Category Archives: Environment

What they are doing to my Heart Land

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The Intercept’s Ryan Devereaux has an excellent and horrifying overview of the damage being done at Organ Pipe. Trump Is Blowing Up a National Monument in Arizona to Make Way for the Border Wall Contractors working for the Trump administration are blowing apart a mountain on protected lands in southern Arizona to make way for the president’s border wall. The blasting is happening on the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a tract of Sonoran Desert wilderness long celebrated as one of the nation’s great ecological treasures, that holds profound spiritual significance to multiple Native American groups…. Celebrated as “a pristine … Continue reading →

“And when Trump is gone, we’ll tear it all down.”

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More from Laiken Jordahl, reporting from the border: Trump’s wall is destroying the environment activists are protecting Imagine dedicating your entire life to protecting a place. Then imagine watching everything you’ve worked to protect be bulldozed by a desperate, self-serving president. That’s what’s happening right now to career scientists and conservationists at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on Arizona’s border with Mexico. I used to work there too. It breaks my heart. Organ Pipe, a sprawling 500-square-mile wilderness area home to the best preserved Sonoran Desert ecosystem on the planet, is being butchered by President Trump’s border wall…. The wall … Continue reading →

Actually, that’s one billion animals killed

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And even those who survive may have no habitat to return to. From the Washington Post: A billion animals have been caught in Australia’s fires. Some may go extinct. Some of the rarest species on Earth are threatened by fires scorching their habitats, scientists warn. …More than 1 billion mammals, birds and reptiles nationwide — some of them found nowhere else on Earth — may have been affected or killed by the fires sweeping across Australia, according to a University of Sydney estimate. The potential toll is far greater when other types of animals are included. “We’re not just talking … Continue reading →

Trump is destroying Organ Pipe National Monument

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From folks on the ground: Truckload after truckload of massive metal bollards are being hauled into Organ Pipe to build Trump’s wall. The barrier will stop migrating wildlife in their tracks, severing this UNESCO biosphere reserve from all habitat south of the border. 📷 Rosemary Schiano pic.twitter.com/D73VAGejW4 — Laiken Jordahl (@LaikenJordahl) December 16, 2019 ALERT: DHS contractors spotted drilling well just 8 miles from Organ Pipe’s Quitobaquito spring. This well taps the La Abra aquifer — the same source that feeds Quitobaquito and the endangered species that depend on it. Footage shot this morning by Rosemary Schiano: pic.twitter.com/aOggQmLiJd — Laiken … Continue reading →

May they survive, and thrive

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Here’s a good explanation of Rojava, and why it was unique. Turkish attack on Syria endangers a remarkable democratic experiment by the Kurds …According to Turkish president Recep Erdogan, Turkey’s goal is to create a buffer zone separating Syria’s Kurds from the Turkish border. But his country’s attack will do much more than that. If successful, it will destroy the most full-fledged democracy the Middle East has yet to see…. The Kurds call their autonomous region in Syria “Rojava,” meaning “the land where the sun sets.”… Rojava would be an exceptional society almost anywhere. Rojava’s charter guarantees freedom of expression … Continue reading →

Aridification

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If we were willing to change, different kinds of agricultural practices could mitigate global warming. I think the thing that most drives me insane about confronting this pending destruction is that we really could be capable of fixing it, but as a species we just won’t. Support American Rivers. They do good work.

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Our most pressing issue

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My teenage daughter has made a short video trying to explain to other young people––& to herself––why biodiversity loss, extinction & vanishing species really, really matter. It’s spoken from the heart. It’s about one of the vital issues of our times. Please share, show, discuss! pic.twitter.com/8T2oStvOgr — Robert Macfarlane (@RobGMacfarlane) January 26, 2019

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