure of all the different plots in the region, which is the first step needed to register the ownership, use, extension, occupation time and legal status of the land.</p>
Long-Term Consequences
<p>Catatumbo Barí National Natural Park has untouched areas of rainforest that are still unstudied by the scientific community. Carlos Herney Cáceres Martínez, a biologist who has done research in various Colombian parks, has tried to enter the protected area for years to conduct genetic sampling of the Andean bear (<em>Tremarctos ornatus</em>). The project aims to characterize the connectivity of Andean bear populations in Colombia, and from the eight different regions where its presence has been registered, Catatumbo Barí is the only area where sampling has not been yet possible due to the difficulty of accessing the park.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTI2ODc1OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxODc1MjY3OH0.7MP672jxBYREuEpu3BQ3MiuJNUhLFknSjkaFMILjsSU/img.jpg?width=980" id="a9a64" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="33998baf94cebc126862f1ab160f143d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="768" data-height="512" />
<p><br></p>The Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus), also called the spectacled bear, is the last remaining species of short-faced bear. It is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN. Futureman1199 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
<p>Cáceres said deforestation like that which is happening in and around Catatumbo Barí has cascading repercussions that can ripple through ecosystems and the human communities that depend on them.</p><p>"When a humid forest is affected, everything is affected: the capture of carbon dioxide, oxygen leveling, water regulation, erosive processes (…) Not only are plants or animals lost, as a society we are losing a free service that the planet offers us to have a healthy life," Cáceres said. He added that fire – which is often used to clear land – can be particularly destructive to the region's forest.</p><p>"We know that it is very difficult for them to return to their natural state," he said. "For [a forest] to recover 50% they need at least 100 years."</p><p><em>This </em><em>is a translated and adapted version of a story that was </em><em><a href="https://es.mongabay.com/2020/12/cultivos-ilegales-y-deforestacion-asfixian-al-parque-nacional-catatumbo-bari-en-colombia/" target="_blank">first published by Mongabay Latam</a> </em><em>on Dec. 2, 2020.</em></p><p><em><strong>Editor's note:</strong> This story was powered by <a href="https://blog.globalforestwatch.org/places-to-watch" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Places to Watch</a>, a Global Forest Watch (GFW) initiative designed to quickly identify concerning forest loss around the world and catalyze further investigation of these areas. Places to Watch draws on a combination of near-real-time satellite data, automated algorithms and field intelligence to identify new areas on a monthly basis. In partnership with Mongabay, GFW is supporting data-driven journalism by providing data and maps generated by Places to Watch. Mongabay maintains complete editorial independence over the stories reported using this data</em>.<br></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/cocaine-production-driving-deforestation-into-colombian-national-park/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Fires, deforestation, logging and mining threaten the integrity of the Amazon rainforest. Ria Sopala / Pixabay
The future of the world's largest rainforest looks bleak. A new report for Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development concluded that the Amazon rainforest will collapse and largely become a dry, shrubby plain by 2064. Development, deforestation and the climate crisis are to blame, study author and University of Florida geologist Robert Toovey Walker found, UPI reported.
<p>Walker reviewed recent research, offering that heavy development in Amazonian nations depleted the forest and threatens to push it over the edge towards destruction.</p><p>By nature of being a rainforest, the canopy creates its own precipitation. The local environment and inhabitants rely on the freshwater created therein for survival. The ecosystem can recover from smaller, periodic droughts but longer and more severe events are already diminishing the forest's long-term resilience, <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/amazon-rainforest-will-be-decimated-by-2064-professor-claims" target="_blank">Interesting Engineering</a> reported.</p>
<p>Longer dry seasons, which the rainforest is already experiencing and which are exacerbated by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation" target="_self">deforestation</a> and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>, prevent rainforest canopies from recovering from fires. Flammable grasses and shrubs "permanently invade" and take over the landscape; the tropical rainforest dries out and transforms into a tropical savanna, the study found.</p><p>"A forest cannot survive if its canopy needs more than 4 years to recover from a yearly [drought] event," Walker wrote in the report. "Southern Amazonia can expect to reach a tipping point sometime before 2064 at the current rate of dry-season lengthening."</p>
<p>Earlier this year, a different study found that the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/amazon-ecosystem-collapse-2645458118.html" target="_self">Amazon ecosystem could collapse in less than 50 years</a> with deforestation being the primary culprit. According to UPI, Walker's latest review shaved five years off from that estimate and gave the most specific date of ecosystem demise ever provided, citing the same reason.</p><p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/amazon-rainforest-fire-brazil-2646869688.html" target="_self">Fire</a>, deforestation and logging are leading causes of tree loss. Industrial-scale cattle ranching and soybean production, in particular, drive the latter. Additionally, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/amazon-brazil-gold-mining-2645732733.html" target="_self">illegal gold mining is laying the forest bare and polluting rivers</a>.</p>
<p><br>Brazil's President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/jair-bolsonaro" target="_self">Jair Bolsonaro</a> has been criticized for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/brazil-bolsonaro-bill-open-indigenous-land-2645088985.html" target="_self">opening the forest to exploitation</a> and inciting forest destruction. Under Bolsonaro, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/amazon-deforestation-bolsonaro-2649115946.html" target="_self">Amazon deforestation skyrocketed to a 12-year high</a>, and activists warned that he <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/brazil-amazon-deforestation-coronavirus-2645950493.html" target="_self">used the pandemic as a smokescreen</a> to undermine protections for the rainforest. Walker criticized Bolsonaro's administration for "appear[ing] intent on scrapping all remaining restraints on the unfettered exploitation of Amazonia's natural resources."</p><p>Walker also estimated that the Amazon has shrunk by about 20% since intense development began and that the dry season has already lengthened in the south by an additional 6.5 days per decade, UPI reported.</p>
<p>The study's models predict that once deforestation reaches 30-50% in southern Amazonia, rainfall in the west will decrease by up to 40%, cementing the deterioration in that environment from lush, tropical forest to arid, open savanna, <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/new-report-predicts-southern-amazon-rainforest-is-heading-for-collapse-by-2064" target="_blank">Science Alert</a> reported.</p><p>"The best way to think of the forest ecosystem is that it's a pump," Walker told UPI. "The forest recycles moisture, which supports regional rainfall. If you continue to destroy the forest, the rainfall amount drops... and eventually, you wreck the pump."</p><p>As the forest transforms into a grassland, all the benefits of the massive ecosystem will also disappear and a "multidimensional catastrophe" will ensue, Walker wrote in the study.</p>
<p>Primarily, water security will evaporate for over 35 million people living in the region, Science Alert continued. The entire continent's dependency upon Amazonia for freshwater "means that the magnitude of the catastrophe will be worse than heretofore imagined," Walker noted in the study.</p><p>Additionally, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/brazil-amazon-wildlife-criminal-networks-2646841421.html" target="_self">many plants and animals in the biodiverse ecosystem will be driven to extinction</a>. Among those could lie new medical discoveries and foods, UPI noted. Timber and other precious resources will also disappear.</p><p>Finally and perhaps most alarmingly, according to Science Alert, the forest could lose its ability to store the world's excess carbon which helps to regulate the climate and planetary temperature. In fact, some predict the world's largest forest will flip from a sink to a source around 2035, the report said.</p><p>Walker concluded that it was "doubtful" that the Amazon forest could remain resilient into the future given the layers of threats facing it.</p>
From Your Site Articles
- Amazon Ecosystem Could Collapse in Less Than 50 Years, Study ... ›
- Deforestation in Amazon Skyrockets to 12-Year High Under Bolsonaro ›
- Amazon's Widespread Fire Damage Is 'Invisible to Our Eyes ... ›
- Amazon Rainforest Fires in Brazil Surge in July - EcoWatch ›
- Brazil's Amazon Rainforest Is the Wild West for Illegal Gold Miners ... ›
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Westend61 / Getty Images
For many people, the holidays are rich with time-honored traditions like decorating the Christmas tree, lighting the menorah, caroling, cookie baking, and sipping from the unity cup. But there's another unofficial, official holiday tradition that spans all ages and beliefs and gives people across the world hope for a better tomorrow: the New Year's resolution.
