(At least when it’s 113* out, like it is now…)

BYSharon Zhang, TruthoutPUBLISHEDJune 28, 2021SHAREShare via FacebookShare via TwitterShare via Email

As the climate crisis fuels flooding in Michigan and record high temperatures in the Pacific Northwest, Republicans and centrist Democrats in Congress are fighting to exclude climate provisions and other vital measures from President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill.

Oregon, Washington and Idaho roasted under oppressive heat over the weekend, with temperatures in Portland, reaching a record high of 108 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday — and then another record high of 112 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday. Experts have said that the region, which has a high proportion of housing without air conditioning, isn’t prepared for such abnormally high temperatures.

Meanwhile, in Michigan, a downpour of rain caused major flooding in Detroit, which is similarly unprepared for extreme weather, experts say. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Michigan) declared a state of emergency over the weekend for the state.

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Both extreme weather events are almost certainly due to or intensified by the climate crisis, which is creating increasingly inhospitable conditions for people in the U.S. This is the second year in a row that Michigan has experienced abnormal flooding, and the National Weather Service has called the heat wave sweeping the Northwest unprecedented and dangerous.

They’re the sorts of weather events that climate scientists have been warning about for decades and continue to raise alarm about today as the climate crisis only worsens, largely unmitigated. As researchers have pointed out, the record high temperatures in the Northwest aren’t just the highest temperatures to date — they’re likely some of the lowest highs that the U.S. will experience in the years to come.

Climate advocates have been warning that Biden’s infrastructure bill could be the president’s last best hope to enact major climate-related proposals to hit his goal of 50 percent emissions reduction by 2030. But in May, Biden offered to cut his infrastructure bill from $2.25 trillion to $1.7 trillion, and, this past week, agreed to further reduce it to a paltry $579 billion, with many of its most ambitious climate measures cut out.

The elimination of climate proposals largely seems to be the product of a group of bipartisan senators who negotiated the most recent deal with Biden. A previous Republican-only proposal eliminated climate spending almost entirely; the centrists’ plan includes some money for energy grid updates, but still eliminates large swaths of climate spending for things like renewable energy tax credits.

Progressives like Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Ed Markey (D-Washington) have decried these cuts, with Markey calling the move “climate denial masquerading as bipartisanship.” Climate advocates like the Sunrise Movement, meanwhile, are fed up with politicians promising action, only to have those promises yanked out from under them when congressional Republicans — and other fossil-fuel-funded politicians — get involved.

Meanwhile, the GOP continues to be almost completely uninterested in mitigating the climate crisis. People like Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who is a member of the bipartisan group, said earlier this month that “the Democrats’ agenda on climate change is probably something they’re going to pursue, by and large, outside of an infrastructure bill.” But, as Romney undoubtedly knows full well, most legislation that Democrats pursue on their own will immediately be blocked by Republicans with the filibuster.

Sanders has recently taken up an effort to incorporate climate action into legislation in the form of a $6 trillion reconciliation bill that will include everything that’s been cut from Biden’s infrastructure proposal plus items like expanding Medicare.

Democratic leadership has vowed to block the watered down infrastructure bill without the concurrent passage of the reconciliation bill. But a scuffle between Republicans and the White House over the weekend has left the pairing’s future in limbo as Biden walked back a promise to veto the infrastructure bill without the $6 billion package.

Sanders made it clear on Sunday that separating the two bills wouldn’t be acceptable to him, saying on Twitter that “There will not be a bipartisan infrastructure deal without a reconciliation bill that substantially improves the lives of working families and combats the existential threat of climate change. No reconciliation bill, no deal.”

Indeed, without drastic and decisive action, researchers with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned recently in a draft report that the climate crisis will only worsen flooding, heat waves, diseases and other climate events. They also warn that the world may be approaching — or have already hit — tipping points for the climate, after which the crisis will worsen even faster.

Preventing the worst of the climate crisis will require near-immediate social upheaval, which activists have been advocating for and some progressives have been fighting for in Congress. The political conversation around the climate has evolved rapidly over the past few years, but progress may not be coming soon enough.

You’re a mean one, Mr. Fudd.
You really are a heel,
You’re as cuddly as a cactus, you’re as charming as an eel, Mr. Fudd.
You’re a bad banana with a greasy black peel!

You’re a monster, Mr. Fudd.
Your heart’s an empty hole.
Your brain is full of spiders, you have garlic in your soul, Mr. Fudd.
I wouldn’t touch you with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole!

You’re a vile one, Mr. Fudd.
You have termites in your smile.
You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile,
Mr. Fudd.
Given the choice between the two of you,
I’d take the seasick crocodile.

You’re a foul one, Mr. Fudd.
You’re a nasty wasty skunk.
Your heart is full of unwashed socks;
Your soul is full of gunk,
Mr. Fudd.

