50th UN Session of Commission on Population & Development

Posted on April 6, 2017 by GarryRogers

GR: The growing human population is the source of most of the environmental destruction that is threatening the biological diversity and stability of the Earth. Here’s some information from Joe Bish of the Population Media Center (PMC) that will help you stay updated on critical issues (Fertility projections). Bish is reporting on the latest United Nations nonsense about sustainable development.

Travel by train in India (anonymous).

“Welcome to Population Media Center’s Weekly News. Click here to review an on-line newspaper filled with population and sustainability related stories.They provide a good summary of international developments and population-related news-flow during the past week.

“It is debatable as to what was the biggest news in the field this week: the 50th session of the Commission on Population and Development was convened in New York City — and the current U.S. administration cut off American funding for UNFPA. Normally, I would say the latter was a much more meaningful news-item, after all, the cut-off of funds will lead to the suffering and death of multitudes of women and children. On the other hand, you will likely join me in disbelief and consternation to find the official news release from the UN (see below) has a headline that states “population… decline” is a key focus of the 50th session.

“Bear in mind that during the 5-day work week of proceedings at the UN, global population will have increased by roughly 1.1 million people. Also, you don’t need reminding that since the Commission was established in 1947, world population has risen by well over 5 billion people. Yet… “population… decline” is the headline?

“We all know what this headline is referring to are a score of countries that are thought to be experiencing natural decrease. These include Japan, Spain, Puerto Rico, Serbia, Portugal, Greece, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Belarus, and Georgia. Nonetheless, while some attention may be required to help these countries adopt a sustainable economy that does not require perpetual population growth to function, surely it seems not quite right that the 50th session of the Commission is being dedicated to the relative distractions of aging and “population decline.” –Joe Bish

3 April 2017 – The United Nations advisory body on issues related to population and development today kicked off its annual session, with a focus on changing population age structures and sustainable development.

“Population ageing and population decline have now become key issues for a growing number of Member States,” Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Wu Hongbo told the opening segment of the Commission on Population and Development’s fiftieth annual session, which will run at UN Headquarters through 7 April.

He also noted that with global fertility at, or even below, fertility [sic] level, international migration “is becoming the main driver of population change for a number of countries.” –United Nations (Continue: PMC’s Weekly News: 50th Session of Commission on Population & Development).

100,000 may have died but there is still no justice over Indonesian air pollution

Posted on February 4, 2017 by GarryRogers

GR: No family should have to endure such heartbreak because some company is pursuing profits at all costs. The tragedy extends even farther than reported here. People can breath through a rag and clean their food. Wild animals can do neither. Moreover, the smoke is from burning wildlife habitat. It’s no surprise that the World Wildlife Fund reports global loss of 60% of all the Earth’s animals since 1970. The total loss is expected to reach 67% by 2020.

“It started with a mild cough. Muhanum Anggriawati was just 12 years old when the cough began, transforming within weeks into a violent hacking that brought up a yellowish-black liquid.

“At the end of last year, her father told an Indonesian court how she had been taken into hospital, and treated with oxygen therapy, then with a defibrillator. Nothing, however, had worked. After a week on a breathing machine, she died in the hospital, her lungs still full of the foul mucus.

“Anggriawati is believed to have been one of many victims of the haze, or air pollution, that regularly spreads across Indonesia because of the huge deforestation fires linked to palm oil and other agribusiness.

“The Global Fire Emissions Database reports that in 2015, fires in Indonesia generated about 600m tonnes of greenhouse gases, which is roughly equivalent to Germany’s entire annual output.

“The smoke contains dangerous chemicals such as carbon monoxide, ammonia and cyanide. A study by Harvard and Columbia universities revealed that the haze may have caused the premature deaths of more than 100,000 people in south-east Asia in 2015. The authors estimated that there were 91,000 deaths in Indonesia; 6,500 in Malaysia and 2,200 in Singapore.” –Elodie Aba and Bobbie Sta. Maria (More: 100,000 may have died but there is still no justice over Indonesian air pollution | Global Development Professionals Network | The Guardian.)