<p>It's believed that ancient Babylonians were the <a href="https://www.cnet.com/health/the-history-of-new-years-resolutions-and-celebrations/#:~:text=4%2C000%20years%20ago%20in%20Babylon%20(around%202000%20B.C.)&text=Most%20historians%20believe%20Babylonians%20were,accordance%20with%20an%20agricultural%20year." target="_blank">first people to make New Year's resolutions</a> some 4,000 years ago. Over time, the popular practice shifted in scope from making promises to the gods about repaying debt to making promises to ourselves about self-improvement. Anyone who has ever made a New Year's resolution probably included something like get more sleep or be less stressed. And though it might not immediately come to mind when you brainstorm strategies for reaching your New Year's goals, it turns out that chamomile tea could be the answer for many of them. </p><p>If you've ever asked yourself why everyone is drinking chamomile tea, we've got the answer here. Read on to learn some of the reasons why this herbal beverage is all the rage.</p>
<p><em><strong>Josh Hall</strong> has been a professional writer and storyteller for more than 15 years. His work on natural health and cannabis has appeared in Health, Shape, and Remedy Review. </em><em><em>The product featured here has been independently selected by the writer. If you make a purchase using the link included, we may earn commission.</em></em></p>
Benefits of Chamomile Tea
<p><strong>Sleep More Soundly</strong></p><p>Pick your grandmother's brain about the best way to fall asleep, and she might tell you to down a nice glass of warm milk. But if you consult with science, research shows that chamomile might be a better option. That's because it contains an antioxidant called apigenin, which can <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2995283/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">promote sleepiness and reduce insomnia and other sleep problems</a>.</p><p>Two research studies even confirmed the power of chamomile throughout the day and before bed. In one of those studies, postpartum women who drank chamomile for two weeks <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26483209" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">experienced better sleep quality than the control group who didn't</a>. Another research effort measured how fast people could fall asleep. Those results illustrated that participants who consumed 270 milligrams of chamomile extract twice daily for 28 days <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3198755/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fell asleep 15 minutes faster than the control</a>. The chamomile group also had considerably fewer sleep disruptions. </p><p><strong>May Be Able to Keep Your Gut Healthy</strong></p><p>Though the following studies used rats as the subjects, research shows that chamomile can potentially play a beneficial role in digestive health. According to that research, the anti-inflammatory properties in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24463157" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">chamomile extract may be able to protect against diarrhea</a>. Additionally, chamomile may be an effective way to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4177631/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">stop the growth of bacteria in our stomachs that contribute to ulcers</a>.</p><p><strong>Reduces Stress and Anxiety</strong></p><p>Few things are more relaxing than curling up with a good cup of tea, so it's logical that chamomile tea can serve a stress reducer. While it lacks the potency of a pharmaceutical drug, long-term use of chamomile has been shown to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27912875" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">"significantly" reduce general anxiety disorders</a>. In general, chamomile can act almost like a sedative, and many people enjoy the tea because it puts them in a calm and relaxed state almost immediately. </p><p><strong>Boosts Immune Health</strong></p><p>Vitamin C and zinc are common over-the-counter supplements that people often turn to when they're hoping to avoid becoming sick. While scientists admit that more research must take place to prove chamomile's impact on preventing ailments like the common cold, the existing studies do show promise in this area. </p><p>One study had 14 participants drink five cups of the tea every day for two consecutive weeks. Throughout the study, researchers collected daily urine samples and tested the contents before and after the consumption of the tea. Drinking chamomile resulted in a significant increase in the levels of hippurate and glycine, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2995283/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">both of which are known to increase antibacterial activity</a>. Inhaling steam from a pot of freshly brewed chamomile tea may also ease the symptoms of nasal congestion.</p><p><strong>Minimizes Menstrual Cramps</strong></p><p>This one may come as a surprise, particularly to readers who have tried every possible over-the-counter treatment to reduce period pain. Several research studies have proven that chamomile tea may be able to minimize the pain and cramps that occur during menstruation. Women in that same study also dealt with lower levels of anxiety that they typically felt because of menstrual cramps.</p><p><strong>Help Diabetes and Lower Blood Sugar</strong></p><p>For people with diabetes, regulating blood sugar levels can be a matter of life or death. And while chamomile will never replace prescription-strength drugs, it's believed that it can prevent an increase in blood sugar. A 2008 study on rats showed that chamomile could have a <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf8014365" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">moderate impact on the long-term risk of diabetes</a>.</p><p><strong>Might Improve Your Skin</strong></p><p>Ever wondered why there's been an influx of chamomile-infused cosmetic products? The reason why so many manufacturers now include chamomile in their lotions, soaps, and creams is because it <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5074766/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">acts as an anti-inflammatory on our skin</a>. That means it may be able to soothe the puffiness that plagues us as we age. Those same anti-inflammatory properties can be vital in restoring skin health after we've received a sunburn. </p><p>Before discarding your used chamomile tea bags, try chilling them and placing them over your eyes. Not only will this help with the puffiness, but it can drastically light the skin color around the eye.</p><p><strong>Help With Heart Health</strong></p><p>Some of the most beneficial antioxidants we put into our bodies are what are known as flavones, and chamomile tea is chock full of them. Flavones have the potential to lower both blood pressure and cholesterol levels, which, when elevated, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4814348/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">can lead to heart disease</a>.</p>Why Everyone Is Drinking Chamomile Tea
<p>Now that you know so much about the wonders of chamomile, it shouldn't come as a surprise why the tea is so popular with people of all ages. In addition to tasting great, chamomile offers up benefits that boost the health of body parts both inside and out. As you ponder your own New Year's resolutions, think about how healthy and natural vitamins, supplements, plants, and oils can help guide you on your own personal path to improvement. Happy New Year!</p>An Organic, Eco-Conscious Brand to Try
<div class="rm-shortcode amazon-assets-widget" data-rm-shortcode-id="0da9d8545ec44ebf1a31d6044181ed9e" contenteditable="false"> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N2F8718?tag=ecowatch-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1" target="_blank"> <img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41B2ANHhsdL.jpg" class="amazon-assets-widget__image widget__image"> </a> </div> <p>FGO tea bags are made of hemp fiber paper, free of dyes, adhesive, glue, and chlorine bleach. The tea is also certified USDA Organic by California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF).</p>From Your Site Articles
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Cloud of Flying-foxes in riparian monsoon forest on escarpment of central range. Broadmere Station, western Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Territory, Australia. Auscape / Universal Images Group / Getty Images
By Georgina Kenyon
Earlier this year, the term "bat tornado" started appearing in the Australian and international media. It all started with a BBC report from the town of Ingham in the northeastern state of Queensland, where the population of flying fox bats had apparently "exploded" over the last two years, leaving residents fed up with their noise and smell.
