eco-system services

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mebbe belated 519</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">see also belated habitat ecoSYSTEM loss
</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">triggered by un rept 1 mill species at risk</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see wetlands/wotus</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">sorta disambiguation externality</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">brett gets:</b></font></div><div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mma 6 23</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Right-wing media are attempting to discredit mainstream coverage and reactions around the Supreme Court’s recent decision to limit bodies of water protected under the Clean Water Act. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On May 25, the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/5/25/23737426/supreme-court-clean-water-act-epa-pollution-wetlands-sackett-alito" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Supreme Court</a> ruled unanimously in favor of wealthy Idaho couple Michael and Chantell Sackett in <span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><b>Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency</b></span>, after a 14-year <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Sackett_v.Environmental_Protection_Agency(2022)#Background" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">legal battle</a> in which they fought to do construction near protected wetlands without a permit.</span> <b>All nine justices ultimately agreed they could do so, however, their reasoning differed and concurring opinion on the scope of the case was split 5-4.</b> </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Five conservative justices ruling for the majority decided that definitions previously laid out in the 51-year-old Clean Water Act were the problem, considerably narrowing the scope of which bodies of water must be protected</b>. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to the environmental law nonprofit <a href="https://earthjustice.org/article/what-does-sackett-v-epa-mean-for-clean-water" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">EarthJustice</a>, which filed an<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-454/228237/20220617081619977_21-454%20Amicus%20Menominee%20Indian%20Tribe%20Of%20Wisconsin.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;"> amicus brief</a> in the case, the new decision means that “as many as half of the 118 million acres of wetlands in the U.S. are no longer protected by the Clean Water Act, embracing the decades-long demands of mining companies, the fossil fuel industry, reckless developers, and other big polluters.” </span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mainstream <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/5/25/23737426/supreme-court-clean-water-act-epa-pollution-wetlands-sackett-alito" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">media</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/05/25/supreme-court-clean-water-act/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">coverage</a> of the ruling rightfully <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-25/supreme-court-rules-for-landowners-limits-us-clean-water-act" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">highlighted</a> this serious outcome. Democratic lawmakers including Sens. <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/1661764643692462082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1661764643692462082%7Ctwgr%5E35cf97b615d96679fc982020cefab521092d7ef5%7Ctwcon%5Es1&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftownhall.com%2Ftipsheet%2Frebeccadowns%2F2023%2F05%2F25%2Fdemocrats-are-not-reacting-well-to-supreme-court-overturning-biden-administrations-overreach-n2623717" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Chuck Schumer</a> (D-NY) and <a href="https://twitter.com/SenWarren/status/1662189961502703622" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Elizabeth Warren</a> (D-MA) called out the decision’s radical implications and suggested it was driven by a partisan conservative agenda. Other <a href="https://freshwater-science.org/news/sfs-response-scotus-ruling-sackett-v-epa" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">experts</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ArielWittenberg/status/1661750753441251328" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">pointed out</a> that the majority decision <a href="https://twitter.com/AnnaPuchkoff/status/1662192397718294528?s=20" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">ignores</a> the best available science on how pollutants move through ecosystems. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In response, right-wing media celebrated the decision and slammed its critics, claiming that the unanimous ruling was intentionally being ignored to mislead the public and fit the narrative that conservative, </span>Trump-appointed justices were making controversial decisions. In reality, the outcome of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Sackett v. EPA</em> was nothing if not controversial. <b>Even Trump-appointed Justice <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-454_4g15.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Brett Kavanaugh</a> opted to side with the court’s three liberal justices, saying the majority’s decision to redefine what is protected under the Clean Water Act went against scientific evidence.</b></font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-wing media attacks focus on the majority’s decision to gut the Clean Water Act</font></h2></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-wing media attempted to expose those who called out the very real impacts of gutting the Clean Water Act and implied that the only decision that mattered — and the only one that should be publicized — was the unanimous ruling in favor of the Sacketts. Suggesting otherwise, according to them, was a gross misrepresentation of the ruling. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">These allegations started on May 25 in response to Schumer’s <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/1661764643692462082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1661764643692462082%7Ctwgr%5E35cf97b615d96679fc982020cefab521092d7ef5%7Ctwcon%5Es1&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftownhall.com%2Ftipsheet%2Frebeccadowns%2F2023%2F05%2F25%2Fdemocrats-are-not-reacting-well-to-supreme-court-overturning-biden-administrations-overreach-n2623717" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">tweet</a> attacking the “MAGA Supreme Court” for the decision to “erode our country’s environmental laws,” adding that “this ruling will mean more polluted water, and more destruction of wetlands</span>.” Twitter users accused Schumer of lying by highlighting the unanimous ruling in favor of the Sacketts, and even <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">added a community note clarifying the decision</span>. Echoing the online backlash, right-wing media including <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Fox News and Newsmax piled on Schumer as well.</span></font></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Trending Politics owner Collin Rugg: “I was today years old when I found out Ketanji Brown Jackson was a MAGA Republican.” </strong>[Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1663237300795629569?s=20" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">5/29/23</a>]<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> </font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Conservative precious metals investment influencer account Wall Street Silver pushed back on Schumer’s tweet: “It was a 9-0 unanimous opinion.” </strong>[Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1662446951034494976?s=20" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">5/27/23</a>]<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> </font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A Daily Wire op-ed claimed that Schumer labeling the decision as “MAGA” was a “smear” against the Supreme Court:</span> </strong>“Democrats attempt to smear anybody who goes against their agenda as a ‘MAGA’ extremist — even if those individuals are liberal members of the United States Supreme Court.” [Daily Wire, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/huh-chuck-schumer-slams-maga-supreme-court-after-a-unanimous-decision?%3Futm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dwnewstwitter" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">5/27/23</a>]  <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> </font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Right-wing comedian Tom Shillue, filling in for Fox’s Greg Gutfeld, </span>said the decision was “about as MAGA as a tofu hotdog with a Bud Light." </strong>“Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took time out from never having a real job and slammed yesterday's Supreme Court ruling,” Shillue said. “Shockingly, Schumer described the decision as the work of a MAGA court. This despite the fact the decision was 9-0. Yeah, that’s MAGA — that’s about as MAGA as a tofu hotdog with a Bud Light.” [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Gutfeld!