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Animal Legal Defense Fund Sues Landry’s Inc. for Endangered Species Act Violations

New Petition: Don’t Send Ringling Bros.’ Tigers to Yet Another Cruel Circus

The notorious Ringling Bros. Circus plans to sell its tigers to an overseas show instead of sending them to a sanctuary. Demand that these abused animals, who have endured years of cruelty, finally be allowed a peaceful retirement.

Source: Don’t Send Ringling Bros.’ Tigers to Yet Another Cruel Circus

“New” Petition: Stop Republican Senators’ Attack on Endangered Species

Republican senators may kill hundreds of endangered animals and plants by delegating the Endangered Species List to the states. Sign the petition and demand they not restrict the Endangered Species Act. The future of our environment is a national issue we must all care about, not an issue for the states.

Source: Stop Republican Senators’ Attack on Endangered Species

Don’t Allow Hunters to Shoot Bears Using Silencers

Grizzly bears could soon be hunted to the brink of extinction using silencers if Republicanlawmakers have their way. Allowing the use of silencers on public lands to hunt these magnificent and threatened creatures is unacceptable. Sign this petition to demand that current restrictions remain in place.

Source: Don’t Allow Hunters to Shoot Bears Using Silencers

Petition: Stop Japan From Slaughtering Whales for ‘Research’

Nearly 200 whales were killed by Japanese whalers this year, including a number of endangered whales. Sign this petition to call for the end of this cruel and barbaric practice that slaughters these majestic cetaceans and puts them at risk of extinction.

Source: Stop Japan From Slaughtering Whales for ‘Research’

Straight from the Horse's Heart

Wild horses vs cattle: Who will win the waterhole?

Source: Heber Wild Horses

Public lands ranchers, in their effort to convince Forest Service and others that the wild horses need to be removed from the Sitgreaves National Forest, often fall back on their old propaganda spiel that the horses guard the waterholes and won’t let the cattle drink. So we uploaded this little video showing what really takes place at a waterhole on a regular basis when cattle and wild horses wind up at the same waterhole at the same time. Observe the drama unfold as you watch this action packed video of wild horses picking on poor little cows…see the terrified looks on the faces of the cattle as the horses plot against them! LOL

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Source: Medical Student Accused of Poisoning His Dog for Money Must be Prosecuted

Medical Student Accused of Poisoning His Dog for Money Must be Prosecuted

A dog died after a medical student reportedly poisoned the poor animal for financial compensation. The student apparently fed the dog an overdose of the same human medication that was found in the man’s bag. Reports claim the man was seeking to blame a transport company so he could make an insurance claim. Demand justice for this innocent dog.

http://theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/clickToGive/ars/petition/PCRM-WayneStateUniversityDogs/?utm_source=ars-ta-animals&utm_medium=email&utm_term=09242017&utm_content=takeaction-f&utm_campaign=pcrm-waynestateuniversitydogs&origin=ETA_092417_PCRM-WayneStateUniversityDogs_f&oidp=0x4a568a63ec7cab2cc0a82937

Petition: Stop Deadly Dog ExperimentsAt Wayne State University! – The Animal Rescue Site

Medical devices are surgically implanted in the dogs bodies. Then they are forced to run on treadmills, while heart failure is artificially induced.

Cat owners warned against grotesque ‘peticures’ – Katzenworld

Cat owners warned against grotesque ‘peticures’ Trend for artificial feline plastic claw caps a worrying new trend says The Vet THE UK’S 8 million cat owners are being warned against a ‘worrying’ new trend for… More

Source: Cat owners warned against grotesque ‘peticures’ – Katzenworld

Bear Hound Hunting Leads to 15 Dog Fights with Federally Protected Wolves

Wolf Patrol

So far in 2017, bear hunters using hounds have been responsible for 15 dog fights with federally protected gray wolves while training and hunting with their dog packs in northern Wisconsin. Many of these attacks have occurred on Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest lands, where its legal to maintain unlimited bear baits from Spring until mid-October.

Screen Shot 2017-09-27 at 2.15.18 PM 2017 gray wolf/bear hound fights.