<p>And Ingham residents are not the only ones. Complaints are also coming from other Australian towns that have long played host to large <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/convincing-australians-that-bats-arent-so-bad/a-18525040" target="_blank">flying fox</a> "camps." </p><p>"It looks like a thunderstorm is coming when they fly over, thousands of these winged <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/fruit-bats-on-the-move/a-37295373" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">flying foxes</a> arriving at dusk, just one after the other," said Justine Taylor, a retail worker who lives near the town of Grafton, New South Wales, which can host more than 100,000 flying foxes at a time. </p>
<p>The sound can be overwhelming. As can the stench from their urine. And flying foxes can also carry the rabies-like Australian bat lyssavirus, and Hendra virus.</p><p>The Australian Department of Health insists there is negligible health risk to humans from any bat. But the idea that they are carriers of disease hasn't helped their image. </p><p>"I used to dread them, hoping they would roost in someone else's garden," said Taylor. "They'd screech and chatter, you just couldn't sleep. Even in the day, if you were by the river, you'd hear them." </p>
Travelers in Search of Wood and Water
<p>The Australian mainland has four species of flying fox — also known as <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/zambia-incredible-flight-of-the-fruit-bats/a-36825859" target="_blank">fruit bats</a> — two of which are listed as nationally protected species. Some can reach a wingspan of 1.5 meters.</p><p>Flying fox camps have been likened to railway stations, where crowds of the animals come and go each day. They may travel up to 50 kilometers (30 miles) in a single night, and 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) seasonally, depending on food availability. </p><p>They also need a good source of water, drinking small amounts frequently to stay hydrated without weighing themselves down in flight. Susan Island, located in the middle of the Clarence River that runs through the city of Grafton, has become an ideal congregation spot. </p><p>But climate change and deforestation are making their movements less predictable. As their habitat is lost or water sources dry up, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/australia-heat-wave-brain-frying-bats/a-42078045" target="_blank">they seek refuge</a> in urban or suburban areas. "They're being forced into areas they would not normally be," said Tim Pearson, an ecologist and chair of the NGO Sydney Bats. </p><p>And while some Australian towns may be seeing an influx of flying foxes, nationally, their numbers have dropped significantly. </p>Perishing in the Heat
<p>Extreme temperatures over recent years have wiped out thousands — sometimes even tens of thousands — of animals at a time, with media reports showing heaps of corpses where they have fallen from trees suffering extreme heat stress.</p><p>Australia experienced the hottest November on record this year, with temperatures reaching the mid-40 degrees Celsius in some regions.</p><p>And bats are more exposed to heat in towns and suburbs where they don't have the protection of thick forest. </p><p>"This latest catastrophe to befall some of Australia's largest bat species is a symptom of a much larger problem — Australia's deforestation crisis," said Matt Brennan, head of Tasmania-based Wilderness Society. "Eastern Australia is now a designated global deforestation hotspot, alongside places like the Amazon, the Congo and Borneo." </p>Extending a Helping Hand
<p>Some towns are trying to help them. Yarra City council in Melbourne has installed sprinkler systems where flying foxes come to breed in huge colonies on the Yarra River, to try and keep them cool. </p><p>And along the Parramatta River in Sydney, the New South Wales state government has helped fund a project to plant trees to provide the bats with more habitat and shade.</p><p>However, these well-intentioned interventions don't always hit the mark. Pearson says sprinklers can startle heat-exhausted animals, increasing their stress levels. And ultimately, making urban environments more hospitable to bats is no substitute for preserving the forests where they are naturally at home.</p><p>"You can plant trees to give the flying foxes more habitat, but the real problem is climate change and ongoing deforestation," said Pearson. </p>Bats Need Forests, and Forests Need Bats
<p>While flying foxes suffer from loss of trees, loss of fruit bats is, in turn, bad news for trees. As flying foxes pop their heads into flowers to feed on nectar, or consume fruit and excrete the seeds, they help eucalypts, melaleucas, banksias and many species of rainforest trees and vines, to reproduce.</p><p>Pearson warns that if we don't address climate change and halt deforestation, Australia's flying fox numbers will fall so low within the next few decades, they will no longer be able perform this vital role.</p><p>"I think they will survive in some pockets along the coast where there is food and water," he said, "but they will not be acting as the pollinators and seed dispersers that are so necessary for our forests to survive." </p>Learning to Love Our Winged Neighbors
<p>Pearson is among the flying fox's fiercest defenders. He's studying their vocalizations and says the din their human neighbors complain about is actually the highly developed communication of an intelligent and intensely social species. </p><p>He wants the public to stop seeing them as disease-carrying invaders and start appreciating fruit bats for the extraordinary animals they are: "It's through educating people, raising awareness about how important these flying foxes are for ecosystem health that we may be able to save them."</p><p>In Grafton, spectators now sometimes gather to watch them on their nightly search for food. </p><p>"When I realized people were coming from around Australia just to see the bats here out of curiosity, I started to find out more about them, appreciate them," said Taylor. "People actually row out to the island to see them!" </p><p>"I guess the bats are kind of funky," she admits.</p><p><em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/flying-foxes-australias-love-hate-relationship-with-fruit-bats/a-55949095" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.</em><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2649780401#/" target="_self"></a></p>From Your Site Articles
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Morning breaks over Smithfield Market, one of London's busiest Meat suppliers as an Extinction Rebellion environmental activist offshoot Animal Rebellion wake up after a night occupying the space which is usually open from 2 a.m. - 8 a.m. to supply London's wholesale food industries on Oct. 8, 2019 in London. Ollie Millington / Getty Images
"Industrial meat production is not only responsible for precarious working conditions, it also pushes people off their land, leads to deforestation, biodiversity loss and the use of pesticides — and is also one of the main drivers of the climate crisis."
Such were the words of Barbara Unmüssig of green think tank, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, at the Berlin presentation of the so-called "Meat Atlas 2021."
<p>Across 50 pages, the atlas — which is collaboratively published by the foundation, Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) and the international monthly newspaper Le Monde diplomatique — outlines trends and the implications of global meat production on both human and planetary health. </p><p>It highlights, for example, how the over-use of antibiotics in <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/the-conditions-are-catastrophic-inside-germanys-factory-farms-on-the-green-fence/a-55349478" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">intensive animal farming</a> is leading to increasingly resistant germs, thereby threatening the effectiveness of drugs used for humans.</p><p>Similarly, the clearing of forests for animal feed is held up as a threat to human health. As habitat loss brings animals and humans into closer proximity with one another, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-pandemic-linked-to-destruction-of-wildlife-and-worlds-ecosystems/a-53078480" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">viruses can be transmitted more easily</a>. This, in turn, can lead to new <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/after-coronavirus-our-relationship-with-meat-and-the-next-pandemic/a-55594449" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">pandemics</a>. </p><p>In a survey for the report, young people between the ages of 15 and 29 were asked about their thoughts on meat. The majority said they rejected the meat industry in its current form.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTI2MTI2My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NDQ2NDg4Mn0.qN_OXydVYlh8UK0xFUW6LY5uEnreJtVEBX9y1AAdCzM/img.png?width=980" id="49a82" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a3dc0e46513e0db25cc4853f1199cc06" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1920" data-height="1738" />
Germany Plays Leading Role in the Meat Industry
<p><span>Olaf Bandt, chairman of BUND, says policymakers must take account of society's desire to </span><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/can-you-be-a-good-christian-and-eat-meat/a-55410685" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">restructure the sector</a><span>. "This requires far-reaching political realignment of agricultural policy," he said. "But there can be no agricultural transition without a food transition."</span></p><p>Bandt describes Germany as a key player in the production of pork and milk, with a 20% share of the EU market. </p><p>"Huge amounts of meat are exported," he said, adding that this reliance on international markets is having a detrimental effect on the environment, livestock and farms. "More and more animals live on ever fewer farms, further exacerbating the pollution of groundwater in those regions." </p>Meat Devours Rainforest
<p>Global population and economic growth are the drivers behind increasing demand for meat. In 1960, the planet was home to just 3 billion people and, according to the report, meat consumption at that time was around 70 million metric tons. That equated to an annual per capita global average of 23 kilograms.</p><p><span></span>By 2018, however, when the population had grown to 7.6 billion people, meat consumption had risen seven-fold to around 350 million metric tons — or a global average of 46 kilograms per person annually.</p><p>A key problem with this trend is that <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/eating-meat-is-no-longer-a-private-matter/a-55515722" target="_blank">meat production</a> requires vast areas of land. According to the German Environment Agency (UBA), the country's central environment authority, 71% of global arable land is currently used for livestock feed. That is four times the amount required for direct food growth (18%) or other raw materials such as cotton (7%) and energy crops like corn for biogas (4%). </p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTI2MTI4MS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMzY3ODE3M30.bzrJxdzNQIFQ6l70d2InrAMt_IPO68FjvCZuNbvtc5E/img.png?width=980" id="3601b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5e0bedbcf3921365156f8612ef04429b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1920" data-height="2414" /><p>As global demand for meat continues to grow, so does the pressure on available arable land. As a result, huge areas of forest in countries such as Brazil are being lost to create land on which to grow animal fodder.</p><p>In order to feed the world's population and stop rainforests from being cleared, while simultaneously designating land for reforestation, experts are calling for a dietary rethink: less meat and more <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/will-plant-based-meat-become-the-new-fast-food/a-55578740" target="_blank">plant-based foods</a> that require much smaller areas.</p><p>In a report on the health of the planet published last year, leading global scientists such as Johan Rockström, director at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) suggested dietary changes that would equate to an average of 16 kilograms of meat and 33 kilograms of dairy products per person per year. Current meat consumption in North and South America as well as in Europe can be as much as seven times that amount.</p>
The Problem With Pesticides
<p>Besides revealing the power and global impact of the international meat industry, authors of the "Meat Atlas" also illustrate links to the global chemical industry. They write that dangerous and sometimes banned pesticides are exported by large chemical companies. Among the producers and exporters of such chemicals are European players, Bayer Crop Science, BASF, and Syngenta, as well as U.S. companies Corteva and FMS. </p><img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTI2MTI5MC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2Njg2NDMxMX0.0aKA3OQjDEKgl9Y088j9WLfsB9H_ilSNhjgSmScpO6o/img.png?width=980" id="43f23" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4fb04eda49e57f1b7c4a6f05c7e56deb" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1920" data-height="2520" /><p>According to Unmüssig, the use of such pesticides threatens thousands of lives, which is why, Bandt says the "German government must do everything it can to ensure that German companies no longer export toxins that have been banned in the EU."</p><p>Unmüssig warns that the planned <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/merkel-amazon-deforestation-threatens-eu-mercosur-deal/a-54651194" target="_blank">EU-Mercosur agreement</a> would exacerbate the use of dangerous substances. "Dismantling tariffs would lead to more pesticides being delivered to Latin America and more <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/rainforest">rainforest</a> would be cleared for soy plantations and meat production."</p><p>The experts conclude that establishing a way to farm animals in a cruelty-free way that doesn't harm the climate or the environment, requires a far-reaching shift in agricultural policy as well a rethink in consumption and production. </p><p>"As yet, we have not seen the start of any real meat transition," Unmüssig said. </p><p><em>This article was adapted from German.</em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/meat-atlas-its-time-to-rethink-what-we-eat/a-56145352" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2649770271#/" target="_self"></a></em></p>
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This picture taken on September 16, 2015 shows 13-year-old Indonesian girl Asnimawati working at a palm oil plantation area in Pelalawan, Riau province in Indonesia's Sumatra island. ADEK BERRY / AFP / Getty Images
Tens of thousands of children in Indonesia and Malaysia work to harvest the palm oil that ends up in several beloved Western snacks, including Girl Scout cookies.
