Pope Francis has been offered a $1 million donation to a charity of his choice – if he follows a vegan diet during Lent.

The Million Dollar Vegan campaign – which is backed by a host of celebrities, environmentalists and scientists – wants to ‘highlight the devastating impact of animal agriculture’ including deforestation and biodiversity loss as well the suffering it causes to billions of farmed animals.

Campaign supporters include musician Moby, actor Mena Suvari, and scientist Joseph Poore of Oxford University. It has the backing of environmentalists George Monbiot and Chris Packham. Paul McCartney, a long-time vegetarian and co-founder of the Meat Free Monday campaign, also supports Million Dollar Vegan.

Go vegan

A letter written to the pope by 12-year-old animal rights and environmental campaigner Genesis Butler with the help of the Million Dollar Vegan team – will be printed today in national newspapers in 15 countries across five continents.

In the letter, Butler urges Francis to try a vegan diet for Lent, highlighting the connection between climate change and pollution, and the inefficiency of animal farming and how it contributes to world hunger, the extinction of wildlife and the suffering of farmed animals. These are all issues that Pope Francis has spoken out on in his 2015 encyclical letter Laudato Si.’

“Farming and slaughtering animals causes a lot of suffering and is also a leading cause of climate change, deforestation, and species loss,” Butler wrote in the letter.

“When we feed animals crops that humans can eat, it is wasteful. And with a growing world population, we cannot afford to be wasteful.”

As part of the Million Dollar Vegan campaign – which was created by Veganuary Founders Matthew Glover and Jane Land – a petition has also been created to ask the pope to try vegan for Lent. If he agrees, the Blue Horizon International Foundation will donate $1 million to the charity or charities of the pope’s choice.

Bold vegan campaign

“We are launching this deliberately bold, audacious campaign to jolt our world leaders from their complacency,” said Matthew Glover, the CEO of Million Dollar Vegan and Co-founder of Veganuary.

“For too long they have failed to act on evidence of the damage caused to people and the planet by animal agriculture. Worse, many have defended and subsidized that very industry. But the evidence now is stark and compelling, and we cannot afford for them to remain silent any longer.

“We are thankful that Pope Francis has spoken out on these issues and that is why we are humbly asking him to try vegan for Lent and set an example of how each of us can align our principles of caring and compassion with our actions.”

Million Dollar Vegan is encouraging people of all backgrounds to try vegan for Lent and has produced a free Vegan Starter Kit – written in multiple languages and with country-specific content – that is available to download.

You can find out more about the Million Dollar Vegan campaign here

https://www.change.org/p/pope-francis-ask-pope-francis-to-try-vegan-for-lent

My best regards, Venus

WAV Comment – we know that this has happened, but some very good issues – and quite rightly; Trumpet did not talk about them !

Mark,

In tonight’s State of the Union, we can expect President Trump to make a number of false or misleading claims. Unfortunately, we don’t expect President Trump to talk about the crucial issues that reveal the REAL state of our union: rising global warming emissions, weakened public health protections, suppressed scientific studies, undermined fuel economy standards, undue industry influence in the government, and more.

Join us during the State of the Union to set the record straight on important issues President Trump will likely misrepresent or omit during his address. During the president’s speech, we’ll be tweeting using the #RealSOTU hashtag. Join in the conversation using some of our tweets below or with your own thoughts. Help us highlight the growing crisis of climate change and the importance of science-based protections in keeping us safe and healthy.