In addition to luring black bears, wolves are also attracted to prey animals like deer who also regularly feed from bear baits. When hound hunters release their dogs to trail bears visiting bait sites, they are attacked by wolves defending their families and territories.

Screen Shot 2017-09-27 at 2.16.26 PM 2017 Sawyer County bear hound depredations.

In early September, Wolf Patrol investigated a bear hound depredation in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, in Sawyer County, where four bear hounds have been killed by wolves so far this year. Multiple bear baits are located in the Wisconsin Department of…

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https://www.change.org/p/chris-christie-stop-the-new-jersey-bear-hunt/u/21495754?utm_medium=email&utm_source=petition_update&utm_campaign=148192&sfmc_tk=ucdJC2y63RYGxDoVsWgijns%2fZjYZAgLewMdYNMespx2JkGeMst2uDdtwZQB6qen4&j=148192&sfmc_sub=61374949&l=32_HTML&u=28041450&mid=7259882&jb=12

Petition Update · Stop Dumpster Diving Hunters From Baiting Bears with Dunkin’ Donuts · Change.org

Dumpster diving Trophy Hunters are bragging on social media, about collecting hundreds of donuts that have been discarded by Dunkin Donuts stores. Please sign our new petition asking Dunkin Donuts to secure their trash cans.

Greyhounds Facing Vicious Abuse by Trainers Must be Protected

Source: Greyhounds Facing Vicious Abuse by Trainers Must be Protected

http://www.ad-international.org/fur/go.php?id=4440&ssi=19

Animal Defenders International : Fur : EXPOSED: The tragic short lives of foxes on a fur farm

EXPOSED: The tragic short lives of foxes on a fur farm

Posted: 26 September 2017. Updated: 27 September 2017
“A LIFETIME” is a new film about the brutal short lives of two foxes, brothers Borys and Eryk, born and killed on a Polish fur farm. Animal Defenders International (ADI) placed hidden cameras on the farm to capture this rare insight into an industry that kills more than 100 million animals a year.

Three arctic foxes are followed from birth on the Polish fur farm – ADI named them Borys, Eryk and Aleska. We see them nursed by their mother and Aleska taking her first halting steps as a tiny cub. Their world is a small wire cage. After a few weeks their mother is removed and we see the growing cubs explore their world and play together. As their coats change to the thick white fur that would protect them through the winter months, their days are numbered; their fur is a prized product.

At less than seven months of age, Boris and then Eryk are dragged from their cage. They have seen other foxes being killed outside their cage and there is nowhere to hide; desperate to avoid their fate, Borys, Eryk and Aleska try to run from the farmer. A terrified Aleska watches as her brothers are pulled from the cage by their tails, one at a time, hung up by a back leg, electrocuted and their bodies thrown on a cart to be skinned. Aleska is spared; she will breed next year’s foxes, her babies will be taken away from her and killed like her brothers.
This is the real cost of fur – when you buy fur, you buy cruelty.

Poland is the fourth largest producer of fox fur in the world – almost all is exported, with the United States being one of the biggest importers. ADI’s previous investigations of fur farms in Finland, the world’s largest producer of fox fur, have shown similar suffering and cruel deaths. The ADI team has also filmed inside farms in the United States and UK; although the UK has banned fur farming, it remains a major dealer, importing and exporting fur.
ADI’s findings reveal a cruel industry built on an image of beauty and luxury, desperately hiding the suffering of sensitive, intelligent, animals being farmed in filthy, intensive factory conditions or trapped for their fur.

Wild foxes are forced to live in small bare wire cages.

Excrement falls through the cages and piles up beneath them.

Animals farmed for their fur are denied their most natural behaviors, the chronic deprivation and extreme confinement causing both psychological and physical damage.

Babies are torn from their mothers at just a few weeks old.

The stark, filthy fur farm – a far cry from the complex, enriched wild habitat they deserve – takes a toll on their mental and physical health.

After only seven short months, baby foxes are dragged from cages by their tails, hung upside down and electrocuted in front of their families and other animals on the farm.

The animals are aware of what will happen to them and make desperate attempts to evade capture in the small cage and cling onto the mesh.