<p>An in-depth <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palm-oil-forests-indonesia-scouts-83b01f2789e9489569960da63b2741c4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Associated Press report</a> published recently used U.S. customs records and the most up-to-date information from producers, traders and buyers to link palm oil harvested using child labor to major brands including Nestle, Unilever, Kellogg's, PepsiCo and Ferrero, one of two makers of Girl Scout Cookies. </p>
<p>"I thought Girl Scouts was supposed to be about making the world a better place," 14-year-old Girl Scout Olivia Chaffin told The Associated Press. "But this isn't at all making the world better."</p><p>Palm oil took off as a global commodity around 20 years ago after health warnings about trans fats caused food manufacturers to switch to the extremely cheap oil. It is now in about half of all supermarket products and almost 75 percent of cosmetics, but appears on labels under more than 200 different names.</p><p>Campaigners in the past have raised concerns about the oil's environmental impact. Around <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/palm-oil-environmental-costs-2640781015.html" target="_self">85 percent</a> of the industry is fed by plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/rainforests" target="_self">Rainforests</a> are often cleared to make way for palm oil plantations in the two countries and elsewhere, and this has a devastating impact on many species, including orangutans. A recent study found that 50 percent of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation" target="_self">deforestation</a> in Borneo between 2005 and 2015 was linked to palm oil.</p><p>Child labor is another major problem for the industry, according to The Associated Press. The UN's International Labor Organization estimates that 1.5 million children aged 10 to 17 work in Indonesia's agricultural industry, of which palm oil is the dominant crop. In Malaysia, a 2018 study found that more than 33,000 children work in the industry, and that almost half of them are between the ages of five and 11.</p>
<p>Children working on these plantations face hazards like exposure to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chemicals" target="_self">chemicals</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pesticides" target="_self">pesticides</a>, and many are denied proper healthcare and the chance at an education. In Malaysia, where the industry is mostly staffed by foreign workers, children without proper immigration papers are even more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.</p><p>"For 100 years, families have been stuck in a cycle of poverty and they know nothing else than work on a palm oil plantation," Kartika Manurung, who has published reports on labor issues on Indonesian palm oil plantations, told The Associated Press. "When I … ask the kids what they want to be when they grow up, some of the girls say, 'I want to be the wife of a palm oil worker.'"</p><p>Environmental concerns first motivated then-11-year old Chaffin to investigate the source of the palm oil in the Girl Scout cookies she sold. Chaffin, who had earned a badge for selling more than 600 boxes of cookies, saw that the palm oil listed on the cookie boxes was supposed to come from sustainable sources. However, she looked closer and saw the word "mixed", which meant that sustainable and non-sustainable sources had been combined in the cookie recipe.</p><p>She swore off cookie-selling and launched a petition one year ago urging Girl Scouts to abandon palm oil.</p><p>"Some of my fellow girl scouts and I are boycotting Girl Scout cookie sales until palm oil is replaced with a completely sustainable oil," <a href="https://www.change.org/p/girl-scouts-of-the-usa-remove-palm-oil-from-girl-scout-cookies?recruiter=1073806&use_react=false" target="_blank">she wrote</a>. "Please sign my petition because the rainforest is a very important part of life."</p><p>Chaffin told The Associated Press that learning about the child labor issues made her more motivated to fight for the oil's removal.</p><p>Girl Scout cookies are made by two U.S. bakers: Little Brownie Bakers in Kentucky and ABC Bakers in Virginia. Little Brown Bakers says its palm oil is from "mixed" sources, which means as little as one percent might be sustainable. ABC Bakers puts money towards promoting sustainable production. These bakeries belong to two parent companies, Weston Foods of Canada and Ferrero of Italy. Weston Foods would not provide any details of its supply chain, making it impossible for The Associated Press to determine if child labor was used by any of its suppliers.</p><p>The Girl Scouts did not respond to The Associated Press before the study was published, but did address the article on social media.</p><p>"Child labor has no place in Girl Scout Cookie production. Our investment in the development of our world's youth must not be facilitated by the under-development of some," the organization <a href="https://twitter.com/girlscouts/status/1344351388403429377" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tweeted</a>.</p><p>They <a href="https://twitter.com/girlscouts/status/1344351420666023936" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a> that their bakers and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) should take action if standards were being violated.</p>
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Gray langur sitting on ancient ruins, Ancient City of Sigiriya, Sri Lanka. Nick Brundle Photography / Moment / Getty Images
A lungless worm salamander, an armored slug and a critically endangered monkey were a few of 503 new species identified this year by scientists at London's National History Museum.
<p>"Once again, an end of year tally of new species has revealed a remarkable diversity of life forms and minerals hitherto undescribed," Dr. Tim Littlewood, executive director of science at the museum, <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2020/december/503-new-species-described-by-museum-scientists-in-2020.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told the National History Museum</a>. "The Museum's collection of specimens provide a resource within which to find new species as well as a reference set to recognize specimens and species as new."</p>
<p>Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the museum was closed to the public for part of the year. Yet, scientists, researchers, curators and associates continued to study the species' forms and structures and share their findings with the rest of the scientific community, Ken Norris, head of life sciences at the Natural History Museum, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/natural-history-museum-new-species-scli-intl-gbr-scn/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told CNN</a>.</p><p>"You're asking whether or not that new specimen is sufficiently different from anything else that's been seen before to be regarded as a new species," <a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/natural-history-museum-new-species-scli-intl-gbr-scn/index.html" target="_blank">he said</a>. "So you're describing it for the first time."</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/" target="_blank">biodiversity rapidly declines</a> across the globe, identifying new species comes with a time constraint, Littlewood noted in an <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2020/december/503-new-species-described-by-museum-scientists-in-2020.html" target="_blank">article by the National History Museum</a>.</p><p>"In a year when the global mass of biodiversity is being outweighed by human-made mass it feels like a race to document what we are losing," <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2020/december/503-new-species-described-by-museum-scientists-in-2020.html" target="_blank">he shared.</a></p><p>Since 1900, the abundance of native species in land-based habitats has decreased by at least 20 percent, according to findings outlined in a <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">United Nations Report</a>. Over 40 percent amphibian species, nearly 33 percent reef-forming corals and over a third of all marine animals are threatened.</p>
<p>"503 newly discovered species reminds us we represent a single, inquisitive, and immensely powerful species with the fate of many others in our hands," <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2020/december/503-new-species-described-by-museum-scientists-in-2020.html" target="_blank">Littlewood added</a>.</p><p>Among the hundreds of species identified was a monkey called the Popa langur, found on the extinct Mount Popa volcano in Myanmar. <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2020/november/new-species-of-monkey-is-already-critically-endangered.html" target="_blank">According to the National History Museum</a>, the skin and skull of the monkey were collected over 100 years ago.</p><p>Scientists analyzed the coloration of the Popa langur's skin and bones and sampled its genetics to compare it to related species.</p><p>"Monkeys are one of the most iconic groups of mammals, and these specimens have been in the collections for over a hundred years," Roberto Portela Miguez, the senior curator in charge of mammals at the museum and involved in identifying the new species, <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2020/november/new-species-of-monkey-is-already-critically-endangered.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told the National History Museum</a>. "But we didn't have the tools or the expertise to do this work before."</p>
<p>The Popa langur is considered to be critically endangered with only 200 to 260 individuals remaining in the wild, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/30/moths-to-monkeys-503-new-species-identified-by-uk-scientists" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. As Myanmar rapidly develops, the monkeys are threatened by decreased forest habitats and increased hunting.</p><p>Naming the species, Miguez thinks, will help in its <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation">conservation</a>. "The hope is that by giving this species the scientific status and notoriety it merits, there will be even more concerted efforts in protecting this area and the few other remaining populations," he told the <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2020/november/new-species-of-monkey-is-already-critically-endangered.html" target="_blank">National History Museum</a>.</p><p>"It has been a good year for discovering more amphibian and reptile species," <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/30/moths-to-monkeys-503-new-species-identified-by-uk-scientists" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Guardian reported</a>, noting the scientist's identification of a crested lizard from Borneo, two new species of frog and nine new snakes.</p><p>"At the moment we think that as a basic guess maybe 20% of life has been described in some shape or form," <a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/natural-history-museum-new-species-scli-intl-gbr-scn/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Norris told CNN</a>, expecting to identify hundreds of new species in the new year.</p>
<p>"Our understanding of the natural world's diversity is negligible and yet we depend on its systems, interconnectedness and complexity for food, water, climate resilience and the air we breathe," <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2020/december/503-new-species-described-by-museum-scientists-in-2020.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Littlewood told the National History Museum</a>. "Revealing new and undescribed species not only sustains our awe of the natural world, it further reveals what we stand to lose and helps estimate the diversity we may lose even before it's discovered."</p>
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Mongabay's longtime editor and senior correspondent Jeremy Hance published his memoir, Baggage, this year. Jeremy Hance / YouTube
By John C. Cannon
Books have provided a welcome refuge in 2020. The global pandemic has, in many cases, turned even routine travel into a risk not worth taking, and it has left many longing for the day when we will once again set off for a new destination. At the same time, this year has also been a time to reflect on the sense of place and what home means to each of us.
