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#environmentaldamage — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #environmentaldamage, aggregated by home.social.

  1. How #Guatemala, #Mexico, and #Belize plan to protect 14 million acres of #Mayan #forest

    Mexico, Guatemala and Belize have announced plans to create a huge reserve of tropical forest spanning across the three countries. Pushing out criminal gangs and protecting the land from ranchers, miners and loggers won’t be easy.

    Aug. 21, 2025

    Excerpt: "One proposal from Mexico is the expansion of its '#PlantingLife' program, which offers landowners money to grow certain kinds of trees either for fruit or timber. The program has a $2 billion budget, Bárcena said.

    "But the program, which dates to ex-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has faced criticism. In 2021, the World Resources Institute reported that it had actually incentivized deforestation in Campeche state. Bárcena said the program is being adjusted to better meet environmental objectives.

    "Mexican sustainability and climate action expert Juan Carlos Franco, who works in southern Mexico, said security is crucial and requires the government to act as 'guarantor.' But the work has to be carried out with civil society in the local communities, including in places where locals have found ways to coexist with the illegal activity surrounding them, he said.

    " 'Communities oriented toward the #biocultural management of the territory can overcome despite the crime, that’s the most revealing message,' he said.

    No #megaprojects

    "Another challenge will be holding governments over the long term to commitments to forgo big projects that promise economic development but threaten #EnvironmentalDamage, such as Mexico’s tourist rail operation, the Maya Train, which Belize is interested in extending to its territory.

    "Orantes, the Guatemala minister, said that Guatemalan President #BernardoArévalo would not allow megaprojects in the reserve because when access is opened in the forest it becomes difficult to control everything that follows.

    "Arévalo recently declined to renew the contract of a #petroleum company that had been operating for 40 years in a Guatemalan reserve known as the #MayaBiosphere.

    "Guatemala is making the largest land contribution to the reserve, encompassing 27 existing protected areas. Arévalo had already made clear that he would not run an extension of the Maya Train proposed by Mexico’s last president through protected areas.

    "In Mexico, Bárcena noted that the 950-mile (1,500-kilometer) train line, which started running in late 2023 and goes in a rough loop around the Yucatan Peninsula, lies outside the new reserve’s territory.
    She said her agency was working to alleviate some of the environmental impacts of the train line, in collaboration with companies operated by the Mexican Army, which built a large portion of the rail line and operates the train.

    "To avoid destructive projects in the new reserve, the three governments agreed to create a council made up of environmental authorities, as well as an #Indigenous advisory council, Bárcena said. Any proposed projects in the reserve would have to pass through them."

    Read more:
    thestar.com/news/world/america

    Archived version:
    archive.ph/GyXR8

    #SolarPunkSunday #ProtectTheForest #IndigenousPeople #CommunityActivism

  2. #MaineCDC recommends limiting fish consumption from 4 new bodies of water due to #PFAS contamination

    Maine Public | By Nora Saks
    Published June 30, 2025 at 5:27 PM EDT

    "The Maine Center for Disease Control is recommending that people limit consuming fish from four new bodies of water due to #PFASContamination.

    "The new advisories apply to game fish caught in #LovejoyPond in #AlbionME, the #SebasticookRiver in #BurnhamME and #BentonCollyerBrook in #GrayME, and #AndroscogginLake in #LeedsME and #WayneME.

    "The Maine CDC issued the new guidelines after elevated levels of PFAS, the group of man-made #ForeverChemicals, were detected in fish tissue sampled by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection last year.

    "In the recommendations updated last week, the Maine CDC also expanded its advisories on #AnnabessacookLake in #MonmouthME and #WinthropME, and #MessalonskeeStream in #OaklandME and #WatervilleME.

    "These additions bring the total number of rivers, lakes and streams that have game fish contaminated with unsafe levels of PFAS to 25.

    "For more details on the consumption limits on numbers and species of freshwater fish in each waterbody, check out the Maine CDC website."

    Source:
    mainepublic.org/health/2025-06

    Maine CDC website:
    maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/environme

    #EPACuts #WaterIsLife #Maine #Pollution #PFAS #PFOS #ForeverChemicals #EnvironmentalDamage #Wildlife #PFASPollution #PFASContamnation #ManMadeDisasters #3M #3MLied #Scotchgard #Scotchban #BASF #Teflon #GenXChemicals #PFNA #PFHxS #Lubricants #Cosmetics #PFB #FireFightingFoam #DowChemical

  3. International Survey Shows 81% Back Forcing #BigOil to Pay for #Climate Destruction

    "People are no longer buying the lies. They see the fingerprints of #FossilFuel giants all over the #storms, #floods, #droughts, and #wildfires devastating their lives, and they want accountability," said the head of one green group.

    by Eloise Goldsmith, Jun 19, 2025

    "Large majorities of people around the world support both taxing #oil, #gas, and #coal companies for the #EnvironmentalDamage made worse by fossil fuels and using higher taxes on #polluters to support communities most impacted by the #ClimateCrisis, according to the results of an international survey released Thursday.

    "The study, which was jointly commissioned by #Greenpeace International and #Oxfam International, surveyed roughly 1,200 people in each of these 13 countries: #Brazil, #Canada, #France, #Germany, #India, #Italy, #Kenya, #Mexico, #Philippines, #SouthAfrica, #Spain, #UnitedKingdom, and the #UnitedStates. The research was conducted by the data company Dynata, and field work was done between May 9-28, 2025. Greenpeace noted that, taken together, the countries represent close to 50% of the globe's population.

    "The results of the survey showed a whopping 81% of those surveyed would support taxes fossil fuel companies to pay for damages wrought by 'fossil-fuel driven climate disasters.'

    "These survey results send a clear message: people are no longer buying the lies. They see the fingerprints of fossil fuel giants all over the storms, floods, droughts, and wildfires devastating their lives, and they want accountability," said #MadsChristensen, the executive director of #GreenpeaceInternational.

    " 'It's only fair that those who caused the crisis should pay for the damage, not those suffering from it,' he added.

    Read more / listen:
    commondreams.org/news/internat

    #BigOilAndGas #BigCoal #BigOilLied #BigOilKnew #Sunoco #BP #Chevron #Capitalism #Oiligarchy #Oligarchy #AmericanPetroleumInstitute #ShellOil #ExxonLied #ExtremeWeather #BPLied #ClimateCrisis #TaxThePolluters #CorporateColonialism #OilCompanies #ChevronDoctrine #MakePollutersPay #Pollution #WateIsLife #AirIsLife