</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4006380" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">5/26/23</a>]<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> </font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Shillue later added that “there are plenty of liberals still on the court,” while Fox News contributor Kat Timpf asked if Schumer even bothered to look at the ruling. </strong>“It's just ‘MAGA’ and it doesn’t even make any sense,” Timpf said. “I mean, you know that. Did he not even bother to look at the 9-0?" [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Gutfeld!</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4006381" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">5/26/23</a>]<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> </font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Newsmax</span> co-host Bianca de la Garza dismissed Schumer’s comment and the 5-4 split. </strong>“To be very clear, all nine judges unanimously agreed that the EPA overstepped its authorities,” she said. “I guess any reason to throw in MAGA, he’ll take.” [Newsmax, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">John Bachman Now</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4006378" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">5/26/23</a>]<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> </font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fox News host Sean Hannity: “IT WAS UNANIMOUS, CHUCK! ‘All 9 judges agreed that the EPA overstepped its authority and that the plaintiffs’ property should not be subject to EPA regulation</span>.’” </strong>[Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/1662081586974556161?s=20" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">5/26/23</a>] <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> </font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fox Business </span>host Liz MacDonald accused Schumer of politicizing the ruling:</strong> “This was a unanimous ruling, so that means Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, Sonya Sotomayor joined in this unanimous ruling. So are they MAGA too? Why is this politicizing everything?” [Fox Business, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Evening Edit</em>,<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4006375" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;"> 5/26/23</a>]<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> </font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Townhall </span>accused Democrats of having “grossly misled on the outcome of the case.”</strong> “Democrats are not taking the news well, to the point that they've grossly misled on the outcome of the case,” Townhall wrote. “In a tweet from his official account, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) lamented about how the ‘MAGA Supreme Court is continuing to erode our country's environmental laws,’ despite how, again, it was unanimous.” [Townhall, <a href="https://townhall.com/tipsheet/rebeccadowns/2023/05/25/democrats-are-not-reacting-well-to-supreme-court-overturning-biden-administrations-overreach-n2623717" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">5/25/23</a>] <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> </font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">National Review senior writer Dan McLaughlin</span> mocked Schumer over the 9-0 decision:</strong> “Unanimous SCOTUS decision written by George W. Bush appointee. Outcome joined by GHW Bush appointee, 2d GW Bush appointee, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">2 Obama appointees, & a Biden appointee</span>. The 3 Dems joined a concurring opinion written by a Trump appointee. Chuck Schumer: That's so MAGA!” [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/baseballcrank/status/1661786325735944228" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">5/25/23</a>]<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> </font></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Right-wing media also attacked <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/05/25/supreme-court-clean-water-act/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Washington Post </a>and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-25/supreme-court-rules-for-landowners-limits-us-clean-water-act" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Bloomberg</a> for not highlighting the unanimous decision more prominently, or even falsely stated that this was not even mentioned.</font></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Radio host <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Erick Erickson</span>: “You’d never know from Bloomberg that the decision was unanimous.” </strong>[Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/EWErickson/status/1661877209710075904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1661877784174632961%7Ctwgr%5E9ee7549948962bbef427e3cc2049bad63f11bf0d%7Ctwcon%5Es3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywire.com%2Fnews%2Fhuh-chuck-schumer-slams-maga-supreme-court-after-a-unanimous-decision%3F3Futm_source%3Dtwitterutm_medium%3Dsocialutm_campaign%3Ddwnewstwitter" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">5/25/23</a>]<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> </font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Red State blog</span>ger known as Bonchie: “This is the first seven paragraphs of the Post's write-up. Can you tell it was actually a 9-0 unanimous decision?”</strong> [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/bonchieredstate/status/1661820426622844928?s=20" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">5/25/23</a>]<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> </font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Former New York Post columnist and <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Daily Wire </span>content creator Frank Fleming:</strong> “What the hell is wrong with the Washington Post misleading people like that?” “I have to defend Schumer a bit here,” Fleming wrote. “Everyone is dunking on him for this being a unanimous decision, but the Washington Post article he links doesn't mention that and calls it a 5-4 decision (when actually, it's separate concurring opinions). What the hell is wrong with the Washington Post misleading people like that?” [Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/IMAO/status/1661801254945800193?s=20" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">5/25/23</a>]</font></li></ul></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Why the 5-4 split between the concurring justices matters</font></h2></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It’s true that all nine justices ruled in favor of the Sacketts. Specifically, they found that the Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA did not have jurisdiction over this particular property. But despite what right-wing media say, the differences in their reasoning are important.</span> </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Initially, the Sacketts <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Sackett_v.Environmental_Protection_Agency(2022)#Background" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">filed a lawsuit</a> against the EPA because the agency ordered them to remove sand and gravel fill from the lot where they wanted to build a house, arguing that it was on protected wetlands and they would need to return the area to its natural state. The couple brought the case to the Supreme Court for <a href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/idaho-couple-returns-to-supreme-court-to-wage-new-wotus-war/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">the first time</a> in<b> 2012 after lower courts sided with the EPA, maintaining that the property was subject to the Clean Water Act</b> and the Sacketts did indeed need permits to continue construction. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Supreme Court at the time ruled in favor of the Sacketts’ right to challenge the EPA’s order.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Aided by the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Cato_Institute" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Cato Institute</a> and <a href="https://www.energyandpolicy.org/americans-for-prosperity/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Americans for Prosperity</a>, both of which were founded by the fossil fuel billionaire Koch brothers, as well as other <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/sackett-v-environmental-protection-agency/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">industry groups</a>, the Sacketts managed to get their case in front of the Supreme Court for a second ti</span>me. They were represented by the<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><b> <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/pacific-legal-foundation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Pacific Legal Foundation</a>, </b>which has <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pacific_Legal_Foundation" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">received funding</a> from the fossil fuel industry and its allies and also fought to weaken the Clean Water Act back in 2006.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>This time, five far-right justices didn’t just rule in favor of the Sacketts — they went so far as to adopt the narrowest possible definition of which waters are protected by the Clean Water Act,</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">completely changing how the law has functioned for the past 51 years. Kavanaugh, along with three liberal justices, argued that this decision went too far. </span>Though they wrote a concurring opinion, he and three other justices fundamentally disagreed with Justice Samuel Alito’s reading of the law, which would not protect wetlands unless they have a “continuous surface connection” to bodies of water.