Help Support EcoWatch
This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience while browsing it. By clicking 'Got It' you're accepting these terms.
Most recent
Trending
Top Videos
The best of EcoWatch, right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!
Record flood water levels in Venice hit again on Sunday making this the worst week of flooding in the city in over 50 years.
Venice's tide office recorded the peak tide of 1.5 meters above sea level just after 1 p.m. local time UTC.
The new peak left 70 percent of the UNESCO World Heritage city submerged on Sunday.
Since records began in 1872, that level has never been reached even twice in one year. There is no other week on record where waters have reached the 1.5-meter mark three times in one week.
Usually, tides of 80-90 centimeters are considered high.
St. Mark's Square — the lowest point in the city and home of the iconic St. Mark's Basilica — was submerged again and closed to tourists.
Museums and stores in hardest-hit areas also remained closed.
Hundreds of volunteers mobilized to help Venice's inhabitants and to protect iconic buildings in the city, which is world-famous for its canals, historic architecture and art.
Mayor Luigi Brugnaro, who has also been appointed special commissioner to deal with the emergency, pleaded with citizens not to give up hope, saying, "Venetians only get on their knees to pray."
Earlier in the week the city declared a state of emergency and ministers pledged €20 million ($22 million) to address the immediate damage.
Other parts of Italy also experienced severe weather during the weekend, with the river Arno in Pisa threatening to burst it banks.
Why has Venice flooded?
Experts say that Venice is both sinking into the mud it was built on and is at threat from rising sea levels due to climate change.
The flooding has renewed calls for the Mose flood barrier project for the city.
Reposted with permission from Deutsche Welle.
From Your Site Articles
- 70% of Venice Flooded by Highest Tide in at Least a Decade ... ›
- Veneto Council Flooded Two Minutes After Rejecting Climate Action ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
Lit candles, flowers and signs are seen in front of the U.S. embassy in Warsaw, Poland on May 31, 2020. Aleksander Kalka / NurPhoto / Getty Images
As protests are taking place across our nation in response to the killing of George Floyd, we want to acknowledge the importance of this protest and the Black Lives Matter movement. Over the years, we've aimed to be sensitive and prioritize stories that highlight the intersection between racial and environmental injustice. From our years of covering the environment, we know that too often marginalized communities around the world are disproportionately affected by environmental crises.
<p>Now seems like a critical time to reshare a selection of these stories from our writers and our media partners. We know that if we want a healthier planet and life, environmental racism needs to be addressed. Here are 15 stories that highlight racial and environmental injustice and are worth reading during this time. There is no environmental justice without racial justice.<strong></strong></p>
<h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/black--hispanic-americans-coronavirus-2645677258.html" target="_self">Black and Hispanic Americans Suffer Disproportionate Coronavirus Infections</a><br></h2><p><em><strong>Published April 9, 2020, Author Jordan Davidson<br>Excerpt: </strong><br></em>Across the country, the novel coronavirus is severely affecting black people at much higher rates than whites, according to data released by several states, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/us/coronavirus-race.html?campaign_id=54&emc=edit_clim_20200408&instance_id=17477&nl=climate-fwd%3A&regi_id=86064351&segment_id=24329&te=1&user_id=bb077276a084ddee06decfc0648f4eef" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p><p>In New York, which has seen the most COVID-19 related deaths, the virus has disproportionately affected both the black and Hispanic population. In New York City, Hispanics make up 29 percent of the population, but 34 percent of the city's COVID-19 deaths, while African Americans are 22 percent of the city's population and 28 percent of the fatalities, according to <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/imm/covid-19-deaths-race-ethnicity-04082020-1.pdf" target="_blank">new statistics</a> from the city and <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2020-04-08/coronavirus-disproportionally-kills-hispanics-and-blacks-in-new-york-city" target="_blank">US News and World Report</a>.</p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-environmental-racism-policy-messages-2618309116.html" target="_blank">Environmental Racism at EPA: First Policy, Now Racist Messages Written at Headquarters</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published Nov. 6, 2018, Author Olivia Rosane<br></em></strong><strong><em>Excerpt:</em></strong><br>When it comes to the EPA's internal culture, EPA union AFGE 3331 President Nate James implied more education was needed about the impacts of racist messages like the ones that have popped up since August.</p><p>"We have diversity training but nothing that addresses, for lack of better words, when hateful language is being used it creates a threatening atmosphere, a hostile environment, where employees are concerned about their safety," James told ABC News.</p><p>James said that, earlier in the summer, another incident occurred where a note was left on an African American employee's desk reading "BACK TO THE JUNGLE U GO." The union said that EPA management's response to that incident showed "callous disregard and inattentiveness" and "demoralized" the employee.