World leaders ‘ignoring’ role of destruction of nature in causing pandemics | Coronavirus | The Guardian

The root cause of pandemics – the destruction of nature – is being ignored, scientists have warned. The focus of world leaders on responding to future outbreaks overlooks the far cheaper and more effective strategy of stopping the spillover of disease from animals to humans in the first place, they have said.

The razing of forests and hunting of wildlife is increasingly bringing animals and the microbes they harbour into contact with people and livestock. About 70% of new infectious diseases have come from animals, including Covid-19, Sars, bird flu, Ebola and HIV.

However, preventing this root cause of spillover is scarcely mentioned by leaders and authorities, said the scientists behind a new independent taskforce, which will report to the coalition on Preventing Pandemics at the Source. The PPS said the issue has been ignored by the World Health Assembly, and a recent report for the World Health Organization on the coronavirus pandemic.

Source: World leaders ‘ignoring’ role of destruction of nature in causing pandemics | Coronavirus | The Guardian

Amazônia: life and death in the Brazilian rainforest | Amazon rainforest | The Guardian

In the middle of the great rainforest, entire cities have arisen and keep expanding without control. They are the gateway to modernity into the region, but also the symbol of its gradual destruction. The suburbs are growing fast, in a total absence of sewerage and public services, killing the forest. The concept of preservation should start right here. In order to preserve the Amazon ecosystem, should we not start looking for a sustainable model for its cities?

Source: Amazônia: life and death in the Brazilian rainforest | Amazon rainforest | The Guardian

Zombie Fires in the Arctic Are an Environmental Time Bomb – Mother Jones

That kind of outbreak may be a sign of things to come in a rapidly warming Arctic. While 2008 was a notably bad year, it was no fluke. Instead, it was part of a pattern of conditions in which zombie fires are most likely to arise. “They appear more often after hot summers and large fires,” says earth systems scientist Rebecca Scholten of the research university VU Amsterdam, lead author on the new paper. “And indeed, that is something that we could show has increased over the last 40 years.” For example, the particularly active fire years of 2009 and 2015 in Alaska, and 2014 in the Northwest Territories, generated multiple overwintering fires the following spring.

Northern soils are loaded with peat, dead vegetation that’s essentially concentrated carbon. When a wildfire burns across an Arctic landscape, it also burns vertically through this soil. Long after the surface fire has exhausted the plant fuel, the peat fire continues to smolder under the dirt, moving deeper down and also marching laterally. In their analysis, Scholten and her colleagues found this is most likely to happen following hotter summers, because that makes vegetation drier, thus igniting more catastrophically. “The more severe it burns, the deeper it can burn into that soil,” says VU Amsterdam earth systems scientist Sander Veraverbeke, coauthor on the new paper. “And the deeper it burns, the higher the chances that that fire will hibernate.” Even when autumn rain falls or the surface freezes in the winter, water isn’t able to penetrate the soil enough to entirely extinguish it.

Then spring arrives and the ice retreats. These hot spots can flare up, seeking more vegetation to burn at the edges of the original burn scar. “Basically, right after the snow melts, we already have dry fuel available,” says Scholten.

Source: Zombie Fires in the Arctic Are an Environmental Time Bomb – Mother Jones

Tokyo Games organizers latest to be hit by data breach, info leak

The leaked information included names, business titles and affiliations of the participants belonging to about 90 organizations, including the organizing body of the Olympics and Paralympics, ministries, local governments hosting venues such as Tokyo and Fukushima Prefecture, and sponsors of the games.

Takahito Tokita, the president of Fujitsu which is also contracted to oversee clients’ computer systems, apologized the same day to Olympic minister Tamayo Marukawa for the data breach.

Fujitsu said in late May that the data of several of its corporate clients had been compromised due to unauthorized access to the tool, which is used to share information between internal and external parties of a company.

