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  • British Museum removed ‘Xizang’ label from Silk Roads exhibition about Tibet

    The British Museum removed the term “Xizang” from its labeling of Tibetan artifacts after rights groups and Tibetans living in the United Kingdom criticized the use of the Beijing-promoted place name.

    The London museum’s Silk Roads exhibition opened in late September and ran until last Sunday.

    The labels were reviewed in January and updated from “Tibet or Xizang Autonomous Region, China” to “Tibet Autonomous Region, China,” a British Museum spokesperson said in an email to Radio Free Asia on Tuesday. The email did not state when the labels were changed.

    Tibetan activists who visited the museum in February confirmed that the wording had indeed been changed.

    The term “Xizang” was first used in official Chinese government diplomatic documents in 2023 after Chinese government-backed scholars said would help promote China’s legitimate occupation and rule of Tibet.

    Use of the term has generated an uproar among Tibetans living outside the country, who see it as another example of Beijing’s attempts to assimilate Tibetans into Chinese culture and erase Tibetan identity.

    Activists reject museum’s initial response

    Tibetan groups wrote to the British Museum first on Nov. 25 and again on Dec. 18 citing their concerns over the use of “Xizang.”

    One of the objects cited by the Tibetan groups –- which are led by the Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities and the Tibetan Community in Britain –- was a silver vase that was gifted by the 7th-century Tibetan Empire to neighboring Tang China.

    People walk in front of the British Museum in London in 2023.
    People walk in front of the British Museum in London in 2023.
    (Hollie Adams/Reuters)

    The museum’s response in December defended its use of the term Xizang, saying that the labels reflected “the contemporary region.”

    Tibetan activists rejected that explanation, saying it ignored the political implications of promoting terminology perpetuated by the Chinese Communist Party.

    The Silk Roads exhibition explored the history of the ancient trade route during the key period from 500 to 1000. It featured over 300 objects from the museum’s own collection and those loaned from at least 29 other institutions.

    The British Museum will consult with experts on Tibetan history and culture in any future Tibet-related exhibitions, the museum spokesperson said in the email to RFA.

    “It has not, nor was it the intention, to replace ‘Tibet’ with the Chinese term ‘Xizang,’” the spokesperson said.

    Last year, the French museum Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac also faced criticism for using the term “Xizang” in its exhibit. In October, following weeks of protests and petitions from Tibetans, the museum announced that it would reverse the change in its labeling.

    RELATED STORIES

    Tibetans demand apology from the British Museum for use of ‘Xizang’

    Nepal’s leader visits Beijing, joint statement uses ‘Xizang’ to refer to Tibet

    French museum blasted for using ‘Xizang’ in Tibet exhibits

    China replaces ‘Tibet’ with ‘Xizang’ in latest diplomatic documents

    The museum’s change was “a step forward,” but still short of expectations, said Tsering Passang, founder and chairman of the Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities.

    “Beijing’s promoted term ‘Xizang’ should never have been there in the first place,” he told RFA. “We will continue to investigate this further.”

    He added that Tibetans in the U.K. have reported a trend in which so-called “Tibetan cultural performances” at universities have been labeled as “South West China.”

    Tibetan organizations are preparing to submit a formal complaint about the British Museum exhibit to the Information Commissioner’s Office, an independent governmental body in the U.K., Passang said.

    The complaint aims to investigate who could be promoting the use of alternate terms for Tibet and whether they have connections to the Chinese government, he said.

    Translated by Khando Yangzom. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • In Myanmar, rebels battle the military, and rough roads | Radio Free Asia (RFA)


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Bad roads in BJP’s poll campaign video targeting AAP are from BJP-ruled Haryana

    The date for the Delhi assembly elections having been announced, parties have already intensified their campaigns. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has shared a video on social media showing poorly maintained, muddy roads with potholes. Claiming these roads were in Delhi, the BJP has criticised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the same.

