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

Climate tipping points are now imminent, scientists warn | News | DW | 28.07.2021

Thousands of scientists reiterated calls for immediate action over the climate crisis in an article published Wednesday in the journal BioScience.

“The extreme climate events and patterns that we’ve witnessed over the last several years — not to mention the last several weeks — highlight the heightened urgency with which we must address the climate crisis,” said Philip Duffy, co-author of the study and executive director of the Woodwell Climate Research Center in the US state of Massachusetts.

Two years ago, more than 10,000 scientists from around 150 countries jointly declared a global climate emergency. They are now joined by over 2,800 more signatories in urging the protection of life on Earth.

Since the 2019 declaration, Earth has seen an “unprecedented surge” in climate-related disasters, researchers noted.

Source: Climate tipping points are now imminent, scientists warn | News | DW | 28.07.2021

Illegal gold mining on Colombia′s rivers rising: UN | News | DW | 28.07.2021

The illegal mining of gold from rivers and waterways in Colombia is increasing, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a new report.

The number of hectares in use for alluvial gold production rose by 3% last year and the share of illegal output increased by an equal percentage, the report said.

In 2020, the illegal extraction of alluvial gold affected more than 52,000 hectares (128,500 acres) of nature reserves — an area almost the size of Madrid.

The report stressed that extensive gold production by crime gangs, leftist rebels and others is causing grave environmental damage to the country, which is among the world’s most biodiverse.

It is “a worrying situation because it has ties to organized crime,” said Pierre Lapaque, the Colombia representative for the UNODC, while presenting the report in Bogota.

Alluvial gold mining is the process of extracting gold from streambed deposits. It results in contamination of water by mercury and other toxic substances.

Source: Illegal gold mining on Colombia′s rivers rising: UN | News | DW | 28.07.2021

Are women better leaders?

A pure serendipity

Jacinda Ardern as a feminist icon in the contemporary world

Source: ThePrint

The world knows Jacinda Ardern as the current Prime Minister of New Zealand and as the youngest head of government in the world. Her governance has been widely praised across the world – be it the compassionate handling of the 2019 Christchurch attacks or successfully leading her country through the COVID-19 pandemic or her recent APEC diplomacy that brought Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Joe Biden together on the same video call.

However, behind all this, who is Jacinda Ardern? – well, in her own words, she is a working mom who is using the age-old trick of multitasking to manage her work along with raising a child. In doing so, she has set an inspiring example for leaders and women alike – be it taking her child along with her to the UN when she was a…

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