To discard rubbish in #Nature or on our beaches is an act of cruelty, ignorance, & deep selfishness. It’s not merely littering — it’s killing. Every #plastic wrapper, bottle, cigarette butt, or broken glass left behind damages #ecosystems. (1/6)
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#ecosystems
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#NPR: The U.S. takes a step toward allowing #mining on the ocean floor, a fragile #ecosystem
by Julia Simon, April 25, 2025
"President #Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at making it easier for companies to mine the deep seafloor, saying it would create 'a robust domestic supply for critical minerals.'
"There is currently no commercial-scale deep-sea mining anywhere in the world. But companies have long eyed the ocean floor as a potential source of metals like nickel, cobalt, manganese and copper, which are used in batteries for electric vehicles and other technologies.
"The world has no rulebook for deep-sea mining. One company is pushing forward anyway
"These metals can be found in potato-sized nodules lying on the ocean floor. Many of the nodules are in the middle of the Pacific ocean, beyond the legal territory of individual countries.
"Thursday's order might circumvent ongoing international negotiations to regulate deep-sea mining.
"Those regions have traditionally been overseen by an international organization, the #InternationalSeabedAuthority (#ISA). The ISA has hosted talks for years to try to hammer out a rulebook to govern a potential seabed mining industry. The U.S. did not ratify the treaty that governs the seabed, and is not a voting member of the ISA, though in the past under previous administrations it has respected the ISA process.
"In his executive order, Trump instructed federal agencies to expedite the process for reviewing and issuing permits for mining on the seafloor in both U.S. and international territory. It will use a U.S. law from 1980, the "#DeepSeabed Hard Mineral Resources Act."
"Scientists and environmental groups condemned the order, arguing that opening the deep seabed for mining could disrupt important marine ecosystems, and damage the fishing industry.
" 'This is being planned on some of the least resilient #ecosystems on the planet,' says Douglas McCauley, professor of ocean science at the University of California Santa Barbara. 'It would have #catastrophic biological consequences.'
"Underwater mining can create plumes of sediment that could suffocate marine life, and degrade the #FoodWebs that fish depend on, McCauley says.
"There are also important questions about whether we actually need to be mining the seabed to get enough of these minerals for technologies like batteries, says Micah Ziegler, assistant professor of energy and chemical systems at Georgia Institute of Technology.
"While a couple of years ago researchers were concerned about the limitations of land-based mining for metals like cobalt and nickel, a variety of alternative #battery chemistries have been developed that might reduce the need for those elements, Ziegler says."
Read more:
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5376482/trump-seabed-mining-executive-order
#OceansAreLife #MarineLife #DeepSeaMining #NoDeepSeaMining
#DarkOxygen #LifeOnEarth #Extinction #Nodules #Greenwashing #CorporateColonialism #CorporatePolluters #TrumpSucks #Idiocracy
#BatteryAlternatives #NoCobaltMining #RecycleCopper #RecycleCobalt #RecycleZinc #Recycle! #Ecocide #PlanetDestroyers #HumanGreed #NoJobsOnADeadPlanet
Greg Cocks Environmental & Anthropogenic Influences On Fire Patterns In Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-98051-7 <-- shared paper
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #wildfire #fire #busgfire #nvironmental #anthropogenic #influences #humanimpacts #deciduous #forests #firepatterns #spatialanalysis #tropical #ecosystems #management #tree #vegetation #spatiotemporal #hotspots #india #Satpura #tiger #reserve #ecogeography #geography #factors #parameters #drivers #temperature #precipitation #rainfall #model #modeling #bayesian #framework #slope #water #hydrology #infrastructure #mitigation #monitoring #preparedness #forestfires
"Well-crafted #environmental policy has not only reduced planet-heating #climate #emissions, but has cut down on asthma episodes, hospital visits, chronic disease and premature deaths for people across Canada. Check out the report to understand why good environmental policy is good #health policy, and how much #Canada gains from tackling deadly pollution." https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Healthy-Wealthy-Wise-Full-Report.pdf
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But Kristen Brengel, senior VP of govt affairs at the #NationalParks #Conservation Association, noted Roosevelt himself used the #law to #protect the huge swath of #land that later became #GrandCanyon National Park.
“He stood on the rim of the Grand Canyon & said he was going to protect it, & then he did,” she said.
