environmental mismanagement
There is an ongoing, mostly manmade tragedy unfolding right now in the Amazon rainforest in the form of an 85% increase in forest fires over last year. Many of the fires are intentionally being set to clear trees and jungle vegetation - as well as indigenous territories - for agricultural use.
I am reminded of this standalone comic strip, which in many ways seems quite optimistic to me.
This story in Toronto Life, “My Beautiful Death,” is quite interesting and appalling. Art materials are often toxic and require safe handling practices, but this tale not only deals with those practices but also with reflected fallout from our environmental mismanagement as well.
Whew, my life has been very busy socially and professionally of late, and I've let blogging slip a little! Here is a selection of readings on our current environmental problems to make up for it:
Era of 'Biological Annihiliation' Is Underway, Scientists Warn
Environmental Defenders Being Killed in Record Numbers Globally, New Research Reveals
Scott Pruitt Is Carrying Out His E.P.A. Agenda in Secret, Critics Say
The Lords Of Yesterday Are Back And They Want America's Public Land
Shipping Executive: ‘We Have Deliberately Misled Public on Climate’
In case you haven't been following along (I do understand the appeal of attempting to ignore that Trump is in charge of the USA), here's a list put together by The New York Times compiling twenty-three environmental laws, regulations, and policies that Trump has overturned in the first hundred days of his presidency. At least Elon Musk is trying his best to get humanity to Mars, since it seems like it'd be best if we just left Earth to the rest of the species that inhabit it and move to a lifeless planet that won't suffer as much from our short-sighted and morally questionable leadership.
In yet another disheartening move by the new Trump administration, the United States Department of Agriculture has removed a variety of documentation regarding animal welfare and enforcement of current standards of care from their website. In a hilariously disingenuous statement, this decision is explained as being based in part due to the USDA's "commitment to being transparent."
I really hope my blog doesn't end up as an incessant Cassandra dilemma, but that seems to be where we're headed.
Here's the latest in super depressing news: Republicans are somewhat literally gunning for the Endangered Species Act.
The Environmental Protection Agency was just frozen, "temporarily halt[ing] all contracts, grants and interagency agreements." It's also been placed under a media blackout. I cannot emphasize enough how problematic this is not only for its immediate effect but also for the implications this action has in conjunction with other decisions and promises - including sharply increasing drilling and mining operations in previously protected land - already made by Trump and his team. This will lead to short-term financial profit at the short-, middle-, and long-term expense of catastrophic environmental mismanagement. It's not a unique decision, unfortunately, but it is still a deeply wrong one to make.