The Castelo Branco Court has handed down the maximum sentence of 25 years in prison to an electrical engineer accused of 16 crimes of forest fire, one of which was aggravated, which occurred between 2017 and 2020 in the Centre region.
27/10/2022
Serial arsonist sentenced to 25 years in prison
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21/10/2022
500+ experts call on world’s nations to not burn forests to make energy
- Last week, more than 500 top scientists and economists issued a letter
to leaders in the US, EU, Japan, South Korea, and the UK, urging them to stop
harvesting and burning forests as a means of making energy in converted coal
burning power plants.
- The burning of forest biomass to produce electricity has boomed due to
this power source having been tolerated as carbon neutral by the United
Nations, which enables nations to burn forest biomass instead of coal and not
count the emissions in helping them meet their Paris Climate Agreement carbon
reduction targets.
- However, current science says that burning forest biomass is dirtier
than burning coal, and that one of the best ways to curb climate change and
sequester carbon is to allow forests to keep growing. The EU and UK carbon
neutrality designations for forest biomass are erroneous, say the 500 experts
who urge a shift in global policy:
- “Governments must end subsidies… for the burning of wood…. The
European Union needs to stop treating the burning of biomass as carbon
neutral…. Japan needs to stop subsidizing power plants to burn wood. And the
United States needs to avoid treating biomass as carbon neutral or low carbon,”
says the letter.
More than 500 scientists and economists implored world leaders last week
to stop treating as emissions-free the burning of wood from forests to make
energy and heat, and to end subsidies now driving the explosive demand for wood
pellets. Both actions, they write, are causing escalating deforestation in the
Southeast US, Western Canada and Eastern Europe.
The letter was received Feb. 11 by US President Joseph Biden and
European Union President Ursula Von der Leyen, as well as Charles Michel,
president of the European Council, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, and
South Korean President Moon Jae-in. The document is expected to soon be sent to
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
“We the undersigned scientists and economists commend each of you for
the ambitious goals you have announced… to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050,”
the two-page letter begins. “Forest preservation and restoration should be key
tools for achieving this goal and simultaneously helping to address our global
biodiversity crisis.
However, “We urge you not to undermine both climate goals and the
world’s biodiversity by shifting from burning fossil fuels to burning trees to
generate energy.”
In the EU alone, nearly 60% of renewable energy already comes from
forest biomass, amounting to millions of metric tons of wood pellets burned
annually. The United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Denmark are among the leading
consumers of biomass for energy and heat, while Japan and South Korea are now
converting coal-fired power plants to burn wood pellets.
Under the EU’s second Renewable Energy Directive (REDII) — tolerated by
the United Nations under the Paris Climate Agreement — emissions from burning
forest biomass are not counted at all. This significant carbon accounting
loophole underreports emissions data at a time when global temperatures are
rising fast, causing accelerating drought, devastating storms, destructive
wildfires and sea-level rise nearly everywhere on earth.
Rather than being a carbon neutral climate solution, the scientists
write, cutting forests and burning wood pellets is more polluting than coal,
and “emits more carbon up smokestacks than using fossil fuels,” while
sacrificing the carbon-sequestration capacity of growing trees which is lost to
produce wood pellets.
“Overall, for each kilowatt hour of heat or electricity produced,
[burning] wood initially is likely to add two to three times as much carbon to
the air as using fossil fuels,” says the letter, refuting the policy and
industry claims of biomass zero emissions.
For its part, the biomass industry claims it uses forest management to
selectively log trees from forests and tree plantations, avoiding clearcutting
and preserving carbon stocks. It also claims that replanted trees quickly
reabsorb the carbon released from burned wood pellets. Both assertions are
undermined by NGO-observed clearcutting and accumulating science showing mature
forests absorb and hold far more carbon than seedlings and young trees.