</p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/lead-environmental-racism-2645941587.html" target="_self">Lead Poisoning Reveals Environmental Racism in the U.S.</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published May 7, 2020, Author Ben Knight / </em>Deutsche Welle<br></strong><em><strong>Excerpt:</strong><br></em>Statistically, the increased risk of lead poisoning associated with being black persists even when you correct for all other factors, from poverty to education levels to the presence of smokers in the home, to quality of housing.</p><p>"A lot of people had been saying: 'Oh black children are just more at risk because they're more likely to be poor,'" said study co-author Deniz "Dersim" Yeter, an independent academic and undergraduate nursing student in Kansas. "Yeah, poverty's a problem, but it's nothing compared to being a black child in America."</p><p>Yeter was "astounded" by the results of their three-year analysis. "I knew it was bad, but I was expecting something like a marginal increase, something statistically significant, but ... not two to six times higher," they told DW. "That is obscene."</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/racial-gap-air-pollution-2631407042.html" target="_blank">First-of-Its-Kind Study Finds Racial Gap Between Who Causes Air Pollution and Who Breathes It</a></h2><p><em><strong>Published March 12, 2019, Author Olivia Rosane <br>Excerpt:</strong></em><br>The first-of-its-kind study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that black and Hispanic Americans breathe in large amounts of dangerous air pollution that is mainly caused by the actions of non-Hispanic whites.</p><p>Even though minorities are contributing less to the overall problem of air pollution, they are affected by it more," study co-author and University of Minnesota engineering professor Jason Hill, who is white, told USA Today. "Is it fair (that) I create more pollution and somebody else is disproportionately affected by it?"</p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-louisiana-cancer-alley-2645667499.html" target="_self">Coronavirus Comes for Louisiana's Cancer Alley</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published April 8, 2020, Author Climate Nexus<br>Excerpt: </em></strong><br>An area in Louisiana whose predominantly black and brown residents are hard-hit by health problems from industry overdevelopment is experiencing one of the highest death rates from coronavirus of any county in the United States.</p><p>St. John the Baptist parish, which sits along the Gulf Coast region known as Cancer Alley, has seen 30 of its 43,000 residents die of COVID-19 since the outbreak began – a death rate of 68.7 per 100,000 people, compared to New York City's rate of 29.</p><p>"We were getting calls almost every hour," parish coroner Christy Montegut told The Guardian. "...They all died in the same way. They got to a hospital, were on a ventilator, but the body just couldn't keep going. They died in spite of full treatment. The virus is overwhelming."</p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/environmental-justice-civil-rights-2609569072.html" target="_self">Environmental Negligence vs. Civil Rights: Black and Hispanic Communities Get More Pollution, Fewer Jobs</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published Oct. 2, 2018, Author Olivia Rosane<br>Excerpt: </em></strong><br>By the numbers, black Americans hold 10.8 percent of the jobs at industrial facilities, but suffer 17.4 percent of the exposure to air pollution. Hispanics hold 9.8 percent of the jobs, but suffer 15 percent of the pollution exposure. Both populations have less than seven percent of the high-paying jobs offered at industrial sites, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2018-10-01/minority-communities-near-industrial-sites-get-pollution-not-jobs" target="_blank">U.S. News & World Report reported</a>.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuel</a> industry was the worst offender. At petroleum industry and coal-product facilities, blacks and Hispanics suffered 48 percent of the pollution exposure and only received around a fifth of the jobs.</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/african-americans-extreme-heat-exposure-2639313007.html" target="_self">African Americans Are Disproportionately Exposed to Extreme Heat</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published July 23, 2019, Author Adrienne Hollis / Union of Concerned Scientists<br>Excerpt: <br></em></strong>The extreme heat is almost three additional weeks' worth of extreme heat days for places that are more than 25% African American as opposed to those that are less than 25% African American. The reasons why African American communities are and will continue to experience more extreme heat days are likely complex, but it's probable that the root of the problem can be traced back to centuries of systemic mistreatment of people of color.<span></span></p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-hurts-the-poor-2639163107.html" target="_self">Why Climate Change Hurts the Poor the Most</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published July 11, 2019, Author Mallika Khanna / Common Dreams<br>Excerpt:</em></strong><br>The idea that environmentalism is an "elite" concern is a lie. Those who stand to gain the most from sweeping environmental protections are the marginalized people corporations assume can be put in toxic environments without fear of backlash.