Our Planet & Space Travel

5 yrs ago

A solar eclipse... from SPACE! NASA probe snaps the moon passing in front of the sun in stunning images capturing the 'lunar mountains backlit by solar fire'

NASA probe snaps an image of a solar eclipse showing 'lunar mountains backlit by solar

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255 comments

British scientists start a study of wastewater to see if Covid-19 can be spread by sewage and help warn of future outbreaks

3 yrs ago

Scientists are creating a standardised process, with the help of a £1million research grant, to find out if Covid-19 can be spread via sewage and wastewater.

Suze

3 yrs ago

They are using this method in ACT .. post put up by Leon

3 yrs ago

Did you know organs are being forcibly harvested from human beings?

It is shocking, but human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal and organ trafficking persist around the world, with primary victims being political prisoners, ethnic and religious minorities, and other vulnerable people. Organ trafficking hotspots include India, China, Pakistan, Turkey, Brazil, Nepal, the Philippines, Kosovo, Iran, and former Soviet states in eastern Europe.1

Alarmingly, globally only seven countries have passed legislation to combat these horrific crimes. Today, we demand more countries follow suit to stop forced organ harvesting and organ trafficking once and for all.

Forced organ harvesting and organ trafficking are interlinked crimes where organs are taken from victims through coercion or without informed consent and sold illegally, often making their way into the organ tourism transplant market. This means unknowing tourists undergoing organ transplants abroad are at-risk of receiving organs linked to organ trafficking and forced organ harvesting.

In many countries, impoverished people are targeted and coerced to sell an organ from which the traffickers make a significant profit. The ‘donor’ is left without medical care and with significant health risks.

In China, minorities rounded up by government crackdowns – political prisoners, ethnic Uyghurs2, and Falun Gong (Buddhist Qi Gong)3 practitioners — are known to be victims of forced organ harvesting. An international people’s tribunal in London recently found that some of China’s 1.5 million detainees in prisons camps have been killed for the state-sanctioned organ transplant trade worth over $1 billion.

“Forced organ harvesting has been committed for years throughout China on a significant scale,” said the China Tribunal,4 calling the crimes “of unmatched wickedness – on a death for death basis.”5

In 2012, China pledged to phase out harvesting organs from prisoners, but the international tribunal, researchers, and human rights activists stress that the practice continues to this day. An academic research analysis of organ donation data in China uncovered “highly compelling evidence [the numbers] are being falsified” and that tracking the sources of organs in the country remains difficult.6

Despite the clear evidence of organ trafficking and forced organ harvesting, ‘tourists’ continue to go abroad for organ transplants where the source of the organ cannot be verified. In fact, research suggests that 28% of organ transplants in China go to foreigners.7

But there are promising signs that governments around the world are waking up to this problem. South Korea, Belgium, Norway, Italy, Taiwan, Spain, and Israel have all passed legislation to combat forced organ harvesting, organ transplant tourism, and organ trafficking.8

Canada and the UK are now tabling similar bills that would criminalize the practice of receiving an organ transplant where informed consent was not given or recklessly obtained, prescribing harsh punishments for those who engage in the organ trafficking trade at home and abroad.9 10

Organ transplants can save lives, but we believe that organs must be donated ethically and with complete transparency. Unfortunately, that is not the reality for many countries where organ trafficking occurs, and it’s high time for countries around the world to take a stand against organ transplant ‘tourism’ to these criminal hotspots.

Join our call, along with the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China, in pushing countries around the globe to step up and tackle the often-overlooked crimes of human trafficking for the purpose of organ removable and organ trafficking.

3 yrs ago

Oh yes, it has been going on for many years -- they even take the DNA of people so they can be matched and so they know who and where they can be sold.

If you disagree with the top dogs you are used this way after being held in prison camps

Wicked and dead set evil

3 yrs ago

Brazil's government announced it planned to ban setting fires in the Amazon for 120 days, in a meeting with global investors to address their rising concerns over destruction of the rainforest.

Planned? Can we trust it will happen? And why only 120 days? They need to stop burning it full stop.

