8 June 2020 (United Nations)* — When we think of public health risks, we may not think of the ocean. Increasingly, however, the health of the ocean is intimately tied to our health. Some may be surprised to read that organisms discovered at extreme depths are used to speed up the detection of COVID-19, and probably even more to learn that, it is the environment that could give a solution to humankind.
Clownfish in anemone. Oceans feed us, regulate our climate, and generate most of the oxygen we breathe. But despite their importance, oceans are facing unprecedented threats as a result of human activity. Grant Thomas / Coral Reef Image Bank.
This is one of the multiple reasons why we should celebrate World Oceans Day: to remind everyone of the major role the oceans have in everyday life. They are the lungs of our planet, providing most of the oxygen we breathe.
“I love L.A. I love Hollywood. They’re beautiful. Everybody’s plastic – but I love plastic. I want to be plastic.” Andy Warhol
Credit: u/USMCinUSA
STOCKHOLM / ROME, Jun 5 2020 (IPS)* – Another episode of the spectacular show that could be called The Greatest Story Ever Told: The Saga of the Trump Presidency, scripted and acted by Trump himself, took place on 1st of June.
Will this blow in the face of the billionaire class and their political enablers? Time will tell. It always does.
Our future is under multiple threats, dark clouds are gathering, and many storms are on their way. | Photo: Gilbert Mercier
6 June 2020 (teleSUR)* — Since I started News Junkie Post, eleven years ago, I have, as a rule, avoided the first person narrative. In my mind, there is a simple reason for an aversion for the “me, myself, and I” type of storytelling so widespread in our culture. The first person is fine for a journal, an autobiography of course, or if you have the immense literary talent of Marcel Proust.
7 June 2020 (UN News)* — Coral reefs are being killed by the climate crisis, which is leading to rising sea temperatures. “Cryopreservation”, a pioneering scientific technique”, could be one way to save them.
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UN News/Daniel Dickinson | Coral reefs surround Coconut Island where a research centre of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology is based.
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A tiny piece of coral is stuck to a thin sheet of plastic, and submerged in a tank at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology on Coconut Island in Kaneohe Bay, on the island archipelago.
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This is part of a unique process which includes the cryopreservation [the use of very low temperatures to preserve living cells and tissues] of sperm, larvae and tissue, to create what has been called the “Book of Life” for coral.
6 June 2020 (Wall Street International)* — After the Coronavirus began in Wuhan, the Chinese government provided one model for containment and elimination: complete lockdown. This model was not felt to be satisfactory to most Western democracies and soon the expression “herd immunity” began to be mentioned quite frequently.
The UK toyed with the idea. Sweden seems to be suffering from it. Basically, the concept meant that, in lieu of a vaccine, folks should just go about their normal, everyday experiences and whoever caught the virus would either die or become immune.
The EU recovery programme is at odds with its planned European Green Deal.
Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto/PA Images.
4 June 2020 (openDemocracy)* — The European Central Bank and the European Investment Bank support big corporations through non-transparent processes, without taking into account social, environmental or climate criteria and without having binding criteria to stop corporate tax evasion and dividend distributions.
7 June 2020 (United Nations)* — Food safety is the absence — or safe, acceptable levels — of hazards in food that may harm the health of consumers. Food-borne hazards can be microbiological, chemical or physical in nature and are often invisible to the plain eye: bacteria, viruses, or pesticide residues are some examples.
Food safety has a critical role in assuring that food stays safe at every stage of the food chain – from production to harvest, processing, storage, distribution, all the way to preparation and consumption.
With an estimated 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses annually, unsafe food is a threat to human health and economies, disproportionally affecting vulnerable and marginalized people, especially women and children, populations affected by conflict, and migrants.
7 June 2020 (UN News)* — Eating contaminated food has caused an estimated 600 million people in the world, or almost one-in-ten individuals, to fall ill – 420,000 of whom die every year, two UN specialized agencies highlighted on Sunday [7 June 2020], World Food Safety Day.
Joining forces, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) flagged that “food safety is a shared responsibility” with a role for everyone to play, from governments, industry and producers to business operators and consumers.
Juba, 6 June 2020 (IOM)* – The Humanitarian Hub in Malakal, in the Upper Nile State of South Sudan is reducing its carbon footprint following the successful installation and now fully operational hybrid solar power plant.
Managed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the plant will generate 900MWH of power and meet 80 percent of electricity demands in the Malakal facility, a ‘humanitarian hub’ that is base for 300 humanitarian workers from 34 humanitarian organizations in the area.
. 5 June 2020 (FAO)* — Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU). These three adjectives ultimately jeopardize the whole of the fisheries sector. IUU fishing can destroy the livelihoods of fishing communities, harm food security and nutrition, damage fair local and international trade and often give way to unsafe and indecent working conditions, sometimes even crime.
Our future is under multiple threats, dark clouds are gathering, and many storms are on their way. | Photo: Gilbert Mercier
UN News/Daniel Dickinson | Coral reefs surround Coconut Island where a research centre of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology is based.
Final stages of the solar power plant installation at the Humanitarian Hub in Malakal, South Sudan © IOM 2020 / Omar Patan
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 