*Heat Waves & Environmental Armageddon | Facebooks Gonna Fake Fake Fake

“But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.” – Rachel Carson

“Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.” – Carl Sagan

Heat Waves & Weather Armageddon: Mention Siberia and what comes to mind might be that huge expanse of howling arctic wasteland dotted with penal colonies, where Russian undesirables were sent to languish and die. Temperatures in its northern tundra regions along the Arctic Ocean could hit -68 degrees Celsius in winter. Weather observations are scarce there; however, on July 5, 2018, model analyses showed temperatures soaring to over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, 40 degrees above normal. The extraordinary high-latitude hot spell was described by one meteorologist as “absolutely incredible and really one of the most intense heat events I’ve ever seen for so far north.”

These unprecedented events are duplicating themselves across the world as all-time heat records are being set. A massive and intense heat dome, coupled with high humidity, has covered the eastern two-thirds of the United States and southeast Canada since late last week. In southern Quebec, heat caused the deaths of at least 33 people. Stifling heat in the British Isles caused roads and roofs to buckle. the hottest temperature ever observed on earth in the month of April was posted in Pakistan: 122.4 degrees (50.2 Celsius). These records add to a growing list of heat milestones set over the past 15 months that show our planet is trending hotter as human activity increases greenhouse gas concentrations.

Creating Our Own Extinction: For over 50 years, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has compiled a Red List of Threatened Species. It’s the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species. The IUCN’s latest assessment shows that 26,000 species are under threat of extinction, a finding that could foreshadow the planet’s entrance into the sixth wave of extinctions. It is an “onslaught on biodiversity” and it’s not limited to faraway creatures with exotic names. Scientists have warned loss of biodiversity is even more of a threat to the planet than climate change because it erodes the earth’s capacity to provide clean air, fresh water, food and a stable weather system.

Thousands of experts around the world collaborate to compile the Red List. New research, particularly in Australia, revealed the growing range of risks to flora and fauna; 7% of Australian reptiles are threatened with extinction. The National Academy of Sciences of the USA published new research in June showing that the world’s 7.6 billion people, which represent just 0.01% of all living things, have caused the loss of 83% of all wild mammals and half of plants, while pets and livestock abound. The head of the IUCN red list unit says: “This reinforces the theory that we are moving into a period when extinctions are taking place at a much higher pace than the natural background rate. We are endangering the life support systems of our planet and putting the future of our own species in jeopardy.” The executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity says the world needs a global biodiversity pact equivalent in scale and stature to the Paris climate agreement. The next global biodiversity talks will be held in Egypt in November and then in Beijing in 2020.

– Scientists are saying human activity has caused a 1,500 year low in oxygen levels in the Baltic Sea. Most likely to blame are nutrient runoff from agriculture and urban sewage. Earlier this year a study revealed that since 1950, ocean dead zones found the world over in coastal regions of high population from Europe to North America and China, have quadrupled in size. (The Guardian)

– Trees, particularly those in lush tropics, pull carbon dioxide out of the air and trap it; without trees, the carbon is released back into the atmosphere, which causes the planet to warm. 2017 marked a near-record for tropical deforestation, with a loss of roughly 39 million acres of trees. Brazil’s rainforests were ravaged by drought and fires from farmers clearing land for agriculture. A peace deal between Columbia’s government and the rebel group FARC led to a big spike in mining, logging and farming, and the loss of a million acres of forest. Hurricanes in the Caribbean wiped out large swaths of trees in Dominica and Puerto Rico. Some estimates claim deforestation is accounting for more than 10% of humanity’s carbon dioxide emissions each year. (NYT)

– Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is flying to North Korea with hopes of creating a denuclearization agreement. Despite Trump’s confidence, many US intelligence officials have stated that Pyongyang has no intentions of disarming its nuclear weapons and is actively deceiving the United States. (NBC)

– After an employee of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity was arrested for selling a fourteen-day old baby, two others were detained and questioned about other possible cases. (BBC)

– A nerve agent was found in the bodies of two poisoned Britons – the same nerve agent used against a Russian spy and their daughter. An address to Parliament by Britain’s interior minister following the incident raised concerns about the threat Russia poses and their efforts to undermine international security. (NBC)

– Al-Shabab, the terrorist group in East Africa aligned with Al Qaeda, has added a new item to its prohibition list: plastic bags. The group operates out of Somalia and has banned music, cinemas, satellite dishes and humanitarian organizations for residents of areas under its control. The internet has been rife with mocking memes portraying al-Shabab as the first eco-friendly terrorist organization. (NYT)

Facebook’s Fake News Problem Spreads on WhatsApp: WhatsApp (a service owned and operated by Facebook) is offering up to fifty-thousand dollars in grants to social scientists to combat fake news in India. Rumors spread on the application have caused the death of over a dozen people over the past few weeks; innocent bystanders were beaten to death by mobs who believed they were kidnappers or organ harvesters. One of the largest social media platforms in India, WhatsApp caters to over two hundred million users and relays billions of messages daily, so the misuse of it has proven to be a very powerful cyber terrorist-esque tool. (Washington Post)

When asked about the misuse of the platform, WhatsApp representatives stated that they were appalled at the misuse of the application. However, due to the encryption system used for the messages, it has been difficult to filter and censor “fake news” and violent speech.

– When Scott Pruitt took over as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, he set about to deregulate as many rules and dismantle as much of the agency as possible. His accomplishments in those areas made him the darling of conservatives and President Trump. But after months of accusations against him for both ethical and legal violations, plus numerous investigations into his stewardship of the agency, Pruitt finally stepped down Thursday. Trump tweeted the resignation, along with the announcement that acting deputy Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, would take over as EPA’s acting administrator on Monday. Wheeler is said to share Pruitt’s zeal to undo climate change regulations. (NYT)

– Amazon is entering the advertisement industry, and Facebook and Google are giving it the high school side eye. Known as the Baba Yaga (or boogeyman), Amazon’s entrance into an industry is always followed by the declining shares of competing firms. Though only fifth at the moment in the advertising industry, the company is growing at a rapid pace and looks to dominate yet another market. (NBC)

– Large flat-screen TVs may be the new Facebook Cambridge Analytica as smart TVs have been shown to be a lot smarter than expected. Data companies are able to track anything that pops up on those bright screens, and often personalize advertisements or recommend shows depending on the viewer’s history. (NYT)

– The pride of America…made in China. American flags have notoriously been mass produced and imported from China, which to many shows signs of a country on the decline. (Atlantic)

LAST MORSELS

“Dinosaurs are extinct today because they lacked opposable thumbs and the brainpower to build a space program.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson

“The planet has survived everything, in its time. It will certainly survive us.” – Michael Crichton,

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