Each week find a round-up of selected news and resources related to global ethical issues and positive solutions that you can use in your solutionary teaching/work.
Here’s some recent news worth knowing:
Small steps toward positive solutions …
- A rat who got trapped in a manhole in Germany was rescued by firefighters, and the firefighters were praised by a couple of young friends of animals.
- Several New Orleans-based bail bond companies were ordered to “repay nearly $6 million in illegal profits they took from as many as 50,000 low-income residents and their families.”
- New research suggests that countries that invest financially and via policy in more renewable energy, energy efficiency, and other low-carbon practices and that are moving away from fossil fuels “are making progress in reducing CO2 emissions.”
- Toledo, Ohio (US), has passed the “Lake Erie Bill of Rights,” which establishes the lake as a person with legal rights. The new law allows “the people of Toledo to act as legal guardians for Lake Erie – as if the citizens were the parents and the lake were their child – and polluters of the lake could be sued to pay for cleanup costs and prevention programs.”
- After months of public outrage and lobbying, Russian authorities have ordered the release of almost 100 illegally kidnapped and captive whales who have been held in cruel conditions, with plans for them to be sold to aquariums and parks in China.
In the courts …
- A US federal judge has given the Trump administration permission to enforce a ban on bump stocks, devices which allow semi-automatic weapons to fire like machine guns.
We must do better …
- According to a US federal report, from 2015-2018, in each of those years, 1,000 or more detained immigrant children reported “being sexually abused while in government custody.” While many of the allegations were about one minor abusing another, 178 of the complaints were against staff.
- USDA inspectors in 2018 documented 60 percent fewer violations than in 2017. Animal welfare groups assert that this decrease is “the latest sign of weakened enforcement” of ensuring that animal welfare laws are followed by breeders, zoos, research labs, and other exhibitors.
- Between December 26, 2018, and March 5, 2019, 21 horses at Santa Anita’s race track have had to be euthanized due to injury during racing or training at the track.
- A new study reports that “hundreds of animal species” are at risk of extinction due to bans and regulations on wildlife trafficking taking too long to be implemented and enforced.
- A Chinese dam that is planned for construction in Guinea (Africa) will destroy a newly protected national park and thus will likely lead to the deaths of up to 1,500 endangered chimpanzees. And this Chinese-built dam in Indonesia will likely put orangutans there “on a firm path to extinction.”
- Scientists have noted that the world’s oceans have seen significant decreases in oxygen levels due to climate change, and these changes are negatively affecting ocean life.
- A new report notes that, of 265 coal ash plants in the US that are required to report contamination data, contamination was found in the groundwater of 242 plants, including arsenic and lithium.
Did you know? …
- A report looks at the problem of white nationalists in the US military.
- A new report highlights that “Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, and low-income Californians are breathing in more pollution from vehicle traffic than their more affluent and white counterparts.”
- Law enforcement and wildlife agencies in the US and elsewhere are experimenting with turning to specially trained dogs as a nonlethal deterrent for “problem” bears.
Be sure to add this resource to your solutionary educator toolkit:
- Since Parkland is a joint adult and student journalist project that has captured the stories and repercussions of the 1,200 young people in the US who have been killed by guns in the 12 months since the Parkland shootings. One of the student reporters has written about her experience on the project.
Be sure to forward this to at least ONE person who would benefit from these resources.
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The post What’s New Wednesday 3-6-19: News & Resources for Educators & Solutionaries appeared first on Institute for Humane Education.