Thursday, January 31, 2019

Blue Crab/ Siri Azul (Torres, Brazil, Jan 2019) & the World Food Club (as they call it)

















Torres, Rio Grande do Sul/Brazil, Jan 2019;
Traces of drugs found in marine life after sewage pumped into British waters (Channel 4, Sept 2022); 
Mammifères marins dans la Seine: mais que se passe-t-il vraiment? (Le Media, Sept 2022); 
Why the EU is failing to prosecute the culprits of environmental disaster (DW, Sept 2022); 
How Contract Workers are exploited (by the Meat Industry) (DW, Sept 2020) [this video was set as private at Youtube]; 
Soup & Talk 2020: Vandana Shiva "Poison-free Food and Farming 2030"; 
Colin Tudge talk;
Colin Tudge interview;
A Message from the Future with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (The Intercept);
Greta Thunberg & other young activists (Dazed);
Eating Our Way to Extinction (Otto & Ludo Brockway 2021/Youtube); 
Viaje a los pueblos fumigados (Fernando Solanas 2018/Youtube);  
Les paysans, les pesticides et l'extinction de l'humanité (Blast/Youtube 2024); 
Agriculteurs: les solutions sont là, mais Macron n'en veut pas (Blast/Youtube 2023)
Sortir de l’agriculture intensive avec Noémie, éleveuse de porcs dans le sud de la France (France 24/Youtube 2023);
La ferme du Bec Hellouin, un modèle au niveau mondial (Meteo à la carte/Youtube 2017); 
Como a agricultura industrial molda nossa alimentação [How industrial agriculture shapes our diet] (DW, Ago 2022); 

Preamble &/or how different things could & should be (which in no way becomes me to decide): 


"Sabia que degollar es una especialidad gaucha?"
El periodista miope (Vargas Llosa, La guerra del fin del mundo)

"The phrase, 'Be kind to Athos,' refers to Bloom's father's dog—and kindness to animals, who are so much like children, and can repay affection only with affection, is another of those quite ordinary and undistinguished aspects of human nature that Joyce underlines. Even the Citizen, like Homer's Cyclops, is good to Garryowen. The kindness of Bloom on June 16, 1904, begins with animals and ends with human beings. So he feeds his cat in the morning, then some sea gulls, and in the Circe episode a dog..."
Richard Ellmann

"— C'est que, dit le petit, le garde me mettrait en prison, s'il trouvait dans mes fagots du bois vivant... Et puis, quand j'ai voulu le faire, comme vous me l'aviez dit, j'entendais l'arbre qui se plaignait.
— C'est comme moi, dit la petite fille, quand j'emporte des poissons dans mon panier, je les entends qui chantent si tristement, que je le rejette dans l'eau... Alors on me bat chez nous!"
Gérard de Nerval (La Reine des Poissons)

"Os tiros ecoavam por todos os lados. Horrorizado, o garoto de quinze anos assistia a uma matança de macacos, que ia deixando um rastro de sangue e de animais agonizantes. Os adultos atiravam simplesmente para treinar a pontaria e pelo prazer de matar, abatendo tudo que passasse pela frente, mesmo que fossem fêmeas ainda carregando os filhotes nas costas. Na cabeça do adolescente, o convite para participar de uma caçada significava, até então, a possibilidade de matar um animal para comer, e não o imenso pesadelo em que aquilo se transformou... 'Naquele momento, alguma coisa aflorou dentro de mim definitivamente, e eu tive consciência do desvario humano de matar animais, e de que não compactuaria com aquela atitude. O estado de choque em que fiquei me fez procurar uma maneira harmônica de conviver com a natureza.'"
Denise Pires Vaz & Ney Matogrosso (Um cara meio estranho)
"Quando íamos de Jeep para o Guarujá, meu pai sempre dava uma paradinha nos vendedores de caranguejo no fim da Anchieta. Os bichos pendurados por um barbante balançavam as perninhas num frenesi alucinado, implorando por água, um horror. Comprava duas fileiras e, chegando em casa, lavava os cascos deles ainda vivos, mergulhava todos num caldeirão com água e fechava a tampa com um peso em cima. Dava para ouvir os bichinhos se debatendo no fogo do inferno, tadinhos. Quando o barulho cessava, imediatamente minha aflição em querer salvá-los dava lugar à gula em comê-los. Charles me ensinou a técnica de dissecar caranguejos: 'Isso é o pulmão, tem gente que come, eu não recomendo. Remova o intestino debaixo da água corrente, quebre a casca com cuidado para não sobrar uma lasquinha da cartilagem e machucar sua gengiva. As patolas e as perninhas a gente quebra, dá um chupão no buraquinho e a carne solta.'"
"Pois no exato dia da mudança de volta a São Paulo, depois de três meses em Ibiúna, vou carregar o Jeep, e quem está no capô tomando sol? Sim, Mouchie & Angel, as benditas cobras do maldito Alice Cooper. As duas me esperavam lá, tipo irmãs boazinhas do Jardim do Éden. 'As férias foram ótimas, mas queremos morar com você, mamãe.'"
Rita Lee