Managing the BLM: Please Help

Posted on December 19, 2016 by GarryRogers

GR: The policy of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), “multiple use and sustained yield,” sounds great until you look at the results. Mining and mineral prospecting, cattle grazing, recreation, and energy transmission have led to invasions by alien plants and animals, soil erosion, increasing wildfires, and declining biodiversity. The BLM avoids conflicts with the profit goals of the companies that control our politicians. Thus, the agency responsible for more public land in the U. S. than any other does not hesitate to sacrifice the health and beauty of the land to avoid criticism from the resource harvesters that wish to use, and often abuse, the land. In fact, the BLM has a long history of anticipating the needs of private companies and adjusting polices to help them harvest the land.

As you will see in the item below taken from the Arizona section of the BLM website, BLM encourages public participation in formulating land-use plans. However, the agency often ignores public concerns when company profits are at stake. This might change if public participation grew as large as it has in North Dakota. So, follow the continue reading link at the end of the article and look for BLM public meetings in your area. And go. Remember, “sustainable use” is meaningless if the use adds roads and depletes the habitat, soil, and wildlife. And remember, we don’t need no more stinking fossil fuels.

“The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Land Use Plans, called Resource Management Plans (RMPs), evaluate and guide the management of resources and uses on public lands over a fifteen to twenty year period. Using the principles of multiple use and sustained yield, BLM Arizona seeks to maximize resource values on public land for current and future generations, ensuring the health, diversity, and productivity of the public land.

“BLM Arizona manages approximately 12.2 million surface acres of public land, and realizes that public involvement is critical in the development and implementation of its RMPs. Throughout the planning process, the BLM uses a collaborative approach involving tribal, State and local governments, other federal agencies, and interested publics in addressing management goals for public land. When RMPs are ready for review and public comment, BLM Arizona makes copies available to field offices and on the Internet. New and revised RMPs are now being developed in the ePlanning database. We encourage you to get involved in the planning process to help determine how the public lands will be managed. Involvement by everyone, who is interested in the public lands, will help ensure that the best overall plan is developed.” –BLM (Continue reading: Programs: Planning and NEPA: Plans in Development: Arizona | BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT)

Thirty-three Years of Growth in Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona

Posted on December 8, 2016 by GarryRogers

Growth, The Destruction of Nature in Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona

Click the link below to go to the Google Earth Engine for a 32-year aerial-photo time-lapse of the growth of Dewey-Humboldt (D-H) in central Arizona. The animation begins in 1984 and ends in 2016. The later photos in the series are higher resolution than the early ones, but you can still track the changes from beginning to end.

https://earthengine.google.com/iframes/timelapse_player_embed.html#v=34.52835,-112.24596,11.467,latLng&t=1.80

Though citizen efforts have slowed D-H growth, there has nevertheless been a substantial loss of natural vegetation. The greatest losses have been in the upland shrubs and chaparral vegetation of the town’s foothills. Watch the animation for appearance of the Prescott Country Club and the developments in the Blue Hills on the west side of town and along Foothill Road in the east. Substantial chaparral losses are also occurring in the unincorporated areas east of D-H.

There have been no successful efforts by citizens to slow neighboring Prescott Valley’s growth. The greatest losses there have been in the desert grasslands east and north of town. Once occupied by herds of antelope and other wildlife, the Arizona Game and Fish Department has written off the area as a lost cause.

The Google Earth Engine works for any place on planet Earth. Drag the scene to areas of interest and watch the time-lapse animation there.

Save Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge!

Posted on November 30, 2016 by GarryRogers

GR: Global climate change and other issues beset us from all sides, but we must still try to protect and care for the small wild places that remain.

“Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge is one of the last remaining protected remnants of the northern Everglades left in Florida.

