RSN: Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner | Please Take Care of You
04 October 22
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Perhaps it is presumptuous, but we like to imagine that when we send out our notes to all of you, they arrive in your inboxes like messages from a friend.
Sure, the subject matters we discuss are often weighty — the state of world affairs, the dangers of our current political climate, and other news items that are dominating the headlines. But we strive for a tone that is not too formal or strident. We may confront serious topics, but we try not to take ourselves too seriously.
The goal is to hopefully stay true to the title of this publication. We see “steady” as meaning that we should consider context, seek balance, and understand that our world, and we ourselves, are complicated.
Our world is chaotic, depressing in many ways, a place that has no shortage of launch pads for despair, anxiety, and sadness.
The message we want to share today, however, is a bit different. In a feedback loop of an unrelenting news cycle that includes war, natural disasters, and the deep threat to our democratic norms and values, it is sometimes difficult to feel like there is any place we can pull over the metaphorical car that is driving the thoughts of our mind.
But just as with the best road trips, if we are too focused on the destination, we may miss the beauty of the journey. So this Sunday we hope to inspire you to stop for a moment to look around. Hopefully you are in a place where you can see some of the beauty and joy of life and our world.
We find it in people helping each other in times of need.
We find it in time spent with loved ones and friends.
We find it in going for a walk, tending a garden, reading a book, or just staring out the window.
We hear it in a favorite piece of music.
We smell it from something baking in the oven.
We feel it with the wind on our face.
So that is our message this Sunday. We hope you can take a moment for yourself today, and in the week ahead.
Life is full of its pain. But we must find those moments of joy, of connectedness, of togetherness, of beauty.
Please take care of you.
Ukrainian forces on a tank pass a pontoon bridge over the Oskil River in the Kharkiv region on Oct. 3. (photo: Heidi Levine/The Washington Post)
The gains showed Kyiv continuing to recapture occupied territory on the same day that President Vladimir Putin and his rubber-stamp parliament sought to formalize their increasingly far-fetched “annexation” of four Ukrainian regions.
“The Ukrainian armed forces commanders in the south and east are throwing problems at the Russian chain of command faster than the Russians can effectively respond,” said a Western official who briefed reporters about sensitive security information on the condition of anonymity. “And this is compounding the existing dysfunction within the Russian invasion force.”
Ukraine has been pushing to take back as much of its occupied territory as it can before Russia potentially sends hundreds of thousands of reinforcements to the battlefield, following a recent mobilization effort.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive, which had moved far more slowly in the south compared to the lightning push through the northeastern Kharkiv region in September, has suddenly picked up speed, with Russian units retreating in recent days from a large swath of territory along the west bank of the Dnieper River.
Ukrainian forces pushed ahead dozens of miles into the southern Kherson region, liberating towns and villages and re-creating scenes from mid-September when they swept into Kharkiv and were greeted by joyful residents who had spent many months under Russian occupation.
On Monday, the spokesperson for the Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged that “superior tank units” of Ukraine had “wedged in the depth of our defense line” near the villages of Zolota Balka and Oleksandrivka in the Kherson region.
Overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine’s 129th Brigade from his native city of Kryvyi Rih had liberated the settlements of Arkhanhelske and Myrolyubivka.
A video shared on social media by soldiers from the 35th Marine Infantry Brigade of Ukraine’s navy showed the capture of Davydiv Brid, which delivered a major blow to Russian supply lines in the Kherson region.
Regaining control of Kherson, a rich agricultural region whose capital is an important port where the Dnieper flows into the Black Sea, is critical for Ukraine. The capital was the first significant city captured by Russia at the start of its invasion in late February, and its loss would be a severe setback for Russia — strategically crippling for the military and politically humiliating for Putin.
Kherson, the only position the Russians hold west of the Dnieper, is a potential strategic springboard for Russia to launch any future offensive down the Black Sea coast toward the storied port city of Odessa.
Ukrainian officials had touted an operation to liberate Kherson for months, potentially drawing Russian troops away from Kharkiv. But until now, Ukrainian forces had struggled in the south, suffering heavy casualties but making few territorial advances.
The Ukrainian gains in Kherson follow the recapture over the weekend of the strategic transit hub of Lyman, in eastern Donetsk. The Ukrainians then pushed through Lyman, apparently intent on extending their gains into Luhansk, the region where Russia has maintained its strongest grip.
The collapse of the Russian position in Lyman was notable because it occurred just as Putin was claiming that the city and all of Donetsk region, along with Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, were annexed and restored to Russia as part of its historical lands. But unlike in Kharkiv, where Moscow ordered a retreat, Russian forces had apparently been told to defend Lyman.
“All Russian forces withdrew in poor order, suffering high casualties from artillery fire as they attempted to leave the town to the East,” the Western official said of Lyman, comparing it to Kharkiv. “Then, as you recall, troops received an order to cede the territory,” the official said. “But in Lyman, we think that the Russian troops retreated despite orders to defend and remain.”
“Relinquishing this area is exactly what the Kremlin did not want to happen,” the official said.
As a result, Russian control over the Luhansk region, which was mostly uncontested since June, is now also in jeopardy.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank, said that geolocated footage corroborates statements from Russian military figures that Ukrainian troops are continuing their advance east of Lyman, apparently gearing up for a fight over the town of Kreminna.
The new round of Russian setbacks revived quibbling over Kremlin strategy among pro-Russian military bloggers, who for months have provided a more detailed and less censored look into the Russian war campaign compared to official military reports.
“I am now being reproached for driving people into depression with my news,” Alexander Kots, a military correspondent for Komsomlskaya Pravda newspaper, wrote Tuesday on his Telegram blog, which has more than 600,000 subscribers. “Well, there will be no good news in the near future neither from the Kherson front, nor from now Luhansk.”
“In many sectors the fatigue has set in after a long offensive period, during which large territories have been liberated,” Kots added. “But there is no longer any strength left to hold them.”
Videos posted by Russian independent outlet Astra show pro-Russian fighters from the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic camping out in an open field and complaining that Russian commanders abandoned them while withdrawing.
In the videos, a man in worn-out fatigues said the Russians’ losses in the area were huge, with only 193 survivors and a few pieces of heavy equipment left from their initial convoy. The Washington Post could not independently verify the video clips.