</p><p>That's the best reason yet to support <a href="https://otherwords.org/the-green-new-deal-lets-get-visionary/" target="_blank">a Green New Deal</a>, which would not only curb climate change, but also revitalize the U.S. economy, create millions of jobs, and create alternatives to harmful, unsustainable industries like the petrochemical industry in Cancer Alley that have harmed people for years.</p><p>That could make poor communities a lot less poor — and a lot more resilient.</p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/african-americans-air-pollution-2509714660.html" target="_self">African Americans Disproportionately Suffer Health Effects of Oil and Gas Facilities</a></h2><p><em><strong>Published Nov. 15, 2017, Author David Leestma<br>Excerpt: </strong></em><br>The study found oil and natural gas facilities were built or currently exist within a half-mile of more than one million African Americans, exposing these communities to higher risks of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/cancer" target="_self">cancer</a> due to toxic emissions. "African-Americans are exposed to 38 percent more polluted air than Caucasian Americans, and they are 75 percent more likely to live in fence-line communities than the average American," the report said, referring to neighborhoods near to gas and oil facilities.</p><p>Counties located in the Gulf Coast Basin are home to the most counties with oil refineries and higher percentages of African Americans. Michigan, Louisiana and Tennessee, the report found, have the highest percentage of African American residents living in oil refinery counties. Texas and Louisiana, both in the Gulf Coast Basin, were home to the largest African American individuals at risk for cancer, with nearly 900,000 living in areas above the EPA's level of concern.</p><p>"The effects of oil and gas pollution are disproportionately afflicting African Americans, particularly cancer and respiratory issues, and the trend is only increasing," said Dr. Doris Browne, the National Medical Association president.</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-gutting-nepa-2645437802.html" target="_self">Environmental Racism in Action: The Trump Administration's Plans to Gut NEPA</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published March 9, 2020, Author Derrick Z. Jackson / Union of Concerned Scientists <br>Excerpt:</em></strong><br>For communities long polluted by industry, which are <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/03/11/702348935/study-finds-racial-gap-between-who-causes-air-pollution-and-who-breathes-it" target="_blank">disproportionately poor and of color</a>, the Trump administration's changes promise particular devastation. Such communities already suffer higher rates of illnesses from asthma to cancer, life-altering effects such as low birth weight and cognitive child development, and daily insults to quality of life in diesel exhaust, soot penetrating into homes and contaminated yards and playgrounds.</p><p>If the administration has its way, NEPA implementation guidelines would be rewritten so that even in neighborhoods already densely packed with toxic industries, a proposed facility need only assess its own pollutants, not how much they combine and compound those of nearby facilities to worsen the overall quality of air, water and land.</p><p>To make sure residents cannot complain about such compounded damage, the Trump administration is trying to severely limit the opportunity for mothers, fathers, seniors, teens and community leaders to speak directly to the government.</p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-science-environmental-justice-2645194069.html" target="_self">Beginning a Courageous Journey: Connecting Science & Justice</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published Feb. 19, 2020, Author Dr. Brian R. Shmaefsky / Union of Concerned Scientists <br>Excerpt: </em></strong><br>Historically, the benefits of science and technology have not been shared equally as is discussed in the 2016 Nature article <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/is-science-only-for-the-rich-1.20650" target="_blank"><em>Is science only for the rich?</em></a> A 2018 The Atlantic article <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/the-trump-administration-finds-that-environmental-racism-is-real/554315/" target="_blank"><em>Trump's EPA Concludes Environmental Racism Is Real</em></a> discusses that at times science has been used against environmental justice communities. In addition, the "Belmont Report," produced by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/sites/default/files/the-belmont-report-508c_FINAL.pdf" target="_blank">documents a long history</a> of unequal benefits of medical research.</p><p>In part due to this history, scientists are not always or immediately trusted or welcome in environmental justice communities. Scientists also have a reputation for 'parachuting' into communities to conduct research and make recommendations for change without ever fully consulting the knowledge and lived experience of the people who live there. Community members want equal access to data, policymakers, and science or technology that can remediate environmental injustice.</p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/formosa-plastics-louisiana-slave-burial-ground-2641658521.html" target="_self">Plastics Plant Will Bulldoze Over Black History in 'Cancer Alley'</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published Dec. 20, 2019, Author Climate Nexus <br>Excerpt:<br></em></strong>A major <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics" target="_self">plastics</a> manufacturing complex planned for construction in a highly-polluted region of Louisiana may disrupt a historic slave burial site, The Intercept reports.