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05 May 2022 - NPWJ News Digest on Environmental Justice & Human Rights
Articles
‘Canaries in the coalmine’: loss of birds signals changing planet
The Guardian, 05 May 2022
Billions of birds are disappearing because of humanity's impact on Earth, global review finds.The world’s birds, described as the planet’s “canaries in the coalmine”, are disappearing in large numbers as the colossal impact of humanity on the Earth grows, a global review has found. There are about 11,000 species of bird spanning the globe, but the populations of half of them are falling, while just 6% are increasing. Their flight and song make them easier to study than many animals, meaning they are the best studied large group.
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Why Capitalism Can Make A Big Impact On Climate Change
Forbes, 04 May 2022
If the pursuit of corporate profits led to the paradox now posed by climate change, then the same precept applies if global leaders want to reach net-zero. That’s a cornerstone of the proposed securities rules — requiring companies to disclose their climate-related market risks. Roger Ballentine explained the logic, a climate capitalist who is the president of Green Strategies Inc. Cheap fossil fuels have powered the globe’s remarkable economic growth. But times have changed, and now is the moment to align profit-seekers with climate-friendly businesses. The market will reward companies that embrace the challenge, while those that do not will get sidelined.
Urbanization linked to poor ecological knowledge, less environmental action
Science Daily, 04 May 2022
A new study highlights a sharp contrast between urban and suburban ways of thinking about coastal ecosystems. The authors of the study used statistical and cognitive science techniques to analyze data from a survey of 1,400 residents across the U.S. East Coast. Their results showed that surveyed residents of urban centers often held a more simplistic, and less realistic, understanding of coastal ecosystems than residents in suburban areas. The research also uncovered a lower propensity to take pro-environmental actions among urban populations.
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Surge in deforestation as Brazil pushes to pave a forgotten Amazon road
Mongabay, 04 May 2022
A plan being pushed by the government of President Jair Bolsonaro to pave a long-abandoned road in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon has spurred a rash of land grabs by parties betting on a boost in land prices.The BR-319 road, cutting through an 800-kilometer (500-mile) expanse of rainforest, was built in the 1970s to connect Manaus and Porto Velho, the respective capitals of the states of Amazonas and Rondônia. It deteriorated within just a few years, and by 1988 was impassable — effectively lost to the forest.
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Polluters are using forests as ‘carbon offsets.’ Climate change has other plans.
National Geographic, 04 May 2022
Billions of dollars hinge on forests soaking up CO2 for decades to come. What happens when drought and fire kill the trees?
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An Extraordinary Heat Wave Exposes the Limits of Protecting People
The New York Times, 03 May 2022
Temperatures are soaring across South Asia, testing dangerous thresholds. How much is climate change to blame? It's becoming an 'obsolete question', one scientist says.
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Record-breaking early heatwave hits India, Pakistan, temperatures keep rising
France 24, 28 Apr 2022
India is getting too hot too early, raising the risk of fires, Prime Miniser Narendra Modi warned on Wednesday, as a heatwave gripped much of the country and a landfill site burned on the capital's outskirts. "Temperatures are rising rapidly in the country, and rising much earlier than usual", Modi told heads of India's state governments in an online conference.
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