Another popular Russian war blogger, known as Rybar, posted maps showing how the Russian hold on the Kherson region shrank dramatically in the span of just a few hours. Losing the west bank of the Dnieper River to Ukrainian control would be “an immediate danger” for remaining Russian units in the area, Rybar wrote to his nearly 1 million followers.
As Russia was retreating on the battlefield, Zelensky on Tuesday signed a decree formally refusing any negotiations with Putin — a largely symbolic move to show Kyiv’s confidence in how developments are unfolding on the battlefield.
Meanwhile, the political theater continued in Moscow, where the Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, rubber-stamped Putin’s annexation of the four Ukrainian regions
Putin and other officials have warned that Russia would feel entitled to defend its newly seized territories by all possible means — including, potentially, the use of nuclear weapons.
The annexation legislation now passes back to the Kremlin for Putin’s final signature, which from Russia’s perspective would complete the process of seizing more than 15 percent of all Ukrainian sovereign territory. Officials said Putin was likely to sign on Tuesday.
Putin’s brazen land-grab attempt was met with overwhelming international condemnation. Even countries that traditionally maintain closer ties to Moscow, such as Turkey and Serbia, joined Western nations in refusing to recognize the annexation.
North Korea, however, said it would recognize Russia’s new borders.
Putin is now apparently betting on the unpopular mobilization drive that aims to call up hundreds of thousands of men to help hold ground in the annexed regions.
On Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that more than 200,000 men have been sent to the Russian armed forces in the two weeks since Putin announced the mobilization on Sept. 21.
At the same time, the interior minister in neighboring Kazakhstan, Marat Akhmetzhanov, said that an equivalent number of Russians — about 200,000 — had crossed that country’s border since Sept. 21, most of them apparently fleeing the mobilization or leaving out of fear that Putin would soon impose martial law and bar international travel. Tens of thousands more Russians have fled to other neighboring countries, including Georgia and Finland.
The botched mobilization has led to severe recriminations in Russia, with some governors expressing fury that men who are too old or otherwise unqualified are being wrongly called to duty.
Shoigu, the defense minister, tried to answer a torrent of recent reports on Russian social media from mobilized men and their family members complaining about the lack of appropriate equipment in military units, which forced some newly minted soldiers to seek protective gear themselves.
“Officials have been instructed to provide the mobilized with the necessary sets of clothing and other equipment,” Shoigu said, adding that 80 training grounds across Russia are now accepting newly mobilized soldiers.
But there were signs that Russia was not able to properly equip its recruits.
Prices of bulletproof vests have dramatically increased in Russia over the past two weeks, with some stores hiking the prices more than tenfold, local media reported. In total, a soldier looking to purchase a full uniform appropriate for fighting in Ukraine would have to spend roughly $3,000 out of pocket, the Baza news outlet reported.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. (photo: Drew Angerer/Getty)
The President and vice president are set to announce two additional steps toward boosting abortion protections at the meeting, which is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET. White House Gender Policy Council director Jen Klein said in a 100-day report obtained by CNN that the moves build on existing efforts toward protecting reproductive health care at the federal level, including executive actions announced over the summer.
The Department of Education is releasing guidance for universities reiterating the Title IX requirement that institutions protect students from discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, including pregnancy termination, Klein said.
And the Department of Health and Human Services is announcing more than $6 million in Title X grants to “protect and expand access to reproductive health care and improve service delivery, promote the adoption of healthy behaviors, and reduce existing health disparities.”
The moves from the administration are the latest reaction from Biden to the ruling.
In August, Biden signed an executive order that will help women travel out of state to receive abortions, ensure health care providers comply with federal law so women aren’t delayed in getting care and advances research and data collection on the matter. And in July, he signed another executive order that he said would safeguard access to abortion care and contraceptives, protect patient privacy and establish a task force on reproductive health care access with members from multiple departments across the government. The White House has also kept up a public pressure campaign, reacting to state efforts to restrict abortion access.
Klein renewed calls for Congress to pass legislation to codify the protections established in Roe as she lambasted “extreme steps” from Republican elected officials at the state and national level, pointing to proposed abortion ban legislation from Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and other moves at the state level, including abortion bans in effect in more than a dozen states affecting nearly 30 million women of reproductive age.
“The result is that in 100 days, millions of women cannot access critical health care and doctors and nurses are facing criminal penalties for providing health care,” Klein warned.
Biden and Harris will be joined at Tuesday’s meeting by Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young and Office of Science and Technology Policy Dr. Arati Prabhakar.
A picture of Los Angeles Police Officer Houston Tipping is set on the deck where his memorial was held at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Los Angeles. (photo: Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)
Houston Tipping died in a training incident, and the LAPD ruled it an accident. An attorney for his family says it may have been an act of retaliation.
Officer Houston Tipping, a five-year veteran of the LAPD, died of a spinal cord injury on May 26 while practicing a maneuver that involved grappling another officer, the department reported at the time. It was during this maneuver that Tipping, 32, was allegedly dropped on his head, causing a catastrophic injury to his spine, according to police.
But attorney Bradley Gage and Tipping’s family believe the officer was beaten to death, and that the department’s version of events doesn’t tell the entire story. During a Monday press conference, Gage said Tipping was actively investigating an alleged gang rape carried out by four members of the LAPD in July 2021, at least one of whom was present when Tipping died.
“Our investigation has uncovered claims that one of the officers accused of sexual assault was at the training where officer Houston Tipping eventually died,” he said. “We have a witness that claimed that this occurred. We have documents that claim this occurred. And we also know from his family that officer Tipping, after spending a few years happy at LAPD, following these events, was searching for a job outside of the LAPD. [They say] he did not say why, but he clearly was distraught over something.”
Gage did not reveal the name of the officer who he claims was being investigated and was present when Tipping died.
Gage first called out unexplained issues with Tipping’s autopsy, which ruled the officer’s death an accident. In a July press conference, the attorney pointed out that in addition to the spinal cord injury, Tipping suffered a collapsed lung, severe liver damage, and several broken ribs. The attorney also showed that Tipping had six staples in his head at the time of his death.
“When you look at all these horrific injuries, the truth is something went seriously wrong here,” he said. “I can not fathom anything other than a severe beating. This raises a number of questions that the family would like to have answered.”
