Exit 2021? I hope not.
Phoebe Weston reports in The Guardian, "The planet is facing a ‘ghastly future of mass extinction, declining health and climate-disruption upheavals’ that threaten human survival because of ignorance and inaction, according to an international group of scientists, who warn people still haven’t grasped the urgency of the biodiversity and climate crises."
The report’s 17 authors reviewed "the evidence that future environmental conditions will be far more dangerous than currently believed," and found that, "The scale of the threats to the biosphere and all its lifeforms—including humanity—is in fact so great that it is difficult to grasp for even well-informed experts.”
Co-author Daniel T. Blumstein of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA states, “What we are saying might not be popular, and indeed is frightening. But we need to be candid, accurate, and honest if humanity is to understand the enormity of the challenges we face in creating a sustainable future.”
The authors conclude, “The science underlying these issues is strong, but awareness is weak. Without fully appreciating and broadcasting the scale of the problems and the enormity of the solutions required, society will fail to achieve even modest sustainability goals.”
I wrote The Great Healing to identify the existential threat facing us and to spread awareness. Please read it and recommend it to others.
The goal of my upcoming book is also to open eyes and inspire action. More on that soon.
Read the scientist’s report published in Frontiers of Conservation Science.
Photo credit: Landline.media CC
92 OUT OF 93 GREEN NEW DEAL CO-SPONSORS WON THEIR ELECTION RACES
In the 2020 U.S. election, Democrats won the White House, took control of the Senate and retained their majority in the House of Representatives. The Democrats lost seats in the House. Since then several conservative House Democrats have blamed progressives for the reduced Democratic plurality.
Brian Kahn reports in Gizmodo on a new study by Earther revealing that the opposite is the case.
“Earther looked at the Green New Deal, another bête noire of conservatives and Fox News, to see if it sank Democrats chances. The bill has 101 co-sponsors in the House and 14 co-sponsors in the Senate. Of the 93 House co-sponsors who ran for a seat in Congress’s lower chamber in 2020, only one lost reelection.”
Most importantly, many of these races were won in swing or Republican leaning districts.
In addition, 100% — every single Democrat — running a campaign in support of Medicare for All won their race.
I took the selfie above while delivering my letter on behalf of Sunrise to then-CA Senator Kamala Harris thanking her for supporting the Green New Deal. She’s a winner as well.
The future is progressive.
Read this article here.
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AN ORGANIC DIET CAN REDUCE PESTICIDES IN YOUR BODY BY 70%
Industrial agriculture farmers are spraying higher levels of the poison glyphosate on food crops than ever before.
A new study was done to analyze how quickly glyphosate (which is a carcinogen) levels in the body can be reduced by eating only organic foods.
Apparently it was relatively easy to find subjects for this research study. Everyone in the the study was found to have glyphosate in their bodies including children as young as four.
The study determined that by eating only organic foods, glyphosate levels in people's bodies can be rapidly and significantly reduced.
For more details click here.
Photo credit: Alamy
UPCOMING BOOK NEWS!
This week I completed a polished advanced draft of my new book. We remain on schedule for Spring publication. Lots to reveal and announce in the coming weeks.
As with my first book, The Great Healing, in the upcoming book I plan on including a one or two new short essays by thought leaders in their fields.
I’m honored — and thrilled — to announce that Wendell Berry, a national treasure, will be on board once again.
Thank you, Mr. Berry.
2020 U.S. DISASTER COSTS DOUBLE DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE
“Hurricanes, wildfires and other disasters across the United States caused $95 billion in damage last year, according to new data, almost double the amount in 2019 and the third-highest losses since 2010," writes Christopher Flavelle in the New York Times.
“The new figures, reported Thursday morning by Munich Re, a company that provides insurance to other insurance companies, are the latest signal of the growing cost of climate change.”
The actual cost is closer to $240 billion.
From The Great Healing: “Based on field tests and data from historic heat waves, the crop yields of major grains can be expected to drop 10% for each degree of global temperature rise. The Economic Case for Climate Action in the United States published by the Universal Ecological Fund FEU-US in 2018, conservatively estimated, 'The impacts of weather events influenced by human-induced climate change and direct health consequences of pollution from fossil fuel use are currently causing, on average, $240 billion a year in economic losses, damages and health costs — or about 40% of the current growth of the United States economy.' The report projects economic losses to escalate to $360 billion per year. This will cripple American economic growth."
The report's coauthor Sir Robert Watson concludes, “Burning fossil fuels comes at a giant price tag, which the U.S. economy cannot afford and not sustain.”[i]
Read the article here.
[i] Sir Robert Watson, Dr. James J. McCarthy, Liliana Hisas, The Economic Case for Climate Action in the United States, Universal Ecological Fund, Sep. 2017, https://feu-us.org/case-for-climate-action-us/
Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons, Ryan Johnson CC
6.5 MILLION BRITONS GOING MEATLESS IN 2021 TO BAN FACTORY FARMS
A new survey found that “a staggering 6.5 million people in the U.K. have plans to go either vegan, vegetarian or pescatarian and ditch meat altogether in 2021.”