<p>This year's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation">conservation</a> book list draws on those two themes. Satisfying the urge to light out into the unknown, several authors share tales and observations from the field. Others delve deeply into a single spot, examining its importance to a people and the way we as a species fit into it, however uncomfortably. In the end, each reinforces a lesson that the pandemic has laid bare: Pull a thread on the web of life and even distant strands will reverberate as a result.</p>
<h3>1. <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250173348" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty and Achieve Peace</a></h3><p>By Carl Safina</p><p>Biologist Carl Safina has made a career of working on the front lines of conservation and then imparting what he has learned in a way that makes us, his readers, take notice. Broken down into three parts, <em>Becoming Wild</em> explores the lives and cultures of three species: sperm whales, scarlet macaws, and chimpanzees.</p><p>By turns fascinating, heartwarming and tragic, traveling with Safina as a guide is engrossing. And, as you might suspect, there's an agenda here. <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity">Biodiversity</a>, all the weird and wondrous speciation that evolution has molded from the building blocks of life on this planet, is under threat, now more so than at any other time since humans emerged from that same swirling mix of forces. But beyond the staggering loss of species and individual lifeforms currently underway, Safina demonstrates that the sum total of what we lose will be far more than just a statistic if we don't work to protect the life that remains.</p>
<h3>2. <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/547092/oak-flat-by-lauren-redniss/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Oak Flat</a></h3><p>By Lauren Redniss</p><p>Cutting across social justice, economic and environmental lines, <em>Oak Flat</em> chronicles the real-life struggle of a family to protect sacred land from destruction after the discovery of a copper deposit in the desert in the U.S. Southwest. The family lives on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona and must contend with the substantial resources of a massive mining corporation, not to mention a set of laws that seem designed to put profits before people.</p><p>Told in the style of a graphic novel, author and illustrator Lauren Redniss draws on her earnest reporting and skill as an artist to shine a light on the issue, made all the more urgent because today the Apache of San Carlos are still fighting to protect their land.</p>
<h3>3. <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374228484" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl</a></h3><p>By Jonathan Slaght</p><p>The Blakiston's fish owl doesn't make conservation efforts on its behalf easy. Inhabiting the unforgiving mountains and forests of Russia's Far East, its dwindling numbers are threatened by logging and fishing in Primorye province.</p><p>Enter WCS scientist Jonathan Slaght and an intimate look at meeting the owl on its own turf. Just as fascinating as the quirky bird he's pursuing are the characters who people Slaght's book, the hardy folk who at once represent both a threat to the Blakiston's fish owl and invaluable accomplices in his mission to save the species.</p>
<h3>4. <a href="https://www.enricsala.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Nature of Nature: Why We Need the Wild</a></h3><p>By Enric Sala</p><p>Ecologist and National Geographic explorer-in-residence Enric Sala says he didn't want his career as a scientist to be spent just writing obituaries, cataloging the final days of so many of the species he studies. <em>The Nature of Nature</em> is both an homage to the diversity of life on Earth and a warning of the steps we must take to ensure it persists. Vividly told stories from decades of observing and probing the natural world serve as a testimony to the interconnectivity that binds all life — including humans — together.</p><p>As Sala told Mongabay in an <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/tamper-with-nature-and-everyone-suffers-qa-with-ecologist-enric-sala/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">interview</a> in August, "You tamper with nature in one part of the planet, and everyone suffers. That's why we need to protect the wild."</p>
<h3>5. <a href="https://msupress.org/9781611863581/the-medicine-wheel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Medicine Wheel: Environmental Decision-Making Process of Indigenous Peoples</a></h3><p>By Michael E. Marchand, Kristiina A. Vogt, Rodney Cawston, John D. Tovey, John McCoy, Nancy Maryboy, Calvin T. Mukumoto, Daniel J. Vogt and Melody Starya Mobley</p><p>In the most academic-leaning book to make this year's list, a group of predominantly <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous-peoples">Indigenous</a> authors draw on the history, art and culture of Native societies from around the world with an eye toward how we might better coexist with nature. Their aim is to provide a guide for the ways in which Indigenous thinking and science, too often viewed as working at cross purposes, can come together to solve environmental problems.</p>
<h3>6. <a href="https://saraband.net/sb-title/cottongrass-summer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cottongrass Summer</a></h3><p>By Roy Dennis</p><p>Like many of the other authors on this list, ornithologist and conservationist Roy Dennis thankfully doesn't disguise his fascination with the intricacies of nature in <em>Cottongrass Summer</em>. The stories he tells have been gleaned from countless years of fieldwork and, at times, battles with the prevailing conservation establishment of the day. Still, the iconoclastic 80-year-old carries on, offering a measure of hope in a book for a wilder and healthier planet.</p><p>Orangutan biologist Erik Meijaard, who <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/book-review-cottongrass-summer-the-book-every-eco-anxious-conservationist-should-read/" target="_blank">reviewed</a> Dennis's book for Mongabay in August, said, "[C]ynics among you turn away, this book is not for you. To me this book is about belief and love. Belief in a better world where wild animals and plants can once again thrive alongside people. And a deep love for the natural world around us."</p>
<h3>7. <a href="https://www.ericjaydolin.com/a-furious-sky" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America's Hurricanes</a></h3><p>By Eric Jay Dolin</p><p>In <em>A Furious Sky</em>, author Eric Jay Dolin digs deep into the annals of humans' history with the awe-inspiring and destructive hurricane. Along the way, he unearths a trove of engaging characters and entrancing struggles to find a way to coexist with Earth's most powerful storms. In the end, we find that, as the planet's climate changes, hurricanes will likely only grow stronger.</p>
<h3>8. <a href="https://www.workman.com/products/natures-best-hope" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard</a></h3><p>By Douglas W. Tallamy</p><p>Many of the world's environmental crises can feel beyond the reach of human problem solving. University of Delaware professor Douglas Tallamy takes a different tack, instead suggesting that the ideal place to begin a necessary revolution is right where we live. Instead of depending on the seep of political compromise that's so often inadequate and short-sighted in addressing issues like biodiversity loss, deforestation and climate change, Tallamy's belief is that by starting small — creating hospitable habitats for native plants and insects in our backyards, for example — we can realize the dreams of the pantheon of conservation's great thinkers, Aldo Leopold, E.O. Wilson and Rachel Carson among them.</p>
<h3>9. <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Fathoms/Rebecca-Giggs/9781982120696" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fathoms: The World in the Whale</a></h3><p>By Rebecca Giggs</p><p>Over centuries, technological innovations, capitalist incentives and sheer grit led to many species of whales being hunted to near extinction. But the moratorium on hunting whales that coalesced in the 1980s around the awe these animals inspire and the outrage so many felt at witnessing their slaughter helped bring them back from the brink. All but a few of the world's most fervent whale-hunting nations signed on, and the rebound in whale numbers seems like a great success. But in what kind of world have we ensured their survival?</p><p>That's one of the questions that author Rebecca Giggs ponders in <em>Fathoms</em>, as she puts the survival of whales in the context of an increasing plastic-filled and polluted ocean, where warming waters and a paradoxically destructive ecotourism industry wait to confront them at every turn.</p>
<h3>10. <a href="https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/chris-hamby/soul-full-of-coal-dust/9780316299497/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Soul Full of Coal Dust: A Fight for Breath and Justice in Appalachia</a></h3><p>By Chris Hamby</p><p>2020 has proven, if there were any doubt, that human and environmental health are inextricably linked. Investigative journalist Chris Hamby probed a paragon of this connection in <em>Soul Full of Coal Dust</em>. As the worldwide debate over the continued use of coal for steady but dirty energy production has taken center stage, the people who haul it from the ground have been fighting for their lives just behind the curtain.</p><p>Hamby takes his readers to the mountains of Appalachia, the epicenter of U.S. coal production, where fortunes rise and fall with the industry itself. He details the David-and-Goliath struggle to take on "Big Coal" and bring much-needed help to the miners afflicted with black lung disease.</p>
<h3>11. <a href="https://jeremyhance.com/baggage-confessions-of-a-globe-trotting-hypochondriac/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Baggage: Confessions of a Globe-Trotting Hypochondriac</a></h3><p>By Jeremy Hance</p><p>A 2020 Mongabay book list wouldn't be complete without a nod to the site's longtime editor and senior correspondent, Jeremy Hance (as well as the site's first staff writer), who published his own <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/diary-of-a-great-environmental-journalist-and-bad-traveler-qa-with-jeremy-hance/" target="_blank">memoir</a> this year. Hance has traveled the world in pursuit of the engaging environmental stories he's written for Mongabay, the Guardian, and Ensia, among other publications. He's also lived with hypochondria and obsessive-compulsive disorder for decades, conditions that can make the dream of travel an anxiety-producing nightmare. Fortunately for his readers, they haven't deterred him, and in <em>Baggage</em>, Hance recounts his voyages in a book that's as witty and self-effacing as it is poignant and instructive.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/11-notable-books-on-conservation-and-the-environment-published-in-2020/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Environmental activists on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol during the Global Climate Strike rally on Sept. 20, 2019 in Washington, DC. Samuel Corum / Getty Images
In an era of extreme political polarization, opportunities for bipartisan efforts on climate change may seem impossible, but a recent introduction of rare climate legislation, authored by Republican and Democratic senators, could pioneer future agreements.