"Ces Indians répartis de part de d'autre de la frontière entre l'Équateur et le Pérou ne se distinguent guère des autres tribus de l'ensemble jivaro, auquel ils se rattachent par la langue et la culture, lorsqu'ils disent que la plupart des plantes et des animaux possèdent une âme (wakan) similaire à celle des humains, une faculté qui les range parmi les 'personnes' (aents) en ce qu'elle leur assure la conscience réflexive et l'intentionnalité, qu'elle les rend capables d'éprouver des émotions et leur permet d'échanger des messages avec leurs pairs comme avec les membres d'autres espèces..."
"La forme visible des animaux n'est en effet qu'un déguisement. Lorsqu'ils regagnent leurs demeures, c'est pour se dépouiller de leur apparence, revêtir parures de plumes et ornements cérémoniels, et redevenir de manière ostensible les 'gens' qu'ils n'avaient pas cessé d'être lorsqu'ils ondoyaient dans les rivières et fourrageaient dans la forêt."
"Si les animaux diffèrent des hommes, c'est donc uniquement par l'apparence, une simple illusion des sens puisque les enveloppes corporelles distinctives qu'ils arborent d'ordinaire ne sont que des déguisements destinés à tromper les Indiens. Lorsqu'ils visitent ces derniers en rêve, les animaux se révèlent tels qu'ils sont en réalité... il faut éviter le gâchis, tuer proprement et sans souffrances inutiles, traiter ave dignité les os et la dépouille, ne pas céder aux tartarinades ni même évoquer trop clairement le sort réservé aux proies."
"Comme le confiait le chamane Ivaluardjuk à Rasmussen, 'le plus grand péril de l'existence vient du fait que la nourriture des hommes est tout entière faites d'âmes.'"
Philippe Descola
"In einem solchen Zustande empfand ich einmal die Nähe einer Kuhheerde durch Wiederkehr milderer, menschenfreundlicherer Gedanken, noch bevor ich sie sah: Das hat Wärme in sich..."
Nietzsche

"In the past, most scientific research was carried out by amateurs... Charles Darwin, for example, never held any institutional post; he worked independently at his home in Kent, studying barnacles, writing, keeping pigeons, and doing experiments in the garden with his son Francis... There are now only a handful of independent scientists, the best known being James Lovelock, the leading proponent of the Gaia hypothesis... And although amateur naturalists and freelance inventors still exist, they have been marginalized."
Rupert Sheldrake
"I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own."
"There should be supermarkets that sell things and supermarkets that buy things back, and until that equalizes, there'll be more waste than should be... People should be able to sell their old cans, their old chicken bones, their old shampoo bottles, their old magazines. We have to get more organized."
The Philosophy of Andy Warhol
"In der That, ich habe bis zu meinen reifsten Jahren immer nur schlecht gegessen, — moralisch ausgedrückt 'unpersönlich', 'selbstlos', 'altruistisch', zum Heil der Köche und andrer Mitchristen."
Nietzsche

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On the so-called New Conservation Science (NCS): 


