EU Plans To Reduce Pesticides By 50%

The European Commission today proposed a plan to transform the European Union’s agricultural system, to make it more sustainable and safer from a health perspective.

The plan includes a target of reducing the use of pesticides by 50% in the next decade. The plan would also reduce sales of antimicrobials for farmed animals by 50%, and the use of fertilizers by 20%, by 2030. The share of organic farming would also be increased by 25% by 2030 - up from the current 8%.

“The coronavirus crisis has shown how vulnerable we all are, and how important it is to restore the balance between human activity and nature,” said EU Vice President Frans Timmermans unveiling the plan.


AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

“Climate change and biodiversity loss are a clear and present danger to humanity. At the heart of the Green Deal the Biodiversity and Farm to Fork strategies point to a new and better balance of nature, food systems and biodiversity; to protect our people's health and well- being, and at the same time to increase the EU's competitiveness and resilience. These strategies are a crucial part of the great transition we are embarking upon.”

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100,000 Deaths: Vote Like Your Life Depends On It • BRAVE NEW FOUNDATION

What lifestyle changes will shrink your carbon footprint the most? | Science News

We've all heard countless ways to reduce our emissions. Here are the steps that actually make a difference.


Continue reading at: What lifestyle changes will shrink your carbon footprint the most? | Science News

Bee Abundance and Diversity in Suburban Yards Depends on How Often You Mow

The research team found that while mowing every 3 weeks resulted in as much as 2.5 times more lawn flowers (aka dandelions and clover) and greater diversity of bee species, the abundance of bees was greatest when lawns were mowed every 2 weeks. Further, the researchers documented 93 species of bees with supplemental observations reaching 111 bee species.




Contionuies reading: Northern Research Station

Rural Landowners, Farmers, and Conservation Groups Celebrate Court Victory Halting Risky Oil and Gas Giveaway of 150,000 Acres of Montana Public Lands | Earthjustice

Victory: Federal judge rules BLM failed to consider risks to Montana’s environment and water supply before issuing 287 oil and gas leases
MAY 1, 2020
Great Falls, MT — Today, Montana landowners, farmers, and conservation groups won an important victory to protect local groundwater and the climate when a federal judge ruled that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to consider risks to Montana’s environment and water supply before issuing 287 oil and gas leases covering 145,063 acres in December 2017 and March 2018 lease sales. The court’s decision will protect Montanans, their livelihoods, clean water, public lands, and our climate by reversing the Bureau of Land Management’s recent approval of oil and gas leases across staggering swaths of Montana’s public lands.

A full moon is seen above Mount Baldy in the Big Belt Mountains near Townsend, Montana, April 2019. Nearby land was recently protected by a federal judge ruling; however, the Big Belt Mountains are still at risk. JOHN LAMBING / ALAMY
Continue reading at: Rural Landowners, Farmers, and Conservation Groups Celebrate Court Victory Halting Risky Oil and Gas Giveaway of 150,000 Acres of Montana Public Lands | Earthjustice

As Trump Claims “Fantastic Job” on COVID, Reporter Laurie Garrett Warns Pandemic May Last 36 Months | Democracy Now!

An inconvenient truth:



As Trump Claims “Fantastic Job” on COVID, Reporter Laurie Garrett Warns Pandemic May Last 36 Months | Democracy Now!

Future of the human climate niche | PNAS

The authors show that for thousands of years, humans have concentrated in a surprisingly narrow subset of Earth’s available climates, characterized by mean annual temperatures around ∼13 °C. This distribution likely reflects a human temperature niche related to fundamental constraints. They demonstrate that depending on scenarios of population growth and warming, over the coming 50 y, 1 to 3 billion people are projected to be left outside the climate conditions that have served humanity well over the past 6,000 y. Absent climate mitigation or migration, a substantial part of humanity will be exposed to mean annual temperatures warmer than nearly anywhere today.


The realized human climate niche relative to available combinations of MAT and precipitation. Human populations have historically remained concentrated in a narrow subset (A–C) of the available climatic range (G), which is not explained by soil fertility (H) or potential primary productivity (I). Current production of crops (D) and livestock (E) are largely congruent with the human distribution, whereas gross domestic product peaks at somewhat lower temperatures. Reconstructions of human populations 500 BP are based on the HYDE database, whereas those for 6 Ky BP are based on ArchaeoGlobe (https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/CQWUBI, Harvard Dataverse, V4). NPP, net primary productivity. See SI Appendix, Methods.

Continue reading at: Future of the human climate niche | PNAS