While animal cruelty is a major concern, the driving factor in this shift — which, in addition to the Britons who have already gone meatless, can result in 26% of the British population no longer meat-eaters — is a public outcry to ban virulent factory farms because they are breeding grounds for viral and bacterial mutation — and zoonotic pandemics.
As I wrote in The Great Healing, factory farms and wet markets have been, and will continue to be, petri dishes for new viral pandemics.
In a separate article, another statistic is even more striking: "85% of Brits Want 'Urgent Ban' on Factory Farming to Prevent Future Pandemics."
A third article announced that 83% of Scots want factory farming banned as well.
Can the Biden administration authorize a public relations campaign raising American’s awareness of the omnipresent viral risk of pestilent factory farms stateside? We should not tolerate remaining at risk of another, perhaps even more lethal, pandemic in our future.
Read more about 6.5 million Britons in the article here.
Read about the 85%ers in this article here.
Read about what the Scots are up to here.
Photo credit: pixy.org CC
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2020 TOP SHELF BOOK AWARDS SELECTS 'THE GREAT HEALING' AS FINALIST!
The Great Healing – Five Compassions That Can Save Our World is the 2020 Top Shelf Book Awards finalist in the Nonfiction/General category.
Thank you Top Shelf Magazine!
HERE’S WHAT A HEALTHY FOOD PYRAMID LOOKS LIKE
This is what a healthy food pyramid looks like.
Adhere to these simple guidelines and good health, all bounty follows.
For more details click here.
Photo credit: Copyright © 2008. For more information about The Healthy Eating Pyramid, please see The Nutrition Source, Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, thenutritionsource.org, and Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy, by Walter C. Willett, M.D., and Patrick J. Skerrett (2005), Free Press/Simon & Schuster Inc.”
Check out our 1/8 Newsletter!
To read this newsletter click here.
Our newsletter can arrive for you in your inbox every two weeks on a Friday morning. It features two or three recent important events regarding our climate, environment, animals, agriculture, or community that may have escaped your attention. One health article or insight is a regular feature as well.
Engaging. Brief. Bi-monthly. Free.
Just enter your email in the box on the bottom of any page on this website and click “Subscribe” and the next issue is coming your way.
Please recommend to your friends.
Click on the image above or view the newsletter here.
THE U.S. DIETARY GUIDELINES & FOOD PYRAMID ARE A TRAVESTY
Photo credit: Healthy Food Fruit Vegetables pixy.org CC0
As reported by Andrea Petersen in the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, rejected recommendations from a scientific committee of 20 academics and doctors, to cut “the limit for added sugars in the diet to 6% of daily calories from 10% in the current guidelines, citing rising rates of obesity and the link between obesity and health problems like Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.”
This means national dietary guidelines, popularized in the Food Pyramid, will remain fundamentally unchanged for the next 5 years. Andrea Petersen notes the wide impact of these guidelines: “They shape school lunch programs, mold state and local health-promotion efforts, and influence what food companies produce.”
Spokesperson Brandon Lipps, Deputy Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services at the USDA, stated that the USDA decided not to reduce sugar levels because, “The new evidence is not substantial enough to support changes to quantitative recommendations for either added sugars or alcohol.”
What more evidence does the USDA need? As I’ve written in chapter 2 of The Great Healing, over 80% of illness and disease in America is a result of poor nutrition. 70% of Americans are now overweight or obese. Childhood obesity rates have tripled since 1980. Obesity leads to diabetes and half of all Americans of all ages have either been diagnosed with diabetes or have diabetes and don’t yet realize it. Diabetes is the gateway to heart disease, cancer, loss of brain function, liver disease, kidney and renal failure.
There have been 100s of studies, including one in Europe with over 500,000 participants spanning seven years, documenting the connection between poor diet, high sugar intake, and disease.
What more evidence does the USDA need?
Andrea Petersen points out that, “Food industry groups had lobbied intensely against the scientific committee’s proposed new limits,” and cites this example: “The American Beverage Association, which represents drink makers including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, urged the government to keep the 10% added-sugars… When asked if pressure from business groups had played a role in the government’s decision, Mr. Lipps said ‘to the extent that stakeholders provided input about whether the science was being properly reviewed, we took that into consideration.’”
Health-conscious Americans realize that the Food Pyramid is a cruel joke and a travesty. However, so many of us remain unaware. And worse, it establishes a standard for foods served in school lunch programs, hospitals, etc. It also provides legal cover for our food industry which continues to manufacture and market unhealthy sugar-rich processed foods.
Mr. Lipp and the USDA cannot be unaware of the glaring health issues impacting American lives. Health care costs today consume 18% of the federal budget. 83% of overall health care costs are related to preventable illness and disease caused by poor nutrition.