Animals not killed outright, despite industry claims, and are electrocuted a second time.

During ADI’s Polish investigation, one fox completely regained consciousness, ran away and found somewhere to hide. The fox was dragged from his hiding place and hung up again but desperately resisted the probe that he now knew, would kill him.

Worldwide every year over 110 million animals are killed on fur farms, with more than 16 million trapped in the wild for their fur. Over 15 million foxes are killed in a year, usually for trinkets, trims and accessories but up to 35 foxes can be used to make a fur coat.

Recently, products being sold as “fake” have been found to be real fur – perhaps unsurprising that an industry that treats animals as they do, would lie about it to fool the public into buying their cruel products.

Naturally shy and secretive animals, in the wild foxes have large territories, live in dens below ground in open country and eat a wide range of foods. Arctic foxes like Borys, Eryk and Aleska are nomadic, travelling many miles each day over the ice, enjoying the existence for which they evolved.

On the Polish farm ADI documented foxes with bent feet and overgrown claws, the result of a lifetime stood on a floor of wire mesh; individuals who suffered tail loss, caused by chewing due to stress; an animal with a weeping eye, swollen with pus, that was left untreated; young foxes attempting to play but restricted by the confines of their cage; animals chewing and pawing at their cages in a desire escape and to express themselves in their natural digging behaviors.

The full report is online here. Plus information on how to stop the fur trade.

Help end the cruel fur trade!

Trump Issues New Proclamation, $200 MILLION To Aid Women As Media Stays Silent

Nwo Report

Source: The New York Post

One of the biggest excuses given for condoning outsourcing is that not enough Americans know skills like computer coding. Now clearly, this is not true when one sees all of the very qualified coders working at Wendy’s or Taco Bell.

In the meantime, President Trump is keeping the promise to be a great president to even those who did not vote for him and even when the media will stay silent on his good work. This is seen in the fact that America’s leader made a “proclamation” today to “make teaching computer coding a priority in US schools,” the New York Post confirms. $200 million dollars per year will be set aside to make it happen, too. It is a small price to pay compared to what outsourcing is costing us.

Ivanka Trump worked on the idea with the Department of…

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Steelers Owner Begs Fans Not To Abandon Team Over National Anthem Protest

They abandoned us when they turned their back on the flag!!!!

Nwo Report

‘We appreciate your continued support for our players, coaches and staff…’

Jamie White | Infowars.com

Steelers’ President Art Rooney II penned a panicked letter to Steelers fans after the team didn’t show up to the field during the National Anthem before a game on Sunday.

Rooney was responding to the scores of Steelers’ fans posting videos on YouTube of them burning their Steelers gear and vowing never to support the team ever again.

A letter from Steelers President Art Rooney II to #SteelersNation: https://t.co/0bcU6udMDr—
Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) September 26, 2017

“The intentions of Steelers players were to stay out of the business of making political statements by not taking the field,” wrote Rooney.

“Unfortunately, that was interpreted as boycott of the anthem – which was never our players’ intention.”

“I also know that our players have tremendous respect for the members of our military services, including their teammate…

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Trump to Navajo Nation: Screw You Again

ClimateWest

DSCN0324

In spite of calls from the Navajo Nation for a moratorium on fracking in the Greater Chaco region of northwestern New Mexico, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management has continued to rubberstamp industry demands for more drilling permits.

As we wrote earlier this year, it’s as if the Bureau of Land Management couldn’t care less about the concerns of the Navajo Nation or any Tribal interests for that matter.

But now, the Bureau of Land Management is taking their disregard for Tribal concerns to new heights. Citing President Trump’s demands that American public lands be auctioned off to the fossil fuel industry, the agency is moving ahead with plans to sell nearly 4,500 acres of lands for fracking in the Greater Chaco region in March of 2018.

Many of these lands are within 20 miles of Chaco Canyon, the heart of the Greater…

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The Birds of Bali

Endangered Living

The Indonesian island famous with tourists for its beaches, yoga retreats, and waterfalls is currently under threat from one of the island’s active volcano, Mount Agung. While the volcano has not erupted in over 50 years, experts now say that eruption is imminent and the government has evacuated a 12km radius around the volcano.