</p><p>Human remains and evidence of grave shafts were discovered earlier this year on land being developed by Formosa Plastics Group in St. James Parish in Louisiana. The plant could double the amount of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution" target="_self">air pollution</a> in the region and emit 13 million tons of carbon pollution each year. Many of the residents of St. James Parish, located in a stretch of the state known as "Cancer Alley," one of the most polluted stretches in America, say they are descended from slaves who worked on various plantations in the area. "That's sacred ground," activist and St. James Parish resident Sharon Lavigne told The Intercept. "They're saying they don't care about your ancestors. They're slapping us in the face."</p><p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/formosa-plastics-louisiana-slave-burial-ground-2641658521.html" target="_self"><br></a></p>
<h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/environmental-racism-trump-2638817301.html" target="_self">How 'Freeway Revolts' Helped Create the People's Environmental Law</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published June 14, 2019, Author Teju Adisa-Farrar & Raul Garcia / Earthjustice <br>Excerpt: </em></strong><br>The spirit that drove communities of color and neighborhood residents throughout the U.S. to hang banners, picket, sit in and stand up in the 1950s and 1960s is alive today. Even though several communities of color across the nation have been displaced and burdened by pollution because of freeway development projects in the 1960s, NEPA helps to fight against exclusionary and environmentally disruptive planning processes.</p><p>As we fight to end environmental racism, we cannot allow the Trump administration and its allies in Congress to retrench the people's tools for access to justice. We cannot allow them to limit public comments and continue to shut communities out of the NEPA process. It is through direct action and community engagement that NEPA came to be; safeguarding it gives people more power to be a part of the decisions that determine what happens in their communities.</p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/fighting-for-a-just-covid-19-response-2645641251.html" target="_self">Fighting for a Just COVID-19 Response</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published April 5, 2020, Author Derrick Z. Jackson / Union of Concerned Scientists <br>Excerpt:</em></strong><br>The risk of unequal treatment is embedded in even the seemingly universal "we're-all-in-this-together" advice we are getting to protect ourselves and stop the spread of the coronavirus. One person who sees this clearly is <a href="https://www.michiganradio.org/post/pediatrician-says-poisoned-accurate-description-what-happened-flint-children" target="_blank">Lawrence Reynolds</a>, a pediatrician in Flint, Michigan. He served on the 2016 Michigan task force <a href="https://www.michigan.gov/documents/snyder/FWATF_FINAL_REPORT_21March2016_517805_7.pdf" target="_blank">which determined</a> that the Flint Water Crisis in that <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/flintcitymichigan" target="_blank">54-percent</a> African American city was "a story of government failure, intransigence, unpreparedness, delay, inaction, and environmental injustice."</p><p>Reynolds retired a year ago but was asked by Flint's mayor to be an advisor for COVID-19 care.</p><p>He said he already sees where daily life for disadvantaged people is not being factored into public health advisories. "Take social distancing," he said. "That is much easier to do for a family that owns a single-family home where they can spread out inside the home and have a backyard to get some fresh air in private. That is much harder for people who live in small apartments in buildings where people are always passing each other in the hallways. No one has come up with a strategy as to how those folks are supposed to 'social distance.'"</p><h2><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/green-new-deal-farmland-2645649043.html" target="_blank">We Need a Green New Deal for Farmland</a></h2><p><strong><em>Published April 7, 2020, Author Liz Carlisle / Yes! Magazine<br>Excerpt:</em></strong><br>The absence of a coherent U.S. land policy can be blamed for some of the current problems with farmland concentration, say the authors of the Data for Progress memo. But co-lead author Leah Penniman, founding co-director of Soul Fire Farm in Upstate New York, argues that the U.S. government has had a very influential de facto land policy over the past century, even if it wasn't articulated as such. "The very basis of U.S. land policy is rooted in the theft of land and the exclusion of people of color from land," Penniman explains. "This, of course, started with the genocidal stealing of almost the entire continent from the stewardship of Indigenous people … [and] throughout much of our history, there have been various state-level property ownership requirements that excluded people of color from being able to own property."</p><p>When people of color did amass property, Penniman says, they were targeted with violence.</p><p>"The Ku Klux Klan, the White Caps, and the White Citizens Council were responsible for lynching almost 4,500 people, many of whom were landowners, who they saw as having the audacity to get off the plantation and to want to stop sharecropping." The federal government also discriminated against black farmers through USDA programs, Penniman explains, resulting in a rapid decline of black farmers from 14% of the nation's farmers in 1910 to approximately 1% today.</p>
From Your Site Articles
- Lead Poisoning Reveals Environmental Racism in the US - EcoWatch ›