The scientists offered four mandates: end subsidies and other incentives
that promote biomass for energy and heat; in the EU, stop treating biomass as
carbon neutral under REDII, which falsely overstates emission reductions; in
Japan, stop subsidizing power plants to burn wood; and in the US, stop treating
biomass as carbon neutral as the Biden administration establishes new climate rules
and incentives to curb global warming.
“Government subsidies for burning wood create a double climate problem
because this false solution is replacing real carbon reductions,” says the
letter. “Companies are shifting fossil energy use to wood, which increases
warming, as a substitute for shifting to solar and wind, which would truly
decrease warming.”
Last week’s lobbying effort is the latest on behalf of US, European and
Canadian scientists and economists to highlight robust science demonstrating
the negative environmental impacts of biomass-for-energy to world leaders,
whose national bioenergy policies have helped create a multibillion industry
in wood-pellet production.
A similar letter signed by nearly 800 scientists in 2018 lobbied the EU
to alter its biomass policies, to no avail.
Published: 15 February 2021
Link:
ΦΦΦ
19/10/2022
Ancient Grain
This Nearly Lost Ancient Grain Tradition Could Be the Future of Farming
BY GEMMA TARLACH
OCTOBER 13, 2022
WHEN ZEMEDE ASFAW WAS GROWING up on a farm in eastern Ethiopia, he
soaked up plant lore and other traditional knowledge the way a tree takes in
sunlight and converts it to energy. “I knew the crops, and the wild plants, and
the fruits and other things,” says Zemede, who goes by his given name. The
practical methods he learned covered every aspect of farming: Instead of stone
walls or wire fences, plant field edges with darker crops, so the bold colors
of red sorghum, for example, create a clear border between the family’s plot
and that of a neighbor. Leave a few wild olive or acacia trees in the fields to
harvest sustainably, over time, for firewood, animal fodder, or building
materials. And instead of sowing the seeds of a single grain in orderly rows,
spread a mix of grains all over the field, “mimicking nature so crops have
random distribution patterns, as in natural forests,” he says. Once harvested,
these grain mixtures could be turned into many things: nutritious bread, a kind
of roasted-grain trail mix called kolo, beer, and the potent clear spirit known
as areki.
Now an ethnobotanist at Addis Ababa University, Zemede conducts field
research in northern Ethiopia. The dominant grains grown there are different
than in the region of his youth—his family grew sorghum and maize, while the
northerners prefer barley and wheat, better suited to their mountainous
highlands—but the principle is the same: “We’ll plant the things that go together
and are compatible with each other,” Zemede says. “Our farmers are good at
mirroring nature.”
Ethiopia is one of the few places in the world where farmers still grow
maslins, the general term for different varieties and species of grain that are
sown in the same field, or intercropped. Maslins sustained humans for
millennia, possibly predating the rise of agriculture more than 10,000 years
ago. These grain mixtures tend to be more resilient to pests and drought, and
to lend more complex flavors to breads, beer, and booze.
Worldwide, maslins fell out of favor long ago, replaced nearly
everywhere by sprawling, single-grain monoculture—but a small and passionate
group of scientists, including Zemede, is hoping to change that. A paper
published today in Agronomy for Sustainable Development makes the case for
maslins to be revived by farmers around the world, for tastier bread, healthier
crops, and more sustainable agriculture. The question is, why is it taking so
long?
(…)
“In biology we say diversity must survive,” says Zemede. “If diversity
is lost, then we will be lost.”
Link:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ancient-crop-future-farming-ethiopia
Cereal species mixtures: an ancient practice with
potential for climate resilience. A review
Link:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13593-022-00832-1
ΦΦΦ
16/10/2022
Cerdeira Village
Samhain
O Samhain
(pronuncia-se “souen” e significa o “fim do verão”) era um festival no qual os
celtas celebravam o final das colheitas, dando as boas-vindas ao Inverno e
tempos difíceis que se avizinhavam.
