“It’s not just mammals. Wild bird populations are also tumbling. Domestic poultry now constitute 70% of the world’s avian biomass. Average populations of thousands of monitored species of wild vertebrates, birds, fish, mammals, amphibians, have declined ~60% since 1970. Populations of #invertebrates, including essential #pollinators, are also in free-fall: Butterflies down 53%; beetles down 49%, bumblebees down 46%… All species monitored by WWF are down 68–70% in just 50 years.”"
South America is burning. Why? Climate change is a big factor, obviously. Also, it's due to previously well-intentioned planting of non-native species which are fire-prone rather than fire-resistant. For example, Bogota planted lots of eucalyptus around the city to prevent erosion during the 20th century.
Just points to the importance of looking to indigenous ecology for cues about how best to adapt to the challenges of #ClimateChange.
my favourite #goodNews story of the week cos it involves #otters :awesome: :blobheartraccoon:
"A great example of how saving one #species can have a domino effect on the restoration of a whole #ecosystem. In California’s Monterey Bay, efforts to bolster sea otter populations are saving local salt marshes because the otters feast on the burrowing crabs that cause erosion. The sea otters have consumed enough of the crabs to slow the #erosion almost to a halt."
A century & a half ago, Confederate Gen Joseph Orville Shelby splashed into the wild waters of the Rio Grande off this border city & fled to Mexico, refusing to surrender to Union soldiers.
Now the park named in his honor (?) has become a front line in a feud between the #state & the #federal govt — a power struggle over who ultimately has the right to control the border….
The transformation of the city’s riverbank into a #militarized zone is harmful, residents said. Soldiers changed the #river’s flow when they bulldozed islands & pushed the land toward #Texas to keep #migrants from gathering on them. The #environmental costs & the amount of #erosion are still not known.
“They’re destroying the river…,” said Jessie Fuentes, who owns a kayaking & canoe biz but is nervous about taking customers out because of all the #RazorWire …beneath the river’s surface.
European Parliament backs resolution calling for suspending Hungary’s EU voting right
Earlier this month a petition was launched to remove some of #Budapest’s membership rights due to the country’s “erosion of the rule of law” and obstructive behavior in the face of EU #consensus building.
Guten Morgen Fedinautinnen,
Ich fürchte heute werden schlimme Dinge passieren. Diese Furcht teile ich mit Menschen aus der Landwirtschaft hier vor Ort. Des Weiteren fürchte ich, dass danach eine ganze Berufsgruppe wieder über einen Kamm geschoren wird. Auch die, die sich distanzieren. Selbst die, die heute nicht demonstrieren gehen. Die Bauern, alles rechte Klima-Schweine wird es , leider auch hier, wieder heißen. Weil es so einfach ist alle in einen Topf zu werfen. Viele Landwirtinnen haben aber auch Angst vor dem, was heute passieren könnte. Aber sie wollen auch auf ihr Recht zu demonstrieren nicht verzichten. Und den Grund kann ich verstehen. Durch die Streichung der Subventionen wird der Diesel zwar teurer, aber es wird kein Tropfen weniger verbraucht. Es gibt kein Programm zum Umstieg. Keine Anreize auf andere Maschinen umzusteigen und wahrscheinlich nicht einmal genügend elektrifizierte Maschinen, damit alle umsteigen. Den Umstieg können sich Agrarriesen leisten, aber keine bäuerlichen Kleinbetriebe. Aber auch da zu unterscheiden ist vielen zu anstrengend. Dieser Diskurs ist dermaßen durchtränkt von Dualismus, das es weh tut. Viele Landwirt*innen sehen das Problem, dass es auch in ihren Reihen mittlerweile Rechte gibt, die es natürlich leichter macht, ihre Proteste zu kapern. Aber es ist ein bisschen wie bei der Diskussion über die Problematik mit Rechtsextremismus im Osten in den letzten Jahren. Erstmal alle unter Generalverdacht stellen, dann kommen die Mauer hoch Rufe, anstelle denen, die stabil demokratisch sind, zu helfen, sie zu unterstützen. Seit Jahren wird die demokratische Zivilgesellschaft im Osten alleingelassen. Denn es ist viel bequemer sich zu empören und mit dem Finger auf andere zu zeigen. Aber so funktioniert Demokratie leider nicht.So ist das Problem Rechtsextremismus ein gesamtdeutsches Problem geworden, wie man bei den letzten Landtagswahlen sehen konnte. Aber ich bin mir sicher, diese Einsicht wird nur bis zu den Landtagswahlen im Herbst reichen.