<p>Last Wednesday, U.S. Senators Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.), co-chairs of the <a href="https://www.coons.senate.gov/climate-solutions-caucus/" target="_blank">Bipartisan Senate Climate Solutions Caucus</a>, introduced <a href="https://www.coons.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Trillion%20Trees%20and%20Natural%20Carbon%20Storage%20Act%20.pdf" target="_blank">The Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act</a> – a bill aimed at storing carbon, promoting sustainable management and ending <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation">deforestation</a>.</p><p>Coons said this year's <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires">wildfires</a> and storms are a "reminder of how climate change is impacting our lands – and a clear signal that we need to act now to protect them for future generations," in a <a href="https://www.coons.senate.gov/news/press-releases/sens-braun-coons-introduce-bipartisan-climate-legislation-to-support-global-trillion-trees-initiative-and-combat-deforestation#:~:text=The%20Trillion%20Trees%20and%20Natural%20Carbon%20Storage%20Act%3A,restoration%2C%20and%20deforestation%20prevention%20efforts." target="_blank">press release</a>.</p><p>Braun called the bill "a common sense proposal to help improve our land, water, soil, and air, without imposing onerous Washington regulations."</p>
<p>Nature-based climate proposals like the one trillion tree initiative reflect "an acknowledgment by some in the Republican Party of rising voter demand for action on climate change, even as it seeks to preserve the economic benefits of a historic drilling boom that has made the United States the world's biggest oil and gas producer," <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-usa-trees/plant-a-trillion-trees-republicans-offer-fossil-friendly-climate-fix-idUSKBN2061FG" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>.</p><p>Inspired by a July 2019 <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/365/6448/76.full.pdf" target="_blank">study in Science</a>, The Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act understands ecosystem restoration to be one of the most effective climate mitigation strategies, based on the study's finding that an extra 0.9 billion hectares of canopy cover could store 205 gigatons of carbon in places that support forests.</p>
<p>The bill also supports the <a href="https://www.1t.org/" target="_blank">1t.org</a> One Trillion Trees Initiative, a World Economic Forum initiative that aims to plant one trillion trees worldwide by 2030, announced in January 2020. President Donald Trump affirmed his support for the international initiative early this year, despite his public history of climate skepticism, stating he wanted to show "strong leadership in restoring, growing and better managing our trees and our forests," the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/one-trillion-trees-world-economic-forum-launches-plan-to-help-nature-and-the-climate/" target="_blank">World Economic Forum reported</a>. In October, the president signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/president-trump-signs-one-trillion-trees-executive-order-promoting-conservation-regeneration-nations-forests/" target="_blank">executive order</a> which established a council responsible for the federal government's involvement in the international initiative.</p><p>The proposed legislation introduced by Braun and Coons last week seeks to make the U.S. a leader in the One Trillion Trees Initiative. It also aims to resolve the government's limited capacity to "enact a bipartisan conservation policy" and simply put "utilize one of the most effective tools to sequester greenhouse gas emissions," according to the bill's <a href="https://www.coons.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Trillion%20Trees%20Natural%20Carbon%20Storage%20Act%20Final%20One%20Pager%5b3%5d.pdf" target="_blank">one-page summary</a>.</p>
<p>In doing so, The Trillion Trees and Natural Carbon Storage Act <a href="https://www.coons.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Trillion%20Trees%20Natural%20Carbon%20Storage%20Act%20Final%20One%20Pager%5b3%5d.pdf" target="_blank">would require</a> the USDA to establish objectives for increasing the net carbon stock of various ecosystems.</p><p>In their <a href="http://blogs.edf.org/growingreturns/2020/12/09/trillion-trees-natural-carbon-storage-act/" target="_blank">blog</a>, the Environmental Defense Fund supports this objective, saying the bill could shift focus away from exclusively placing a commercial price on ecosystem harvests and instead give additional value to an ecosystem by including its abilities to mitigate climate change.</p><p><a href="https://www.coons.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Trillion%20Trees%20Natural%20Carbon%20Storage%20Act%20Final%20One%20Pager%5b3%5d.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The bill</a> also allocates $10 million to the USDA Forest Nursery Revival programs to supply seed and samplings for increased planting and establishes a non-profit organization, the International Forest Foundation, to encourage private donations for international reforestation.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-usa-trees/plant-a-trillion-trees-republicans-offer-fossil-friendly-climate-fix-idUSKBN2061FG" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">similar proposals</a> have faced criticism from environmentalists who state planting more trees is not a sufficient strategy to combat the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate crisis</a> and does little to limit fossil fuel production, legislation like this "is a sign that congressional Republicans may be willing to strike deals on climate with President-elect Joe Biden after he takes office next month," according to a report by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/09/energy-202-two-gop-senators-back-tree-planting-answer-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Washington Post</a>.<br></p><p>The proposed legislation comes at a time when Democrats lead the House by a narrow margin and a Senate majority remains undecided until January, potentially making it difficult for any climate legislation enacted by the Biden administration to pass.</p><p>"The window of opportunity for bipartisan climate action opens wider every day," Elizabeth Gore, senior vice president for Political Affairs of the Environmental Defense Fund <a href="https://www.edf.org/media/congress-calls-natural-climate-solutions" target="_blank">said in a blog</a>. "The time to act is now, and EDF congratulates Sens. Braun and Coons on their efforts to work collaboratively and effectively."</p>
<p class=""><em>Emily Denny is a freelance writer and graduate of UC Berkeley with degrees in environmental policy and English literature. Her concern for climate issues stems from growing up on the rural northwest coast and she hopes her reporting can connect small communities to a global conversation on climate.</em> </p>From Your Site Articles
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The construction site of the Tesla Gigafactory in Brandenburg, Grünheide, Germany on Nov. 28, 2020. Patrick Pleul / picture alliance via Getty Images
Human made stuff now outweighs life on Earth.
That's the finding of a new study published in Nature Wednesday that sought to bring home the full weight of what human activity has done to the planet.
