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How More Organic Farming Could Worsen Global Warming

Left: For decades, the conventional wisdom surrounding organic farming has been that it produces crops that are healthier and better for the environment as a whole. A new study out this week challenges this narrative. Photo by REUTERS/Enrique Castro-Mendivil

CLICK HERE - STUDY - The greenhouse gas impacts of converting food production in England and Wales to organic methods

pbs.org - by Courtney Vinopal - October 23, 2019

. . . a new study out this week predicts that a wholesale shift to organic farming could increase net greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 21 percent . . .

 . . . Organic farming typically produces lower crop yields due to factors such as the lower potency fertilizers used in the soil, which are limited to natural sources such as beans and other legume . . .

 . . . Proponents of organic farming acknowledge the issue of low crop yields raised by the Cranfield Study, but maintain that farmers can still find ways to reduce their carbon footprint by focusing on “regenerative practices.”

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Global Worry Over Amazon Fires Escalates; Bolsonaro Defiant

           

This satellite image provided by NASA shows the fires in Brazil on Aug. 20, 2019. As fires raged in the Amazon rainforest, the Brazilian government on Thursday denounced international critics who say President Jair Bolsonaro is not doing enough to curb widespread deforestation. (NASA via AP)

apnews.com - by MARCELO SILVA de SOUSA - August 23, 2019

Amid global concern about raging fires in the Amazon, Brazil’s government complained Thursday that it is being targeted in smear campaign by critics who contend President Jair Bolsonaro is not doing enough to curb widespread deforestation.

The threat to what some call “the lungs of the planet” has ignited a bitter dispute about who is to blame during the tenure of a leader who has described Brazil’s rainforest protections as an obstacle to economic development and who traded Twitter jabs on Thursday with France’s president over the fires.

French President Emmanuel Macron called the wildfires an international crisis and said the leaders of the Group of 7 nations should hold urgent discussions about them at their summit in France this weekend.

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Map - Global Forest Watch Fires

Map Link
https://fires.globalforestwatch.org/map/#activeLayers=viirsFires%2CactiveFires&activeBasemap=
topo&activeImagery=&planetCategory=PLANET-MONTHLY&planetPeriod=null&x=0.000000&y=40.000000&z=2

fires.globalforestwatch.org

Global Forest Watch Fires (GFW Fires) is an online platform for monitoring and responding to forest and land fires using near real-time information. GFW Fires can empower people to better combat harmful fires before they burn out of control and hold accountable those who may have burned forests illegally.

GFW Fires combines real-time satellite data from NASA’s Active Fires system, high resolution satellite imagery, detailed maps of land cover and concessions for key commodities such as palm oil and wood pulp, weather conditions and air quality data to track fire activity and related impacts in the South East Asia region. GFW Fires also offers on-the-fly analysis to show where fires occur, and help understand who might be responsible.

By working with national and local governments, NGOs, corporations, and individuals, GFW Fires is working to quicken fire response time, ramp up enforcement against illegal fires, help ensure those who are illegally burning are held accountable, and coordinate relationships between government agencies.

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