TUESDAYS — YOUR INBOX — ASSUREDLY ______________________________________________________________________
CURATED ECOLOGICAL NEWS Conservation works. Sea turtles are recovering
“Endangered sea turtles show signs of recovery in a majority of places worldwide, according to a new global survey. In more than half of the areas studied, threats are declining overall, the study found. But there are some exceptions. Sea turtle populations in the Atlantic Ocean are more likely to be recovering than those in Pacific waters. “Leatherback turtles are not faring as well as other species. All seven of the regions where leatherbacks are found face high environmental risks. Meanwhile, green turtles are still considered endangered globally, but their populations show signs of recovery in many regions of the world. “Sea turtles were protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973, and Mexico banned all captures of sea turtles in 1990. But it took a few decades for the results of these actions — alongside efforts to protect nesting beaches and reduce accidental bycatch in fishing — to show up in population trends.” More at: Human caused biodiversity loss may be our biggest threat
“Humans are driving biodiversity loss among all species across the planet, according to a synthesis of more than 2,000 studies, according to researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology and the University of Zurich. The team looked at terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats, as well as including all groups of organisms, including microbes, fungi, plants, invertebrates, fish, birds and mammals. “The analysis covered five drivers of decline: habitat change, pollution, direct exploitation of resources (such as hunting or fishing), climate change, and invasive species. Pollution and habitat changes, often driven by agriculture, have a particularly negative impact on biodiversity. Intensive agriculture – especially arable farming – involves large amounts of pesticides and fertilisers. “François Keck, lead author, said: ‘It’s not just the number of species that is declining. Human pressure is also changing the composition of species communities’. In mountainous areas, for example, specialised plants are being replaced by those that typically grow at lower altitudes, as high-altitude plants have nowhere else to go.” More at:
Shrink the industrial economy by eco-localism, not tariffs
“The controversial new Trump tariffs seem purpose-made to choke off global trade. Let’s unpack the goals and tactics of both eco-localism and the Trump tariffs and see where there’s congruence, and where there’s contradiction. Eco-localists see trade as a mixed benefit whose unintended negative impacts must be carefully managed. “The scope of globalization that’s happened in the last few decades is unequaled in human history. Corporations and banks delivered the technology and capital; trade agreements like NAFTA and trade partnerships like the EU contributed the legal framework; and fossil fuels provided abundant, concentrated, storable energy for manufacturing and transport. “The result is an integrated global market in which a single product, such as a smartphone, may incorporate design elements from skilled workers in the US, raw materials from twenty countries, and assembly by poorly paid workers in China, Vietnam, or India. The intended benefit is that billions of people get to use a technology. The unintended side effects are that a few people become unimaginably rich while nature is poisoned and people’s mental, physical, and social health deteriorates. “Eco-localists argue that globalization is authoritarian by nature: increasingly, multinational corporations rule the world. Individuals and communities are powerless by comparison. The goals of the Mump* tariffs are somewhat unclear. Donald Mump* himself has a longstanding fascination with tariffs, which he sees as coercive tools for achieving various international ends, not all of them economic. If the Mump* tariff goal is a world dominated by America, it’s an America that is itself dominated by super-wealthy elites, an America that is no longer a fully functioning democracy. “Eco-localists tend to see tariffs as a tool of last resort, one that often has nasty unintended consequences. Many eco-localists advocate deliberately shrinking the industrial economy to reduce its impact on nature. Shrinking the US economy is not Mump’s* explicit goal, but it is an almost certain result of his tariff policies. Rather than reining in trade for the purpose of reducing pollution and exploitation of workers, Mump* and his team seem to be intent on accelerating environmental degradation and increasing economic inequality. “Indeed, this is the moment when eco-localism is most desperately needed. While there is no likelihood of their national adoption in the US anytime soon, they are perhaps most applicable and effective at the community scale.” More at: * Mump regime — Musk plus Trump = Mu…mp. Costa Rican agroforestry preserving biodiversity
“In Costa Rica’s Talamanca region, Indigenous Bribri women are championing sustainable agroforestry practices in a tradition that stretches back for millennia. The agroforestry system mimics the diversity and productivity of the forest: timber trees provide shade for fruit trees, which in turn shelter medicinal plants, amid all of which livestock and even wildlife thrive. “Marina López is one of the leaders of the Bribri people who live in the Talamanca region known for its nature parks, tropical beaches, and mountains stretching to the Sixaola River, which marks the border with Panamá. The Bribri are one of the world’s few matrilineal societies: land is handed down from mother to daughter. Cocoa is at the center of another noteworthy ancestral practice, forming the core of their sacred rituals. ‘Cocoa represents women in our cosmovision’, López says. “In Costa Rica, agroforestry systems are known as fincas integrales. Timber trees such as laurel, cedar, and mountain almond dominate these agricultural landscapes. Under their shade grow fruit trees such as orange, lemon, star fruit, soursop, and sapote. The community’s agroforestry plots are also home to a variety of animals, from domestic pigs, chickens, and horses, to wildlife such as the clay-colored thrush, the national bird of Costa Rica. “‘Indigenous Bribri fields are the opposite of monoculture: their presence is a political act’, says Kattia Acuña, a professor of sociology at the University of Costa Rica. ‘Talamanca has been an indomitable land since the 1500s when the Indigenous people fought against colonization. Centuries later, they still resist the advance of agro-extractive industries’.” More at: Brazilian illegal deforestation difficult to trace