Gage said Tuesday that according to medical records obtained by the legal team, a LUCAS device, which works as an automatic CPR machine that can be used to help an incapacitated officer, was never used. This device has the ability to break a patient’s ribs, but without its use on record, there are few explanations for Tipping’s injuries other than a use of force.
When the legal team requested records relating to the training that took place the day Tipping died, Gage says the LAPD has said video footage of the training doesn’t exist. Gage says he and Tipping’s family don’t believe this, as the LAPD not only has access to surveillance footage at the training center in Elysian Park Academy but training sessions are typically recorded.
Earlier this year, Tipping’s mother, Shirley Huffman, filed a wrongful death claim against the LAPD, accusing members of the department of assaulting her son.
In June, LAPD Police Chief Michael Moore denied that Tipping was beaten by officers.
“We also grieve his tragic death and I’m committed to ensuring that the investigation is comprehensive in understanding how this accident occurred and what added safeguards or other steps can be taken to ensure that it’s never experienced again,” Moore told the Los Angeles Daily News.
When reached for comment, the LAPD told VICE News it would not provide a statement about pending litigation.
'Pro-life' Herschel Walker, the Republican nominee in Georgia’s senate race, paid for girlfriend’s abortion. (photo: Getty)
The woman has receipts—and a “get well” card she says the football star, now a Senate candidate, sent her.
But the Republican candidate has supported at least one exception—for himself.
A woman who asked not to be identified out of privacy concerns told The Daily Beast that after she and Walker conceived a child while they were dating in 2009 he urged her to get an abortion. The woman said she had the procedure and that Walker reimbursed her for it.
She supported these claims with a $575 receipt from the abortion clinic, a “get well” card from Walker, and a bank deposit receipt that included an image of a signed $700 personal check from Walker.
The woman said there was a $125 difference because she “ball-parked” the cost of an abortion after Googling the procedure and added on expenses such as travel and recovery costs.
Additionally, The Daily Beast independently corroborated details of the woman’s claims with a close friend she told at the time and who, according to the woman and the friend, took care of her in the days after the procedure.
The woman said Walker, who was not married at the time, told her it would be more convenient to terminate the pregnancy, saying it was “not the right time” for him to have a child. It was a feeling she shared, but what she didn’t know was that Walker had an out-of-wedlock child with another woman earlier that same year.
Asked if Walker ever expressed regret for the decision, the woman said Walker never had. Asked why she came forward, the woman pointed to Walker’s hardline anti-abortion position.
“I just can’t with the hypocrisy anymore,” she said. “We all deserve better.”
After The Daily Beast reached out to the Walker campaign for comment, Robert Ingram, a lawyer representing both the campaign and Walker in his personal capacity, responded.
“This is a false story,” Ingram said in a phone call, adding that he based that conclusion on anonymous sources.
“All you want to do is run with stories to target Black conservatives,” he said. “You focus on Black conservatives.”
Ingram asked The Daily Beast to disclose the identity of the woman, but we declined.
After the story published, Walker released a statement in which he called the story a "flat-out lie" and said he denied it in the "strongest possible terms."
"I'm not taking this anymore. I planning [sic] to sue the Daily Beast for this defamatory lie. It will be filed tomorrow morning," he said.
Meanwhile, Herschel's adult son, Christian Walker, lashed out on Twitter—in defense of The Daily Beast and against his father.
“Every family member of Herschel Walker asked him not to run for office, because we all knew (some of) his past. Every single one,” Walker tweeted.
“He decided to give us the middle finger and air out all of his dirty laundry in public, while simultaneously lying about it.
“I’m done.”
According to the $575 receipt, the abortion took place on Sept. 12, 2009. And according to the Bank of America deposit receipt, Walker wrote the woman a check for $700 on Sept. 17, 2009. The check was deposited two days later.
The woman, who also provided proof of her romantic relationship with Walker, told The Daily Beast that he mailed her the check inside the “get well” card.
The front of that card features a drawing of a steaming cup of tea and reads, “Rest, Relax…” The message continues on the inside of the card: “…Recover.”
The card is signed, “Pray you are feeling better,” with an “H” in Walker’s distinctive autograph flourish.
The woman, a registered Democrat who still communicates with Walker, said he did not tell her about his plan to run for the Senate before his announcement in August 2021. Since then, however, one of Walker’s top surrogates has asked her repeatedly if she would be willing to vouch for his character, reaching out as recently as this August.
In a 40-minute phone call this June about one of his out-of-wedlock children, The Daily Beast pressed Walker repeatedly on whether he had ever knowingly had an abortion with any of his past partners. After dodging the question multiple times, he ultimately said he had not.
Weeks later, a Democratic activist pretending to be a Walker supporter posed the same question at a campaign event, asking the NFL star whether he had ever “funded” or “caused somebody to have an abortion.”
“No,” Walker replied twice, which the activist recorded on video.
Walker is running in one of the most important races in the country, and the outcome could determine which party controls the Senate. It’s also one of the closest races in the country, with recent polls showing Walker just behind his Democratic opponent, incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock.
But Walker—who according to his ex-wife held a gun to her head and was “gonna blow my brains out”—has been continually rocked by reports that he has lied about his past and covered up several love children. Still, the claim that he not only urged a romantic partner to have an abortion but paid for it could be the most explosive revelation yet.
Following the Supreme Court’s repeal of Roe v. Wade in July, abortion rights have become a pivotal campaign issue across the country. The ruling fueled spikes in voter registration and turnout in contests nationwide, especially among women. A recent CBS/YouGov survey found that likely Georgia voters who said the abortion issue is “very important” were more than twice as likely to support Warnock, 67 percent to Walker’s 32 percent.
In such an environment, many Republicans vying for mainstream support in tight races have tried to play to the center, hoping not to alienate women voters.
Not Walker.
Abortion has been front and center in Georgia for months—thanks in large part to Walker’s own comments. The University of Georgia football icon has drawn media attention with his outspoken, absolutist position in support of a total ban, both statewide and federally. He has repeatedly likened the procedure to murder, and does not support any exceptions, including for rape, incest, or the life of the mother—instances Walker has dismissed as “excuses.”
“There’s no exception in my mind,” Walker told reporters in May. “Like I say, I believe in life. I believe in life.”
Walker has also said that his anti-abortion position is not a recent shift, claiming last month that he has “always” been “for life.”