<p>"The study provides a symbolic and mass-based quantitative characterization of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/anthropocene" target="_self">Anthropocene</a> – the geological age of 'the era of humanity,'" study authors Emily Elhacham and Ron Milo <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/09/world/human-made-mass-exceeds-biomass-report-2020/index.html" target="_blank">told CNN in an email</a>. "Given the empirical evidence on the accumulated mass of human artifacts, we can no longer deny our central role in the natural world."</p><p>To generate their results, the study authors, based out of Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science, split human-made stuff into six categories. They were</p><ol><li>Concrete</li><li>Bricks</li><li>Asphalt</li><li>Metal and other materials, like <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics" target="_self">plastic</a></li><li>Wood used for building and paper</li><li>Glass</li></ol>
<p>They then compared the weight of all this to Earth's biomass, or the combined weight of all of its living things, including humans and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/animals" target="_self">animals</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plants" target="_self">plants</a> we raise for food. Earth's biomass has a weight of 1.1 teratons.</p><p>Their conclusion? 2020 is the "crossover point" when human-generated material outweighs nature.</p><p>This isn't the only surprising finding in the paper. The weight of human impact has been rapidly increasing, doubling roughly every 20 years in recent history. To put it in individual terms, the weight of each person is produced in the generation of stuff every week.</p>
<p>The heaviest human-made items are buildings and infrastructure, which are typically made from brick, asphalt or concrete, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/09/human-made-materials-now-outweigh-earths-entire-biomass-study" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. Plastic alone outweighs all land-based and marine animals.</p><p>And the discrepancy might be even more dramatic than the paper suggests. It did not calculate the weight of waste, and, if it had, human generated material might have outweighed biomass by 2013, according to CNN.</p><p>How did this happen? In 1900, human-produced stuff only accounted for around three percent of Earth's biomass, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/12/09/human-made-materials-outweighs-all-living-things-earth-study/6507646002/" target="_blank">USA TODAY reported</a>. Its rapid growth can be explained by two factors. First, humans have produced more stuff than we have reproduced people. Second, humans have also decreased the earth's biomass as we produced more things.</p>
<p>"Since the first agricultural revolution, humanity has roughly halved the mass of plants," the authors wrote in the study, according to The Guardian. "While modern <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/agriculture" target="_self">agriculture</a> utilises an increasing land area for growing crops, the total mass of domesticated crops is vastly outweighed by the loss of plant mass resulting from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation" target="_self">deforestation</a>, forest management and other land-use changes. These trends in global biomass have affected the carbon cycle and human health."</p><p>The researchers hope their findings will spur people into action to lessen humanity's impact on the earth.</p><p>"[W]e hope that once we all have these somewhat shocking figures before our eyes, we can, as a species, take responsibility," Milo told USA TODAY.</p>
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'Stop the Plunder and Start the Healing,' UN Chief Urges in State of the Planet Speech
03 December 2020
Climate
Workers harvest asparagus in a field by the Niederaussem lignite coal power plant in Cologne, Germany. Greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning are reaching new highs. Henning Kaiser / picture alliance via Getty Images
By Stuart Braun
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressed the dire threat of climate change Wednesday in a speech on the state of the planet delivered at Columbia University in New York.
<p>"The state of the planet is broken, humanity is waging war on nature," he said. "Nature always strikes back, and is doing so with gathering force and fury."</p><p>Referring to the World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) provisional report, <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/our-mandate/climate/wmo-statement-state-of-global-climate" target="_blank">The State of the Global Climate 2020</a>, that was released Wednesday, he reiterated that the last decade was the hottest on record, and that ice sheet decline, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/siberia-heatwave-climate-change/a-54192654" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">permafrost melting</a>, vast climate fires and unprecedented hurricanes were just some of the consequences.</p><p>"Stop the plunder," Guterres added, referring to the ongoing <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/brazil-amazon-deforestation-races-to-12-year-high-under-bolsonaro/a-55779726" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">deforestation</a> that is also fueling climate change. "And start the healing."</p><p>Climate policies have failed to rise to the challenge, Guterres said, noting that emissions in 2020 are 60% higher than in 1990. "We are heading for a temperature rise of 3 to 5 degrees Celsius (by 2100)."</p><p>Yet the secretary-general sees hope for 2021, saying it's time to "build a truly global coalition towards carbon neutrality."</p><p>This goal will require net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. More than 110 countries are already committed to carbon neutrality by this date, he noted, representing more than 65% of emissions. Central to achieving this goal will be to encourage renewable energy by instituting a carbon price and phasing out fossil fuel financing and subsidies.</p><p>"There is no vaccine for the planet," he said regarding the need to build a global climate action movement.</p>
<h2>Last Six Years Are Six Hottest on Record</h2><p>The WMO state of climate report referenced by Guterres confirms that 2020 is currently placed as the second warmest for the year-to-date when compared to equivalent periods in the past.</p><p>The annual climate scorecard details a litany of symptoms of a heating planet: a high frequency of severe droughts, unparalleled major hurricanes, retreating sea ice, heavy rain and flooding across Asia and Africa and extensive marine heat waves.</p><p>Headlining the global climate report is confirmation in 2020 that global heating is accelerating. Though 2016 remains the warmest year on record to date, it kicked off with a very strong El Niño warm phase, via which hotter oceans elevate global temperatures.</p><p>Four years later, these <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/global-heating-could-pass-key-mark-in-5-years-un/a-54116525" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">peak temperatures</a> have continued, despite a cooler La Niña weather phase that started in September, and comparatively weak El Niño conditions. The global mean temperature for January to October 2020 was around 1.2°C above the 1850–1900 baseline.</p><p>"With 2020 on course to be one of the three warmest years on record, the past six years, 2015–2020, are likely to be the six warmest on record," states the WMO climate report.</p><p>In the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/siberia-heatwave-climate-change/a-54120019" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Siberian</a> Arctic, temperatures were more than 5 degrees Celsius above average in 2020, reaching as high as 38 Celsius at Verkhoyansk in late June, provisionally the highest known temperature anywhere north of the Arctic Circle.</p><p>"We saw new extreme temperatures on land, sea and especially in the Arctic," said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas. "Wildfires consumed vast areas in Australia, Siberia, the U.S. West Coast and South America, sending plumes of smoke circumnavigating the globe."</p>
<h2>Despite Pandemic, Greenhouse Gases Still Rising</h2><p>The lockdowns implemented to slow the coronavirus pandemic have only resulted in a "temporary reduction in emissions" in 2020, according to the report. As a result, there will be a "practically indistinguishable" slowing of the fast-increasing CO2 concentrations recorded in 2019.</p><p>Greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations generated largely by fossil fuel burning reached new highs in 2019, with carbon dioxide (CO2), <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/why-we-should-be-worried-about-methane/a-55241028" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">methane (CH4)</a> and nitrous oxide (N2O) levels rising to a larger degree from 2018 (2.6 parts per million) than the increases from the previous two years.</p><p>"Real-time data from specific locations, including Mauna Loa (Hawaii) and Cape Grim (Tasmania) indicate that levels of CO2, CH4 and N2O continued to increase in 2020," stated the report.</p><p> This increase comes at a time when there should be rapid cuts in emissions in line with the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C.</p>
<h2>Global Heating Symptoms Getting Worse</h2><p>The report also notes that sea levels have risen at a higher rate year-on-year due partly to increased melting of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica.</p><p>Meanwhile, over 80% of the ocean area has experienced at least one marine heat wave in 2020. In addition, 43% of the ocean experienced marine heat waves that were classified as "strong."</p><p>2019 also saw the highest ocean heat content on record.</p><p>Heavy rain and extensive flooding affected large parts of Africa and Asia in 2020, especially across much of the Sahel, the Greater Horn of Africa, the India subcontinent and neighboring areas, China, Korea and Japan. With 30 named storms (as of November 17, 2020), the north Atlantic hurricane season recorded the highest ever number of named storms.</p><p>Moreover, severe drought affected much of the interior of South America in 2020, with the badly affected areas including northern Argentina, Paraguay and western border areas of Brazil.</p><p>"Climate and weather events have triggered significant population movements and have severely affected vulnerable people on the move, including in the Pacific region and Central America," the climate report said.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/un-chief-antonio-guterres-theres-no-vaccine-for-the-planet/a-55796224?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">DW</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Altamira, state of Para, north of Brazil on Sept. 1, 2019. Amazon rainforest destruction surged between August 2019 and July 2020, Brazil's space agency reported. Gustavo Basso / NurPhoto via Getty Images
According to Brazil's space agency (Inpe), deforestation in the Amazon rainforest has surged to its highest level since 2008, the BBC reported.
