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Asia heat wave + Activists sabotage petrol pumps + Europe gas crisis + Next pandemic

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Climate change could ‘spark the next pandemic’ by driving animals and humans closer together
https://metro.co.uk/2022/04/29/climate-c...wsnow-feed

INTRO: Climate change could spark the next pandemic by pushing different types of wildlife closer to where humans live, scientists warned. This ecological shift will increase the risk of ‘zoonotic spillover’ – viruses that are transmitted to people, new research revealed.

Loss of habitat forces animals to migrate and potentially come into contact with other species, leading to an increase in the amount of germs spreading to humans. At least 15,000 new cross-species viral transmissions will occur – within the next 50 years.

The finding is based on the first comprehensive assessment of how global warming will restructure the mammalian virome – viruses that infect host cells. It focused on geographic range shifts – journeys undertaken to relocate into areas likely to have large human populations.

As they encounter other mammals for the first time, the study projects they will share thousands of viruses. These shifts will bring greater opportunities for viruses like Ebola or coronaviruses to emerge in new regions – making them harder to track.

They will emerge in new types of animals – leading to viruses jumping across a ‘stepping stone’ species into humans. A similar phenomenon is believed to be behind Covid-19 – which originated in bats.

Lead author Professor Colin Carlson, of Georgetown University in Washington DC, said: ‘The closest analogy is actually the risks we see in the wildlife trade. We worry about markets because bringing unhealthy animals together in unnatural combinations creates opportunities for this stepwise process of emergence – like how SARS jumped from bats to civets, then civets to people. But markets aren”t special anymore; in a changing climate, that kind of process will be the reality in nature just about everywhere.’ (MORE - details)


India and Pakistan suffer record-breaking heat wave with temperatures of up to 47C 'that leaves people gasping for air even in the shade'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...shade.html

KEY POINTS:
  • Schools shut and streets empty as south Asia suffers hottest March in 61 years
  • Temperatures hit 47 degrees Celsius - six to eight degrees above season average
  • Pakistani climate minister: 'It leaves people gasping in whatever shade they find'
  • 'Temperatures are rising rapidly and much earlier than usual': Indian PM Modi
  • Flash flood risk spikes as Himalayan glacial ice melts at new dangerous pace
  • Heat expected to go on into May and is caused by climate change, scientists say


Europe urged to free itself from climate-wrecking fossil fuel industry after Russia cuts off Poland and Bulgaria's gas
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/...ussia-cuts

INTRO: Environmentalists urged European governments to free themselves from the grip of the climate-wrecking fossil fuel industry today after Russia stopped supplying gas to Poland and Bulgaria.

Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled gas company, announced that it was turning off the taps because the Polish and Bulgarian governments had refused to pay for the fossil fuel in roubles as President Vladimir Putin had demanded following Western sanctions that have cut off Russian access to about half its foreign currency reserves.

Though both nations are reliant on Russian gas, which makes up 45 per cent of Poland’s supplies and 90 per cent of Bulgaria’s, their governments insisted that there would be no immediate shortage.

The European Union said in a statement that Gazprom’s action was “yet another attempt by Russia to use gas as an instrument of blackmail.”

EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said that the bloc was “prepared for this scenario.”

Greenpeace, however, accused the EU and Britain of hypocrisy, pointing out that both continue to bankroll the war in Ukraine through their imports of Russian fossil fuels... (MORE - details)

RELATED (scivillage): Russia’s halt of European gas could see ‘catastrophic’ winter prices


(UK) Activists sabotage petrol pumps
https://theecologist.org/2022/apr/29/act...trol-pumps

INTRO: Supporters of Just Stop Oil yesterday smashed display glass and covered it in spray paint at the pumps at Cobham Services in Surrey. Climate activists have sabotaged petrol pumps and blocked forecourts at two motorway service stations.

Supporters of Just Stop Oil smashed display glass and covered it in spray paint at the pumps at Cobham Services in Surrey and Clacket Lane Services in Kent at 7am on Thursday. They then glued themselves to the pumps, signs and the top of a lorry. The group also blocked motorists from entering the forecourts. Just Stop Oil had said 35 people were involved in the action.

One of the activists, Nathan McGovern, a 22-year-old student from Coventry, said: “I refuse to stand by and watch as heatwaves and drought murder people across the global south and families in the UK are forced to choose between eating and heating. If politicians and bureaucrats refuse to act then it falls on ordinary people to do what they will not.”

Just Stop Oil began its protests on April 1 and have described the sabotage of petrol pumps as “a significant escalation”. The move is reminiscent of Insulate Britain’s protests between September and November last year, when M25 junctions were repeatedly blocked.

It has carried out a series of blockades of fuel terminals in south-east England and the Midlands, and targeted several high-profile football matches. More than 1,000 arrests have been made... (MORE - details)
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