Two weeks ago, Walker broke with other Senate candidates when he volunteered his support for a 15-week federal ban put forth by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Other candidates ducked comment on the Graham proposal, but Walker told Politico that, if elected, he “WOULD” back such a bill.
“Raphael Warnock wants to protect the killing of babies right up to the moment of birth. We need to do better,” Walker told Politico in a statement. “I am a proud pro-life Christian, and I will always stand up for our unborn children. I believe the issue should be decided at the state level, but I WOULD support this policy.”
At a July campaign event for Georgia farmers, Walker was asked if he thought voters would have the state’s recently passed ban in mind when they cast ballots in November.
“People aren’t concerned about that,” Walker said, according to The Gainesville Times. “People are concerned about the gas, they’re concerned about food. They’re not even talking about that. That’s not what I’m hearing about.”
Four days earlier, Walker said at another campaign stop that “there’s not a national ban on abortion right now and I think that’s a problem. I’m pro-life and I’m not going to make an excuse for it.”
While that stance may lose some voters, it has endeared him to anti-abortion advocates, who have held him up as a champion for the cause.
“Herschel Walker will be a most effective champion for unborn babies and their mothers in Washington and he has demonstrated the passion and perseverance it takes to win the critically important Georgia Senate race,” said Carol Tobias, the president of National Right to Life, whose group endorsed Walker over his Republican primary opponents in April.
Walker is twice-married, with four known children, all from different mothers. The Daily Beast revealed in July that Walker had lied to his own campaign staff when he denied the existence of two of those children, whom Walker had also kept from the public for years despite speaking out against fatherless homes in the Black community.
One of those children was born the same year Walker paid for the abortion.
The next year, 2010, Walker told radio host Howard Stern he had only slept with two women in his life.
Walker claims he is a devout Christian, and he often invokes his faith to justify his anti-abortion position, including on the campaign trail.
“To say that it is OK for a woman to kill her baby when [God] said ‘Thou shall not kill.’ And I said, you know, I can’t, I can’t square it,” Walker said at a conservative Christian values roundtable this August. “I can’t get around that.”
Protestors cheer in support of the military junta during a march in support of the military take over in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 25 January 2022. (photo: Lambert Ouedraogo/EPA-EFE)
The western African nation of Burkina Faso is facing its second military coup in eight months. After a day of gunfire rang out Friday in the capital Ouagadougou, Captain Ibrahim Traoré announced on public television that he had replaced Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba as president. Corinne Dufka, West Africa director at Human Rights Watch, says Damiba’s inability to improve security in the face of an Islamist insurgency was “the primary reason for the coup d’état.” We also speak with Aziz Fall, coordinator for Justice for Sankara, an international campaign dedicated to uncovering the truth behind the 1987 assassination of Burkina Faso leader Thomas Sankara. He says the legacy of U.S. military intervention and French colonialism has led to instability in the region. “People are outraged with the role of France but also the role of the United States,” says Fall.
For the second time this year, a military coup has occurred in the African nation of Burkina Faso. A group of army officers led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré seized power Friday, ousting another military officer, Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba, who had led the country since a January coup. On Saturday, protesters attacked the French Embassy, where some had believed the ousted president was hiding. Some supporters of Friday’s coup flew Russian flags in the streets while calling for Moscow to help Burkina Faso confront an ongoing jihadist insurgency that began in 2015.
We’re joined right now by two guests. Corinne Dufka is the Sahel director for Human Rights Watch, and Aziz Fall is the coordinator for the International Campaign Justice for Sankara, which has campaigned for years to uncover the truth behind the 1987 assassination of Thomas Sankara, who led Burkino Faso from 1983 to 1987.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Let’s first go to Montreal, where we’re joined by Aziz Fall. If you can talk about what is happening in Burkina Faso right now? Why have there been two coups in the last year?
AZIZ FALL: Well, truly, this is the aftermath, I think, of Compaoré’s ousting. The coup d’état which occurred, even if it’s not democratic and correspond to an internal struggle within the MPSR, within the army, is actually a positive thing. Former President Damiba committed many bad political maneuvers and had dared to defy the justice system, which has condemned President Compaoré and folks, the main killers of Sankara.
AMY GOODMAN: You know, I’m going to ask you to step back, because as you make all these references, I think it will be most helpful to give us a history in a nutshell of Burkina Faso, so we can understand who Thomas Sankara and Compaoré were.
AZIZ FALL: Right. This is like a landlocked country, quite poor, who actually have helped Ivory Coast becoming this big miracle on cocoa and coffee with, you know, the productive forces, and until 1980s was truly a Françafrique hub. And when Compaoré and Sankara took power, they had a major change, a revolutionary change, in favor of women, the peasantry, a change of the mode of production. And that length for three years with amazing achievement. And he was killed in an international plot, including local players, his main friend Compaoré, who ran the country for three decades. And this is the industrial extractive mining sector, mainly gold, and also the beginning of the geopolitical warfare in the region after what happened in Tripoli, Libya, where the U.S. Africa Command and France has destroyed the Jamahiriya of Gaddafi, and from there start spreading mercenaries who have started these jihadist cells, which clearly also are blossoming because of underdevelopment.
AMY GOODMAN: And the significance? I mean, you have spent many years looking for justice and accountability in the assassination of Sankara. If you can talk about him and his significance, not only in Burkina Faso but in Africa?
AZIZ FALL: I think he symbolized for most African youths the hope of a sovereign Africa. He actually gave his life for that. And this is why this fight against impunity is so important and has created a landmark in the legal history of Africa itself. And so he’s an icon, I think. And this is like a sweet revenge that the youths actually are just using his image to gain more sovereignty.
And this issue is very important as also, you know, the whole Sahel region is not destabilized, and you have like 2 million people who have been displaced in the region. And the trial opened a kind of wound in the country by actually undermining the role of France. And this is where the whole geopolitical landscape is changing. So, not just Sankara has tackled the so-called imperialist trend of France, but the new generation of leaders, who actually learned from him, are trying to do the same.
