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op-ed
Shellfish Farms Here and Across America are Being Hammered By Climate Change
When climate talks broke down in Congress earlier this month, Americans were quick to lay all of the blame on Sen. Joe Manchin.
By leveraging the future of our entire planet as a bargaining chip to negotiate his pet projects and to line his own pockets, the West Virginia senator is certainly at fault. But Manchin is hardly the only culprit. Equal responsibility falls to our 50 Republican senators, all of whom have refused to consider the common-sense provisions on the table. Instead, they have chosen to treat climate change not like the existential threat that it is, but as a petty partisan issue. Unless our elected representatives can put our nation’s and our world’s future above party politics, we risk catastrophic environmental challenges, mass extinction and unimaginable suffering.
Shellfish farms like mine are already at war with runaway greenhouse-gas emissions. To combat ocean acidification, we now buffer the seawater for larval cultures in our hatchery. To counter more intense storms and higher tides, we must overhaul mooring systems that hold millions of oysters in floating cages on our leases. To protect consumers from runoff-related bacterial pollution, we isolate harvested oysters in a land-based facility before big rainfall events. And to ensure consumer safety from Vibrio bacteria, which thrive in warm waters, we now harvest our oysters and move them to mechanical refrigeration within two hours.
We Need a Strong Postal Service After the Election, Too
Following national outrage over the removal of mail sorting machines and public mailboxes, the elimination of overtime for letter carriers, and other cost cutting measures that could severely delay the distribution of mail, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy backtracked, indicating that all operational changes would be suspended until after the presidential election – at which point he will presumably continue his efforts to dismantle the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). If he succeeds, the consequences could be catastrophic for all Americans, particularly those who live in rural areas.
To be sure, rural voters were cautiously relieved by the news, as it will protect their ability to participate in the democratic process. Many rural communities are too remote and too sparsely populated to support their own polling places, giving residents the choice to either drive significant distances to the nearest voting site or submit a mail-in ballot. For people who are disabled, don’t own a car, or can’t take hours off of work to drive to the polls, in-person voting may be especially challenging. And in the midst of the pandemic, mail-in ballots may be the safest option for elderly and immunocompromised individuals – both of whom are more likely to live in rural areas – to exercise their right to vote.
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The Nature Conservancy and Pew Scale Partnership with Oyster Farmers to Restore Marine Ecosystems
ARLINGTON – Today, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and The Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew) announced the second phase of their Supporting Oyster Aquaculture and Restoration (SOAR) program, which is restoring coastal ecosystems and fostering a thriving oyster aquaculture industry in the U.S. Over the next four years, an additional $6.3 million in funding will sustain efforts to rebuild oyster reefs, as well as promote innovation, resilience, and diversity within the oyster aquaculture industry.
Phase two of SOAR significantly builds upon the initial $5 million phase one investment through a $3 million grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s National Coastal Resilience Fund and an additional $3.3 million from Builders Initiative, the philanthropic team of Builders Vision.
Farmers Union Condemns Police Brutality, Calls for National Effort to Address Racism
WASHINGTON – The killing of Minnesota resident George Floyd – the latest instance in a long and disturbing history of police brutality towards people of color – underscores the urgent need for racial justice and equity in the United States, according to National Farmers Union (NFU).
An early supporter of the women’s suffrage and civil rights movements, NFU has fought for freedom and equal opportunity for people of all races, genders, ethnicities, ages, and sexual orientations since its establishment in 1902. Though significant progress has been made in the last 118 years, it is clear that racism is still a pervasive a force in American society. In a statement released today, NFU President Rob Larew condemned police brutality and called for a national effort to address individual, institutional, and structural racism.
“The killing of George Floyd was an abuse of power and a horrifying act of violence– but what is even more horrifying is that this is not a rare or isolated incident. People of color are far more likely to be killed by police than their white counterparts; black Americans account for just 13 percent of the overall population, but 26 percent of fatal police shootings. But police brutality doesn’t occur in a vacuum. It’s just one of many examples of racism in our country – in criminal justice, financial services, health care, voting, education, and elsewhere.
“If we stand idly by while our friends and neighbors suffer – as too many of us have done for too long – we are complicit in their suffering. Now is the time to step up, to heal these wounds, to build a just and equal society. This will not be a quick or easy task – to overcome the terrible legacy of racism in this country, we all must reflect on our own privileges and prejudices, rethink our institutions, and demand structural change. The road ahead of us may be long and uncomfortable, but it is our moral obligation to traverse it.”
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Location, Location, Location: How Aquaculture is Supporting Food Security and Conservation in Palau
The Republic of Palau, an archipelago of 340-odd islands southeast of the Philippines, is attempting the complex balancing act of ensuring food sovereignty, strengthening their economy and protecting marine ecosystems. These goals might seem incompatible with one another – and yet, there is one solution that could help the island nation come closer to achieving all three: aquaculture, the practice of farming fish, shellfish, seaweed and other marine species.
But how – and where – aquaculture is developed makes all the difference when it comes to social, economic and environmental outcomes. A new mapping tool, developed by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in collaboration with Palau’s Bureau of Marine Resources, helps identify the best locations for new aquaculture projects in Palau, and those that should be avoided to prevent negative consequences.
Juneteenth and the Broken Promise of “40 Acres and a Mule”
For many Black Americans, Juneteenth is a day of celebration. Observed on June 19th, the holiday commemorates the day that the last slaves were freed in the United States in 1865 – two-and-a-half years after President Abraham Lincoln ordered their independence with the Emancipation Proclamation and two months after the Confederate army surrendered.
There is certainly a great deal to celebrate: liberation, centuries of strength and resilience, and significant cultural, artistic, and scientific achievement. But the day is also a reminder of the systemic oppression and relentless suffering the Black community has endured both in slavery and in freedom as well as countless broken promises of justice and equality.