This week #funding for #Antarctic #science was cut by $25 million, at a time when Antarctic ice loss is critically low (2.6 million square kilometers of sea ice have been lost, currently at the lowest levels in at least 120 yr). As a result of these budget cuts, important science projects including surveys of sea-ice thickness have been cancelled. Meanwhile, $200 million in funding has just been announced by the same government in the same week for #sports.
Virtually every news broadcast has a dedicated sports segment played on (very frequent) loop around the clock in Australia. We have dedicated sports channels, radio blocked out for days at time. Our children can rattle off their favourite players jersey numbers along with endless stats about who won what game or medal. Yet when I speak with school groups NONE can answer the question “who’s your favourite Australian scientist?”. We are so fortunate to have WORLDCLASS scientists in Australia! Those individuals don’t do it for fame or fortune. In fact, most are employed on horrendous casual contracts, massively overworked, burdened with #ecogrief and woefully underpaid. They don’t get airtime. Their selflessness and dedication to the voiceless (nature) and greater good isn’t celebrated. We don’t win medals.

FFS Australia, teach your children about the real heroes. Fund those working to make society a better, safer, fairer place. Stop being distracted by pretty shiny things. Please, we are 💯 running out of time! #ClimateCrisis #BrainDrain #BiodiversityCrisis #PollutionCrisis

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/aug/22/ive-spent-40-years-in-antarctic-research-right-now-its-facing-a-climate-emergency-so-we-must-not-put-vital-science-on-ice

https://amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/19/albanese-government-to-pledge-200m-for-womens-sport-after-matildas-inspire-australia

Around the world, researchers are fighting a losing battle to save the world’s #linguistic #diversity. The most optimistic estimates suggest that half the estimated 5,000 #languages spoken today, from Siberia to the Australian Outback, Africa to the Amazon, could vanish by the end of the century.

https://rainforestjournalismfund.org/stories/race-extract-indigenous-language-its-last-lucid-speaker

#Deforestation #Degradation #Displacement #pollutioncrisis #ExtractiveEconomy

#Coverup exposed:A #California #jury has returned a $63 million verdict against #Chevron after finding the oil giant covered up a #toxicchemical pit on land purchased by a man who built a house on it and was later diagnosed with blood #cancer.

https://www.pressherald.com/2023/06/09/jury-returns-63-million-verdict-after-finding-chevron-covered-up-toxic-pit-on-california-land/

#KeepItInTheGround #pollutioncrisis

Letter to UNEP signed by more than 170 organizations that called on the secretariat to address the #conflictofinterest from the #fossilfuel #industry and ensure that independent scientists, folks most impacted by the #plastic #pollutioncrisis, including #frontline communities, #Indigenous communities and #workers, were going to be front and center in how we transition away from plastics and away from a #fossilfuel-based economy.

https://www.democracynow.org/2023/6/6/global_plastics_pollution_treaty_talks_shaped?utm_source=Democracy+Now%21&utm_campaign=342694d7c3-Daily_Digest_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fa2346a853-342694d7c3-191923653

Inside the EPA’s close relationship with a Montana mining company — High Country News – Know the West
#ButteMT #MTMines #MTMining #pollutioncrisis #pollution #WaterPollution #Montana

https://www.hcn.org/articles/mining-inside-the-epas-close-relationship-with-a-montana-mining-company

Shout out to everyone with asthma. Spending Sunday in bed watching tv isn’t always as relaxing as it would seem.
Triggered today by carbon monoxide levels in my city at 345, NO2 is also at 45, PM2.5 is 13, and PM10 is at 14. A combination that has my lungs hurting all the way through to my back. Never a fun way to wake up.
Inhaler is only taking the edge off. I’ve got another hour before I can break out the nebulizer.
#asthma #SundayAfternoon #PollutionCrisis #airquality #ClimateChange

Fuck #plastic #PollutionCrisis

@Andy_Scollick it's taken forever to get climate change on the map, and many have had their backs turned. As you know, it's not even (yet) the most serious of the planetary boundary breaches. I think these two images capture the essence of the problem.

#CarbonTunnelVision #PlanetaryBoundaries #BiodiversityCrisis #ClimateCrisis #ExtinctionCrisis #PollutionCrisis #LandUseCrisis
#ConsumptionCrisis #PopulationCrisis #Degrowth