So, Ibrahim Traoré was, in a way, trying to rectify what Damiba did by trying to, under the guise of reconciliation, bring over President Compaoré despite of his condemnation in Burkina Faso. And this is the lower officers ranks who were outraged by this gesture, but also the political maneuvers with Ivory Coast and France that actually created this coup d’état. And actually, the situation as we witness it, it’s interesting in a way because they want to speed the process toward a democratic transition with civilian taking power nearly probably before 2024. And this is what actually probably is reducing the pressure and the embargo of the African Union and the regional organization, which actually sent a mission in Burkina Faso today.
AMY GOODMAN: Corinne Dufka, you’re the Sahel director for Human Rights Watch. If you can talk about the role of — well, talk about these last two coups and then the role of the United States in military training, their connection to those involved with these coups. Apparently, the former president who came to power in a coup, Damiba, has left for Togo, left on Sunday.
CORINNE DUFKA: Yes, sure. So, Burkina Faso, since at least 2015, is experiencing a complex and devastating crisis, which is both the security, because of the presence and the increasing presence of armed Islamists linked to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, a humanitarian catastrophe, and then, of course, the political crisis, which has been intensified by the coup, these two coups within the last year. The Burkinabe have lost probably — estimated to be 40% of their territory to these armed Islamist groups who are slaughtering people, raping women and undermining their ability to farm, and it’s a largely agrarian society. On the other hand, the security forces have engaged in a lethal counterterrorism strategy and have executed, allegedly executed, hundreds of terrorism suspects. People are absolutely besides themselves, including the security forces. Damiba came to power a year — sorry, in January, pledging to address this rapidly deteriorating security situation on account of the armed Islamists, and he was unable to do that, to the extent that this really, I think, is the primary reason for the coup d’état.
Now, yes, Damiba, I believe, was trained by the United States, if I’m not mistaken, but he was similarly trained by the French and by numerous other actors. Burkina Faso is a very proud country, and they have largely tried to address the counterterrorism threat on their own. In many ways, they’ve resisted the presence on their territory of other countries. The United States was engaged in training the military — again, the French and others, as well.
So, I see this as primarily a Burkinabe problem. And it’s situated within the wider Sahel, in which, you know, it’s the fastest-growing area for armed Islamist activity pretty much in the world. And it’s situated in between Mali, where there is — which has been battling these armed Islamists linked to IS, the Islamic State, and al-Qaeda. So, it’s really a very complex situation, and, again, situated within — you know, there’s a call for the people of Burkinabe, as my colleague mentioned who was speaking just now, there are 10% of that population, 2 million out of 20 million people, are displaced on account of this insecurity.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about why protesters would be holding Russian flags and calling for assistance from Moscow, Corinne?
CORINNE DUFKA: Well, there’s — we’re in a bit of a geopolitical realignment here with respect to military aid, where the Russian-backed Wagner Group has over the last year gone into Mali. The Malians don’t admit they’re there. They say they’re Russian traders. But there are hundreds of them in the country. And it coincided with a serious deterioration of relationship with the French. And the French did make some mistakes with respect to managing military sort of engagement in Mali. So, Mali has engaged on — you know, engaged these Russian trainers. I myself documented a massacre by the joint forces, with the Malians and these Russian-backed trainers, of 300 people in March of this year. So they’re engaging in very serious human rights abuses.
But I think, again, people are beside themselves because of this growing and lethal Islamist threat that has taken root in the country. So I think they’re looking to Russia, as France backed out of Mali. I’m not quite sure — you know, I’m not convinced that the Burkinabe are going to welcome the Russians in as they have in Mali. I’m not convinced about that. We’ll see. But I think it’s a reflection of their growing fear. And remember, there are hundreds of Burkinabe security forces who have lost their lives, as well. So people are desperate, and they’re looking to anyone who might be able to help them better tackle this lethal threat.
AMY GOODMAN: And what is Human Rights Watch calling for in Burkina Faso?
CORINNE DUFKA: Well, we don’t take a position on mercenaries. We don’t take a position on coups. We look at are the human rights dynamics. We call on the coup leaders to respect rights, to restore democracy, but also for those engaged in counterterrorism operations to ensure that their response is grounded in human rights, because if they don’t do that, it only pushes more and more people into the hands of the armed Islamists, who are adept and very clever at exploiting all kinds of fissures — economic, ethnic, political and so on — to garner new recruits.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Aziz Fall, if you could address the attack on the French Embassy? If you can talk about the history of France in Burkina Faso?
AZIZ FALL: Well, I think, truly, this is not a Burkinabe case. The United States and France have a great responsibility in what is happening in the region, despite of what my colleague is saying. I think here we have to look at the geopolitcal problems that were actually implanted in that region, in the Sahelian region. So, people are outraged with the role of France but also the role of the United States, who have started these terrorist cells in the region for geopolitical reason. So, yeah, in a way, people want to change the landscape.
I think President Macron, just by saying that he would declassify the documents in the killing of Sankara, when he said that he will change his strategy on the military battlefield by changing Barkhane’s role in Mali, were not very convincing. We didn’t receive most of the declassified documents, as well as for the United States. And it’s the same situation that actually put these people trying to imitate what is happening in the Republic of Central Africa.
So, if some of your viewers can watch the AFRICOM Go Home film, which is against foreign military base, this was screened 12 years ago and explaining how the spreading of these geopolitical strata is evolving. Unfortunately, it was said — and I think Human Rights Watch and many other organizations, like Amnesty International, have to look at also the big picture, not just the local picture but look at the big picture, the role of China, the role of India, the opposition of the imperialist forces on the ground, and the fierce resistance of the people of Mali and Burkina Faso and the rest. But having said that, most this hierarchy, this military hierarchy, have been formed and trained by the U.S. AFRICOM, as well. So, we have to have an introspection here and look at the deep causes in order to have a new momentum that gives the Burkinabe people the worthy title of the land of the upright people. And I think these are very proud people who are trying, with very little means, to counter a geopolitical tide that is beyond the scope of their capacities.
AMY GOODMAN: And finally, Professor Fall, earlier this year The Intercept reported U.S.-trained officers have attempted at least nine coups, and succeeded in at least eight, across five West African countries since 2008, including Burkina Faso three times, Guinea, Mali three times, Mauritania and the Gambia. If you can say what you think the U.S. should be doing or not doing in Africa? And finally, how did Thomas Sankara die?
