MY FAVORITE KIRKUS REVIEWS MAGAZINE INTERVIEW

A Kirkus review is one of the most important reviews a book can get. If any book doesn’t display a Kirkus review it’s likely because the review wasn’t flattering. After giving The Great Healing a glowing review — see book cover below — Kirkus has written an article about me this year for their magazine and interviewed me twice.

This one, for their Earth Day special issue remains my favorite. Thank you Kirkus!

Read the interview here.

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“Erickson’s ability to connect climate science, copious data, and public policies with the lived experiences of people and other creatures sets this book apart. His emphasis on humane and caring methods reminds readers that winning hearts and minds is a prerequisite to capturing carbon. An inspired synthesis of environmental, cultural, economic, and political calls to action."

                        — Kirkus Reviews

“The ambitious book’s five chapters highlight compassionate approaches toward animals, self, the land, community, and democracy. Erickson’s writing displays passion, clarity, and a grasp of every topic he tackles.” 

                        — Kirkus Reviews

150 HAZARDOUS PESTICIDES BANNED IN OTHER COUNTRIES REMAIN IN USE IN THE U.S.

Photo credit: USDA photo by Lance Cheung

Photo credit: USDA photo by Lance Cheung

This new data analysis from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Pesticide Action Network International reveals that 25 hazardous pesticides which have been banned in 30+ countries were still widely used in the United States in 2017.

In 1965 one in every 100 Americans got cancer during their lifetimes. By 1995 it was one in 8 — today it is one out of every 2 of us.

The most important way you can protect yourself is to eat a primarily plant-based diet. Purchase only organic produce and avoid processed foods as much as possible.

Check out which pesticides are rated Extremely Hazardous or Highly Hazardous and how widespread their use is here.

G20 COUNTRIES TO MISS 1.5°C PARIS TARGET BY WIDE MARGIN

Planet Earth NASA - Rawpixel 418645 CC.jpg

Data in the Climate Reality Check 2020 report from the National Centre for Climate Restoration reveals that an increase in global warming of 1.5°C is now expected by 2030. The Paris Agreement of 2015 called for countries to take the immediate action necessary to limit this increase until year 2100… Oops… Over the next 25 years Earth will be warming at .25 - .35°C per decade.

A separate report from Climate Transparency confirms that the G20 countries including the U.S. will miss the 1.5°C Paris target by a wide margin. The report projects a 2.7°C increase by century’s end if we remain on the course we are on.

The time to transition away from fossil fuels is right now. “G20 governments risk inverting any progress made so far if the [COVID] recovery continues to be mostly fossil-orientated,” said Angela Picciariello, senior research officer at the Overseas Development Institute.

A 2.7°C increase is 4.86°F. A global temperature increase of nearly 5° as revealed in The Great Healing “is a mass extinction level event. Our civilization will break down as our environment does and the end of our Anthropocene Epoch will soon follow.”

Raising our voices is the most important action we can take right now: rallying the new administration to take even more robust climate action, as well as making sure our friends, family, and everyone we come in contact with is aware of exactly how dire our climate emergency is. That’s now even more important than the lifestyle choices we make.

View the Climate Reality Check 2020 report here.
View the G20 Euractiv article here.

Photo credit: NASA Rawpixel 418645 CC

A NEW MARINE SANCTUARY SPANNING 265,347 MILES HAS BEEN CREATED!

In the South Atlantic Ocean, the 245 inhabitants of a four-island archipelago including Tristan da Cunha island have designated 90% of their territorial waters as a Marine Protected Area, protecting its animals and safeguarding biodiversity. These waters will now become a “no-take zone” where fishing, mining, and other extractive measures are banned.

This is a significant step toward achieving the global 30/30 initiative and its target of protecting 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030.

Read National Geographic’s photo-essay, which includes a global map of protected marine areas, here.

WIND & SOLAR ENERGY WILL OVERTAKE GAS & COAL GLOBALLY BY 2024

Photo credit: Pxfuel energy generator CC

Photo credit: Pxfuel energy generator CC

A new report from the International Energy Agency projects that wind and solar power sources are on course to surpass natural gas capacity in 2023 and coal in 2024.

Renewable energy will increase a record 10% in 2021 and “overall, renewables are set to account for 95% of the net increase in global power capacity through 2025.”

The report concludes with this very promising observation: “Net-zero emission targets in key markets are expected to accelerate the deployment of renewables. Following the European Union and several European countries, three major Asian economies recently announced targets for reaching net-zero emissions: Japan and South Korea by 2050, and China by 2060… These stated ambitions are very likely to further accelerate the deployment of renewables across all sectors.”

View the report here.

PHOTO-ESSAY: EXPLORE THE TONGASS NATIONAL FOREST

The pristine 16.7 million acre Tongass National Forest is the world’s largest intact temperate forest. Take this exquisite rafting journey with Christopher Miller whose photos immerse you, putting you right there with him.