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> </span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Kavanaugh</span> <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-454_4g15.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">explained</a> why that doesn’t make sense in his concurring opinion (citations omitted):</b></font></p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="block-quotequote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">“Because of the movement of water between adjacent wetlands and other waters, pollutants in wetlands often end up in adjacent rivers, lakes, a</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">nd other waters.</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Natural barriers such as berms and dunes do not block all water flow and are in fact evidence of a regular connection between a water and a wetland. … The </span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">scientific</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that wetlands separated from covered waters by those kinds of berms or barriers, for example, </span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">still play an important role in protecting neighboring and downstream waters, including by filtering pollutants, storing water, and providing flood control</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">. In short, those adjacent wetlands may affect downstream water quality and flood control in many of the same ways that <b>adjoining</b> wetlands can."</span></font></p></div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Right-wing media’s gripes ignoring the concurring opinion and framing the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling as key to the case are completely bad-faith attempts to gaslight the public into thinking that the decision was less controversial than it actually was</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">. This narrative directly benefits the industries that were so keen to help gut a bedrock environmental law while refusing to accept clear scientific evidence that is inconvenient to their bottom line. As <a href="https://earthjustice.org/feature/sackett-epa-supreme-court-water" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Earthjustice</a> puts it, the effort was part of “<a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/debunking-trump-administrations-new-water-rule/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">a coordinated push by industry polluters</a> that want to blow a hole in the Clean Water Act, bulldoze cherished wetlands, and contaminate the country’s streams with waste from mining, oil and gas, and agro-industrial operations as they see fit, just to <b>maximize their profits.”</b></span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This isn’t the first time this court has delivered a victory to polluters. <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/facebook-right-leaning-pages-are-dominating-conversation-around-supreme-court-ruling" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">In June 2022</a>, the court’s conservative majority issued a devastating ruling in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/23/22937517/supreme-court-epa-west-virginia-clean-power-plan-climate-change" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">West Virginia v. EPA</a></em> that severely limited the EPA’s power to make power plants cut the toxic pollution that is driving the climate cris</span>is.</font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8/20</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/human-society-collapse-deforestation-2646869167.html"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.ecowatch.com/human-society-collapse-deforestation-2646869167.html</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">D<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">eforestation</a> coupled with the rampant destruction of natural resources will soon have devastating effects on the future of society as we know it, according to two<b>theoretical physicists who study complex systems</b> and have concluded that greed has put us on a path to irreversible collapse within the next two to four decades,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">as</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/akzn5a/theoretical-physicists-say-90-chance-of-societal-collapse-within-several-decades" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">VICE</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">reported.</span></font></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem1" data-id="1" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/human-society-collapse-deforestation-2646869167.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" data-basename="particle-1" data-post-id="2646869167" data-published-at="1596466648" data-use-pagination="False"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The research by the two physicists, one from Chile and the other from the UK, was published last week in<em> <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-63657-6" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Nature Scientific Reports</a></em>. The researchers used advance statistical modeling to look at how a growing human population can cope with the loss of resources, mainly due to deforestation. After crunching the numbers, the scientists came up with a fairly bleak assessment of society's chance of surviving the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" target="self" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">climate crisis</a>.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>"Based on the current resource consumption rates and best estimate of technological rate growth our study shows that we have very low probability, less than 10 percent in most optimistic estimate, to survive without facing a catastrophic collapse,"</b> the authors write in the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-63657-6" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">study</a> abstract.</font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem2" data-id="2" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/human-society-collapse-deforestation-2646869167.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" data-basename="particle-2" data-post-id="2646869167" data-published-at="1596466648" data-use-pagination="False"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">From all the issues that the climate crisis raises like rising sea levels, increases in extreme weather, drought, flooding, and crop failures, scientists zeroed in on deforestation since it is more measurable right now. They argue that forest density, or its current scarcity, is considered the cataclysmic canary in the coal mine, according to the report,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">as </span><a href="https://nypost.com/2020/07/29/humanity-likely-faces-rapid-catastrophic-collapse-study-warns/" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">The New York Post</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> reported.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>"Many factors due to human activity are considered as possibly responsible for the observed changes: among these water and air contamination (mostly greenhouse effect) and deforestation are the most cited. While the extent of human contribution to the greenhouse effect and temperature changes is still a matter of discussion, the deforestation is an undeniable fact," the authors write.</b></font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem3" data-id="3" data-reload-ads="true" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/human-society-collapse-deforestation-2646869167.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" data-basename="particle-3" data-post-id="2646869167" data-published-at="1596466648" data-use-pagination="False"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The authors note that the current rate of deforestation would mean that all <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/forests" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">forests</a> would disappear within 100-200 years.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"Clearly it is unrealistic to imagine that the human society would start to be affected by the deforestation only when the last tree would be cut down," the authors write, as the</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8571787/Human-civilization-stands-90-chance-collapse-decades-physicists-claim.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Daily Mail</a></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> reported.</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The trajectory of such rapid resource use to supply a rapidly growing human population would result in the loss of <b>planetary life-support systems</b> necessary for human survival, including carbon storage, oxygen production, soil conservation and water cycle regulation</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, according to the Daily Mail.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the absence of these critical services, "it is highly unlikely to imagine the survival of many species, including ours, on Earth without [forests]" the study points out. "The progressive degradation of the environment due to deforestation would heavily affect human society and consequently the human collapse would start much earlier," they write, as VICE reported.