    The BJP posted the video on both its official Facebook and X handles, accompanied by a caption targeting AAP that reads, “It is hard to tell whether there are potholes in the road or the road is in the potholes.” (Archived link)

    Similarly, BJP Delhi shared the same video from its social media accounts, reiterating the claim. (Archived link)

    Raushan Sinha, a BJP supporter who regularly amplifies misinformation and hate on social media, also tweeted the video, mocking Delhi’s infrastructure under AAP governance. He wrote, “This is the reality of the world-class ‘infrastructure’ developed by Kejriwal in Delhi.” (Archived link)

    Fact Check 

    Alt News examined the video shared by BJP and noticed a key detail. A signboard in the footage reads, ‘Thakur Udaypal Dharamshala.’ Using Google Maps, Alt News identified the location of Thakur Udaypal Dharamshala in Faridabad, Haryana, a state governed by the BJP. (Location coordinates)

    By comparing the video with Google Street View images of the location, we confirmed that the video was filmed in Faridabad. The muddy and broken road seen in the first frame of the video matche a street in Faridabad near Thakur Udaypal Dharamshala. (Location coordinates)

    A close comparison of the footage and Google Street View images revealed matching details. The house visible at the end of the street in the video (marked in red) and the street where an auto-rickshaw turns (marked with a yellow arrow) are identical to those in Faridabad. 

    Another frame from the video showing waterlogging matches a location approximately 500 meters away from Thakur Udaypal Dharamshala in Faridabad. (Location coordinates)

    Note: The Google Street View images are from 2022, whereas the video was filmed in 2025. Minor differences in road conditions and building structures can be attributed to this time gap. (Location coordinates)

    To sum up, the viral video shared by BJP to criticise the Aam Aadmi Party’s governance in Delhi was actually shot in Faridabad, Haryana, a state governed by the BJP itself. The video, which portrays poorly maintained roads, does not depict Delhi’s infrastructure as claimed, instead, it highlights road conditions in Faridabad.

    The post Bad roads in BJP’s poll campaign video targeting AAP are from BJP-ruled Haryana appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Abhishek Kumar.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • BJP Delhi, party leaders share doctored image to show potholes on roads

    On December 27, the national capital of New Delhi witnessed rainfall, leading to a further drop in temperatures across the region. Following the rains, BJP leaders shared a photo on social media that showed a man riding a motorcycle on a waterlogged road filled with potholes. Accompanying the image was a caption that stated, “AAP’s lie – roads like London-Paris, Delhi’s truth – potholes on the roads.” The criticism was directed at Delhi chief minister Atishi and the Aam Aadmi Party. BJP leaders used the image to highlight the poor condition of Delhi’s roads after light rainfall.

    The official social media accounts of BJP Delhi, including its X handle and Facebook page, also shared the image with a caption mocking the AAP government’s infrastructure claims. The caption read, “After a little rain, the condition of the roads is of European standard.” (Archived link 1, link 2)

    BJP IT Cell national head Amit Malviya amplified the claim by sharing the same image on his social media accounts. It is important to note that Malviya has a history of sharing misleading and inaccurate information on social media platforms. (Archived link)

    Several other BJP leaders also circulated the image to reinforce similar claims against the AAP government. These included Santosh Ojha, president of BJP Delhi Purvanchal Morcha and BJP scheduled caste morcha Delhi, along with leaders such as Sanjeev Choudhary and Rajiv Babbar.  (Archived link 1, link 2, link 3, link 4)

    Supporters and members of the BJP further amplified the image with the same claim.

    Fact-check

    To verify the authenticity of the viral image, Alt News performed a reverse image search. This led us to a similar photograph uploaded by photographer Sanchit Khanna on the Getty Images website on September 30, 2024.

    Getty Images is a well-known photo stock platform where professional photographers and photojournalists upload their work. There are some significant differences between the original image on Getty Images and the one being circulated. In the original, the road did show some signs of wear and damage, but it did not contain as many potholes and craters as depicted in the viral version. 

    According to the caption provided with the image, Delhi chief minister Atishi, along with officials from the public works department (PWD), inspected road conditions near the Outer Ring Road in Kalkaji on September 30, 2024. During this inspection, the chief minister identified potholes near the NSIC complex and instructed officials to ensure that repairs were completed before Diwali.

    It is worth noting that the original image dates back to September 30, and is unrelated to the rainfall that occurred recently. 