3 yrs ago

It should be banned -- with pinishments --if bans broken -- treea are the lungs of th earth

I am also all for cemeteries being devoid of headstones and instead have a plaque and a tree planted -- a tree that has a LONG life -- just think of the wonderul forests we would have instead of such ugly plaaces and people would still be acknowledged.

Do you share this opinion?

3 yrs ago

"They need to stop burning it full stop."

I agree.

3 yrs ago

Do you agree re the cemeteries too RnR

https://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/community/natural-burials-43842.html

3 yrs ago

Nice idea.

The Gold Coast City Council where I live has an option like that.

3 yrs ago

Yes we cannot keep having so much land being taken up by headstones etc. I always tell my son when it is my time to go, bury me in a cardboard box and plant a tree.

3 yrs ago

I reckon it would look good and also be good for the planet -- and be a much nicer are for those that have passed

3 yrs ago

The funniest animals from the 2017 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards Photos - ABC News

3 yrs ago

Celia can you explain this photo? Is it an illusion, it looks like it to me.

3 yrs ago

Oh dear are you on your high horse Incognito? I must explain a nice photo of the planet!

Don't you see for yourself?

Have you never been out in the country when a light plane comes into land?

3 yrs ago

Why do you think we have such long necks Incognito?????

Giraffe Illusion

3 yrs ago

Yes it is an illusion -- because the Girafe is closer to the camera even though the plane at a lower altitude as it is landing -- very clever photo isn't is Incognito

Celia, I don't think Incognito was on a high horse at all, he/she just asked it to be explained

3 yrs ago

Thank you PlanB for your sensible comment, I appreciate that.

And no Celia I have not see a plane land near wild animals and I don't have a high horse lol.

Suze

3 yrs ago

The photo is from
The funniest animals from the 2017 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

'Outsourcing seatbelt checks'

Described as

"A perfectly juxtaposed giraffe and plane in Masai Mara, Kenya."

Hence PlanB is correct

My favourite is

A baby dormouse laughs on a yarrow flower.

3 yrs ago

Due to the huge surge of photos shared online these days ...coincidental and memorable photos are often shared widely from what I've seen.

No illusion IMO ... more a case of "right time, right place" I think + right perspective.

For example:

3 yrs ago

Baby door mouse is gorgeous Suze, funny photos RnR.

Suze

3 yrs ago

RnR

Whilst some photos are as you say a case of "right time, right place"

The 'Outsourcing seatbelt checks' photo of the giraffe and and the plane

is "A perfectly juxtaposed giraffe and plane in Masai Mara, Kenya."

.... the photo is juxposed as submitted by the entrant

3 yrs ago

Nope not an illusion, the giraffe pic is juxtaposed. Robert Doisneau black and white photograph of Pablo Picasso sitting at a table posed as if bread were his hands

The pic has nothing to do with either the giraffe or the plane. It is where the photographer placed himself when taking the pic. Like this one of Picasso

The one below is an illusion, work it out!!!

null

3 yrs ago

My favourite LOL

3 yrs ago

The Pic of the old lady -- I also see a young lady with her head turned to the right

3 yrs ago

Love the Lady doormouse!

Yes that illusion has been around awhile, very affective.

Yes RnR right place and position with the timing gets some really funny photos.

When anyone is asked for an explaination it reminds me of school and teachers!

I don't think that photo needed any explaination it spoke for itself.

I have only seen a light plane or a chopper land in the outback on documentaries!

Sophie

3 yrs ago

For goodness sake Celia...what is the big deal about someone asking for an "explanation" or clarification or anything about a picture you put up?

Although most of the pictures you post are lovely..most do not carry any text.

3 yrs ago

For goodness sake Sophie here you go again, no sooner had a go at Hola now anyone is free game Do you personally own this site? No I am not joking do you? You go around talking to people on this site as if you do.

That photo needed no explaination. end of story.

Sophie

3 yrs ago

I do own a site Celia…but…to answer your wild suggestion…I know nothing of the YLC site. If you are so insecure about your right to be rude to the person who asked for an explanation as to call on Hola, that’s not saying much for character is it!

In case you are not aware of forum etiquette, the general rule is if anyone asks for some clarification, then as the creator of a thread, you should oblige...it's common courtesy.

Have a nice Sunday!!