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Signed into #law by President Theodore Roosevelt, the #AntiquitiesAct of 1906 gives presidents vast powers to #protect #lands & #waters through the creation of #NationalMonuments. But the law is quiet on whether presidents can remove designations set by their predecessors.
The Bureau of Land Management administers ~17k square miles of national monuments in the West….
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Other performance metrics include removing #protections for #EndangeredSpecies that have *recovered* & restoring “historic [racist] names” to #landmarks. On his first day back in office, #Trump stripped #NorthAmerica’s tallest mountain of its #Indigenous name, #Denali, & restored its previous title, Mount McKinley.
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The draft strategic plan spells out the #Trump admin’s #Interior Dept’s priorities through 2030, which include increasing production of #FossilFuels, opening #lands in #Alaska & elsewhere to #minerals extraction, reducing grazing costs & trying to “release” federal holdings for housing #development.
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While #Interior ofcls declined to comment about any potential monument review, the approach was outlined in a “strategic plan draft framework” shared w/ WaPo. One of the dept’s “potential performance measures” going forward, acc/to the document, will be making sure #NationalMonuments are “assessed & *correctly* sized.”
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“They opened up Grand Staircase under the previous [#Trump] administration & the #coal market did not rush in, the #oil & #gas market did not rush in, nobody rushed in,” said Tracy Stone-Manning, who led #Interior’s Bureau of #Land Management under #Biden. “There are plenty of #minerals elsewhere. This is about an #ideological battle.”
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#Conservation & #Indigenous advocates argue that there is little demand to develop those resources & that the #NationalMonuments represent vital #ecological & #sacred cultural reserves that local communities fought for years to #protect.
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In 2021, #SCOTUS Chief Justice #JohnRoberts invited litigants to challenge how presidents of both parties have used the #law to ban commercial activities in vast stretches of #land & #ocean.
The law limits presidents to protecting “the smallest area compatible with the care & management,” Roberts wrote. “Somewhere along the line, however, this restriction has ceased to pose any meaningful restraint.”
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#Interior aides are looking at whether to scale back at least 6 #NationalMonuments, said these individuals…. The list, they added, includes Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the #GrandCanyon, Ironwood Forest, Chuckwalla, Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks, Bears Ears & Grand Staircase-Escalante—national monuments spread across #Arizona, #California, #NewMexico & #Utah.
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#Trump officials are analyzing whether to remove federal #protections for #NationalMonuments spanning millions of acres in the West, according to two people familiar with the matter and an internal #Interior Department document, in order to spur #energy development on #PublicLands.
#land #conservation #habitats #ecosystems #wildlife #FossilFuels #ClimateChange #EnvironmentalLaw #law
EXCLUSIVE
#Trump aides look at shrinking at least 6 #NationalMonuments for #mining, #oil
#Interior Department officials are considering scaling back the boundaries of national monuments in the West to encourage energy development on #PublicLands.
#land #conservation #habitats #ecosystems #wildlife #FossilFuels #ClimateChange #EnvironmentalLaw #law
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/04/24/trump-national-monument-reductions-mining-oil/
The Washington Post · Trump aides look at shrinking at least 6 national monuments for mining, oil
Labour’s great nature sellout is the worst attack on England’s #ecosystems I’ve seen in my lifetime - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/24/labour-nature-england-ecosystems-planning-bill-keir-starmer #labour seems determined to prove that yes, it can get worse, and no, there is no reason to vote for them next time
The Guardian · Labour’s great nature sellout is the worst attack on England’s ecosystems I’ve seen in my lifetime
Labour’s great nature sellout is the worst attack on England’s #ecosystems I’ve seen in my lifetime
#GeorgeMonbiot
The horrifying #planningBill, which rips up environmental protections, was drafted with CEOs in mind. We know because Keir #Starmer told us
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/24/labour-nature-england-ecosystems-planning-bill-keir-starmer #science #nature #conservation #wildlife #UKpolitics
The Guardian · Labour’s great nature sellout is the worst attack on England’s ecosystems I’ve seen in my lifetime
Replied in thread
@verdantsquare The AVIRIS instrument, since hyperspectral, can see many features and phenomena. It has many applications in #remotesensing of #forests and other #ecosystems.