    Media outlets such as News18 and Hindustan Times had reported on the September 30 inspection. Their coverage highlighted that chief minister Atishi, accompanied by engineers from the PWD, had surveyed several roads in Delhi. During the inspection, Atishi reassured residents that the roads would be repaired and maintained to ensure a “pothole-free” Diwali.

    To sum it up, leaders from the BJP and BJP Delhi shared an edited image, falsely linking it to the rainfall in Delhi on December 27 to target the Aam Aadmi Party. 

    The post BJP Delhi, party leaders share doctored image to show potholes on roads appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Pawan Kumar.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • North Korea blows up northern side of inter-Korean roads: Seoul

    North Korea blew up its side of roads connected to South Korea on Tuesday, the South Korean military said, after Pyongyang vowed to cut cross-border transport links amid disputes over drones that the North says have flown over its capital. 

    The South Korean military responded by firing shots south of the Military Demarcation Line.

    “The North Korean military conducted detonations, assumed to be aimed at cutting off the Gyeongui and Donghae roads, at around noon and is carrying out additional activities using heavy equipment,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or JCS, said. 

    The South’s military did not suffer any damage and it responded by firing shots south of the Military Demarcation Line, the JCS added.

    “The military is closely monitoring the North Korean military’s activities and maintains a firm readiness posture amid strengthened surveillance under South Korea-U.S. cooperation,” it said.

    The Koreas are connected by roads and railways along the Gyeongui line, which connects the South’s western border city of Paju to the North’s Kaesong 26 kilometers (16 miles) away, and the Donghae line along the east coast. But the border has been sealed in recent years and heavily guarded on both sides, so destroying the roads on the North Korean side is unlikely to have much impact.

    Last week, JCS Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo told lawmakers that the Gyeongui and Donghae routes had been effectively cut off in August, noting that the military had been monitoring the North’s activities.

    The North has removed street lamps and installed mines along its side of the Gyeongui and Donghae roads, as well as deploying troops to build apparent anti-tank barriers and reinforce barbed wire within its side of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, the South Korean military said.

    AP18337237862630.jpg
    South Korean army soldiers stand guard in front of an unpaved road that crosses the Military Demarcation Line inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in the central section of the inter-Korean border in Cheorwon, South Korea, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

    The two Koreas are still technically at war, having signed an armistice, not a peace treaty, when the Korean War ended in 1953. Under the agreement the two sides drew a Military Demarcation Line near the 38th parallel, establishing a 2 kilometer (1.2 mile) demilitarized zone, or DMZ, on either side of the border.

    Tuesday’s explosions came after North Korea announced last Wednesday that it would cut off roads and railways to South Korea and bolster border defenses.

    The South’s military said on Monday it had detected signs the North was planning to blow up the roads by installing covers over them in preparation for the blasts.

    RELATED STORIES

    Russia urges South Korea to avoid provocations amid drone dispute with North

    North Korea says border units ready to shoot amid drone dispute with South

    North Korea says South sent drones over its capital, warns of conflict

    Relations between North and South Korea have been particularly strained recently with both sides exchanging threats of annihilation if the other were ever to attack.

    North Korea claimed last Friday that South Korean drones carrying anti-regime propaganda leaflets were detected in the night skies over Pyongyang three times this month, and threatened to respond with force if such flights occurred again. 

    In response, South Korea’s defense ministry warned that the North would face “the end of its regime” if it caused any harm to South Korean people, while its JCS said it could not confirm whether the North’s drone claims were true.

    Edited by Mike Firn. 


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Taejun Kang for RFA.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Junta troops destroy roads in northern Myanmar as renewed fighting looms

    Military junta troops have destroyed major roads that connect several towns and cities controlled by rebel forces in northern Myanmar’s Shan State in what could be preparation for renewed fighting in the area, residents told Radio Free Asia.

    Junta forces used bulldozers on Wednesday to damage a road connecting Namtu township and Namsang Man Ton, which has been under the control of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA.

    On Thursday, junta bulldozers made a section of the Lashio-Hsenwi road impassable. That part of the road, which leads to Hsenwi, Kun Long and Chinshwehaw townships, is an area controlled by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA.