- First-of-Its-Kind Study Finds Racial Gap Between Who Causes Air ... ›
- Pollution, Race and the Search for Justice - EcoWatch ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read More
Show Less
Sockeye salmon are seen swimming at a fish farm. Natalie Fobes / Getty Images
By Peter Beech
Using waste food to farm insects as fish food and high-tech real-time water quality monitoring: innovations that could help change global aquaculture, were showcased at the World Economic Forum's Virtual Ocean Dialogues 2020.
<p>Two young entrepreneurs addressed a breakout session of the event called <em>Harnessing the Power of Innovation to Achieve SDG14.</em> Syrine Chaalala, co-founder of the French-Tunisian company <a href="http://nextprotein.co/" target="_blank">nextProtein</a>, and Charlotte Dupont, co-founder of the French company <a href="https://www.bioceanor.com/products-and-services" target="_blank">BiOceanOr</a>, revealed the ideas that drove their rapidly accelerating startups.</p><p>Chalaala's nextProtein uses food waste to mass-produce insect protein to feed farmed fish in place of fishmeal – the production of which, often from corporate fisheries' by-catch, can lead to the depletion of ecosystems and the collapse of local fisheries. As our demand for farmed fish is growing 8% a year, her innovation could play a vital role in reducing the knock-on impact of aquaculture on the ocean.</p><p>She said that farming insects requires a fraction of the space as animal feed production – 100 square meters (1,076 square feet) of space can produce as much protein as 100 hectares (247 acres) of soy field.</p><p>"Because we wanted to have maximum impact, we wanted to provide solutions to other problems," said Chalaala, naming food waste and land scarcity as two key issues her business tackles. "Here, we can convert 20 kilos (44 pounds) of food waste into 1 kilo (2 pounds) of product."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM2NjM0OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5ODgwNzI4Mn0.97Q4mo_iOgbdUuiRS35PKdK1-e0QKv8C3-ewjkAmhTg/img.png?width=980" id="e712b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="94432f70b397eba50b44653468421d60" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Fly fishing. nextProtein
<p>The method uses vertical farming, little energy and almost no water – testament, said session host Christian Lim of <a href="https://www.blueoceanspartners.com/" target="_blank">Blue Oceans Partners</a>, to the efficiency of the insects at thriving on low input. The insect nextProtein uses is the Black Soldier Fly, selected due to its high-yield quality, and the ease of processing it into powder, oil and fertilizer. Her business is aiming to produce 100,000 tonnes of insect protein annually by 2025 – or around 10% of the insect meal market.</p><p>Meanwhile Charlotte Dupont and her colleagues at BiOceanOr have developed what they term "the first underwater weather station for real-time monitoring of water quality." One of its many applications is for fish farmers who aren't yet monitoring their water quality in real time.</p><p>She painted a picture of an industry that is only reluctantly changing, with water quality largely still monitored by hand. Since this process is time-consuming and arduous, it's generally done only once a day. But once the firm's underwater 'weather-stations' are installed, farmers can get a moment-by-moment grasp on conditions for their stock.</p><p>"Our first customer called us a few days later to tell us our tool wasn't working – the oxygen levels couldn't be so low," she said. But the equipment was fine: the unprecedented readings had thrown him. He was used to taking his readings only once a day, in the late morning, and had no idea how low oxygen levels could get overnight.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM2NjM1My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMTIyMTUyNn0.x-eiOr4B5_0GZvmVnYiD0YYGyDR32PO0YJ0H-3tFrzM/img.png?width=980" id="b4249" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8a25143f13bdf53b3e5fdfd0833eaf7c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
BiOceanOr's AquaREAL system. BiOceanOr
<p>"There are a lot of aquaculturists who don't realize right now the power of real-time monitoring," said Dupont. "It's a knowledge that they transmit from generation to generation, like agriculture a century ago: 'I know it because my father knows it.' They think there's nothing you can learn from tools, but just as in agriculture, there's a lot you can learn."</p><p>"I think data will be really central in the future," said Dupont, predicting a future where people subscribe to the water forecast just as today they subscribe to a weather forecast.</p><p>"With sensitive ecosystems like reefs and coastal systems, people will be able to subscribe to the data and see what is going on," she said. These water-quality forecasts will play a vital role in protecting ocean health.</p><p>Their session provided a short but telling insight into two crucial innovations in aquaculture as we set a course for a sustainable blue economy in the post-COVID-19 era. For more from the Virtual Ocean Dialogues 2020, you can access the whole event <a href="https://www.weforum.org/events/virtual-ocean-dialogues-2020/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/virtual-ocean-dialogues-water-forecasting-fish-farms-waste-innovation-blue-economy/" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
- Environmental Innovation Will Transform Business as Usual ... ›
- How an Army of Ocean Farmers Is Starting an Economic Revolution ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read More
Show Less
Sponsored
