A couple of years ago I created an art series in which I painted 1 color/day of something from nature I saw in/from my yard including trees, wildflowers, cacti, animals, birds, insects, reptiles, skies & clouds. April is especially colorful in Tucson!
Three quarters of the Great Barrier Reef has been hit in a widespread coral bleaching sparked by a marine #heatwave ... a major bleaching event is unfolding all the way along the 2300 kilometre #ecosystem.
Great overview of the #xz#CVE from @sjvn, explaining how this is a milestone in terms of compromise of the #Linux#ecosystem, and what it means going forward, for @TheNewStack
Signs of Spring in our Tucson, AZ yard: over 20 species of wildflowers have bloomed in the last month + trees like Desert Willows have been leafing out with new green leaves. Here’s my Perpetual Journal page with my art of willow leaves + a Sowthistle in bloom.
The Sustainability Ambassadors Global Exchange (SAGE) Program is back!
We are thrilled to announce the SAGE PhD Fellows program! This 3-year program is intended to nurture future impact leaders in solution-based sustainability research projects co-created with communities and consortia members.
In collaboration with The Nordic Centre in India we are also launching the 2nd year of our Sustainability Ambassadors Global Exchange (SAGE) Senior Ambassadors Program!
This is a unique opportunity to activate bright and motivated minds to consider current issues in global sustainability, with India as the target.
Landmark Peruvian Court Ruling Says the Marañón River Has Legal Rights To Exist, Flow and Be Free From Pollution
The ruling is the first time Peru has recognized that ecosystems possess legal rights and is based on a constellation of legal precedents in international and Peruvian law.
and deafening use of helicopters to push terrified wild horses into corrals. These roundups often result in #injuries or #deaths and may break up wild horse social groups.
The wild horse management plan for the Theodore Roosevelt National Park is based on an environmental assessment from 1978. Wild horses have since been found to play an important role in maintaining the health of their #ecosystem.
Opinion: Why the birthplace of the Western #Apache religion shouldn’t be destroyed by a #CopperMine
by Luke Goodrich
February 6, 2024·
"A federal court is poised to decide whether a #NativeAmerican#sacred site will be destroyed by a massive #copper#mine. Mining proponents claim that destroying the #SacredSite is necessary for the development of #GreenEnergy. That claim is both factually wrong and morally repugnant. And recent polling shows that the vast majority of Americans agree with what the constitution requires: #Native sacred sites deserve the same protection as all other houses of worship.
"Since before European contact, #WesternApache and other Native tribes have lived and honored their #Creator at #OakFlat, or 'Chi’chil Bildagoteel.' The site is the birthplace of Western Apache religion and the site of ancient religious ceremonies that cannot take place anywhere else. Because of its religious and cultural significance, Oak Flat is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been protected from mining and other destructive practices for decades.
"That changed in 2014, when several members of Congress, supported by #corporate#mining#lobbyists, slipped an amendment into a must-pass defense bill authorizing the transfer of Oak Flat to a foreign-owned mining giant. That company, #ResolutionCopper, announced plans to obliterate the sacred ground by swallowing it in a mining crater nearly two miles wide and 1,100-feet deep, ending Apache religious practices forever. That was no surprise given the company’s sordid history dealing with #IndigenousPeoples. The majority owner of Resolution Copper is #RioTinto (the world’s second largest mining company), which sparked international outrage in 2020 when it destroyed a 46,000-year-old rock shelter with some of the most significant #Aboriginal artifacts in all of #Australia.
"The Apache and their allies, represented by my firm, the #BecketFundForReligiousLiberty, have been fighting in court to ensure that such an atrocity won’t repeat itself at Oak Flat. After initial court rulings against the Apache, a full panel of 11 judges at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reheard their appeal last spring. A decision on whether the government can execute the land transfer is expected any day.
"Resolution Copper and its backers want the public to believe that building the mine is essential for developing #renewable energy. Extracting the copper beneath Oak Flat, they say, will help to build batteries necessary for powering #ElectricVehicles and thus fight #ClimateChange. In other words, we have to destroy Oak Flat in order to save the planet.
"These claims, however, are false — and they are specifically designed to obscure the physical and cultural destruction the project would wreak on the land.
"The mine will destroy the #environment, not save it. It is undisputed that the mine will swallow the ecologically diverse landscape of Oak Flat in a massive crater, decimating the local #ecosystem. It will also leave behind approximately 1.37 billion tons of '#tailings,' or #MiningWaste, which, according to the government’s own environmental assessment, will pollute the #groundwater and scar the landscape permanently. And the mine will consume vast quantities of water at the time it is most needed by drought-stricken towns and #farmers.
"Supporters of the mine are also at odds with the majority of Americans. According to this year’s Religious Freedom Index, an annual survey conducted by Becket, 74% of Americans believe that Native sacred sites on federal land should be protected from mining projects, even when the projects are purportedly pro-jobs and pro-environment.
"That conclusion is both sensible and humane. America can transition to renewable energy without blasting the cradle of Western Apache religion into oblivion. And it should. For too long, our nation has made excuses for taking advantage of #IndigenousPeople and their land. Indeed, our nation drove the Western Apache off Oak Flat and surrounding lands in the 1800s precisely to make way for #MiningInterests. It shouldn’t repeat that #injustice again.
"It is past time to protect Indigenous sacred sites from further destruction. Basic fairness and our constitutional commitment to religious freedom require no less. And, happily, most Americans agree."
my favourite #goodNews story of the week cos it involves #otters :awesome: :blobheartraccoon:
"A great example of how saving one #species can have a domino effect on the restoration of a whole #ecosystem. In California’s Monterey Bay, efforts to bolster sea otter populations are saving local salt marshes because the otters feast on the burrowing crabs that cause erosion. The sea otters have consumed enough of the crabs to slow the #erosion almost to a halt."