    The TNLA, MNDAA and Arakan Army together make up the Three Brotherhood Alliance, which in October launched an offensive that has dealt the military a series of defeats, pushing government forces back.

    Residents of Lashio told RFA that security has been tightened at the entrance to the strategic town, which is home to the military’s northeast command headquarters.

    ENG_BUR_ROADS DESTROYED_06142024.2.jpg
    The road leading to Lashio city under the control of Brigade 6 of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) was destroyed by the junta, June 13, 2024. (PSLF/TNLA News via Telegram)

    That’s likely a reaction to a nearby buildup of forces by the Three Brotherhood Alliance, a resident told RFA on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

    “It’s been apparent that the junta has also been gathering its forces and weapons near the area controlled by the ethnic armed organizations,” the resident said. 

    “Moreover, insurgent forces have been seen near Lashio,” the resident. “And now the roads to Lashio have been cut off. It is expected that conflict will occur very soon.”

    Ceasefire violation

    A resident of Moe Meik township, who requested not to be named, told RFA that people are already fleeing to safe areas ahead of expected armed clashes between the junta and the alliance.

    “We have learned that the ethnic alliance force is headed to this area,” he said. “Almost all the people have left the town now.”

    The destroyed roads have led to a rise in the price of rice and other goods, a Namtu township resident told RFA. Gasoline has increased from 3,600 kyat (US$1.72) to 4,000 kyat (US$1.91) per liter and is being sold on a limited basis, he said.

    In nearby Kutkai township, the price of rice has risen by 50,000 kyat (US$24) per bag as people rush to buy supplies, a resident there said.

    Three Brotherhood Alliance and junta representatives agreed to a Chinese-brokered ceasefire during a round of talks in January. Less than a week after the agreement, both sides were accused of violating the deal. 

    ENG_BUR_ROADS DESTROYED_06142024.4.jpg
    Members of the Kokang army (MNDAA) clean up the Rantheshan camp, which they had just captured, October 29, 2023. (The Ko Kang via Facebook)

    Junta forces carried out artillery shelling on June 9 on a TNLA outpost between Pang Tin and Man Pying villages, which is located about 32 kilometers (20 miles) away from Moe Meik. 

    Troop movements and other preparations by the TNLA are in response to the shelling, several residents said.

    TNLA spokeswoman Lway Yay Oo told RFA that the junta is violating the January ceasefire agreement, and they will carry out retaliatory attacks if junta troops conduct more military action.

    “It was found that the junta has sent more drones and forces in northern Shan state. They are also cutting off routes,” he said. “It is deliberately creating fear in the public.”

    Calls by RFA to junta spokesperson Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun for a response to the TNLA spokeswoman’s remark went unanswered.   

    It’s unlikely that members of the Three Brotherhood Alliance would accept another ceasefire, military and political commentator Hla Kyaw Zaw said.

    “Even if China tries to prevent it again, the TNLA will not stop its mission,” he said. “Now that the junta has cut through the roads, the TNLA has reason to attack.”

    Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Sudden flooding, landslides damage homes and roads in remote Tibetan county

    A flood that has wiped out roads and sent rivers of thick muddy water through communities has left two tourists missing and many houses damaged in a Tibetan-populated area of China’s Sichuan province, according to Chinese state media.

    However, local sources told Radio Free Asia that there are likely many more people missing in mountainous Nyagchu county.

    The flooding and landslides last weekend took many people by surprise, one source told RFA.

    Roads were covered with mud, and some cars and trucks were tossed into the debris as the flooding rushed through towns and villages.

    Nyagchu county – referred to as Yajiang in Mandarin Chinese – is in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the traditional Kham region. 

    Tibetans made up the majority of Nyagchu county’s total population of over 51,000, according to 2020 census data. 

    Edited by Matt Reed.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Tibetan.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Crumbling roads, rising prices: Solomon Islands election highlights frustrations, flashpoints

    John Palmer says he got a wheelbarrow, a small solar panel and a sheet of corrugated roofing after voting for his member of parliament two elections ago in 2014.

    Besides that, he can’t figure what the government or his local politician have done in a decade because the one bumpy road that links Palmer’s corner of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands to the capital Honiara has only deteriorated. Navigating the 40 km (25 miles) of potholes can take two hours or more.