“It’s a national treasure, providing ideal feeding and nesting habitat for more than 250 species of birds, including the largest colony of wading birds in the Everglades. Acting as a natural filter, the refuge also provides clean water for communities in South Florida. But now it’s in danger of being lost forever.

“Loxahatchee isn’t like most other refuges. It is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) through a lease agreement with the South Florida Water Management District, which manages drinking water supplies and flood control in south Florida. Now the water management district wants to rescind the lease from the federal government, effectively closing the refuge for good.The District contends that FWS has done a poor job at raising funds from Congress to manage invasive plant species on the refuge, as stipulated in the lease agreement. These non-native plants, such as melaleuca trees and Old World climbing fern, damage the dwindling Everglades habitat. Yet the state has done a poor job itself of controlling invasive species in its surrounding Water Management District Areas. In fact, Loxahatchee became infested with Old World climbing fern from surrounding state-owned lands. Revoking the lease agreement will not solve this regional invasive species problem.” –Haley McKey (continue: Save Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge!

Breaching environmental boundaries: UN report on resource limits

Posted on November 2, 2016 by GarryRogers

GR: This is a thoughtful assessment of the problems with development goals that seek to raise everyone to the living standards of the United States and European Union. Though the article brings the problems into clear perspective, I think it is already clear to most people that we can’t extract enough resources to meet the perceived need for high levels of material wealth held by Earth’s growing human population. Cultural and social expectations need to change radically if we are reduce our population and our material consumption to truly sustainable levels.

Coal Mines at the source of the Yellow River, China

“This summer, the United Nations International Resource Panel (IRP), published ‘Global Material Flows and Resource Productivity’, a report that admits what ecologists have been saying for decades: resources are limited, human consumption trends are unsustainable and resource depletion diminishes human health, quality of life and future development.

“The report shows that consumption of Earth’s primary resources (metals, fuels, timber, cereals and so forth) has tripled in the last 40 years, driven by population growth (increasing at about 1.1% per year), economic growth (averaging about 3% per year over the same period) and consumption per person, worldwide.

“Economic growth has helped lift some regions from poverty and created more middle-class consumers, while enriching the wealthiest nations the most. The UN report acknowledges, however, that advances in human well-being have been achieved through consumption patterns that are “not sustainable” and that will “ultimately deplete the resources − causing shortages [and] conflict”.

“In 1970 — when ecologists in Canada founded Greenpeace and Club of Rome scholars prepared the original ‘Limits to Growth’ study — a human population of 3.7 billion used 22 billion tons of primary materials per year. Forty years later, in 2010, with a population of 6.7 billion, humans used 70 billion tons. Now, in 2016, we require about 86 billion tons and the UN Resource Panel estimates that by 2050 we will require annually some 180 billion tons of raw materials, which Earth’s ecosystems may not be able to provide.— Rex Weyler (Breaching environmental boundaries: UN report on resource limits)

Live Q&A: How can the environment and development sectors work together to achieve the SDGs?

Posted on October 24, 2016 by GarryRogers

GR: They can’t. “Sustainable development” is a nonsense term used to green-wash the destruction of nature. To sustain nature we must reduce our population and our overuse and abuse of natural resources. This cannot happen until our economic system embraces negative growth and nature restoration. Look at this current story from the Guardian to see the size of the problem.

Q & A item from the Guardian: “Traditionally, the environment and the development sectors have worked separately, but the era of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on climate change calls for a shift in approach.

Profit motive drives human behavior.

In ratifying the Paris Agreement, countries have pledged to limit the increase in average global temperature to below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Meanwhile, protection of the environment features heavily in the SDGs: countries commit to creating sustainable cities and communities, promoting responsible consumption and promotion, and taking climate action – all measures that could help fulfil the Cop21 agreement.

“What’s exciting about the SDGs is the interconnectedness,” said Archana Patkar, networking and knowledge management programme manager for WSSCC, at an event organised by the Guardian alongside the UN General Assembly in September.