3 yrs ago

Those photos are all great and just wonderful taken just at the right time thanks

3 yrs ago

Lovely part of the world Italy Varenna.

3 yrs ago

Looks beautiful thanks Celia.

3 yrs ago

Complete with giant bottles of vino lol

3 yrs ago

Then there is Australia, once burnt and now covered in snow.

3 yrs ago

Only consulation about the ski resorts being closed is the wildlife can have it all to themselves. (Word was Thredbo & Mt Hotham were closed until August).

3 yrs ago

Well I've got a please explain - what is Pauline doing in front of the house on the hill????

3 yrs ago

Hands on hips, most likely saying "This will be all mine one day" or "Now where is the front door?" or "Bugger all the other politicians I will show them who's boss", lol.

Australians are unknowingly eating a critically endangered fish being regularly sold in takeaway shops - as worried experts reveal the simple way to avoid it

3 yrs ago

Thought this appropriate after Pauline!

Australians who enjoy 'flake' may be consuming school shark instead as many stores and restaurants sell their meat under a false label.

3 yrs ago

Yes always check the sustainble fish guide and ask questions, they need to prove what they are selling IMO. I don't eat fish so does not effect me. You can look up everything including restaraunts that sell sustainble fish here (not sure if it includes takeaways though):

https://goodfish.org.au/

3 yrs ago

You also need to make sure it is Aussie fish and not the imported stuff bred in sewage in Asian places, most fish shops when they sell fish and chips -- the fish IS imported unless you stipulate you want a certain fish

it might still have been feeding off plastic and such and be radiated -- but then all seafood is like that now.

California's chances of experiencing the Big One on the San Andreas fault in the next 12 months have TRIPLED after recent spate of micro-quakes

3 yrs ago

Scientists warn the risk of the 'Big One' hitting California's San Andreas fault have tripled after more than 3,000 earthquakes were recorded in the southern region last year.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-13/ridgecrest-quakes-big-earthquake-san-andreas-fault-study

3 yrs ago

Still only 1.15% though.

The study, published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America on Monday, says there is now a 2.3% chance of an earthquake of magnitude 7.5 or greater in the next 12 months on a section of the 160-mile-long Garlock fault, which runs along the northern edge of the Mojave Desert.

That increased likelihood, in turn, would cause there to be a 1.15% chance of a large earthquake on the San Andreas fault in the next year. Those odds may seem small. But they’re a substantial jump from what the chances were before last year’s Ridgecrest, Calif., earthquakes, whose epicenters were about 125 miles northeast of downtown L.A.

3 yrs ago

No one needs any natural disasters at a time like this (or anytime for that matter).

Emissions of greenhouse gas methane reach highest levels ever recorded due to soaring pollution from fossil fuels and livestock farming

3 yrs ago

NEW Stanford University researchers and the Global Carbon Project assessed emissions from 2010 up until 2017, the last year complete data was available.

https://theconversation.com/despite-clear-skies-during-the-pandemic-greenhouse-gas-emissions-are-still-rising-137809

3 yrs ago

Despite clear skies during the pandemic, greenhouse gas emissions are still rising.

3 yrs ago

And we need to fix this within 10 years otherwise we are heading towards a point of no return. We need investments into renewable energy now, and and end to fossil fuels, but try telling that to Governments who keep approving new coal mines.

http://econews.com.au/64846/studies-show-global-methane-emissions-rising-due-to-oil-gas-agriculture/

3 yrs ago

Here is another article:

It suggests that methane is rising due to more people in the world eating meat, which means more use of oil to run tractors etc. and more coal to run electricity to process it.

British farmers propose radical plan to return an area the size of DORSET to nature and reintroduce wild lynxes and pelicans to the countryside

3 yrs ago

Wild East aims to dedicate some 250,000 hectares of East Anglia - Britain's most intensely farmed region - to wildlife over the next five decades.

The end of mobile phone 'not spots'? Ministers propose new power to fine companies millions

3 yrs ago

Good it should happen all over the world

3 yrs ago

Hope the proposal goes ahead.

3 yrs ago

Fantastic good news, love hearing about these kinds of projects, gives me hope, you could have posted on the Good news for the environment topic Celia, but I guess not many people are visiting that anymore, even though I have been posting still.