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Equifax Data Breach: ‘Disaster’ That Could Sink The Economy

Nwo Report

The recent hack of the credit monitoring company Equifax and the exposure of sensitive information of 143 million Americans will be “disastrous” for the credit industry, and therefore the economy.

Modern capitalism is based on credit and debt, more so than on capital, and is a work in progress.

As more people get spooked by credit fraud and have their credit frozen, to stop their Social Security numbers and other sensitive information get passed on to the hands of online fraudsters, their actions will reduce economic activity.

According to Republican candidate for Idaho’s First Congressional District, Michael Snyder,”If this data breach was an earthquake, we would be talking about a magnitude-10.0 on the identity theft scale.“

Equifax has a lot to answer for, says Snyder. Among other things, why did they hire a music major as the chief security officer and then tried covering it?

The Economic…

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Summit County Citizens Voice

Can climate change affect volcanic activity?

Vesuvius is part of a volcanic region that became more active when the Mediterranean Sea dried up about 5 million years ago. A study of the era suggests climate change can influence volcanic activity. @bberwyn photo.

Study suggests link between sea level and eruptions

Staff Report

European researchers say they’ve found more evidence supporting links between climate change and volcanic activity.

Geologists from Switzerland, France and Spain studied compared data on eruptions and climate from about 5 million years ago, finding that volcanic activity in southern Europe doubled during a time when the Mediterranean Sea dried up. They suspect that the changes on the surface contributed to the way magma behaves deep in the Earth.

The era they studied is known as the Messinian salinity crisis, when the Strait of Gibraltar was blocked and the Mediterranean temporarily isolated from the Atlantic, according to the study published in Nature Geoscience.

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https://www.change.org/p/promote-cruelty-free-exhibits-at-the-guggenheim/u/21477142

Guggenheim, Bowing to Animal-Rights Activists, Pulls Works From Show – The New York Times

Guggenheim, Bowing to Animal-Rights Activists, Pulls Works From Show

By MATTHEW HAAGSEPT. 25, 2017
Photo Huang Yong Ping’s “Theater of the World,” which features live insects and reptiles. Credit Huang Yong Ping/Guggenheim Abu Dhabi

Facing an avalanche of criticism, the Guggenheim surrendered late Monday and said it would remove three major works from a highly anticipated exhibition of art by Chinese conceptual artists, including the signature piece of the show, which opens next month.

The museum, in Manhattan, made the decision after it had come under unrelenting pressure from animal-rights supporters and critics over works in the exhibition, “Art and China After 1989: Theater of the World.” Protesters marched outside the museum over the weekend, and an online petition demanding “cruelty-free exhibits” at the Guggenheim had been signed by more than half a million people as of Monday night.

The three works, which all involve animals, are “Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other,” “Theater of the World” and “A Case Study of Transference.” The pieces were among about 150 works selected for the show, mostly experimental art and many of them shocking, intended to challenge authority and use animals, in video, to call attention to the violence of humankind.

The museum planned to show a video of “Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other,” in which four pairs of dogs try to fight one another but struggle to touch because they are on nonmotorized treadmills, and a video of “A Case Study of Transference,” which shows two pigs having sex before an audience. But “Theater of the World” was the signature work of the show and was going to feature hundreds of live insects and reptiles milling under an overhead lamp.
24CHINA-ART4-master180
Xu Bing’s “A Case Study of Transference,” 1994. The artwork originally featured live pigs, but the Guggenheim was going to use a video of the Beijing performance. Credit Xu Bing

The museum said the works were being removed “out of concern for the safety of its staff, visitors and participating artists.”

“Although these works have been exhibited in museums in Asia, Europe and the United States, the Guggenheim regrets that explicit and repeated threats of violence have made our decision necessary,” it said in a statement posted on its website. “As an arts institution committed to presenting a multiplicity of voices, we are dismayed that we must withhold works of art. Freedom of expression has always been and will remain a paramount value of the Guggenheim.”