Christopher notes, “The Trump administration, with the encouragement of successive Alaska governors and congressional delegations, finalized plans to open about 9,000,000 acres of the Tongass National Forest to logging and road construction — by exempting the area from protections provided by a Clinton-era policy known as the roadless rule, which banned logging and road construction in much of the national forest system… The removal of the rule — which drew overwhelmingly negative reactions when it was opened for public comment — could irreparably change the Honker Divide watershed and endanger the oldest living things in the forest.”

Two weeks ago this forest was opened to logging. The incoming Biden administration, hearing enough of your voices, can act quickly to stop this.

Experience this photo-essay here.

A CORONAVIRUS MUTATION APPEARS, DENMARK DEPLOYS ITS MILITARY

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In Denmark, a mutation of the Coronavirus has recently appeared.

Originating in factory-farmed mink populations, it has now infected farm workers. Taking action commensurate with the danger this presents, the government of Denmark has deployed its army to kill 17,000,000 minks on 1,000 factory farms.

COVID-19, up until now, the most recent Coronavirus, also originated amidst concentrated suffering animals.

Factory farms are petri dishes for viral and bacteria mutations. They are so virulent that nearly 80% of the antibiotics administered annually in the U.S. are fed to factory farmed animals to keep them alive and disease-free.

H1N1 Swine Flu (1998-2010), SARS (2002-3), MERS (2012), HIV AIDS (1998-present), and Ebola (2014) are all zoonotic diseases – passed from animals to humans. 75% of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic. H1N1 Swine Flu originated on a factory farm and has infected 60 million people, killing 500,000.

This new Coronavirus mutation has recently arrived stateside. An outbreak in Wisconsin killed 3,000 minks. Animal groups are urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop an emergency plan to stop the spread.

Read the update here.

Victory! Endangered Whales Protected From Seismic Blasts.

North American right whale with calf - picrepo.com

North American right whale with calf - picrepo.com

Earth Justice has just prevailed in a two year court battle stopping fossil fuel companies from blasting seismic air guns in 200,000 square miles of crucial underwater habitat for one of the world’s most endangered large whale species!

Earth Justice notes that “These air guns produce a noise louder than a rocket launch — and 16,000 times louder than a standard air horn — at 10-second intervals, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for months on end.”

The lawsuit was filed in December 2018, two days after seismic testing permits were issued by the Trump administration. Earth Justice has filed over 100 lawsuits against the Trump administration over the past 3 years to protect environmental and health protections.

50 lawsuits have been decided with Earth Justice prevailing 41 times!

Support Earth Justice “because the Earth needs a good lawyer.”

Read the right whale story here.

A New Way to Manage Our Public Lands

This new report from the Wilderness Society and the Aspen Institute underscores that “Public lands in the United States are natural allies in efforts to address climate change, wildlife loss and to improve community health via access to nature. Their sheer scale, scope and reach offer the unmatched potential to absorb large amounts of carbon emissions, provide habitat for wildlife need to survive and adapt to rising temperatures, and create space for people and communities to flourish. Unfortunately, public lands in America are not managed in a way that prioritizes addressing these crises.”

Here are several vitally important change recommendations the report urges policymakers to make: 

1. Manage U.S. public lands first and foremost for conservation by prioritizing the protection of vulnerable lands, restoration of damaged areas, and responsible development of renewable energy and associated transmission rather than fossil fuel extraction. (As of 2017, 42% of the nation’s coal, 24% of crude oil, 13% of natural gas, and just 5% of renewable energy comes from public lands.)

2. Manage the entire system of U.S. public lands and waters—including those places open to the public at the municipal, regional, state and federal levels—as an indispensable part of a national strategy to reduce emissions and improve the health and resilience of communities.

3. The Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Agriculture should redesign federal public land management to prioritize climate change as a central component of the missions of their various management agencies. 

4. Manage the public lands system in the context of a national strategy for biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation.

5. Modernize public lands management guiding principles from “multiple use” to “public use,” creating a system that addresses the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. 

6. Evolve from managing public land units in isolation to instead managing them as essential components of complex, integrated landscape ecosystems consisting of federal, state, and other public lands, tribal lands, and private ownership. 

7. Engage with communities by centering equity in policy decision making and implementation to ensure the equitable access of all to public lands, however they are defined. 

8. Acknowledge the role of public parks at a neighborhood scale as a vital entry point in accessing public lands for residents of communities that lack access to bigger national parks, particularly youth.

9. Congress should direct a substantial portion of the new funds appropriated through the Great American Outdoors Act to the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program, a program that funds parks that serve urban areas. 

10. Future stimulus bills should support a Youth Conservation Corps to build links between youth and the outdoors. These links can build a connection to skills and careers in parks and public lands.

The United States must catch up with other nations of the world in attaining the 30/30 goal: 30% of our land returned to a fully natural state by 2030. Natural lands such as forests, prairies, or wetlands are natural carbon sinks - they drawdown significant amounts of carbon from our atmosphere. The 30/30 goal is essential to protect biodiversity and address our climate emergency. These recommendations will help in this regard as well.

Read this report here.