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UN report: People have wrecked 40% of all the land on Earth

Grist

A new United Nations report released Wednesday shows farming, mining, and logging has marred more than half of the planet. The authors stressed that combating the erosion of the world’s lands actually makes a lot of economic sense: More than half of the global economy — about $44 trillion a year — relies on the natural world.

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Welcome to the Pyrocene

Grist

The Pantanal wetlands in central South America burned. Similarly, well before global warming made itself felt, America was swept by a century of megafires that gorged on the slash left by logging and land-clearing. Siberian fires moved north of their home territory and flared beyond the Arctic Circle.