Criticism of the show grew quickly online, on social media and on animal-rights websites, with the initial focus on “Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other.” The museum tried to quell the backlash last Thursday, releasing a statement acknowledging that the work was difficult to view but encouraging patrons to consider what the piece “may be saying about the social conditions of globalization and the complex nature of the world we share.”

A spokeswoman for the museum said Thursday that “it was not a question that it would stay in the exhibition.”

But the criticism only grew over the weekend. On Monday, the president of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said that only “sick individuals” could enjoy watching “Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other,” and the American Kennel Club said that dogfighting “should not be displayed in any manner and certainly not as art.”

Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s “Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other,” a seven-minute video with eight American pit bulls on eight treadmills. Credit Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, Beijing, Les Moulins, Habana

Two works removed by the Guggenheim have come under previous criticism.

Huang Yong Ping, who created “Theater of the World,” withdrew it from a show in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2007 rather than comply with a request from an animal rights group to remove scorpions and tarantulas from it.

Mr. Huang said by telephone from Paris that he had no comment on the Guggenheim’s action. He said the museum had not informed him about the decision to withdraw his piece.

“I am hearing about this for the first time,” he said.

Peng Yu, who created “Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other” with her husband, Sun Yuan, denied her art was animal cruelty.

“These dogs are naturally pugnacious,” Ms. Peng said in an interview last year.

Reached in Beijing on Tuesday, Ms. Peng blamed the controversy on a recent article about the exhibition. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” she said, adding that the dogs were examined by veterinarians before and after they were used in the performance.

The Guggenheim originally agreed to include the third piece, “A Case Study of Transference,” but only as a video of a Beijing performance. The boar and sow are stamped with gibberish composed of nonsensical English words and invented Chinese characters — intended to make patrons consider the relationship between the West and China.

Jane Perlez and Zoe Moe contributed from Beijing.

Follow Matthew Haag on Twitter: @matthewhaag.

A version of this article appears in print on September 26, 2017, on Page A25 of the New York edition with the headline: Guggenheim, Bowing to Animal-Rights Activists, Pulls Works From Coming Show. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe

Looking after Chernobyl’s radioactive puppies

nuclear-news

The Puppies of Chernobyl

HUNDREDS OF RADIOACTIVE PUPPIES JUST GOT SPAYED, NEUTERED AT CHERNOBYL DISASTER SITE http://www.newsweek.com/hundreds-puppies-got-spayed-and-neutered-chernobyl-year-669093, BY KATE SHERIDAN An American nonprofit organization, Clean Futures Fund, has started a spay and neuter clinic for the four-legged descendants of survivors of one of history’s worst nuclear disasters.

After the Chernobyl nuclear reactor melted down on April 26, 1986, some dogs and cats left behind survived and began to breed. More than 400 animals were spayed and neutered in the first year of the clinic’s operation at the former reactor, which ended earlier this month.

The laws governing the exclusion zone around Chernobyl strongly advise people to avoid feeding or touching the dogs, due to the risk of contamination. Not only is the dogs’ fur potentially loaded with radioactive particles, but their food and water is contaminated. The radioactive molecules they ingest may also linger in their bodies.

“We could…

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https://www.thepetitionsite.com/415/439/959/charge-killer-of-tiburon-doe-and-fawn-with-animal-cruelty/

Petition: Charge Killer of Tiburon Doe and Fawn with Animal Cruelty

Upscale Neighborhood Outraged By Resident’s Shooting Of Doe And Fawn | Care2 Causes

By: Laura Goldman
September 21, 2017

About Laura
Follow Laura at @lauragoldman

Very early one morning earlier this month, in the affluent town of Tiburon in Northern California, a doe and her young fawn grazed on some newly planted landscaping in the yard of resident Mark Dickinson.

The two deer had been there before. To protect his new plantings, did Dickinson install a fence or try using any other deer repellents? No. Did he make some noise to scare them away? Nope.

Dickinson grabbed a high-powered pellet gun equipped with a scope, laser beam and flashlight attachments. He aimed it at the mama and her baby, and shot them both in their sides.