“A new investigative report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reveals widespread illegal logging, corruption, and fraud in the Brazilian Amazon. The investigation traced illegal timber that had originated from five logging sites in Pará state to the United States and European Union, despite laws that prohibit the importing of illegal timber. “The investigators found that Brazil’s illegal logging industry used ‘sophisticated schemes’ to fake the origins of timber by artificially inflating standing tree volumes and falsifying paperwork. ‘In one case, timber was exported from a protected area where the owner was also illegally mining gold; in another, it was laundered through a site embargoed for illegal deforestation’. “The dense tropical hardwood ipê is one of the highest valued and most traded types of timber because of its durability. It is commonly used to make outdoor decks, including large public construction projects like New York’s Long Island boardwalk. Due to excessive logging, ipê trees are rarer than they once were and are now protected under the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna.” More at: Fulfillment: not by stuff, but by generosity and gratitude
“With no direct English translation, ikigai is a term that embodies the idea of happiness in living. Essentially, ikigai is the reason why you get up in the morning. It’s often associated with a Venn diagram with four overlapping qualities: what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. But one’s ikigai may have nothing to do with income. “The word ikigai as part of everyday Japanese language. It is composed of two words: iki, which means life and gai, which describes value or worth. Ikigai is similar to ‘happiness’ but has a subtle difference in its nuance. Ikigai is what allows you to look forward to the future even if you’re miserable right now. But, knowing your ikigai alone is not enough. Simply put, you need an outlet. Ikigai is ‘purpose in action’. “In a culture where the value of the team supercedes the individual, Japanese workers are driven by being useful to others, being thanked, and being esteemed by their colleagues, says Toshimitsu Sowa of the consulting firm Jinzai Kenkyusho. Ikigai is about feeling your work makes a difference in people’s lives. “Japanese people believe that the sum of small joys in everyday life results in more fulfilling life as a whole. Instead of trying to tackle world hunger, you can start small by helping someone around you, like a local volunteering group.” More at: Flying by the seat of their pants on fire
“U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Wednesday the department will shift its research into autism toward potential environmental causes. Kennedy argued research into genetic causes is a ‘dead end’ and asserted that ‘we know it’s environmental exposure. We’re going to do it in a thorough and comprehensive way and we’re going to get back with an answer by September’. “Autism experts, however, cast doubt on Kennedy’s assertion that environmental factors lead to autism and questioned his proposed timeline to prove such a link. Catherine Lord, professor of psychiatry at UCLA said that trying to reach a definitive cause of autism before September was an ‘utterly ridiculous’ timeline. Eric Fombonne, professor emeritus of psychiatry at Oregon Health and Science University, said ‘It’s ridiculous to say that he’s going to unravel the etiology of autism in six months’. “Meanwhile, the FDA is suspending quality control testing at the Food Emergency Response Network (FERN) Proficiency Testing Program. The program tests for parasites like Cyclospora in spinach and the pesticide glyphosate in barley, among other foods. On top of that, NBC News has learned the FDA refused to publicize a recent E. coli outbreak in lettuce that ripped through 15 states. “But this is where we’re at with guys like Mump* and Kennedy in charge. They’re destroying the U.S. federal government and purging the federal workforce, all while making it much less safe to eat or drink anything in this country.” More at: * Mump regime — Musk plus Trump = Mu…mp. So that humanity may better overrun other species . . .
“The Mump* administration will embrace a new cultural agenda pushed by many of its allies on the right to reverse declining birthrates and push conservative family values, persuading Americans to get married and have more children. One proposal would give a $5,000 cash ‘baby bonus’ to every American mother after delivery. Another would fund programs that educate women on their menstrual cycles. “President Mump* has called for a ‘baby boom’. Much of the movement is built around promoting a very specific idea of what constitutes a family — one that includes marriage between a man and a woman, and leaves out many families that don’t conform to traditional gender roles. Those ideas, and others have been gaining steam for years and now finally have allies in the U.S. administration, including Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk. “Elon Musk has fathered at least 14 children with at least four women. Musk is directly messaging women on his social mediaplatform, X, to solicit them to have his babies in order to grow a ‘legion’ of kids with high intelligence as part of his mission to save ‘civilization’ [his master race?], The Wall Street Journal reports. Musk speaks openly about his concerns of a dwindling population and he’s particularly concerned about what he describes as ‘Third World countries’ having higher birthrates than the U.S. and Europe.” More at: * Mump regime — Musk plus Trump = Mu…mp. Monsanto (Bayer) loses latest of 177,000 lawsuits over Roundup
“A jury in Georgia has ordered Monsanto parent Bayer to pay nearly $2.1 billion in damages to a man who says the company’s Roundup weed killer caused his cancer. The verdict marks the latest in a long-running series of court battles Monsanto has faced over its Roundup herbicide. This marks one of the largest verdicts in a Roundup-related case to date. “Germany-based Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, has continued to dispute claims that Roundup causes cancer. But the company has been hit with more than 177,000 lawsuits involving the weedkiller and set aside $16 billion to settle cases. Friday’s decision marks the fourth Roundup-related verdict that attorney Kyle Findley’s team has won to date.” More at: | 