</font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem4" data-id="4" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/human-society-collapse-deforestation-2646869167.html?rebelltitem=4#rebelltitem4" data-basename="particle-4" data-post-id="2646869167" data-published-at="1596466648" data-use-pagination="False" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The numbers the researchers look at highlight the extent of human greed. Prior to human civilizations, the earth was covered by 60 million square kilometers of forest. As deforestation has ramped up, the new paper points out that there are now less than 40 million square kilometers of forest remaining.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Calculations show that, maintaining the actual rate of population growth and resource consumption, in particular forest consumption, we have a few decades left before an irreversible collapse of our civilization," the paper concludes, as VICE reported.</font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem5" data-id="5" data-reload-ads="true" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/human-society-collapse-deforestation-2646869167.html?rebelltitem=5#rebelltitem5" data-basename="particle-5" data-post-id="2646869167" data-published-at="1596466648" data-use-pagination="False" style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The model developed by the physicists depicts human population growth reaching a maximum level that is undermined by the shrinking of forests, which will not have enough resources left to sustain people. After this point, "a rapid disastrous collapse in population occurs before eventually reaching a low population steady state or total extinction … We call this point in time the 'no-return point' because if the deforestation rate is not changed before this time the human population will not be able to sustain itself and a disastrous collapse or even extinction will occur," the authors write, according to VICE.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of course, as with every theoretical paper, there are limitations. The paper assumes that some measurements (such as population growth and deforestation rate) will remain constant, which is certainly not guaranteed. Forest is also taken as a proxy for all resources, which could be seen as too simplistic, as <a href="https://www.iflscience.com/environment/chances-of-societal-collapse-in-next-few-decades-is-sky-high-modelling-suggests/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">IFLScience</a> noted.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The authors point out that it will take a massive amount of collective action to reverse direction and save our society from collapse</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx tags</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Human Activity Is Making Forests Shorter and Younger, Study Finds ... ›</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Fighting Poverty Can Also Fight Deforestation, New Study Finds ... ›</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Coronavirus Pandemic Linked to Destruction of Wildlife and World's ... ›</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">To Stop Amazon Deforestation, Brazilian Groups Take Bolsonaro to ... ›</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Chances Of Societal Collapse In Next Few Decades Is Sky High ... ›</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">deforestation climate crisis science forests</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.iflscience.com/environment/chances-of-societal-collapse-in-next-few-decades-is-sky-high-modelling-suggests/">https://www.iflscience.com/environment/chances-of-societal-collapse-in-next-few-decades-is-sky-high-modelling-suggests/</a>'</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">tom hale</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">e<span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">arth's civilization has a “very low probability” of surviving the next few decades without facing a catastrophic collapse, according to a study published in the Nature journal </span><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-63657-6" style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Scientific Reports</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Two researchers from Chile and the UK used modeling to see how rates of resource consumption, namely in terms of deforestation, affects the ability of global human society to sustain itself. By their workings, there’s just a 10 percent chance that human civilization will be able to make it through the next 20 to 40 years without a catastrophic collapse. </font></span></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We conclude from a statistical point of view that the probability that our civilization survives itself is less than 10 percent in the most optimistic scenario,” the study authors write. </font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Calculations show that, maintaining the actual rate of population growth and resource consumption, in particular forest consumption, we have a few decades left before an irreversible collapse of our civilization.”</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It is hard to imagine, in absence of very strong collective efforts, big changes of these parameters to occur in such time scale,” they added.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is all theoretical, of course. The study authors are both mathematical physicists who use modeling to understand complex systems, ranging from complicated biological processes to fiddly social systems. This intensely theoretical approach does have some limitations. As the researchers point out, their work assumes some parameters (such as population growth and deforestation rate) will remain constant, which is certainly not guaranteed. Forest is also taken as a proxy for all resources, which could be seen as oversimplistic. </font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nevertheless, the study paints a compelling image of how rampant deforestation and population collapse threaten human society as a whole. </font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The study primarily looks at deforestation and our consumption of trees. Trees are an invaluable asset for humans and the wider ecosystem. Not only do they support natural and human food systems but they also are a lynchpin in a number of important systems, such as the carbon cycle, oxygen production, soil conservation, and the water cycle.</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">As such, the researchers say deforestation will soon mean there are not enough resources to maintain the global population, at which point there will be a "disastrous collapse" of the population. </span></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the current rate of deforestation, all of Earth’s forests would disappear in 100 to 200 years. However, the study predicts that the scarcity of forests will start to cause problems long before all of the planet’s trees are gone.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Clearly it is unrealistic to imagine that the human society would start to be affected by the deforestation only when the last tree would be cut down,” they write. “The progressive degradation of the environment due to deforestation would heavily affect human society and consequently the human collapse would start much earlier.” </font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">One of the most remarkable skills of humans is their ability to adapt and innovate. As such, you might expect that technology and science will develop solutions to this problem. However, the report argues that the “consumption of the natural resources, in particular the forests, is in competition with our technological level.” In other words, the more technology progresses, the more we are likely to destroy forests unless a profound paradigm shift occurs.</font></span></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The researchers also toy with the idea of the so-called <a href="https://www.iflscience.com/space/physicist-has-a-new-solution-for-the-fermi-paradox-and-its-pretty-worrying/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">“Fermi paradox”</a> and the question of why we have not yet come across another advanced alien civilization given the high probability of existence. On this point, the researchers point out that <a href="https://www.iflscience.com/space/brian-cox-explains-why-we-havent-seen-aliens-yet-and-it-isnt-pretty/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">some believe</a> only very few civilizations would be able to reach a sufficient technological level to journey out of their solar system before depleting their resources. Essentially, aliens wipe themselves out before becoming advanced enough to launch an interstellar exploration.</b></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Perhaps, the researchers pose, this could be the predicament facing Earthlings in the coming few decades unless civilization undergoes a remarkably rapid transformation. </font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></p></div></div><div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bolsonaro-amazon-deforestation-court-2646172097.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/bolsonaro-amazon-deforestation-court-2646172097.html</a></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="color: rgb(142, 142, 142); font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Jun. 13, 2020</span></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ajit Niranjan DW</font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Civil society groups and public prosecutors in Brazil are taking President Jair Bolsonaro's government to court for failing to <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/amazon-brazil-rainforest-bolsonaro-deforestation-fires/a-52242526" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">protect the Amazon rainforest</a>, adding pressure to an administration already under fire for mismanaging the coronavirus pandemic.