Kommt gut in den Tag und seid nett zueinander 🥰
"Forests precede civilizations, deserts follow them."
"Europe's soils are disappearing. 32% of #Spain is either very highly or highly affected by #desertification. This indicates the magnitude of the problem that confronts us." (source Peter Dynes) #soil#erosion#climatechange
"Globally, up to 40% of #land is now degraded, according to the #UNCCD."
It's time to stop using what we have already converted in ways that degrade it further, and perhaps stop converting what is still well protected. #landuse#erosion#food#climatechange#desertification
When we think of #food, we often aren’t paying attention to soil, but it’s actually what sustains our global food system.
Unfortunately, #ClimateChange, unsustainable farming practices & more are degrading soil around the world.
I don’t get to see each episode of Serving Up Science until they are published, but I like this new video. And I’m so glad they let me talk about soil health. https://youtu.be/FnOHwq6iSpk?si=5umwoGQU7DFrdhCD
Destroying Hamas is a political objective, not a military one.
Even if Israel claims success after assassinating senior Hamas figures, destroying their arsenal and tunnels, and dismantling their administration, they have not said what they will do the day after “victory”.
The Gaza strip will still be there, albeit mostly in ruins. The population who survive the war will still be there, mourning new losses of loved ones and their homes. And the poverty and other deprivations that fed Hamas will only have intensified.
The national rage, the massing of military might, looked disturbingly familiar to US president Joe Biden, who warned Israel last week:
“Justice must be done. But I caution this – while you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it. After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. While we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.”
Even if the #Palestinian#Authority could be pressured or bribed into considering taking control, it is far from clear if they would be accepted, or able to do it.
A government installed by the Israeli military would not be seen as legitimate.
The #PA are already widely resented in the #West#Bank for their weakness in the face of Israeli authorities, for being inefficient, unrepresentative and riddled with corruption.
And though the majority of Gazans were not old enough to vote when #Fatah lost elections to #Hamas in 2007, there is no reason to think they have become more popular.
The only idea floated by Israeli politicians and officers for Gaza’s future, an #international#peacekeeping force, seems rooted more in wishful thinking than reality.
“It seems that the war is going to be very, very #long and we have to take into account the #hostages, the risk of conflict #spreading into the wider region, the #erosion of support and the question to whom we are going to pass #control in Gaza – for example if we have to pass it potentially to some Arab-led #multinational force,” said former prime minister Ehud #Barak.
“A collapse is the process at the end of which basic needs (water, food, housing, clothing, energy, etc.) can no longer be provided [at a reasonable cost] to a majority of the population by services under legal supervision.”
"The Trinity River washed away their old life during #HurricaneHarvey. Repeated #flooding and #erosion since then never gave it back.
Water hasn’t flowed to the homes in this neighborhood in more than three years — the water company says it can’t get vehicles in to maintain its well — and first responders won’t attempt to navigate the neighborhood’s narrow bridge and eroded dirt roads."
Cape Blanco, Oregon’s westernmost point (and also its windiest)…is composed of layers of uplifted marine sediments ranging in age from 80 million years at the bottom to less than 500,000 years at the top…forming an elevated terrace (60m) that is the focal point for erosion.
@DeutscherWetterdienst
"Hitze, Waldbrände, Dürren in ganz Europa.
Der #Klimawandel ist da – wie kann man die Folgen abmildern?
Immer mehr Bauern sehen in der #Agroforstwirtschaft eine Lösung: Baumreihen auf Feldern, in deren Schatten Getreide und Tiere besser gedeihen, der #Boden vor Austrocknung und #Erosion geschützt ist, #CO2 gebunden wird und #Artenvielfalt entsteht."