Edition 19: Animals taking back the world

(This newsletter was sent to email subscribers on April 10, 2020.)

Happy Friday, muggles. We wanted to take a break from the difficult stories in our feed to celebrate the oldest person to have beaten COVID-19: A 104-year-old Italian woman. She’s clearly a fighter, as she also survived the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. While she settles back into her daily routine, let’s jump into ours: reading up on this week’s lesser-known stories.

GOVERNMENT

For the first time, U.S. names a white supremacist group as terrorists

Mon April 6

The U.S. has taken the label of “terrorist group” — frequently used to describe Islamist extremists — and applied it to a white nationalist group based in Russia.

What does this do? The label is more than a historic first. Practically, it allows the government to take more aggressive actions against the group, such as:

• Freezing any American assets owned by the organization
• Bringing terrorism-related charges against anyone who engages in financial deals with the group
• Preventing its members from entering the U.S.

Similar sanctions have also been applied to three of the group’s leaders, who have been officially named as terrorists. Although it has not been officially sponsored by the Russian government, the group has previously recruited fighters to help pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine.

Supreme Court rejects a petition to allow religious advertisements on public transit

Mon Apr 6

The challenge was made by the Catholic Church in 2018. They argued that the Washington D.C. transit system violated the Church’s free speech by refusing to accept religious ads.

The Court’s conservative members were interested in the case, but they did not have enough votes to approve the petition. If the Church’s challenge had succeeded, transit systems in the U.S. would have been required to accept *all* types of advertisements, including ones that criticized other religious beliefs.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISM

Pakistani court removes death sentence for the terrorist who murdered a journalist

Thurs Apr 2

Months after the terror attacks on Sept 11, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was murdered by religious extremists in Karachi, Pakistan. Now, eighteen years later, a court has overturned the original convictions, essentially letting the extremists go free.

Back to 2002 …

After Pearl’s execution was recorded and released online, an extremist named Omar Saeed Sheikh was apprehended and sentenced to death; his three accomplices received life sentences.

Last Thursday …

The Karachi court overturned two of Sheikh’s three convictions: murder and terrorism. His third charge was reduced from kidnapping for ransom to a simple kidnapping, lowering his sentence to just seven years — which would have already been served. Meanwhile, the three accomplices had their life sentences completely overturned.

The news sparked international outrage, prompting the Pakistani government to intervene. On Friday, April 3, one day after the prisoners were exonerated, they were rearrested. The government intends to reconsider their acquittal in the Supreme Court.

ENVIRONMENT

Researchers find creative ways to collect microfiber samples from our environment

Mon Apr 6

Every time we wash our clothes, microfibers — a form of microplastic — from synthetic fabrics are released into our environment. And for years, researchers have been finding them everywhere: in tap water, in the ocean, and in the air we breathe.

To understand the prevalence of microfibers in our environment, researchers are collecting samples from all over the world in unique and creative ways, such as:

• Tapping into an international network of colleagues, to obtain samples from faraway places such as the North Pole
• Placing squares of sticky tape on a plane, to measure concentrations of airborne microfibers in different parts of the world
• Soaking different synthetic and cellulose-based fabrics in the ocean for months, to track their rate of degradation and see if cellulose fabrics can become a biodegradable replacement for fast fashion producers

What do these microfibers do?

Short answer: We don’t know yet. We know that microfibers are difficult to break down — as one polyester swatch remained mostly intact after 200 days in the ocean — and have likely absorbed environmental contaminants during the textile manufacturing process. Early research suggests that microfibers may stunt reproductive development in crustaceans and sea urchins.

“They’re affecting the ecosystem in ways we’re not aware of. We don’t know if they generate cell stress, or are responsible for chronic disease, or if they can irritate the lungs.” — Dr. Dimitri Deheyn, Scripps Institute of Oceanography (NYT)

ANIMALS

Cougars venture into Chile’s empty residential streets

Tues Apr 7

With many shelter-at-home orders in effect, wild animals are starting to venture into the now quiet city streets. So far, three cougars have been caught exploring in residential areas — most recently, inside an apartment complex. No human injuries have been reported, and at least one of the three cougars has been released back into its natural habitat.

Turtles take back their nesting grounds, laying 60 million eggs

Tues Mar 31

With tourists and fishermen staying home, the Rushikulya River beach in east India has been taken over by new visitors: hundreds of thousands of olive tortoises. Normally, such a rare sighting would have been disrupted by human spectators, or even poachers. This year, however, these endangered creatures are able to thrive and experts estimate that they may have laid 60 million eggs!

USDA speeds up poultry production beyond industry limits

Fri Apr 3

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) has started giving waivers that would allow poultry plants to increase their line speeds to 175 chickens per minute — overriding the industry’s current limit of 140 per minute.

Why does this matter?

Union representatives believe that speeding up production will make it harder for workers to spot problems *and* increase their risk of injury. On the production line, chicken carcasses have to be inspected for fecal matter and symptoms of disease, a process they say is already difficult for workers to keep up with under the industry’s current limit. Also, thanks to a USDA program launched in 2014, some of these facilities only have one inspector per production line — compared to past years when they had four.

One environment advocacy group is urging the USDA to revoke these waivers, but the organization seems unlikely to do so. So far, 39 total facilities have been authorized.

In related news: An employee in a poultry plant has died, soon after she was ordered to come into work while sick. Her death has highlighted the dangers that slaughterhouse workers face during the pandemic, as they are usually stationed in close quarters. Although corporate spokespeople say their companies are implementing protective measures in their facilities, employees and union representatives say they aren’t doing enough.

Updates on previous stories

• Last week, an anti-abortion group in Texas tried to use the governor’s executive order to ban the procedure during the pandemic, and it seems that they might get their wish: A court of appeals has just stalled a new policy that would have protected residents’ access to abortion during the crisis. (Original Story)
• In March, a tornado caught many Tennessee residents unaware, due to a lack of preparedness for tornadoes that strike at night. Communities may need to consider implementing more advanced warning systems, as warmer temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico may be an early predictor for stronger hurricane and tornado seasons to come. (Original Story)

That’s all for this week. Have a magical weekend.✨

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