"In recent years, some conservation biologists and conservation organizations have sought to refocus the field of conservation biology by deemphasizing the goal of protecting nature for its own sake in favor of protecting the environment for its benefits to humans... many specific examples and points of evidence offered to bolster NCS positions are poorly supported or misleading... Conservation’s concern for biodiversity has always been accompanied by concern for human well-being and ecosystem services; these human-centered goals form one pillar of a diverse mix of motivations and strategies dating back at least a century to Gifford Pinchot and his predecessors... The NCS position, however, restricts the focus of conservation to the advancement of human well-being, which it frequently conflates with narrow definitions of economic development, and thereby marginalizes efforts to preserve diverse and natural ecosystems or to protect nature for esthetic or other non-economic benefits to humans..." 
"The NCS argument caricatures the views of conservationists about pristine nature, while making the scientifically unsupportable claim that natural systems are almost infinitely resilient... conservation scientists have focused at least as much on nature’s resilience as its fragility. Although many environmental harms can indeed be ameliorated or reversed, others are virtually irreversible (e.g., extinction, climate change, mountaintop removal)... there is little basis for the assertion that a more narrow, anthropocentric conservation strategy would deliver better results, especially given the track record of poor management of natural resources in the past, including management of the parts of nature we economically value the most..." 
"The stance that conservation progress should be driven by transient economic preferences rather than enduring values also hampers recognition of the possibility or even the need for structural and institutional changes to achieve and sustain conservation objectives. Finally, the assumption, and hence reinforcement, of only economic motivations for conservation ignores and may thus diminish the importance of political, scientific, philosophical, and religious motivations for conservation found across different nations and cultures... Recent polling in the USA also shows evidence that the public’s concern for nature is not weakening nor is support limited to the wealthy, white population... Hispanics, women, and young voters are currently among those most concerned with various conservation goals... Conservation has long been concerned both with sustaining human resource needs and with conserving nature’s intrinsic value – the right of species and other aspects of nature to exist for their own sake..." 
"We do not believe that it is quixotic, misanthropic, or short-sighted to protect nature based on its own value. Moreover, we acknowledge that this position is a statement of values and hope that, as the NCS debate continues, all parties will be clear about where the science of their arguments stops and starts. There are now unprecedented demands on natural resources across the globe, and there will never be a shortage of advocates for human use of these resources. The question is whether conservation scientists and practitioners should make promoting economic prosperity their primary mission as well. As conservationists are already acutely aware, the effects of human industry are felt throughout the world, and we must plan conservation strategies that address coupled human and ecological dynamics."

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About the blue crabs in the pictures &/or how things really are (dejection, affliction, villainous affairs):


Ordinary people (in their subacid humour towards others) simply kill these animals as they come grabbed to their fishing nets. It doesn't look right to me. They kill them allot, during the Summer, while dragging their nets along the beach. Perhaps boats do even worse and we just don't see. 
"No Brasil, de modo geral, C. sapidus não constitui espécie-alvo de grandes pescarias, sendo basicamente explorada pela pesca artesanal no interior dos estuários, principalmente nas regiões sudeste e sul, bem como nas regiões costeiras como fauna acompanhante da pesca de arrasto de camarões. Geralmente os indivíduos capturados são devolvidos, já mortos, ao mar. Em alguns locais a espécie declinou consideravelmente, mas não existem dados suficientes para estimar o impacto das capturas na população de C. sapidus. Coleta de informações de captura e pesquisas voltadas a biologia pesqueira da espécie bem como o conhecimento do nível de degradação das áreas onde habita são necessárias para a alteração da condição de Dados Insuficientes (DD)," Avaliação do risco de extinção dos crustáceos no Brasil: 2010-2014 (ICMBIO);
"Nos Estados Unidos há só para o estudo e controle desta pescaria, uma série de comissões, leis, conferências, revistas científicas, livros, etc. Isto mostra a importância atribuída a esse recurso pesqueiro e a garantia da sua preservação," Siri azul do Atlântico americano: lixo ou tesouro do mar?