The two deer died slow, “agonizing and painful” deaths, Tiburon Police Sgt. Steve Hahn told the Marin Independent Journal.

Dickinson, who claimed he was only trying to scare off the deer, was arrested on suspicion of felony animal cruelty. In California, anyone who “maliciously and intentionally maims, mutilates, tortures, or wounds a living animal, or maliciously and intentionally kills an animal” can be charged with a felony. This charge could mean jail time and a fine of up to $20,000 per deer.

Additional misdemeanor charges, such as hunting deer out of season, hunting a fawn and not obtaining a hunting license could also apply in this case.

Dickinson is out on bail while the case is being investigated by the Tiburon Police Department, Marin Humane Society and the Marin County District Attorney’s Office. He was supposed to be arraigned Sept. 20 but it has been delayed, according to The Ark newspaper’s Facebook page.

“He had no intent to be cruel or to harm the deer,” his attorney, Charles Dresow, insisted to the Marin Independent Journal. “Rather, he was simply trying to scare them away from consuming new landscaping.”

Really? There are better ways to scare away deer than by shooting them with a high-powered pellet gun. When neighbors heard about the killings, they were understandably upset. The doe and her fawn had been a welcome and familiar sight in the neighborhood for weeks.

“This is outrageous,” Tiburon resident Linda Meinberg told KGO. “To scare deer away, all you have to do is look at them. You don’t need to shoot them.”

When officers from the Marin Humane Society arrived at Dickinson’s residence, the doe was already dead. The fawn died about an hour later.

“We were pretty shocked and disturbed,” Lisa Bloch of the Marin Humane Society told KPIX 5. “To kill two innocent animals like this and make them suffer is really egregious and we’re pretty concerned.”

On its Facebook page, the Marin Humane Society wrote, “This tragic incident serves as a reminder that we promote the respect of wild animals through peaceful coexistence. There are many ways to protect your yard from deer, whether it’s by building appropriate fencing or planting deer-resistant shrubs, trees and plants.”

Dickinson could have dealt with the doe and fawn in any of these much more humane ways. Please sign and share this petition urging the Marin County District Attorney’s Office to charge him with felony animal cruelty.

http://www.care2.com/causes/upscale-neighborhood-outraged-by-residents-shooting-of-doe-and-fawn.html

Source: ‘Where’s the tranquilizer gun?’ Outrage as young bomb-detector dog shot dead at airport — RT Viral

‘Where’s the tranquilizer gun?’ Outrage as young bomb-detector dog shot dead at airport — RT Viral

The killing of a young trainee bomb-detector dog that caused flight delays at Auckland Airport in New Zealand has sparked outrage on social media. People are questioning why the animal wasn’t simply tranquilized.

After the lead crisis started, Flint’s fertility crisis began

After the lead crisis started, Flint’s fertility crisis began | Grist

Sarah Rice / Stringer / Getty Images
Climate Desk
After the lead crisis started, Flint’s fertility crisis began
By Edwin Rios on Sep 25, 2017
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This story was originally published by Mother Jones and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

In the year following the start of its water crisis, Flint, Michigan, saw fewer pregnancies among its residents and higher fetal deaths, according to a working paper published last month.

Kansas University economics professor David Slusky and West Virginia University economics professor Daniel Grossman examined health statistics in Flint between May 2007 and March 2015 and compared them to 15 other cities in Michigan. What they uncovered was alarming: After April 2014 — when, in an effort to cut costs, Flint officials switched its water supply from Detroit to the Flint River, leading to elevated lead levels — fertility rates among women in Flint dropped 12 percent. Fetal deaths spiked by 58 percent.

“This represents a couple hundred fewer children born that otherwise would have been,” Slusky said in a university press release this week. The researchers project that between 198 and 276 more children would have been born from November 2013, when the child was first conceived, to March 2015 had the city not switched its water supply.

The researchers also conclude that the water change and the corresponding increased exposure to lead prompted a decline in the overall health of children born. Children exposed to high levels of lead can suffer from irreversible neurological and behavioral consequences. Moreover, children born in Flint since the start of its water crisis saw a 5 percent drop in average birth weight compared to those in other parts of Michigan during the same time period.