The leak was likely due to a malware infection, the sources said, but the company is still investigating the cause and the extent of the impact.

The government agencies including the foreign and transport ministries have said at least 76,000 email addresses of government officials and external parties, such as members of panels, as well as study materials on creating a digital government, were breached.

Source: Tokyo Games organizers latest to be hit by data breach, info leak

African Heritage House

Google translation of introduction: Today I am going to show you around “African Heritage House”, one of the most visited places in Nairobi. Being on the outskirts of the capital, you will be captivated by the architecture of the house from the start of the visit. It is an architecture inspired by the mosques of Timbuktu and Djenné in Mali. Imposing and majestic with its terraces and brightly colored facades, the house invites you to follow the enriching journeys of Alan Donovan. Indeed, this house contains a lot of wealth of African culture, collected by the owner for years through the countries of Africa. And he opens his house to people with an interest in history, art, or just anyone who wants to visit for fun.

pe blog

Aujourd’hui, je vais vous faire visiter “African Heritage House”, l’un des endroits le plus visité à Nairobi. Se trouvant à la périphérie de la Capitale, vous seriez subjugués par l’architecture de la maison dès le début de la visite. C’est une architecture inspirée par les mosquées de Tombouctou et de Djenné au Mali. Imposante et majestueuse avec ses terrasses, les façades aux couleurs vives , la maison vous invite à suivre les voyages enrichissants d’Alan Donovan. En effet, cette maison renferme pleins de richesses de la culture Africaine, collectées par le propriétaire pendant des années à travers les pays d ‘Afrique. Et il ouvre sa maison pour les gens avides d’histoire ,de l’art ou tout simplement ã toute personne qui veut visiter pour le plaisir.

Une maison avec une large façade colorée.
©Mizou

Après nous avoir accueilli, Monsieur Alan Donovan s’est retiré et a laissé la place à son assistant pour faire les tours. En…

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Lê Vĩnh Tài | everything was wrapped in a glorious chill (275)

Gobblers by Masticadores

Introducing a new collaborator SONGNGUTAITRAM, Vietnamese art and literature


eyes closing the cause of his tears
wrapped in the arms of the cold night
he begs you for a dare
we’ve been too soft
why can’t we be tougher

By Lê Vĩnh Tài, translated by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm the moon and the stars looked down from the black sky a man stepped into a field in the dark on top of the hill the light sat swelling up unblinking no one slept and no one could lay still what a loss, such a beautiful place and to all unaware your hand is out palm up, where there will be a breeze but he’s totally unaware losing his composure he forgot where he was everything was wrapped in a glorious chill a kind of chill that was warm in one’s stomach the air sandwiched between the sky and the…

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AFINAL DE CONTAS: POR QUE AS FLORESTAS SÃO TÃO IMPORTANTES? — ÁGUA, VIDA & CIA – Fernando José de Sousa

Barbara Crane Navarro

Na atual sequência de postagens temos falado bastante sobre os problemas ambientais decorrentes do aquecimento global, mais especificamente sobre os riscos de desaparecimento das geleiras de altitude em montanhas de todo o mundo. Essas geleiras formam nascentes de importantes rios. A nascente mais distante do rio Amazonas, citando apenas um exemplo, está localizada em uma[…]

AFINAL DE CONTAS: POR QUE AS FLORESTAS SÃO TÃO IMPORTANTES? — ÁGUA, VIDA & CIA – Fernando José de Sousa

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In Peru, officials play a losing game of whack-a-mole with illegal miners – Mongabay.com —

Barbara Crane Navarro

In Peru, officials play a losing game of whack-a-mole with illegal miners – Mongabay.com https://ift.tt/3psyPPX In Peru, officials play a losing game of whack-a-mole with illegal minersMongabay.com Superforest via “deforestation” – Google Newshttps://ift.tt/2Pik6Fi

In Peru, officials play a losing game of whack-a-mole with illegal miners – Mongabay.com —

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