See also:
- https://www.bluecrab.info
And also:
- Environmental Issue (Brazil);

[***Obliquity out of the common track: one of the best quality things people living in cities such as Porto Alegre (capital of Rio Grande do Sul, South of Brazil) still have access to, besides alternative movie theatres, are the agroecological markets—relatively big ones, such as the "Feira Agroecológica do Bom Fim" (taking place Saturday mornings at the Av. José Bonifácio) and small ones, such as the "Feira Agroecológica da Travessa dos Lanceiros Negros" (Tuesday mornings). There you can buy a variety of organic fruits and vegetables direct from small producers for very affordable prices. The beach of Torres has an agroecological market as well, "Ecotorres" (Av. Gen. Osório, 158).]
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Other outrages against sense and decency:  


"Tereza Cristina não parece ser a ministra da Agricultura, mas do Envenenamento dos Consumidores. Nos primeiros 50 dias do novo governo, 54 novos agrotóxicos foram aprovados. O Ministério da Agricultura deu sinal verde para que novos fabricantes possam comercializá-los, e que novas combinações químicas entre eles sejam permitidas. Por causa de sua alta toxicidade, alguns desses produtos são proibidos no exterior. Mas isso parece ser secundário, desde que o agronegócio esteja bombando."
"Em outros países do mundo, procuram-se meios de plantar alimentos de forma mais saudável. Na Alemanha, até 2030, os orgânicos deverão ser plantados sobre 20% das terras agrícolas. Ao mesmo tempo, o mercado de alimentos orgânicos registra crescimento constante ano por ano – só em 2018, foram 5,5%." 
"Não é o caso do Brasil. A Fundação Oswaldo Cruz analisa 30 alimentos regularmente. Em algumas amostras, é possível encontrar até 15 agrotóxicos diferentes. E o que o legislador faz? Nada. No Congresso circula o chamado 'pacote do veneno', que almeja a aprovação de mais agrotóxicos."
"A catástrofe ambiental no Rio Grande do Sul passou quase despercebida pela opinião pública. A Associação dos Apicultores Gaúchos contabiliza a perda de 6 mil colmeias, inviabilizando a entrega de 150 toneladas de mel. Em 80% das análises das abelhas mortas, foi constatado algum tipo de agrotóxico presente. Nem a ministra da Agricultura, Tereza Cristina, e muito menos o ministro do Meio Ambiente, Ricardo Salles, se pronunciaram sobre o caso." 
"Com frequência, os inseticidas chamados de neonicotinoides são responsáveis pela morte das abelhas. Na Europa, os neonicotinoides são proibidos. No Brasil, não. A indústria agrícola é contra. Mais um produto licenciado recentemente é o Sulfoxaflor, igualmente conhecido por envenenar abelhas."
'At the beginning of this week the country was second only to the US with 1.88 million confirmed Covid-19 cases and 72,833 deaths. Its powerful agribusiness sector is allied with the country’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has dismissed the pandemic as a “little flu”. The beef sector is worth $26bn (£20.7bn), according to the Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA), while its chicken industry is worth another $8bn. Meat plants have stayed open during the pandemic, and staff work closely together, often in refrigerated areas. Other countries, including the US, Canada, Ireland and Germany, have also seen clusters around slaughterhouses...' 
'At a JBS plant in Dourados, in Mato Grosso do Sul state in the centre-west region, more than 4,000 employees were tested and nearly a quarter were positive, prosecutors said. The company suspended 1,600 workers on full pay but did not close the plant. As of 14 July, the town had 3,481 cases, a quarter of the state’s total.  The JBS plant in Dourados “was the initial focus for the outbreak”, said Andyane Tetila, an infectious diseases specialist in Dourados who works for the state health service. The JBS plant has 103 indigenous workers, many of whom live in  nearby reserves where more than 150 people were subsequently infected, said Indianara Machado, an indigenous nurse who works in the reserve.'
'Undercover footage at the Laboratory of Pharmacology and Toxicology (LPT) near Hamburg, published by Cruelty Free International and Soko Tierschutz, shows technicians with metal prongs grabbing macaque monkeys by the neck. The monkeys are restrained by braces during testing. The footage also shows primates being handled “violently” by technicians: in one incident a monkey has its head smacked against a door frame...'
