WEBINAR: THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE FOOD SUPPLY & FEEDING THE HUNGRY (29 APRIL 2020)
Waste 360 Webinar: The recovery of excess food to sustain the food-insecure population in the U.S. is a critical concern during the COVID-19 pandemic. Food rescue organizations and food waste experts are focused on assessing the short-term and potential long-term impacts.
GLOBAL COVID-19 POLICE STATE ESCALATES (27 APRIL 2020)
CounterVortex: Mounting police-state measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are now resulting in stand-offs between executive and judicial authorities. In El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele, for the third time in 10 days on April 16 publicly dismissed Supreme Court rulings to respect fundamental rights while enforcing quarantine regulations. First, on March 26, the court ordered the government to release individuals who had been detained while grocery shopping. Then on April 8, the court explicitly provided that the government lacked proper statutory backing to detain citizens. After both rulings, Bukele took to Twitter, urging security forces to be strict with the lockdown and reiterating that violators will be placed in a containment facility. The third order states that the Bukele administration must respect the COVID-19-related rulings.
The Guardian: The coronavirus pandemic is likely to be followed by even more deadly and destructive disease outbreaks unless their root cause – the rampant destruction of the natural world – is rapidly halted, the world’s leading biodiversity experts have warned.
USDA UNDER FIRE FOR ALLOWING MILLIONS OF POUNDS OF PRODUCE TO ROT (27 APRIL 2020)
Truthout: With food insecurity on the rise across the U.S. as the coronavirus pandemic continues to drive unprecedented job losses and economic disruption, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is facing backlash from lawmakers, farmers, and advocacy groups for its failure to act with urgency as millions of pounds of produce rot in fields across the nation.
Salon: There has been no scientific finding that the novel coronavirus was bioengineered, but its origins are not entirely clear. Deadly pathogens discovered in the wild are sometimes studied in labs — and sometimes made more dangerous. That possibility, and other plausible scenarios, have been incorrectly dismissed in remarks by some scientists and government officials, and in the coverage of most major media outlets.