    The area’s health clinic, where Palmer had stopped to get a tab of nonprescription pain killers, is as rundown and doctorless as ever.

    “The solar we used for only six months, then it broke, same as the wheelbarrow. So now if you’re around in my community, all those things he gave are broken, so now we have nothing,” Palmer said.

    As the Solomon Islands readies for a national election on Wednesday, the government’s ineffectiveness in providing basic services and the struggle to earn enough money to get by is preoccupying many voters.

    Guadalcanal resident John Palmer reacts during an interview with BenarNews in Visale, Solomon Islands, April 11, 2024. [Stephen Wright/BenarNews]
    Guadalcanal resident John Palmer reacts during an interview with BenarNews in Visale, Solomon Islands, April 11, 2024. [Stephen Wright/BenarNews]

    Whether Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare will stay in power is being keenly watched by governments from China to Australia and the United States. The election is the first since the combative pro-Beijing leader switched diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan in 2019 and signed a secretive security pact with the Asian superpower.

    The switch has drawn intense international scrutiny for the island nation of 700,000 people in the southwest Pacific and was a catalyst for economically ruinous riots in 2021 that destroyed the Chinatown in the capital Honiara.

    A sports stadium and other facilities paid for by China sprung up in Honiara so it could host the 24 nation Pacific Games last year – touted by Sogavare as preventing economic collapse and boosting national pride. But the one easily drivable road in Guadalcanal, a recently resealed 10-km route from the international airport to Honiara, was funded by Japan.

    Peter Benjamin, who with his family makes a living by growing cassava and other crops for sale at a market in Honiara, said life hasn’t improved in the 15 years he’s lived in a community only minutes from the capital.

    They have to trek to get water from a stream, he told BenarNews, adding toilets are pits dug in the ground.

    Members of parliament spend too much time tending to their own businesses to look after the needs of their communities, he said.

    Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare speaks during a meeting with Chinese officials at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, July 10, 2023. (Andy Wong/AP)
    Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare speaks during a meeting with Chinese officials at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, July 10, 2023. (Andy Wong/AP)

    It may not make any difference, but like Palmer, Benjamin says he’ll vote for a new local representative when polling booths open on Wednesday.

    Voters don’t get a direct say in who is prime minister. The 50 members of parliament will decide who fills the post following the election. 

    “Many people around here are looking for a new member of parliament,” Benjamin said, hoping the community can get bore water and proper toilets.

    Part of the reason why the national government lacks the resources to provide adequate services – even in Guadalcanal, which has more development than other parts of the country – is that members of parliament get funds from the budget to use in their communities, according to analysts.

    That reduces what’s available for national ministries to spend on health care, roads and other services taken for granted in wealthy countries. Operating with little oversight, the system is blamed for fostering waste, vote buying and conflict.

    It’s also one factor of several that explain why “the integrity of election processes are actually drastically compromised” despite the influx of international observers for polling day, said Ruth Liloqula, head of the Solomon Islands chapter of anti-corruption organization Transparency International.

    Taiwan, during the decades it was recognized by the Solomon Islands, and China since 2019, topped up the so-called constituency development funds.

    Sogavare was able to become prime minister following the 2019 election using the lure of additional funds from Beijing to convince a majority of lawmakers to support him, Liloqula said.

    “We need to give politics back to the people,” she said.

    Supporters of a Honiara city council candidate exit a truck during a campaign rally, April 14, 2024. (Stephen Wright/BenarNews)
    Supporters of a Honiara city council candidate exit a truck during a campaign rally, April 14, 2024. (Stephen Wright/BenarNews)

    Since 2023, the Chinese funding has been administered by the rural development ministry, according to a Solomon Islands government statement.

    Francis Billy Hilly, a prime minister in the 1990s and now head of the Political Parties Commission, said he finds it a hopeful sign for stability that the number of parties registered for the election dropped substantially from 2019. 

    It’s easy to criticize the democratic system inherited from former colonial power Britain, but no one has a viable alternative plan, he told BenarNews.

    Even so, any progress is too glacial for Solomon Islanders such as Parker to notice.