'Some of the monkeys appeared to be kept alone in metal cages measuring less than a cubic metre and are seen spinning in circles, indicating high levels of distress. They were reportedly forced to stand for long periods. Dogs are pictured laying in what seemed to be their own blood and faeces, with one beagle in a cage appearing to be bleeding. Staff also appeared to mishandle cats.'
- Barbaric tests on monkeys lead to calls for closure of German lab (The Guardian);
'Although recent reporting on deforestation has focused heavily on the Amazon, the fact is that the other ancient forests of South America – and elsewhere in the world – are disappearing too. These trees are probably falling to make way for a crop sometimes known as the “wonder bean” or even the “Cinderella bean”: soya. As the plane carries on, the huge soya fields that now patchwork this area unfold beneath us, small strips of forest still clinging on around their margins.'
'The discovery of a stable, cheap source of protein might have been a miracle for farmers – 75% of the world’s soya and maize is now fed to farm animals – but this monoculture is spreading over huge expanses of the Americas, and wiping out forests, wilderness and species as it goes. Soya is one of the four main culprits for deforestation (along with beef, wood and palm oil) and biodiversity loss as farmers clear land to grow this profitable oilseed.'
'... deforestation rate in Argentina is one of the highest in the world. According to Nasa’s Earth Observatory, 20% of the Gran Chaco’s forest, 55,000 square miles – an area larger than England – was lost between 1985 and 2016... The UK and EU don’t grow much soya and so the EU now imports about 15m tonnes of un-ground soya beans, and about 19m tonnes of crushed meal, while in 2017 the UK alone imported 2m tonnes of oilcake. The biggest importer by far however is China, the one-time home of soy. In 2017 China imported a breathtaking 96m tonnes of soya beans. For the exporters, America, Brazil and Argentina, soya is big business.'
- Rise of the 'wonder bean': from deforestation to your plate (The Guardian);
"In 2009, Walmart, Nike and other global companies vowed to stop buying beef and leather from Brazilian companies operating in the Amazon. They were responding to pressure from the environmental group Greenpeace, which had determined that cattle ranching there had become the largest driver of deforestation in the world, with an average of one acre of the Amazon cleared every eight seconds for grazing."
"... a decade later, the Amazon is in even graver danger, with 17% of its forests already gone and some scientists warning that losing as little as 3% more could begin turning it to savanna because the ecosystem will produce too little rainfall to sustain itself."
"Brazil produces more beef than any other country except the United States and exports more than anywhere else, sending 20% of its production to Hong Kong, China, the European Union and several smaller buyers.  The Brazilian company JBS, the world’s largest meatpacker with more than $50 billion in annual revenue, counts Walmart and Costco as major clients."
- Cows are killing the Amazon. Pledges from Walmart and Nike didn’t help save it (Los Angeles Times);
"Hotspots of antibiotic-resistant superbugs are springing up in farms around the world, the direct result of our overconsumption of meat, with potentially disastrous consequences for human health, a study has found."
"The scientists, reporting on their work in the peer review journal Science, said there was a “window of opportunity” to limit the rise of resistant bacteria “by encouraging a transition to sustainable animal farming practices” around the world, particularly in the countries highlighted."
"The rise of superbugs that are untreatable by even the strongest antibiotics is one of the greatest threats the world faces, according to the UK’s outgoing chief medical officer, Sally Davies, who warned of an “apocalyptic” threat and the end of modern medicine."
- "Superbugs hotspots emerging in farms across globe" (The Guardian);