Considering last year’s speech and other factors, here are things the president will likely refer to…and the reality he’ll likely skip:

The Economy: It’s practically guaranteed that President Trump will talk about the economy, but here’s what you probably won’t hear:

• Want to talk about improving the economy and job creation? How about investing in a #cleanenergy economy. In 2016, 1 in 50 new American jobs was in #solar. #RealSOTU #SOTU
• • No one wants to pay more money at the gas pump. Fortunately, strong #CleanerCars standards are saving consumers money, and could add more than 100k jobs in 2025. #RealSOTU #SOTU
• • If we’re really worried about the economy then we MUST #ActOnClimate. We’re already experiencing billions of dollars of economic losses from climate-related events and the science shows it will only get worse if we don’t act now. #RealSOTU #SOTU
• • Farm incomes declined again in 2018, and the National Farmers Union—representing 200,000 family farmers across the US—is warning of a full-blown farm crisis. Policies that cater to big agribusiness aren’t helping. #RealSOTU #SOTU

Security: Given the recent shutdown showdown over the border wall, President Trump will likely spend a lot of time focused on the idea of border security, while ignoring some of the real threats to our country:

• Let’s talk about REAL threats to our security: Last month the director of National Intelligence testified before Congress and stressed the grave threat climate change poses to national security. #RealSOTU #SOTU
• • Spending >$1 trillion to rebuild the nuclear arsenal while walking away from successful arms control agreements will make us much less safe and greatly increase the chance of nuclear war #RealSOTU #SOTU

Regulatory Rollback: The president will likely present cuts in regulations as a step forward, but the reality is:

• A lot of regulations are actual public health and environmental protections designed to keep our communities safe. The Trump administration’s pattern of undermining science is damaging our health and safety. #RealSOTU #SOTU
• • The #RealSOTU is that communities of color, low-income communities, and tribal communities are disproportionately affected by problems from climate change & environmental contamination to lack of access to healthy food. We must do better. #SOTU

Yours Sincerely,

Kate Cell
Climate Campaign Manager
Union of Concerned Scientists

Air Quality Map

Melting ice on Khumbu glacier in the Everest-Khumbu region. Himalayan glaciers are a water source for 250 millions people. Photograph: Alex Treadway/ICIMOD

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/04/a-third-of-himalayan-ice-cap-doomed-finds-shocking-report

A third of Himalayan ice cap doomed, finds report

Even radical climate change action won’t save glaciers, endangering 2 billion people

At least a third of the huge ice fields in Asia’s towering mountain chain are doomed to melt due to climate change, according to a landmark report, with serious consequences for almost 2 billion people.

Even if carbon emissions are dramatically and rapidly cut and succeed in limiting global warming to 1.5C, 36% of the glaciers along in the Hindu Kush and Himalaya range will have gone by 2100. If emissions are not cut, the loss soars to two-thirds, the report found.

The glaciers are a critical water store for the 250 million people who live in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya (HKH) region, and 1.65 billion people rely on the great rivers that flow from the peaks into India, Pakistan, China and other nations.

Click on the above link to read the full disturbing article.

Doritos’ parent company Pepsi is still in business with palm oil companies that exploit workers and destroy the rainforests where orangutans live.

HELP SAVE OUR SWANS! PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND SPREAD THE WORD!

Govs. Cuomo and Murphy: Rescind the Port Authority Kill Contract with Wildlife Services

On June 18, 2018, before the horrified eyes of human families, USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services massacred a family of Mute Swans (shown above) swimming peacefully on Oneida Lake (https://www.newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/2018/06/killing_most_fowl_shooting_drowning_of_beloved_oneida_lake_mute_swan_family.html). The agents shot the parent swans to death in front of their babies and then—according to a document obtained under the Freedom of Information Act—removed the cygnets from the public eye and broke their necks (the technical term for which is “cervical dislocation”).   The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation was by law forbidden from killing the swans because the Avella/Cymbrowitz moratorium on killing Mute Swans in New York State, which Governor Cuomo signed into law November of 2016, was still in place, so they hired a federal agency to carry out the crime.  There’d been a complaint of aggression by one person.  There was no investigation—even though the agents would have had to know that the only time Mute Swans are aggressive toward humans is when they fear for their babies.

Are federal agencies allowed to ride roughshod over state laws?

Does that not make a mockery of law itself?

What emboldened Wildlife Services? 