<p>Despite Brazil previously setting a goal of slowing the pace of deforestation to 3,900 sq km annually by 2020, deforestation increased 9.5% from last year, and a total of 11,088 sq km (4,281 sq miles) of rainforest was destroyed from August 2019 to July 2020, according to the news report. That area is just smaller than the state of Connecticut, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/30/world/americas/brazil-amazon-rainforest-deforestation.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> noted.</p><p>Scientists blame part of this acceleration on far-right Brazilian President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/jair-bolsonaro" target="_self">Jair Bolsonaro</a>, who was elected on a pro-development promise and took office in Jan. 2019. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/bolsonaro" target="_self">Bolsonaro</a> encourages agriculture and mining in the world's largest rainforest and has <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/brazil-bolsonaro-bill-open-indigenous-land-2645088985.html" target="_self">actively introduced policies and bills that open up the forest to loggers, ranchers and mining operations</a>. He has also cut critical funding for federal enforcement agencies that police farmers and loggers breaking environmental laws, the BBC reported.</p>
<p>Bolsonaro has simultaneously shunned outside influence from other countries, especially concerning the development of the Amazon. He has been accused of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/brazil-amazon-deforestation-coronavirus-2645950493.html" target="_self">using the coronavirus shutdowns as a smokescreen</a> to promote more deforestation and exploitation of forest resources. He has argued that he wants to develop the forest's resources to lift the area out of poverty, The New York Times reported.</p><p>As a result, deforestation and forest fires have increased under Bolsonaro's leadership. Fires are often used to clear vegetation from clear-cut areas of the forest to prepare them for illegal cattle-raising and agriculture, the report said.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bolsonaro-amazon-deforestation-court-2646172097.html" target="_self">Civil society groups and public prosecutors in Brazil filed lawsuits against the Bolsonaro government</a> to stop deforestation, taking issue with the president's reduction of inspections of exported timber and freezing of climate funds that help preserve the forests when other countries use these to offset their carbon emissions.</p><p>The trees in the Amazon are a vital component in the fight against the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> because they absorb billions of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year, The New York Times reported. As the Amazon is cut down, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/amazon-deforestation-carbon-emissions-2645127492.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" target="_self">it is becoming a carbon source instead of one of the world's largest carbon sinks</a>. This will have dire consequences for global temperatures.</p>
<p>The rainforest is also home to roughly three million species of plants and animals and one million indigenous people, the BBC reported. As habitat is lost, many species could be driven to extinction before they are even discovered. Protected tribal lands serve as a buffer against deforestation, and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/indigenous-tribes-drone-protect-amazon-2647584474.html" target="_self">indigenous tribes survey the land to protect the trees</a>. Their way of life and actual lives are at risk as the forest is cut down.</p><p>Despite the total size of deforested land being at a 12-year high, at least one federal official highlighted the slowing percentage-of-growth figure (9.5%) as a sign of progress because it is far lower than the 34% increase seen in 2019, The New York Times reported.</p><p>"While we are not here to celebrate this, it does signify that the efforts we are making are beginning to bear fruit," Vice President Hamilton Mourão said.</p><p>Environmentalists and scientists disagree and remain skeptical because Bolsonaro has asserted that "deforestation and fires will never end" because they are "cultural," reported <a href="https://www.axios.com/brazil-amazon-deforestation-12-year-high-0a7991c6-68e2-48f3-8a2d-715b49209cad.html" target="_blank">Axios</a>.</p><p>"The [new] figures show that Bolsonaro's plan worked, Brazilian non-governmental organization <a href="http://www.observatoriodoclima.eco.br/en/" target="_blank">Climate Observatory</a> said in a statement, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-environment/deforestation-in-brazils-amazon-skyrockets-to-12-year-high-under-bolsonaro-idUSKBN28A2RG" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported. "They reflect the result of a successful initiative to annihilate the capacity of the Brazilian State and the inspection bodies to take care of our forests and fight crime in the Amazon."</p>
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Eat Just, Inc. announced that its cultured chicken has been approved for sale in Singapore as an ingredient in chicken bites. The company has developed other cultured chicken formats as well. Eat Just
As concern mounts over the environmental impacts of animal agriculture, Singapore has issued the world's first regulatory approval for lab-grown meat.
<p>The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) has declared that the U.S.-based company <a href="https://www.ju.st/en-us" target="_blank">Eat Just</a> can sell its cultured "chicken bites" in the country, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/02/no-kill-lab-grown-meat-to-go-on-sale-for-first-time" target="_blank">The Guardian reported Wednesday</a>.</p><p>"I think the approval is one of the most significant milestones in the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/food/" target="_self">food</a> industry in the last handful of decades," Eat Just co-founder and CEO Josh Tetrick said in a statement reported by The Guardian. "It's an open door and it's up to us and other companies to take that opportunity. My hope is this leads to a world in the next handful of years where the majority of meat doesn't require killing a single animal or tearing down a single tree."</p>
<p>Giving up on <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/meat-consumption" target="_self">meat consumption</a> is one of the most important things an individual can do to fight the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> and environmental destruction, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/vegan-climate-change-2558286917.html" target="_self">studies</a> have <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/vegan-earth-footprint-2574241439.html" target="_self">found</a>. Companies have tried to tap into this growing ecological awareness by offering meat alternatives. Plant-based meat replacements like <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/beyond-meat" target="_self">Beyond Meat</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/impossible-foods" target="_self">Impossible Foods</a> are gaining traction, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55155741" target="_blank">BBC News pointed out</a>, and the market for meat alternatives could be worth about 10 percent of the global meat industry within the next decade.</p><p>However, some companies think that plant-based meat replacements will not be enough to wean meat-lovers off of steak and chicken, The Guardian pointed out. Instead, companies like Eat Just, Future Meat Technologies and the Bill Gates-backed Memphis Meats have worked to grow meat in labs, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/01/singapore-issues-first-regulatory-approval-for-lab-grown-meat-to-eat-just.html" target="_blank">CNBC reported</a>. They argue that their meat is also less cruel, healthier for consumers and better for the environment.</p><p>"We think that [the way] to really solve the meat problem — which is a health problem, a deforestation problem, a morality problem — is to make animal protein," Tetrick told CNBC.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg1NzE4Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMTUzMjA4N30.-5EwlKgZejlzA25BqWo0VkOuhK2_4BZ6nxbfLcrtC4M/img.jpg?width=980" id="9c1fe" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="01f8f414e028394386321c455c4436f8" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1200" data-height="675" />
Eat Just's cultured chicken has been approved for sale in Singapore as an ingredient in chicken bites. Eat Just
<p>Eat Just worked to gain the approval of Singapore health regulators for about two years. To do so, they had to develop a consistent manufacturing process for their product and satisfy food safety standards for new foods.</p><p>"It was found to be safe for consumption at the intended levels of use, and was allowed to be sold in Singapore as an ingredient in Eat Just's nuggets product," the SFA ruled, as BBC News reported.</p><p>Eat Just's meat is made by putting animal stem cells into a culture that feeds the cells, and then putting the growing cells in a bioreactor, CNBC explained. Tetrick said the process was similar to making beer.</p><p>The product already has health benefits compared to conventional meat. It has a high protein content and many amino acids, but it has no antibiotics and very low amounts of microbes like salmonella.</p><p>It is also largely cruelty free. The meat cells can be taken from live animals, and they are fed with plant-derived nutrients, The Guardian explained. The Singapore lab chicken did use a growth serum from foetal bovine blood, but a plant-based serum will be used for the next round of production.</p>
<p> Lab-grown meat also uses less land and water than conventional meat. However, the process does have some environmental disadvantages. It is high-energy, and, because it is currently being done at a small scale, requires a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions. Once the process is scaled up, the energy costs will go down.</p><p>There are many challenges that must be overcome before cultured meat is widely available. Eat Just's product will first be offered in just one restaurant in Singapore, Tetrick told CNBC.</p><p>"We're going to start out with a single restaurant and then scale out to five, 10, 15 and then eventually into retail," Tetrick told CNBC. "The infrastructure required to do it is primarily the bioreactors, so we'll eventually be moving to 5,000, 10,000 and 20,000 liters."</p><p>It is currently costly to produce cultured meat, and the product will be the price of premium chicken. However, costs have already decreased from $50 per chicken nugget, according to BBC News. They are expected to continue to do so as production is scaled up, and Eat Just says its products will eventually be cheaper to produce than conventional meat, according to The Guardian.</p><p>Another hurdle is making meat lovers comfortable with the idea of lab-grown meat.</p><p>Still, Bruce Friedrich of the Good Food Institute called the new approval a "very big deal for the future of meat production globally."</p><p>"A new space race for the future of food is under way," he told The Guardian.</p>
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