Shortly after the move in April 2014, residents complained about the water’s stench as it became inflicted with lead from old pipes in residential homes. Even after doctors and experts alerted state and federal officials to the elevated lead levels in Flint’s children and in houses’ water, Governor Rick Snyder and other state officials didn’t concede to the public health emergency in Flint until September 2015. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality eventually acknowledged that it erred in not requiring the city to add anti-corrosive chemicals into its water.

Health officials found that between June 2014 and November 2015, 91 residents in Genesee County, which includes Flint, contracted Legionnaires’ Disease, a bacterial illness that can arise out of contaminated water, though not all were conclusively linked to Flint’s water crisis. At least 12 people from the disease died after 2014.

As of September 2017, 15 officials have been charged for their involvement in Flint’s water crisis, with five charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection to the Legionnaires’ outbreak. Earlier this year, a federal judge approved a $87 million settlement for the city of Flint that would pay to replace 18,000 water lines by 2020. The state still faces a number of lawsuits. One calls for the state to provide more special education services for children exposed to lead as a result of the water crisis.

The Fight From Below Seen From Above: New Map Details Local Fossil Fuel Resistance | Global Justice Ecology Project

The Fight From Below Seen From Above: New Map Details Local Fossil Fuel Resistance

Posted on September 25, 2017 by GJEP staff
In an attempt to highlight and bolster the “groundswell of resistance” against fracking wells, pipelines, and other fossil fuel projects throughout the United States, a coalition of environmental groups on Thursday launched the Fossil Fuel Resistance Mapping Project, which details precisely where opposition to Big Oil is taking hold throughout the United States and how others can join in.

“People demand a safe and clean environment, and they will not rest until that is guaranteed for every community across the country.”
—Kelly Martin, Sierra Club

“From the Gulf Coast where people are recovering from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, to the Pacific Northwest where wildfires are raging, many communities are leading fights against fossil fuel projects amidst life-altering climate impacts,” the coalition—which includes 350.org, Sierra Club, and Bold Alliance—said in a joint statement Thursday.

“These fights are not isolated events, but rather a groundswell of steadfast and widespread local resistance to fossil fuel projects across the continent in the absence of federal climate action,” the groups continue. “Grassroots leaders in these efforts are pushing back on the fossil fuel industry’s injustices, from environmental racism to violating Indigenous sovereignty.”

(Image credit: Fossil Fuel Resistance Project)
The groups hope that the map, which can be accessed on the coalition’s website, will serve as “a resource for people to find, start, or join a campaign in their community to resist fossil fuel projects, and for those involved in existing fights to connect with each other.”

They also believe the map will serve as a tool to raise awareness and concern about the risks those who live near oil refineries and pipelines face on a daily basis.

“With the climate-denying Trump administration putting the the health of Big Oil billionaires’ bottom lines before anyone else, the time to join your local fight to protect our air, water, and planet is right now.”

—Cherri Foytlin, Bold Louisiana “This map highlights what too many Americans are forced to grapple with everyday: a life, community, and clean water and air threatened by fossil fuel infrastructure,” Kelly Martin, director of Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels project, said in a statement. “That’s why we’ve seen the movement to oppose these projects grow rapidly in recent years. People demand a safe and clean environment, and they will not rest until that is guaranteed for every community across the country.”

The new project comes as the Trump administration continues its efforts to empower the fossil fuel industry and roll back regulatory measures designed to protect the air and water—even in the aftermath of deadly hurricanes like Harvey and Irma, which have left millions exposed to dangerous pollutants.

Foytlin, executive director of Bold Louisiana, said that the Trump administration’s blatant and “reckless” contempt for the planet should serve as a potent motivator for people across the country to join the burgeoning opposition movement and fight back.

“The extractive industry is like a cancer, and our efforts to stop this industry’s expansion are holistically connected on many fronts—this map makes that clear,” Foytlin observed. “With the climate-denying Trump administration putting the the health of Big Oil billionaires’ bottom lines before anyone else, the time to join your local fight to protect our air, water, and planet is right now.

Originally published by Commondreams.org