The same year that Governor Cuomo signed the Mute Swan Bill into law prohibiting the killing of the swans (2016), he and the New Jersey governor of that time, Chris Christie, oversaw the signing of the Port Authority’s kill contract with Wildlife Services (2016-2021) which agrees to the killing of Canada Geese primarily, though also Mute Swans and other wild creatures, within a specified radius of New York and New Jersey airports, on grounds of air safety concerns (https://corpinfo.panynj.gov/documents/18235-C/). At Oneida Lake, Wildlife Services agents, who should have been charged with murder, animal cruelty, psychological torture, and conspiracy, killed with impunity. 

Wildlife Services kills millions of animals annually throughout the country, often using sadistic methods.  They use poisoned gas, for example, on the Canada Geese of New Jersey (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8TodTMIW2w), a monstrously cruel practice that only one New Jersey town was able to stop temporarily, though activists in New York stopped it completely in New York State. Animal rights and environmental groups sue Wildlife Services regularly, yet the killing does not cease.  Wildlife Services claims that Mute Swans are a threat to air safety.  Yet according to the Federal Aviation Administration’s data that is patently false (https://wildlife.faa.gov/downloads/wildlife-strike-report-1990-2013-usda-faa.pdf … Table17, pages 39-40).  Within 24 years Mute Swans collided only 8 times with planes and caused zero property damage—as compared with Tundra Swans—mercifully not persecuted—who collided 12 times with planes during that same time period and caused over $470,000 in property damage.  Trumpeter Swans, also mercifully not persecuted, collided twice with planes though caused over $1,000,000 in damage.  (See also https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zPGMdw9b0zOVQ-T8uulLMlk7xFbkQv2K/view.)

Nor do the written justifications of Wildlife Services for killing Canada Geese justify anything (https://drive.google.com/file/d/16mNYepvEFdo8GxHU1e1TziFhURWOQ4Kr/view?usp=sharing). Yet Wildlife Services states in at least one Environmental Impact Statement their intention to expand their annual goose culls to include more and more wild creatures.

We, the undersigned, therefore urge Governors Cuomo and Murphy to rescind the New York/New Jersey Port Authority kill contract with Wildlife Services.

Petition Link –

https://www.change.org/p/governors-cuomo-and-murphy-the-ny-nj-port-authority-kill-contract-with-wildlife-services-needs-to-be-canceled

Please sign and leave a comment!

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/plastics-found-in-the-guts-of-uks-seals-dolphins-and-whales-11623649

Above – Common dolphin washed up on a beach – Pic: Frazer Hodgkins & CSIP

Marine megafauna feed by filtering thousands of cubic metres of seawater a day for plankton, meaning they are also taking in the tiny particles of indigestible plastic.

The microscopic plastic particles are even being consumed by humans, and it is believed that plastic in the gut could suppress the immune system and aid the transmission of toxins and harmful bugs or viruses.

The microscopic plastic particles are even being consumed by humans, and it is believed that plastic in the gut could suppress the immune system and aid the transmission of toxins and harmful bugs or viruses.

Plastics found in the guts of UK’s seals, dolphins and whales

The vast majority of the particles – 84% – originated from clothes, fishing nets, and toothbrushes, with the rest from packaging.

Scientists have discovered that microplastics are accumulating in the guts of every marine mammal that has washed up on the shores on the UK.

In a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers from the University of Exeter and Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) examined 50 carcasses.

The carcasses, which came from 10 species of seals, dolphins and whales, all contained microplastics – plastic particles smaller than 5mm – in their digestive systems.

The vast majority of the particles (84%) which the researchers discovered were synthetic fibres, originating from clothes, fishing nets and toothbrushes – while the rest were fragments from food packaging and plastic bottles.

Microplastics are known to pose a massive threat to the largest marine species.

Marine megafauna feed by filtering thousands of cubic metres of seawater a day for plankton, meaning they are also taking in the tiny particles of indigestible plastic.

The microscopic plastic particles are even being consumed by humans, and it is believed that plastic in the gut could suppress the immune system and aid the transmission of toxins and harmful bugs or viruses.