The start of darker days
Samhain, meaning ‘summer’s end’ is a time to celebrate the dead; it’s a
time when the land of the living can most easily interact with the land of the
dead. The festival marks the beginning of winter and the ‘darker half’ of the
year, but it also heralds the start of the old Celtic new year. Samhain is
traditionally a time for regeneration and reflection. Today, some Pagans still
practice ways of marking the event, but how did our ancient ancestors do it?
Fire and ritual
Traditional rituals focused around the fire. Hearths in the family home
were kept lit while the harvest was gathered, and left to die down and to
eventually go out. The hearth was important as it was the heart of the home, it
was a place where the family would gather, the source of warmth, and also, like
today, where the cooking was done. If the hearth fire was put out by hand, it
was believed it would anger the gods, and so it was left to dwindle – the dying
fire perhaps symbolising the final passing moments of the year.
The fire was only relit after the harvest and the start of the old
Celtic new year. The community, alongside Druid priests, would gather to create
a sacred bonfire to honour the dead, using a wooden wheel to spark the fire. It
was from this fire that a flame was taken back to each home to relight the
hearth. The wheel is an important symbol in Pagan religion as it represents the
sun and its associated qualities of daylight, warmth and hope. The Pagan year
is also divided in a ‘wheel of the year’, marking out the annual cycle of solar
festivals such as Samhain, Ostara (the Spring Equinox) and Litha (Summer
Solstice).
Festivals and feasts
Along with the ritual element, Samhain would also have been a time to
celebrate. People from the community would have brought harvest food for a
great feast, and some would even wear costumes made from animal skins or heads.
The offering of cattle bones onto the bonfire would also have played a key part
in proceedings, and in fact the name ‘bonfire’ derives from this ‘bone fire’.
Amidst all the festivities there was a darker side, however, and there
could be a price to pay if you didn’t make an offering or take part in
proceedings. The deities associated with the festival would be very cross
indeed, and their punishment? It could be illness or even death. You really had
to keep the gods onside or suffer as a result.
Samhain today
Samhain is still observed by some Pagans today, though these days the
celebrations are a little more private. Feasting still plays an important part
in observing the festival, along with private prayer and small ceremonies in
the home. Apple-bobbing might form part of festivities, and small bonfires may
be lit. Time is also spent outdoors appreciating nature, and altars to the
ancestors are set up.
Remembrance of the dead remains the focus throughout. At its core, Samhain is a chance to reconnect with passed loved ones and celebrate their lives. Although the modern, more commercialised version of ‘Halloween’ now dominates the date today, it’s important for us to reflect on its spiritual origins, to pause, and offer a moment’s reverence.
Celtic Samhain
Celtic Samhain simply means the ‘end of summer for the Celts in
Ireland’. It was not and could not be celebrated on a catholick calendar
because Samhain existed thousands of years before the Roman Emperor Constantine
the Great created the catholick (universal) church to instill spiritual fear
into his subjects in 325ad.
Samhain fue
la festividad más importante del mundo Celta en Europa, en un principio, se
celebraba entre el 5 y el 7 de noviembre que correspondía a la mitad entre el
equinoccio de otoño y el solsticio de invierno. Más tarde, fue el papa Gregorio
III (741) quien pasó la fiesta al 1 de noviembre, absorbiendo de esta manera la
festividad pagana (ya que hasta entonces el mundo cristiano celebraba el día de
Todos los santos el 13 de mayo)
https://www.stneotsmuseum.org.uk/articles/samhain-the-precursor-to-halloween/
https://www.cerdeirahomeforcreativity.com/samhain
ΦΦΦ
15/10/2022
New Report - Wildlife Populations Have Dropped 69% Since 1970
“Today we face the double, interlinked emergencies of human-induced
climate change and the loss of biodiversity, threatening the well-being of
current and future generations.”
So begins the executive summary of the Living
Planet Report 2022. Released every two years by the World Wildlife
Fund (WWF), the study examines global biodiversity and the health of the
planet. The latest report reveals an average 69% drop in world vertebrate
species in less than 50 years.