The three words that best describe you
Are as follows, and I quote:
Stink!
Stank!
Stunk!

You’re a rotter, Mr. Fudd.
You’re the king of sinful sots.
Your heart’s a dead tomato squashed with moldy purple spots,
Mr. Fudd.

Your soul is an appalling dump heap
Overflowing with the most disgraceful
Assortment of deplorable rubbish imaginable,
Mangled up in tangled up knots.

You nauseate me, Mr. Fudd,
With a noxious super naus.
You’re a crooked jerky jockey and
You drive a crooked horse,
Mr Fudd!

You’re a three-decker sauerkraut
And toadstool sandwich,
With arsenic sauce!

The country’s proposed legislation is in response to public outcry regarding incidents that involved violence toward stray animals

https://vegnews.com/2021/6/turkey-will-no-longer-classify-animals-as-commodities.

by NICOLE AXWORTHY

JUNE 28, 2021

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Turkey’s highly anticipated animal-rights bill is expected to be presented to the Turkish Parliament and enacted into law in the coming weeks. The new legislation will redefine animals as living beings instead of “commodities,” as is the case under current laws. It also seeks jail time for anyone who kills, abuses, or tortures animals. 

The legislation aims to curb incidents of violence toward animals in the country, following public outcry regarding the treatment of stray animals by government ministries. In addition, in recent years, incidents of violence toward animals have made headlines, including an incident in which seven dogs and seven cats died after consuming chicken laced with poison. This month, a man was fined for killing and eating stray kittens. Under current laws, any act of torture or killing of a stray animal is punishable under “damage to commodities” and comes with a lenient fine. In the past, courts have also handed down light sentences in a few exceptionally brutal cases.

The law’s new definition will automatically put crimes like these on equal footing as violence toward humans and carry a jail sentence. The jail sentence sought for crimes against animals will be from six months up to four years, which will avoid criminals getting out on bail or converting the prison sentence to a fine. 

Sweeping animal-rights legislation

The proposed legislation follows Parliament’s creation of an Animal Rights Legislative Commission in May 2019. The Turkish Grand National Assembly’s Animal Rights Investigation Committee spent several months meeting with animal-rights activists, nonprofit organizations, academics, experts, and other people involved in animal welfare and rights for a more comprehensive approach to the matter. The committee has since made its recommendations in the new legislation.

The recommendations also included banning zoos, circus animals, horse-drawn carriages, dolphin parks, fur farms, and pet stores, while restricting hunting and animal experimentation. However, the law deals largely with animal companions such as cats and dogs and does not address the cruelty to farmed animals, including fish. 

Improving companion animal laws

Countries around the world have different laws for animals who are considered companions. Last year, China’s Ministry of Agriculture announced it was removing dogs from the “livestock” category to instead consider them companion animals. However, this reclassification largely affects the global dog and cat meat trade, which animal-rights organizations have been working to ban for decades. According to the Humane Society International, approximately 10 million dogs are killed for food annually in China. Recognizing that dogs are companions instead of “livestock” is the first step toward eliminating the consumption and trade in dog meat.

https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2021/06/25/zombie-deer-in-texas-wildlife-officials-issue-emergency-order-following-positive-tests-at-breeding-sites/?outputType=amp&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=snd&utm_content=ksat12&__twitter_impression=true

Health officials say there’s no evidence that suggests the disease is harmful to the public

AUSTIN – Are “zombie deer” real? The answer is yes, and they’ve been found in Texas.

Deer at six breeding sites in the state have recently tested positive for “zombie deer” disease, or Chronic Wasting Disease, prompting an emergency order from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Officials announced the order Tuesday and said they will secure the CWD-positive deer at the six facilities, enhance CWD testing at other breeding sites that have received deer from the positive sites, and they will not release any CWD-positive deer to help mitigate the spread.

“This is a terribly unfortunate development that we are committed to addressing as proactively, comprehensively, and expeditiously as possible,” said Carter Smith, TPWD executive director, in a release.

“Zombie deer” disease is described by wildlife officials as a “slow and progressive” fatal disease that can be found in deer, elk, moose and other cervids, or members of the deer family.https://943b64ebcfe64825b44ba2f12149ba3e.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html?n=0

Although the disease may not be detected for several years, TPWD officials said, as it progresses, animals will show changes in behavior and appearance.

These may include progressive weight loss, stumbling or tremors, excessive thirst, salivation or urination, loss of appetite, teeth grinding, abnormal head posture, and/or drooping ears. There are no treatments or vaccines available for the disease, according to the CDC.

Health officials say there’s no evidence to suggest that it can be passed to humans, but it could pose a risk to non-human primates that eat meat from CWD-positive animals or “come in contact with brain or body fluids from infected deer or elk.”

The disease was first discovered in Texas in 2012 in free-ranging mule deer in the area of Hueco Mountains, near the Texas-New Mexico border, according to wildlife officials.