Amsterdam's city council has decided to close a major cruise ship terminal in its centre in the latest measure to limit mass tourism in the Dutch capital.
"Polluting cruise ships are not in line with the sustainable ambitions of our city," said a statement from centre-right party D66, which runs the city with the social democrats PvdA and GroenLinks environmentalists.
> Researchers are only beginning to uncover the toxic cocktail of chemicals, microplastics, and heavy metals hidden in car and truck tires. But experts say these tire emissions are a significant source of air and water pollution and may be affecting humans as well as wildlife.
A very small percentage of Americans are responsible for eating half of all the beef, according to a new study. Analyzing data from over 10,000 adults participating in the CDC Health and Nutrition Survey, researchers discovered that individuals aged 50 to 65, particularly men, are responsible for disproportionately high consumption of beef
Concern is growing that a significant climate event is unfolding at the Panama Canal, with the potential of impacting one of the world’s most important shipping routes. Last week, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) said drought conditions in the region persist, affecting water availability for passage through the locks and raising the potential of further restrictions
Let’s get personal, shall we? I’ve been here a while now, and as I’m feeling quite comfortable at Mastodon, I’d like to share a bit more about myself beyond my passion for the climate and the environment.
To begin with, I’m a male, he/him, hetero, strongly supporting LGBTQ rights. I’m a baby boomer, born at 312 PPM 🌏, a United Statesian, although I lived in Europe (mostly Hungary) for several years, and traveled extensively for work before retiring in 2012. I’ve never been good at sustaining long-term romantic relationships, and I’ve finally settled into comfortable singlehood.
I like to say I’m made of contrasts.
For example, I’m rather funny and quite personable, but I don’t enjoy small talk and I hate parties. I currently live in the Bible Belt, but I’m an outspoken atheist. While I can easily fit into most social situations, I don’t feel comfortable around large groups and prefer being alone most of the time. I live near two huge military bases, but I detest the USA’s militaristic, troop-worshiping culture. I’m almost always cheerful, which masks my deeply felt existential nihilism. I’m a neat freak, but also rather lazy, preferring fun over work.
I’ll finish up with some hashtags to add flavor...
How Bankruptcy Helps Coal Industry Avoid Environmental Liability
Jeff Hoops built Blackjewel into the nation’s sixth largest #coal company by acquiring #bankrupt mines. When it declared #bankruptcy, he pivoted to other ventures, leaving polluted streams and mud-shrouded roads in his wake.
In the Game of Musical Mines, Environmental Damage Takes a Back Seat — co-published with Mountain State Spotlight
Stop pretending that planting trees can justify fossil fuel emissions
It’s time to return to the heart of the matter, they argue: reduce greenhouse gas emissions where they’re produced. Cut through the PR smokescreen, and it becomes clear that the carbon offsets approach to net zero emissions produces practically zero results
Here's an angry, bitter rant about colonialism by Indi Samarajiva that really resonates with me...
"Why Renewables Won’t End Environmental Destruction"
Colonialism began with renewable energy: wind to sail across the world, solar to grow cash crops, and human blood, sweat, and tears to grow them. By this logic, you could say that early colonialism was ‘sustainable’ but it obviously wasn’t. Because the problem isn’t the energy source, it’s what you use that energy for.
Colonialism actively destroyed natural ecosystems to plant cash mono-crops. They brutally hunted land cousins for their skin and ocean cousins for their bodily oils, bringing many species to the brink of extinction, and quite a few over it. To accomplish this without energy slaves, they trafficked human slaves across the world, leaving millions at the bottom of the ocean.
Colonialism both actively and passively spread disease across the world, leading to genocidal levels of depopulation. Then of course there was the outright killing, raping, and stealing.
Most perniciously, they framed all this as ‘progress’ and ‘civilization’, which is still the frame we live in. We call this ongoing process ‘capitalism’ or ‘development’ now, but it’s the same thing — destroying the natural world to make artificial profits. The truth is that colonialism never ended. We’re still in it, just with different branding.
Today we think we can switch from ripping coal and oil out of the Earth, and just rip out lithium and copper instead. But ‘renewable’ rape does not change the fundamental raping going on. An electric bulldozer rips up the earth as much as a diesel one.
The process of exploitation might change names and change colors, but the process remains the same. Early colonialism started with renewable energy and late capitalism is ending there. There’s nothing new under the sun, not even ‘renewables’. I’ll repeat myself because history repeats. Same shit, different day.
New study projects sea level rise to drain Florida’s financial future
Molly Duerig
6–8 minutes
One million Florida properties are projected to become chronically flooded: properties that today fund nearly 30% of local revenues for more than half of the state’s municipalities, according to a new study conducted by researchers at Cornell and Florida State Universities.
I wish, I wish, I wish… that this was all just a very bad dream I could wake up from.
"Microplastics Detected Entering The Brain Just 2 Hours After Ingestion"
A new study on mice reveals that microplastics can cross the blood-brain barrier and enter the brain shortly after being ingested. The brains of mice fed micro- and nano-plastics (MNPs) were found to contain them just two hours after ingestion via a mechanism previously unknown to science, suggesting that the tiny plastics found almost everywhere could be even more worrying than previously thought.