"Esta era a mensagem que a procuradora da República em Altamira Thais Santi tentava passar aos jornalistas. Os incêndios são graves e devem ser denunciados e combatidos, mas é necessário compreender também que um rio está morrendo. Morrendo. “É ecocídio, e é genocídio”, ela afirma. A procuradora não exagera. Os fatos são eloquentes, investigados e mensurados pelos melhores cientistas da área do Brasil, e também por documentos oficiais. Na história recente da Amazônia, a grande causadora e reprodutora de violências na região do Médio Xingu, onde está a cidade de Altamira, foi e segue sendo a Usina Hidrelétrica de Belo Monte."
"... É também nesta região que, nos últimos anos, outra gigante, a mineradora canadense Belo Sun, pressiona a população local e assedia políticos de Belém para obter autorização para explorar aquela que seria a maior mina de ouro a céu aberto do Brasil – e também o sepultamento oficial da Volta Grande embaixo de toneladas de rejeitos tóxicos."
"Since President Jair Bolsonaro took office in January, Brazil has permitted sales of a record 290 pesticides, up 27% over the same period last year, and a bill in Congress would relax standards even further... About 40% of Brazil’s pesticides are “highly or extremely toxic,” according to Greenpeace, and 32% aren’t allowed in the European Union. Meanwhile, approvals are being expedited without the government hiring enough people to evaluate them, said Marina Lacorte, a coordinator at Greenpeace Brazil... The fertile nation is awash in chemicals. Brazil’s pesticide use increased 770% from 1990 to 2016, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations." 
"Desses, 16 são classificados pela Anvisa como extremamente ou altamente tóxicos e 11 estão associados ao desenvolvimento de doenças crônicas como câncer, malformação fetal, disfunções hormonais e reprodutivas. Entre os locais com contaminação múltipla estão as capitais São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Fortaleza, Manaus, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Campo Grande, Cuiabá, Florianópolis e Palmas...."
"Os números revelam que a contaminação da água está aumentando a passos largos e constantes. Em 2014, 75% dos testes detectaram agrotóxicos. Subiu para 84% em 2015 e foi para 88% em 2016, chegando a 92% em 2017...."
"Do total de 27 pesticidas na água dos brasileiros, 21 estão proibidos na União Europeia devido aos riscos que oferecem à saúde e ao meio ambiente..."
"... somando todos os limites permitidos para cada um dos agrotóxicos monitorados, a mistura de substâncias na nossa água pode chegar a 1.353 microgramas por litro sem soar nenhum alarme. O valor equivale a 2.706 vezes o limite europeu..." 
- Coquetel perigoso Levantamento aponta que 1 a cada 4 cidades brasileiras tem água contaminada por 27 tipos de agrotóxicos (Ana Aranha & Luana Rocha, UOL Notícias);
"“When I was 16, I used to bring a boat here with my uncle,” Ollivro said. “In those days, it was all about natural beauty and you didn’t see seaweed piled up. It’s a shame this place has come to be associated with death.”"
"For decades, potentially lethal green algae have amassed in shallow bays on Brittany’s beautiful north-western coast. Environmentalists say the blossoming of unusually large amounts of green algae are linked to nitrates in fertilisers and waste from the region’s intensive pig, poultry and dairy farming flowing into the river system and entering the sea. When the algae decompose, pockets of toxic gas (hyrogen sulfide) get trapped under its crust — potentially fatal to humans if they step on it."
"This summer, six Brittany beaches were closed because of a mass of dangerous seaweed. The bay of Saint-Brieuc was the focus, with bulldozers piling so much algae into dumper trucks on the beach that an inland treatment centre, where seaweed is dried out and disposed of, briefly closed due to an unbearable stench. The centre blamed the foul odour on the method used to collect the algae, which had mixed in mud and sand. Local residents complained the smell was so bad it woke them up at night."
"Jean-René Auffray, 50, was fit and preparing for a long-distance race when he set out on an afternoon jog from his home near the beach in Hillion. His dog returned alone and his wife and children went out to search for him. The area where he was found had already seen over 30 wild boar die in sludge five years before, with a likely link to rotting seaweed."
 - It can kill you in seconds': the deadly algae on Brittany's beaches (Angelique Chrisafis/The Guardian); 

