'Unseen' News and Views
SÃO PAULO (SciDev.Net)* — Tropical forests can develop resistance to a warmer climate, but 71 per cent will come under threat in the next decade if global average temperatures reach two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a new study warns.
Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve, Sabah, Borneo. Copyright: Dr. Lindsay F. Banin
1 June 2020 (UN Environment)* — For World Environment Day 2020 [5 June 2020],everyone is invited to share why it’s time for nature. Nature is on the verge of a breakdown. One million animal and plant species are likely to disappear – soon. Be a part of the solution and join us in the global call #ForNature.
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More information: https://www.worldenvironmentday.global/
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$72.9 billion. That’s how much nine countries spent on nuclear weapons in 2019. In a just-released report, ICAN produced the first estimate in nearly a decade of global nuclear weapon spending, taking into account costs to maintain and build new nuclear weapons.
That amounts to $138,699 spent in the world on nuclear weapons per minute. Global nuclear spending rose $7.1 billion from 2018, in line with total military spending which rose dramatically from 2018 to 2019.
Nuclear weapons production leaves a nasty legacy both for people and the environment. Around the world, nuclear weapons facilities have contaminated land and water with radioactive waste lasting at least 100,000 years. Efforts to clean up the sites have cost billions of dollars over decades – and are still largely unfinished.
The five case studies below provide just a preliminary look into the devastating global environmental consequences of building the bomb.
Mental math to better understand working memory and image schemata
29 May 2020 (Wall Street International)* — This article describes five world records of mental calculation and memorization to better understand working memory and image schemata from a cognitive perspective set by Paolo Fabiani. The purpose of the records is to demonstrate that the potential and limits of working memory are closely connected with the image schemes1.
Ensuring the health of humanity and the planet requires a consolidated effort that acknowledges and incorporates the vision of those who have protected nature for so long. | Español
27 May 2020 (openDemocracy)* — The onslaught of diseases like smallpox, and influenza brought by the European powers of the 15th century, combined with slavery and genocide, decimated indigenous populations throughout the Americas. Today, there are an estimated 826 indigenous groups in the region, with a total population of 45 million people.
Sadly, the continued disregard for indigenous peoples in many governments’ responses to the novel coronavirus could place those left at the brink of extinction.
For the last three months I’ve watched time passing through my window. In country after country, city after city, we have felt the fear and pain of loss, we’ve honoured the work of health professionals and frontline workers, we’ve joined in solidarity with our neighbours.
Being forced apart has brought us closer together.
State, City Should Compensate Survivors, Descendants; Adopt Broad Plan
Reverend Robert Turner of the historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church, damaged in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, leads a reconciliatory pilgrimage of sorts from Mount Vernon AME to Tulsa City Hall every Wednesday, demanding “reparations now.” © 2019 Ian Maule/Tulsa W
Washington, DC – State and local authorities in Tulsa, Oklahoma should provide reparations for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, when a white mob killed several hundred black people and destroyed a prosperous black neighborhood, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today [29 May 2020].
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 