The Environmental A-Z…the letter D

Welcome to my new series…still an A-Z but with a difference …it’s not food-related!

In the meantime, the idea for this series came about because yes as my regular followers and commenters know I am passionate about the health of the world I am living in… however often when I am researching and reading articles I come across terms and have to look them up which spawned the idea for this…two-fold… it increases my knowledge and I hope yours…

The A-Z of the environment and Climate Change… letter D.

The best way to predict your future is to create it...Abraham Lincoln.

Deforestation:

The meaning:

Deforestation is the clearing of trees, transforming a wooded area into cleared land. … You can see the word forest in deforestation. The prefix de- means “remove” and the suffixation signals the act or state of. So deforestation is the act of removing a forest.

Deforestation refers to the decrease in forest areas across the world that are lost for other uses such as agricultural croplands, urbanization, or mining activities. Greatly accelerated by human activities since 1960, deforestation has been negatively affecting natural ecosystems, biodiversity, and the climate.

An Update:

There are areas like South East Asia where there is a downward trend BUT elsewhere and I do think the pandemic has been the cause for much to slip under the radar…The latest figures from Global Forest Watch are quite frankly alarming…

Primary forest loss was 12% higher in 2020 than the year before, and it was the second year in a row that primary forest loss worsened in the tropics.

I am getting to the stage now when I see that someone is promising to plant a tree for every bracelet or drink we buy…  I fear it is just publicity and hiding the bigger picture and that is what we should be focusing on…an example is mining in Venezuela…

The destruction can be seen from space. Satellite imagery of Las Claritas, a mining town in Bolívar state, shows tan scars sprawling out into the otherwise dense forest. Since 2016, Bolivar has lost 74,600 hectares of primary forest. Amazonas has lost 76,850 hectares, which is almost 1.5 times the amount of loss from the prior 15 years combined.

Dioxins:

Dioxins are a group of highly toxic chemical compounds that are harmful to health. They can cause problems with reproduction, development, and the immune system. They can also disrupt hormones and lead to cancer. Known as persistent environmental pollutants (POPs), dioxins can remain in the environment for many years.

The major identified sources of environmental releases of dioxin-like compounds are grouped into six broad categories: combustion sources, metals smelting, refining and process sources, chemical manufacturing sources, natural sources, and environmental reservoirs.

Dioxins are found throughout the world in the environment. The highest levels of these compounds are found in some soils, sediments and food, especially dairy products, meat, fish and shellfish. Very low levels are found in plants, water and air.

This is why we should be avoiding mass-produced processed foods and know where our meat, fish and shellfish come from and also know that it is not susceptible to secondary contamination…which is what happens when strict processing guidelines are not in place or practised…

I agree we should not have to police every aspect of our food sources but unfortunately, it has reached the point where we have to…Many known illnesses and conditions are a direct result of Dioxins…it is down to us to safeguard our families and our own health…

This is why I am a firm believer that we should not be fixated on calories we should instead fixate on chemicals in our foods…Cheap foods are off the menu or should be… there are ways and means of eating healthily without breaking our budgets…

Dumping:

Is a worldwide problem…if it is environmental dumping then we need to know our individual towns policies or nations policies…for town policies, we can address our local candidates and the same for National policies…we need to vote wisely…

On a personal level…cigarette butts, sweet/cigarette packaging, cotton buds…I can stand outside my local shop and in the space of a few minutes watch as someone walks out opening a packet and casually dropping it…they are waiting for someone and having a cigarette and then flicking it when finished…multiple that around the world we are just as liable of dumping…

cigarette butt

Environmental dumping is the practice of transfrontier shipment of waste (household waste, industrial/nuclear waste, etc.) from one country to another. … The economic benefit of this practice is cheap disposal or recycling of waste without the economic regulations of the original country.

Although I understand some of the changes and what we can do to slow it down however I also know that the earth has gone through changes over the centuries so how much can we manipulate and stop what is happening and how much is just a fact of life ???

That’s all for today…I hope I have explained it in layman terms and made some things clearer as I believe we should all have a clearer picture in our minds as to what we can change and how…

See you in two weeks for the letter E…next Wednesday it will be Part 3 of the new A-Z on food and terms with the middle letter being D as in hotDogs.