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the World Food Club:


"The world's food supply chain and hence the world at large are being seriously screwed up by the powers-that-be: governments, corporates, and the experts and intellectuals who advise and serve them (scientists, economists, lawyers, and professional bureaucrats known as MBAs)," Colin Tudge's The World Food Club.
"The aim of the WORLD FOOD CLUB is to replace the present food supply chain with something far better, controlled and answerable to people at large. The new food chain will be designed expressly to promote human wellbeing and cultural diversity, hugely to improve animal welfare, and to sustain and create landscapes that remain rich, diverse, and beautiful," Colin Tudge's The World Food Club.

Existing Initiatives:
- Soil Association;
- Slow Food International;
- Compassion in World Farming;
- Friends of the Earth;
- Fairtrade International;
- Forum for the Future;
- The Pari Center;
- Oxfordshire Community Land Trust;

"Pigs, sheep and goats all have "voices", distinguishing each individual from the herd, scientists have discovered in the past few years. This week, researchers at the University of Sydney added cows to the list... Taken together, the research suggests we need to think about barnyard animals less as a herd and more as a collection of individuals with their own characteristics (scientists in the field carefully avoid the word "personalities") and social bonds," "Here is the moos: Study finds cows' lows are unique way of saying 'hi'" (The Sidney Morning Herald); 
"In the new report, released today, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded that the welfare of rabbits is lower in conventional cages, compared to other systems. The key welfare issue for adult rabbits is that their movement is restricted. EFSA also concludes that organic systems are generally good," "EU Food Safety Agency Criticizes Rabbit Cages" (Compassion in World Farming); 

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On the "Ecological Apocalipse" and how to avoid it: 


"For Isra, when it comes to discussing the environment, it’s crucial to talk about environmental racism – i.e., environmental and climate change issues that specifically affect black and brown communities. “There’s a pipeline being built in my state (Minnesota) and it’s going straight through indigenous treaty lands and sacred wild rice beds,” she explains. “This pipeline will destroy their water and their sacred wild rice and also just ruin their land. Some places are more privileged than others.” More than anything, we should make sure people “recognise their privilege in the movement”."
"As far as US Youth Climate Strike is concerned, Isra says, “we try and avoid things like sit-ins or a lot of marches, only because we deal with so many minors – we don’t want any of them to get arrested – especially with youth of colour. We try and focus on really safe forms of activism so everybody can participate.”"
"Everybody gets there at their own pace. It took me some time – it probably takes everybody some time. And whether or not you get media coverage or you get a great response it doesn’t mean what you’re doing is wrong. You should know what’s best for you and what you believe in, and nobody should be able to tell you any different.”"
"“It is a lot to handle, and it’s a full-time job,” says Isra, who is a high school student, juggling her school work along with her activism. “You have to make sure you balance time and that you get your priorities right.” Self-care is a must. “There are so many things that need to be tackled, but also you come first – make sure that you are OK enough to partake in that activism,”" "How to fight for climate action, according to Isra Hirsi" (Niellah Arboine/Dazed, 05/13/2019);
'The political class, as anyone who has followed its progress over the past three years can surely now see, is chaotic, unwilling and, in isolation, strategically incapable of addressing even short-term crises, let alone a vast existential predicament.'
'Even when broadcasters cover these issues, they carefully avoid any mention of power, talking about environmental collapse as if it is driven by mysterious, passive forces, and proposing microscopic fixes for vast structural problems. The BBC’s Blue Planet Live series exemplified this tendency.'
'Our system – characterised by perpetual economic growth on a planet that is not growing – will inevitably implode.'
'... for a peaceful mass movement to succeed, a maximum of 3.5% of the population needs to mobilise.'
'When a committed and vocal 3.5% unites behind the demand for a new system, the social avalanche that follows becomes irresistible,' "Only rebellion will prevent an ecological apocalypse" (George Monbiot, The Guardian, 04/15/2019);
'“We have shown that we are strong, we are determined,” she said. “I have never – I’ve been a police officer for 36 years – I have never known an operation, a single operation, in which over 700 people have been arrested.''Max Wedderburn, a 13-year-old from Milton Keynes, addressed crowds at the bridge and received cheers and applause. “We are getting bigger, we are getting stronger, we are gathering momentum. Together we can change the future,” he said.'
'Speaking afterwards, he said he became inspired to fight against climate change after learning about it from his mother. He explained: “My lifelong dream is to become a zoologist but I feel there is no point if half of the animals are all dead by the time I reach that goal.”'
'Around 20 activists, most of them aged under 17, had staged a brief demonstration on roads near Heathrow Airport on Friday morning and were arrested.
“One thing that is unusual about this demonstration is the willingness of those participating to be arrested and also their lack of resistance to the arrests,” said a spokesperson,' "Extinction Rebellion: More than 750 protesters arrested as climate change activists block London roads for sixth day" (Independent, 04/21/2019);