Shanika Reaux walks through the devastated Lower Ninth Ward on May 10, 2006 in New Orleans, Louisiana, after her home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Mario Tama / Getty Images
The big three broadcast channels failed to cover the disproportionate impacts of extreme weather on low-income communities or communities of color during their primetime coverage of seven hurricanes and one tropical storm over three years, a Media Matters for America analysis revealed.
<p>Evening news programs for ABC, CBS, and NBC from 2017 through 2019 aired 669 segments on eight storms, but never once discussed the disproportionate harm inflicted upon marginalized communities, often compounded by <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VVpTCP84cTPKVxPt4P6QtKsgW5n2k0f49S0dwM3ZwQ75nxGrV3Zsc37CgDFPW2NYhr57SFc-mW7l0XZZ7HJQHsW4N7K6M6jLlYhN6lS6Xyb6bscW2GR-XG2gBCPYW41TTzx6cpPCqW8bvNXl6fQ-97W6sj32Y1hNZjBV5k3zp436cPDW7KfLX114c3nNW8Gpfn391ZxXTW157MFS8yxPRWW3hdtLl580rddN6bkqM4wdtVqW6XFnDj4FpjQyW8Qpmbc89qZKlW8NLGXb7Zwgm2W4PP6Bp6t4D7lVnnxhq8XFB4CW6zYjvB7KJFBZVf5CPB3kl0MzN1RrqRqW3hKTW2HsRkd3fcJzXW6JypmQ6nSf--W80rxRN8Gn8TLW5J4L9Q6Lx54vW4LvHtX4Rkz_zW9c_phn7TTgg0W8yl90s6Wvtb-W56xQ131l1kXLW4MjZ7x3DlHjFN6gMb4B_72vDW91MSRk1mtFvRW4S7rq29lJ7CB3pVB1" target="_blank">discriminatory practices</a> in the <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VVpTCP84cTPKVxPt4P6QtKsgW5n2k0f49S0dwM3ZwRD3p_9LV1-WJV7CgMbZW7qblky26JBq4W5rNhZ95m5YFWW6bP6qP7HyL85W5_29qx78Fc8kW39VxXt4rdgHQW8Kn4Wr9314f5W6xHRrG7PJ8FZW3NnvDL7d4t1XW4pV_ym8wL05fW5bBJnQ8sm0QdW6tdVjm6sxZsZN126yptttdLBN8wbVwl9vnXDVmcGfF1TNtCYV_z7r35cHnT-W5_vRXh2_T96MW279lM66brN3bW1cS7rr632bSbW3jlbCZ4KFKGvN8YdCwvPPBrYW8c4QZ18wc4ykW5SmySD2hS3lPW42kmCg41H_w-W4l3SXL6TyXt3W3GFm5b3WwxtsW1y-kfM5g_f08W4KT8MQ4J8JLCN8-kLF5R4FS934G41" target="_blank">distribution</a> of <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VVpTCP84cTPKVxPt4P6QtKsgW5n2k0f49S0dwM3ZwQL3p_8SV1-WJV7CgBtyW3B-d_R5Zf1BMW8VY3b15c4Tb-W3By2gv7Gjw-KW731Qwt3DP6ndW3XhVq38DGFrjW4PYRtL87yRVXW85T2sP2-vYMRW8BKSr15wjF_2N5_LvHq516CbW2d3q107Z6vGtW9kTWcl671nhWW1Y9G4k4M9M2vVH3K998C8dslW837vfQ2DFGpLW2dphq45yX7xKW10mGfP7ll4PTW1x5BfV19tWZPN7CnWWFKB58lN9lbwgTQMWp2N1FRV6NFB9hWW7hM3RW3KjMJcW4fwksf5QQw4531nB1" target="_blank">federal aid</a>. Communities of color, low-income communities, and communities with low English proficiency -- three groups that often overlap -- are <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VVpTCP84cTPKVxPt4P6QtKsgW5n2k0f49S0dwM3ZwR13p_97V1-WJV7CgW-ZW6Vhd0_7HBzHmW4YqFxS3pbGSGW2JY85Q2MKKL9W34QCb354d6f-W1J0mww7hpS9BW3BDd4s4Gx98_W936cQX2RZnP1W7tdmrn68N3wtW7mxw2Q7W7xW0W8ZqbDb4RvbmMW8C0M8b8MGzMwN4n8CBVh81NZW9bpNBW4Xg5sGVdBVHb5xxy_-N38bDtCHTSVpW416Zgs5K6s-gW18n0FB62cWJdW84yYWz1w7TdlW69MmPh45klXmW2dbxgR273TtWW498BX095bvy1W4Fd6f86D8CnCW4p_Tbc4YZ96NW7sJLPp1fGdLj2tZ1" target="_blank">disproportionately hurt</a> by <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VVpTCP84cTPKVxPt4P6QtKsgW5n2k0f49S0dwM3ZwQ75nxGrV3Zsc37Cg_46W2ZfH6-4mS0-GW1Fh4V188wQZSVx_XpF7vXf47W44n5MY6qsN33W1rBz0L4t0J5SW6yGdN95-xxw8W14_q6j744ZYDW9crgZ94qkdc-W8nQy2f7gmYccW6gPwyr8SNn--W74-4Qz2MzNLpW3VFCnh5Rn7kkW2VH50V62yHG8VMLjyK7WwDQzW7h2PK97xtD7SVl6bQy3_9hsJW81FcqG5MJbM0W4Xk_dW92V1XyW1b5DLq8c-GpWW8zhns35VbqsNW7X3N7887QPRyW2z5Z3K7Zj4PHVDyMp35wGHPzV8BXhb4ff9LxW394YY58QDPJjW1XjY7k2wTzR2W7pFdNq25-VSkW6hbwFt4_L6j-W42yPMx1-cQR_W2SWK3Y3HNtT1W8smDYf7cJ9lRW7BMzc314b3HpW6yRw5h6g-cspW8fdNY44VvkS53j9R1" target="_blank">extreme weather</a> because <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VVpTCP84cTPKVxPt4P6QtKsgW5n2k0f49S0dwM3ZwPS5nxG7V3Zsc37CgStDW4QsmST6HbLv3W874DjS7pJDBvW1v9xrk7YjhPcW8w_HZM8-hnbtW2K19Nn6LXByDW4b1k3N6Z-kD6W7RBCr-6b6P8hVrC4DT293WSRVmjrKW8mVSZ8W68f5YQ3q-pzRW1Vxrq-4vzyDDW5chNZ58vH27dW6RJQdn1lSjK1W8f-g4v2YXM-XW1KkwKH5y6jRdW1BkJBt6FymgnW5CrVJn6gMfhGW6SPnrr1cvBtQW4tFb-D44GLGNW98zBhx2ktK6xW8RzN-B9g8TM5V_X1CV1_lYN7W7hR5WB4sXtp4W6BFC-Y73p0CVW8CLhsG2ZN8JfMvjqpdGPCMyW5r-0Sp5jnXl3W4z5Sl14xsv83W5cjbSf7LHCYGW5X2ntG1yTWvgW7tnfbY4VnXrhW7Wb8L1198ZRc3l3x1" target="_blank">legacies</a> of racism, economic exploitation, and <a href="https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VVpTCP84cTPKVxPt4P6QtKsgW5n2k0f49S0dwM3ZwPS5nxG7V3Zsc37CgLb1W418jQH5NvpDQW5BYVQZ66pB2qW4SHhrV893KY8VNysmk98lWB-W8l-Tn65JrgGWW8yNYHM1dkYbjW4xs4Nj47X512N1Lcrg7dYmFYVxdtzH8V60ZXW2m2H2024fYZPW1_15Wf5DncPjW5cMYD03syHhNW6P4t5y2mcdjMV8N3l82y3b0qW36_KK-929tgMW2YRWbK2V34CwN7l17B7sgFDwF7ddlzNylycW79ChnD585T79W1djBwN2S5yw6W87_39p7fnx07W6B7TMv8MQ_JNW7bqZKV2vGXQtW4fyk6N5TLz7HW4FvpJy5292tpW18rSlV3RL0CyN7fhRKJSsqNdW78VN045VZPZ9N5yfFTWRSD8ZVkKf954Mtd8vW50Dtyp4NQ-PHW8hMl7X6y4hf92H31" target="_blank">environmental injustice</a> have left them less equipped to prepare for, evacuate, and rebuild after storms. </p>
<p>While the corporate broadcast channels failed to inform audiences about it, PBS managed to include nine mentions of impacts on low-income communities and communities of color out of 233 segments on extreme weather events over the time frame analyzed by MMFA. </p>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/broadcast-networks/three-years-corporate-broadcast-news-hurricane-coverage-failed-mention-specific" target="_blank">Media Matters for America</a><br/><a href="http://www.chron.com/technology/businessinsider/article/EPA-blasts-Associated-Press-journalist-over-12170978.php" target="_blank"></a></p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
Read More
Show Less
Several drugmakers and research institutions are working on vaccines, antivirals and other treatments to help people infected with COVID-19. krisanapong detraphiphat / Moment / Getty Images
Researchers at the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced yesterday that it will start a trial on a new drug designed specifically for COVID-19, a milestone in the race to stop the infectious disease, according to STAT News.