Consumption of just one type of sugar (there are hundreds), high-fructose corn syrup, in the United States increased 1,000% from 1970 to 1990. It has now become the biggest source of calories in our diet with Americans consuming more than 50 pounds a year on average.
I believe Mr. Lipp and each member of the USDA who made this decision are personally responsible for the onslaught of illness, disease and death in store for millions of Americans over the next five years, based on the poor nutrition these dietary guidelines enable and perpetuate. Each one of them could have agreed with the scientific committee’s recommendations, and a world of supporting evidence, instead they were coerced by and appear to have caved to food industry pressure. They lack the integrity and fortitude necessary to be in their positions of authority. How will the consequences of this decision — the disease and suffering over the next five years for millions of Americans — weigh on their consciences? Burden their souls over the months and years to come? Carry with them into the hereafter?
Read the article here.
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THE COAL INDUSTRY COMES TUMBLING DOWN IN THE AMERICAN WEST
Photo credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times
The end is in sight for one of the most polluting energy sources: Coal.
The coal industry “helped build the modern West, but it’s collapsing as utility companies turn to natural gas, solar panels and wind turbines for lower-cost electricity, and as voters demand cleaner energy to reduce air pollution and confront the climate crisis,” writes Sammy Roth of the Los Angeles Times.
At the beginning of 2020 just 20 coal-fired generators were left in the region without firm retirement dates. During 2020 four of those announced future retirement dates.
In addition, four other western coal plants closed down in 2020.
In 2025, the last coal plant serving California will shut down.
King Coal is no longer king, it’s not even royalty — it will soon be a relic.
Read the article here.
Check out our 12/26 Newsletter!
To read this newsletter click here.
Our newsletter can arrive for you in your inbox every two weeks on a Friday morning. It features two or three recent important events regarding our climate, environment, animals, agriculture, or community that may have escaped your attention. One health article or insight is a regular feature as well.
Engaging. Brief. Bi-monthly. Free.
Just enter your email in the box on the bottom of any page on this website and click “Subscribe” and the next issue is coming your way.
Please recommend to your friends.
Click on the image above or view the newsletter here.
Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn for posts like this
7 SURPRISING HEALTH BENEFITS OF GRATITUDE
Photo credit: Time Magazine Getty Images
Here are four of seven surprising benefits of practicing gratitude:
Gratitude can make you more patient
Gratitude improves self-care
Gratitude can help you sleep
Gratitude gives you happiness that lasts
For more details and to discover the other three benefits, check out this article.
FEDERAL COURT REJECTS FDA APPROVAL OF SALMON ‘FRANKENFISH’
Photo credit: Julia Manzerova / flickr / cc
A federal court has ruled that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has violated U.S. law in approving genetically engineered salmon.
From the article: “Mike Conroy, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, one of the plaintiffs in case, framed the ruling as a clear win for fish and those whose livelihoods depend upon them given the the possible ecological consequences of the genetically engineered salmon.
"'It's a terrible idea to design genetically engineered 'frankenfish' which, when they escape into the wild (as they inevitably will), could destroy our irreplaceable salmon runs,' said Conroy. 'Once engineered genes are introduced into the wild salmon gene pool,' he added, 'it cannot be undone.'"
In a separate essay, A Tale of Frankenfish: Should We Be Afraid of Genetically Modified Salmon?, Marcelo Gleiser reveals the creepy origin of this GM creature: "The GM salmon grows twice as fast as its wild relative. Its genes have been artificially modified to include DNA from the Pacific Chinook and from an eel-like species so that the resulting fish keeps growing all year long."
Bad news. Frankenfish salmon have already broken through their river enclosures and escaped into the wild… The good news is they are unable to successfully interbreed with natural salmon, however they have voracious appetites and will put existing salmon populations at risk.
Read the article here.
Read Marcelo Gleiser’s essay here.
GREENPEACE’S ‘JUST RECOVERY AGENDA’ OUTLINING THE PATH TO A NEW ECONOMY IS A MUST READ
Greenpeace’s Just Recovery Agenda outlines the path to a New Economy. Our opportunity, America's opportunity, is right now.
This is everything I believe in. An easy read — and a landmark document.
Read the Recovery Agenda here.
NEW ESSAY AWARDED A PRESTIGIOUS BARRY LOPEZ CREATIVE NONFICTION PRIZE
A new essay I wrote, The Moral Imperative to Regenerate American Communities - Marlon Foster, which will be adapted into my upcoming book, was awarded a prestigious Barry Lopez Creative Nonfiction Prize, Honorable Mention (3rd / 4th place).
It will be published in the Summer 2021 edition of the highly regarded literary journal Cutthroat Magazine.
Thank you judge Fenton Johnson, editor in chief Pamela Uschuk, and everyone at Cutthroat Magazine!