</b></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lawsuits filed last week challenge the government on two fronts: reducing inspections of exported timber — while demoting the environment agency expert whose team advised against it — and freezing climate funds to preserve forests that other countries also rely on to offset their carbon emissions.</font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem1" data-id="1" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bolsonaro-amazon-deforestation-court-2646172097.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" data-basename="particle-1" data-post-id="2646172097" data-published-at="1592072164" data-use-pagination="False" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">They are among a series of legal challenges that have been launched in Brazil after a tumultuous year-and-a-half of Bolsonaro rule. His administration has overseen a rise in deforestation, attacked the rights of people indigenous to the Amazon and relaxed rules to prevent illegal <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/amazon-deforestation-eu-firms-linked-to-illegal-logging-in-brazil/a-48442226" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">logging</a>, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/mass-deforestation-how-trade-fells-trees-in-brazil-and-indonesia/a-48280649" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">ranching</a> and <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/brazils-amazon-rainforest-has-become-the-wild-west-for-illegal-gold-miners/a-52623368" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">mining</a>.</font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bolsonaro is a climate change denier who considers the environment to be a kind of enemy, said Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of Brazil-based think tank Climate Observatory, which provided the legal analysis behind the lawsuits. "It's very hard to believe Bolsonaro will change his behavior or mindset. What we really need to do is neutralize the attacks on the environment."</font></font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem2" data-id="2" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bolsonaro-amazon-deforestation-court-2646172097.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" data-basename="particle-2" data-post-id="2646172097" data-published-at="1592072164" data-use-pagination="False"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In recent weeks, the Brazilian government has been rebuked by foreign governments, investors and businesses for enabling deforestation — and by courts and protestors at home for <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/where-could-brazils-criminal-investigation-of-jair-bolsonaro-lead/a-53284984" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">political interference</a> and its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.</font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brazil's supreme court ordered the government on Monday to resume publishing <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/supreme-court-rules-brazil-must-share-virus-data/a-53754069" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">coronavirus statistics</a> after it purged the health ministry website of COVID-19 case numbers and death tolls. The virus has killed more than 37,000 people in Brazil, which has the second-most coronavirus cases in the world behind only the U.S. "The manipulation of statistics is a maneuver of totalitarian regimes," said supreme court judge Gilmar Mendes. "The trick will not exempt responsibility for the eventual genocide."</font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Deforestation, meanwhile, had already last year hit its highest level since 2008.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> </span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">On Tuesday the country's space research agency INPE revised its estimates, saying it they were higher than previously thought. Using satellite data, the scientists calculated that year-on-year <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/brazil-reports-even-more-deforestation-after-revising-data/a-53767938" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon</a> rose by 34 percent between August 2018 and July 2019, felling an area of forest about as big as Jamaica.</span></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Georg Witschel, Germany's ambassador to Brazil, told <a href="https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2020/06/11/desmatamento-na-amazonia-faz-cada-vez-mais-dificil-acordo-ue-mercosul-diz-embaixador-alemao.ghtml" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Brazilian news outlet G1</a> on Thursday that deforestation makes it "increasingly difficult" to ratify the free trade agreement between the EU and South American trade bloc Mercosur.</font></font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem3" data-id="3" data-reload-ads="true" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bolsonaro-amazon-deforestation-court-2646172097.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" data-basename="coronavirus-and-deforestation" data-post-id="2646172097" data-published-at="1592072164" data-use-pagination="False" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h3 data-role="headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Coronavirus and Deforestation</font></font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brazil's environmental and health crises are closely linked. The coronavirus pandemic had given fresh impetus to land grabbers razing swathes of forests as lockdowns have kept law enforcement officers at home.</font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, the fires that typically follow the felling of trees could further strain health systems.</font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Blazing wildfires, like the ones that devastated the Amazon last year, spout pollutants that lower air quality and work their way into people's lungs, exacerbating the same <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-air-pollution-might-raise-risk-of-fatality/a-52977422" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">breathing diseases</a> that leave people more vulnerable to the coronavirus.</b> A joint peak in forest fires and COVID-19 cases could overwhelm hospitals without "incisive intervention by the State to curb illegal acts," according to a report published in May by INPE.</font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That could collapse health systems in several Amazonian states that are already operating at the limit, the authors wrote. "If the turning point of the epidemiological curve of COVID-19 does not occur immediately, in May 2020, there will certainly be an overlap of fires with the pandemic."</font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This could spell disaster for indigenous peoples and uncontacted tribes, said Sarah Shenker, a campaigner with Survival International. "In Brazil, there are more than 100 uncontacted tribes and they could be wiped out if invaders are not removed from their territory."</font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even before the current coronavirus crisis, scientists warned that <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/how-deforestation-can-lead-to-more-infectious-diseases/a-53282244" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">forest loss makes pandemics more likely</a> by increasing the chance that diseases jump from animals to humans. A study published in the journal PNAS in October found that deforestation of the Amazon significantly increases transmission of malaria, a different type of disease.</font></font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem4" data-id="4" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bolsonaro-amazon-deforestation-court-2646172097.html?rebelltitem=4#rebelltitem4" data-basename="preserving-the-climate" data-post-id="2646172097" data-published-at="1592072164" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Preserving the Climate</font></font></h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Amazon rainforest — 60 percent of which lies in Brazil — is one of the world's great carbon sinks. Preserving its trees and plants is crucial to meeting international targets that <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/co2-emissions-gap-un-report-warns-of-collective-failure-to-act/a-51407286" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">limit global warming</a> to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels</b>.</font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Lawsuits that take years to complete are not going to produce results fast enough, said Ricardo Galvao, a former director of INPE who was <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/brazils-research-chief-sacked-after-deforestation-row-with-bolsonaro/a-49874119" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">fired by Bolsonaro</a> in August.</font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">To curb deforestation in the Amazon, said Galvao, the best tools are "positive actions that show [that] exploring the forest, rather than destroying it, gives economic returns." For instance, international organizations like the UN could certify products from sustainably managed forests and countries could lower import taxes on such "green-stamped" goods.