Links:
https://livingplanet.panda.org/pt-PT/
https://livingplanet.panda.org/en-US/
The report considers nearly 32,000 populations of 5,230 species from the
Living Planet Index (LPI). Provided by the Zoological Society of London, the
index tracks trends in species abundance around the world. This year’s report
includes data on more than 838 new species and 11,000 new populations since the
last report was released in 2020.
In addition to putting numbers to species declines, the report shows the
threats behind those drops, how these statistics relate to planetary health,
and offers possible solutions.
The report details the connection between climate change and
biodiversity loss and focuses on some species that have plummeted, as well as
some that have rebounded.
For example:
There was an estimated 80% plunge in the population of eastern lowland
gorillas in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo
between 1994 and 2019. The main threat to the species, also known as Grauer’s
gorilla, is hunting.
Hunting was one of the main causes of the 64% decline in Australian sea
lion pups in South and Western Australia between 1977 and 2019. The pups are
also often caught in fishing gear and die from diseases.
But there have been some promising discoveries with species that have
been recovering.
The population of loggerhead turtle nests grew by 500% on the coast of
Chrysochou Bay in Cyprus from 1999 to 2015. Credit conservation efforts that
include relocating nests and using cages to protect others from predators.
Conservation measures have also helped mountain gorillas. In the Virunga
Mountains along the northern border of Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of
Congo, and Uganda, populations of mountain gorillas increased to 604 animals,
up from 480 gorillas in 2010.
Rebecca Shaw, WWF's chief scientist, spoke to Treehugger about the
highlights and lowlight of the report.
(…)
Why is this report important?
This report is an indicator of overall ecosystem health from the lens of
biodiversity, the web of life that supplies the clean air, water, and soil we
all rely on. These findings are a red flag that warns of a larger systems
failure on the horizon. Even one species population decline can affect other
species, eventually impacting an ecosystem’s ability to function. While some
fluctuation in population sizes is natural, the current trends are severe
enough to threaten many life-sustaining systems. Humans depend on a stable
climate, predictable precipitation patterns, and productive farmland and
fisheries to thrive. Our planet needs us to take action now so that it can
continue to support future generations.
Links:
https://www.treehugger.com/wildlife-populations-dropped-69-finds-wwf-report-6747779
https://livingplanet.panda.org/en-US/
https://livingplanet.panda.org/pt-PT/
ΦΦΦ
05/10/2022
The Green Energy Scandal Exposed
The BBC's Joe Crowley and Tim Robinson investigate the British company
that makes and burns wood pellets for electricity
Link:
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/science-environment-63123774
ΦΦΦ
.WEBP)
01/10/2022
Portugal: Accelerate rights-based climate and environmental action, says UN expert
27 September 2022
LISBON/GENEVA (27 September 2022) -- Portugal’s global leadership in
recognising the human right to a healthy and ecologically balanced environment
needs to be matched by urgent, accelerated actions to address the climate
emergency, a UN expert said today.
“This year Portugal has endured more than 1,000 deaths related to
heatwaves, lost 110,000 hectares of forest to wildfires, and suffered a severe
drought affecting the entire nation, with enormous impacts on human rights,
including the right to a healthy environment,” David Boyd, the Special
Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, said after a nine-day visit to
the country.
In his end-of-mission statement, Boyd issued recommendations on a series
of issues, including Portugal’s legal framework for human rights and the
environment, the climate crisis, air pollution, the rights of children, solid
waste management and the transition to a green economy.
“Portugal has a very strong legal framework for protecting human rights
and the environment, from the pioneering provisions in the 1976 Constitution
(Article 66) to the new Basic Law on Climate”, the UN expert said. Further, key
actions have been taken, such as closing the last coal-fired power plants,
achieving 99 per cent access to safe drinking water and creating an
Environmental Fund with a 2022 budget of more than €1.1 billion.
