Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Critical measures of global heating reaching tipping point, study finds | Climate change | The Guardian

Carbon emissions, ocean acidification, Amazon clearing all hurtling toward new records
— Read on amp.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/27/global-heating-critical-measures-tipping-point-study

Bolsonaro’s 1,000km Amazon railway will cause climate chaos. It must be stopped | David Miranda | The Guardian

Jair Bolsonaro is determined to expand his exploitation of Brazil’s crucial natural resources. His latest project, one of the most destructive yet, would rapidly deforest large areas of the Amazon.

Bolsonaro’s plan? To construct a 1,000km railway system extending right into the heart of the Amazon rainforest – with trains passing within 500 metres of 726 official environmentally protected areas. The new railway, called Ferrogrão, would also entail construction within 10km of another 18 priority conservation areas established by the ministry of the environment.

The pretext for Bolsonaro’s environment-destroying plan is a problem that, while real, could be easily addressed through far less harmful measures. Currently, soybeans and other grains grown in the Brazilian midwest must travel a considerable distance – 2,000km – to reach seaports in the states of São Paulo and Paraná. The proposed railway would reduce transport costs and increase the competitiveness of these products in the international or national market by roughly 8%.

This underscores a key point of tension between Brazil and the international community. One reason the Amazon, a massive carbon bank, is so crucial to global climate policy is that countries in the global north became rich by exploiting their own natural resources, including through massive deforestation. Now that western European and North American countries are economically developed, they demand that Brazilians not do what they did: exploit our environmental resources so that we, too, can thrive economically. Many Brazilians, understandably, resent the hypocrisy.

Source: Bolsonaro’s 1,000km Amazon railway will cause climate chaos. It must be stopped | David Miranda | The Guardian

Pfizer data suggest third dose of Covid-19 vaccine ‘strongly’ boosts protection against Delta variant – San Gabriel Valley Tribune

A third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine can “strongly” boost protection against the Delta variant — beyond the protection afforded by the standard two doses, suggests new data released by Pfizer on Wednesday.

The data posted online, which are expected to be discussed in a company earnings call on Wednesday morning, suggest that antibody levels against the Delta variant in people ages 18 to 55 who receive a third dose of vaccine are greater than five-fold than following a second dose.

Among people ages 65 to 85, the Pfizer data suggest that antibody levels against the Delta variant after receiving a third dose of vaccine are greater than 11-fold than following a second dose.

Source: Pfizer data suggest third dose of Covid-19 vaccine ‘strongly’ boosts protection against Delta variant – San Gabriel Valley Tribune

“There Is No Other Way Out of the Pandemic”: British Public Health Expert on the Need to Get Vaccinated – DER SPIEGEL

In many countries, the number of new COVID-19 infections is skyrocketing. Did governments move too quickly to loosen the lockdowns? And what is the role of the Delta variant? In interview, British researcher Devi Sridhar warns of the dangers of the new wave and argues that vaccination is our only way out. Source: “There Is No Other Way Out of the Pandemic”: British Public Health Expert on the Need to Get Vaccinated – DER SPIEGEL