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Busting Myths About Timer Harvesting and Deforestation

deforestation

Deforestation is a severe concern to present-day society and a highly controversial question. Thus, estimations of deforestation rates differ in different sources, and some data state that as much as 85% of global forests have been destroyed due to various reasons.

Furthermore, there are multiple opinions about the main culprits like timber harvesting, illegal logging, clear-cutting, palm oil deforestation, and more. These disputes spread different deforestation myths.

7 Most Common Deforestation Myths: What Is the Reality?

1. Clear-cutting Is a Synonym of Deforestation

The two terms are often confused, yet they don’t necessarily mean the same. Generally, clear-cutting is a forest regeneration practice since trees are removed to inspire further offspring growth. Conversely, deforestation is tree logging without additional reforestation. In this regard, clear-cutting is sustainable, while deforestation is not. What is more, clear-cutting is helpful for forest health since it promotes the growth of more vigorous trees.

The only exception when clear-cutting can be regarded as deforestation is when trees are felled for agricultural, urban, industrial use, road or power line construction, etc. In this case, forest lands are converted for other purposes that don’t suggest tree revival.

Clear-cutting monitoring with further forest regeneration control is a reliable technology to make the situation clear.

2. Logging Leads to Deforestation

The statement is but partially true and is specific for each country. Logging causes deforestation only when forests are not restored after felling. Indeed, logging and timber production are responsible for 70% of forest degradation in Asia and Latin America, but the situation is dramatically different in the USA and Canada.

Most governments oblige official logging companies to replant the cut areas soon after harvesting, which helps restore the balance. Forests can also re-grow naturally after logging, the same as they do after forest fires, but natural re-growth is insufficient and thus requires human assistance.

Logging is often considered to be the primary deforestation driver mistakenly. The main culprit is agriculture, contributing the impressive 80% deforestation share. It makes the most significant impact on:

  • Latin America,
  • Africa,
  • Asia.

3. Beef Is the Only Food Relating to Deforestation

It is not. Indeed, forests are cut to provide areas for grazing. However, alongside beef production, forest lands are converted to farming also due to soybean and oil palm cultivation. Soybeans are pretty edible for humans and favoured by vegans, but these legumes are mainly grown as livestock forage. This is why, technically, poultry and cattle breeding can indirectly cause deforestation when forests are cut to grow soybeans.

Palm oil is an in-demand commodity with multiple applications, including pharmacy, food procession, cosmetology, personal hygiene, bio-fuel production, and many more. As for food, palm oil can be found in versatile products like:

  • baby formula,
  • pizza,
  • chocolate,
  • biscuits,
  • doughnuts,
  • ice cream,
  • bread,
  • crisps,
  • chips, and whatnot.

So, beef is certainly NOT the only food relating to deforestation.

It may be beneficial to use more sustainable and eco-friendly nutrition for beef farming to offset other negative effects associated with it. There are many reputable natural sources for sustainable beef feed products such as naturalstockcare.com/product-category/beef-cattle-care/ and many others.

4. Avoiding Products with Palm Oil Will Stop Deforestation

Consuming palm oil is not necessarily bad, thanks to zero-deforestation commitments by many palm oil manufacturers. It means that oil palm production does not always lead to deforestation. It depends on the legality and transparency of palm oil processors’ supply chains, regulated on governmental and non-governmental levels. To meet the requirements of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) of 2004, manufacturers are to shift to zero palm oil deforestation.

Besides, oil palm is the highest oil-containing plant supporting around 35% of global vegetable oil needs. It means that it requires the smallest territory compared to other vegetable crops. So, it will cause less deforestation than, for example, soybean cultivation.

Thus, avoiding palm oil use won’t solve the problem. The main thing is to consume palm oil that derives from legal supply chains.

5. Illegal Local Wood-Cutters Are a Major Threat to Forests

It is disputable, even though illegal logging is terrible. In African countries, small wood-cutters do more good for local communities since they provide timber for procession inside the country while huge companies log trees primarily for export. The good side is that small wood-cutters contribute to employment, struggle with poverty, and production of goods, improving the life level of the local population.

6. Most Trees Are Cut Down for Wood and Paper

It is not true since agriculture remains by far the main deforestation driver nowadays as described above. As for the wood raw material for furniture and paper products, the corresponding enterprises have to adjust their facilities to available supplies, greatly relying on recycling sources.

7. The Use of Wood for Energy Will Lead to Deforestation

Even though wood is used for heating, it is not the biggest driver of deforestation. Logging for energy won’t lead to deforestation if forests are replanted or allowed to regenerate naturally. The biggest evil to forests is their conversion for agricultural use because it gives the highest returns compared to other purposes.

Final Thoughts

There exist numerous myths about deforestation drivers, and their misperception won’t solve the problem. Though it is often considered that clear-cutting, illegal logging, and paper production lead to deforestation, the main culprit is agriculture due to the best ROIs. Forests lands disappear due to oil palm, soybeans, and beef production.

Nonetheless, avoiding these commodities won’t make the situation any better. Instead, consuming responsibly and producing legally, regular people and manufacturers will mitigate forest losses. Remote sensing will help to keep deforestation under control.

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

Google

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

google

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

google

Pixa Bay

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

google

Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

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2024 | Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

trump

Washington — Trump Media,  The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear an appeal from social media platform X about a search warrant acquired by prosecutors in the election meddling case against former President Donald Trump.

The justices did not explain their rationale, and there were no recorded dissents.

The firm, which was known as Twitter before being purchased by billionaire Elon Musk, claims a nondisclosure order that prevented it from informing Trump about the warrant obtained by special counsel Jack Smith’s team violated its First Amendment rights.

The business also claims Trump should have had an opportunity to exercise executive privilege. If not reined in, the government may employ similar tactics to intercept additional privileged communications, their lawyers contended.

trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

Two neutral electronic privacy groups also joined in, urging the high court to hear the case on First Amendment grounds.

Prosecutors, however, claim that the corporation never shown that Trump utilized the account for official purposes, therefore executive privilege is not a problem. A lower court also determined that informing Trump could have compromised the current probe.

trump

Trump utilized his Twitter account in the weeks preceding up to his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to spread false assertions about the election, which prosecutors claim were intended to create doubt in the democratic process.

The indictment describes how Trump used his Twitter account to encourage his followers to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification, and falsely claiming that the Capitol crowd, which battered police officers and destroyed glass, was peaceful.

musk trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

That case is now moving forward following the Supreme Court’s verdict in July, which granted Trump full immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president.

The warrant arrived at Twitter amid quick changes implemented by Musk, who bought the company in 2022 and has since cut off most of its workforce, including those dedicated to combating disinformation and hate speech.

He also welcomed back a vast list of previously banned users, including Trump, and endorsed him for the 2024 presidential election.

SOURCE | AP

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The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

Supreme Court

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

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Could Last-Minute Surprises Derail Kamala Harris’ Campaign? “Nostradamus” Explains the US Poll.

Scientists Awarded MicroRNA The Nobel Prize in Medicine.

US Inflation will Comfort a Fed Focused on Labor Markets.

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