AZIZ FALL: Well, Thomas Sankara died with the international plot that started with Charles Taylor being smuggled in Libya. And then it was a big plot where Compaoré, Ivory Coast, France were the mastermind of that coup, and he was killed. For 10 years, his death certificate said that he died of natural death. So, it was, I think, now revealed in that trial how the whole thing happened. And we are still witnessing and hoping that we will have an international plot. I will tour the United States on the commemorative date. October 15, I will go to New York and Washington, asking for declassified documents showing the involvement of those people who were in that plot.
Having said that, it is true that the United States can change its policy, distance itself from the old Monroe Doctrine. The world doesn’t belong to the United States. And I think we have to respect African sovereignty. We have to listen to the pan-Africanist position, which are very important. And once we have that, if we have a different position on how the former 20th century cannot repeat itself in the 21st century, then I think the United States will change its policy. No one is actually denying the military might of the United States. I think they have a political, geopolitical power. But people in Africa look for a multipolar system. They look for more balance on impunity cases. They look for international order that is respected. And in that regard, I trust that the people of America, if they had learned what is happening on the ground, would distance themselves from the Pentagon’s policies. So, this, I think, is important for the new 21st century to look at this achievement and to respect also African sovereignty. This is the role of transnational and the rest.
AMY GOODMAN: Aziz Fall, we want to thank you for being with us, coordinator for the International Campaign Justice for Sankara, and Corinne Dufka, Sahel director for Human Rights Watch. I hear you’re leaving Human Rights Watch. All the best in your next endeavors.
CORINNE DUFKA: Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: Next up, we go back more than a century in the United States to look at the Elaine massacre of 1919, when white mobs in Arkansas killed over 200 African Americans in one of the worst racial massacres in U.S. history. Stay with us.
A tree cut down to make way for a bypass bearing a protest slogan asking 'And Pray...What Will You Tell Them When They Ask You Why?’ On March 24, 1996. (photo: Steve Eason/Getty)
Deforestation is the clearing of forested land with the purpose of converting it to be used for something other than forest, including the raising of livestock, agriculture, mining, development or other non-forest uses.
The biggest human causes of deforestation are farming, especially unsustainable practices such as slash-and-burn agriculture — where forests are burned and cleared for planting — raising cattle for dairy and meat and the uncontrolled cultivation of crops like rubber and palm oil.
Quick Facts
- More than 30 percent of the Earth’s land is covered by forests.
- The Earth loses about 38,610 square miles of forest every year.
- Ninety-six percent of global deforestation occurs in tropical forests.
- More than half of the planet’s tropical rainforests have been destroyed or degraded.
- Due to deforestation, as many as 28,000 species are predicted to become extinct by 2050.
- Forty-one percent of deforestation can be attributed to the clearing of land for cattle and other livestock, with 80 percent of that land located in the Amazon.
- Nearly half of tropical deforestation occurs in Indonesia and Brazil.
- Twelve percent of deforestation is due to soy production, and most soy produced globally is used for animal feed.
- Palm oil, used in products from chocolate and cookies to potato chips, is a major contributor to deforestation.
- More than 100 countries have made a commitment to end and reverse deforestation by 2030.
Why Should We Care About Deforestation?
Human Impacts
The ancient forests of our planet have been evolving for thousands of years to provide individualized habitats for millions of species of plants and animals. Millions of people also call Earth’s forests home, and their survival and livelihoods depend on them.
The livelihoods of an estimated 1.6 billion people are dependent on forests, while forests are essential for the subsistence of 60 million Indigenous Peoples.
The choices we make in what we consume, buy and support have a direct impact on the world’s forests. We can’t afford to continue to destroy such an essential part of the health of our planet.
Climate Impacts
Earth’s rainforests remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, stabilize the Earth’s environment and act as carbon sinks by storing the carbon in their wood and soil. One of the most devastating results of deforestation is that, due to the loss of trees, the enormous amount of carbon they have sequestered gets released back into the atmosphere.
Some tropical forests now release more carbon than they capture, meaning that they no longer operate as carbon sinks.
Less trees and more carbon means faster global heating, which leads to shifting weather patterns and extreme weather, heat waves, droughts, wildfires and floods.
Palm oil and other products that contribute to deforestation, like soy and cocoa, are major contributors to the climate crisis and are causing irretrievable worldwide biodiversity loss. In order to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoid mass extinction of species and deforestation, major restoration of forests is imperative.
Biodiversity Impacts
Deforestation is a threat to the planet’s biodiversity. The loss of tropical rainforests is of particular concern because they are the most biologically diverse of the planet’s land-based ecosystems.
The largest tropical rainforest in the world, the Amazon rainforest, is home to about 427 mammal species, 1,300 species of birds, 40,000 species of plants and 2.5 million insect species. The loss of their forest home can lead to the extinction of many species.
Water and Soil Impacts
Trees help keep the balance of water in the atmosphere and on land. Deforestation can cause disruptions to this balance that can lead to shifts in river flow and precipitation.
Deforestation disrupts the natural water cycle by lowering the amount of water that comes from a process called evapotranspiration — the evaporation of water that comes from the surfaces of land, plants and their leaves. This process is crucial for the maintenance of a healthy water cycle, which is responsible for precipitation. If the cycle gets disrupted, it can lead to droughts.
Losing established forests through deforestation means losing the trees’ anchors in the soil — their roots — which are key to stopping erosion. Erosion can put surviving plants in greater danger of fire as the forest becomes drier and more open instead of moist and protected. When soil health is reduced, along with the volume of water it can contain, it increases the chance of floods.
What’s Happening and Why?
Humans have been clearing forests to make way for crops or the raising of livestock for thousands of years, and these activities are the biggest cause of deforestation. Soybean production and cattle ranching on an industrial scale have become progressively bigger contributors to deforestation in the Amazon. Tropical forests have also increasingly been converted into palm tree plantations for the commercial production of biofuels in Sumatra and Borneo.
Logging and the harvesting of wood for fuel and charcoal, as well as urbanization and the expansion of infrastructure, also contribute to deforestation.
Forest degradation is different from total deforestation, and is the progressive decline of a forested area that can be caused by a variety of reasons, including illegal logging or unpredictable weather patterns caused by climate change that can lead to pest infestations, disease and forest fires.
Accidental fires can occur after forests become degraded and more fire-prone, leading to them to eventually become deforested by recurrent unintentional fires.