“However, Portugal needs to raise its
level of ambition and most importantly increase the pace of implementation in
addressing key human rights concerns such as air pollution and waste
management, applying a rights-based approach to all climate and environmental
action,” Boyd said.
Portugal has huge solar potential but only ranks 13th in the EU in
generating electricity from sunlight. Wind energy production has only grown two
per cent annually in Portugal since 2012, compared to more than 20 per cent
annually for the world. Recycling rates have failed to reach EU targets, air
pollution in urban areas -- mainly from traffic -- exceeds healthy levels, and
many low-income Portuguese still live in buildings that are not energy
efficient.
To prevent wildfires and protect the population, more sustainable
landscape management is urgently needed such as replacing the coverage of
non-native species like eucalyptus with native species that are more fire
resistant -- oak, cork and chestnut -- and replacing large monocultures with
diverse mosaics of farms, pastures and forests.
Actions to advance the transition to a green economy, from large
renewable energy projects to proposed lithium mines, must not proceed unless
they meet the highest environmental standards, maximize public benefits, and
respect human rights.
The Special Rapporteur noted that Portuguese youth are among the most
concerned and outspoken in the world about the climate crisis. “To fulfil their
rights, the government must give them a seat at the table, listen to their
concerns and act upon their recommendations.”
During his visit, Boyd met with Government officials from national and
local governments, representatives of civil society, business, academia, youth,
UN agencies and other experts. He had field visits to Porto, Covilhã,
Serra da Estrela, Boticas, Covas do Barroso and Reserva Natural das Dunas de
São Jacinto.
The Special Rapporteur will present a full report to the UN Human Rights
Council in March 2023.
ENDS
Source/Link:
ΦΦΦ
23/09/2022
The autumn equinox 2022
The autumn equinox 2022 in the northern hemisphere is on Friday 23
September. The autumn equinox marks the first day of astronomical autumn, and
the precise time of the autumn equinox in 2022 will be at 3:04am BST.
For the two hemispheres, the equinoxes are opposite each other. When
it’s the autumn equinox in the northern hemisphere, it’s the spring equinox in
the southern hemisphere. For the purposes of this article, when we refer to the
autumn equinox, it is from the perspective of the northern hemisphere, and we
are referring to the September equinox, unless stated otherwise.
What exactly happens during the autumn equinox? Put simply, the autumn
equinox is when the Sun crosses the celestial equator (this being an imaginary
line in the sky above Earth’s equator), going from the northern hemisphere to
the southern hemisphere. It's caused by the cyclical tilt of Earth's axis, and
at the equinoxes, this tilt aligns with the orbit around the Sun.
At the equinoxes, the Sun is exactly above the equator, and both
hemispheres receive (nearly) equal amounts of sunlight. In other words, day and
night are (almost) equal in both hemispheres. After the autumn equinox, we
start to receive more darkness and less daylight.
The word ‘equinox’ derives from the Latin words aequi, meaning ‘equal’,
and nox, meaning ‘night’. Taken together, 'equinox' translates as ‘equal
night’.
The September equinox denotes the start of astronomical autumn in the northern hemisphere, and the start of spring in the southern hemisphere. From our perspective, the Sun moves to be south of the equator, in the western portion of the constellation Virgo.
Link:
https://www.sciencefocus.com/planet-earth/autumn-equinox/
Solstício de Inverno
Fontes/Links: https://g1.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2024/12/21/milhares-de-pessoas-celebram-o-solsticio-de-inverno-em-stonehenge.ghtml ΦΦΦ
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The Castelo Branco Court has handed down the maximum sentence of 25 years in prison to an electrical engineer accused of 16 crimes of fore... -
Since 1990, 420 million hectares of forest have been lost as a result of human activity including land clearing for agricultural farmi... -
500+ experts call on world’s nations to not burn forests to make energy - Last week, more than 500 top scientists and economists issue...