    Prices at the mostly Chinese-owned shops in the capital keep on increasing, he said. And selling produce at the market in Honiara earns enough to buy rice and some other necessities, but makes no profit.

    “All the people of Guadalcanal want to change Sogavare,” said Palmer, “because he made us suffer for a long time.”

    BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Stephen Wright for BenarNews.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • As Winter Storms Descend, De-Icing Chemicals Are Threatening Freshwater Lakes

    A Maryland Department of Transportation snowplow loaded with road conditioning salt in Wye Mills, Maryland, on February 17, 2021.

    As yet another winter storm descends on the United States, local governments prepare to dig their citizens out by applying de-icing salts to asphalt and sidewalks. Yet the resulting salt pollution in freshwater ecosystems may prove to be a far more difficult hole to dig ourselves out of, as de-icing chemicals have become the status quo for creating upwards of an 80% reduction in rates of traffic accidents.

    For those of us living in colder climates, we begrudgingly accept certain oddities of winter — the rasp of snow plows in the early hours of the morning and a thick layer of brine over everything — for the sake of safer roads. Some municipalities such as those in New York state apply an average of 23 tons of salt every mile for each lane of traffic. While we rarely question the wisdom of such precautions, consequences linger out of sight as de-icing salts seep into aquifers and wash into waterways.

    Along with agriculture fertilizers, mining operations, and climate change, de-icing salts contribute to a growing salinity problem in freshwater lakes. New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences determined that government regulations that set thresholds on ionized chloride from human pollutants fail to sufficiently protect critical freshwater zooplankton species. In the absence of these microscopic grazing organisms, algae proliferate and starve the whole ecosystem of oxygen, and the whole food chain falls apart.

    “It’s becoming increasingly clear that we need to develop new chloride thresholds, new water quality guidelines that really do protect our freshwater ecosystems from changes due to elevated salinity,” Dr. Bill Hintz asserted.

    Hintz emphasized the urgency for governments to reassess thresholds for what are considered permissible concentrations of chloride in freshwater lakes.

    “The desalination process is really expensive,” he added. “We can’t do it on a massive scale, so once we pollute a lake ecosystem with salt, that salt will stay in concentration pretty much until the lake turns over.”

    Dr. Hintz and other scientists from The University of Toledo collaborated with Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario to lead an international study to determine the impacts of salinity on zooplankton across North America and Europe. Previous research has focused on lab settings, but this study is unique both in its approach and scope. From 16 different sites the team extracted what Dr. Hintz called semi-natural communities of zooplankton. Their goal was to assess thresholds for chloride ions in relation to variability in the specific geology, water chemistry, land-use, and species composition of the sites.

    Generally, scientists observed massive reductions of all major zooplankton groups when exposed salinity levels deemed safe by water quality guidelines in the United States, Canada and throughout Europe.

    “We’re seeing such a decline in the abundance of the zooplankton community that these guidelines really aren’t protective of these communities,” Dr. Hintz suggested. “When you lose those zooplankton — those zooplankton eat a ton of algae — at 47% of the sites, we see a greater algal abundance, which would be suppressed if we had the zooplankton feeding on that algae.”

    Zooplankton are a critical food for young fish and smaller species. Though it remains to be seen, fish populations are likely to shrink as multiple trophic levels of the food chain constrict. This is what biologists refer to as the cascade effect, a chain reaction caused by the disruption of one trophic level of the food chain.

    In reality, the impact is more like a ripple than a cascade though. The impact does not just affect one linear chain. While high salinity does not necessarily create “harmful algal blooms” that are toxic, a reduction of zooplankton undoubtedly could cause an overabundance of algae and other phytoplankton, sometimes going so far to create inhospitable “dead zones” that lack oxygen and light.

    “I would say this issue is like climate change,” he insisted. “We need to act now. When you act 10 years, 15, 20, 30, 50 years down the road, every year that passes by, if you’re still using the salts you’re still increasing the concentration. Then who knows how long it will take to go away. The science is becoming clear though. We need to do something about salt pollution.”

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Building or Unbuilding America?

    Infrastructure should be the great economic equalizer. Continue reading

    The post Building or Unbuilding America? appeared first on BillMoyers.com.

    This post was originally published on BillMoyers.com.