Industrial Agriculture
Agriculture is the cause of nearly 90 percent of deforestation around the world and the cause of most habitat destruction. Not only is animal agriculture — including livestock and their feed — a substantial contributor to deforestation, it produces about 60 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. The food system overall makes up as much as 37 percent of human-produced emissions.
According to the 2019 United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Climate Change and Land, the overhaul of the global food system and the protection and restoration of forests are essential remedies to the compounding climate, food security and biodiversity emergencies facing our society and planet.
We must slow down and stop the rampant production of products that are considered “high-risk commodities” — such as palm oil, corn and soy — that cause forest degradation, deforestation and abuses of human rights.
So far, we have been going in the wrong direction. Since 2010, palm oil production in Indonesia has increased by 75 percent, the carbon footprint of cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire has increased by 80 percent and Brazil’s agricultural area for soy production has expanded by 45 percent. If we don’t curb this trend, palm and soy production will continue to increase.
Agricultural Expansion
The expansion of the global agricultural system to meet the increasing demand for dairy and meat products and plant-based biofuels is adding to the burden on forests and escalating ecosystem destruction.
The growth of agricultural operations is the cause of almost all global deforestation, with forests cleared for animal grazing making up 40 percent.
Raising animals for consumption is extraordinarily inefficient. The production of beef as a food source requires 25 calories of feed for each calorie of beef. It takes nine calories of feed for each calorie of chicken.
Palm Oil
Palm oil — which comes from the fruits of the oil palm tree — is a main ingredient in many common products found in supermarkets worldwide, from shampoo and crackers to pie crusts and cookies.
Most of the palm oil produced in the world comes from Indonesia, where soaring demand for the product in the late 1990s led to it becoming one of the primary forces behind the country’s disappearing rainforests.
The forest clearing and slash and burn tactics that are used to make enormous plantations of the sought-after fruit have caused orangutans, koalas, birds, reptiles and other wildlife to lose their habitat and be pushed to the edge of extinction. The natural habitat of the orangutan has been almost totally decimated to make way for palm oil farms. These industrial-scale plantations also cause local rural and Indigenous Peoples to be displaced and workers to suffer human rights abuses and exploitation.
The producers and traders of palm oil — multinational corporations that profit off of the anguish and loss of others — are aware of the issues surrounding their product and have been for decades, but have not done anything to remedy them, despite assurances that they will do so.
Companies that use palm oil have also made promises to make sure nothing in their supply chain is the result of deforestation, but these assurances have also come up empty.
Cattle Ranching
In nearly every Amazon country, cattle ranching and growing soy for feed are the most significant sources of deforestation. Recently, scientists found that the Amazon rainforest, once a carbon sink, has become a carbon dioxide emitter.
Globally, 340 million tons of carbon — 3.4 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions — are released annually as a result of deforestation to make way for cattle ranching, mostly in the Amazon.
Commercial Logging
While deforestation is the total elimination of the forest, along with the habitat and ecosystems it supports, logging is the cutting down of trees to make commercial goods.
The logging industry itself is not sustainable in the long-term as it makes millions of dollars by destroying forests to meet people’s insatiable need for paper products, inexpensive lumber for building homes and furniture and for use as domestic fuel and charcoal. Paper towels alone are responsible for the equivalent of around 27 soccer fields of trees being destroyed every minute.
Some day, logging may become less prevalent as new eco-friendly and sustainable building materials are developed — like bamboo, recycled bottles, mud, mushroom-based Myco-board, recycled steel, prefabricated concrete, reclaimed wood and insulation foam made of hemp, kelp or bamboo — but for now, logging is a seemingly necessary evil of modern society and a major contributor to global deforestation.
Some logging companies comply with governmental regulations for the number of trees they are permitted to cut down, but they are few and far between. Reckless logging companies demolish trees as they bore their way into forests to get at as many of the highest-value trees as possible that will bring in the highest profit.
The trucks used to fell and transport trees also contribute to soil erosion and lower soil quality.
In addition to the billions of trees lost each year to logging, the destructive practice is the cause of 60 percent of forest degradation.
Illegal Logging
What forests remain are being devastated by illegal land clearing and logging. The resulting deforestation, biodiversity loss and release of greenhouse gasses — not to mention the loss of the mitigation of emissions that forests provide — generate disputes with local and Indigenous communities that can lead to crime, violence and human exploitation.
Rates for illegal logging in timber producing nations range from 50 percent in Cameroon between 1999 and 2004 to around 60 to 80 percent in the Brazilian Amazon and an estimated 90 percent in Indonesia.
International security can be threatened when profits from illegal logging are used to finance money laundering, organized crime and civil wars. Legal timber operations are impeded by illegal ones that can undersell them and cause them to be less competitive.
It is estimated that timber-producing countries lose between $10 and $15 billion per year to illegal logging, more than one-tenth of the entire worldwide timber trade.
Illegal logging can be the result of corruption and other government failings in the countries where timber is produced. And when countries that purchase the timber — like the U.S., Japan and EU member states — fail to ban the import of timber that is illegally or irresponsibly cut down, it can lead to the continued exploitation of ancient forests by timber companies and traders.
The EU does not have any import bans on illegal timber. The development of laws that could incorporate a ban have been recommended by the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade project, but for the time being only voluntary action has been encouraged by the European Commission, which is not sufficient or realistic to protect our forests.
Infrastructure Expansion
Deforestation is also caused by the use of slash and burn techniques and other methods to make way for the expansion of infrastructure. Infrastructure expansion occurs for many reasons, such as when urban sprawl leads to forests being encroached upon by cities; when people flee urban areas in order to build in more rural, forested settings; to make way for mining operations; and for the expansion of farmland.
Mining
As the demand for energy derived from renewable sources increases, Earth’s forests are in greater danger, since many of the minerals required for wind turbines, solar panels and battery storage are mined in vulnerable forested areas like the Congo Basin. The dichotomy between the need for minerals to produce renewable energy in order to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and the destruction of forests through mining for them is a major cause for concern and presents a new set of challenges that has yet to be resolved.
In the next three decades, worldwide demand for minerals like graphite and cobalt is expected to soar to five times the current rate.
Climate Change and Deforestation
Deforestation is itself also a prime contributor to human-caused climate change. The release of carbon from the clearing and burning of forests contributes directly to global heating.
