Six out of nine planetary systems key to the survival of the human species have been compromised, breaching the estimated boundaries of Earth system stability and resilience and pushing it “well outside of the safe operating space for humanity.” The GPM spoke with Katherine Richardson, lead author of “Earth beyond six of nine planetary boundaries.”
Biodiversity
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In West Africa, French colonialism officially ended in the 1960s. Six decades later, neocolonialism lives on. These days, America is the world’s preeminent imperial power and NATO its most powerful tool. In Cambodia, French colonists are long gone. Military chiefs and their rich clients rule the roost, much to the detriment of biodiverse ecosystems.
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Humanity’s impact on Planet Earth has a name: the Anthropocene. The start of Earth’s human age can be pinpointed in ice and biological cores, and the bottom sediments of bays and lakes — including a small lake in southern Ontario. But human beings have no control. And now we stand at catastrophe’s door.
US Supreme Court ruling places already threatened American wetlands in even greater peril.
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A US Supreme Court ruling throws American wetlands under the bus. In the oven, wheat and corn flour turn into bread and tortillas; spread on farm fields, rock flour reacts with carbon dioxide, turning into carbonates that get stored – forever. And, sharp questions off his tongue and a smartphone in hand, a Canadian activist ambushes politicians.
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Underground fungal networks, pulsating with nutrients; storing mountains of carbon. On Lebanese hilltops, ancient cedars grow, against all odds. And, looking back at a cosmic event of colossal proportions, that rippled space-time.
Do Animals Dance? features a couple of tunes by a guy named Shawn O’Halloran, talented singer-songwriter from Hamilton, Ontario, who passed away long before his time, back in 2019. Animals Like to Dance is one of fourteen songs Shawn wrote for The Earth Chronicles, on commission — all amazingly well written; clever lyrics, and well performed, accompanied by veteran Hamilton-area percussionist, Paul Panchezak.
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Long Covid — a complex ailment driving lots of people down. Moms, babies and bacteria; the relationship starts before you’re born, then you’re colonized. And, Canadian forests – net CO2 source, not sink.
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“War is not healthy for children and other living things.” It isn’t healthy for Planet Earth’s climate system either. The cradle of crop diversity here on Planet Earth – Ethiopia. And, Israel-Palestine – a discreet toponym, six syllables tripping off the tongue.
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The Earth Chronicles — Trees & Earth. Something I produced back in 1993. Still makes sense.
Drug-resistant infections – the new pandemic? And, a tangled network of tiny tubes, pulsating beneath our feet. Fungal networks below ground sustain life above.
I met Vivien Sansour for the first time back in 2016, in her home town of Beit Jala, on the southern edge of Bethlehem, in Israeli-occupied Palestine. An anthropologist by training, Vivien has turned to the promotion of food and the cultural sovereignty tied to growing one’s own and saving the seeds, as her life’s work.
Earth’s oceans are warming at a remarkable rate. Over ninety percent of the atmospheric heat humans have generated in the course of the past decades has been absorbed by Earth’s oceans. The consequences for oceans and atmosphere have been dire, and promise to play out over centuries, regardless of what we do.
The cedar is Lebanon’s national symbol. But Lebanon’s renowned cedar forests are not what they used to be. Today, all that remains of Lebanon’s cedar forests are a dozen fragmented islands, threatened by livestock grazing and climate change. The key to restoring them is their genetic diversity.
Thirty-five years after gaining independence, Belize, Central America’s youngest nation, stands on a cusp of development that will either protect crucial wildlife habitat or gradually lose it to wide-scale agriculture.
For those who thought that corporate concentration in the food industry couldn’t get tighter, wake up and smell the coffee. The Big Six seed and farm chemical producers are now on the verge of coalescing into three. Amazon may soon be the world’s biggest supermarket.
Standing on the edge of little Battir, I feasted my eyes on an astonishing sight: an amphitheater of ancient stone terraces covered in a cornucopia of fruits, vegetables, herbs and trees — including olive trees over a thousand years old.
Things constantly change. Everyone knows it. Steady, sometimes sudden change provides contour to individual human lives. Now, it seems humans have changed planet Earth like it’s never been changed before.
Like Earth’s climate, Manitoba Hydro’s office tower — in the city of Winnipeg — is an integrated system. As Earth’s climate warms, energy efficient buildings like this will be in demand.
In an agronomy lab and farm field in Montpellier, France, scientists are uncovering the secrets of one of the world’s great crops. The potential spin-offs for global green economies are huge.
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