“So how can the development and environment sectors collaborate and align their efforts in achieving these interconnected goals? Where can parallels be found between the two sectors? How can efforts to improve economic growth be made without harming the environment? And which “dynamic new ways of working” can environment and development professionals adopt to achieve the SDGs?” — Katherine Purvis.

More: Live Q&A: How can the environment and development sectors work together to achieve the SDGs? | Global Development Professionals Network | The Guardian

Brexit-on-sea: Why do voters on Essex’s protected coast want out of Europe?

Posted on June 21, 2016 by GarryRogers

GR.–It appears that developers want to leave the EU for the same old reason; they want fewer restrictions on their use of natural resources to make money. Does the youthful EU yet hold on to some ideals–ideals eroded by greed and enterprise in older governments?

John Vidal.–“Residents in the Ukip stronghold of Clacton-on-Sea are rightly proud of their clean beaches, fresh air and wildlife. Would they still vote leave if they knew the things they love about their town are thanks to EU membership?

“Virtually all of Essex’s intertidal coastline is designated by Europe as a special protected area, and has the strongest level of European protection. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian

“Neil Stock, leader of the Conservative Tendring district council has decided to remain neutral on the in/out question because of the strong Ukip contingent on the council. “But I must say we probably would not have a lot of what we have here without Europe. People like the clean beaches and the nature reserves here and yet they are the ones frothing at the mouth about the EU,” he says. “Credit where it’s due. The environment is the most positive reason [for staying in EU]. It would take the most rabid ‘outer’ to deny that.” Continue reading: Brexit-on-sea: Why do voters on Essex’s protected coast want out of Europe? | Environment | The Guardian

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Homeowners kept in dark about climate change risk to houses, says report | Environment | The Guardian

Posted on May 29, 2016 by GarryRogers

GR: Efforts by governments to support development by hiding important information from consumers is rampant in the U. S. I am not surprised that this is true in Austrailia as I assume that it is true worldwide.

Guardian: “The risk that houses in some areas of Australia are likely to become uninsurable, dilapidated and uninhabitable due to climate change is kept hidden from those building and buying property along Australia’s coasts and in bushfire zones, a Climate Institute report says.

“The report says there is untapped and unshared data held by regulators, state and local governments, insurers and banks on the level of risk, but that most homebuyers and developers are not told about the data and do not have access to it. The full scale of risk may only be recognised through disaster or damage, or when insurance premiums become unaffordable Climate Institute report“Even when public authorities, financial institutions and other stakeholders possess information about current and future risk levels, they are sometimes unwilling, and sometimes unable, to share it with all affected parties,” the report released on Monday says.”

Source: Homeowners kept in dark about climate change risk to houses, says report | Environment | The Guardian

Once-Wild West Disappearing Under Development | Californians For Population Stabilization

Posted on May 28, 2016 by GarryRogers

Discussion of the principal cause of the loss of natural areas to development in the U.S.

…

“The natural landscape of the American West is gradually disappearing under a relentless march of new subdivisions, roads, oil and gas production, agricultural operations and other human development.”

Rogers is citing a new report at http://www.disappearingwest.org posted by Conservation Science Partners, a nongovernmental research group with offices in Truckee, California; Seattle, Washington; Flagstaff, Arizona; Fort Collins, Colorado and Bozeman, Montana. According to Disappearing West, an area of natural habitat the size of a football field is lost to concrete, asphalt, subdivisions, strip malls and drilling pads every two and a half minutes.

In the decade between 2001 and 2011, a combined area of 2.8 million acres (4,321 square miles) – 15 times the combined size of San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco – was developed in the 11 Western states. By far, California lost the most open space of all of them.

Yet there is a gaping hole large enough to drive a bulldozer through in both the Disappearing West website and Rogers’ article about it: the role of human population growth in driving all this development and loss of open space. Various wildlife population sizes are mentioned in the Disappearing West report, but there is not one mention of human population size and growth. Why this glaring omission?

Source: Once-Wild West Disappearing Under Development | Californians For Population Stabilization