The three biggest tropical rainforests in the world are found in Southeast Asia, the Amazon River Basin of South America and the Congo. In the past two decades, Southeast Asian forests have become a net source of carbon due to peat soil drainage, the clearing of forests for plantations and rampant fires.
Parts of South America’s Amazon River basin are now a source of carbon rather than a net carbon sink. Deforestation in this region has intensified in recent years because of degradation from forest fires, land clearing to make way for cattle and increasing temperatures that lead to drier conditions.
The tropical rainforest in the Congo is the only one of the world’s big three tropical rainforests that can still be considered a strong net carbon sink. It sequesters more than 600 million tons more carbon annually than it releases, equal to about a third of the carbon dioxide emissions from all transportation in the U.S.
Where Are the Main Places Deforestation Is Happening Around the World?
One of the main places is South America, where farm animal grazing accounts for 75 percent of deforestation. In Brazil, deforestation has increased despite 1.5 million square miles of the Amazon rainforest being protected. The government weakened the environmental protections in 2018, and since then deforestation caused by logging, industrial agriculture and other industries has increased.
Nigeria, Honduras and the Philippines are also experiencing some of the most severe deforestation on the planet. From 2001 to 2021, Nigeria lost 2.82 million acres of tree cover and has lost more than 90 percent of its forests. Between 1990 and 2005, forests in Honduras declined by 37 percent, and the Philippines now only has 35 percent of its former tree cover.
How Can We Combat Deforestation?
As a Society
One of the strategies to turn the tide on deforestation is to implement different types of policy solutions, such as:
- Reducing profits from agricultural methods that contribute to deforestation
- Establishing protected areas
- Expanding protective forest strategies like changing the ownership and management of forests
In Our Own Lives
Some ways we can reduce our own forest footprints include:
- Reducing our need for wood-based goods
- Using less paper
- Using less energy
- Purchasing secondhand furniture
- Buying forest friendly goods, like certified wood products
- Demanding better certified and sustainable labeling of wood products
- Buying wood-based products that have been recycled and recycling them again
- Supporting companies that are dedicated to reducing deforestation
- Reducing or eliminating our consumption of meat, dairy, palm oil, coffee, cocoa, soy and sugar, all of which contribute to deforestation
- Recycling paper, cardboard and other wood-based products
- Encouraging local governments Herschel Walker, the football legend now running for Senate in Georgia, says he wants to completely ban abortion, likening it to murder and claiming there should be “no exception” for rape, incest, or the life of the mother.
- But the Republican candidate has supported at least one exception—for himself.
- A woman who asked not to be identified out of privacy concerns told The Daily Beast that after she and Walker conceived a child while they were dating in 2009 he urged her to get an abortion. The woman said she had the procedure and that Walker reimbursed her for it.
- She supported these claims with a $575 receipt from the abortion clinic, a “get well” card from Walker, and a bank deposit receipt that included an image of a signed $700 personal check from Walker.
- The woman said there was a $125 difference because she “ball-parked” the cost of an abortion after Googling the procedure and added on expenses such as travel and recovery costs.
- Additionally, The Daily Beast independently corroborated details of the woman’s claims with a close friend she told at the time and who, according to the woman and the friend, took care of her in the days after the procedure.
- The woman said Walker, who was not married at the time, told her it would be more convenient to terminate the pregnancy, saying it was “not the right time” for him to have a child. It was a feeling she shared, but what she didn’t know was that Walker had an out-of-wedlock child with another woman earlier that same year.
- Asked if Walker ever expressed regret for the decision, the woman said Walker never had. Asked why she came forward, the woman pointed to Walker’s hardline anti-abortion position.
- “I just can’t with the hypocrisy anymore,” she said. “We all deserve better.”
- After The Daily Beast reached out to the Walker campaign for comment, Robert Ingram, a lawyer representing both the campaign and Walker in his personal capacity, responded.
- “This is a false story,” Ingram said in a phone call, adding that he based that conclusion on anonymous sources.
- “All you want to do is run with stories to target Black conservatives,” he said. “You focus on Black conservatives.”
- Ingram asked The Daily Beast to disclose the identity of the woman, but we declined.
- After the story published, Walker released a statement in which he called the story a "flat-out lie" and said he denied it in the "strongest possible terms."
- "I'm not taking this anymore. I planning [sic] to sue the Daily Beast for this defamatory lie. It will be filed tomorrow morning," he said.
- Meanwhile, Herschel's adult son, Christian Walker, lashed out on Twitter—in defense of The Daily Beast and against his father.
- “Every family member of Herschel Walker asked him not to run for office, because we all knew (some of) his past. Every single one,” Walker tweeted.
- “He decided to give us the middle finger and air out all of his dirty laundry in public, while simultaneously lying about it.
- “I’m done.”
- According to the $575 receipt, the abortion took place on Sept. 12, 2009. And according to the Bank of America deposit receipt, Walker wrote the woman a check for $700 on Sept. 17, 2009. The check was deposited two days later.
- The woman, who also provided proof of her romantic relationship with Walker, told The Daily Beast that he mailed her the check inside the “get well” card.
- The front of that card features a drawing of a steaming cup of tea and reads, “Rest, Relax…” The message continues on the inside of the card: “…Recover.”
- to protect forests and oppose urban sprawl
- Supporting forest friendly NGOs
- Volunteering with a local parks department or land trust
- Considering a conservation easement for privately owned, forested land
- Advocating for climate change solutions
- Spending time in forests and sharing our love of forests with others
- Helping to educate our communities
Going vegan is another great way to reduce your forest footprint. Since almost 90 percent of deforestation is caused by the clearing of land for animal grazing and agriculture — much of which is crops grown for animal feed — when you reduce or eliminate your intake of animal products, including dairy, you substantially reduce how much your diet contributes to deforestation.
Takeaway
Deforestation is robbing the world of much of its rich biodiversity and contributing to global warming. If the current rate of deforestation continues, just 10 percent of rainforests will remain by 2030. And if the trend carries on beyond that, all the rainforests on Earth will be gone within a century, causing untold cataclysmic effects on the climate and wiping out most plant and animal species.
Our daily choices and those of other consumers, policymakers and landowners around the world can help turn the tide from destruction to replenishment.
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