</font></font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem5" data-id="5" data-reload-ads="true" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bolsonaro-amazon-deforestation-court-2646172097.html?rebelltitem=5#rebelltitem5" data-basename="particle-5" data-post-id="2646172097" data-published-at="1592072164" data-use-pagination="False"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Brazil has a legal commitment to reduce deforestation in the Amazon to a rate equivalent to about 3,900 square kilometers per year from 2020 onwards. In 2012, measures to protect the Amazon had brought deforestation down to 4,600 square kilometers, close to the target, but by 2019, it had rebounded to 9,800 square kilometers.</b></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Brazilian government, which in May brought in the military to <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/brazil-deploys-military-to-protect-amazon-rainforest/a-53398270" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">protect the forest</a>, has disputed its image as an environmental pariah. "We are the country that most preserves the environment in the world," said Bolsonaro on World Environment Day last week. "Unjustly, [we are] the most attacked.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"</span></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Data from Brazil's Institute of Socioeconomic Studies show government spending on forest inspection dropped from R$17.4 million (US$3.5 million, €3.1 million) to R$5.3 million from the first five months of 2019 to the same period in 2020, while funding for activities under Brazil's national climate change plan were cut from R$436 million last year to R$247 million this year.</font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ibama, the Brazilian environment agency, did not respond to a request for comment.</font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Big tracts of the rainforest have no recorded owner, making it easier to illegally grab land, and a lack of law enforcement can even mean that farmers who comply with regulations struggle to compete with those who don't.</b></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Working with sustainable farmers and fixing land ownership structures could help Brazil slow deforestation during the coronavirus pandemic and recession, said Monica De Los Rios, Brazil coordinator at the nonprofit Earth Innovation Institute. "This is the most critical moment in the history of the Amazon."</font></font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">guk 6/20</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://yyy.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/01/sixth-mass-extinction-of-wildlife-accelerating-scientists-warn</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Sixth mass extinction of wildlife accelerating, scientists warn</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><b>Analysis shows 500 species on brink of extinction – as many as were lost over previous century</b></div><div>
</div><div>The age of extinction is supported by</div><div>About this content</div><div>Damian Carrington Environment editor</div><div>
</div><div> @dpcarrington</div><div>Mon 1 Jun 2020 15.00 EDTLast modified on Mon 1 Jun 2020 15.37 EDT</div><div>Sumatran rhino</div><div> The Sumatran rhino is on the verge of extinction, with fewer than 1,000 individuals left. Photograph: Rhett Buttler/Mongabay/PA]</div><div>
</div><div>The sixth mass extinction of wildlife on Earth is accelerating, according to an analysis by scientists who warn it may be a tipping point for the collapse of civilisation.</div><div>
</div><div>More than 500 species of land animals were found to be on the brink of extinction and likely to be lost within 20 years. In comparison, the same number were lost over the whole of the last century. Without the human destruction of nature, even this rate of loss would have taken thousands of years, the scientists said.</div><div>
</div><div>The land vertebrates on the verge of extinction, with fewer than 1,000 individuals left, include the Sumatran rhino, the Clarión wren, the Española giant tortoise and the harlequin frog. Historic data was available for 77 of the species and the scientists found these had lost 94% of their populations.</div><div>
</div><div>The researchers also warned of a domino effect, with the loss of one species tipping others that depend on it over the edge. “Extinction breeds extinctions,” they said, noting that unlike other environmental problems extinction is irreversible.</div><div>
</div><div>Humanity relies on biodiversity for its health and wellbeing, scientists said, with the coronavirus pandemic an extreme example of the dangers of ravaging the natural world. Rising human population, destruction of habitats, the wildlife trade, pollution and the climate crisis must all be urgently tackled, they said.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Human society under urgent threat from loss of Earth's natural life</div><div> Read more</div><div>“When humanity exterminates other creatures, it is sawing off the limb on which it is sitting, destroying working parts of our own life-support system,” said<b> Prof Paul Ehrlich, of Stanford University in the US</b>, and one of the research team. “The conservation of endangered species should be elevated to a global emergency for governments and institutions, equal to the climate disruption to which it is linked.”...</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></b></div></div><div><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"></span><div><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pandemics-environmental-destruction-2645854694.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/pandemics-environmental-destruction-2645854694.html</a></div><div><h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-wildlife--ecosystem-destruction-2645713976.html" aria-label="Coronavirus Pandemic Linked to Destruction of Wildlife and World's Ecosystems" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.2;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Coronavirus Pandemic Linked to Destruction of Wildlife and World's Ecosystems</font></a></h1></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-wildlife--ecosystem-destruction-2645713976.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-wildlife--ecosystem-destruction-2645713976.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">from DW</font></div></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2020/4/27/headlines/insect_populations_plummet_amid_urbanization_and_deforestation" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.democracynow.org/2020/4/27/headlines/insect_populations_plummet_amid_urbanization_and_deforestation</a></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-wildlife--ecosystem-destruction-2645713976.html" aria-label="Coronavirus Pandemic Linked to Destruction of Wildlife and World's Ecosystems" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.2;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Coronavirus Pandemic Linked to Destruction of Wildlife and World's Ecosystems</font></a></h1></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-wildlife--ecosystem-destruction-2645713976.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-wildlife--ecosystem-destruction-2645713976.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">from DW</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="widgetbrief"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Charli Shield</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">After the novel coronavirus broke out in Wuhan, China in late December 2019, it <b>didn't take long for conspiracy theorists to claim it was manufactured in a nearby lab.</b></font></p></div><div class="js-appear-on-expand" style="transition: all 350ms ease 0s; height: auto; overflow: hidden; opacity: 1;"><div class=" rebellt-item is--desktop col1" id="rebelltitem1" data-id="1" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-wildlife--ecosystem-destruction-2645713976.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" data-basename="particle-1" data-post-id="2645713976"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Scientific consensus, on the other hand, is that the virus — SARS-CoV-2 — <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">is a zoonotic disease</a> that jumped from animal to human. It <b>most likely <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2019.2736" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">originated in a bat</a>, possibly before passing through another mammal.</b></span>