Once there, the researchers believe the MNPs could increase the risk of an array of serious diseases. “In the brain, plastic particles could increase the risk of inflammation, neurological disorders or even neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s,” said Lukas Kenner, one of the lead researchers of the study, in a statement.
Microplastics are everywhere. A sad reality of the use of plastics in almost every single aspect of daily life, microplastics and nanoplastics are being found in animals across the globe and have even been discovered in the human placenta, indicating that there may be nowhere left to hide from them.
Such particles can enter the human body through drinking water from plastic bottles and food packaging, and it is estimated that 90,000 plastic particles can enter a single human drinking bottled water each year.
‘Here it is better not to be born’: Cobalt mining for Big Tech is driving child labor, deaths in the Congo.
Child labor, birth defects, abject poverty, workers buried alive: A new exposé on artisanal cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo lifts the curtain on a nightmarish world in which billions of people are unwittingly complicit.
Institute, WV, one of two majority-Black communities in the state, was left out of a regulatory effort earlier this year to tighten limits on cancer-causing chemicals.
Extinction Rebellion Shuts Down UK Coal Mine Operating Without License
Jessica CorbettJul 05, 20230
5–7 minutes
On the heels of the world's two hottest days on record, U.K. climate activists on Wednesday shut down an open-cast coal mine in Wales that has been operating without a license since last summer
Vous vous souvenez de Plouvorn, dans le Finistère ? Dans la commune aux 80 000 cochons, le plan d'eau est de nouveau interdit à la baignade depuis samedi. Les analyses de l'Agence régionale de santé Bretagne montrent une concentration de cyanobactéries 32 fois supérieure à la valeur-guide. 🌊 /1
First official nationwide test of #PFAS in drinking water, known to cause cancer, thyroid problems & lower birth weight in offspring, reveals 45% of all US, including those with private wells, are consuming dangerous forever chemicals.
It should be noted iron filtration systems, and boiling water does not remove PFAS.
This is so disgusting. It's like a bad dream I can't wake up from...
Diplomats from 175 countries gathering in Paris for plastics treaty talks on Monday may want to pack an umbrella, but not just because there's a chance of rain.
France's capital will also be showered during the five-day talks by billions of microplastic particles falling from the sky, according to the first-ever plastics pollution weather forecast.
French scientists have found that most plastic particles falling across Paris' catchment area are nylon and polyester, probably from clothing.
Other bits are cast off by tires, which shed them especially when vehicles brake.
Over an entire year, up to 10 metric tons of microplastic fibers settle over the Paris area, scientists estimate.
The density of "plastic fall" can increase by an order of magnitude during heavy rain.
Measurements taken by other teams have replicated these findings in half a dozen cities around the world.
Microplastics that hit the ground can still be ingested or inhaled when stirred up, for example, on a windy day.
Plus, it's not only humans and human cities being polluted and poisoned this way...
The equivalent of a garbage truck's worth of plastic refuse is dumped into the ocean every minute.
"Plastic particles break down into the environment and this toxic cocktail ends up in our bodies, where it does unimaginable damage to our health," said Marcus Gover, head of plastics research at the Minderoo Foundation based in Perth, Australia.
Concern over the impact of plastics on the environment and human well-being has surged in recent years along with a crescendo of research documenting its omnipresence and persistence.
In nature, multi-colored microplastics — by definition less than five millimeters (0.2 inches) in diameter — have been found in ice near the North Pole and inside fish navigating the oceans' deepest, darkest recesses.
Plastic debris is estimated to kill more than a million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals each year, according to the United Nations Environment Program, and filter-feeding blue whales consume up to 10 million pieces of microplastic every day.
In humans, microscopic bits of plastic have been detected in blood, breast milk, and placentas.
Gah. It's utterly horrifying what industry has done in the name of "growth" and "progress." Yet still we carry on with Business As Usual, week after week, year after year.
Due to intensifying sea-ice melting in the Arctic, sunlight is now penetrating deeper and deeper into the ocean. Since marine zooplankton respond to the available light, this is also changing their behavior—especially how the tiny organisms rise and fall within the water column
in the future this could lead to more frequent food shortages for the zooplankton, and to negative effects for larger species including seals and whales
Rain Comes to the Arctic, With a Cascade of Troubling Changes
Rain used to be rare in the Arctic, but as the region warms, so-called rain-on-snow events are becoming more common. The rains accelerate ice loss, trigger flooding, landslides, and avalanches, and create problems for wildlife and the Indigenous people who depend on them
How do Scottish People Feel About Current Climate Policy?
Only 12% of Scots reported feeling satisfied with the current pace of climate action. Meanwhile, 45% of Scots expressed dissatisfaction with the current climate policies, with 24% being very unsatisfied and 21% unsatisfied
#Larzac#trail#légion#environnement#pollution#déchets#campmilitaire aujourd'hui les militaires du camp du Larzac ont fait un trail sur le causse. Voici ce que j'ai ramassé après leur passage, au bord du chemin, juste autour du hameau où j'habite. Je n'ose pas imaginer tout ce qu'ils ont laissé tout le long de leur parcours. Pas merci les petits poucets de la légion. #chuisvénère