Topic: Biodiversity / Biodevastation
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Have Monsanto and the Biotech Industry Turned Natural Bt Pesticides Into GMO “Super Toxins”?
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Is the supposed safety advantage of GMO crops over conventional chemical pesticides a mirage? According to biotech lore, the Bt pesticides introduced into many GMO food crops are natural proteins whose toxic activity extends only to narrow groups of insect species. Therefore, says the industry, these pesticides can all be safely eaten, e.g. by humans.
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A Different Dimension of Loss: Inside the Great Insect Die-off
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Sixth-extinction estimates are “biased towards a very small portion of biodiversity”. When it comes to invertebrates – the slugs, crabs, worms, snails, spiders, octopuses and, above all, insects that make up the bulk of the world’s animal species – we are guessing.
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James Hansen’s Generation IV nuclear advocacy: a deconstruction of nuclear fallacies and fantasies
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Dr James Hansen is rightly admired for his scientific and political work drawing attention to climate change. His advocacy of nuclear power ‒ and in particular novel Generation IV nuclear concepts ‒ deserves serious scrutiny. In a nutshell, Dr Hansen (among others) claims that some Generation IV reactors are a triple threat: they can…
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How Monsanto Captured the EPA (And Twisted Science) To Keep Glyphosate on the Market
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The EPA was only four years old when glyphosate entered the market in 1974, and the agency was faced with a large collection of chemicals to review. At the time, protocols for toxicology testing were relatively fluid, and it took the EPA until 1986 to finalize its guidelines. Yet the EPA’s analysis of glyphosate still…
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In age of forest fires, Israel’s law against Palestinian goats proves self-inflicted wound for Zionism
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A ban by Israel on herding black goats – on the pretext they cause environmental damage – is to be repealed after nearly seven decades of enforcement that has decimated the pastoral traditions of Palestinian communities. The Israeli government appears to have finally conceded that, in an age of climate change, the threat of forest…
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The Climate Catastrophe We’re All Ignoring
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Imagine you’re driving your shiny new car too fast along a wet, curvy road. You turn a corner and realize you’re heading straight for a crowd of pedestrians. If you slam on your brakes, you’d probably skid and damage your car. So you keep your foot on the accelerator, heading straight for the crowd, knowing…
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What Nicaragua Teaches Us about Climate Disasters
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From increasingly frequent storms to food insecurity, Nicaragua has been hard-hit by the impacts of climate change. In the wake of Hurricane Harvey and facing Hurricane Irma, we can learn from their response.
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Logging won’t stop wildfires
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A number of politicians have promised to weaken environmental laws and increase logging, supposedly to stop forest fires. Here’s what they aren’t telling you. Fires, including large fires, are a natural and ecologically necessary part of forests in the Northern Rockies. Dozens of plant and animal species, such as the black-backed Woodpecker, depend upon post-fire…
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World hunger increasing for first time since turn of the century
The number of people suffering from malnutrition worldwide rose to 815 million in 2016, rising by 38 million from the year before. According to a new report co-signed by five United Nations agencies and charities, and made public by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAOUN) on Friday, this was the first such…