</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">While the virus was certainly not engineered in a laboratory, this doesn't mean we haven't played a role in the current pandemic. Human impingement on natural habitats, biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are making virus spillover events much more likely, a <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2019.2736" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">major new study</a> from scientists in Australia and the US has found.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The number of emerging infectious disease outbreaks has more than tripled <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsif.2014.0950#RSIF20140950F1" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">every decade since the 1980s</a>. More than two thirds of these diseases originate in animals, and about <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature06536" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">70% of those come from wild animals</a>. Many of the infectious diseases we're familiar with — Ebola, HIV, swine and avian flu — are zoonotic.</font></p></div><div class=" rebellt-item is--desktop col1" id="rebelltitem2" data-id="2" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-wildlife--ecosystem-destruction-2645713976.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" data-basename="particle-2" data-post-id="2645713976"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Aided by a hyper-connected global population, SARS-CoV-2 and the disease it causes, COVID-19, has also demonstrated how quickly modern outbreaks can become pandemics.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">While the speed at which COVID-19 has spread across the world has shocked many, scientists have long been <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2176051/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">warning</a> of such a <a href="https://academic.oup.com/nsr/article/4/3/493/3789515" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">pandemic</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">By disrupting ecosystems, we have created the conditions that allow animal viruses to cross over into human populations</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, says Joachim Spangenberg, ecologist and vice-president of the <b>Sustainable Europe Research Institute.</b></span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">"We are creating this situation, not the animals," Spangenberg told DW.</font></p></div><div class=" rebellt-item is--desktop col1" id="rebelltitem3" data-id="3" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-wildlife--ecosystem-destruction-2645713976.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" data-basename="deforestation-habitat-encroachment" data-post-id="2645713976"><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Deforestation, habitat encroachment</font></h3><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As people move further into the territories of wild animals to clear forests, raise livestock, hunt and extract resources, we are increasingly exposed to the pathogens that normally never leave these places and the bodies they inhabit.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">"We're getting closer and closer to wild animals," says Yan Xiang, professor of virology at the University of Texas Health Science Center, "and that brings us into contact with these viruses."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">"As you increase human population density and increase encroachment onto natural habitats, not just by people but by our domesticated animals, you're increasing the rolls on the die," David Hayman, professor of infectious disease ecology at Massey University in New Zealand, told DW.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">But, as well as increasing the likelihood of transfer, ecosystem disruption also has an impact on how many viruses exist in the wild and how they behave.</font></p></div><div class=" rebellt-item is--desktop col1" id="rebelltitem4" data-id="4" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-wildlife--ecosystem-destruction-2645713976.html?rebelltitem=4#rebelltitem4" data-basename="particle-4" data-post-id="2645713976"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">In the last century,<b> tropical forests</b>, home to around two thirds of the world's living organisms, <a href="https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/planet-earth/forests-and-deserts/rate-of-deforestation" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">have been halved</a>. This profound loss of habitat has ripple effects throughout the entire ecosystem, including on the "parts we tend to forget — infections," says Hayman.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">In some cases, scientists have observed that when animals at the top of the food chain disappear, the animals at the bottom of the food chain, like rats and mice that carry more pathogens, tend to fill that space</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>"It's not just about how many species we have in an ecosystem," says Alice Latinne at the Wildlife Conservation Society, "it's about which species."</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">"Each species plays a different role in the ecosystem and sometimes, if you just replace one species with another, this can have a huge impact in terms of disease risk. And sometimes we can't predict it," she told DW.</font></p></div><div class=" rebellt-item is--desktop col1" id="rebelltitem5" data-id="5" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-wildlife--ecosystem-destruction-2645713976.html?rebelltitem=5#rebelltitem5" data-basename="particle-5" data-post-id="2645713976" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>Habitat changes can also force animals — and their pathogens — to go elsewhere, including areas populated by people.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Latinne draws on the example of the emergence of Nipah virus in Malaysia in the late 1990s, where deforestation drove fruit bats from their forest habitat to mango trees on pig farms. Bats often carry pathogens that don't bother them, but in this case when the pigs came into contact with bat droppings and saliva, they became infected. The pigs then went on to infect farmers.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Evidence linking disruption of ecosystems to increased risk of novel infection transfer is why, Spangenberg says, experts talk about the importance of the "One Health" concept; the idea that the health of animals, the ecosystem and humans are all interlinked, and when one is out of balance, others follow suit.</font></p></div><div class=" rebellt-item is--desktop col1" id="rebelltitem6" data-id="6" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-wildlife--ecosystem-destruction-2645713976.html?rebelltitem=6#rebelltitem6" data-basename="wildlife-trade" data-post-id="2645713976"><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Wildlife trade</font></h3><div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url css-listicle-body-2645713976 expanded" data-elid="2645713976" data-post-url="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-wildlife--ecosystem-destruction-2645713976.html" data-authors="Deutsche Welle" data-headline="Coronavirus Pandemic Linked to Destruction of Wildlife and World's Ecosystems" style="margin-top: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="body-description" style="clear: both;"><div class="js-appear-on-expand" style="transition: all 350ms ease 0s; height: auto; overflow: hidden; opacity: 1;"><div class=" rebellt-item is--desktop col1" id="rebelltitem6" data-id="6" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-wildlife--ecosystem-destruction-2645713976.html?rebelltitem=6#rebelltitem6" data-basename="wildlife-trade" data-post-id="2645713976"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">So-called "wet markets" selling produce, meat and live animals provide another incubator for the emergence of infectious disease</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. Scientists </span><a href="https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0092-8674%2820%2930328-7" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">believe</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> there's a strong possibility SARS-CoV-2 emerged at a wet market in Wuhan, China.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Cramming stressed, sick animals into cages together is, in many ways, the "perfect setting" to incubate new pathogens, Spangenberg says, and "an excellent way to transfer diseases from one species to another." For that reason, many scientists, including Spangenberg, say the world needs, at the very least, to introduce strict regulations for live animal markets.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">That's the message from Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, the United Nations' biodiversity chief, who has called for a global ban on wildlife markets.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">But as Mrema also pointed out, millions of people — particularly in low-income communities — rely on the food and income sources these markets provide.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">That's part of what makes solutions to preventing disease outbreak complex, according to Hayman. Animal exploitation is one part of it, he says. But "poverty, access to jobs, how people are treated in remote areas, the way people engage with food" also contribute to conditions that lead to spillovers.</font></p></div><div class=" rebellt-item is--desktop col1" id="rebelltitem7" data-id="7" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-wildlife--ecosystem-destruction-2645713976.html?rebelltitem=7#rebelltitem7" data-basename="particle-7" data-post-id="2645713976" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Even just on an economic level, Latinne believes, "we will be forced to change — because the cost of disease emergence and spillover from wildlife will be much higher than the economic benefit of our exploitation of the environment."</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">"We are part of nature — we're part of the ecosystem where our health is linked to the health of wildlife, the health of livestock and the health of the environment," Latinne says. "We have to find a better way to live together safely."</font></p></div><p class="" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-pandemic-linked-to-destruction-of-wildlife-and-worlds-ecosystems/a-53078480?