<p>The early-stage trial is the world's first for an antibody treatment that specifically targets the novel coronavirus. Eli Lilly is one of the several drugmakers and research institutions working on <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vaccines" target="_self">vaccines</a>, antivirals and other treatments to help people infected with the virus that has already killed over 370,000 worldwide, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-lilly-treatments/eli-lilly-starts-human-study-of-potential-covid-19-treatment-idUSKBN23825Y" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>The treatment that Eli Lilly will test uses an antibody that was developed using a blood sample from one of the first U.S. patients to recover from coronavirus. As <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/500425-eli-lilly-gives-patients-first-doses-in-trial-of-new-coronavirus-treatment" target="_blank">The Hill</a> noted, antibody treatments that are developed specifically to fight COVID-19 show promise as effective treatments. The drug remdesivir, which has been touted as a potential treatment, already existed and was repurposed to help patients with COVID-19. In trials so far, it has shown moderate results as it slightly shortened the time that patients were infected.</p>
<p>The first phase of the trial will test if the therapy is safe and well-tolerated with results expected later this month. The first COVID-19 patients to receive the new drug are hospitalized at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine in New York, Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, and Emory University in Atlanta, Eli Lilly told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/health/eli-lilly-antibody-therapy-human-trial-covid-19/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p><p>The trial will test for side effects and is only being tested in 32 people at the various sites.</p><p>The company said that if the trial shows the medicine is effective against COVID-19, it may be fast tracked through the regulatory process and be available by the autumn, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/health/eli-lilly-antibody-therapy-human-trial-covid-19/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p>
<p>"Until now, scientists have been trying to repurpose medicines, drugs, that were designed for new diseases to see if they work in COVID-19, but as soon as this epidemic started, we got to work making a new medicine against this disease," said Dr. Dan Skovronsky, Eli Lilly's senior vice president and chief scientific officer, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/health/eli-lilly-antibody-therapy-human-trial-covid-19/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported. "Now we're ready and testing it in patients."</p><p>While Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly is developing the drug, the medicine was actually discovered by a Vancouver company, AbCellera. Other companies are also working on developing an antibody drug, too. Biotech firm Regeneron expects to begin a test soon as does a partnership of Vir Biotechnology and GlaxoSmithKline, according to <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/01/eli-lilly-begins-first-human-tests-of-an-antibody-drug-against-covid-19/" target="_blank">STAT News</a>.</p><p>"We're not racing against each other," said Skovronsky of the other companies, as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/STAT%20News" target="_self">STAT News</a> reported. "We're racing against the death toll from the virus. I hope there will be multiple successful [antibody drugs]. I expect there will be."</p>
<p>Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has said it plans to start clinical studies in June to test its antibody cocktail treatment and is aiming to have hundreds of thousands of preventative doses available by the end of August, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-lilly-treatments/eli-lilly-starts-human-study-of-potential-covid-19-treatment-idUSKBN23825Y" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.</p><p>Lilly's treatment is designed to block it from locking on to human cells, thus neutralizing the virus, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-lilly-treatments/eli-lilly-starts-human-study-of-potential-covid-19-treatment-idUSKBN23825Y" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>Scientists at AbCellera and the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases selected the specific antibodies they thought would be most potent. Then Lilly scientists engineered the treatment, known as a monoclonal antibody therapy. Monoclonal antibodies have an approach has worked to treat other illnesses. There are monoclonal antibody therapies that treat HIV, asthma, lupus, Ebola and some forms of cancer, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/health/eli-lilly-antibody-therapy-human-trial-covid-19/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p>
<p>"Ultimately, what we would hope is that this would be an effective treatment that would provide very strongly neutralizing antibodies to lower the virus and help patients recover," said Mark Mulligan, the director of the vaccine center at New York University Langone Health, who is one of the doctors working in the study that Lilly is funding, as <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/01/eli-lilly-begins-first-human-tests-of-an-antibody-drug-against-covid-19/" target="_blank">STAT News</a> reported.</p><p>"It feels it feels like we're making history," said Skovronsky, according to <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/01/eli-lilly-begins-first-human-tests-of-an-antibody-drug-against-covid-19/" target="_blank">STAT News</a>. Just three months after Covid-19 became a global pandemic, the pharmaceutical industry has been able to confront it, he said. "This has got to be a new phase in the fight."</p>
From Your Site Articles
- Dogs Can Smell COVID-19 - EcoWatch ›
- Drugs Touted by Trump for COVID-19 Increase Heart Risks, Studies ... ›
- Coronavirus Vaccine Candidate Shows Promise in Mice - EcoWatch ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read More
Show Less
Trending
The Sumatran rhino is one of 515 endangered species of land animals on the brink of extinction. Mark Carwardine / Photolibrary / Getty Images
The sixth mass extinction is here, and it's speeding up.
