Habitat loss

Cigarette Butts in Soil Hamper Plant Growth, Study Suggests

Discarded cigarette butts can hamper plant growth, new research suggests. The study, led by Anglia Ruskin University, found the presence of butts in soil reduced the germination success and shoot length of clover by 27% and 28% respectively. For grass, germination success reduced by 10% and shoot length by 13%. An estimated 4.5 trillion butts are littered globally each year making them the planet’s most pervasive form of plastic pollution, the study said.

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‘Unprecedented’ Decline of Plants and Animals as Global ‘Red List’ Reveals Nearly One-Third of Assessed Species Under Threat

The Red List, published Thursday by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), revealed that one third of all species the group has assessed are now under threat due to overfishing, pollution, illegal logging and trafficking, threats to water sources and habitats due to the climate crisis, and other factors, including many human activities.

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Breaching a ‘Carbon Threshold’ Could Lead to Mass Extinction

Daniel Rothman, professor of geophysics, has found that when the rate at which carbon dioxide enters the oceans pushes past a certain threshold—whether as the result of a sudden burst or a slow, steady influx—the Earth may respond with a runaway cascade of chemical feedbacks, leading to extreme ocean acidification that dramatically amplifies the effects of the original trigger. This response likely occurred within 4 of the 5 great mass extinctions, and it’s happening right now.

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The Vegan Meat Revolution Could Help Save the Planet – And Fast-Food Chains Are Finally Taking Notice

A few years ago, convincing meat-free “meat” was nothing more than a distant dream for most consumers. Meat substitutes in supermarkets lacked variety and quality. Plant-based burgers were few and far between in major fast food outlets – and meaty they were not. But realistic alternatives to environmentally damaging meat are now big business – and global fast food chains are finally starting to take notice.

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In the Fight Against Climate Change, Humans and Wildlife Are Allies

Climate change is accelerating at a breakneck pace, already affecting about half of all threatened mammal species and a quarter of threatened birds. And according to a study published in Science last year, if nothing is done to curb our carbon emissions, nearly 50 percent of the planet’s insects, which make up the foundation of food webs all over the globe, could disappear by the end of the century.

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No Need to Dam Free-Flowing Rivers to Meet World’s Climate and Energy Targets

In a comment article published in the Nature last month, scientists argue that an “energy future in which both people and rivers thrive” is possible with better planning. The hydropower development projects now underway threaten the world’s last free-flowing rivers, posing severe threats to local human communities and the species that call rivers home.

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We Are Witnessing the Collapse of Nature

We seem to be a pretty smart species, we create symphonies and 3D printed hearts and can take pictures of Mars. But really, how smart is a species that knowingly destroys its own habitat, to the point that it becomes unsurvivable? It is up to us, right now, to ensure that we protect biodiversity and treat the natural world with the care and respect required to support our species.

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Hasan Minhaj Breaks Down Deforestation in the Amazon — and Offers a Way to Help

Comedian Hasan Minhaj grew up watching public service announcements about protecting the Amazon rainforest. While some of them were definitely cringey, global calls to action eventually slowed deforestation rates in the Amazon. But last year saw an alarming reversal of that progress, Minhaj explained on the latest episode of his Netflix series, Patriot Act.

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Silent Spring’s Encore

Rachel Carson’s famous and brilliant book Silent Spring (1962), which single-handedly ignited the environmental movement, has never been more relevant than it is today. A mimeo of Silent Spring is scheduled for publication by the UN, as the most comprehensive study of life on the planet ever undertaken, an 1,800-page study by the world’s leading scientists that spells out in detail the results of a massive study of the world’s ecosystems. The conclusion: Nature is in “steep decline.”

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One Million Species at Risk of Extinction, UN Report Warns

A landmark global assessment warns that the window is closing to safeguard biodiversity and a healthy planet. Yet solutions are in sight. Theh bonds that hold nature together may be at risk of unraveling from deforestation, overfishing, development, and other human activities, a landmark United Nations report warns. Thanks to human pressures, one million species may be pushed to extinction in the next few years, with serious consequences for human beings as well as the rest of life on Earth.

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Can Madness Save the World?

It is well known that people who fall into those deeply transformative and chaotic states typically referred to as “psychosis” often feel at different points throughout their journeys that they have received a special calling to save the world, or at least the human race. The great irony I have come to appreciate is that while I think it’s true that these individuals are often experiencing some degree of confusion, mixing up different realms of experience, I have come to feel that perhaps the key to saving the world, or at least the human species, may in fact actually be revealed within these extreme experiences.

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The Blue Ocean Event and Collapsing Ecosystems

Sometime in the near future it is highly probable that the Arctic will no longer have sea ice, meaning zero ice for the first time in eons, aka: the Blue Ocean Event.Surely, the world is not prepared for the consequences of such an historic event, which likely turns the world topsy-turvy, negatively impacting agriculture with gonzo weather patterns, thus forcing people to either starve or fight. But, the problem may be even bigger than shortages of food.

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Grass-fed Beef Debunked

Grass-fed beef is still touted as the gold standard for the environment, health, and viewed as an ethical practice. This video looks at the research to examine labels, environmental impact, and the nutrient profile of grass-fed cows.

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Saying Goodbye to Planet Earth

Chris Hedges argues that “the human-induced change to the ecosystem, at least for many thousands of years, will probably make the biosphere inhospitable to most forms of life [without] halting our consumption of fossil fuels, converting to a plant-based diet and dismantling the animal agriculture industry as well as greening deserts and restoring rainforests.”

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9 States Sue ‘Flat-Out Wrong’ Trump Administration Over Seismic Blasting in Atlantic

During these seismic surveys, ships fire blasts of air to the bottom of the sea every 10 to 12 seconds for weeks or months at a time to map the contours of the ocean floor in search of oil and gas deposits. The loud, continuous and far-reaching noise can damage the hearing and potentially disorientate and kill marine life, displace fish, devastate zooplankton and cause whales to beach.

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A Marine Ecological Crisis in Southeast Asia

Across the globe, marine habitats are in a state of dramatic decline. According to a recent study by the Wildlife Conservation Society, only 13 percent of the planet’s oceans are untouched by human activity. The only unaffected portions are in remote protected parts of the Pacific Ocean and around the poles; even there, apparently, the tide is turning, making the waters unsafe for marine life.

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Animal Agriculture is Choking the Earth and Making Us Sick – We Must Act Now

Our collective minds are stuck on this idea that talking about food’s environmental impact risks taking something very intimate away from us. In fact it’s just the opposite. Reconsidering how we eat offers us hope, and empowers us with choice over what our future planet will look like. And we can ask our local leaders – from city mayors to school district boards to hospital management – to help, by widening our food options.

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