Thank you for reading and please leave a comment if you feel a need… I love to chat it makes my day…Love Carol x

 

44 thoughts on “The Environmental A-Z…the letter D”

  2. OIKOS™-Editorial

    Saving our environment the next generations will have to do a lot. Once the forests are cleared, it will take decades to be able to serve the climate again. We will have to pay states to preserve their forests. Really, those cigarette filters are bad. For years I have only been smoking cigarettes without filters, I rolled myself. 😉 Thanks for raising awareness, Carol! We have to stay alert, otherwise we’ll be like in the movie “Wall.E”. Michael

    Liked by 1 person

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  4. koolkosherkitchen

    I am just as disgusted with littering the streets and dumping trash as you are, dear friend! Here, in the midst of the “tourist playground,” no municipal efforts are sufficient to keep our streets clean. I always wonder: do these people behave the same way at home?

    Liked by 2 people

      1. koolkosherkitchen

        Perhaps… While on vacation, they want to rest from social norms like cleaning after themselves. Makes sense. Most of them are drunk or high on all kinds of substances, it seems, so there is no common sense or sense of decency to appeal to.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Pingback: The Environmental A-Z…the letter D – MobsterTiger

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      That is disgusting, Pete they should try and trace people especially if there are boxes with an address on then name and shame and wack them with a big fine…x

      Liked by 1 person

      1. beetleypete

        The people who might have their names on the rubbish are mostly ‘ordinary’ householders who have paid what they presumed to be a ‘reputable’ company to dispose of their rubbish. Then these fly tippers just dump it anywhere. Many of them are from the so-called ‘Traveller community’, looking to make easy cash that cannot be traced.

        Liked by 1 person

      5. Liz Gauffreau

        It’s hard to fathom the current disregard for the planet in this day and age. It’s not like we’re in the seventeenth cenury when it appeared that natural resources (particuarly in the New World) were inexhaustible and ours for the taking/destroying.

        Liked by 1 person

  9. Jane Sturgeon

    I saw a program by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall where he went to Malaysia and showed the rubbish that was being transported there from the UK and Canada, mainly. They were burning it and so many local people were getting sick. He spent most of the program in tears as did those of us who watched. There was a ‘hole’ in the paperwork system that was allowing the containers in and a move from environmental groups to close the loophole and have the containers returned to the country of origin. I recall lies had been told on the original paperwork. It’s all gone quiet on this front, Carol and just like you say, a lot must be slipping under the radar with advent of Covid. Great post from you. ❤ Xx

    Liked by 2 people

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      Thank you, Jane I watched that one as well..it was shocking…Most recently I watched Seaspiracy and it is shocking that tuna and salmon with the sustainability labels on are not and the CEO admitted it on film it was also shown that these charities and organisations are all linked to the manufacturers and the people handing out licences to dupe the consumer into believing(at) a cost that the product they are buying is sustainable and caught ethically..all a lie… a big fat lie…I was so angry watching it and I am not radical but am becoming that way and where I live did not come out of it covered in roses either so I will not be buying or eating anything I haven’t caught or grown myself …Luckily we belong to a farming family and between us we cover most produce and meat..we have a lake and fish which mean’s I won’t have the choice of fish for example but it is what it is and unless I am 100% certain of what I am buying I won’t be…rant over…sorry, Jane xx

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Jane Sturgeon

        What you say is heartfelt, Carol. I hadn’t heard of Seaspiracy, so I will watch it. I buy fruit and veg from a local greengrocer and he sources locally. I am starting my planting this year, now that I have a garden. I agree with you. Hugs. Xxx

        Liked by 1 person

  10. marisselee

    I just told Doc that if he tries to see humans through the lens of Carol Taylor (environmental concerns because while I was reading his post I remember the article you wrote where orangutans are being displaced) then he will agree with me that humans are unique (not in a good way, lol!)

    Liked by 2 people

      1. marisselee

        Lol! We were having exchange about the issue of AI and he was arguing that humans are not so unique as we think. And I can understand his POV except that when I wrote my comment, I was thinking of the article you wrote several months back.

        Liked by 1 person

  11. petespringerauthor

    I have such little patience for those who dump their trash wherever they feel like it. This is probably an American phenomenon, but one bizarre thing people have started doing in the last few years is put something like furniture in front of their house and write “free” on it. I suppose that’s better than dumping it on the side of the road somewhere.

    Liked by 4 people

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      We do that..we don’t even have to write free it just goes…lol…I must admit I have little patience with people who drop rubbish…with the kids I make them go back and pick it up they soon learn 🙂 x

      Liked by 2 people

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