<p>A new study, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/05/27/1922686117" target="_blank">published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Monday</a>, found that 515 land <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/animals/" target="_self">animals</a> are currently on the brink of extinction. That's slightly less than the at least 543 species that disappeared last century. However, these extremely <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a> are expected to disappear in the next two decades, <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/press/view/34340" target="_blank">Stanford University explained in a press release</a>.</p><p>"When humanity exterminates populations and species of other creatures, it is sawing off the limb on which it is sitting, destroying working parts of our own life-support system," study coauthor and Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich said in the press release. "The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> of endangered species should be elevated to a national and global emergency for governments and institutions, equal to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate</a> disruption to which it is linked."</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8768fc2a38d4601fb0f3f9fbfae1718c"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vES3YlXcrrc?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<p>Ehrlich helped to write a 2015 study confirming that a sixth mass extinction had begun, and he now says the extinction rate is likely higher than previously thought. Species are going extinct at rates hundreds or thousands of times faster than the "background" rate for the last tens of millions of years, and are being killed off by one overriding factor: us. Several specific human actions are behind these losses, including habitat loss, hunting, the introduction of invasive species, pollution, the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a> trade and the climate crisis.</p><p>"The massive losses that we are experiencing are being caused, directly or indirectly, by the activities of <em>Homo sapiens,</em>" the study authors wrote.</p>
<p>To draw their conclusions, the researchers looked at data on 29,400 land vertebrate species compiled by the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/" target="_blank">IUCN Red List of Threatened Species</a> and <a href="https://www.birdlife.org/" target="_blank">BirdLife International</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/01/sixth-mass-extinction-of-wildlife-accelerating-scientists-warn?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco" target="_blank">The Guardian explained</a>. Of those species, 515 had populations of fewer than 1,000, and about half of the 515 were down to less than 250 individuals.</p><p>Most of the at-risk species live in the tropics or subtropics. They include the Sumatran rhino, the Clarión wren, the Española giant tortoise and the harlequin frog.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM2NjEyOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMTE4NDI1MX0.2WWSb0c89DNXcCCPJ1goB36-HAqJ3BcWogNMRMHbSL8/img.jpg?width=980" id="18b32" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0d1e4850694f3b468f7ee20744b33763" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Terrestrial vertebrates on the brink (i.e., with 1,000 or fewer individuals) include species such as (A) Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis; image credit: Rhett A. Butler [photographer]), (B) Clarion island wren (Troglodytes tanneri; image credit: Claudio Contreras Koob [photographer]), (C) Española Giant Tortoise (Chelonoidis hoodensis; image credit: G.C.), and (D) Harlequin frog (Atelopus varius; the population size of the species is unknown but it is estimated at less than 1,000; image credit: G.C.).
<p>Because ecosystems are so interconnected, the disappearance of any of these at-risk species would put other species at risk. For example, when sea otters were overhunted in the Bering Sea, the population of sea urchins bloomed, devouring kelp forests and driving the Steller's sea cow to extinction. Eighty-four percent of species with populations under 5,000 live in the same regions as species with populations under 1,000, making such a domino effect more likely.</p><p>"Extinction breeds extinction," the researchers wrote.</p>
<p>The eradication of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" target="_self">biodiversity</a> is also a major threat to human civilization. The most timely example is the spread of the new <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a>, which originated in bats and is believed to have passed to humans through another animal at a wildlife market, the press release explained.</p><p>"Based on our research and what we're seeing, the extinction crisis is so bad that whatever we do in the next 10 to 50 years is what will define the future of humanity," study coauthor professor Gerardo Ceballos of the National University of Mexico in Mexico City told <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52881831" target="_blank">BBC News</a>.</p><p>The researchers called for a ban on the international wildlife trade, according to Stanford. They have also started an initiative called <a href="https://stopextinctions.org/" target="_blank">Stop Extinction</a> to raise awareness of the biodiversity crisis.</p><p>"In view of the current extinction crisis and the lack of widespread actions to halt it, it is very important that scientists should metaphorically take to the streets," they wrote.</p>
From Your Site Articles
- Humanity 'Sleepwalking Towards the Edge of a Cliff': 60% of Earth's ... ›
- New Border Wall Construction Threatens 8 Species With Extinction ... ›
- The Insect Apocalypse Is Coming: Here Are 5 Lessons We Must Learn ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read More
Show Less