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Brazil's edible plants (from a paper by researches of the University of Leiden): 


"Piso indicated that roots [tubers] of S. tuberosa deserved special attention, because of the way they developed underground and their use as a refreshment [water reservoir] for feverish patients and exhausted travelers, as he experimented himself. He and Marcgrave also described how its fruits were valued as food... Currently S. tuberosa, known as Umbu or Umbuzeiro, is an important economic and subsistence food resource for rural communities in semiarid regions of northeast Brazil. Its specialized root system (xylopodia) bears tubers that store liquids, sugars and other nutrients and allow the survival of the tree during the dry seasons of the caatinga and central Brazilian savanna, where this species is endemic. The water or sweet juice of these xylopodia is still used as an emergency thirst quencher in extreme arid areas of the Brazilian sertão..."
"Several rainforest trees were highly valued for its edible fruits or seeds, such as Hymenaea courbaril L. or Lecythis pisonis L., of which the 'seeds (also called chestnuts) were eaten raw or roasted' and 'were considered aphrodisiacs.' The fruit of Macoubea guianensis Aubl. was 'appreciated for its sweetness by the indigenous peoples to eat during their travels, while Europeans used it to treat chest affections.' The fruit of Swartzia pickelii Killip ex Ducke was 'not eaten unless it was cooked, from which the inhabitants made a wholesome delicacy for the stomach called Manipoy.' The same applies to the tomato-like fruits of the African eggplant Solanum aethiopicum L., which were 'eaten cooked, after seasoning with oil and pepper; it has lemon taste'..."

Degradation of Brazilian's flora (from a paper by researches of the University of Leiden): 


"In the past centuries, the Atlantic Forest and savannah regions of northeast Brazil have been severely affected by habitat loss and degradation due to the expansion of urbanization, intensive agriculture, farming and logging. Several plant species that were abundant enough to be noted by European artists around 1640 are not common anymore today. According to the IUCN Red List, eight species in the Libri Picturati, seven in the Theatrum and one in the LP are currently experiencing population decline or are at risk of facing extinction. Several endemic plants from the northeast Atlantic rainforest and caatinga biomes appear in the illustrations. Four species in the Libri Picturati are currently CITES-listed and restricted to trade: the cacti Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis (Willd.) A. Berger, Cereus fernambucensis Lem., Epiphyllum phyllanthus (L.) Haw. and Melocactus violaceus subsp. margaritaceus N. P. Taylor. The latter is an endemic cactus of the coastal sand dunes’ ecoregion in the Atlantic rainforest known as restinga, which is severely threatened by agricultural expansion and urbanization."
"Some endemic species are classified as Least Concern by the IUCN or the CNC Flora (12 species), while others (13 species) have not been evaluated yet. The MC does not contain threatened species, but includes two endemic trees: Attalea compta Mart. and Eugenia cf. brasiliensis Lam., which are only found in the biodiversity hotspots of the Atlantic rainforest and the cerrado, both greatly affected by habitat loss. The mangrove vegetation along the Brazilian coast has been severely affected by urbanization, pollution by industrial and domestic waste and climate change, threatening the populations of the mangrove trees Avicennia schaueriana Stapf & Leechm. ex Moldenke and Laguncularia racemosa (L.) C. F. Gaertn. The occurrence of anthropogenic impacts and the lack of available data call for the implementation of more in-depth and continuous studies on the conservation status of these vulnerable populations."

See also:
***My and other artists animal art at Fine Art America. 
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