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">Deutsche Welle</a>.</font><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/environment" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" display="display" inline-block="inline-block" overflow-wrap="overflow-wrap" break-word="break-word" line-height="line-height" border-radius="border-radius" border="border" solid="solid" rgb="rgb" padding="padding">environment</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> </span><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" display="display" inline-block="inline-block" overflow-wrap="overflow-wrap" break-word="break-word" line-height="line-height" border-radius="border-radius" border="border" solid="solid" rgb="rgb" padding="padding">coronavirus</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> </span><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" display="display" inline-block="inline-block" overflow-wrap="overflow-wrap" break-word="break-word" line-height="line-height" border-radius="border-radius" border="border" solid="solid" rgb="rgb" padding="padding">biodiversity</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> </span><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/health" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" display="display" inline-block="inline-block" overflow-wrap="overflow-wrap" break-word="break-word" line-height="line-height" border-radius="border-radius" border="border" solid="solid" rgb="rgb" padding="padding">health</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> </span><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/china" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" display="display" inline-block="inline-block" overflow-wrap="overflow-wrap" break-word="break-word" line-height="line-height" border-radius="border-radius" border="border" solid="solid" rgb="rgb" padding="padding">china</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> </span><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" display="display" inline-block="inline-block" overflow-wrap="overflow-wrap" break-word="break-word" line-height="line-height" border-radius="border-radius" border="border" solid="solid" rgb="rgb" padding="padding">wildlife</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> </span><a class="tags__item" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" display="display" inline-block="inline-block" overflow-wrap="overflow-wrap" break-word="break-word" line-height="line-height" border-radius="border-radius" border="border" solid="solid" rgb="rgb" padding="padding">deforestation</a></p></div></div></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div></div></div><div><p style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 17.024px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></p><h3 class="article-title" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-family: " playfair="Playfair" display="Display" serif="serif" font-weight="font-weight" normal="normal" line-height="line-height" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" height="height" px="px"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/30082019/coral-bleaching-great-barrier-reef-climate-change-australia-ocean-2019-report" rel="bookmark" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px;">Australia Cuts Outlook for Great Barrier Reef to ‘Very Poor’ for First Time</a> icn 919</h3></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><header style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 165px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; position: relative; color: rgb(56, 56, 56); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><div class="article--header" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 20px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); float: none; line-height: 1em;"><a href="https://theconversation.com/biodiversity-helps-coral-reefs-thrive-and-could-be-part-of-strategies-to-save-them-111723" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">Biodiversity helps coral reefs thrive – and could be part of strategies to save them</a></h2><p class="byline" style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 11px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 1.2; color: rgb(136, 136, 136); clear: both;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/cody-clements-676986" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">Cody Clements</a>, <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Georgia Institute of Technology</em></span></p></div></header><div class="content" data-raw="" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 165px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(56, 56, 56); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">In a study that cultivated coral 'gardens' with varying numbers of species, plots with more species were healthier. This finding could inform strategies to help coral reefs survive climate change.</span></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><article data-id="116636" class="clearfix placed analysis published" style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); zoom: 1; color: rgb(56, 56, 56); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><header style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><div class="article--header" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><h2 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 20px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; line-height: 1.3em;"><a href="https://theconversation.com/coral-reefs-provide-flood-protection-worth-1-8-billion-every-year-its-time-to-protect-them-116636" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153); text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">Coral reefs provide flood protection worth $1.8 billion every year – it’s time to protect them</a></h2><p class="byline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 2px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 11px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michael-beck-125697" style="color: rgb(85, 117, 133); text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">Michael Beck</a>, <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">University of California, Santa Cruz</em></span></p></div></header><div class="content" data-raw="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">A new report shows that coral reefs reduce damage from floods across the United States and its trust territories by more than $1.8 billion every year – and pinpoints that value state by state.</span></div></article><article data-id="108872" class="clearfix placed analysis published" style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); zoom: 1; color: rgb(56, 56, 56); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><header style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><div class="article--header" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><h2 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 20px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; line-height: 1.3em;"><a href="https://theconversation.com/sea-creatures-store-carbon-in-the-ocean-could-protecting-them-help-slow-climate-change-108872" style="color: rgb(85, 117, 133); text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">Sea creatures store carbon in the ocean – could protecting them help slow climate change?</a></h2><p class="byline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 2px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 11px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/heidi-pearson-611338" style="color: rgb(85, 117, 133); text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">Heidi Pearson</a>, <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">University of Alaska Southeast</em></span></p></div></header><div class="content" data-raw="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Protecting forests and wetlands, which absorb and store carbon, is one way to slow climate change. Scientists are proposing similar treatment for marine animals that help store carbon in the oceans.</span></div></article></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">aha see BS fallback: not real, too costly to fix</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">find recent art'l doing nothing costs more</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><header style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 165px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; position: relative;"><div class="article--header" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; float: none; line-height: 1em;"><a href="https://theconversation.com/coral-reefs-provide-flood-protection-worth-1-8-billion-every-year-its-time-to-protect-them-116636" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Coral reefs provide flood protection worth $1.8 billion every year – it’s time to protect them</font></a></h2><p class="byline" style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 1.2; clear: both;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michael-beck-125697" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">Michael Beck</a>, <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">University of California, Santa Cruz</em></font></span></p></div></header><div class="content" data-raw="" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 165px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A new report shows that coral reefs reduce damage from floods across the United States and its trust territories by more than $1.8 billion every year – and pinpoints that value state by state.</font></span></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div>